MELBOURNE - Classroom bullies can grow up to be crooks and hoons while their victims become depressed for years after their schoolyard fights, new research has found.
While the long-term impact of bullying has been largely assumed, Australian researchers have now for the first time proven that a significant link from the schoolyard to adulthood really does exist.
Children who are bullies in school are about three to four times more likely to be involved in anti-social behaviour and physical violence by their early 20s, says the long-term study on children by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
By their 24th birthday, bullies are likely to be involved in fights, damaging property and shoplifting.
The study found bullies also started carrying weapons such as knives as they grew up into young men and women.
Their victims, however, saw their social difficulties in high school transform years later into high levels of depression, anxiety and stress.
"The key message behind all of this is that school bullying is not something that finishes at school. This follows through to early adulthood," research fellow Dr Jodie Lodge told AAP.
"Once on a trajectory, it makes them far more vulnerable to continue down that track."
The study has examined about 1,000 people since they were born in the early 1980s. Participants were interviewed when they turned 12 and 13, again when they were 13 and 14, and most recently as they became young adults at 23 and 24 years old.
Participants were then grouped into being either a bully, a victim, someone who experienced both, or part of the control group to explore patterns between school difficulties and longer-term outcomes.
Dr Lodge says the most vulnerable group are those who experienced both bullying and became bullies themselves during school.
That group tended to have fewer friends, suffer both social and academic problems and then grew up to suffer from multiple issues.
"By their early 20s, they've experienced depression and anxiety but have also been involved in anti-social behaviour and criminal activity, like shoplifting," she said.
The study will continue to follow the participants as they age to see if their problems traced back to the schoolyard will continue.
Dr Lodge says teachers and educators can learn from the study, showing how important it is to stop bullying early on and work to develop positive classroom relationships.
"The findings certainly underscore that early intervention is certainly going to be important," she said.
-AAP
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