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Articles in Violence in schools affect children’s health, safety, and academic performance. (*Also see the Community Violence Section for research findings concerning health impacts of violence.).
Children who were bullied were more likely to have physical health problems including sleep disorder, feeling sad, headaches and stomachaches.
Williams S, Chambers M, Logan S, Robinson D. 1996. Association of common health symptoms with bullying in primary school children. Br Med J 313: 17-9.Exposure to violence may have an adverse impact on victims’ scholastic achievement, desire to attend school, and mental health.
Glew GM, Fan M, Wayne K, Rivara FP. 2008. Bullying and School Safety. J Pediatr 152:123-8; Rigby K. Does bullying really do harm? Available from http://www.education.unisa.edu.au/bullying/harm.html.The presence of street gangs who recruit, bully, rob, assault, and shoot students near schools is likely to discourage students from walking or bicycling to school regardless of the distance or the walkability of the neighborhood.
Kerr J, Rosenberg D, Sallis JF, Saelens BE, Frank LD, Conway TL. 2006. Active commuting to school: associations with environment and parental concerns. Med Sci Sports Exerc 38:787–94.Bullying may have adverse effects on the aggressors as well. Disadvantaged boys with high status in violent groups are at much greater risks of dropping out of high school than other students.
Staff J, Kreager DA. 2008. Too Cool for School? Violence, Peer Status and High School Dropout. Social Forces. 87(1): 445-471.Frequent victimization during early school years predicted anxiety disorders, and frequent bullying during early school years predicted antisocial personality disorder.
Sourander A, Jensen P, Rönning JA, Niemelä S, Helenius H, Sillanmäki L, Kumpulainen K, Piha J, Tamminen T, Moilanen I, Almqvist F. 2007. What is the early adulthood outcome of boys who bully or are bullied in childhood? The Finnish "from a boy to a man" study. Pediatrics 120 (2): 397-404.A cross-national study involving 35 countries found that physical fighting and weapon carrying among adolescents were significantly associated with elevated risks for medically-treated, multiple, and hospitalized injury events.
Pickett W, Craig W, Harel Y, Cunningham J, Simpson K, Molcho M, Mazur J, Dostaler S, Overpeck MD, Currie CE, HBSC. 2006. Violence and Injuries Writing Group. Cross-national study of fighting and weapon carrying as determinants of adolescent injury. Pediatrics. 116:e855-e863.