There is something more terrifying to children than the monsters under their bed. The fear is inevitable and uncontrollable that sometimes it visits them in their sleep. Worse, it stays for long and continues haunt them even in their older years.
A lot of research has been made in hopes of overcoming bullying in children, as it is one of the most alarming issues almost any society has to deal with. A recent study offers a basic method in determining whether your child is a victim of bullying by simply asking him or her about his dreams.
In a study presented Saturday at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting in Vancouver, researchers hailing from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom discovered that kids aged 12 who dreamt frequently of nightmares may be a victim of bullying in their younger years.
"Nightmares are relatively common in childhood, while night terrors occur in up to 10 percent of children," said Suzet Tanya Lereya, Ph.D., research fellow at University of Warwick and is also the lead author of the study. "If either occurs frequently or over a prolonged time period, they may indicate that a child [or] adolescent has or is being bullied by peers. These arousals in sleep may indicate significant distress for the child."
Researchers employed fact and figures from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a cohort study of the Children in the 90s of Avon, England born in 1991 and 1992, and examined the children's health and development and acquired disease during childhood years up until their adolescence.
As soon as they are born, the children are listed in the study, with 6,438 of them interviewed about bullying when they reach eight and ten years of age. At 12 years old, they were asked about parasomnias, or the disruptive sleep disorder exhibited by nightmares, night terrors, sleepwalking, or confusion arousals.
Their findings revealed that as far back as the 90s, a total of 1,555 of the children aged 12 had nightmares. Those who said they had night terrors numbered at 598, while the 814 experienced walking in their sleep. Meanwhile, 2,315 children admitted they have suffered from at least one in the aforementioned types of parasomnia.
Researchers have also adjusted certain confounders to precisely analyze the data. Such confounders include existing family problems, nightmares recorded prior reaching eight years of age, abuse and violence, psychiatric diagnosis and their IQ.
Victims of bullying are usually withdrawn, always terrified to go to school, and are usually depressed. They sometimes shrink at the thought of talking to another child and they show an evident decline in self-esteem. In some worst case scenarios, some children are bruised and are often inflicted with scrapes and cut on their skin.
