Professors reveal sleep behaviour of bully victims

Professors from the the University of Warwick have recently revealed that children are more likely to suffer from sleep walking or nightmares if they’ve been bullied between the ages of eight and 10.

The professors discovered that these children were most likely to suffer from these nightly disruptions by the time they were 12.

The research was undertaken by Dr Suzet Tanya Lereya and Professor Dieter Wolk. The result of their studies was published in Pediatrics, the American Pediatric Association’s journal.

In the study, a group of children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), aged between eight and 10 and 12 and 13, were interviewed about bullying experiences and their sleep behaviour.

Professor Wolke, from Warwick Medical School and the Department of Psychology, stated: “We found children who were bullied at age 8 or 10 years were more likely to have nightmares, night terrors, or sleepwalking at age 12 years.

“Moreover, those who were bullied and bullied others (bully/victims) were most likely to have any parasomnia.”

She added: “Consistent with previous studies, being a female, having persistent sleep problems, and emotional and behaviour problems in childhood additionally increased the risk for parasomnias at age 12 years.”

Dr Lereya also highlighted stress as another contribution towards the correlation between the problem of bullying and parasomnias.

She remarked: “Nightmares may occur when anxiety exceeds a threshold level and several studies have suggested that this trait may be related to the frequency of parasomnias.

“However, even after controlling pre-existing anxiety problems our results showed that being bullied may increase the risk for parasomnias.”