Bullying May Lead to Psychological Concerns In The Future - WMDT 47 News - Delmarva's Choice

SALISBURY, Md - Studies show that children who had been bullied, and the bullies, have higher rates of anxiety and depressive disorders as adults.

"I think the long term effect could be significant enough to warrant a disorder at some point and that is something that would affect someone's functioning on a daily basis. I think all of us know someone who's been bullied at some point in time and that's something that we can all relate to and intervene on" says Dawn Harner, a counselor at Salisbury University.

One of the growing problem in bullying is "cyber-bullying", which include the latest trend of abuse in Maryland with many so-called "confession" pages on Facebook. These pages encourage "confessions" from local high school students, some of which are verbally abusive comments written towards certain students.

"I think cyber bullying can be just as hurtful and I also think that it's very cowardly because you hide behind your computer whereas with verbal and physical bullying [I don't want to encourage that but] that's more brave than doing it behind a computer. I think it's definitely a problem" say sophomore student Meghan McNulty.

Studies show that bullied males are at least 18 times more likely to commit suicide and bullied females are 26 times more likely to have intense fear and anxiety.