A new study has suggested that kids are likelier to suffer from depression if they were bullied by a sibling at about the age of eight.
The study conducted by the University of Oxford approached around 7,000 children aged 12 and were asked if they had experienced bullying from a sibling, the BBC reported.
According to the study, most children said they had not experienced bullying and out of these kids at 18, 6.4percent had depression scores in the clinically significant range, 9.3percent experienced anxiety and 7.6percent had self-harmed in the previous year.
The study then showed that 786 children who said that they had been bullied by a sibling several times a week were found to be twice as likely to have depression, self-harm and anxiety as the other children.
Emma Jane Cross, from the bullying prevention charity, BeatBullying, expressed her opinion saying that being bullied as a child could have a devastating effect which lasted a lifetime and parents who were concerned about this issue should speak to their children as early as possible before the problem escalates.
Lead author Dr Lucy Bowes, from the department of social policy and intervention at the University of Oxford, said that although they couldn't say sibling bullying caused depression, the result were significant.
