Youths who have been bullied face a higher risk of attempting suicide than their non-bulllied peers, according to a dissertation by psychiatry researcher Yuko Mori at the University of Turku.
Mori's dissertation looked at the chief mental health challenges facing youths in more than a dozen Asian and European countries. It involved the use of a large-scale school survey with comparable methods across those countries. It also marked the first large-scale international study of links between cyberbullying and suicide attempts, according to a university press release.
"The prevalence of attempted suicide was 4.8 percent, with a higher rate among girls. Students who had been victims of both cyberbullying and traditional bullying had the highest risk of attempted suicide," Mori explained in the release.
The researcher also surveyed more than 21,000 youths between the ages of 13-15 about how safe they feel at school. The survey queried students in Finland, China, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam.
More than 31 percent of the students said they felt unsafe at school, according to the survey.
"Among the compared countries, girls in Finland were the most likely to feel safe at school, with only 11.5 percent of respondents feeling unsafe at school. In Japan, the corresponding figure was 69.8 percent," Mori said.
Meanwhile, boys in Norway were less likely to feel unsafe at school (7.7%) and most likely in Japan (68.2%).
Bullying victimisation, mental health problems and a lack of teacher support all affect whether young people feel safe at school.
Global data imporant
According to the researcher, it is important to gather this sort of information in a global context because many mental health issues begin during adolescence.
Part of the research included reviewing dozens of previous studies that examined students' feelings of safety at school. But the results and methods of those studies varied.
According to Mori, there has been a lack of reliable data regarding the mental health of youths in different countries and cultures.
"Perception of mental health problems, the stigma surrounding mental health, and the approach to mental health care can vary significantly across different countries. International comparative research on adolescent mental health is important to understand how common these problems are and how we can reduce them," Mori said.
The researcher found that in particular, young people in lower-income countries rarely sought help for their mental health.
Around one-quarter of girls in Finland suffering from severe mental health issues sought professional help, while boys in Finland were less likely to do so, according to the study.
Mori said her study underscored the importance of making schools safer and offering better mental health support for youths.
"This is crucial if young people are to thrive at this critical stage of their development. We should provide mental health programmes in schools and implement anti-bullying initiatives and digital interventions to support young people globally," Mori said.
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