BOSTON — A new study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine and led by Mark Schuster, MD, PhD, chief of General Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, shows that sexual minority youth (youth who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual) are more likely to be bullied and victimized than their peers.
“What really stands out is that we found that kids who are classified as sexual minorities in tenth grade are bullied and victimized more than their peers not only in tenth grade but also in fifth and seventh grades. The differences are persistent and striking. We would think that in fifth grade, most kids don’t recognize themselves or peers as sexual minorities, yet those who will later identify as sexual minorities are already being bullied more than other kids,” said Schuster, Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Bullying is generally defined as the intentional and repeated perpetration of aggression over time by a more powerful person against a less powerful person.
“Bullying has serious short and long-term consequences, not only physical injury, but also anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress and negative school performance. Bullying targeted at sexual minorities has even more severe negative effects,” said Schuster.
Schuster and his colleagues found that girls and boys who were identified in tenth grade as sexual minorities were more likely than their peers to be bullied or victimized as early as fifth grade, with the pattern continuing into high school.
