兒童時期的霸凌並不會影響孩子的一生
Now here's some good news for parents and schoolchildren alike - research shows bullying won't necessarily scar your child for life. Children are usually more resilient than we think and most bounce back after being bullied.
家長和學生們注意，好消息來了--研究表明：霸凌不一定影響孩子的一生。孩子通常比我們想象的更抗壓，而且大多數孩子都會在被欺凌之後快速恢復。It seems many parents worry more about their children being bullied than they do about them getting pregnant. The new study says while being bullied at 11 may cause children to be depressed, anxious and hyperactive, these disturbances don't persist to the age of 16.
看來相比懷孕，很多家長更擔心自己的孩子被霸凌。新研究表明，雖然11歲時被霸凌會導致孩子抑鬱、焦慮和多動，但這些困擾只會持續到他們16歲。Researchers from University College London studied 11,108 twins born in England and Wales from 1994 to 1996.
倫敦大學學院的研究員對1994至1996年間在英格蘭和威爾士出生的11108對雙胞胎展開了研究。
Twins were chosen to minimise the potential differences in genetics or home life impacting on the child's reaction to bullying. The youngsters taking part filled in assessments on their experience of bullying when they were 11, and again when they were 14 years old.
選擇雙胞胎是爲了儘量減少遺傳或家庭生活帶來的潛在差異，因爲這兩個因素影響着兒童對霸凌的反應。參與到研究中的兒童在11歲的時候填寫了自己被霸凌一事的評估報告，14歲的時候又填寫了一次。At 11 and 16 years old, their mental health was evaluated. This included an exploration of anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and impulsivity, conduct problems, inattention, and psychotic-like experiences, such as paranoid thoughts.
11歲和16歲的時候，研究人員評估了他們的心理健康。這包括探索他們是否焦慮、抑鬱、多動和衝動、製造問題、注意力不集中和精神病情況，比如像偏執狂那樣去思考。Dr Judy Silberg from the Virginia Commonwealth University, who wasn't involved in the study, said: "Most ?children will get better." The research, however, also revealed that paranoid thoughts can continue into late teens as a result of bullying. So the results of the research are by no means cut and dried.
弗吉尼亞聯邦大學的朱迪·希爾伯格博士沒有參與到該項研究，她說道："大多數的孩子都會慢慢變好。"然而，研究還揭示，被霸凌後，孩子的偏執思維可能會一直持續到十八、九歲。所以這一研究結果也並非已成定局。Other experts say not all youngsters who've been bullied reach later life unaffected. Dr Bonnie Leadbeater from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, who also didn't take part in the study, said: "The effects of bullying at age 11 on anxiety and depression at age 16 is what ?diminishes. And while this is good news it's not possible to interpret this as supporting a more general ?statement that all the effects of bullying will lessen over time."
其他專家表示，對有些孩童而言，霸凌給他們未來的生活帶來了影響。位於不列顛哥倫比亞的維多利亞大學的邦妮·萊德彼特博士也沒有參與到這項研究，她說："11歲時遭受霸凌對焦慮和抑鬱的影響，會在16歲時有所減弱。雖然這是好消息，但卻不足以支持一個更爲籠統的說法--霸凌帶來的所有影響都會隨着時間的推移而慢慢削弱。""Bullying may be episodic or chronic (long-term), and the limited assessment of bullying may severely underestimate the effects of chronic bullying on mental health and behavioural problems."
"霸凌可能是偶發性的，也有可能是慢性的（長期的），有關霸凌的有限評估可能嚴重低估了長期霸凌對心理健康和行爲問題的影響。"Study author Dr Gary Freed, from the University of Michigan's CS Mott Children's Hospital, said in order to deal with this sort of bullying, "simple effective strategies may include not providing personal identifying information on social media, chat platforms, or in gaming environments".
來自密歇根大學CS莫特兒童醫院的研究作者蓋裏·弗裏德說道，爲了應對這類霸凌，"有效的策略可能包括：不在社交媒體、聊天平臺或遊戲環境下提供個人識別信息"。
