"Special needs" kids often the target of bullies

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with special health care needs are at increased risk of being bullied at school, while children with behavioral, emotional or developmental problems have an increased likelihood of bullying other children and of being a bully/victim.

These are among the key findings of what is believed to be the first nationwide study in the US looking at the relationship between bullying, being bullied and being a bully/victim and having a special health care needs using a "non-disease-specific definition" of children with special health needs.

For the study, "special health-care needs" denoted a child who uses prescription medication; uses more medical or mental health or educational services than is usual for other age-matched children; has limitations in doing "normal" things for the child's age; needs physical, occupational or speech therapy; has emotional, developmental, or behavior problems requiring treatment or counseling.

Based on a recent telephone survey of parents of 102, 353 children aged 0 to 17 years, the overall prevalence of being bullied was 34.4 percent, for bullying others was 23.5 percent, and for being a bully/victim was 10.2 percent.

Overall, children with special health care needs comprised 21 percent of the population, report the authors Drs. Jeanne Van Cleave and Matthew M. Davis of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

In adjusted analyses, children with special health care needs were significantly more likely to be bullied than children without special health care needs, but not more likely to bully other children or be a bully/victim.

One exception was the subgroup of special health needs children with behavioral, emotional, or developmental problems, which was associated with a significantly increased risk of bullying other children. Special health needs children who were in this subgroup and also had a functional limitation had an increased risk of being a bully/victim.

These findings may help schools, as well as doctors, "use targeted screening and interventions to address bullying for children with special health care needs," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, October 2006.