Children with Autism More Likely to be Bullied at Home and at School, Study Finds

Posted on July 23, 2019

A study involving over 8,000 children, of which more than 231 have autism, was carried out to investigate sibling bullying. The participants were asked to describe how often they were being bullied by their siblings or school mates, and how frequent they were the ones bullying others.

Data collected has indicated that about two thirds of children who have autism were involved in sibling bullying, while only half of the children without autism reported being involved. Furthermore, children with autism have a greater tendency to be both the perpetuators and victims of sibling bullying.

The amount of bullying is found to decrease when the individuals reach 14 years old, but children with autism still tend to be involved in sibling bullying. This could be due to the fact that many children with autism find it challenging to socialize with others, causing them to have trouble building good relationships with their siblings.

Reasons behind the victimization of children with autism might due to them being showered with greater attention and affection by their parents, inciting the envy of their siblings. It was also revealed that children involved in sibling bullying, regardless of whether they have autism, are likely to exhibit psychological and behavioral issues.

Given these findings, it is important for parents to be more aware of the sibling relationships at home as it can have negative long-term consequences. They should try to identify any bullying occurrences between their children and seek to deal with them early.


Category(s):Autism spectrum disorders, Bullying

Source material from Science Daily