Both cyberbullying and cybervictimization are associated with psychiatric and psychosomatic problems. The most troubled are those who are both cyberbullies and cybervictims. This indicates the need for new strategies for cyberbullying prevention and intervention.

Both bullying and victimization during early school years are public health signs that identify boys who are at risk of suffering psychiatric disorders in early adulthood. The school health and educational system has a central role to play in detecting these boys at risk.

No abstract

IMPORTANCE The origins and development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain unresolved. No individual-level study has provided estimates of additive genetic, maternal, and environmental effects in ASD across several countries. OBJECTIVE To estimate the additive genetic, maternal, and environmental effects in ASD.

The emotional and behavioural problems of 7- to 15-year-old Finnish children and adolescents (n = 735) were assessed in a community population by a brief screening instrument, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The parent-, teacher- and self-reports of the SDQ were obtained. The results show that for the total scores, the inter-rater agreement between the pairs of reports was 0.38-0.44. The internal consistency in all three questionnaires was 0.71. Functioning above the 90th percentile of the SDQ total difficulties scores in parent-, teacher- and self-reports was strongly associated with help-seeking variables and problematic behaviour according to parents. The correlation of the parental SDQ total scores and the Child Behaviour Checklist total scores was 0.75 and the correlation of the self-report SDQ total scores with the Youth Self Report total scores was 0.71. The differences in sex, grade and informants of the SDQ total difficulties scores are reported. The study gives further evidence of the usefulness of the SDQ as a promising screening instrument for epidemiological research and clinical purposes.

No abstract

Many adolescents in need of psychiatric assessment do not receive appropriate help because their problems remain unnoticed by adults. Internalizing problems among girls seem especially likely to remain unrecognized by adults.

S uicidal behaviours affect millions of teenagers each year, indicating a public health problem in need of attention and intervention. Suicide rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in one-third of countries, both in developed and in developing countries. 1,2 Bullying among school-age children is now recognized as a major public health problem in the Western world. In 2001, the Surgeon General of the United States published a report 3 emphasizing the importance of focusing attention of this problem. The most widely employed definition of bullying was provided by Olweus 4 indicating that a person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more people. Olweus further suggested that bullying involves an imbalance of power. 4 Bullying behaviour falls into 4 general categories: