This study had two aims: to evaluate the relationship between bullying and psychiatric disorders and to study the probability of using mental health services among children involved in bully/victim problems. The data consisted of interviews with 423 parents and 420 children. Diagnostic measures were based on the Isle of Wight Interview. Children involved in bullying as bullies, bully-victims, and victims were compared with other children. Children involved in bully/victim problems were more prone to have psychiatric disorders than noninvolved children. The probability of being disturbed was highest among male bullies, followed by male bully-victims and female victims (9.5-fold, 7.9-fold, and 4.3-fold, respectively) compared with noninvolved same-sex children. The most common diagnoses among children involved in bully/victim problems were attention deficit disorder, oppositional/conduct disorder, and depression. Furthermore, children involved in bully/victim problems were more likely to have used mental health services at some time during their lives and also during the previous 3 months. Special attention should be paid to children's mental health when dealing with bullying problems at school. Referral pathways to mental health services and factors affecting the referral processes among children should be further studied. Aggr. Behav. 27:102-110, 2001.
The prevalence rate for selective mutism was found to be 2%, with girls outnumbering boys. Selective mutism had been in progress more than a year in most cases. Most often, the children refused to speak to the teacher (58%), and one-fifth spoke to nobody at school. One-third of the mute children were performing at a lower level than average. Fewer of these children were reluctant to speak to the teacher than were mute children with an average or higher than average performance level. The children were characterized as shy, withdrawn and serious, with only some being hyperactive or aggressive. About one third of the children had had contact with health services.
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