Frequent headaches in teenagers linked to bullying, suicidal thoughts: Study

Teenagers who have been bullied by their peers or who have considered or attempted suicide may be more likely to have more frequent headaches than teenagers who have not experienced any of these problems according to a studyThe study published in the online issue of the medical journal Neurology does not prove that bullying or thoughts of suicide cause headaches but shows an associationldquoHeadaches are a common problem for teenagers but our study looked beyond the biological factors to also consider the psychological and social factors that are associated with headachesrdquo said Serena L Orr from the University of Calgary in CanadaldquoOur findings suggest that bullying and attempting or considering suicide may be linked to frequent headaches in teenagers independent of mood and anxiety disordersThe study involved more than 22 million teenagers with an average age of 14 years Of the total participants 05 per cent selfreported being gender diverse meaning being transgender or selfreporting as being gender diverse including being gender nonbinaryOf the participants 11 per cent reported having frequent recurring headaches defined as headaches occurring more than once a weekA total of 25 per cent of the participants reported being victims of frequent overt bullying including physical and verbal aggression being called names or insulted and being threatened virtually and 17 per cent reported being victims of frequent relational bullying including having rumours spread about them being excluded and having harmful information posted about them on the internetAlso 17 per cent of participants reported considering or attempting suicide in their lifetimeResearchers found that those who had frequent headaches were nearly three times more likely to experience bullying than their peersTeenagers who had been bullied or had suicidal tendencies were nearly twice as likely to have frequent headaches as their peers while those with mood and anxiety disorders were 50 per cent and 74 per cent more likely respectively to have frequent headaches than their peersResearchers also found that 34 per cent of teenagers with frequent headaches reported being victims of relational bullying at least once a month compared to 14 per cent of teenagers who had headaches less than once a weekThey found that 34 per cent of teenagers with frequent headaches had made one or more suicide attempts or had suicidal thoughts compared to 14 per cent of teenagers with headaches less than once a weekldquoThese results should compel future research into interventions for bullying and a better understanding of how gender diverse youth are at a higher risk of headache disordersrdquo Orr saidldquoThese findings should urge policymakers to increase efforts towards bullying prevention and should encourage doctors to screen children and teenagers with headache disorders for bullying and suicidal tendenciesA limitation of the study was that participants selfreported their headaches and other information and they may not have remembered all the information accuratelyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever