Nightmares may signal a child is being bullied

Children who are bullied are at increased risk of experiencing nightmares and the trauma can lead to anxiety, depression, psychotic episodes and even suicide, a new study has warned.
Researchers from the University of Warwick, UK found that nightmares or night terrors were more common in 12-year-olds who had reported being bullied when they were 8 and 10 years old.
"Nightmares are relatively common in childhood, while night terrors occur in up to 10 per cent of children," said lead author Suzet Tanya Lereya.
"If either occurs frequently or over a prolonged time period, they may indicate that a child/adolescent has or is being bullied by peers. These arousals in sleep may indicate significant distress for the child," said Lereya.

Children were enrolled at birth, and 6,438 were interviewed at ages 8 and 10 years about bullying and at age 12 about parasomnias, including nightmares, night terrors and sleep walking.
Survey results showed that at age 12 years, 1,555 (24.2 per cent) of children had nightmares, 598 (9.3 per cent) had night terrors, 814 (12.6 per cent) reported sleep walking and 2,315 (36 per cent) had at least one type of parasomnia (nightmares, night terrors and sleep walking).

Children who were victimised at 8 or 10 years were significantly more likely to have nightmares, night terrors or sleep walking at age 12, researchers said.

Moreover, those who were both a victim and a bully were much more likely to have any parasomnia, but bullies were not at increased risk of a sleep disturbance.
"Our findings indicate that being bullied is a significant stress/trauma that leads to increased risk of sleep arousal problems, such as nightmares or night terrors," said Wolke.
"It is an easily identifiable indicator that something scary is being processed during the night. Parents should be aware that this may be related to experiences of being bullied by peers, and it provides them with an opportunity to talk with their child about it," Wolke added.

The study was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada.