Students Suffer from Depression, Bullying

[Keith Woolford]

To my mind, this is a very important issue as the kids of today are the future of our tomorrows.

Students suffer from Depression, Bullying

A survey has found that 11.6 percent of the student population in Panama suffers from depression and another 19.7 percent suffer from abuse and bullying.

The survey was done by the Gorgas Memorial Institute and surveyed students in 8th grade.

It was carried out in 46 public schools and involved 3,619 students.

Girls were more likely to suffer from depression, as almost 70 percent of those who reported feeling depression were female.

In addition, cases are higher in indigenous area.

With regard to the abuse and bullying, the study indicates that 2 of every 10 students are victims of bullying.

Male students are twice as likely to be victims of bullying, though women are far likelier to be victims of verbal abuse. This abuse is mainly delivered by their own classmates.

Aldacira Meza de Bradshaw, one of the researchers on the project, said that this is something without precedent in the country and shows that both depression and bullying are a reality.

The causes of both problems are multifactorial, but mainly "is reflection of the problems within families."

Meza Bradshaw pointed out that young people growing up in an incomplete family are more likely to suffer from depression.

http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Estudiantes-panamenos-expuestos-bullying-depresion_21_4500509907.html