Most children exposed to bullying (more than 90%) did not engage in self harm. Therefore, we tested which factors discriminated between bullied children who self harmed and bullied children who did not (table 2). For both mothers’ and children’s reports, bullied children who engaged in self harming behaviours were significantly more likely to have a family member who had attempted/completed suicide and to have been physically maltreated by an adult. They were also more likely to present with conduct disorder, borderline personality characteristics, depression, and psychotic symptoms than were bullied children who did not self harm.
