SOME 40 per cent of nine year olds in the State say they have been the victim of bullying in the past year, according to research published yesterday.
However, the research found that in many instances parents are not aware of the bullying.
The findings are contained in the first comprehensive report from Growing Up in Ireland, the Government-funded national longitudinal study of children in the State.
It notes that although 40 per cent of children reported they were the victim of bullying, only 24 per cent of their mothers indicated this to be the case. The view of the mothers was noted because it was the predominant one in interviews with parents.
Boys and girls experienced similar rates of victimisation.
A significantly higher proportion of children from single- parent families, with one or two children, reported having been bullied (47 per cent) than children from two-parent families, with three or more children (37 per cent).
But social class did not seem to play a part.
The most common forms of bullying reported by children were being verbally bullied (74 per cent), followed by exclusion (63 per cent) and physical bullying (54 per cent). Bullying via written messages (14 per cent) and electronic means (5 per cent) were less prominent.
Verbal bullying was most common among boys, while bullying by exclusion was most common among girls.
Some 10 per cent of the children overall reported they were both bullies themselves as well as victims of bullying.
Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews said the high rates of bullying reported were of concern. He said the Department of Education and Science had guidelines on countering bullying behaviour in schools and more recently he had met the Cellular Industry Association to urge it to take action on cyberbullying.
A total of 8,500 nine year olds were interviewed for the research, as well as their families, teachers, school principals and other significant carers. The children will be followed up again at age 13 years.
The report also looks at the family structure of nine year olds, as well as their health and education and many other aspects of their lives.
It found just over 82 per cent of the nine year olds live in two-parent households, with about one in five living in lone-parent families.
Nearly one-fifth of children living with their mothers only, never had contact with non-resident fathers. And 51 per cent of these mothers reported non-resident fathers did not make any financial contribution to the upbringing of their child, while 55 per cent of non-resident fathers had no custody arrangement in relation to their child.
Some 20 per cent of children, who didn’t have any contact with non-resident fathers, lived within 30 minutes of their father.
Almost all nine year olds were reported by their mothers to be in good health. Children from professional/managerial backgrounds were significantly more likely to be rated as healthy (76 per cent), compared with those from semi-skilled/unskilled manual backgrounds (69 per cent). Rates of GP visits were highest among girls and among those with full medical cards.
Some headline data from the report was published in July, including details of obesity levels among nine year olds. It found 19 per cent were overweight and 7 per cent were obese.