Children who are the victim of bullying are at a higher risk of suffering from sleep disturbances.

Although many of these victims suffer in silence, there may be a way to identify these children before they develop severe anxiety, depression and psychotic episodes that may lead to suicide.

A team of researchers from the University of Warwick in the UK analyzed a group of children to determine how significant nightmares and other sleep disturbances are as a symptom of bullying.

Lead author Suzet Tanya Lereya, PhD, research fellow at University of Warwick, and Dieter Wolke, PhD, professor of developmental psychology and individual differences at University of Warwick, looked at data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

Of the children enrolled at birth, 6,438 were interviewed at ages 8 and 10 years to discuss bullying, then again at the age of 12 years about sleep disturbances, including nightmares, sleep walking and night terrors.

The study found that 24.2 percent of the 12-year-olds interviewed suffered nightmares, 12.6 percent reported sleep walking, 9.3 percent had night terrors, and 36 percent reported at least one parasomnia-related 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. 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,” said Dr. Wolke in a statement.

The findings of the study were presented at the 2014 Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Vancouver, BC, Canada.