A study published in the journal Pediatrics shows that people bullied by their older siblings tend to have clinical depression and harm themselves.

Lucy Bowes from Oxford University said victims of sibling bullying experienced being ignored by their older brothers and sisters or subjected to verbal and physical abuse.

Like Us on Facebook

Researchers based their data on children that took part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children back in the 1990s.

Back then, 7,000 children with an age of 12 years answered questionnaires that seeking to find out if they were bullied by their siblings.

When the children were 18 years old, they were assessed again to measure their mental health; their current feelings and self-harming behavior.

Of the 7,000 children that took part of the study, 786 children were bullied by their siblings several times a week.

On these children, 12.3 percent were said to be clinically depressed; 14 percent harmed themselves during the previous year and 16 percent reported anxiety.

Researchers also said that whether a child's a boy or a girl, the same mental health disorder still occurs.

Girls, however, tend to be bullied more than boys in a family where there were three or more children.

Older brothers tend to bully their younger siblings more. Bullied younger siblings said the bullying started at the age of eight.

Dieter Wolke from Warwick University said that when siblings bully their other siblings, there would be long-term consequences.

He reminds parents it's important to set clear rules in solving conflicts. Parents should also consistently intervene with their children repeatedly maltreat each other.