The psychological scarring caused by schoolyard bullying is the equivalent to the damage caused by child abuse, according to a 10-year study of more than 3000 NSW high school students. The study found one in five school children had suffered psychological damage from bullying at school and that schools are not doing enough to protect and support children from bullying. Study author Dr Jean Healey, an educational psychologist from the University of Western Sydney, surveyed the students from four Sydney public and private high schools. "The problem of peer physical abuse in schools was found to be very comparable to the levels of physical abuse in child abuse data (obtained from the NSW Child Protection Council)," Dr Healey said. "It is clear young people are being physically abused to a much greater extent than is currently acknowledged." A Dubbo registered psychologist said there was a "definite" parallel in the damage caused by child abuse and schoolyard bullying and said the long-term effects could not be underestimated. "If the bullying or the abuse is bad enough it remains with a child for a long, long time and can lead to depression or even suicide," he said. While schoolyard bullying has gone on "for ever and a day" the nature and intensity had evolved, he said. "SMS and internet chat rooms are two methods of bullying you obviously wouldn't have seen five or 10 years ago," he said. "Technology has changed the methods and the levels of bullying." He said young girls were often the worst perpetrators. "I found professionally that girls, about the ages of 12, 13 and 14 are very good, they form groups and gang up on one person and make their life a living hell in whatever way they can," he said. He refuted the study's assertion that teachers weren't doing enough to protect students by failing to file a mandatory report with police after every serious case. "Teachers are often very aware of it and they take the appropriate steps but in many cases it goes undiscovered because if a kid approaches a teacher about it, it may further increase the chances of being bullied again," he said. Dr Healey said schoolyard bullying and child abuse had "striking similarities" in the psychological impact, the power relationship between victim and abuser and access to professionals who can intervene on their behalf. Child abuse data showed that 36 per cent of abuse carried out on children up to the age of 17 was of a physical nature. "In comparison, 33.3 per cent of males and 15 per cent of females from our bullying survey said they had endured physical abuse," Dr Healey said.