LOS ANGELES — Victims of bullying were more than twice as likely as other kids to contemplate suicide and about 2.5 times as likely to try to kill themselves, according to a new study that quantifies the emotional effects of being teased, harassed, beaten up or otherwise harmed by one’s peers.

Children and teens who were taunted by cyberbullies were especially vulnerable — they were about three times as likely as other youths to have suicidal thoughts, the study found.

The findings, published online Monday by the journal JAMA Pediatrics, puts the lie to the old adage about sticks and stones.

Experts believe that as many as 1 in 5 teens is involved in some type of bullying, and suicide is one of the leading causes of death among adolescents worldwide. So a team of Dutch researchers decided to investigate the link.

The three researchers scoured the medical literature to find studies published since 1910 that addressed suicide in connection with bullying, teasing, harassment and even “ragging.” Studies published in English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese and Lithuanian were considered.

In the end, they identified 34 reliable studies that addressed the issues of peer victimization and suicidal ideation. These studies included data on 284,375 people ages 9 to 21. The researchers calculated that kids who were bullied were 2.23 times as likely to think about killing themselves than kids who had not been victimized.