3.2 Million Students Are Bullied
National Statistics
Been Bullied
- 28% of U.S. students in grades 6–12 experienced bullying.2
- 20% of U.S. students in grades 9–12 experienced bullying.15
Bullied Others
- Approximately 30% of young people admit to bullying others in surveys.3
Seen Bullying
- 70.6% of young people say they have seen bullying in their schools.3
- 70.4% of school staff have seen bullying. 62% witnessed bullying two or more times in the last month and 41% witness bullying once a week or more.3
- When bystanders intervene, bullying stops within 10 seconds 57% of the time.16
Been Cyberbullied
- 9% of students in grades 6–12 experienced cyberbullying.2
- 15% of high school students (grades 9–12) were electronically bullied in the past year.16
- However, 55.2% of LGBTQ students experienced cyberbullying.17
Conclusive research has shown:
- Prevalence:
- Between 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 U.S. students say they have been bullied at school. Many fewer have been cyberbullied. See more prevalence statistics
- Most bullying happens in middle school. The most common types are verbal and social bullying.
RATE of SUICIDE AMONG CHILDREN BETWEEN 10-14 YEARS OLD DOUBLED
Since 2007, the rate of suicide deaths among children between the ages of 10 and 14 has doubled, according to new government data released Thursday.
The death rate data, published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, measured children’s fatalities due to motor vehicle traffic injury, homicide and suicide between the years 1999 and 2014.
Racial disparity emerges in rare child suicide rates
Conversely, the suicide death rates fluctuated from 1999 to 2007 but rose sharply after 2007. The lowest rate of suicide fatalities was 0.9 deaths per 100,000 kids in 2007, but that number doubled to 2.1, or 425 deaths, in 2014.
1 Gladden, R. M., Vivolo-Kantor, A. M., Hamburger, M. E., & Lumpkin, C. D. (2014). Bullying surveillance among youths: Uniform definitions for public health and recommended data elements, Version 1.0.Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease
2 Control and Prevention and US Department of Education.
National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics, School Crime Supplement – PDF , 2011.
3 Bradshaw, C.P., Sawyer, A.L., & O’Brennan, L.M. (2007). Bullying and peer victimization at school: Perceptual differences between students and school staff. School Psychology Review, 36(3), 361-382.
4 Espelage, D. L., Holt, M. K., & Henkel, R. R. (2003). Examination of peer-group contextual effects on aggression during early adolescence. Child Development, 74, 205-220.
5 Bradshaw, C.P., O’Brennan, L. & Sawyer, A.L. (2008). Examining variation in attitudes toward aggressive retaliation and perceptions of safety among bullies, victims, and bully/victims. Professional School Counseling, 12(1), 10-21.
6 American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force. (2008). Are zero tolerance policies effective in the schools? An evidentiary review and recommendations. American Psychologist, 63(9), 852-862.
7 Espelage, D.L., Green, H.D., & Polanin, J. (2012). Willingness to intervene in bullying episodes among middle school students: Individual and peer-group influences. Journal of Early Adolescence, 32(6), 776-801.
8 Farrington, D. P. & Ttofi, M. M. (2009). School-based programs to reduce bullying and victimization.Campbell Systematic Reviews, 6.
9 Boccanfuso C. & Kuhfeld M. (2011). Multiple responses, promising results: evidence-based nonpunitive alternatives to zero tolerance. Child Trends. http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2011_03_01_RB_AltToZeroTolerance.pdf. Published 2011. Last accessed September 2012.
10 Waasdorp, T. E., Bradshaw, C. P. & Duong, J. (2011). The link between parents’ perceptions of the school and their responses to school bullying: Variation by child characteristics and the forms of victimization. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(2), 324-335.
11 Waasdorp, T. E., Bradshaw, C. P., & Leaf, P. J. (2012). The impact of School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) on bullying and peer rejection: A randomized controlled effectiveness trial. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 116(2), 149-156.
12 Polanin, J., Espelage, D.L., & Pigott, T.D. (2012). A meta-analysis of school-based bullying prevention programs’ effects on bystander intervention behavior and empathy attitude. School Psychology Review, 41 (1).
13 Ttofi, M.M., Farrington, D.P. (2011). Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: a systematic and meta-analytic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology,7(1), 27-56.
14 Waasdorp, T. E., Bradshaw, C. P., & Leaf, P. J. (2012). The impact of School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) on bullying and peer rejection: A randomized controlled effectiveness trial. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 116(2), 149-156.
15 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System – PDF, 2013
16 Hawkins, D. L., Pepler, D., and Craig, W. M. (2001). Peer interventions in playground bullying. Social Development, 10, 512-527.
17 Kosciw, J. G., Greytak, E. A., Bartkiewicz, M. J., Boesen, M. J., & Palmer, N. A. (2012). The 2011 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools. New York: GLSEN.
18 Robinson, J.P., & Espelage, D.L. (2012). Bullying Explains Only Part of LGBTQ–Heterosexual Risk Disparities: Implications for Policy and Practice. Educational Researcher, 41, 309-319.
Content last reviewed on September 28, 2017
CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality Data;
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/deaths.htm.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6543a8.htm?s_cid=mm6543a8_w
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1286240/Bullying-linked-half-suicides-10–14-year-olds.html#ixzz53B17MZOD
http://www.bbc.com/news/10302550
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20620477/ns/health-mental_health/t/cdc-suicide-rate-jumps-kids-young-adults/#.WlF90lKZMUE
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/health/kids-suicide-deaths-increase/index.html