Research & Statistics
A fantastic paper from The National Conference of State Legislators. Be sure to read the last part, Anti-Bullying Legislation in Colorado: A Conversation with Representative Don Lee, sponsor.
FightingCrime.com has recently completed a study showing that eliminating bullying will reduce crime. Another that says bullying leads to increase use of drugs and alcohol by teens.
Bullying begins in kindergarten according The Center for the Advancement of Health.
What we know about bullying prevention and intervention from the Washington Post.
American Medical Association on Childhood Bullying: Implications for Physicians Bullied Children at Risk of Depression, Antisocial Behavior
Coincidentally, the nations ONLY Watch-dog Organization “advocating for bullied children” was founded by one of our very own. Brenda High, born and raised in Logan, Utah, dedicated her life to the cause after her 13-year-old son took his life after being bullied.
Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education 526 U.S. 629 (1999)
In the United States, in 1991, “about one in four public school teachers rated physical conflicts among students as being a serious or moderately serious problem in their schools”.1 Judging by other surveys, they weren’t kidding.
In 1989, 3.4 percent of U.S. students in grades 6 through 12 responding to a national survey reported that they had been physically attacked at school during the previous six months. That number is lowered quite a bit by the inclusion of 12th graders, since only 1.2 percent of 12th graders reported being physically attacked. But 5.7 percent of 6th graders reported being physically attacked, and 5.4 percent of 7th graders did.2
In a similar survey in 1993, 4 percent of U.S. students in grades 6 through 12 reported having been physically attacked. 5% of middle school students reported having been physically attacked, and 3% of high school students did. 3
In 1995, these statistics had risen still further. A similar survey of 6th through 12th graders found that 4.2 percent reported that they had been physically attacked during the previous six months. Once again, 12th graders skewed the results, with only 1.7 percent of them reporting physical attacks. 6.7 percent of 6th graders reported experiencing physical attacks; 6.6 percent of 7th graders did.4
(One important caveat should be made. At least in the 1989 and 1995 surveys, students who reported both having been physically attacked and having had their property damaged or destroyed were counted only in the composite figures for physical attacks and property crimes (which were 14.5 percent in 1989 and 14.6 percent in 1995), and not in the specific physical-attack figures.)5
Those studies, which showed clearly that 12th graders are the least likely of all grades to experience — or at least to report — physical attacks in school, give all the more meaning to a study the University of Michigan has been doing for the past twenty years. According to U. Michigan researchers, the percentage of 12th graders who have reported that they had been purposely injured at school during the past year has been fluctuating for the past twenty-five years from a low of 15.5 percent in 1993 to a high of 20.7 in 1981.6
And these are just the reports of physical violence. Surveys of bullying — threats and harassment — show far higher percentages. In 1993, for instance, 17% of middle school students reported having been bullied, physically attacked, or robbed at school in the past six months, and 8% of senior high school students did.7
Footnotes
1. W. Mansfield, D. Alexander, and E. Farris, Fast Response Survey System: Teacher Survey on Title, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools, FRSS 42, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1991 (NCES 91-091), as quoted in Student Victimization at School. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1995 (NCS-95-204).
2. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, 1989 and 1995, as quoted in Nonfatal Student Victimization — Student Reports . U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1998.
3. Student Victimization At School . U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1998
4. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, 1989 and 1995, as quoted in Nonfatal Student Victimization — Student Reports. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1998.
5. Student Victimization . Subsection of Student Reports of School Crime: 1989 and 1995. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1998.
6. University of Michigan, Survey Research Center, Monitoring the Future Study, 1976 to 1996, as quoted in Nonfatal Student Victimization — Student Reports. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1998.
7. Student Victimization At School. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1998
Statistical Links
United States
Student Victimization At School – Results of a nationwide survey given in 1993 to students in 6th through 12th grade, web-published by the National Center For Education Statistics.
Student Strategies to Avoid Harm at School – Results of a nationwide survey given in 1993 to students in 6th through 12th grade, web-published by the National Center For Education Statistics.
Student Victimization – Specific statistics from the more general report Students’ Reports of School Crime: 1989 and 1995 , web-published by the National Center for Education Statistics
Bullies, Bullied Armed and Dangerous — Newspaper account of a 1998 WHO survey of 15,686 students in grades 6 through 10, web-published by CBS News.
Peer Groups Influence Early Adolescent Bullying Behavior — Press release about a 1999-2000 survey of 475 students at a rural middle school.
Schools Take Tough Look at Bullying — Newspaper article about the Seattle and King County segment of the bullying-related portions of the 2000 Washington State Survey of Adolescent Health Behaviors, which involved 19,500 students at 13 schools in Seattle and King County. Article by Nora Doyle for the Eastside Journal.
More than 11,000 Incidents of Assaults Against Students in Oklahoma Schools — Summary of reported data on bullying and assault from 501 of Oklahoma’s 544 school districts in 1999-2000. AP article, web-published by Shawnee Online.
Non-Fatal Student Victimization: Student Reports — 2000 report summarizing statistics from (in some instances) as far back as 1976. Web-published by the National Center for Education Statistics
Harassment a School Fixture — In a June 2001 survey of 2,064 students in grades 8 through 11, conducted by Harris Interactive for the AAUW, four out of five students said they had been sexually harassed by their schoolmates. Article by Jane Elizabeth for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
National Survey of Teens Shows Anti-Gay Bullying Common in Schools — Survey of 760 students aged 12 to 17, sponsored and web-published by the National Mental Health Association.
Bullying, Not Terrorist Attack, Biggest Threat Seen by U.S. Teens — Survey of 512 teens aged 12-17. Web-published by Join Together Online
Survey Finds Girls Worry as Much about Taunts as about Physical Violence — Online survey of 2,279 girls aged 8-17, conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute- in April 2003. Article by Monica L. Haynes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Bullying in Schools Pervasive, UCLA Study Finds — Newspaper report of a study of ~1900 sixth-graders in Los Angeles public schools. Article web-published by Eurekalert.
Study: Students Still Harassed Based On Sexual Orientation — Media account of a California report incorporating data from 2002 and 2003 surveys. Article web-published by NBC11.
Obesity and Bullying Linked — News article about a study of 5749 children. Article web-published by CBS.
National i-Safe Survey Finds Over Half of Students Are Being Harassed Online — Survey of 1566 students in grades 4 to 8. Press release by i-Safe.
Fear Strikes at School — Article by Christine Rook for the Lansing State Journal, referencing various CDC surveys.
16 percent of Forsyth students report bullying in 2003-04 — Article by Lisa Hoppenjans for the Journal Reporter about a survey of students in fifth, eighth and twelfth grades in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Bullies: Bad News — Article about a National Crime Prevention Council survey released in 2005. Web-published by WDEF.
Gay Students Face Hostile Environment, Report Says — A non-profit agency interviewed 75 current students and dropouts in New York City. Article by Ellen Yan for Newsday.
Canada
Bullying: Information for Parents and Teachers – Fact sheet produced by the London [Ont.] Family Court Clinic.
United Kingdom
Bullying in Scottish Secondary Schools — Report of a 1989 study by Andrew Mellor, web-published by the Scottish Council on Research in Education.
Bullying in Schools: Self-Reported Anxiety, Depression, and Self Esteem in Secondary School Children. — Survey of 904 students aged 12 to 17 from two schools, one inner-city, one rural, published 1998 in the BMJ, web-published by Findarticles.com.
Four in 10 Children Bullied – BBC news article reporting the results of a poll of 1000 U.K. children aged 7 to 16.
Bullying in School: Are Short Pupils at Risk? Questionnaire Study in a Cohort — Results of a questionnaire given to 92 short students and 117 controls. Article by Linda D. Voss, published by the British Medical Journal in March 2000, web-published by FindArticles.com.
‘Suicide Wish’ of Gay Bullying Victims — BBC news article reporting on a survey of the long-term results of bullying.
Report Reveals Widespread Bullying — BBC article about a survey of 2500 secondary school students in England and Wales. See also Bullying “Rife” in Schools, also web-published by the BBC.
Students Face Racial Harassment — BBC news article reporting the results of a survey conducted by the University of Ulster.
Bullied Children Are Picked On For Their Vulnerability — Letter to the editor of the British Medical Journal, published in April, 1999, reporting the results of two months’ data collection, in 1997, on students aged 8-14 who visited their school doctor or nurse for a health condition related to having been bullied. Data was collected on 97 students, the majority of whom were aged 11 or 12. Letter by Sonya Leff, web-published by FindArticles.com.
Control Freaks “Create Bully Victims” — Results of research drawn from three surveys and a series of one-to-one interviews conducted between 1996 and 2000, published by the young people’s charity Young Voice. Article web-published by the BBC.
Pupils Suffer Bullying “Misery” — In 2000, Childline received over 22,000 calls from children who were being bullied. Article web-published by the BBC.
Parents Should Discipline Bullies — A survey of 2433 adults in the UK found that 67% reported having been bullied by their schoolmates; 14% said that the bullying had been serious. Article web-published by the BBC.
Teachers Report More Lesson Disruptions According to a survey of 2500 teachers in England and Wales, 43% of teachers hear children threatening other children at least once a week. Article web-published by the BBC.
Teens Truant Over Face Jibes — BBC account of a 2002 survey of nearly a thousand students from the Bristol area.
New Research Dispels Popular Myth That a Bully’s Words Will Never Hurt You — Survey of 331 secondary school students in Britain, conducted by Dr. Stephen Joseph at the University of Warwick. Article web-published by EurekAlert
Report Reveals Extent of Homophobic Bullying — Survey of students in Northamptonshire. Article by Ben Townley for Gay.com UK.
Cornwall LEA Works with Schools to Tackle Text Bullying Problem — Article by the Cornwall County Council, web-published by eGov.
Australia
Bullying Behaviour and Psychosocial Health Among School Students in New South Wales, Australia: Cross-Sectional Survey – Results of a survey of 3918 pupils in years 6, 8 and 10. Article by Roberto Forero, published by the British Medical Journal in August 1999, web-published by FindArticles.com.
Anti-Bullying Policies Failing to Cut School Harassment — Survey of 200 Adelaide students in Years Eight and Nine. Article by Tanya Nolan for the ABC.
Brawling Girls Hit Statistics; Assaults Up in Tasmania — Article by Maria Rae for the Examiner.
New Zealand
Gay Insults Become Too Much to Bear — A 2001 survey of 821 students at 107 high schools found that one-fifth of them thought that gay or bisexual students would not feel safe at school. This news article also discusses a second survey, a series of interviews with 100 gay males aged 16-26. Article web-published by the New Zealand Herald.
Finland
Bullying, Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Finnish Adolescents: School Survey — Results of a survey of 16,410 students aged 14-16. Article by Riittakerttu Kaltiala-Heino, published by the British Medical Journal in August, 1999, web-published by FindArticles.com.
Germany
Bullying Takes on Epidemic Proportions in German Schools — Article by Ernest Gill for Monsters and Critics.
Japan
Japan’s Public Schools Grow More Violent — 40,374 violent incidents were reported in Japanese schools in the 2000-01 school year, a 10.4 increase from the previous year. Article web-published by the Japan Times.
Truant Kids Tend to Stay Away Up to Two Years, Study Finds — A survey of 3,400 parents or guardians of truants aged between 6 and 15 found that the children tend to remain out of school for eighteen months to two years. Article web-published by the Japan Times.
School Bullying on the Rise in Japan — 2003 statistics on bullying. Article by Hiroyuki Koshoji for the Washington Times.
Korea
AACAP: School Bullying a Risk Factor for Suicide in Korean Teens — A survey of 1,756 7th to 9th grade students. Abstract by Paula Moyer for Doctor’s Guide.
South Africa
Bullying Rife in FS Schools — Article web-published by News24.com.
