Bullying Fast Facts
An estimated 160,000 children miss school every day out of fear of attack or intimidation by other students. (National Education Association, 1995)
About 20 percent of Anoka-Hennepin (Minn.) students said they had been bullied. Boys and girls reported that they had experienced bullying in about the same numbers. The survey also revealed that Anoka-Hennepin minority students felt less safe than white students. (Anoka-Hennepin District 11, Minnesota, 2004 survey of students in grades 4, 6 ,8, and 10)
Some 69 percent of 7- to 12-year-old rural Minnesotans said there were bullies in their town. More than 50 percent said they had been picked on by these bullies. (Downloaded Aug. 24, 2006, at www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/families/BF923.html)
One out of every 10 students who drops out of school does so because of repeated bullying. (Oklahoma Health Department, 2001)
Victims of bullying are more likely to suffer physical problems such as common colds and coughs, sore throats, poor appetite, and night waking. (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003)
Cyber (electronic) Bullying Statistics:
- 42 percent of children have been bullied while online. One in 4 have had it happen more than once.
- 35 percent of children have been threatened online. Nearly 1 in 5 have had it happen more than once.
- 58 percent of children admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than 4 out of 10 say it has happened more than once.
- 53 percent of children admit having said something mean or hurtful to another person online. More than 1 in 3 have done it more than once.
- 58 percent of children have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.
- (Cyber bullying statistics are based on a 2004 i-SAFE survey of 1,500 students grades 4-8)
More Bullying Facts:
- Bullying is the most common form of violence; between 15 percent and 30 percent of students are bullies or victims. Some 3.7 million youth engage in it, and more than 3.2 million are victims of bullying annually.
- Since 1992, there have been 250 violent deaths in schools, and bullying has been a factor in virtually every school shooting.
- Direct, physical bullying increases in elementary school, peaks in middle school, and declines in high school. Verbal abuse, on the other hand, remains constant.
- More than two-thirds of students believe that schools respond poorly to bullying, with a high percentage of students believing that adult help is infrequent and ineffective.
- 25 percent of teachers see nothing wrong with bullying or putdowns and consequently intervene in only 4 percent of bullying incidents.
(Cohn & Cantor, 2003; Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association, 2002)
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©2006 PACER Center. Reprinted with permission.
PACER's National Center for Bullying Prevention promotes bullying awareness, teaches effective ways to respond to bullying, and prevents bullying of all children, especially those with disabilities.