NCFY Recommends: Latest Statistics on Bullying at School

It seems as though every day we see tragic stories of bullied teens in the news. But what's the real extent of bullying among U.S. teens? The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics recently released “Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber Bullying: Results From the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey.” The report includes Web tables that show the relationship between bullying (and cyber-bullying) and other variables such as the reported presence of gangs, guns, drugs and alcohol at school; school security measures; and students' fearfulness, fighting, and weapon-carrying at school.

Key findings from the study include the following:

• More than one quarter of students ages 12 through 18 reported being bullied at school during the 2008-09 school year.
• The most common form of cyber bullying was threats or insults sent by text message. 
• Bullying often happens out in the open: Nearly half of students who were bullied said the bullying happened in a hallway or stairwell, and one-third said it happened in a classroom.