• Thirty percent (30%) of U.S. students in grades six through ten are involved in moderate or frequent bullying — as bullies, as victims, or as both — according to the results of the first national survey on this subject.
• Bullying is increasingly viewed as an important contributor to youth violence, including homicide and suicide. Case studies of the shooting at Colombine High School and other U.S. schools have suggested that bullying was a factor in many of the incidents.

RECENT STATISTICS SHOW THAT:

• 1 out of 4 kids is Bullied.  The American Justice Department says that this month 1 out of every 4 kids will be abused by another youth.  
• Surveys Show That  77%  of students are bullied mentally, verbally, & physically.
• In a recent study, 77% of the students said they had been bullied. And 14% of those who were bullied said they experienced severe (bad) reactions to the abuse.
• 1 out of 5 kids admits to being a bully, or doing some "Bullying."
• 8% of students miss 1 day of class per month for fear of Bullies.
• 43% fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
• 100,000 students carry a gun to school.
• 28% of youths who carry weapons have witnessed violence at home.
• A poll of teens ages 12-17 proved that they think violence increased at their schools.
• 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.
• More youth violence occurs on school grounds as opposed to on the way to school.
• Playground statistics - Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Adult intervention - 4%. Peer intervention - 11%. No intervention - 85%.

ACCORDING TO THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS - School Crime and Safety:

• 46% of males, and 26% of females reported they had been in physical fights.
• Those in the lower grades reported being in twice as many fights as those in the higher grades. However, there is a lower rate of serious violent crimes in the elementary level than in the middle or high schools.
• Teenagers say revenge is the strongest motivation for school shootings
  • — 87% said shootings are motivated by a desire to "get back at those who have hurt them."
  • — 86% said, "other kids picking on them, making fun of them or bullying them" causes teenagers to turn to lethal violence in the schools.
• Students recognize that being a victim of abuse at home or witnessing others being abused at home may cause violence in school.
  • — 61% said students shoot others because they have been victims of physical abuse at home.
  • — 54% said witnessing physical abuse at home can lead to violence in school.
• Students say their schools are not safe.

STATS 2001:
SELECTED SCHOOL VIOLENCE RESEARCH FINDINGS FROM 2001 SOURCES

• According to the latest poll, thirty-two percent of parents fear for their child’s physical safety when the child is at school. Thirty-nine percent of parents with a child in grade six or higher are more likely to say they fear for their child’s safety. Twenty-two percent of parents whose children are in grade five or lower fear for their child’s safety. (Parents Not Overly Concerned About School Environments for Their Children, Gallup News Service, 2001)
• Bullying generally begins in the elementary grades, peaks in the sixth through eight grades, and persists into high school. (Addressing the Problem of Juvenile Bullying, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2001)
• Among students, homicide perpetrators were more than twice as likely as homicide victims to have been bullied by peers. (School-Associated Violent Deaths in the United States 1994-1999, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, 2001; findings published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001)
• Overall, almost eleven percent of a representative sample of youth reported bullying others sometimes, and almost nine percent admitted to bullying others once a week or more. Experiencing bullying was reported with similar frequency, with almost nine percent bullied sometimes and just over eight percent bullied once a week or more. (Bullying Behaviors Among US Youth, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001)
• Of a representative sample of youth, almost thirty percent reported some type of involvement in moderate or frequent bullying, as a bully, a target of bullying, or both. (Bullying Behaviors Among US Youth, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001)
• Bullying was reported as more prevalent among males than females and occurred with greater frequency among middle school-aged youth than high school-aged youth. For males, both physical and verbal bullying was common, while for females, verbal bullying and rumors were more common. (Bullying Behaviors Among US Youth, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001)
• Research shows that those who bully and are bullied appear to be at greatest risk of experiencing the following: loneliness; trouble making friends; lack of success in school; and involvement in problem behaviors such as smoking and drinking. (Addressing the Problem of Juvenile Bullying, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2001)
• Seventy-four percent of 8 - to 11-year-old students said teasing and bullying occur at their schools. (Talking With Kids About Tough Issues: A National Survey of Parents and Kids, Kaiser Family Foundation and Nickelodeon, 2001)
• Though recent studies show that as many as seventy-five percent of children have been victims of bullying during their school careers, about half of parents in this survey see bullying as no problem for their children. (Are We Safe?: The 2000 National Crime Prevention Survey, National Crime Prevention Council, 2001)
• Thirty-nine percent of middle schoolers and thirty-six of high schoolers say they don’t feel safe at schools. (2000 Report Card: Report #1, The Ethics of American Youth: Violence and Substance Abuse: Data & Commentary, Josephson Institute of Ethics, 2001)

— North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Center for the Prevention of School Violence

Statistics compiled by Kathy Knoll at: http://hometown.aol.com/kthynoll

April 24, 2001 (National Institutes of Health)

Bullying Widespread in U.S. Schools, Survey Finds:

• Bullying is widespread in American schools, with more than 16 percent of U.S. school children saying they had been bullied by other students during the current term, according to a survey funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
• The study appears in the April 25, 2001, Journal of the American Medical Association. Overall, 10 percent of children said they had been bullied by other students, but had not bullied others. Another 6 percent said that they had both been bullied themselves and had bullied other children. Another 13 percent of students said they had bullied other students, but had not been bullied themselves.
• "Being bullied is not just an unpleasant rite of passage through childhood," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the NICHD. "It's a public health problem that merits attention. People who were bullied as children are more likely to suffer from depression and low self esteem, well into adulthood, and the bullies themselves are more likely to engage in criminal behavior later in life."
• The NICHD researchers surveyed 15,686 students in grades six-through-10, in public, parochial, and other private schools throughout the U.S. The nationally representative survey was part of the U.S. contribution to the World Health Organization's Health Behavior in School Children survey, an international effort in which many countries surveyed school-age children on a broad spectrum of health-related behaviors.
• For this study, researchers defined bullying as a type of behavior intended to harm or disturb the victim, explained the study's first author, Tonja R. Nansel, Ph.D. This behavior occurs repeatedly over time and involves an imbalance of power, with the more powerful person or group attacking the less powerful one, Dr. Nansel added. Bullying may be physical, involving hitting or otherwise attacking the other person; verbal, involving name-calling or threats; or psychological, involving spreading rumors or excluding a person.
• The children were asked to complete a questionnaire during a class period that asked how often they either bullied other students, or were the target of bullying behavior. A total of 10.6 percent of the children replied that they had "sometimes" bullied other children, a response category defined as "moderate" bullying. An additional 8.8 percent said they had bullied others once a week or more, defined as "frequent "bullying. Similarly, 8.5 percent said they had been targets of moderate bullying, and 8.4 percent said they were bullied frequently.
• Out of all the students, 13 percent said they had engaged in moderate or frequent bullying of others, while10.6 percent said they had been bullied either moderately or frequently. Some students-6.3 percent-had both bullied others and been bullied themselves. In all, 29 percent of the students who responded to the survey had been involved in some aspect of bullying, either as a bully, as the target of bullying, or both.
• Bullying occurred most frequently in sixth through eighth grade, with little variation between urban, suburban, town, and rural areas; suburban youth were 2-3 percent less likely to bully others. Males were both more likely to bully others and more likely to be victims of bullying than were females. In addition, males were more likely to say they had been bullied physically (being hit, slapped, or pushed), while females more frequently said they were bullied verbally and psychologically (through sexual comments or rumors).
• Regarding verbal bullying, bullies were less likely to make derogatory statements about other students' religion or race. "There seem to be stronger social norms against making these kinds of statements than against belittling someone about their appearance or behavior," Dr. Nansel said.
• Both bullies and those on the receiving end of bullying were more likely to have difficulty adjusting to their environment both socially and psychologically. Students who were bullied reported having greater difficulty making friends and poorer relationships with their classmates. They were also much more likely than other students to report feelings of loneliness.
• "It's likely that kids who are socially isolated and have trouble making friends are more likely to be targets of bullying," Dr. Nansel said. "In turn, other kids may avoid children who are bullied, for fear of being bullied themselves."
• The study authors also reported that bullies were more likely to be involved in other problem behaviors, such as smoking and drinking alcohol, and to do more poorly academically. However, youth who were both bullies and recipients of bullying tended to fare the most poorly of all, experiencing social isolation, as well as doing poorly in school and engaging in problem behaviors, like smoking and drinking.
• "Unfortunately, we don't know much about this group," Dr. Nansel said. "We need to learn more about them to provide them with the help they need." She added that it is not known whether these children are first bullied by others and then imitate the bullying behavior they experienced, or if they are bullies who were later retaliated against.
• The study's authors concluded that the prevalence of bullying in U.S. schools suggests a need for more research to understand, and devise ways to intervene against, bullying. The authors noted that researchers in Norway and England have shown that school intervention programs can be successful. These programs focused on increasing awareness of bullying, increasing teacher and parent supervision, establishing clear rules prohibiting bullying, and providing support and protection for those bullied.

The NICHD is part of the National Institutes of Health, the biomedical research arm of the federal government. The Institute sponsors research on development before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. NICHD publications, as well as information about the Institute, are available from the NICHD Web site, http://www.nichd.nih.gov, or from the NICHD Information Resource Center, 1-800-370-2943; e-mail NICHDInformationResourceCenter@mail.nih.gov.