The U.S. Department of Education says 28 percent of students surveyed during the 2008–2009 school year reported they were victims of bullies on school property, which includes school buses, and 92 percent of those incidents involved violence.
However, the overall frequency of reported bullying incidents slightly decreased from the previously published report.
The National Center for Education Statistics released the findings Nov. 2 from its National Crime Victimization Survey: School Crime Supplement, 2009, which surveyed 4,300 students nationwide ranging in age from 12 to 18 on bullying and cyberbullying. Twenty-eight percent of students (nearly 30 percent of girls and about 27 percent of boys) reported they were bullied in school, compared to nearly 32 percent reported in the previous study of the 2006-2007 school year.
Six percent of the students reported they were the victims of cyberbullying.
Among students bullied at school, 40 percent reported the behavior occurred in a hallway or stairwell, and nearly 37 percent reported being bullied in a classroom. The survey notes that the reported bullying incidents can also occur on school buses as well as other school property, but no further breakdown was given as to the specific location of where those incidents occurred.
About 36 percent said a teacher or some other adult at school was notified of the bullying, compared to about 32 percent for cyberbullying. Nearly 11 percent of students who had been bullied said they feared another student would attack or harm them at school or on the way to and from school, compared to less than 2 percent who were not bullied. No information was provided as to how those students get to and from school.
Nineteen percent of the students said they were teased, called names or insulted in a hurtful way, and more than 16 percent said they were made the subject of rumors. When it came to physical violence, 9 percent reported they were pushed, shoved, tripped or spit on. Nearly 6 percent said they were threatened with harm, and 5 percent said they were purposely excluded by other students from participating in activities.
Rounding out the results for at-school bullying, nearly 4 percent said someone had forced them to do something they did not want to do, and more than 3 percent said they had their property purposely destroyed.
The survey also found the rate of bullying for students at school in grades 6 through 12 decreased as grade level increased, from more than 39 percent in grade 6, to 20 percent in grade 12.
