News

Nearly Two Thirds of Students Bullied in Past Month in Classroom

Despite the common misperception that bullying at school takes place only in unsupervised locations, new research suggests that the classroom setting is one of the places where bullying is the biggest problem.

The study, which was presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting, used anonymous online surveys conducted with more than 10,000 middle school students to look at where bullying takes place within schools.

Students reported being victims of many types of bullying behaviors. Within the most recent month, 43% had been physically bullied; 51% teased in an unfriendly way; 50% called hurtful names; 31% excluded from a group to hurt their feelings; 28% had belongings taken or broken; 39% had an unkind rumor spread about them; and 21% were threatened to be hurt. Additionally, 66% of the middle school students had been the victim of multiple bullying behaviors during the last month.

During the school year, 8% had skipped school at least once due to fear of others hurting or making fun of them. One out of every four students had skipped recess; not gone to the bathroom, lunch, or a class; pretended to be sick and went home; or avoided a hallway or some other place at school to get away from a bully.

The researchers found that the classroom, lunchroom, and hallways at school were the places where victimization was most prevalent (50% to 57% of all students in each of these settings) compared with all other areas where prevalence of victims was much lower (19% to 37%).

The researchers also found that being bullied in the classroom as compared with being bullied in other areas of the school was associated with a greater tendency among students to feel threatened and unsafe at school.

— Source: American Public Health Association