School Climate & Safety Report Roundup

Research Report: Bullying

By The Associated Press — November 02, 2010 1 min read
A portrait of Sladjana Vidovic, whose 2008 suicide was said to have been prompted by bullying, sits in the living room of her family's home in Mentor, Ohio.
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Half of high school students say they’ve bullied someone in the past year, and nearly half say they’ve been the victim of bullying, according to a national study.

The survey released last week by the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics asked more than 43,000 high school students whether they’d been physically abused, teased, or taunted in a way that seriously upset them. Forty-three percent said yes, and 50 percent admitted to being the bully.

The institute’s president, Michael Josephson, said the study shows more bullying goes on at later ages than previously thought and remains extremely prevalent through high school.

“Previous to this, the evidence was bullying really peaks in middle school,” Josephson said.

The study reports responses from 43,321 high school students from around the country, and the margin of error is less than 1 percent.

A version of this article appeared in the November 03, 2010 edition of Education Week as Bullying

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