PEW RESEARCH CENTER STATISTICS:

Bullying is among parents’ top concerns for their children, according to a fall
2022 Center survey of parents with children under 18. About a third (35%) of
U.S. parents with children younger than 18 say they are extremely or very
worried that their children might be bullied at some point. Another 39% are
somewhat worried about this.

About half of U.S. teens (53%) say online harassment and online bullying
are a major problem for people their age, according to a spring 2022 Center
survey of teens ages 13 to 17.

Nearly half of U.S. teens have ever been cyberbullied, according to the 2022
Center survey of teens.

Older teen girls are especially likely to have experienced bullying
online, the spring 2022 survey of teens shows. 

White, Black and Hispanic teens have all encountered online bullying at
some point, but some of their experiences differ, the spring 2022 teens
survey found. For instance, 21% of Black teens say they’ve been targeted online
because of their race or ethnicity, compared with 11% of Hispanic teens and 4%
of White teens.

The classroom was the most common location of bullying that occurred at
school in 2019-2020, the BJS and NCES data shows. This was the case for
47% of students ages 12 to 18 who said they were bullied during that school
year. Other frequently reported locations included hallways or stairwells (39%),
the cafeteria (26%) and outside on school grounds (20%).

Fewer than half (46%) of middle and high schoolers who were bullied at
school in 2019-2020 said they notified a teacher or another adult about
it, according to the BJS and NCES data. Younger students were more likely to
tell an adult at school. Around half or more of sixth, seventh and eighth graders
said they did so, compared with 28% of 12th graders.

In 2021, high schoolers who are gay, lesbian or bisexual were about twice
as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to say they’d been bullied, both
at school and online, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

Bullying student and school characteristics: Among all students, the percentage
who reported being bullied during school, by selected student and school
characteristics: School year 2021–22

Percentage of students who were bullied Total 19.2

Sex
Male 16.7
Female 21.8

Race/ethnicity:
American Indian or Alaska Native 29.9
Asian 9.0
Black 17.0

Hispanic or Latino 16.4
White 21.6
Two or more races 30.1

Grade²
6th 26.9
7th 26.3
8th 25.1
9th 17.7
10th 15.8
11th 10.4
12th 14.8

Level⁵
Elementary 23.6
Middle 26.3
Secondary or high school 15.7
Other 15.6

Enrollment size
Fewer than 300 students 26.6
300–599 23.3
600–999 21.0
1,000–1,499 18.3
1,500–1,999 14.5
2,000 or more students 14.2

Sector
Public 0.79
Private 2.01
Catholic 4.04
Other religious 4.74