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Digest of Education Statistics
2015 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 231.10. Percentage of students in grades 9-12 who reported having been in a physical fight at least one time during the previous 12 months, by location and selected student characteristics: Selected years, 1993 through 2013
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Location and student characteristic 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Anywhere (including on school property)1                                                  
Total 41.8 (0.99) 38.7 (1.14) 36.6 (1.01) 35.7   (1.17) 33.2 (0.71) 33.0 (0.99) 35.9 (0.77) 35.5   (0.77) 31.5 (0.70) 32.8 (0.65) 24.7   (0.74)
                                                   
Sex                                                  
Male 51.2 (1.05) 46.1 (1.09) 45.5 (1.07) 44.0   (1.27) 43.1 (0.84) 40.5 (1.32) 43.4 (1.01) 44.4   (0.89) 39.3 (1.20) 40.7 (0.74) 30.2   (1.10)
Female 31.7 (1.19) 30.6 (1.49) 26.0 (1.26) 27.3   (1.70) 23.9 (0.95) 25.1 (0.85) 28.1 (0.94) 26.5   (0.99) 22.9 (0.74) 24.4 (0.92) 19.2   (0.72)
                                                   
Race/ethnicity2                                                  
White 40.3 (1.13) 36.0 (1.06) 33.7 (1.29) 33.1   (1.45) 32.2 (0.95) 30.5 (1.11) 33.1 (0.88) 31.7   (0.96) 27.8 (0.88) 29.4 (0.74) 20.9   (0.70)
Black 49.5 (1.82) 41.6 (1.99) 43.0 (1.92) 41.4   (3.12) 36.5 (1.60) 39.7 (1.23) 43.1 (1.74) 44.7   (1.33) 41.1 (1.71) 39.1 (1.52) 34.7   (1.67)
Hispanic 43.2 (1.58) 47.9 (2.69) 40.7 (1.68) 39.9   (1.65) 35.8 (0.91) 36.1 (0.98) 41.0 (1.64) 40.4   (1.25) 36.2 (0.95) 36.8 (1.44) 28.4   (1.15)
Asian3 (†) (†) (†) 22.7   (2.71) 22.3 (2.73) 25.9 (2.99) 21.6 (2.43) 24.3   (3.50) 18.9 (1.72) 18.4 (1.87) 16.1   (1.87)
Pacific Islander3 (†) (†) (†) 50.7   (3.42) 51.7 (6.25) 30.0 (5.21) 34.4 (5.58) 42.6   (7.74) 32.6 (3.50) 43.0 (5.14) 22.0   (4.95)
American Indian/Alaska Native 49.8 (4.79) 47.2 (6.44) 54.7 (5.75) 48.7   (6.78) 49.2 (6.58) 46.6 (6.53) 44.2 (3.40) 36.0   (1.49) 42.4 (5.23) 42.4 (2.12) 32.1   (7.39)
Two or more races3 (†) (†) (†) 40.2   (2.76) 39.6 (2.85) 38.2 (3.64) 46.9 (4.16) 47.8   (3.30) 34.2 (3.51) 45.0 (2.60) 28.5   (2.31)
                                                   
Grade                                                  
9th 50.4 (1.54) 47.3 (2.22) 44.8 (1.98) 41.1   (1.96) 39.5 (1.27) 38.6 (1.38) 43.5 (1.15) 40.9   (1.16) 37.0 (1.21) 37.7 (1.11) 28.3   (1.17)
10th 42.2 (1.45) 40.4 (1.49) 40.2 (1.91) 37.7   (2.11) 34.7 (1.37) 33.5 (1.20) 36.6 (1.09) 36.2   (1.34) 33.5 (1.19) 35.3 (1.35) 26.4   (1.42)
11th 40.5 (1.52) 36.9 (1.48) 34.2 (1.72) 31.3   (1.55) 29.1 (1.10) 30.9 (1.38) 31.6 (1.44) 34.8   (1.36) 28.6 (0.93) 29.7 (1.14) 24.0   (1.04)
12th 34.8 (1.56) 31.0 (1.71) 28.8 (1.36) 30.4   (1.91) 26.5 (1.01) 26.5 (1.08) 29.1 (1.26) 28.0   (1.42) 24.9 (0.99) 26.9 (0.95) 18.8   (1.19)
                                                   
Urbanicity4                                                  
Urban (†) (†) 38.2 (2.00) 37.0   (2.66) 36.8 (1.53) 35.5 (2.17) (†)   (†) (†) (†)   (†)
Suburban (†) (†) 36.7 (1.59) 35.0   (1.56) 31.3 (0.80) 33.1 (1.23) (†)   (†) (†) (†)   (†)
Rural (†) (†) 32.9 (2.91) 36.6   (2.14) 33.8 (2.58) 29.7 (1.61) (†)   (†) (†) (†)   (†)
                                                   
On school property5                                                  
Total 16.2 (0.59) 15.5 (0.79) 14.8 (0.64) 14.2   (0.62) 12.5 (0.49) 12.8 (0.76) 13.6 (0.56) 12.4   (0.48) 11.1 (0.54) 12.0 (0.39) 8.1   (0.35)
                                                   
Sex                                                  
Male 23.5 (0.71) 21.0 (0.90) 20.0 (1.04) 18.5   (0.66) 18.0 (0.74) 17.1 (0.92) 18.2 (0.93) 16.3   (0.60) 15.1 (1.05) 16.0 (0.58) 10.7   (0.55)
Female 8.6 (0.73) 9.5 (1.03) 8.6 (0.78) 9.8   (0.95) 7.2 (0.47) 8.0 (0.70) 8.8 (0.52) 8.5   (0.62) 6.7 (0.42) 7.8 (0.43) 5.6   (0.38)
                                                   
Race/ethnicity2                                                  
White 15.0 (0.68) 12.9 (0.62) 13.3 (0.84) 12.3   (0.86) 11.2 (0.60) 10.0 (0.73) 11.6 (0.66) 10.2   (0.56) 8.6 (0.58) 9.9 (0.51) 6.4   (0.45)
Black 22.0 (1.39) 20.3 (1.25) 20.7 (1.20) 18.7   (1.51) 16.8 (1.26) 17.1 (1.30) 16.9 (1.39) 17.6   (1.10) 17.4 (0.99) 16.4 (0.89) 12.8   (0.84)
Hispanic 17.9 (1.75) 21.1 (1.68) 19.0 (1.50) 15.7   (0.91) 14.1 (0.89) 16.7 (1.14) 18.3 (1.62) 15.5   (0.81) 13.5 (0.82) 14.4 (0.79) 9.4   (0.44)
Asian3 (†) (†) (†) 10.4   (0.95) 10.8 (1.92) 13.1 (2.26) 5.9 (1.53) 8.5   (1.99) 7.7 (1.09) 6.2 (1.06) 5.5   (1.39)
Pacific Islander3 (†) (†) (†) 25.3   (4.60) 29.1 (7.63) 22.2 (4.82) 24.5 (5.60) 9.6 ! (3.47) 14.8 (2.37) 20.9 (4.41) 7.1 ! (2.58)
American Indian/Alaska Native 18.6 (2.74) 31.4 (5.58) 18.9 (5.55) 16.2 ! (5.23) 18.2 (4.41) 24.2 (5.03) 22.0 (3.16) 15.0   (1.12) 20.7 (3.73) 12.0 (1.77) 10.7   (3.13)
Two or more races3 (†) (†) (†) 16.9   (2.40) 14.7 (1.97) 20.2 (3.83) 15.8 (2.61) 19.6   (2.39) 12.4 (2.19) 16.6 (1.41) 10.0   (1.04)
                                                   
Grade                                                  
9th 23.1 (1.55) 21.6 (1.79) 21.3 (1.29) 18.6   (1.02) 17.3 (0.77) 18.0 (1.24) 18.9 (0.93) 17.0   (0.67) 14.9 (0.98) 16.2 (0.77) 10.9   (0.78)
10th 17.2 (1.07) 16.5 (1.57) 17.0 (1.67) 17.2   (1.23) 13.5 (0.88) 12.8 (0.89) 14.4 (1.08) 11.7   (0.86) 12.1 (0.83) 12.8 (0.86) 8.3   (0.61)
11th 13.8 (1.27) 13.6 (1.00) 12.5 (0.87) 10.8   (1.01) 9.4 (0.71) 10.4 (0.89) 10.4 (0.75) 11.0   (0.73) 9.5 (0.63) 9.2 (0.55) 7.5   (0.53)
12th 11.4 (0.66) 10.6 (0.73) 9.5 (0.73) 8.1   (1.00) 7.5 (0.56) 7.3 (0.70) 8.5 (0.70) 8.6   (0.62) 6.6 (0.59) 8.8 (0.69) 4.9   (0.63)
                                                   
Urbanicity4                                                  
Urban (†) (†) 15.8 (1.50) 14.4   (1.08) 14.8 (0.90) 14.8 (1.31) (†)   (†) (†) (†)   (†)
Suburban (†) (†) 14.2 (0.95) 13.7   (0.86) 11.0 (0.75) 12.8 (1.23) (†)   (†) (†) (†)   (†)
Rural (†) (†) 14.7 (2.09) 16.3   (2.33) 13.8 (1.10) 10.0 (1.36) (†)   (†) (†) (†)   (†)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.
1 The term "anywhere" is not used in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) questionnaire; students were simply asked how many times in the past 12 months they had been in a physical fight.
2 Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
3 Before 1999, Asian students and Pacific Islander students were not categorized separately, and students could not be classified as Two or more races. Because the response categories changed in 1999, caution should be used in comparing data on race from 1993, 1995, and 1997 with data from later years.
4 Refers to the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) status of the respondent's household as defined in 2000 by the U.S. Census Bureau. Categories include "central city of an MSA (Urban)," "in MSA but not in central city (Suburban)," and "not MSA (Rural)."
5 In the question asking students about physical fights at school, "on school property" was not defined for survey respondents.
SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), 1993 through 2013. (This table was prepared June 2014.)

2015 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest