Data from the School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey, a nationally representative sample survey of students ages 12 through 18, were used to examine changes in reports of bullying and being called hate-related words at school. The SCS study is completed every other year. Data from five consecutive surveys are included in this report: school years 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2010–2011, 2012–2013, and 2014–2015.1 The SCS asks students whether they were bullied or called hate-related words in the school building, on school property, on the school bus, or going to or from school. Specifically, students were asked to report if they were made fun of, called names, or insulted; were the subject of rumors; were threatened with harm; were pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; were pressured into doing things they did not want to do; were excluded from activities on purpose; or had property destroyed on purpose. Students are separately asked whether anyone called them an insulting or bad name at school having to do with their race, religion, ethnic background or national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation (hate-related words).
FIGURE 1. Percentage of students ages 12 through 18 who reported being bullied or called a hate-related word at school, by year: School years 2006–07 through 2014–15
NOTE: "Bullied" includes students being made fun of, called names, or insulted; being the
subject of rumors; being threatened with harm; being pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on;
being pressured into doing things they did not want to do; being excluded from activities on
purpose; and having property destroyed on purpose. "At school" includes the school building,
school property, school bus, or going to and from school. Tabular data for percentages are
available in table 11.5 at
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017064.pdf.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School
Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 2007, 2009,
2011, 2013, and 2015.
The percentage of students ages 12 through 18 who reported being bullied and/or called a hate-related word at school was significantly lower in 2015 than in 2007, 2009, and 2011 (figure 1).
- In 2007, some 31.7 percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported being bullied at school. In 2015, the percentage was 20.8 percent.
- Significant decreases in the proportion of students ages 12 through 18 who reported that they had been bullied at school occurred between 2007 and 2009, and again between 2011 and 2013.
- In 2007, some 9.7 percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported being called a hate-related word at school. In 2015, the percentage was 7.2 percent.
- A significant decrease in the proportion of students ages 12 through 18 who reported that they had been called a hate-related word at school occurred between 2011 and 2013, as well as between 2011 and 2015.
Data in this report are from version 1 of the 2015 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, a nationally representative sample survey of students ages 12 through 18. To learn more about the survey, visit: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/crime. For questions about content or to download additional copies, go to: https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
FIGURE 2. Among students ages 12 through 18 who reported being bullied at school, percentage reporting being bullied almost every day and percentage telling an adult about being bullied: School years 2006–07 through 2014–15
NOTE: "Bullied" includes students being made fun of, called names, or insulted; being the subject of rumors; being threatened with harm; being pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; being pressured into doing things they did not want to do; being excluded from activities on purpose; and having property destroyed on purpose. “At school” includes the school building, school property, school bus, or going to and from school. Tabular data for percentages and their standard errors are available at https://nces.ed.gov/programs/crime/crime_tables.asp.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015.
In addition to the decrease in the overall percentage of students reporting they had been bullied, between 2007 and 2015, the percentage of bullied students who reported that they had been bullied most frequently (almost every day) also decreased, while the percentage reporting that they had told a teacher or other adult about being bullied increased (figure 2).
- Among students who reported they were bullied, the percentage who said the frequency of bullying was “almost every day” decreased from 6.6 percent in 2007 to 4.2 percent in 2015.
- The percentage of bullied students who indicated that they reported to a teacher or another adult at school about being bullied increased from 36.1 percent in 2007 to 43.1 percent in 2015.
Endnote
1 Data from the 2015 SCS is restricted to version 1 of the survey. For more information on the version development and administration of the 2015 SCS survey, see Lessne, D., and Cidade, M. (2017). Methodology Report: Split-Half Administration of the 2015 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey(NCES 2017-004). U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved April 13, 2017, from https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
This NCES Data Point presents information on education topics of current interest. It was authored by Deborah Lessne and Christine Yanez of Synergy Enterprises, Inc. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling variability. All differences discussed in this report are statistically significant at the .05 level. In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error.
