Halloween is just around the corner. But did you know that October is also Bullying Prevention Month? Now is the perfect time to examine how bullying has evolved in schools. For example, this case of a boy being bullied about his Halloween costume highlights how easily an occasion that should be festive can turn into one of bullying. While data from the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, reports that bullying has gone down in recent years, it still has serious negative impacts on educators, parents, and especially students, Study.com reports.
Methodology: Study.com investigated NCES data to get a clearer picture of how bullying has changed from 2004 to 2022. The data shows significant shifts by school type, grade level, and urban vs. rural settings. Understanding these patterns can help educators and policymakers better target prevention efforts and create safer environments for students. Additional data comes from NIH and Today.com.
The percentage of students aged 12-18 who report bullying has seen a general decline over the past two decades. In the 2004-05 school year, for example, 28.5% of students reported being bullied. In the 2006-07 school year, this figure peaked at 31.7%. The percentage of students reporting being bullied steadily dropped, eventually falling to 19.2% by the 2021-22 school year. The largest decrease, however, occurred between 2010-11 and 2012-13, when rates fell from 27.8% to 21.5%.
The most reported types of bullying in 2022 were being the subject of rumors (13%) and being made fun of, called names, or insulted (12%).
The gradual decrease in bullying may suggest that anti-bullying campaigns and interventions have started to work. However, this trend obscures important differences across demographics, school types, and regions.
Both male and female students have reported fewer bullying incidents over the last two decades. However, female students consistently report higher rates overall. 27.5% of male students and 29.7% of female students reported being bullied during the 2004-05 school year. By the 2021-22 school year, those numbers had dropped to 16.7% for male and 21.8% for female students. The largest reported decrease in bullying occurred after the 2010-11 school year, when rates dropped from 31.4% to 23.7%.
Despite these declines, female students still face higher levels of bullying, which may reflect differences in how bullying manifests for boys and girls, with social and emotional forms of bullying more commonly reported by girls.
The locations where bullying occurs have remained largely consistent, with certain school areas more prone to incidents than others. Hallways and stairwells are consistently reported as the most common places where bullying takes place, followed by classrooms and outside on school grounds.
Bullying rates differ by school location. In 2021-2022, 23.8% of students in rural schools reported being bullied, compared to 19.0% in urban schools and 16.8% in suburban schools.
A student's geographic location may also influence where bullying happens:
Bullying varies significantly between public and private schools, as well as urban, suburban, and rural settings. Public schools tend to have more consistent bullying reports across all locations, while private schools—especially Catholic and nonsectarian schools—show higher variability. This could be due to differences in student population sizes, school culture, or reporting practices.
Bullying tends to be more common in lower grades, particularly in middle school, before tapering off in high school.
While bullying rates have generally declined, there are clear hotspots—both physical locations within schools and specific demographic groups—that still require attention. Hallways, stairwells, and classrooms remain the most common sites for bullying, and female students, rural students, and those in middle school are disproportionately affected.
Moving forward, targeted bullying prevention programs should focus on improving supervision in these common bullying areas and providing specialized interventions for the most affected groups. With more consistent anti-bullying efforts, particularly in areas with the highest rates of variability, such as private and rural schools, the hope is that bullying rates can continue to decline.
Understanding where and how bullying happens is crucial to crafting effective prevention strategies. With this knowledge, schools can take the next steps to ensure that all students feel safe and supported—whether it's Halloween or any other day of the year.
This story was produced by Study.com and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.
