In the United States, bullying remains a serious problem among teens. Although associations between bullying and health risk behaviors are well-documented, research on bullying and education-related outcomes, such as school attendance, is limited.
CDC researchers used the 2013 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to examine associations between bullying victimization and missing school because of safety concerns. Given increasing attention to electronic bullying, this study considered in-person bullying at school, electronic bullying, and the co-occurrence of both types of bullying.
What does the research say?
About one-quarter of high school students experienced bullying during the past 12 months. Among bullied students, 15.5% missed one or more days of school because of safety concerns during the past 30 days. This is equivalent to 600,000 of the more than 16 million enrolled secondary students in 2011-2012. Only 4.1% of students who had not been bullied missed school because of safety concerns.
What can education agencies do?
As state and local education agencies work to prevent bullying, they can:
• Share this information. By highlighting a potential education-related consequence of bullying, these data can help inform bullying prevention.
• Address electronic bullying. Even though electronic bullying may occur beyond school boundaries, this type of bullying may contribute to absenteeism.
• Respond to co-occurring types of bullying. Students experiencing multiple types of bullying may be more likely to miss school.
• Partner with health professionals. Because bullying is related to both health and education outcomes, there is opportunity for collaboration.
For more information, visit: www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth