We are all aware of the fact that bullying is a major problem faced by kids all over the world, but we are not fully aware of the extent of damage this problem causes to our kids, not only in the short run but also in the long run. Child experts and youth academicians are showing a lot of interest in bullying lately. It may be because of its diverse impact on kid’s physical health, emotional wellbeing, future life, education etc. We have managed to collect recent bullying facts after scanning the existing literature in order to play our part in bullying prevention by spreading awareness. Read these facts and share them with other parents to uproot this menace for good.

The Numbers Reaches Millions

According to a NASP fact sheet released in 2014, every year more than 3.2 million students become the victim of bullying. In another study, it was revealed that 83% of girls and 79% of boys experience bullying at least once in their student life. According to an article published in The Washington Post, 17% of total students in the United States have reported getting bullied twice a month, and sometimes even more.

Bullying Linked to Truancy

If your kid skips school on a frequent basis, then you must get to the root of the problem. We advise this because a recent study done by The National Education Association revealed that bullying is one of the leading causes behind truancy. It was found in the study that roughly 160,000 kids skip school every day just because of the fear of getting bullied. According to a report by UCEA.org, one in every 10 students is expelled or taken out of school because of showing bullying behavior repeatedly.

Teachers Rarely Intervene

Teachers are supposed to be protecting the kids from bullying, especially if bullying incidents are taking place right under their nose. According to a study named “Bullying: Facts for Schools and Parents”, 1 out of every 4 teachers are perfectly okay with the idea of bullying and they do not consider it dangerous. Not only this, these teachers do not bother to interfere in the matter 60% of the times, which gives confidence to the bullies, and therefore they keep on repeating this behavior.

Schools Do Not Handle Bullying Very Well

Most schools claim that they have a strict policy against bullying when the reality is very different. According to a fact sheet created by National Association of School Psychologists, more than 67% of the school students are of the view that their schools do not offer enough protection against bullying. Most of these students also pointed out the fact that adults rarely help them in avoiding bullying, and even if they do help, then still it is ineffective. In other words, kids are mostly on their own when it comes to bullying.

Boys Do Not Show Empathy towards Bullying Victims

According to a study by Australian Council for Educational Research, boys stop showing empathy towards the victims of bullying as they grow older. In fact, it was also mentioned that older boys add to the problem by starting to tease the victims instead of protecting them from the bullies.

Bullying Follows Kids to Their Homes

It is a general conception that bullying mostly takes place at schools. However, recent studies reveal that it follows kids to their homes and to their very rooms. There has been an increase in the rate of cyberbullying in the last few years. In one study, 40% of the kids disclosed that they were threatened online more than once.

Bullying Follows Kids into Adulthood

According to the bullying statistics 2014, majority of the bullies who adopt this behavior at a younger age tend to be abusive and violent later in their life. 40% of the bullies go to prison for at least 3 times before reaching their thirties.

It is clear from the above-mentioned studies that schools and teachers are failing to fight against bullying. Right now, we have to work together for the sake of our kids’ better today and tomorrow.