
October is National Bullying Prevention Month
If you know a young person who has experienced bullying or cyberbullying, National Bullying Prevention Month is a great opportunity to share resources. PACER (Parents Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights), a non-profit parent training and information center, created National Bullying Prevention Month as a way to promote awareness of the issue. PACER provides a wealth of information on bullying, designed for kids and teens that are experiencing bullying, exhibiting bullying behavior, or witnessing bullying – and want to make it stop.
Stopbullying.gov is another great resource, as well as the free KnowBullying App. You can also search our database of citations for more peer-reviewed articles on this subject like the three selected articles below.
- Does bullying victimization really influence adolescents’ psychosocial problems?
An observational study in China published in 2019 tracks subjects over 18 months and shows that children with psychosocial problems were more likely to be victims of bullying but that bullying victimization did not predict such problems.
- Analyzing news media coverage of bullying and cyberbullying
An analysis uses natural language processing to find that news articles about cyberbullying tend to use more anxiety- and fear-based language than bullying articles, and about half of either category use public-health-related language.
- Studying homophobic bullying and cyberbullying
A 2018 Spanish study finds that half of non-heterosexual secondary school student participants report bullying victimization, and a fifth report cyberbullying. These rates are significantly higher than their heterosexual peers.
Also, below are some older articles from our legacy Database of Research (DoR):
- Bullying can affect the mental health of young people
The results of this cross-sectional survey study indicate that about 50% of students reported being exposed to bullying. The study also suggests that both non-supportive school environments and poor self-image are risk factors for being subjected to bullying behavior.
- Information on cyber safety and adolescent girls
This article reviews evidence from numerous studies on cyber safety. It concludes that adolescent girls are often pressured into sexting and are most at risk for the adverse effects and dangerous consequences. Although some interventions exist to contend with this issue, more development is needed.
- Family support can moderate mental health effects of cyberbullying
This study investigates the relationship between cyberbullying, victim mental health, and family support systems. Over 18,000 teens were surveyed. The results identify the relationship between victimization and mental health issues but indicate that strong family support has an important effect on improving coping skills, thus lessening that relationship.