October is National Bullying Prevention Month and YouthTruth’s recent report, The Anti-Bullying Report: Lessons from Students and Principals on Belonging, Respect and Safer Schools, sheds light on students’ experiences at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
It also includes real-world examples and resources for local educational agencies looking to address the issue through strategies like building young people’s sense of belonging on their campuses and fostering responsive school cultures.
“This series urges policymakers, school board members, principals, educators, and parents to come together — listening to and collaborating with students, tailoring approaches to each grade span, and keenly tuning into the experiences of the most vulnerable,” the report states. “Deterrence and punishment alone are not enough to create inclusive and safe schools; lasting change will hinge on building school cultures where safety and belonging are non-negotiable, guided by the insights of those who know schools best: students.”
The report draws on the results of YouthTruth’s 2024–25 student experience survey, which garnered responses from 62,616 elementary, 56,881 middle and 92,284 high school students spanning 11 states, including California.
Elementary findings
At the elementary level (grades 3-5), YouthTruth concluded that students who have feelings of belonging and are academically challenged are less likely to be bullied. However, only 34 percent consistently feel they’re an important part of their school community. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed said they had been bullied or harassed by their peers in the last year.
The rate of bullying decreased as students got older, dropping from 39 percent in third grade to 37 percent in fourth grade and 33 percent in fifth grade.
“Student reports show that bullying in elementary school is often rooted in a lack of respect for differences in appearance, ability, and identity,” according to the report. “As such, addressing bullying at this stage means tackling the ways bias and exclusion show up in the everyday experiences of some of our youngest learners.”
A “help-seeking gap” was observed between elementary students, as they are more likely to report bullying to adults at home (81 percent) than at school (69 percent). The gap is wider for students of color. Overall, 24 percent of elementary students don’t report bullying at all to an adult.
Middle school findings
Like their younger counterparts, among middle schoolers, youth who have a sense of belonging are less likely to indicate they are bullied. Forty-five percent of middle schoolers surveyed reported feeling this way. Belonging was highest among sixth graders (52 percent) and declined in seventh (43 percent) and eighth grade (41 percent).
Bullying impacts one in four youth, according to the survey, decreasing slightly as students progress by year, for rates of 27 percent in grade 6, 26 percent in grade 7 and 25 percent in grade 8.
“An inclusive school culture where students feel they belong is a powerful shield against bullying, but not all students experience that protection equally,” according to the report. “Those whose identities sit outside mainstream norms report weaker belonging and, in turn, higher bullying rates. The burden is heaviest for LGBTQ+ and gender-nonconforming students.”
Students in grades 6-8 were the most likely to be the subject of bullying due to how they look (76 percent), their race or skin color (30 percent) or for their presumed sexual orientation (26 percent), the survey found.
The survey results also determined that “When middle school students consistently see adults at school treating people from different backgrounds with respect, reported bullying rates drop — but Black and non-binary students are significantly less likely than their peers to report witnessing such modeling.”
High school findings
In the high school years, experiencing bullying almost doubles students’ risk of dropping out, as 14 percent of students who haven’t been bullied say they’ve considered dropping out compared to 27 percent of those who have been bullied.
Once again, respondents indicated that belonging protects against bullying, but only 42 percent of students feel they are a part of the school community. No student group had a rate of 50 percent or higher.
By grade level, 17 percent of ninth graders, 16 percent of 10th graders, 14 percent of 11th graders and 12 percent of 12th graders reported experiencing bullying. Non-binary, LGBTQ+ and students accessing special education services were more likely to be bulled than their peers.
“When high school students consistently see adults treat people from different backgrounds with respect, reported bullying rates drop — yet perceptions of that respect vary significantly by race and gender,” the report found.
