A recent study by WalletHub shows California leads the nation when it comes to bullying incidents in schools, despite having the most anti-bullying laws in the nation. The study showed California also had the most physical fights among students in the nation. In addition, the Golden State also topped the list regarding the highest cost of truancy for schools due to bullying.
WalletHub undertook this study after schools returned to in-person instruction this fall. The study measured the prevalence and prevention of bullying in 47 states and the District of Columbia to help bring awareness to its harmful effects on students and society. The study examined each state based on 20 key metrics ranging from “bullying incident rate” to “truancy costs for schools” to “share of high school students bullied online.”
A Dangerous Problem
A child is bullied every seven minutes in the United States. Meanwhile, studies also show that only four in 100 adults will intervene, and only 11% of the child’s peers may do the same. The other 85%, we know, will do nothing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 19% of students in grades 9 to 12 said they were bullied on school property in the previous 12 months.
Nearly 15% of students surveyed said they were bullied on the Internet. While bullying can happen in different forms, using smartphones has opened up new ways of bullying and for perpetrators to hide behind the anonymity of the Internet.
In addition to the emotional, physical, and psychological toll bullying takes on victims, it also has adverse socioeconomic effects. According to the Association for Psychological Science, bullies and their victims are more likely to experience struggles, including poverty, job loss, and academic failure in adulthood than those who didn’t bully and weren’t bullied. Even schools take a financial hit from bullying as they could lose millions of dollars in attendance-based funding because students stay home to avoid bullying.
Liability Issues
School officials are responsible for preventing bullying and intervening when they see a student being bullied. If your child has been physically and/or emotionally affected by bullying on campus, please get in touch with our top-rated California personal injury lawyer to obtain more information about your child’s rights.
Source: https://wallethub.com/edu/e/best-worst-states-at-controlling-bullying/9920
