By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
A study indicates bullying in schools has been falling off among sixth through 10th graders. At the National Institutes of Health, researcher Jessamyn Perlus looked at trends in national survey data, comparing numbers in 1998 to 2010.
“Bullying in schools decreased. We had a rate of about 16.5 percent to 7 percent in 2010.”
She says victimization also went down, as did physical fighting.
The study was not designed to look for reasons, but Perlus notes things like new state laws requiring school policies against bullying, and new anti-bullying campaigns. She also notes there is more support for students, who now can get help when they are victims of bullying.
The study was in the American Journal of Public Health.
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HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss