Bullying can have lasting impacts on everyone involved: the person being bullied; bystanders who witness the bullying; and the person who bullies others. In fact, bullying is considered an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). ACEs are potentially traumatic events that can have negative, lasting effects on a person's development, the way they interact with others, and how they perform in school. Research has shown that children reporting more ACEs may be more likely to exhibit bullying behavior.

Bullying can affect everyone—those who are bullied, those who bully, and those who witness bullying. Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental health, substance use, and suicide. It is important to talk to kids to determine whether bullying—or something else—is a concern.

Kids Who are Bullied

Kids who are bullied can experience negative physical, social, emotional, academic, and mental health issues. Kids who are bullied are more likely to experience:

• Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. These issues may persist into adulthood.
• Health complaints
• Decreased academic achievement—GPA and standardized test scores—and school participation. They are more likely to miss, skip, or drop out of school.

A very small number of bullied children might retaliate through extremely violent measures. In 12 of 15 school shooting cases in the 1990s, the shooters had a history of being bullied.

Kids Who Bully Others

Kids who bully others can also engage in violent and other risky behaviors into adulthood. Kids who bully are more likely to:

• Abuse alcohol and other drugs in adolescence and as adults
• Get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of school
• Engage in early sexual activity
• Have criminal convictions and traffic citations as adults
• Be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults

Bystanders

Kids who witness bullying are more likely to:

• Have increased use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs
• Have increased mental health problems, including depression and anxiety
• Miss or skip school

The Relationship between Bullying and Suicide

Media reports often link bullying with suicide. However, most youth who are bullied do not have thoughts of suicide or engage in suicidal behaviors.

Although kids who are bullied are at risk of suicide, bullying alone is not the cause. Many issues contribute to suicide risk, including depression, problems at home, and trauma history. Additionally, specific groups have an increased risk of suicide, including American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian American, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. This risk can be increased further when these kids are not supported by parents, peers, and schools. Bullying can make an unsupportive situation worse.

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:

• An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
• Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines trauma as a result of an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that an individual experiences as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening. These experiences can have lasting adverse effects on a person's mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing.

Childhood traumatic stress occurs when traumatic events overwhelm a child's or teenager's ability to cope, such as:

• Neglect and psychological, physical, or sexual abuse
• Domestic violence or intimate partner violence
• Community and school violence (including bullying)
• Natural disasters
• Terrorism, war, and refugee experiences
• Serious accidents, life-threatening illness, or sudden or violent loss of a loved one
• Military family-related stressors, such as parental deployment, loss, or injury

While each child may react differently to trauma, parents, caretakers, and teachers may be able to recognize some signs of traumatic stress. For example, preschool children may have nightmares or fear of separation. Elementary school children may feel shame or anxiety, or have trouble concentrating. Kids in middle and high school may show signs of depression or engage in self-harm behaviors. Child trauma survivors are more likely to have academic problems and increased involvement with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Every individual is different and incidents that traumatize one person may not affect another. As stated by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), children or teens who have been exposed to trauma and violence may be more likely to bully others and be bullied.

Some children who experience trauma and bullying may have strong feelings of distress, while other children may appear desensitized. As an example, a study on bullying and post-traumatic stress found that some children may repress their thoughts or feelings about what took place. This can lead to numbness or loss of interest in activities. This study also found that children may experience intrusive thoughts, such as sudden flashbacks of their bullying experience. It is important that caregivers understand how to respond to bullying and are sensitive to possible traumatic stress.

Parents, teachers, and other trusted adults can help children or teens who experience traumatic stress from bullying. According to NCTSN's Effective Treatments for Youth Trauma, some approaches that help children and teenagers who have experienced trauma, including bullying, are:

• Ensuring the child or teen is safe and seek ways to prevent future bullying experiences
• Talking through what happened and why, to help clear up misconceptions about their role in the traumatic event
• Teaching stress management and relaxation techniques, to help them cope

Some children and teenagers may also need professional help to treat stress related from bullying and/or other traumatic experiences. Healthcare providers can make referrals for treatment.

Schools can adopt a trauma-informed approach, by training teachers and staff skills to handle and recognize traumatic stress or other signs of trauma. These skills allow teachers to help or find other supports and services for students in need.

Resources like the Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package from The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) may help schools adopt trauma-informed approaches to create safe and supportive learning environments. These include:

• Educating school staff about trauma and its effects
• Promoting physical and emotional safety in relationships and the environment
• Reducing trauma-related triggers in the school environment
• Considering trauma in all assessment and protocol behavior plans
• Ensuring students and families have voice, choice, and empowerment

By adopting trauma-informed approaches, schools can help prevent bullying and trauma at school, and provide a positive school culture for both students and staff.

Parents, caregivers, teachers, and schools all play an important role in preventing and addressing bullying and its harmful effects.

Bullying negatively impacts all youth involved—those who are bullied, those who bully others, and those who witness the bullying (bystanders).

Bullying is a type of youth violence defined as any unwanted aggressive behavior by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners; bullying involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is often repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Victims may experience harm or distress from physical (hitting, tripping), verbal (name calling, teasing), or relational/social (spreading rumors, leaving out of group) bullying. Bullying can happen in person and electronically (known as “cyberbullying”), at school or in other settings.

The Facts about Bullying

Bullying can result in physical injury, social and emotional distress, self-harm, and even death. It also increases the risk for depression, anxiety, and poor academic achievement. Youth who bully others are at increased risk for substance use and academic problems.

Bullying is widespread in the United States. Reports from the National Center for Education Statistics and CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) show:

• One in five high school students reported being bullied on school property in the last year.
• Nearly 14% of public schools report that bullying happens at least once a week.
• Reports of bullying are highest for middle schools (28%), followed by high schools (16%), combined schools (12%), and primary schools (9%).
• Reports of cyberbullying are highest for middle schools (33%), followed by high schools (30%), combined schools (20%), and primary schools (5%).

Warning Signs for Bullying

Not all children who are bullied show warning signs, but StopBullying.gov suggests being aware of these common signs:

• Unexplained injuries
• Lost or destroyed clothing, books, electronics, or jewelry
• Frequent headaches or stomachaches, feeling sick or faking illness
• Difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares
• Declining grades, loss of interest in schoolwork, or not wanting to go to school

Prevention Is Possible

Parents, school staff, and other caring adults can play a role in bullying prevention.

• Help kids understand bullying. Talk about what bullying is and how to stand up to it safely. Tell kids bullying is unacceptable. Make sure kids know how to get help.
• Keep the lines of communication open. Check in with kids often. Listen to them. Know their friends, ask about school, and understand their concerns.
• Encourage kids to do what they love. Special activities, interests, and hobbies can boost confidence, help kids make friends, and protect them from bullying.
• Model how to treat others. Serve as role models by treating everyone with kindness and respect.

Research on bullying prevention continues to progress, and promising evidence is available for school-wide programs that can prevent bullying by strengthening youths’ relationship and problem-solving skills and modifying physical and social environments for youths’ protection.