Bullying affects millions of American children each year, with more than a third of them experiencing bullying, whether in school or online. The team at PA Requirements gathered data from the National Survey of Children’s Health to create a map of states, color-coded by the percentage of students who have been bullied or have engaged in bullying behavior. This map is a shocking look at the prevalence of bullying in the United States. The team determined that children are most likely to be bullied in Montana. In the last year, 55% of Montana children were bullied. They found that 11.6% of children were bullied once or twice a month, and tragically, 3.6% of Montana children were bullied daily.
These ten states had the highest percentage of bullying:
1. Montana: 55.0%
2. Wyoming: 53.8%
3. Vermont: 50.5%
4. Utah: 49.5%
5. North Dakota: 49.1%
6. Maine: 49.0%
7. Wisconsin: 48.9%
8. Colorado: 48.7%
9. Idaho: 48.4%
10. South Dakota: 47.9%
It makes sense that children are also the most likely to engage in bullying behavior in Montana. In general, these top ten lists have similar rankings, perhaps suggesting that bullying is cyclical. Children in these states are the most likely to engage in bullying:
1. Montana: 25.7%
2. Wyoming: 24.2%
3. South Dakota: 24.2%
4. Maine: 23.0%
5. Iowa: 21.8%
6. Colorado: 21.7%
7. North Dakota: 21.6%
8. Vermont: 20.4%
9. Utah: 20.4%
10. Missouri: 20.3%
Bullying can take the form of physical and verbal abuse, cyberbullying, or relational bullying, like gossip and negligence. There are ways for parents and educators to help stop bullying, and this map makes it clear that these actions are of the utmost importance in a world where bullying is so common.
