WHO Study: One in six school-aged children experiences cyberbullying

WHO/Europe released the second volume of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, which focuses on patterns of bullying and peer violence among adolescents across 44 countries and regions.

While the overall trends in school bullying have remained stable since 2018, cyberbullying has increased, magnified by the increasing digitalization of young people’s interactions, with potentially profound impacts on young lives.

Some of the key findings include the following:

• Bullying others at school: An average of 6% of adolescents engage in bullying others at school. This behaviour is more prevalent among boys (8%) compared to girls (5%).
• Being bullied at school: Approximately 11% of adolescents have been bullied at school, showing no significant difference between boys and girls.
• Cyberbullying others: About 12% (1 in 8) of adolescents report cyberbullying others. Boys (14%) are more likely to report cyberbullying than girls (9%). Notably, this reflects an increase from 2018, with boys up from 11% and girls from 7%.
• Being cyberbullied: 15% of adolescents (around 1 in 6) have experienced cyberbullying, with the rates closely aligned between boys (15%) and girls (16%). This represents an increase from 2018, from 12% to 15% for boys and 13% to 16% for girls.
• Physical fighting: 1 in 10 adolescents has been involved in physical fights, with a noticeable gender difference: 14% of boys versus 6% of girls.

Read more and download the study