DATA

POINT 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

NCES 2016-169 JULY 2016 

Reports of 

Bullying and Other 

Unfavorable Conditions 

at School 

Data from the School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (2013), a nationally representative 

sample survey of students ages 12 through 18, were used to evaluate co-occurring reports of bullying and other unfavorable 

conditions at school. Analysis is restricted to those respondents who were enrolled in grades 6 through 12, and did not receive 

any part of their education through homeschooling during the school year. The study included information reported on unfavorable 

conditions by students who reported being bullied in the school building, on school property, on the school bus, or going to or from 

school. Unfavorable conditions included presence of gangs, knowing another student brought a gun to school, availability of 

drugs, availability of alcohol, and seeing hate-related graffiti on school property. Availability of drugs is a composite variable 

indicating it was possible for students to get any of the following at school: marijuana, crack or other forms of cocaine, uppers, 

downers, LSD, PCP, heroin, prescription drugs illegally obtained without a prescription, or other illegal drugs. 

Graffiti includes hate-related words 

or symbols written in school classrooms, school hallways, or outside 

of the school building. Bullying 

includes students being made fun of, 

called names, or insulted; being the 

subject of rumors; being threatened 

with harm; being pushed, shoved, 

tripped, or spit on; being pressured 

into doing things they did not want to 

do; being excluded from activities on 

purpose; and having property 

destroyed on purpose. 

Readers should be aware that all 

incidents of bullying and unfavorable 

conditions are based on student 

reports. Further, due to the crosssectional, nonexperimental design of 

the SCS, conclusions cannot be 

made about causality between 

unfavorable school conditions or 

student characteristics and bullying 

victimization. 

Students ages 12 through 18 who 

reported being bullied at school 

also reported other unfavorable 

school conditions at higher rates 

than students who did not report 

being bullied. 

FIGURE 1. Percentage of students ages 12 through 18 reporting various unfavorable

school conditions, by reports of bullying at school: School year 2012–13 

# Rounds to zero. 

1Includes students who reported that marijuana, crack or other forms of cocaine, uppers, downers, LSD, PCP, heroin, 

prescription drugs illegally obtained without a prescription, or other illegal drugs were available at school. 

NOTE: “Bullied” includes students who reported being made fun of, called names, or insulted; being the subject of rumors; 

being threatened with harm; being pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; being pressured into doing things they did not want 

to do; being excluded from activities on purpose; and having property destroyed on purpose. “At school” includes the 

school building, school property, school bus, or going to and from school. Tabular data for percentages and their standard 

errors are available in tables 4.1 and S4.1 at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015056.pdf. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Crime Supplement to the 

National Crime Victimization Survey, 2013. 

Data in this report are from the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization 

Survey, a nationally representative sample survey of students ages 12 through 18. To learn more 

about the survey, visit: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crime. For questions about content or to view 

this report online, go to: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016169. 
 

 

 

Reports of Bullying and Other Unfavorable Conditions at School 

 A higher percentage of students who reported being 

bullied also reported gang presence (20 percent) and 

seeing another student with a gun (2 percent) at school 

than students who did not report being bullied 

(10 percent and 0 percent, respectively). 

 A higher percentage of students who reported being 

bullied also reported that illegal or prescription drugs 

without a prescription (47 percent) and alcohol (23 

percent) were available at school than students who did 

not report being bullied (27 percent and 13 percent, 

respectively). 

	 Students who reported being bullied at school also more 

often reported the presence of hate-related graffiti at 

school (43 percent) than those who did not report being 

bullied (20 percent). 

FIGURE 2. Percentages of students ages 12 through 18 reporting numbers of unfavorable school 

conditions, by reports of bullying at school: School year 2012–13 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 

Not bullied 

Bullied 

Percent

2 ‡ 

‡ 

Number of unfavorable conditions* 0 1 2 3 4 5 

* Unfavorable conditions include presence of gangs, knowing another student brought a gun to school, availability of drugs, availability of alcohol, and 

seeing hate-related graffiti on school property. 

‡ Reporting standards not met. The standard error for this estimate is equal to 50 percent or more of the estimate’s value. 

NOTE: “Bullied” includes students who reported being made fun of, called names, or insulted; being the subject of rumors; being threatened with harm; 

being pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; being pressured into doing things they did not want to do; being excluded from activities on purpose; and 

having property destroyed on purpose. “At school” includes the school building, school property, school bus, or going to and from school. Tabular data 

for percentages and their standard errors are available at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crime/crime_tables.asp. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization 

Survey, 2013. 

Students ages 12 through 18 who reported being bullied at school also reported multiple kinds of unfavorable school 

conditions more often than students who did not report being bullied. 

 Sixty-nine percent of students who reported being bullied

at school also reported the presence of one or more of 

the listed unfavorable school conditions, while only 

40 percent of students who did not report being bullied 

reported one or more of the unfavorable conditions. 

 Twice as many students who reported being bullied 

(40 percent) as those who did not report being bullied 

(20 percent) reported two or more unfavorable conditions 

at their school. 

This NCES Data Point presents information on education topics of current interest. 

It was authored by Melissa Cidade and Deborah Lessne of Synergy Enterprises, Inc. 

All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling variability. 

All differences discussed in this report are statistically significant at the .05 level. 

In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education 

Statistics (NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling 

errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or 

other systematic error. 

 60 20 13 6 2

 31 29 20 14 5

‡