Eight percent of teachers say they are threatened with violence at school on an average of once a month. Two percent report being physically attacked each year. Middle school students are more than twice as likely as high school students to be affected by school violence. Seven percent of eighth graders stay home at least once a month to avoid a bully. The typical victim of an attack or robbery at school is a male in the seventh grade who is assaulted by a boy his own age.
Studies suggest two reasons for the higher rates of middle school violence.
First, early adolescence is a difficult age. Young teenagers are often physically hyperactive and have not learned acceptable social behavior. Second, many middle school students have come into contact for the first time with young people from different backgrounds and distant neighborhoods. Urban schools suffer most from violence. Many of these schools serve neighborhoods troubled by violence and gang-related crime.