While the horror of a school shooting makes national headlines, teens daily experiences with intimidation and physical abuse are largely ignored, with schools and parents offering little support, according to a new poll commissioned by The Empower Program, sponsored by Liz Claiborne Inc., and conducted by Knowledge Networks. According to the poll s findings, intimidation and physical abuse are just typical parts of a school day for many American teenagers. While many victims respond by isolating themselves, almost a third of respondents said victims usually plan ways to get back at the intimidators.
Teens often feel that their schools provide little in the way of support.
Only a third of students believe the school penalizes students who engage in intimidation. And less than a third of victims report the behavior to someone at school. This finding is significant because it reflects what teens perceive the climate in their school to be. Nearly a quarter of the teens surveyed knew at least one student at their school who had been physically struck by a person they were dating. Interestingly, only eight percent of the parents surveyed knew of a student that had experienced such abuse.