What We Do
Every year at Ditch the Label, we carry out extensive research into bullying by asking students across the country about their experiences. We delve into the reasons why people bully and are bullied, as well as asking important questions about things like relationships, gender, mental health and body image.
This groundbreaking research also takes a look at the nature of different types of bullying, the long terms effects that bullying has on people’s emotional well-being and how it’s changed over time. It’s pretty eye-opening stuff if we do say so ourselves.
Bullying: The Facts…
So, here are our main findings from the last couple of years’ work in a nifty list of 21 things we bet you didn’t already know about bullying (pssst…if you did already know them, you probably heard it from us 😜). Remember, if you are being bullied or you just have something you want to talk about, you can reach out to the Ditch the Label Community here.
1. More than half of people under 25 have experienced bullying at some point.
2. 20% of people surveyed, said that they often experienced verbal bullying.
3. People who are bullied, often go on to bully others.
4. People with a physical disability, are unfortunately more likely to experience bullying than a person without a physical disability. #NotCool
5. 5% of people surveyed, said that they constantly experienced physical bullying.
6. Social exclusion is a form of bullying. That means, when your mates leave you out on purpose to hurt your feelings, they are indirectly bullying you.
7. More than a third of people go on to develop Social Anxiety and Depression as a direct result of bullying.
8. Almost a quarter of those who have been bullied have had suicidal thoughts.
[full-width-figure image=”https://dtl-staging.org/2020/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/asaresultofbullying.jpg” alt=”Facts about bullying”]
9. Guys are more likely to bully someone than anyone else.
10. Those who bully are far more likely to have experienced stressful and traumatic situations in recent times.
11. Of those who bullied daily, 58% had experienced the death of a relative.
12. Bullying is not an identity, it is a learnt behaviour – find out more about that here.
13. The #1 most common reason why people experience bullying is because of attitudes towards their appearance, with attitudes towards hobbies & interests and high grades coming in close at second and third place.
14. 69% of people have admitted to doing something abusive to another person online 😲😲😲 #CutItOutPPL
15. Bullying is never, ever the fault of the person on the receiving end of it. Here’s why
16. People who identify as LGBT+ are more likely to experience bullying.
What about Online?
17. 26% of people reported experiencing cyberbullying in the past 12-months. (2019)
18. More than a quarter of people have had suicidal thoughts as a result of cyberbullying.
19. 35% of people have sent a screenshot of someone’s status to laugh at in a group chat. #ShadyOnlineBehaviour
20. Almost two-thirds of people agreed that social networks don’t do enough to combat cyberbullying.
21. 44% of people under 25 said that ‘real life’ means ‘only things that happen offline.’
And there you have it – 21 facts about bullying you probably never knew before. If you are being bullied and need someone to talk to, reach out to the Ditch the Label Community here.
All statistics are taken from Ditch the Label research.
