New report on cyberbullying in schools during pandemic shows smaller than expected increase

A new report on cyberbullying at schools during the COVID-19 pandemic had some surprising results.

The Cyberbullying Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire found bullying in person at schools dropped last year across the country with many students learning remotely. However, the research found cyberbullying only increased slightly.

"We surveyed a national sample of 2,500 U.S. 13- to 17-year-olds… asked them about their experienced of bullying, school bullying and cyberbullying," Justin Patchin, the co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, said.

While the drop in in-person bullying wasn’t surprising, the increase in cyberbullying wasn’t as large as researchers expected. One trend that stayed the same was who dealt with the most bullying: middle-schoolers.

Patchin noted schools often struggle with how to address concerns around online bullying when it’s not happening on school grounds.

Click here to see more results from the survey.