Nearly six in 10 teenagers experience cyberbullying before they reach the age of 18. And 17% of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) reported being bullied during the 2025-2026 school year, the district’s highest rate since 2021.
Nationwide, approximately one in five students from the ages of 12 to 18 have reported being bullied while at school, cites the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
These figures could be even higher as many incidents are never reported.
Bullying can affect a child’s emotional well-being, sense of safety and personal confidence, and its effects can endure long past a specific incident, making kids feel isolated and fearful of being a target for continued bullying.
Due to the widespread use of social media, bullying can occur not just in person but online and impacts people of all ages, said Diana Gutierrez, assistant director of Transitional Age Youth and Family Support Services at the San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center (SFVCMHC).
But while bullies target individuals across all age groups, bullying is significantly more prevalent among children and young people than in adult populations. Bullying peaks during early adolescence: more than 26% of middle schoolers have experienced bullying, reports StopBullying.gov. Too often bullying is dismissed as “just a joke” or “playful teasing,” and the victim is dismissed as being a “crybaby” or “overly sensitive.”
Kids are more susceptible to bullying – especially when they are at school – during a time when their brains, social skills and coping mechanisms are all still developing, explained Gutierrez.
“They’re less able to advocate for themselves, less able to speak up for themselves,” she said. “And in school settings, in particular, you have groups of [kids] that are all together in one place for the entire day. There are so many different things happening at these ages. They’re growing and evolving every single day, and so many changes and differences are starting to appear.”
The internet and social media throw an additional layer onto an already-pervasive issue, she said.
What is Bullying?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines bullying as unwanted aggressive behavior that is typically repeated and involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Bullying can be verbal, including name-calling, threatening or making inappropriate sexual comments.
Bullying can take the form of taunting and even gossip, which can be emotionally poisonous. Spreading rumors, intentionally excluding someone socially from a peer group or telling others not to be friends with them. And bullying can also be physical – a bully might damage or break someone’s possessions or even physically harm them by pushing, tripping or hitting them.
Bullying Has Caused Victims to Self Harm
Repeated bullying can cause a child or teen emotional, psychological or physical harm, and make it difficult for them to succeed in school, said Gutierrez. And kids who experience traumatic situations, including bullying, are at increased risk for self-harm, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, according to StopBullying.gov.
A study of youth going to emergency rooms with suicidal ideation found that kids who reported in-person bullying were 8.4 times more likely to experience suicidal ideation, and those who reported cyberbullying were 11.5 times more likely.
If left unresolved, bullying can cause feelings of hopelessness, anxiety and depression that can carry on into adulthood.
Finding Support
Kids who are experiencing bullying online or in person at school can get help by reaching out to a teacher, counselor or other trusted adult; calling or texting an available hotline to speak with someone anonymously; or finding a local anti-bullying program or mental health center.
As part of SFVCMHC’s Bullying and School Violence Advocacy program, counselors offer free assistance to kids from kindergarten through high school who have been bullied – and to their families or loved ones – via a 24-hour phone line, in-person consultations, referrals to counseling and other resources, and hold educational presentations at schools and in the community.
“Our services are offered to anybody who experiences any level of bullying,” she said. “It’s about educating and helping people access available services and know their [legal] rights.”
If a child is being bullied at school, a parent or guardian should schedule a meeting with administrators and provide a detailed list of all incidents and ask about their anti-bullying policy and what steps they will take. If they fail to take action, they should contact the school district.
If a bullying victim and their family believe the school or district still isn’t fulfilling their legal obligation to provide a safe learning environment for the student by properly investigating their bullying complaints or enforcing existing policies, they can pursue legal pathways.
“We assist them with accessing legal assistance if that’s what they need,” she said.
Help Prevent Bullying
One way to help curb bullying is to encourage more people to stand up for others, said Gutierrez.
“Sometimes when people get bullied [in public], there are people who see what is happening, [but] they don’t say anything,” she said. “We teach people what to do if they’re witnessing it.”
While it may seem obvious for someone who witnesses bullying – such as name-calling or taunting – to speak up and defend the person being harassed, when kids are involved, it becomes less straightforward, said Gutierrez. This can be especially true if the bullying is more subtle.
“A lot of times when young people are afraid to say something and don’t know what to do … it stems from fear. They might wonder, ‘Will I get targeted, too?’” she said. And if the bullied person is being shut out of a social group, they may fear they will end up ostracized as well.
“There’s also that kind of age-old thinking, ‘Somebody else will do something about it. I don’t have to,’” she said, adding that young people should be encouraged to “be a hero” – which is the slogan of their anti-bullying campaign, which they utilize for their hotline: 1-866-Be-A-Hero.
Those who are wary of intervening while a classmate is being actively bullied can still help by approaching the bullied person afterward and offering kindness and support. Teens who want to do more can launch an anti-bullying club at their school or participate in an existing one.
“I think there’s definitely a widespread push to bring more awareness to the issue of bullying, and to help people access support,” said Gutierrez, adding that the bottomline goal is to inform and encourage the greater community about “what they can do to help others and stop bullying.”
To learn more about SFVCMHC’s anti-bullying program, go to: www.movinglivesforward.org/program/bullying-advocacy.
For a 24/7 anti-bullying helpline with live support, call 1-866-Be-A-Hero (1-866-232-4376).
For 24/7 support for young people ages 12 to 24 and concerned parents or family members, call or text the California Youth Crisis Line at 1-800-843-5200.
For peer support, where teens can speak or text with trained teen volunteers from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. (PST), call the Teen Line at 1-800-852-8336 or text TEEN to 839863. For more information, go to: https://didihirsch.org/teenline.
