'Most Bullied States' Are Largely Southern and Red, Study Finds

Bullying is a pervasive problem for young people in the U.S., especially those who identify as LGBTQ -- but the severity of it varies greatly by state, and the "most bullied states" in the union, as shown in a new study, are predominantly southern and conservative.

Louisiana ranked as the most bullied state in 2019 in the study from BackgroundChecks.org. It was followed by the District of Columbia, Arkansas, Maryland, Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alaska, and Alabama, rounding out the top 10. The 10 states that ranked as the least bullied (numbers 42-51, because the inclusion of D.C. in the jurisdictions) were Oklahoma, New Jersey, Maine, Delaware, Vermont, Oregon, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington State, and North Dakota.

The study looked at all types of bullying, not just LGBTQ-related. The score for each state was based on four factors. Half of it was based on the frequency of bullying, 25 percent on the incidence of in-school violence, 20 percent on the impact of bullying, and 5 percent on whether or not the state has antibullying laws in place.

While the past few years have seen an increase in campaigns to raise public awareness of bullying and combat it, in some states the situation has not improved. "Louisiana, for example, still leads the nation in incidents of bullying with nearly 1 in 4 students reporting being bullied and a staggering 1 in 10 students reporting being threatened or harmed with a weapon at school," the study notes. "Other states that have previously ranked poorly like Arkansas and Mississippi have failed to show much improvement with regards to their ranking on the list."

But there are some signs of improvement. Idaho, once the number 2 state for bullying, is now in the middle of the rankings. West Virginia also moved from being one of the top states to being in the middle. "In fact, aside from the topmost bullied states, other states have appeared to make important strides in reducing bullying," according to the study.

It praised a law enacted by Missouri in 2017 to make the infliction of emotional distress a felony. Some in the state worried that the law would unnecessarily categorize certain young people as criminals, but defenders of the measure said not every report of distress would result in charges, and that it would be more likely to be used in domestic violence situations than in schools. California and North Carolina have passed laws addressing cyberbullying. However, despite the adoption of laws regarding both in-school bullying and cyberbullying in Louisiana, the state's situation remains grim. "Clearly, laws are just one piece of the puzzle," the study notes.

The report also found that the states with the greatest frequency of cyberbullying likewise ranked among those with the highest incidence of bullying on school property.

It recommended that young people who are cyberbullied block and report offending the perpetrators, inform trusted adults of the incidents, and document cyberbullying via screenshots. It further advised adults and peers to "watch for signs of cyberbullying in youth like depression, changes in device use, and emotional changes."

Another recent study, which focused exclusively on homophobic bullying, found that it increased when LGBTQ rights are publicly debated. Published this month in the journal Pediatrics, it looked at rates of homophobic bullying in California before and after the passage of Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot measure that revoked marriage equality in the state. Prop. 8 was eventually struck down by a federal court, and the U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand in 2013.

The debate over Prop. 8 "promulgated stigma" against those perceived to be LGBTQ, the researchers found. The full study is available to Pediatrics subscribers only, but several sources have published summaries of it. The rate of homophobic bullying peaked in the 2008-2009 school year, when Prop. 8 was the subject of much public discussion.

The study looked at data from the California Healthy Kids Survey from 2001 through 2014, covering 5 million middle and high school students. In the 2001-2002 school year, 7.6 percent of students reported being the target of antigay bullying. In 2008-2009, 10.8 percent reported they had been subject to it. The percentage decreased steadily in subsequent years.

"We think that young people don't hear what adults and lawmakers are talking about, but they do," Stephen Russell, senior author of the paper and chair of the Human Development and Family Sciences Department at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a UT press release.

Support for LGBTQ students through gay-straight alliances, however, however, made a positive difference. "Homophobic bullying was below 10 percent on campuses with GSA organizations and nearly 13 percent on campuses without a GSA," the UT release notes.

"Policies and campaigns related to Black Lives Matter, bathroom bills, immigration -- these can be concerning in how they affect the health and well-being of youth," Russell added. "The public health consequences of these very contentious and media-driven discussions are more important than we knew."