With back-to-school season upon us and more than 160,000 children missing school every day in the U.S. out of fear of being bullied, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s States with the Biggest Bullying Problems.
To identify the states where bullying is most pervasive, WalletHub’s analysts compared 45 states and the District of Columbia across 17 key metrics, ranging from “bullying-incident rate” to “truancy costs for schools” to “percentage of high school students bullied online.”
Here are the top and bottom states for pervasiveness of bullying.
Best vs. Worst
The District of Columbia has the lowest percentage of high school students who were bullied on school property, 12.08 percent, which is 2.2 times lower than in Nebraska, where the percentage is highest, 26.28 percent.
The District of Columbia has the lowest percentage of high school students who were bullied online, 7.86 percent, which is 2.7 times lower than in Idaho, where the percentage is highest, 21.08 percent.
Maine has the lowest percentage of high school students involved in a physical fight on school property, 4.85 percent, which is 2.8 times lower than in the District of Columbia, where the percentage is highest, 13.81 percent.
Kansas has the lowest percentage of high school students who missed school because they felt unsafe at school, 3.80 percent, which is 3.4 times lower than in Louisiana, where the percentage is highest, 13.10 percent.
Vermont has the lowest percentage of high school students who attempted suicide, 5.88 percent, which is 2.2 times lower than in Louisiana, where the percentage is highest, 13.10 percent.
To read the full report and to see where your state ranks, please visit WalletHub here