Teenagers report less bullying at school, Education Department says

Fewer students say they are being bullied at school. Those who report being bullied are more likely to be girls than boys and more likely to be white than minority students.

The Education Department announced survey results Friday that found 22 percent of students age 12 to 18 said they were bullied in 2013. The figure, down 6 percentage points from 2011, is the lowest level since the National Center for Education Statistics began surveying students on bullying in 2005.

Among the survey findings are the about a quarter, or 24 percent, of girls said they were bullied, compared to 20 percent of boys.

A higher percentage of white students — 24 percent — said they were bullied than black, Hispanic or Asian students. Twenty percent of black students said they were bullied compared to 19 percent of Hispanic students and 9 percent of Asian students.

Among respondents, 9 percent of girls and 5 percent of boys said they'd experienced cyberbullying either in school or outside of school. Unwanted text messages was the most common way students said they were cyberbullied followed by hurtful information posted on the Internet.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the news of an overall decline but with a caveat: "Even though we've come a long way over the past few years in educating the public about the health and educational impacts that bullying can have on students, we still have more work to do to ensure the safety of our nation's children."

Students bullied are more likely to struggle in school, skip class, face substance abuse and commit suicide, the department said research has found. Being made fun of, called names or being insulted was the most common way the surveyed students said were bullied. Being the subject of rumors or threatened with harm was also common.

The survey is from the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, surveying a nationally representative sample of students.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press