This study surveyed a nationally-representative sample of 3,466 English or Spanish-speaking middle and high school students between the ages of 13 and 17 in the United States. Data were collected in May of 2025. Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge.
Cyberbullying Victimization. We define cyberbullying as: “Cyberbullying is when someone repeatedly and intentionally harasses, mistreats, or makes fun of another person online or while using cell phones or other electronic devices.” Approximately 58% of the students in our 2025 sample reported that they experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lifetimes. About 33% said they had been cyberbullied in the most recent 30 days. When asked about specific types of cyberbullying experienced in the previous 30 days, the most commonly-reported forms included: being excluded from a text or group chat (32.5%), mean or hurtful comments posted online (31.6%), being embarrassed or humiliated online (31.3%), and rumors spread online (29.2%).
Cyberbullying Offending. About one-quarter (24.5%) of the students in our 2025 sample reported that they had cyberbullied others at some point in their lifetimes. 16.1% said they had done so in the most recent 30 days. The most common types of cyberbullying reported mirrored what we observed in the victimization data: about 20% had intentionally excluded someone from a group text or chat, 17% had posted mean or hurtful comments about someone online or embarrassed or humiliated someone online, and 15.7% had posted mean names or comments about ones physical appearance.
Cyberbullying by Gender. Adolescent boys are more likely to have experienced cyberbullying as a target (36.6% vs. 28.6%) and as an aggressor (21.7% vs. 10.4%). These differences are both statistically significant (p < .001) and a change from most of our previous research which found boys and girls equally likely to have experienced cyberbullying.
Methodology
For this study, we contracted with an online survey research firm to distribute our questionnaire to a nationally-representative sample of middle and high school students who were between the ages of 13 and 17. Students were asked questions about experiences with bullying and cyberbullying, digital self-harm and other experiences online and off. Overall we obtained a 20% response rate, which isn’t ideal, but is higher than most generic Internet surveys.
With any imperfect social science study, caution should be used when interpreting the results. We can be reassured somewhat in the validity in the data, however, because the prevalence rates are in line with results from our previous school-based surveys. Moreover, the large sample size helps to diminish the potential negative effects of outliers. Finally, steps were taken to ensure valid responses within the survey instrument. For example, we asked the respondents to select a specific color among a list of choices and required them to report their age at two different points in the survey, in an effort to guard against computerized responses and thoughtless clicking through the survey.
Suggested citation: Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2025). 2025 Cyberbullying Data. Cyberbullying Research Center. https://cyberbullying.org/2025-cyberbullying-data
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