At the Cyberbullying Research Center, we have been collecting data from middle and high school students since 2002. We have surveyed approximately 38,000 students from middle and high schools from across the United States through seventeen unique projects. Our two earliest studies (conducted in 2004 and 2005) are excluded from this summary because they were online convenience samples and therefore cannot be easily compared to the other studies. The fifteen most recent cyberbullying studies have all been random samples of known populations which allows for improved reliability, validity, and generalizability. Even though we present these data as bar charts over time, it is risky to compare rates over time given that each study represents a different sample. This is especially true of our earlier school-based samples. Since 2016, though, our samples have all been selected from a national US population to be representative of the population of youth on the basis of age, gender, race, and region of the country. In 2020 we surveyed tweens. This sample is not included in the summary data below since the target age population was different from all of our other studies. Please see our Research in Review addendum for more details about each of our samples.
The following two charts show the percent of respondents who have experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lifetime across our fourteen most recent studies.
As illustrated in the charts above, the rates of cyberbullying have varied over the years we have studied the phenomenon, though a clear trend emerges over the last decade across our national samples where lifetime cyberbullying rates have been steadily increasing, from 33.6% in 2016 to 58.2% in 2025. On average during that period, about half (46%) of the students reported they have been the victim of cyberbullying at some point in their lifetime. The trend is similar when looking at recent experience with cyberbullying. In 2016, 16.5% of students said they had been cyberbullied in the most recent 30 days. This rate nearly doubled in 2025 to 32.7%. From 2016 to 2025, an average of 23.3% of students had been cyberbullied recently. (click on the images for a larger versions)
The rates of cyberbullying offending have also varied across the research studies we have conducted. Note that we did not collect cyberbullying offending data in 2023. We noted a significant increase in the number of students who reported cyberbullying offending in 2025 compared to previous years. When asked if they had ever cyberbullied another person, about one-quarter (24.5%) said they had in 2025, compared to around 14% in 2019 and 2021. We see an even more dramatic difference when looking at recent experiences with cyberbullying. In 2025, 16.1% of students reported they cyberbullied another person in the last 30 days compared to about 5-6% of students from 2015-2021. (click on the images for a larger versions)
The line graph below helps to illustrate the increase in recent experience with cyberbullying over time.
Suggested citation: Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2025). Summary of Our Cyberbullying Research (2007-2025). Cyberbullying Research Center. https://cyberbullying.org/summary-of-our-cyberbullying-research
I believe that every student has experience bullying at some point during their school years and the best way to deal with the matter is at an early age. For example, when a student experiences bulling for the first time at a tender age they can recover from bulling because the issues are very small . When an older student lets say in high school gets bullied and is the first time they are being bullied, it’s usually harder to get over because they are being bullied about more serious matter.
Hello my name is Heman Armstrong and i am 18 years old.I decided to make a “stop the cyber Bullying video” to show what can most likely happen to a victim of cyber bullying.I shot it in the perspective of the victim,to show that it has a big effect on a individual.Check out the short film/clip here.Share and spread the word.P.S this is just acting,to show you what can happen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsmK5lTC1Ys
This is really helpful
Wow this helped a lot. I think that I will continue to use this website when i do my project
hi my name is grace and i think that this website was helpful
i agree wholeheartedly with graece
I think that the people need to think this is not a thing that only affects only a few but a great many and many people don’t think of it that way so it cause not as much thought.
I think that we have to respect to others and do not make comments that destroy emotionally to others.
I believe everyone will experience some form of bullying. People need to understand that we are all human and we should mind our own business and be nice/ kind to everyone. Or just do not say anything.