The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has an informational document on bullying. Research shows that bullying victims are more likely to: be depressed, lonely, anxious; have low self-esteem; experience headaches, stomachaches, tiredness, and poor eating; be absent from school, dislike school, and have poorer school performance; and think about suicide or try to commit suicide.

Statistics from a 2007 survey suggest that bullying continues to have far-reaching impacts: nearly 1 out of 3 students in middle school and high school said they had been bullied at school during the 2007 school year. Among high school students, 1 out of 9—about 2.8 million teens—reported that they had been pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on during the last school year, while another 1.5 million reported being threatened with physical harm.