Voter
preference for Trump linked to bullying in middle schools
American Educational Research
Association
Bullying rates among middle school
students in the spring of 2017 were 18 percent higher in localities where
voters had favored Donald Trump than in those that had supported Hillary
Clinton, according to a study published online in Educational
Researcher, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research
Association.
Similarly, student reports of peers being teased or put down because of their race or ethnicity were 9 percent higher in localities favoring the Republican candidate.
Similarly, student reports of peers being teased or put down because of their race or ethnicity were 9 percent higher in localities favoring the Republican candidate.
Prior to the 2016 presidential
election, there were no meaningful differences in bullying and teasing rates
between Democratic and Republican localities.
The study examined a Virginia statewide sample of more than 155,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students across the state's 132 school districts.
The study examined a Virginia statewide sample of more than 155,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students across the state's 132 school districts.
The study -- conducted by Francis
Huang, an associate professor of statistics, measurement, and evaluation in
education at the University of Missouri, and Dewey Cornell, a professor of
education at the University of Virginia -- used school climate survey data
collected in 2013, 2015, and 2017.
Researchers used a standard definition of bullying to ask students if they personally had been bullied at school, but also asked more general questions about bullying and teasing they had observed happening to others in their school.
Researchers used a standard definition of bullying to ask students if they personally had been bullied at school, but also asked more general questions about bullying and teasing they had observed happening to others in their school.
Survey results were then mapped onto
presidential election results for each school district's locality. The study
controlled for several locality-wide variables, including prior bullying and
teasing rates, socioeconomic status, population density, and the percentage of
white student enrollment.
Huang and Cornell found that a 10
percentage point increase in voters supporting the Republican candidate in 2016
was associated with a 5 percent jump in middle school teasing because of race
or ethnicity and an 8-percent increase in middle school bullying.
"We found consistent differences
in teasing and bullying rates that were linked to voting preferences,"
said Huang. "While our findings do not indicate that support for Trump
caused bullying to increase in Republican districts, they do provide some
credence to the widespread perception that some types of teasing and bullying
have increased, at least in some localities."
The researchers noted that the
findings support nationwide concerns voiced by teachers about bullying
following the presidential election.
"While the ways in which the
presidential election could have affected students is likely complex, educators
and parents should be aware of the potential impact of public events on student
behavior," said Cornell.
"Parents should be mindful of how their reactions to the presidential election, or the reactions of others, could influence their children. And politicians should be mindful of the potential impact of their campaign rhetoric and behavior on their supporters and indirectly on youth."
"Parents should be mindful of how their reactions to the presidential election, or the reactions of others, could influence their children. And politicians should be mindful of the potential impact of their campaign rhetoric and behavior on their supporters and indirectly on youth."
The researchers noted that further
research is needed to determine whether there is a causal link between Trump's
behavior and student aggression against peers, and, if so, how the mechanism
works.
"It may be that presidential
behavior has indirect effects on the social environment experienced by students,
but we won't know until more studies are conducted," said Huang.