This study suggests that although academic achievement is largely influenced by family background and school characteristics, the experience of being bullied also influences students' grades. The researchers found that that bullying has implications for achievement regardless of racial and ethnic background, but seems to be especially detrimental for subsets of certain racial and ethnic groups.
According to the study, students who were bullied in the 10th grade experienced a .049 points decrease in 12th grade GPA. The researchers said that, though small, this effect is highly significant and suggests that bullying negatively affects GPA even after factoring in previous grades, family background, and school characteristics often associated with achievement.
The most striking aspect of the study is the considerable negative effect bullying has on the GPAs of high achieving black and Latino students. The study found that black students—who had 3.5 GPAs in 9th grade and were bullied in 10th grade—experienced a .3 points decrease in their 12th grade GPAs. The effect of bullying was even greater for high achieving Latinos. Latino students with 3.5 GPAs in 9th grade, who were bullied in 10th grade, had 12th grade GPAs that were .5 points lower. By way of comparison, white students—who had 3.5 GPAs in 9th grade and were bullied in 10th grade—saw their GPAs decrease by .03 points in 12th grade.
The researchers indicated that stereotypes about black and Latino youth suggest that they perform poorly in school. But high achieving blacks and Latinos who do not conform to these stereotypes may be especially vulnerable to the effect bullying has on grades.
The study relies on nationally representative data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS), which, among other things, asked students whether they were bullied during the 2001-2002 academic year, when they were in 10th grade. Their sample consisted of 9,590 students in 580 schools, including 1,150 Asians, 1,360 blacks, 1,470 Latinos, and 5,610 whites.
Source: Eurekalert, Bullying victims often suffer academically, particularly high-achieving Latinos and blacks, August 23, 2011.