In response to media reports of increased teasing and bullying in schools following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we investigated its prevalence with a Virginia school climate survey completed by approximately 155,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Survey results were mapped onto presidential election results for each school division’s locality. In localities favoring the Republican candidate, there were higher adjusted rates of students reporting that (a) they had experienced some form of bullying in the past year (18% higher) and (b) “students in this school are teased or put down because of their race or ethnicity” (9% higher). For these two outcomes, there were no meaningful differences prior to the election. These results provide modest support for educator concerns about increased teasing and bullying since the 2016 presidential election in some schools and warrant further investigation.

References

Allison, P. ( 2012 ). When can you safely ignore multicollinearity? Retrieved September 12 , 2017, from https://statisticalhorizons.com/multicollinearity

Google Scholar

Anderson, C. A., Bushman, B. J., Donnerstein, E., Hummer, T. A., Warburton, W. ( 2015 ). SPSSI research summary on media violence . Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 15, 4 – 19 . https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12093

Google Scholar

Baly, M. W., Cornell, D. G. ( 2011 ). Effects of an educational video on the measurement of bullying by self-report . Journal of School Violence, 10, 221 – 238 . https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2011.578275

Google Scholar

Baly, M. W., Cornell, D. G., Lovegrove, P. ( 2014 ). A longitudinal comparison of peer- and self-reports of bullying victimization across middle school: Bullying victimization across middle school . Psychology in the Schools, 51, 217 – 240 . https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21747

Google Scholar

Bandura, A. ( 1971 ). Social learning theory. New York, NY : General Learning Corporation .

Google Scholar

Bandyopadhyay, S., Cornell, D. G., Konold, T. ( 2009 ). Internal and external validity of three school climate scales from the School Climate Bullying Survey . School Psychology Review, 38, 338 – 355 .

Google Scholar

Banks, J. A. ( 2015 ). Cultural diversity and education. New York : Routledge .

Google Scholar Crossref

Bazelon, E. ( 2016 , November 16 ). Bullying in the age of Trump . The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/opinion/bullying-in-the-age-of-trump.html

Google Scholar

Benedict, F. T., Vivier, P. M., Gjelsvik, A. ( 2014 ). Mental health and bullying in the United States among children aged 6 to 17 years . Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30, 782 – 795 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Blad, E. ( 2016 , October 3 ). Trump inspires school bullying, NEA says in home stretch campaign against him. Retrieved May 19 , 2017 , from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/10/trump_inspires_school_bullying.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-FB

Google Scholar

Bradshaw, C. P. ( 2013 ). Preventing bullying through Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS): A multitiered approach to prevention and integration . Theory Into Practice, 52, 288 – 295 . https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2013.829732

Google Scholar

Branson, C. E., Cornell, D. G. ( 2009 ). A comparison of self and peer reports in the assessment of middle school bullying . Journal of Applied School Psychology, 25, 5 – 27 . https://doi.org/10.1080/15377900802484133

Google Scholar

Byers, D. ( 2017 ). Russian-bought Facebook ads sought to amplify political divisions. CNN Media . Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/26/media/facebook-russia-ads/index.html

Google Scholar

Byrne, B. ( 2012 ). Structural equation modeling with Mplus: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. New York, NY : Routledge .

Google Scholar

Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., Aiken, L. S. ( 2003 ). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates .

Google Scholar

Cornell, D., Gregory, A., Huang, F., Fan, X. ( 2013 ). Perceived prevalence of teasing and bullying predicts high school dropout rates . Journal of Educational Psychology, 105, 138 – 149 . https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030416

Google Scholar

Cornell, D., Huang, F., Konold, T., Shukla, K., Malone, M., Datta, P., . . . Meyer, J. P. ( 2016 ). Development of a standard model for school climate and safety assessment: Final report. Charlottesville, VA : Curry School of Education, University of Virginia .

Google Scholar

Cornell, D., Klein, J., Konold, T., Huang, F. ( 2012 ). Effects of validity screening items on adolescent survey data . Psychological Assessment, 24, 21 – 35 . https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024824

Google Scholar

Cornell, D., Limber, S. ( 2015 ). Law and policy on the concept of bullying at school . American Psychologist, 70, 343 – 343 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Costello, M. ( 2016 ). The Trump effect: The impact of the presidential campaign on our nation’s schools. Montgomery, AL : Southern Poverty Law Center . Retrieved from https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/splc_the_trump_effect.pdf

Google Scholar

Craig, W. M., Henderson, K., Murphy, J. G. ( 2000 ). Prospective teachers’ attitudes toward bullying and victimization . School Psychology International, 21, 5 – 21 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034300211001

Google Scholar

Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 526 U.S. 629 ( 1999 ).

Google Scholar

Dill, K. E., Redding, R. E., Smith, P. K., Surette, R., Cornell, D. G. ( 2011 ). Recurrent issues in efforts to prevent homicidal youth violence in schools: Expert opinions . New Directions for Student Leadership, 2011, 113 – 128 .

Google Scholar

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., Schellinger, K. B. ( 2011 ). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions . Child Development, 82, 405 – 432 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Eisenberg, M. E., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Perry, C. L. ( 2003 ). Peer harassment, school connectedness, and academic achievement . Journal of School Health, 73, 311 – 316 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Fan, X., Thompson, B., Wang, L. ( 1999 ). Effects of sample size, estimation methods, and model specification on structural equation modeling fit indexes . Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6, 56 – 83 . https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540119

Google Scholar

Fein, R., Vossekuil, B., Pollack, W., Borum, B., Modzeleski, W., Reddy, M. ( 2002 ). Threat assessment in schools: A guide to managing threatening situations and to creating safe school climates. Washington, DC : U.S. Secret Service and Department of Education .

Google Scholar

Fisher, M. ( 2016 , October 22 ). What is the long-term effect of Donald Trump? Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/what-is-the-long-term-effect-of-donald-trump/2016/10/22/a4cd0f94-8a6d-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html

Google Scholar

Follman, M., Andrews, B. ( 2015 ). How Columbine spawned dozens of copycats . Mother Jones. Retrieved from http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/columbineeffect-mass-shooting-copycat-data

Google Scholar

Frison, L., Pocock, S. J. ( 1992 ). Repeated measures in clinical trials: Analysis using mean summary statistics and its implications for design . Statistics in Medicine, 11, 1685 – 1704 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

George Washington University Battleground Poll . ( 2016 ). Americans overwhelmingly engaged in 2016 election but tone of race is affecting voters, new GW Battleground Poll shows. Retrieved from https://mediarelations.gwu.edu/americans-overwhelmingly-engaged-2016-election-tone-race-affecting-voters-new-gw-battleground-poll

Google Scholar

Green, J. G., Felix, E. D., Sharkey, J. D., Furlong, M. J., Kras, J. E. ( 2013 ). Identifying bully victims: Definitional versus behavioral approaches . Psychological Assessment, 25, 651 – 657 . https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031248

Google Scholar

Greitemeyer, T., Mügge, D. O. ( 2014 ). Video games do affect social outcomes: A meta-analytic review of the effects of violent and prosocial video game play . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 578 – 589 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Harris, A. ( 2018 , November 7 ). America is divided by education . The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/11/education-gap-explains-american-politics/575113/

Google Scholar

Hong, J. S., Espelage, D. L. ( 2012 ). A review of research on bullying and peer victimization in school: An ecological system analysis . Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17, 311 – 322 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2012.03.003

Google Scholar

Hong, J. S., Espelage, D. L., Lee, J. M. ( 2018 ). School climate and bullying prevention programs . In The Wiley handbook on violence in education: Forms, factors, and preventions (pp. 359 – 374 ). London : Wiley/Blackwell .

Google Scholar Crossref

Hong, J. S., Garbarino, J. ( 2012 ). Risk and protective factors for homophobic bullying in schools: An application of the social-ecological framework . Educational Psychology Review, 24, 271 – 285 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Hu, L.-T., Bentler, P. M. ( 1995 ). Evaluating model fit . In Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications (pp. 76 – 99 ). Thousand Oaks, CA : SAGE Publications .

Google Scholar

Hymel, S., Swearer, S. M. ( 2015 ). Four decades of research on school bullying: An introduction . American Psychologist, 70, 293 – 299 . https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038928

Google Scholar

Jansen, P. W., Verlinden, M., Berkel, A. D., Mieloo, C., van der Ende, J., Veenstra, R., . . . Tiemeier, H. ( 2012 ). Prevalence of bullying and victimization among children in early elementary school: Do family and school neighbourhood socioeconomic status matter? BMC Public Health, 12, 494 . https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-494

Google Scholar

Jia, Y., Konold, T. R., Cornell, D., Huang, F. ( 2018 ). The impact of validity screening on associations between self-reports of bullying victimization and student outcomes . Educational and Psychological Measurement, 78, 80 – 102 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164416671767

Google Scholar

Johnson, J. A. ( 2005 ). Ascertaining the validity of individual protocols from Web-based personality inventories . Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 103 – 129 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2004.09.009

Google Scholar

Josephson, W. L. ( 1987 ). Television violence and children’s aggression: Testing the priming, social script, and disinhibition predictions . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 882 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Juvonen, J. ( 2017 ). I study the psychology of adolescent bullies. Trump makes perfect sense to me . The Washington Post. Retrieved October 27 , 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/23/i-study-the-psychology-of-adolescent-bullies-trump-makes-perfect-sense-to-me/?utm_term=.00afbb3cec40

Google Scholar

Juvonen, J., Graham, S., Schuster, M. A. ( 2003 ). Bullying among young adolescents: The strong, the weak, and the troubled . Pediatrics, 112, 1231 – 1237 . https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.112.6.1231

Google Scholar

Juvonen, J., Wang, Y., Espinoza, G. ( 2011 ). Bullying experiences and compromised academic performance across middle school grades . Journal of Early Adolescence, 31, 152 – 173 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Kamenetz, A. ( 2016 , October 28 ). Four myths about school bullying and the “Trump effect.” Retrieved May 19 , 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/10/28/499635141/4-myths-about-school-bullying-and-the-trump-effect

Google Scholar

Kann, L., McManus, T., Harris, W., Shanklin, S., Flint, K., Queen, B., Ethier, K. ( 2018 ). Youth risk behavior surveillance — United States, 2017 (Surveillance Summaries). Atlanta, GA : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2017/ss6708.pdf

Google Scholar

Klein, J., Cornell, D., Konold, T. ( 2012 ). Relationships between bullying, school climate, and student risk behaviors . School Psychology Quarterly, 27, 154 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Kline, R. ( 2011 ). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling ( 3rd ed. ). New York, NY : Guilford .

Google Scholar

Konold, T., Cornell, D. ( 2015 ). Multilevel multitrait–multimethod latent analysis of structurally different and interchangeable raters of school climate . Psychological Assessment, 27, 1097 – 1109 . https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000098

Google Scholar

Konold, T., Cornell, D., Huang, F., Meyer, P., Lacey, A., Nekvasil, E., . . . Shukla, K. ( 2014 ). Multilevel multi-informant structure of the Authoritative School Climate Survey . School Psychology Quarterly, 29, 238 – 255 . https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000062

Google Scholar

Lacey, A., Cornell, D. ( 2013 ). The impact of teasing and bullying on schoolwide academic performance . Journal of Applied School Psychology, 29, 262 – 283 . https://doi.org/10.1080/15377903.2013.806883

Google Scholar

Lee, T., Cornell, D. ( 2009 ). Concurrent validity of the Olweus Bully/Victim questionnaire . Journal of School Violence, 9, 56 – 73 . https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220903185613

Google Scholar

Limber, S. P., Olweus, D., Wang, W., Masiello, M., Breivik, K. ( 2018 ). Evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: A large scale study of US students in grades 3–11 . Journal of School Psychology, 69, 56 – 72 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Manning, M. L., Baruth, L. G., Lee, G. L. ( 2017 ). Multicultural education of children and adolescents. London : Taylor & Francis .

Google Scholar Crossref

Mawritz, M. B., Mayer, D. M., Hoobler, J. M., Wayne, S. J., Marinova, S. V. ( 2012 ). A trickle-down model of abusive supervision . Personnel Psychology, 65, 325 – 357 . https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2012.01246.x

Google Scholar

McDougall, P., Vaillancourt, T. ( 2015 ). Long-term adult outcomes of peer victimization in childhood and adolescence: Pathways to adjustment and maladjustment . American Psychologist, 70, 300 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

McKenzie, D. ( 2012 ). Beyond baseline and follow-up: The case for more T in experiments . Journal of Development Economics, 99, 210 – 221 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2012.01.002

Google Scholar

Meade, A. W., Bartholomew, S. ( 2012 ). Identifying careless responses in survey data . Psychological Methods, 17, 437 – 455 . https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028085

Google Scholar

Mehta, S. B., Cornell, D., Fan, X., Gregory, A. ( 2013 ). Bullying climate and school engagement in ninth-grade students . Journal of School Health, 83, 45 – 52 . https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2012.00746.x

Google Scholar

Musu-Gillette, L., Zhang, R., Wang, K., Zhang, J., Oudekerk, B. ( 2017 ). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2016 (NCES 2017-064/NCJ25060). Washington, DC : National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Program .

Google Scholar

Muthen, L., Muthen, B. ( 2011 ). Mplus User’s Guide ( 6th ed. ). Los Angeles : Author .

Google Scholar

Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R. S., Ruan, W. J., Simons-Morton, B., Scheidt, P. ( 2001 ). Bullying behaviors among us youth: Prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment . JAMA : The Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 2094 – 2100 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Olweus, D. ( 1996 ). The Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. Bergen, Norway : Mimeo, Research Center for Health Promotion, University of Bergen .

Google Scholar

Page, C. ( 2017 , July 28 ). Hobbling along with a bully president. Retrieved October 27 , 2017, from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-page-trump-bullying-perspec-0730-md-20170728-story.html

Google Scholar

Pellegrini, A. D., Bartini, M. ( 2000 ). An empirical comparison of methods of sampling aggression and victimization in school settings . Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 360 – 366 . https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.92.2.360

Google Scholar

Phillips, D. P., Carstensen, L. L. ( 1986 ). Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide . New England Journal of Medicine, 315, 685 – 689 . https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198609113151106

Google Scholar

R Core Team . ( 2017 ). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria : R Foundation for Statistical Computing . Retrieved from http://www.R-project.org/

Google Scholar

Rosseel, Y. ( 2012 / 2018 ). lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling . Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1 – 36 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Samaha, A., Hayes, M., Ansari, T. ( 2017 , June 6 ). Kids are quoting Trump to bully their classmates and teachers don’t know what to do about it. Retrieved June 9 , 2017, from https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/kids-are-quoting-trump-to-bully-their-classmates

Google Scholar

Silver, N. ( 2016 , November 22 ). Education, not income, predicted who would vote for Trump. Retrieved May 19 , 2017, from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/

Google Scholar

Smithson, M., Verkuilen, J. ( 2006 ). A better lemon squeezer? Maximum-likelihood regression with beta-distributed dependent variables . Psychological Methods, 11, 54 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Solberg, M. E., Olweus, D. ( 2003 ). Prevalence estimation of school bullying with the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire . Aggressive Behavior, 29, 239 – 268 . https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.10047

Google Scholar

Soltas, E., Stephens-Davidowitz, S. ( 2015 , December 12 ). The rise of hate search . The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-hate-search.html

Google Scholar

Spriggs, A. L., Iannotti, R. J., Nansel, T. R., Haynie, D. L. ( 2007 ). Adolescent bullying involvement and perceived family, peer and school relations: Commonalities and differences across race/ethnicity . Journal of Adolescent Health : Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 41, 283 – 293 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.04.009

Google Scholar

Taylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P. ( 2017 ). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta-analysis of follow-up effects . Child Development, 88, 1156 – 1171 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Temkin, D. ( 2018 , June 26 ). Despite concerns, no increase in bullying or cyberbullying among high school students in 2017. Retrieved September 4 , 2018, from https://www.childtrends.org/despite-concerns-no-increase-bullying-cyberbullying-among-high-school-students-2017

Google Scholar

Thomsen, J. ( 2017 , June 6 ). Schoolkids using Trump’s words to bully classmates: Report. Retrieved October 27 , 2017, from http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/336582-kids-quote-trump-to-bully-each-other-at-school-report

Google Scholar

Ttofi, M. M., Farrington, D. P. ( 2011 ). Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: A systematic and meta-analytic review . Journal of Experimental Criminology, 7, 27 – 56 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-010-9109-1

Google Scholar

U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights . ( 2010 ). Dear colleague letter: Harassment and bullying. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201010.pdf

Google Scholar

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . ( 2017 ). Policies & laws. Retrieved from http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/index.html

Google Scholar

Wang, J., Iannotti, R. J., Nansel, T. R. ( 2009 ). School bullying among adolescents in the United States: Physical, verbal, relational, and cyber . Journal of Adolescent Health, 45, 368 – 375 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.03.021

Google Scholar