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10.31.2011

Asian American teens bullied more than any other group


This probably won't come as a surprise, but it still sucks to hear... It's official: Asian Americans endure far more bullying at U.S. schools than members of any other ethnic group. When it comes to Asian Americans targeted for racial abuse and harassment, compared to other teens, the numbers aren't even close: Asian Americans most bullied in US schools: study.

According to new survey data release over the weekend for the Bullying Prevention Summit, 54 percent of Asian American teenagers said they were bullied in the classroom -- a figure waaaaay above the percentages of other groups. And Asian Americans teens are apparently three times as likely to face bullying on the internet:

The research, to be released on Saturday, found that 54 percent of Asian American teenagers said they were bullied in the classroom, sharply above the 31.3 percent of whites who reported being picked on.

The figure was 38.4 percent for African Americans and 34.3 percent for Hispanics, a government researcher involved in the data analysis told AFP. He requested anonymity because the data has not been made public.

The disparity was even more striking for cyber-bullying.

Some 62 percent of Asian Americans reported online harassment once or twice a month, compared with 18.1 percent of whites. The researcher said more study was needed on why the problem is so severe among Asian Americans.

The data comes from a 2009 survey supported by the US Justice Department and Education Department which interviewed some 6,500 students from ages 12 to 18. Asian Americans are generally defined as tracing ancestry to East Asia, the Indian subcontinent or the South Pacific.
Again, not much of a surprise. There's certainly been a bigger public spotlight on bullying lately, but all the s#%t that when down at South Philadelphia High School proves that this kind of thing can happen for a long time without anyone giving a damn. And man, when you put numbers on it, those figures are staggering. Now, is anyone listening?