What We Know about Bullying and Suicide
In the past decade, headlines reporting the tragic stories of a
young person’s suicide death linked in some way to bullying
(physical, verbal, or online) have become regrettably common.
There is so much pain and suffering associated with each of
these events, affecting individuals, families, communities and our
society as a whole and resulting in an increasing national outcry
to “do something” about the problem of bullying and suicide.
For this reason, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) and other violence prevention partners and researchers
have invested in learning more about the relationship between
these two serious public health problems with the goal of using
this knowledge to save lives and prevent future bullying.
As school administrators, teachers, and school staff in daily
contact with young people, you are uniquely affected by these
events and feel enormous pressure to help prevent them in the
future. The purpose of this document is to provide concrete,
action-oriented information based on the latest science to
help you improve your schools’ understanding of and ability to
prevent and respond to the problem of bullying and suiciderelated
behavior