Working Paper: NBER ID: w29590
Authors: Andrew Bacher-Hicks; Joshua Goodman; Jennifer G. Green; Melissa Holt
Abstract: One-fifth of U.S. high school students report being bullied each year. We use internet search data for real-time tracking of bullying patterns as COVID-19 disrupted in-person schooling. We first show that, prepandemic, internet searches contain useful information about actual bullying behavior. We then show that searches for school bullying and cyberbullying dropped 30-35 percent as schools shifted to remote learning in spring 2020. The gradual return to in-person instruction starting in fall 2020 partially returns bullying searches to pre-pandemic levels. This rare positive effect may partly explain recent mixed evidence on the pandemic’s impact on students’ mental health and well-being.
Keywords: COVID-19; bullying; cyberbullying; mental health; education
JEL Codes: I20; I21; I28
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| COVID-19 pandemic (H12) | decrease in bullying behavior (C92) |
| shift to remote learning (I23) | decrease in bullying behavior (C92) |
| shift to remote learning (I23) | decrease in cyberbullying (K24) |
| reopening of schools (I23) | partial return of bullying behavior (C92) |
| in-person interactions (C91) | bullying incidents (J81) |