Cyberbullying Statistics 2026: Teens, Mental Health, Platforms

According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, a May 2025 national survey of 3,466 US middle and high school students found that approximately 58% had been cyberbullied at some point in their lifetimes and about 33% in the past 30 days. Per CDC NHIS-Teen data, 34% of US teens ages 12-17 were bullied in the past 12 months between July 2021 and December 2023. Per Pew Research Center, nearly half (46%) of US teens ages 13-17 had ever experienced at least one of six cyberbullying behaviors in its 2022 baseline survey.

Key Takeaways

• 58% of US middle and high school students reported lifetime cyberbullying victimization in the Cyberbullying Research Center’s 2025 survey, with 33% in the past 30 days.
• 34.0% of US teens ages 12-17 were bullied in the past 12 months from July 2021 to December 2023, according to the CDC’s NHIS-Teen Data Brief.
• 16% of US high school students were electronically bullied through texting or social media in 2023, per the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
• Cyberbullying victimization at age 11-12 was prospectively associated with suicidal behaviors one year later at an adjusted odds ratio of 2.62 (95% CI 1.73-3.98) in the Lancet Regional Health Americas 2025 ABCD cohort.
• Snapchat users reported harassment at roughly 30%, compared with about 20% for Instagram and TikTok users in Pew Research Center’s April 2026 survey of 1,458 teens.
• NCMEC’s CyberTipline received 20.5 million reports in 2024, with reports involving generative AI up 1,325% from 4,700 in 2023 to 67,000 in 2024.
• Bullied teens were nearly twice as likely to experience anxiety symptoms (29.8%) or depression symptoms (28.5%) in the past two weeks compared with peers who were not bullied.

Editor’s Choice

• Cyberbullying Research Center 2025: Lifetime victimization 58%, past-30-day 33%, sample 3,466 teens ages 13-17 (Patchin & Hinduja).
• The 2025 sample reversed prior parity: Boys at 36.6% vs. girls at 28.6% experiencing cyberbullying as a target, a change from most of the center’s previous research.
• Past-30-day type ranking in 2025: Excluded from a text or group chat 32.5%, mean or hurtful comments 31.6%, embarrassed or humiliated online 31.3%, rumors spread online 29.2%.
• Pew Research Center 2022: 46% of US teens 13-17 had ever experienced at least one of six cyberbullying behaviors; 38% of girls 15-17 had faced two or more.
• CDC NHIS-Teen 2021-2023: Bullying prevalence 47.1% among sexual or gender minority teens vs 30.0% among non-minority teens, and 44.4% among teens with a developmental disability.
• NCMEC 2024: Nearly 100 reports of financial sextortion per day, and at least 36 teenage boys lost to sextortion-related suicide since 2021.
• Cyberbullying Research Center 2020 tween study: Roughly 1 in 5 tweens ages 9-12 had encountered cyberbullying in some form, and 1 in 7 had been a direct target.

Lifetime Cyberbullying Victimization Among US Teens (by Year)

• Cyberbullying Research Center’s 2025 survey put lifetime victimization at approximately 58% and past-30-day at about 33% in a US middle- and high-school sample of 3,466.
• Pew Research Center’s 2022 study of 1,316 US teens 13-17 found that 46% had ever experienced at least one of six cyberbullying behaviors, with name-calling the most common at 32%.
• CDC NHIS-Teen recorded that 34.0% of US teens ages 12-17 had been bullied (any form) in the past 12 months between July 2021 and December 2023.
• CDC’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported that 16% of US high school students had been electronically bullied through texting, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media in the past year.
• The gap between the 58% lifetime headline and the YRBS-style 16% past-year number is exactly the methodology-vs-recall split readers need to see side by side.

Source: Cyberbullying Research Center 2025; CDC NHIS-Teen Data Brief 514 (2024); CDC YRBS 2023; Pew Research Center 2022.

By the numbers: Cyberbullying Research Center 2025: approximately 58% lifetime, about 33% past-30-day victimization across 3,466 US teens ages 13-17. The wave is the first in nearly two decades in which boys lead girls on both target and aggressor metrics.

Cyberbullying by Gender

• In the 2025 sample, 36.6% of boys vs 28.6% of girls reported experiencing cyberbullying as a target, and 21.7% of boys vs 10.4% of girls reported cyberbullying others as an aggressor, both p<.001.
• Cyberbullying Research Center described the 2025 split as a change from most of its previous research, which had found boys and girls equally likely to have experienced cyberbullying.
• CDC NHIS-Teen 2021-2023 figures, by contrast, still showed girls bullied at higher rates than boys: 38.3% of girls vs 29.9% of boys in the past 12 months.
• CDC’s YRBS 2023 electronic-bullying breakdown reported 21% of female high schoolers vs 12% of male high schoolers electronically bullied in the past year.
• Only the Cyberbullying Research Center’s 2025 wave shows boys leading; CDC surveys still skew female. The boy-skew may be category-specific (group-chat exclusion, game-chat insults).

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Recent Developments

• June 2025: Cyberbullying Research Center published its 2025 national results: approximately 58% lifetime and about 33% past-30-day victimization among 3,466 US teens, with boys now reporting higher prevalence than girls.
• April 2026: Pew Research Center released a survey of 1,458 US teens ages 13-17 showing roughly 30% of Snapchat users had experienced at least one of three harassment behaviors vs about 20% for Instagram or TikTok users, with fieldwork conducted from late September to early October 2025.
• April 2025: Pew’s prior survey of 1,391 US teens and parents found roughly 48% of teens now describe social media as having a mostly negative effect on people their age, up from 32% in 2022.
• 2024 calendar year: NCMEC’s CyberTipline received 20.5 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation in 2024, with reports involving generative-AI technology jumping 1,325% year over year.
• 2021 onward: NCMEC has received nearly 100 reports of financial sextortion per day over the last year, and is aware of at least 36 teenage boys who have taken their lives after being victimized by sextortion.
• 2025: Lancet Regional Health – Americas published the ABCD cohort study (n=9,799, ages 11-12 at baseline) showing 8.7% lifetime cyberbullying victimization and an adjusted odds ratio of 2.62 (95% CI 1.73-3.98) for suicidal behaviors one year later.

Cyberbullying by Platform

• Pew Research Center’s April 2026 survey of 1,458 US teens 13-17 found that roughly three-quarters of each platform’s users described harassment and bullying on the platform as a problem for people their age.
• Roughly 30% of Snapchat users reported experiencing at least one of three harassment types, being called an offensive name, having rumors spread, or being physically threatened, compared with about 20% for both Instagram and TikTok users.
• Snapchat users reported cyberbullying at somewhat higher rates than peers on other platforms in the same Pew sample.
• A separate Pew Research Center survey of 1,391 teens and parents (April 2025 release) reported that roughly 48% of teens describe social media as having a mostly negative effect on people their age, up from 32% in 2022.
• The 20% parity between TikTok and Instagram is more meaningful than the headline split with Snapchat, given high audience overlap.

Most Common Types of Cyberbullying

• In the Cyberbullying Research Center’s 2025 sample, 32.5% of teens reported being excluded from a text or group chat in the past 30 days, making exclusion the single most common cyberbullying behavior.
• Mean or hurtful comments posted online (31.6%), being embarrassed or humiliated online (31.3%), and rumors spread online (29.2%) rounded out the top four past-30-day behaviors.
• Pew’s 2022 study identified six distinct cyberbullying behaviors and reported that 32% of teens had been called an offensive name, about 22% had had false rumors spread, 17% had been sent explicit images they didn’t ask for, 15% had faced constant location questioning by a non-parent, 10% had been physically threatened, and 7% had had explicit images shared without consent.
• Pew also reported that 28% of teens had experienced multiple types of cyberbullying across the six behaviors.
• Exclusion outranks insult in the 2025 behavior-level ranking, inverting the older “name-calling first” framing most pre-2023 articles still use.

Cyberbullying and Mental Health Outcomes

• Lancet Regional Health – Americas 2025 ABCD cohort study (n=9,799 US early adolescents) reported that cyberbullying victimization was prospectively associated with suicidal behaviors one year later at an adjusted odds ratio of 2.62 (95% CI 1.73–3.98).
• The same cohort showed cyberbullying victimization prospectively associated with higher depressive (beta = 0.61, 95% CI 0.02–1.19), somatic (beta = 1.00, 95% CI 0.42–1.57), and attention problems (beta = 0.52, 95% CI 0.03–1.00) one year later.
• CDC NHIS-Teen 2021–2023 release found anxiety symptoms in the past two weeks were significantly higher among bullied teens (29.8%) than non-bullied teens (14.5%), with depression symptoms at 28.5% vs 12.1%.
• Pew’s April 2025 survey reported that teen girls were more likely than boys to say social media hurt their mental health (25% vs 14%), confidence (20% vs 10%), or sleep (50% vs 40%).
• The Lancet 2025 prospective effect sizes show cyberbullying precedes poor mental health outcomes, not just correlates with them.

Source: The Lancet Regional Health – Americas 2025 ABCD cohort; CDC NHIS-Teen Data Brief 514, 2024.

Key finding: The Lancet Regional Health – Americas 2025 ABCD cohort (n=9,799) found cyberbullying victimization at ages 11-12 prospectively predicted suicidal behaviors one year later with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.62 (95% CI 1.73-3.98), the strongest US prospective signal to date that online harassment precedes adolescent mental-health decline rather than travels with it.

Electronic Bullying by Demographics

• Per the CDC’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 16% of US high school students were electronically bullied during the past year, with female students more likely than male students to be electronically bullied.
• LGBTQ+ high schoolers were more likely than cisgender and heterosexual students to be electronically bullied, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students reported the lowest rate.
• Female high schoolers reported electronic bullying at 21% vs 12% for male high schoolers in YRBS 2023.
• By race and ethnicity, 20% of White, 15% of American Indian or Alaska Native, 14% of Hispanic, 13% of Asian, 11% of Black, and 4% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander high schoolers were electronically bullied in the past year.
• The 16-point YRBS gap between White (20%) and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (4%) is the single widest racial gap in the 2023 electronic-bullying data.

Source: CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2023 Data Summary and Trends Report.

Cyberbullying Among Tweens (9-12)

• Cyberbullying Research Center’s June–July 2020 national tween study (n=1,034, ages 9–12) found that 1 in 5 tweens had experienced cyberbullying in some form, and 1 in 7 said they had been cyberbullied directly.
• The same study reported that 9 out of 10 tweens use social media and gaming apps.
• The top five tween responses to being cyberbullied were: blocking the person (60%), telling a parent or adult (51%), ignoring the person (43%), reporting it to the website or app (30%), and walking away from the device (30%).
• Two-thirds of tweens who had seen cyberbullying said they had tried to help others, and 35% of tween bystanders said they were afraid they would make things worse if they intervened, while 34% did not know what to do.
• The 9-out-of-10 social-and-gaming-app figure means platform exposure is essentially universal by age 12, even though the 1-in-7 tween victimization rate stays below the teen baseline.

The same exposure pattern shows up across SQ Magazine’s coverage of how technology reshapes early-adolescent behavior.

Cyberbullying, Substance Use, and Other Risk Behaviors

• In the Lancet 2025 ABCD prospective cohort, cyberbullying victimization at ages 11–12 was associated with higher odds of alcohol experimentation one year later at an adjusted odds ratio of 1.98 (95% CI 1.53–2.57).
• The same study reported elevated odds for nicotine and cannabis use experimentation one year later among cyberbullying-victimized early adolescents in the same cohort.
• The analyzed sample comprised 9,799 respondents, 48.4% female and 45.1% non-White, with 8.7% reporting lifetime cyberbullying victimization at baseline.
• CDC NHIS-Teen 2021–2023 release showed teenagers with a developmental disability (44.4%) were more likely to be bullied than teenagers without a developmental disability (31.3%).
• The Lancet AOR 1.98 alcohol finding ties cyberbullying victimization to the same risk-pipeline as adolescent substance use, consolidating two referral pathways for schools and clinicians.

Source: The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, 2025; Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study cohort.

Conclusion

The headline number for this year is the Cyberbullying Research Center’s approximately 58% lifetime and about 33% past-30-day victimization across 3,466 US teens in May 2025, alongside the 2025 gender reversal, the Pew April 2026 platform hierarchy, and the Lancet 2025 ABCD cohort tying cyberbullying victimization to prospective suicidal-behavior risk at an adjusted odds ratio of 2.62. These four datasets shift the framing toward who is most exposed, on which platforms, and what one-year downstream risks look like.

The forward-looking signal is NCMEC’s 1,325% increase in CyberTipline reports involving generative AI in 2024. Harassment vectors are shifting between modalities, not just between platforms; schools, regulators, and platform trust-and-safety teams now have to include AI-generated harm as a primary case.