Bullying Experiences of Disabled Children and Young People in England
Research I conducted with Sam Parsons (IOE) and Lucinda Platt (LSE) suggests that children and young people with disabilities are more likely to be bullied at school compared to those students with no known disabilities.
We analysed nationally representative data from two renowned longitudinal studies: the Millennium Cohort Study and Next Steps (formerly known as Longitudinal Study of Young People in England). The Millennium Cohort Study follows approximately 19,000 children born between 2000-2002, while Next Steps focuses on the lives of around 16,000 people born in 1989-1990.
We examined the prevalence of school bullying in early childhood (age 7) and adolescence (age 15).
Results underlined that children and young people with long-standing limiting conditions such as muscular dystrophy or mobility difficulties, as well as those with Special Educational Needs were at a higher risk of bullying victimisation. We found that the association between disability and bullying remained even when other characteristics known to influence bullying (e.g. school performance, socio-economic circumstances) were taken into account.
This research has been published in Sociology and can be accessed here.
You can also download a briefing for lay audience here.
This animated video has been created to disseminate findings to the general public and key stakeholders
Bullying and Disability interview for Online Youth Conference organised by Eastside Community Heritage
Funding for this research was provided by the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative Project "Trajectories and Transitions of Disabled Children and Young People (ES/K00302X/1, PI: Lucinda Platt).
This animated video was funded by the University of Warwick and the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number: ES/M500434/1, PI: Stella Chatzitheochari, partner: Anti-Bullying Alliance)
Producer: Dieter Deswarte
Animator: Emanuele Colombo
Composer: Jorge Puig
Voiceover: Luke Newberry
