School violence

School violence refers to aggressive acts that happen within a school setting. This can involve students fighting each other, students attacking teachers or other staff, or staff members harming students. The violence can be physical—like fistfights or corporal punishment—psychological, such as verbal abuse, or sexual, including rape and harassment. It also covers different kinds of bullying, including cyberbullying, and bringing weapons like guns or knives onto school grounds. Typically, the person or people doing the harming hold more physical, social, or psychological power over the victim. In recent decades, many countries have come to see this as a major social issue, especially when weapons are part of the picture.

This problem exists in every country and touches a large number of children and teenagers. Most of the time, the aggressor is another student, but sometimes teachers or other school employees are the ones responsible. The violence can be physical, psychological, or sexual in nature.

Bullying is a specific type of aggressive behavior that involves unwanted, negative actions. It is not a one-time conflict but a repeated pattern over time, and it usually happens when there is a power imbalance between those involved. This sets it apart from occasional disagreements or fights between peers. Bullying takes several forms: physical, psychological, sexual, and cyber.

Physical bullying includes actions like hitting, kicking, pushing, shoving, locking someone in a room, stealing or destroying belongings, or forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do. This is different from a physical fight, which is a mutual conflict between two people of roughly equal strength. Psychological bullying covers verbal abuse, emotional harm, and social exclusion—things like name-calling, cruel teasing, leaving someone out on purpose, ignoring them, or spreading lies and rumors. Sexual bullying involves making someone feel embarrassed or uncomfortable through sexual jokes, comments, or gestures. Cyberbullying happens through electronic devices: mean messages, posts, emails, or texts; websites made to mock a student; sharing unflattering or inappropriate photos without permission; or hurtful behavior via mobile phones (texts, calls, video clips) or online platforms (email, instant messaging, social media, chatrooms).

Physical fights, as defined by the Global School-based Student Health Survey, occur when two students of roughly equal strength choose to fight each other. The Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey does not limit this to school or peers—it can involve a stranger, a parent, a sibling, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a friend, or someone the student knows.

Sexual violence, according to the Demographic and Health Survey, is forced sexual intercourse or any other sexual act done against a person’s will. The Violence Against Children Survey expands this to include completed or attempted non-consensual sex acts (like rape), unwanted sexual touching, and non-contact abuse such as threats of sexual violence, exhibitionism, or verbal sexual harassment.

Physical violence by teachers means the intentional use of physical force that could cause death, disability, injury, or harm, whether or not it is meant as punishment. Corporal punishment in schools is any punishment that uses physical force to cause pain or discomfort—often hitting a child with a hand or an object, but also kicking, shaking, throwing, or scratching. Since the 1977 *Ingraham v. Wright* ruling, opposition to school corporal punishment in the United States has grown, leading most states to ban it. As of April 2023, Colorado and Idaho joined the list of states that have banned it, leaving only seventeen states where it is still allowed. In two of those states, North Carolina and Kentucky, individual counties have banned it even though it remains legal statewide or in private schools.

Risk factors include internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Internalizing behaviors—like withdrawal, anxiety, inhibition, or depression—are sometimes linked to youth violence, though depressed youth may also turn to substance abuse. Because these students rarely act out, school staff often overlook them. Externalizing behaviors, such as delinquency, aggression, and hyperactivity, are directly tied to violent acts. Violent actions like punching and kicking are often learned by watching others. These behaviors show up both outside and inside schools.

Other individual factors are also linked to higher levels of aggression.