As data shows that youth who identify as sexual minorities are significantly more likely to report being the victims of in-school or online bullying in national surveys, a new study that includes Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Center for Adolescent Health faculty says this may offer a path toward effective interventions and anti-bullying education.

Using cross-sectional data from 2015 and 2017, the study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, “Electronic and School Bullying Victimization by Race/Ethnicity and Sexual Minority Status in a Nationally Representative Adolescent Sample,” found that gay, lesbian or bi-sexual youth were much more likely to report both online and in-school bully than their heterosexual peers, with Black and Latinx youth reporting less bullying than white adolescents.

The authors – Lindsey Webb, Laura K. Clary, Renee M. Johnson and Tamar Mendelson – conclude “[t]his may have implications for designing bullying prevention strategies that target sexual minority adolescents to reduce their risk for victimization both online and in school.”

Access the full study here.