The relationship between bullying and suicide: What we know and what it means for schools

In the past decade, headlines reporting the tragic stories of a young person’s suicide death linked in some way to bullying (physical, verbal, or online) have become regrettably common. There is so much pain and suffering associated with each of these events, affecting individuals, families, communities and our society as a whole and resulting in an increasing national outcry to “do something” about the problem of bullying and suicide. For this reason, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC) and other violence prevention partners and researchers have invested in learning more about the relationship between these two serious public health problems with the goal of using this knowledge to save  lives and prevent future bullying. As school administrators, teachers, and school staff in daily contact with young people, you are uniquely affected by these events and feel enormous pressure to help prevent them in the future. The purpose of this document is to provide concrete, action-oriented information based on the latest science to help you improve your schools’ understanding of and ability to prevent and respond to the problem of bullying and suicide related behavior.