Why is Michigan the #1 state in the nation for bullying problems?

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Is it possible your child is playing hookie from school out of fear of being bullied?

WalletHub recently did a study measuring the states with the biggest bullying problems in 2016.

To identify the states where bullying is most pervasive, WalletHub’s analysts compared 45 states and the District of Columbia across 17 key metrics, ranging from “bullying-incident rate” to “truancy costs for schools” to “percentage of high school students bullied online.”

One of the interesting findings of this study is that Michigan's overall rank is #1 with bullying problems, yet our state's "Anti-bullying Laws" rank is #17.

The study covers how much these bullying problems can cost the state.  However, shouldn't the focus be more on why not how much?

NoBullying.com has a few solid points on why bullying is happening,

School aged kids often turn to bullying because they think it will elevate their social status.They think that by bullying classmates that aren’t well liked or well known makes them cooler in the eyes of their peers. Some kids need to do this in order to feel like their peers accept them. Bullying experts have determined that because they socialize as much as they do bullies often have more friends than non bullies.

Bullies often come from families who don’t express love at home. Even a home where punishments are inconsistant can often produce bullies. This has something to do with the personal history of bullies because kids who come from an unloving or unstable home often suffer from social rejection, which can have lasting psychological effects on them. Even kids who are failing their classes at school often become bullies as a result of the pressure and low self esteem that comes with not getting good grades. Research has shown that anyone who has power they don’t know what to do with often turns to bullying as do people who seek out power in their life by intimidating others.

That still leaves us with a big question.  Why is Michigan not only #1 but also the only Midwest state in top 10 of worst bullying states?  You can check out the entire report and ranking at WalletHub.com.  Below are the Top 10 States.

Top 10 States with the Bullying Problems
1 Michigan
2 Louisiana
3 West Virginia
4 Montana
5 Arkansas
6 Texas
7 Idaho
8 Alabama
9 South Carolina
10 Alaska

 

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