Understanding Bullying Experiences among Sexual Minority Youths in England. Centre for Longitudinal Studies Working Paper 2015/8

The detrimental consequences for victims of bullying are well established. Despite this there remains little empirical evidence about the relationship between sexual minority status including Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) and bullying among young people in England. The aim of this paper is to identify whether LGB youth are more at risk of bullying using Next Steps, a nationally representative longitudinal dataset. The findings suggest that young people who are heterosexual have a lower probability of experiencing frequent forms of bullying both during compulsory schooling and at age 19/20 compared to LGB young people. Furthermore, young people who identify as LGB have a higher probability of experiencing frequent physical, verbal, and relational forms of bullying during compulsory schooling compared with heterosexual young people. Being bullied during schooling and at age 19/20 is negatively associated with life satisfaction. Implications of these findings are discussed.