Bullying prevalence in students with autism spectrum disorder

All forms of bullying, physical, verbal, social and cyber, are prevalent among youth worldwide. An especially vulnerable population for involvement in bullying is students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While there are some studies that have investigated bullying in these students, many of these are beset by methodological issues. We surveyed 104 students with ASD on their bullying experiences in all four forms of bullying and examined their roles as victim, perpetrator and bully-victim, comparing them with a group of typically developing students matched for age and gender. It was found that students with ASD reported significantly more traditional victimization (physical, verbal and social) than their typically developing peers. Cyberbullying victimization was similar for the two groups. There were no differences between the groups on traditional bullying perpetration; however, typically developing students reported more cyberbullying perpetration behaviors. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.