Report Suggests Maine Has One of the Smallest Bullying Problems

According to a new study, we Mainers seem to be a pretty decent folk. Well, that's something to be proud of.

WalletHub.com, a personal finance website, recently published a report of the states with the biggest bullying problems. The Pine Tree State found itself near the bottom of the list. In this case, that's a positive.

Maine came as the 5th lowest state on the list, meaning the state has the 5th lowest bullying problem. The poll includes 47 states and the District of Columbia. WalletHub didn't have enough information to include Oregon, Washington, and Minnesota.

Maine finished with a score of 25.96 out of a 100-point scale. The scoring fell under major categories: bullying prevalence, bullying impact & treatment, and anti-bullying laws. These were broken down into 20 subcategories to further aide with detail and accuracy. You can read more about the methodology here.

Maine scored very well in the first two categories. Rankings came in as 43rd in bullying prevalence and 41st in bullying impact & treatment. This includes being one of the lowest states for students involved in physical fighting, and students missing school in fear of bullying (both 47th out of the 48 in the study).

This is great news for parents and teachers alike. By no means am I saying bullying isn't a problem, but clearly Maine is in a much better place than the majority of the country, at least according to the report.

As great as these numbers are, it doesn't mean Maine can't continue to improve. And with social media continuing to be a home for hate and vitriol, it's never been more important to make sure kids are in a good place.

Kudos to Maine. These are great statistics. It makes me even more proud to be a Mainer.