Bullying-related behaviour in a mainstream high school versus a high school for autism: Self-report and peer-report.

Sander and team asked 284 boys to fill out bullying surveys. Half attended a school for autism, half a regular high school. Each boy answered for himself and also named which classmates were bullies, victims, or defenders.

Researchers then compared the two groups on four roles: bully, victim, defender, and outsider.

Rates of bullying and victimhood were the same in both schools. The surprise came with defending: autistic boys said they stepped in to help less often, but their classmates saw no difference in helping behavior.

In short, autistic students thought they defended peers less; peers disagreed.

Buse et al. (2014) and Zablotsky et al. (2014) both found that special-school placement lowers bullying risk. Sander’s work agrees: simply being in a special school did not raise bullying rates.

Melegari et al. (2025) later showed that when autistic youth are bullied, high parent stress makes anxiety worse. Sander did not measure anxiety, but the two papers together hint that both peer reports and parent stress should be tracked after bullying events.

Cramm et al. (2009) used peer nominations too. They found classmates pick buddies for autistic students based on helpfulness, not popularity. Sander’s peer data fit this pattern: peers saw autistic students as equally helpful, even when self-views were lower.

Self-report alone can mislead. When you assess social skills or bullying roles, add peer or teacher data. If an autistic student claims “I never help,” check what classmates say before writing intervention goals. Also, special schools do not create more bullying; feel confident recommending them when appropriate.