Popularity Breeds Bullying, Study Finds
Popular teens â but not the most popular â are the ones most likely to bully others, new research suggests. Researchers surveyed about 3,700 teens in 8th through 10th grades. They were asked how often they were the target of bullying or bullied others. Questions dealt with physical violence, threats, teasing, spreading rumors and shutting off someone from a group. Teens also were asked to name their top 5 friends. Researchers used the friends’ names to figure out who were the most popular kids. Those with higher social status were more likely to bully others. Researchers said bullying may have helped them climb the social ladder. But bullying dropped off for the top 2% of popular kids. At that point, maybe they were better off being nice, researchers said. Kids in the bottom 2% also did not bully. Two-thirds of the teens said they did no bullying.