Even popular teens bullied at school, not just outcasts, says US study
Social outcasts not the only target, and only the most well-liked don't suffer, US study finds
Only the prom king and queen are safe.
Researchers say that the more popular teenagers are, except for those at the very apex of the fragile high school hierarchy, the more likely they are to be bullied, perhaps a surprise to people who presumed outcasts were the exclusive targets.
The researchers, Robert Faris of the University of California, Davis, and Diane Felmlee of Pennsylvania State University in the United States, write that traditional views of bullying, reported by nearly a fifth of teenagers, tell less than the whole story. "For most students, gains in status increase the likelihood of victimisation and the severity of its consequences," they wrote in the Journal of the American Sociological Association.
The aggressors, too, often "possess strong social skills", and bully others to move up the social ladder rather than to "re-enact their own troubled home lives".
So while the uppermost teens on the social scale can "afford" to be nice, those in the next tier have to keep themselves there, Faris said.
He and Felmlee looked at how status can increase the chances of being a victim and how it can magnify the distress caused, which can include depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.