哥倫比亞廣播公司:我們通常認為"背后說人閑話"是女孩子經常干的事情,然而,一項調查顯示,這種現象其實在男孩子中間更為普遍.

CBS News: "Mean girls" may be getting a bad rap. While everyone knows the stereotype of teen girls who use vicious gossip and social rejection to put down their rivals, a new study finds the same behavior is even more common in boys.

Researchers from the University of Georgia call the behavior "relational aggression," and define it as the use of malicious rumors, social exclusion and rejection to harm or manipulate others.

They surveyed 620 students from northeast Georgia school districts each year as the students progressed from sixth grade through the end of high school, and found almost all of them reported taking part in such behavior at one time or another.