哥伦比亚广播公司:我们通常认为"背后说人闲话"是女孩子经常干的事情,然而,一项调查显示,这种现象其实在男孩子中间更为普遍.

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.