Popular Students And School Bullying: New Study Shows Surprising Relationship

A new study from a team of researchers found out that popular students and school bullying have a strong correlation with each other.  The research shows that popular or influential students have the ability to influence their schoolmates to stop bullying others.

The research was led by Princeton University and joined by researchers from Rutgers University and Yale University. They were able to discover through their research that popular kids can reduce the rate of school bullying by as much as 30 percent.

Their research involved identifying the most influential students across 56 middle schools in New Jersey. Lead Author and associate professor Elizabeth Levy Paluck from Princeton University tells Yahoo Parenting about their method to identify the influential kids, "We used social network mapping to identify the social referents based on what students told us about who they choose to spend time with."

After finding the influential students, the researchers met with some of them and created strategies together on how to effectively spread positive messages in their school environment. Some of the strategies they implemented involved the use of social media, awareness posters, and wearing special wristbands. The schools that implemented the program saw a great reduction in bullying in their school environment.

"These people - the social referents you should target - get noticed more by their peers. Their behavior serves as a signal to what is normal and desirable in the community," Paluck tells Yahoo Parenting. "And there are many ways to figure out who those people are and work with them to inspire positive change."

This recent study should not only serve as additional information about the connection between popular students and school bullying. This research should also move adults, parents, and educators into teaching students that they have the ability to effectively promote peace, love, and positivity in their school environment.