HealthDay (12/20, Preidt) reports researchers at Ohio State University found that “student were far more likely to engage in a violent act if a friend has also done so.” Researchers collected data in “the mid-1990s from more than 5,900 seventh- through 12th-graders at 142 U.S. schools” and found that “youths were 48 percent more likely to be in a serious fight and 140 percent more likely to pull a weapon on someone if a friend had done the same.” Youths were also “up to 183 percent more likely to injure someone badly, the researchers said.” The findings were published online Dec. 20 in the American Journal of Public Health.
Related Links:
— “Teen Violence Can Be Contagious, Study Contends,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 20, 2016.