A new study has found that teens who become more popular are at higher risk of getting bullied and also the negative consequences of being victimized worsens in their case.
The study conducted by University of California, Davis found that the risk of being bullied increases as adolescents climb their school's social ladder up until they approach the very top and when the risk plummets.
The researchers have found that the students at the top, approximately the 5 percent most popular kids in school, sit just above the fray, possibly because their extremely high status puts them out of reach of any rivals.
Robert Faris, associate professor of sociology at UC Davis and co-author of the study, said that in contrast to stereotypes of wallflowers as the sole targets of peer aggression, adolescents who are relatively popular are also at high risk of harassment, the invisible victims of school-based aggression.
The study found victims of harassment suffered psychological, social and academic consequences and they experienced high levels of anxiety, anger and depression.
The study was published in American Sociological Review.