Psychologists from University of California, Los Angeles said the study has implications for programmes aimed at combating school bullying.
The psychologists studied 1,895 ethnically diverse students from 99 classes at 11 Los Angeles middle schools.
They conducted surveys at three points: during the spring of seventh grade, the fall of eighth grade and the spring of eighth grade.
Each time, students were asked to name the students who were considered the "coolest", the students who "start fights or push other kids around" and the ones who "spread nasty rumours about other kids".
Those students who were named the coolest at one time were largely named the most aggressive the next time, and those considered the most aggressive were significantly more likely to be named the coolest the next time.
The results indicated that both physical aggression and spreading rumours are rewarded by middle school peers.
"The ones who are cool bully more, and the ones who bully more are seen as cool," said Jaana Juvonen, lead author of the study.
"What was particularly interesting was that the form of aggression, whether highly visible and clearly confrontational or not, did not matter. Pushing or shoving and gossipping worked the same for boys and girls," Juvonen said in a statement.
"The impetus for the study was to figure out whether aggression promotes social status, or whether those who are perceived as popular abuse their social power and prestige by putting other kids down," she said.
"We found it works both ways for both 'male-typed' and 'female-typed' forms of aggression," she added.
"A simple message, such as 'Bullying is not tolerated', is not likely to be very effective," Juvonen said, when bullying often increases social status and respect.
The research will be published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
