It's not the most popular kid at school you have to be afraid of -- it's the
SECOND most popular kid.
Scientists have proven what we all know to be true: As kids gain social status at school, they're more likely to become bullies.
"By and large, status increases aggression," sociologist Robert Faris of UC Davis, who led the study, told The Los Angeles Times.
Faris and a colleague studied 3,722 middle and high school students over the course of an academic year, and found that teens became more aggressive as they climbed the ranks of the cool crowd.
Aggressive behavior peaked when students hit the 98th percentile for popularity, suggesting they were bullying other kids in order to become even more popular.
But here's where it gets interesting: Students who were in the top two percent of a school's social hierarchy generally didn't harass their fellow students, proving the cliche of the kind-hearted class president.
Faris said kids at the highest rung of the social ladder can't really gain anything by being mean, and picking on others only made them seem insecure.
How true this is in ***** life, too: The truly confident people are the ones who are least likely to pick on others. Don't you agree?