Hazing Is Widespread, Student Survey Shows

By Mark Walsh

Almost half the high school students responding to a national survey said they had been subjected to activities that fit a broad definition of hazing to become members of sports teams, cheerleading squads, gangs, and other groups.

The study by researchers at Alfred University in New York, released last week, is described as the first serious academic research into initiation rites at the high school level. Some of the results surprised even the authors.

For example, the survey showed that 24 percent of students joining youth church groups had faced hazing. The study's authors, expecting little hazing in that category, almost didn't include...