Many Teens Endure Sexual Harassment

As students navigate changing sexual and social norms in middle and high school, many of them confuse the line between joking and sexual harassment, according to a new report.

Based on the first nationally representative survey in a decade of students in grades 7-12, the study , which was set for release this week by the American Association of University Women, found that 48 percent of nearly 2,000 students surveyed had experienced verbal, physical, or online sexual harassment at school during the 2010-11 school year.

The students' reports reveal constantly shifting school environments—mostly unseen by the adults on campus—in which students use everything from gossip and teasing to groping or more severe physical attacks to enforce gender stereotypes, bully, and retaliate. Nearly a third of...