One in four adolescent girls were involved in serious fights last year

Washington, Jan 16 (ANI): A survey has revealed that around 26.7 percent girls between the age group of 12-17 had participated in a serious fight or attack last year.

The survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), revealed one quarter of adolescent girls were involved in a serious fight at school or work, group-against-group fight, or an attack on others with the intent to inflict serious harm.

"These findings are alarming," SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D., said.

"We need to do a better job reaching girls at risk and teaching them how to resolve problems without resorting to violence," she stated.

When combined, 2006 to 2008 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that 18.6 percent of adolescent females got into a serious fight at school or work in the past year.

About 14.1 percent participated in a group-against-group fight, and 5.7 percent attacked others with the intent to seriously hurt them; one quarter (26.7 percent) of adolescent females engaged in at least one of these violent behaviours in the past year.Despite media attention on high-profile accounts of females' acts of violence, rates of these violent behaviours among adolescent females remained stable according to the NSDUH report when comparing combined data from 2002-2004 and 2006-2008.

Violent Behaviours among Adolescent Females is based on the responses of 33,091 female youths aged 12 to 17 participating in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). (ANI)