According to Sheldon Fort, 15, hardly a day goes by where he
doesn't hear one of his classmates talk behind the back of
another. In one recent incident, Fort's friend told him that a
girl, who was new to the school and beginning to rise in
popularity, had gotten pregnant. The rumor was false, but those
who spread it managed to hurt the girl's feelings and social
standing anyway, Fort recalls. "Probably they were intimidated
about her-a new girl getting so much attention," says Fort.
"They were mudslinging, to make her seem less appealing."
Incidents like the one Fort observed, when gossip and rumor are
used for malicious purposes, are probably less common than their
other functions, notes Martha Putallaz, PhD, a psychology
professor at Duke University who studies gossip among children.
As-yet-unpublished data collected by Putallaz and graduate
student Kristina McDonald suggests that when two children who
are close friends gossip, they talk with the intent of hurting a
peer only about 7 percent of the time. "G