FRIDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly half of about 200 sixth-grade urban middle school students reported being harassed by bullies at least once within the previous two weeks, a new study finds.

Insults such as name-calling and physical aggression, such as kicking and shoving, were the most common forms of harassment reported by the students.

"Students were bothered by all types of harassment incidents they personally experienced -- for example, being the target of insults, physical aggression or rumors -- but they were more concerned and felt sorrier for peers who encountered verbal rather than physical forms of hostility," study lead author Adrienne Nishina, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles' department of education, said in a prepared statement.

"These findings are important because they show that many more kids are affected by bullying both through their own personal experiences and by what they see happening to their classmates than previously estimated," Nishina added.

The study appears in the March/April issue of the journal Child Development.

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