Boyce explained the slight drop to higher awareness in campuses and in Canadian society about the negative effects of physical, verbal, sexual and cyberspace bullying. But racial bullying had gone up a little bit, Boyce admitted.
Boyce, the director of the university's Social Program Evaluation Group, told the Canadian Press, "Kids who come from families with more wealth and more assets, that take more holidays, have more computers in the house, etc., they are involved in higher rates of bullying."
Meanwhile, smoking has gone down from 10 percent for both boys and girls to just 4 percent for males and 6 percent for females.
The report also showed that engagement in physical activities among Canadian youths increased, ironically, together with the weight problems of teens. From only 4 percent, the number of obese ballooned by 50 percent to 6 percent of Canadian youths. But those classified as overweight increased to 20 percent from 17 percent among male teenagers, while it went down to 12 percent from 15 percent among adolescent females.
Boyce correlated the positive behavior to family relationships. "The issue is what is it about these contexts and settings which are influencing these behaviors. Because we think that's what can be addressed through either health education or some type of intervention, particularly in the school," Boyce told the Canadian Press.
