New York, Sep 23 (IANS): Sexually active high school girls are more likely to be bullied compared with boys who are also sexually active, says an important study.

Girls who have engaged in sexual intercourse are almost twice as likely to be bullied, said researchers from the Brown University.

"If you look at boys in the same category, it is not as significant," said lead author Hailee Dunn from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the university.

The study analysed 13,065 high school boys and girls who took the "Youth Risk Behaviour Survey" in 2011.

The participants were asked two questions about bullying, and those who answered yes to at least one of the questions were classified as having been bullied.

Researchers found that girls who became sexually active at younger ages were found to be more prone to bullying than those who were not sexually active until they were older.

"The study is correlational so researchers can conclude only that these two variables are related, not which one might lead to the other.

"For example, it's possible that girls who are bullied then go out and engage in promiscuous behavior," Dunn said.

"We are further looking to see if the sexual double standard applies to heterosexual youth and sexual minorities in the same way," Dunn pointed out.

However, bullying intervention for both boys and girls is the key, she concluded.

The study appeared in the journal Women's Health Issues.