SCOTTISH girls have been revealed as among the most violent in the world. A new study shows that almost one in three 11- to 15-year-olds was involved in at least one physical fight in the previous year.

Only girls from England, Belgium, Lithuania, Estonia and Hungary admitted to being more violent, in the study of 35 developed countries.

Rising alcohol and drug use has been blamed on a surge in violent behaviour among young women. The growth of “ladette” culture — typified by Ms Dynamite, the singer fined £500 and ordered to pay £750 in compensation last week after she slapped a policewoman during a drunken night out — is also said to have contributed.

The study, published in the journal of the American Society of Paediatrics and based on a survey of 161,082 adolescents, placed Scottish girls sixth in the international league table of violence.

Just over 29% had been involved in a fight in the previous year — compared with 13% in Finland, 21% in Russia and 25% in America.

Almost 14% of Scottish girls had taken part in two or more fights over the same period.Experts say the report exposes a deepening problem in society and that more work is needed to address it.

“My experience from 15 years as a head teacher is that when girls get organised to fight, they are far more vicious than boys,” said Bill McGregor, general secretary of the Headteachers’ Association of Scotland.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that violence involving girls is becoming more of a problem and that alcohol is often involved as part of the ladette culture. Very often fighting in schools between girls happens on a Monday as a result of drink-fuelled incidents that have taken place at the weekend.”

Susan McVie, a criminologist at Edinburgh University, said: “There are questions to be asked about why Scottish girls are at the top end of the table and whether there are cultural similarities between these countries that might explain this heightened level of violence.

“There is currently no regularly produced, objective source of data on offending in Scotland. Without a regular national survey of information on young people’s offending behaviour we are likely to continue to struggle for answers.”

Inspector Tom Halbert, of Strathclyde’s Violence Reduction Unit, said there has been a perceptible rise in anti-social behaviour among girls. “Education is a cornerstone of our violence reduction strategy and we are working closely with our colleagues in education and social work to tackle this type of behaviour,” he said.

The study also revealed that about 60% of British boys had been in a fight over the previous year, compared with 48% in America, 40% in Germany and 37% in Finland. Boys in Scotland, England and Wales came 10th, 13th and 26th in the league table respectively.

Many children reported carrying weapons, with knives the most popular choice. Boys were most likely to carry “weapons associated with pro-active aggression” such as sticks, clubs or knuckle-dusters. Girls were more likely to arm themselves with “defensive” weapons such as mace, pepper spray or tear gas.

The study concludes that girls are most likely to fight within “intimate relationships”, while boys are much more likely to attack strangers.

Dr Candace Currie, director of the child and adolescent health research unit at Edinburgh University and co-author of the report by child health experts from Canada, Scotland, Poland, Israel and America, said she was concerned at the high level of violence involving British girls.

““Fighting is an important thing to measure because it is correlated with other forms of risk behaviour such as alcohol use, substance use and smoking,”she said.

Last year almost 500 Scots children were treated for alcohol addiction. More than a third of 15-year-olds and 13% of 13-year-olds claim to have used drugs.

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