Colorado children blame violence in their lives on a "culture that celebrates sameness, the one right way to be 'in,' " according to a report issued today in Denver and Washington, D.C.

One thousand Colorado students in fifth through 12th grades were polled, along with 1,000 children in those grades in other parts of the country.

Researchers say the study, conducted by the Colorado Trust and New York-based Families and Work Institute, is the first to ask Colorado's young people what can be done to stop the violence in their homes, schools and communities.

Children said teasing, put-downs and cruel gossip constitute violence, which two-thirds of them say they experience. That meanness then triggers the physical violence that almost half of them have endured, according to the study.

"They talked a lot about accepting and wanting to treat each other equally," said study co-author Kimberly Salmond of the Families and Work Institute.

Accepting differences

"What young people are saying is complex because they are advocating for accepting the commonality, the basic humanity of all people, while accepting each of our differences," the study found.

The children, who filled out questionnaires, proposed solutions to bridge people's differences beyond just race. "Make everybody blind, so no violence was because of how people looked," advised a 16-year-old Colorado boy quoted in the study.

A 17-year-old girl from Colorado cited as a cause "stereotyping by adults. Adults expect teenagers to be violent, disruptive people. I believe this only encourages the very behavior that so many adults fear."

One in nine Colorado youths called for gun control to quell violence.

"It would be that the people who make guns will never make guns or fake guns again and I mean that," wrote a 12-year-old girl from Colorado. "No guns in the world."

A 16-year-old boy from the state wrote, "I would do what Britain did, and take away handguns and restrict the use of rifles to registered citizens."

Adults' take not the same

A basic discrepancy emerged between how youth and adults saw violence, Salmond said. "If asked, adults would talk about physical stuff; emotional stuff is below their radar screens," she said. "We assume emotional violence is not important to kids, but it is important to kids.

"We think it doesn't happen as often as it does. We think it shouldn't affect kids in the way it does, but it does. (Emotional violence) really does impact the way kids see the world and how they see themselves."

Almost half the students in Colorado and the other places experienced physical violence, saying they were kicked, shoved, kicked or tripped at least once in the previous month.

One in 12 experienced extreme violence, saying they were attacked with a weapon, forced to do sexual acts or had forced someone else to do sexual acts in the past month, according to the report.

Good relationships help

Good relationships with parents, teachers or friends tended to shield young people from violence, Salmond said. "Kids with better relationships tended to be victims and aggressors less frequently."

Colorado young people differed little from their counterparts nationwide in how they experienced violence, except that 47 percent of young people in Colorado felt "very safe" compared with 39 percent of the youths' counterparts in the rest of the country.

Additionally, 49 percent of Colorado youths responding in the poll reported they are more likely to bully, reject or ignore others, compared with the national average of 43 percent.