A new study suggests that hazing is a serious concern in college marching bands.

Researchers at Oregon State University surveyed college band members in a national study and found that public verbal humiliation and public degradation were the most common forms of hazing in this group. However, few students reported hazing activities, often because of fears of retribution or loss of social standing.

Their results also indicate that students don't know what constitutes hazing, and there should be "more education to understand what hazing is and why it shouldn't be tolerated," phys.org reported.

"Despite all of our efforts, the message about hazing is still not getting out there," Jason Silviera, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "Band participants might say it's no big deal, it's what we do. It may not be a big deal to that person, but to someone else it may be."

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed more than 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students who participate in NCAA Division I marching band programs in 30 states across the U.S. Student participation in the online survey was voluntary.

Based on their findings, most band members reported that they had never been forced to participate in most of the 18 types of hazing incidents listed in the survey. Only four types of hazing had been experienced by at least 10 percent of the respondents.

Close to 20 percent of those surveyed revealed that they "had been required to sing or chant by themselves or with selected others while in public and nearly 20 percent reported being yelled at, cursed at or sworn at. Nearly 15 percent of the band members reported that they had been asked not to associate with certain specific people but not others. And nearly 12 percent of the students reported depriving themselves of sleep," phys.org reported.

Only 3 percent reported forcing others to participate in a drinking game, and nearly 8 percent reported forcing others to sing or chant in public and 5 percent reported yelling, cursing or swearing at other members.

The majority of the students surveyed also said they were aware of their university's hazing policies and did not support hazing.

However, Silviera said that the fact that nearly a third of the band members also reported observing some type of hazing indicates a possible disconnect in band members' understanding of what hazing is.

He suggests that band leaders and member improve education and reporting efforts to root out hazing in their programs.

"There was a sense that band members didn't see some behaviors as hazing," Silveira said. "Giving students concrete examples that help delineate what hazing is might help."

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Research in Music Education.