The practice of ritual abuse among social groups is poorly understood. This is partly due to the secretive nature of the activities, especially within collegiate fraternities and sororities, and in part a result of long-term acceptance of hazing. Thus, it has been difficult for researchers to agree on the underlying social and psychological mechanisms that perpetuate hazing.
In some hazing incidents the aggressor forcefully performs sexual acts on the victim such as oral sex, anal-oral contact, or defecating into the mouth.
In military circles hazing is sometimes assumed to test recruits under situations of stress and hostility. Although in no way a recreation of combat, hazing does put people into stressful situations that they are unable to control, which allegedly should weed out those weaker members prior to being put in situations where failure to perform will cost lives. The problem with this approach, according to opponents, is that the stress and hostility comes from inside the group, from the assumed "good guys", and not from outside as in actual combat situation, creating suspicion and distrust towards the superiors and comrades-in-arms. A possible argument against the Stockholm Syndrome theory is that in order to be willing participants recruits may be motivated by a desire to prove to senior soldiers their stability in future combat situations, making the unit more secure. Blatantly brutal hazing can in fact produce negative results, making the units more prone to break, desert or mutiny than those without hazing traditions, as observed in the Russian army in Chechnya, where units with the strongest traditions of dedovschina were the first to break and desert under enemy fire. At worst, hazing may lead into fragging incidents.
Outside of the criminal context, a form of the syndrome may take place in military basic training, in which "training is a mildly traumatic experience intended to produce a bond," with the goal of forming military units which will remain loyal to each other even in life-threatening situations.
It would be more difficult to make such a case in favor of hazing ceremonies in academic bodies and social clubs, where the origin is imitating educational (parental and school) discipline in substitute households and internal teaching.
In a 1999 study, a survey of 3,293 collegiate athletes, coaches, athletic directors and deans found a variety of approaches to prevent hazing, including strong disciplinary and corrective measures for known cases, implementation of athletic, behavioral, and academic standards guiding recruitment; provisions for alternative bonding and recognition events for teams to prevent hazing; and law enforcement involvement in monitoring, investigating, and prosecuting hazing incidents.
Hoover's research suggested half of all college athletes are involved in alcohol-related hazing incidents, while one in five are involved in potentially illegal hazing incidents. Only another one in five was involved in what Hoover described as positive initiation events, such as taking team trips or running obstacle courses.
"Athletes most at risk for any kind of hazing for college sports were men; non-Greek members; and either swimmers, divers, soccer players, or lacrosse players. The campuses where hazing was most likely to occur were primarily in eastern or southern states with no anti-hazing laws. The campuses were rural, residential, and had Greek systems," Hoover wrote. Hoover uses the term "Greek" to refer to U.S.-style fraternities and sororities.
Non-fraternity members were most at risk of hazing, Hoover reported. Football players are most at risk of potentially dangerous or illegal hazing, the study found.
In the May issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Michelle Finkel, MD, reported that hazing injuries are often not recognized for their true cause in emergency medical centers. The doctor said hazing victims sometimes hide the real cause of injuries out of shame or to protect those who caused the harm. In protecting their abusers, hazing victims can be compared with victims of domestic violence, Finkel wrote.
Finkel cites hazing incidents including "beating or kicking to the point of traumatic injury or death, burning or branding, excessive calisthenics, being forced to eat unpleasant substances, and psychological or sexual abuse of both males and females". Reported coerced sexual activity is sometimes considered "horseplay" rather than rape, she wrote. Finkel quoted from Hank Nuwer's book Wrongs of Passage which counted 56 hazing deaths between 1970 and 1999.
There is anti-hazing legislation in several countries, e.g. in France (the French term is bizutage) imposing a punishment up to six months in prison or 7,500 Euro.
Even in the modern western military, which combines discipline with welfare priorities, initiation practices can cause controversy. Although not a part of the training program of the British Royal Marines, there is a tradition (in many military - especially elite - corps) of subjecting the newly trained ranks to a hell night-type "joining run", a macho preparation of men in the prime of their lives for the ordeals of warfare, going beyond what most civilians (and even many service personnel) would find acceptable; it usually combines humiliation (such as nudity) with physical endurance.
In November 2005, there was an internationally publicized incident when a video of an extreme case of such a joining run, made secretly in May 2005, was released to the printed and broadcasting media. It showed newly trained marines, one group naked with others watching, fighting each other with mats wrapped around their arms, and one being kicked in the face after refusing to remove the padding and fight bare fisted."When one falls, a man in a fancy dress surgeon's outfit - allegedly an NCO - kicks him in the face, leaving him unconscious", according to the Telegraph. The victim, according to the BBC, said "It's just marine humor". The marine who leaked the video said "The guy laid out was inches from being dead". Under further investigation, the marines had just returned from a six month tour of Iraq, and were in their 'cooling down' period, in which they spend two weeks at a naval base before they are allowed back into society. The man who suffered the kick to the head did not press charges.