Bully/victim problems in middle‐school children: Stability, self‐perceived competence, peer perceptions and peer acceptance

Abstract

On the basis of peer nominations, around 13 per cent of our sample of 8‐ and 9‐year‐old children ( N =158) could be defined as bullies, and 17 per cent as victims. Boys were more likely to be nominated as bullies, but not as victims, than girls. Bully/ victim status was, in the main, stable over three assessment periods in a school year and at the start of the next school year. On Harter's Self‐Perception Profile for Children, victims scored significantly lower than non‐victims on the athletic competence, social acceptance and global self‐worth dimensions. Bullies, victims and not‐involved children were perceived differently by peers on several behavioural descriptions (starts fights, seeks help, leader, cooperates, disrupts). Sociometrically rejected children received more bully, and more victim, nominations than other sociometric status groups, and both bullies and victims were less likely to belong to the popular group, and more likely to belong to the rejected group, than non‐bullies and non‐victims. Some implications of these results for the development of bully/victim problems are discussed.