PLAYGROUND BEHAVIOR AND PEER INTERACTION PATTERNS OF PRIMARY-SCHOOL BOYS CLASSIFIED AS BULLIES, VICTIMS AND NOT INVOLVED

On the basis of peer nominations, 8-10 year-old boys (N = 71) were cla ssified as bullies, victims or not involved in this type of problem. T hese children were then observed in the playground in order to investi gate what activities the three groups typically engaged in and who the y interacted with. The three groups did not differ significantly in te rms of their social networks (a measure of how many different children the target interacted with). Bullies tended to be in larger groups th an other children. Victims spent significantly less time in rule games than the other two groups, but significantly more time in positive so cial contact with peers and significantly more time on their own. It i s argued that these results can advance our understanding of the devel opment and maintenance of bully/victim status, as well as facilitate s chools' attempts to reduce this type of problem.