THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG BULLYING, VICTIMIZATION, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND AGGRESSION IN ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL-CHILDREN

The objective of the study was to examine Sex and grade differences am ong bullies, victims, bully/victims, and comparison children on physic al, verbal, and indirect aggression and victimization and on depressio n and anxiety. 546 children (254 boys and 292 girls) in grades five th rough eight participated in the study. Children completed the Bully/Vi ctim Questionnaire (Olweus (1989) Questionnaire for students (Junior a nd Senior versions), unpublished manuscript), the Franke and Hymel (19 84) Social Anxiety Scale, the Children' Depression Inventory (Kovacs ( 1985) Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 21, 995-998), and the English Versi on of the Relational Aggression and Victimization Scale (Lagerspetz, B jorkqvist & Peltonen (1988) Aggressive Behavior, 14, 403-414). The res ults indicated that across both grade levels, male bullies reported mo re physical aggression than did comparison groups. Male bully/victims in the younger grades reported more physical and verbal aggression tha n did comparison groups. Male bullies and victims in the older grades reported more verbal aggression. For females, group differences in agg ression did not emerge until the older grades. The aggression results were not mirrored in the victimization reports: There were only signif icant group differences (between the at-risk groups and the comparison s children) on physical, verbal, and indirect victimization. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.