BULLY VICTIM PROBLEMS IN MIDDLE-SCHOOL CHILDREN - STABILITY, SELF-PERCEIVED COMPETENCE, PEER PERCEPTIONS AND PEER ACCEPTANCE

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 bulli es, but not as victims, than girls. Bully/victim status was, in the ma in, stable over three assessment periods in a school year and at the s tart of the next school year. On Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Children, victims scored significantly lower than non-victims on the a thletic competence, social acceptance and global self-worth dimensions . Bullies, victims and not-involved children were perceived differentl y 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 sociomet ric status groups, and both bullies and victims were less likely to be long to the popular group, and more likely to belong to the rejected g roup, than non-bullies and non-victims. Some implications of these res ults for the development of bully/victim problems are discussed.