Citation

Baldry AC, Farrington DP. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 1998; 3(2): 237-254.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.2044-8333.1998.tb00364.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose. The main aim of this research was to investigate the parental styles and personal characteristics of bullies and victims, and to disentangle factors related to bully/victims from factors related to children who were only bullies or only victims.Method. A self-report questionnaire on bullying was completed by 113 girls and 125 boys aged 11-14 years in a middle school in Rome.Results. Over half of all students had bullied others in the previous three months, and nearly half had been victimized. About a quarter of all students were both bullies and victims. Bullies tended to be male and to have low pro-social behaviour, but these were largely characteristics of children who were only bullies. Victims tended to be female and to have low self-esteem, but these were largely characteristics of children who were only victims. Children who were both bullies and victims tended to have authoritarian parents, but these were largely characteristics of bully/victims.Conclusions. It is important to study only bullies, only victims and bully/victims, as well as bullies and victims in general. Personal characteristics were related to only bullies or only victims, whereas parental styles were more related to bully/victims.

Language: en