Examining developmental differences in the social‐emotional problems among frequent bullies,victims, and bully/victims

Bullying poses a threat to children's social‐emotional functioning and their perceptions of school climate, yet few studies have examined different types of social‐emotional and behavior problems presented by children involved in bullying, as a bully, victim, or bully/victim across multiple school levels. The current study used data from 24,345 elementary‐, middle‐, and high‐school students to examine the association between frequent involvement in bullying and aggressive impulsivity, attitudes toward aggressive retaliation, internalizing symptoms, peer relations, and perceptions of school climate. Logistic regression analyses indicated that bully/victims were most likely to display internalizing symptoms, problems in peer relationships, and have poorer perceptions of the school environment. Both frequent bullies and bully/victims displayed aggressive‐impulsive behavior and endorsed retaliatory attitudes. High‐school students frequently involved in bullying tended to display the greatest risk for internalizing problems, but less risk for aggressive impulsivity. Developmental trends and implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.