Nonbullying victims of bullies: Aggression, social skills, and friendship characteristics

Fifty-four early adolescents were selected and classified as nonbullying Victims (frequently bullied by peers but did not bully others) or Nonvictims (neither bullied others nor were targets of bullies) based on the distribution of victimization scores on a self-report questionnaire. These male and female students and a parent from each family completed questionnaires that assessed the students’ victimization of self and others and social skills of cooperation, self-control, and assertion. Adolescents also reported their likely responses to potential interpersonal conflicts and characteristics of their friendships. Results suggest nonbullying victimized adolescents have subtle difficulties managing confrontation adaptively in a variety of contexts for peer interaction. Further research on interpersonal skills related to conflict management may help explain why some nonbullying adolescents are frequent targets of bullying while others are relatively free from victimization by peers. D 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.