Social-cognitive and behavioral attributes of aggressive victims of bullying

This study examined the social-cognitive and behavioral attributes of children who are concurrently aggressive and victimized by their peers. The characteristics of these “aggressive victims” were examined in comparison to bullies, passive victims, and normative comparison children. The sample included 240 urban Los Angeles elementary school children (mean age = 9.5 years), who completed a series of self-report inventories, a social-cognitive interview, and a peer nomination inventory. Ratings of behavioral adjustment were obtained from teachers and academic functioning was obtained through a review of school records. Subgroup comparisons indicated that aggressive victims were characterized by impairments in self-regulation as well as difficulties across domains of functioning. In contrast, bullies tended to exhibit aggression-related biases in social-cognitive processing, but did not suffer from other adjustment problems, and passive victims were characterized by nonassertive behaviors and low levels of social skills. Taken together, our findings highlight the distinctiveness and theoretical importance of the aggressive victim subgroup.