Les caractéristiques des agresseurs comme facteurs de risque associés au développement du sentiment de solitude chez les adolescents victimes de harcèlement par les pairs
The goal of the present study is to examine to what extend bullies’ behavioral and relational characteristics account for changes over time in loneliness feelings among victimized middle school students. The sample was composed of 538 grade 7 and 8 students from two middle schools in Montreal. During two consecutive years, students’ level of victimization and bullies’ characteristics (gender, aggressive behaviors, popularity and victimization) were evaluated with self-reported measures and peer nominations. Results show that, beyond the frequency to which students are victimized, bullies’ gender was associated with an increase over a one year period in loneliness feelings for girls and boys. Specifically, the number of females bullies identified by the students, constitutes a risk factor closely linked to the development of loneliness feelings. Moreover, the behavioral and relational characteristics of the bullies were not associated with an increase over time of loneliness feelings. However, being bullied by students characterized by social adjustment difficulties (aggressive and victimized bullies) was negatively associated with concurrent loneliness feelings. The discussion highlights the intra- and interpersonal processes explaining why the loneliness feelings linked to victimization by peers are likely to vary according to the bullies’ characteristics.
Peer victimization Aggression Popularity Bullies' characteristics Loneliness feelings Longitudinal study