Bullying in adolescence: Impact on socioemotional and behavioral adjustment

Abstract

Bullying is a form of repeated aggression against a person with the intent to harm and participate in a situation of abuse of power. The main goal of this study has been to analyze the association between school bullying and the socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment of adolescents involved in bullying situations as victims or as aggressors. To identify the groups under study, the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (EBIP-Q) was administered. A sample selected by stratified random cluster sampling was made, consisting of 1777 (54,1% women, M = 15.71 years, SD = 1.26). The dimensional model of two interrelated factors (victimization and aggression) showed a good fit to the data, as well as measurement invariance by gender. The omega coefficient of the victimization and aggression subscales has been .81 and .80, respectively. Statistically significant differences were found between victim and non-victim groups, and between victims and aggressors in self-esteem, symptoms of depression, and emotional and behavioral difficulties. The victims have obtained lower scores in self-esteem and higher scores in depression and emotional and behavioral difficulties than the victims or the aggressors. The bullies have more behavior problems than the non-bullies and a less prosocial behavior than the bullied students. These findings corroborate the negative implications in the socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment of bullying in adolescent victims and aggressors, and the adequate psychometric quality of the EBIP-Q scores as a tool for its evaluation.