The Dyadic Nature of Bullying and Victimization: Testing a Dual‐Perspective Theory

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Abstract
For this study, information onWho Bullies Whowas collected from 54 school classes with 918 children (Mage = 11) and 13,606 dyadic relations. Bullying and victimization were viewed separately from the point of view of the bully and the victim. The two perspectives were highly complementary. The probability of a bully–victim relationship was higher if the bully was more dominant than the victim, and if the victim was more vulnerable than the bully and more rejected by the class. In a bully–victim dyad, boys were more often the bullies. There was no finding of sex effect for victimization. Liking reduced and disliking increased the probability of a bully–victim relationship.