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BACKGROUND: Previous research which has investigated the association between bully-victim problems and Eysenck's personality dimensions has shown an association between victimisation and introversion and an association between bullying and psychoticism (Slee & Rigby, 1993). AIMS: The aim of the present study was to replicate these findings and to extend the investigation of the association between bully/victim problems and personality to children who are classified as both bullies and victims. SAMPLE AND METHOD: One hundred and seventy nine children ranging in age from 8 to 13 years (mean age = 11 years) completed the Bullying-Behaviour Scale and the Peer-Victimization Scale (Austin & Joseph, 1996), the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC: Harter, 1985), and the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ Junior: Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975). RESULTS: Forty-nine per cent of children were classified as involved in bullying either as bullies (11 per cent), victims (20 per cent), or bully/victims (18 per cent). Bullies scored lower on the lie scale, victims scored lower on the extraversion scale, and bully/victims scored higher on the neuroticism and psychoticism scales than children who were classified as not involved in bullying. CONCLUSION: These data provide evidence that bully/victims are a distinct group from either bullies or victims and that they may be the group of children who are most readily distinguished in terms of personality.
Mynard et al. (Sat,) studied this question.