"... und es wird immer und immer schlimmer!" – Zur Unterscheidung von Bullying und Viktimisierung in der weiterführenden Schule

Studies of children who are the frequent targets of peers’ aggressive acts have been guided by two differing research traditions, namely the “bully/victim” and the “general victimization” traditions. Although the terms “bullying” and “victimi-zation” are often used interchangeably, we argue, that the underlying constructs differ substantially. Bullying is characterized by systematic, repeated attacks and the asymmetry of power between bully and victim. For general victimization such features are irrelevant. Moreover both concepts differentiate by focussing on group- verses individual-level phenomena. In order to contrast both con-structs empirically, we investigated 2750 pupils from 7th and 8th grade in 89 schools in Munich and Southern Bavaria. Our results showed that bully/victim experiences were correlated to both, relational victimization and physical vic-timization. The non overlapping properties of the constructs, however, are best understood in the context of gender differences.