Considerable attention has been given by science to the negative impact of bullying, however, few studies have specifically investigated bullying consequences according to the type of bullying involvement (victim, bully, bully/victim). The present study examined the relationship between the type of bullying involvement and depressive symptoms. A group of 348 students, 53.4% female, from 6-9thgrade, with a mean age of 13.3 years (SD = 1.3) answered a Brazilian School Violence Scale (Escala de Violência Escolar - Versão Estudantes). Utilizing a logistic non-linear regression analysis, bully/victim students displayed a 5 times greater chance of having depressive symptoms than the other students. Gender, age, school failure, and being exclusively a victim were not significant variables for predicting depression when considered together. These results are similar to international studies, which also indicate that bullies/victims have more emotional problems than victims and bullies per se. These findings emphasize the need to further investigate the specificity of students who are bullies/victims.
Bullying; Depression; School violence
