Conflictual student-teacher relationship, emotional and behavioral problems, prosocial behavior, and their associations with bullies, victims, and bullies/victims

This study investigated the links between students' behavioral problems, student-teacher conflict, and students' involvement in bully, victim, and bully/victim roles in adolescence. The role of student-teacher conflict as moderator of the association between students' behavioral problems and their involvement in each bullying role was examined. Sample included 430 students from Italy (48.4% female; mean age 12.2 years; grades 6-8). Multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that conduct problems positively predicted engagement in each bullying role, while peer-relationship problems predicted involvement in a victim role. Additionally, students experiencing higher student-teacher conflict were more likely of being victims and bully/victims, but not bullies. Finally, student-teacher conflict emerged as a moderator of the association between peer-relationship problems and both bully and victim roles, and between hyperactivity/inattention and victim role. These findings highlights the importance of considering students' characteristics in relation to student-teacher relationship quality when investigating the factors influencing students' involvement in bullying behaviors.