Bullies and victims in school: A review and call for research

Bullies are youngsters who systematically victimize a target group of their peers. While there is information from varied samples on bullies and passive victims in school, we know little about aggressive victims. This group in many ways is the most vulnerable of all. In this paper I review this literature on bullies and victims, paying particular attention to aggressive victims. Guided by social cognitive and dominance theories, I consider research questions that are useful in addressing this problem. Specifically, I recommend the use of direct observational techniques to determine the costs and benefits bullies and victims accrue from the relationships with each other.