The complex relation between bullying, victimization, acceptance, and rejection: Giving special attention to status, affection, and sex differences

To understand the complex nature of bullies ’ acceptance and rejection, this article considered goal-framing effects of status and affection as they relate to the gender of the bully (male vs. female bullies), the target (male vs. female victims), and the evaluator (acceptance and rejection from male vs. female classmates). The hypotheses were tested with data from a social network questionnaire conducted in 26 elementary school classes (N = 481 children; Mage = 10.5 years). The findings revealed that bullies were only rejected by those for whom they were a potential threat and that bullies generally chose their victims so as to minimize loss of affection by choosing victims who were not likely to be defended by significant others. Bullying is a common phenomenon in school clas-ses. In this study, we try to clarify the complex rela-tions of bullying with acceptance and rejection. Because peer processes, especially in childhood and early adolescence, often show gender segmentation, we are interested in whether bullying toward same-gender classmates has the same effect on peer acceptance and rejection as bullying toward other