Self-beliefs and bullying : unravelling the relation between bullying, being bullied and self-concept for upper elementary school aged children

![CDATA[Previous examinations of relations between bullying, victimisation, and self-concept have been flawed by erroneous research practices such as the un-attenuated use of dichotomous variables to measure relationships between continuous variables (Finger, Marsh, Craven, & Parada, 2005). The objective of this study, in contrast, is to investigate the relation of these constructs using only continuous variables. A structural equation model was used to examine the relation of upper primary aged children’s (N = 175, Males = 66) self-concept scores to their corresponding bullying and victimisation scores. Results suggest that when taking into account the multi-dimensionality of self-concept, bullying others was related both positively and negatively to self-concept, whereas being bullied was found to be significantly related only in a negative direction to self-concept. Results, for example, show differential relations between social, parental, and trustworthiness self-concepts, bullying and being bullied. The paper notes that longitudinal analysis with a larger sample size would allow more accurate causal inferences to be made.]]