Emotional Challenges, Bullying and Victimization After School Years: Insights from a Study on Young Adult Boys

The literature has shown that externalizing behaviors, particularly in males, may be connected to bullying, while internalizing behaviors are associated with victimization. The present study focuses on young males, while applying the developmental cascade model to explain the etiology of bullying and victimization, considering risk factors such as forms of aggression (relational, intentional, reactive) and internalizing behaviors (stress, anxiety, and depression). The study also aims to investigate whether these two outcomes are connected to the duration of engagement in other deviant behaviors. The survey sample consisted of 510 young males (Mage = 18.96, SD = 0.6) who completed questionnaires related to bullying and victimization; intentional, relational, and reactive aggression; anxiety, depression, and stress; and delinquency. The results highlight how reactive aggression and intentional aggression predict bullying. In contrast, anxiety, depression, relational aggression, and stress do not predict bullying. Depression, anxiety, and relational aggression are significant pre­dictors of victimization. Only bullying predicts the amount of time individuals spend in deviant episodes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.