Characteristics of aggressors and victims of bullying in studying in a public elementary school and high school

Introduction: the study aimed to know the characteristics of bullying in students from a public elementary and high school in a city in northeastern Brazil. Method: a descriptive study, with a quantitative approach. The Olweus Bully Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ) was used (victim and aggressor versions). Relative and absolute frequencies of all responses were calculated and the Item Response Theory method was used to discriminate the perpetrators and victims of bullying. The significance level was 5%. Results: of the sample (n=276), 6.9% (n=19) presented characteristics for aggressor, with scores above 65 points. Of the sample (n=267) for victims, 1.9% (n=5) presented characteristics for victims. The items that most discriminated the aggressors were "I cursed" and "I put nicknames on others that they did not like", while for the victims, "They cursed at me" and "They laughed and pointed at me". When comparing the two models, there was a positive correlation in the skills of being a victim and becoming an aggressor, of 0.56 (p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: it was possible to discriminate the most relevant items in the definition of bully and victim of bullying, observing a strong association between the ability to be a victim and the ability to become a bully with emphasis on the verbal domain.