Aggressive victims (i.e., children who are categorized by a tendency toward both aggressive behavior and being bullied by others), apparently do not occupy a "middle ground" between aggressors and victims. Rather, aggressive victims have been shown to be significantly worse off than their peers on a number of behavioral and psychosocial domains. In the current study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used with a large (N = 440) and diverse longitudinal sample to confirm and expand upon previous research, allowing for both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. The hypotheses were: (1) classification as an aggressor is significantly related to less favorable scores on measures of behavioral problems, anxiety/depression, and positive attitudes toward aggression; (2) classification as a victim is significantly related to less favorable scores on measures of psychosocial problems; (3) classification as an aggressive victim is significantly related to the least favorable scores on all of the aforementioned measures, with the exception of withdrawn behavior; (4) these effects are relatively stable over time; and (5) results differ depending on the method by which aggressors, victims, and aggressive victims are classified (i.e., using dichotomous, continuous, or interval scales). SEM models provided strong support for the first two hypotheses and modest support for the final two. Relations between Aggressive Victim status and the outcome variables, however, were, for the most part, significantly negative or non-significant, a result that runs contrary to Hypothesis 3 and the findings of most previous studies. More traditional follow-up analyses (including MANOVA) strongly supported Hypothesis 3 and provided more modest support for Hypotheses 1 and 2. These conflicting results call into question the appropriateness of using SEM to test hypotheses that propose complex relations and interactions among variables and constructs whose definitions require interactive subcomponents. The more traditional analyses, which provided generally strong support for the hypotheses, may be more appropriate for use in this type of study, and those results should be emphasized. Implications for future research are also discussed.
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