[Bullying in primary school: participant roles and their stability across contexts]

When bullying happens in secondary school peer involvement and distinct participant roles for nine often children (as bully, assistant, reinforcer, defender, outsider or victim) are well evidenced. However, it is still unclear to what extent this applies to primary school children: How precise do they represent roles and how stable is individual role behavior across different contexts? For all 251 children (53% male) of a Munich primary school (6 to 10 years, first to fourth grade) Participant Roles in bullying (Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Osterman, Kaukiainen, 1996) were assessed in standardized interviews. Additionally, for 119 of these children (58 % male) a participant role could be identified in their after school group (Hort). Our findings confirm the existence of distinct participant roles in bullying for primary school children, but a high intercorrelation between the pro-aggressive roles is noticeable. Especially the bully and the victim role turn out to be quite stable across contexts. An analysis by grades suggests a considerable impact of contextual characteristics: children's behavior in bullying situations seems to be affected by the range of behavioral choices the different contexts provide.