The purpose of the present study was threefold. First, we tried to investigate whether the quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Second, we also attempted a moderation analysis in order to examine whether the relationship between quality of attachments and bullying is moderated by the child’s gender. Finally, we explored whether there are significant differences in the quality of attachment between children identified as bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved. The participants were 303 fifth and sixth grade children with a mean age of 11.06 years that completed the Revised Bullying and Victimization Questionnaire and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. The results showed that poor quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Moderation analysis revealed that the link between quality of attachment and bullying and victimization is significantly stronger for girls. Also, as hypothesized, bullies and bully/victims manifest the worst quality of attachment with parents and peers. The results are discussed with the framework of attachment and aggression theory, exploring the pathways that explain the association between poor attachment and externalizing problems during late childhood. 1. Introduction During the past two decades, the bullying phenomenon has drawn an extensive amount of attention from researchers and practitioners alike [1–3]. Bullying is an intentional and often repeated set of behaviours that aim at taunting, humiliating, physically hurting, and socially isolating the victim. It is a distinct form of systematic aggression which usually involves an imbalance of power, and it seriously affects the lives of a significant minority of children [3]. Research shows that bullying may be associated with externalizing problems such as poor social adjustment, greater risk of substance use, and generally with psychological difficulties in later life [4–6]. On the other hand, victimization is associated with internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety [3, 7, 8], poorer self-esteem, and interpersonal difficulties in adulthood [9, 10]. 1.1. Parental and Peer Correlates of Bullying Empirical studies have provided an extensive body of evidence regarding the predictors and consequences of bullying and victimization. Thus, it is now widely believed that the contextual factors such as maladaptive parental characteristics and peer relationships may increase the chances of children’s involvement in bullying [11–13]. Georgiou [11] has reported that the
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