Patterns of polyvictimization and polyaggression among male and female Italian middle school students

Violence against children and teens is a worldwide occurrence and a widespread public health issue (Ford & Delker, 2018; UNESCO, 2017), violence in all its forms is a universal problem, and family violence and youth violence are interrelated (Farrington & Ttofi, 2020). Research suggests that youth may experience "polyvictimization" or exposure to multiple types of victimization (Semenza et al., 2019; Hamby et al., 2018). Over the last several decades, researchers have identified multiple types of peer victimization in physical and digital spaces and the co-occurrence of aggressive and antisocial behaviors among youth (Espelage et al., 2022; Espino et al., 2022; Fernandez et al., 2022; Ingram et al., 2020). Bullying and cyberbullying (Vismara et al., 2022; Kowalski et al., 2019; Marciano et al., 2020; Cosma et al., 2020; Kwan et al., 2020) and Teen Dating Violence (Tomaszewska & Schuster, 2021; CDC, 2020; Spencer et al., 2020) are the most researched types of violence because they affect young people worldwide due to their higher prevalence and severe consequences. Several studies have found similar and shared risk factors for bullying/cyberbullying, TDV perpetration, and victimization (Hannah & Kuperminc, 2020; Zych et al., 2019). To this aim, a longitudinal study involving a sample of 239 Italian students aged between 10 and 14 years (M=11.72, SD=0.71) was carried out to assess the prevalence, possible overlaps between aggressive behaviors, characteristics and risk factors related to the involvement in multiple violent behaviors at a six-month interval, separately for boys and girls. The results are discussed to increase knowledge on polyvictimization, polyaggression, and effective prevention strategies.