Comparing emotional problems, identity styles, and safe behaviors of normal and bullying students

This causal-comparative study aimed at comparing emotional problems, identity styles, and safe behaviors of normal and bullying students. The population included all the first grade high school students in the city of Ardabil enrolled in the academic year of 2015. The sample was 120 students with high scores on bullying selected through random sampling. To investigate the variables, Brozonsky Identity Style Inventory, Olweus Revised Inventory of Bullying/Victim, Pinto and Gurya Safe Behavior Scale, and Lavybond and Lavybond Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale were used. After data analysis, the results of MANOVA and multivariate analysis showed that stress, anxiety, depression, and confused identity avoidance behavior of bullying students were significantly higher than the normal students, while the normative identity style scores of bullying students were lower than the normal students. The results suggest that due to emotional vulnerability, the bullying students have more identity problems. These results have important implications in the field of coping skills training and cognitive-behavioral interventions for students.