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The purpose of this paper is to report an investigation of the relationships between victimization and later emotional problems among Japanese junior high school students. The effects of psychosocial risk factors and their role as predictors of the relationship between victimization and later emotional problems were also examined over time.

The authors' first concern was to determine whether victimization is, indeed, related to emotional problems during junior high school. The authors' second concern was to determine how long victimization or risk factors will be associated with emotional problems. The third concern was to determine whether there is a gender difference in the relationship between victimization and emotional problems. Emotional problems were assessed using self‐report questionnaire measures of depression and low self‐worth. This article used eight‐months interval data collections; September 2002 (Time 1), May 2003 (Time 2), January 2004 (Time 3), and September 2004 (Time 4).

The results section is organized into three parts. The first part presents correlation coefficients for each of the variables. The second part examines whether the experience being bullied is related to four risk factors, depression and low self‐worth. The third part examines whether risk factors and victimization are related to depression and low self‐worth over time. In each part the authors also examined whether results vary depending on gender.

The paper usefully shows that victimization at Time 1 predicted later depression at Times 2 and 3 for boys, but not for girls. Victimization at Time 1 also predicted later depression for boys after controlling for other Time 1 risk factors. Early victimization may be a unique predictor of later depression for boys, but not for girls.