Methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted during the academic year 2018/2019 among middle school students in the governorate of el kef, tunisia. the sampling method adopted for this research was a cluster sampling technique. data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. the students’ involvement in bullying victimization was assessed using a validated arabic version of the revised olweus bully/victim questionnaire. results: a total of 1111 middle school students were enrolled. the prevalence of bullying victimization behavior in this study was 45.8 % [95% ci: 45.5- 46]. looking at the forms of bullying experienced by students: ‘‘being called mean names’’ was the most prevalent form of being bullied with 26.9% (n = 299), followed by 16.9% reported ‘‘being kicked in some place’’, 16.3% reported ‘‘being bullied through false rumors’’ and 14.3% experienced bullying through messages, calls or images by means of mobile phones or internet and 8.1% of the students reported being bullied with sexual gestures or comments. verbal bullying (29.5%) was the most common type of victimization, followed by physical victimization, relational victimization and cyber victimization with 22.5%, 22.2% and 14.3% respectively. more than half of the students (58.5%) were more likely to inform others about incidents of bullying in their schools, mainly their parents (36.6%) or a friend (32.6%). conclusions: bullying is serious and major public health issue that have a negative impact on adolescents’ well-being, and require special attention at the family, school, and community level key messages: high prevalence of bullying victimization with predominace of verbal type. culture of bullying victimization and taking care of victims is still weak