In this article, we investigated several determinants of bystanders' reactive behaviors when confronted with cyberbullying using self-reported data from 2,333 Flemish 9-16 year olds. Structural equation modeling showed that adolescents that had joined in on the cyberbullying were older, had lower levels of empathy and were more likely to have been involved in cyberbullying or traditional bullying as perpetrators. Adolescents who had helped the victim were younger, had higher levels of empathy and were more likely to have been a victim of cyberbullying or traditional bullying in the past months. Adolescents that did nothing when they witnessed cyberbullying, were also older, showed lower levels of empathy and were less likely to have been a victim of traditional bullying. Social anxiety was not related to joining in, helping and remaining passive. In the second part of the analysis, we found that bystanders' passive behavior could be explained in more detail by moral disengagement theory and other contextual factors. In the discussion, the implications of the findings for research on cyberbullying are addressed.

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Previous research has suggested that social anxiety is associated with victimization and perpetration of (cyber)bullying. The direction and causality of this relationship has not yet been empirically supported for both traditional and cyberbullying involvement. This study examined short-term longitudinal associations between feelings of social anxiety and involvement in traditional bullying and cyberbullying among 2128 adolescents aged 10-17 (56.6 % girls). A cross-lagged panel analysis provided evidence for the contribution of social anxiety to later victimization of bullying, both on- and off-line. The possibility of a reciprocal relationship was also examined, although it was not supported. Furthermore, longitudinal bidirectional relationships between social anxiety and the perpetration of bullying were investigated. Only one significant longitudinal association was found: the perpetration of traditional bullying predicted subsequent higher levels of social anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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As cyberbullying is a phenomenon that is inherently social, the normative social influence of significant others can play an important role in the behaviour of adolescents involved in cyberbullying incidents. Using data from 525 adolescent bystanders of cyberbullying, we created a path model in order to investigate whether injunctive and descriptive norms of certain reference groups can cause bystanders to experience social pressure and join in cyberbullying. The results showed that social pressure fully mediated the relationship between the injunctive norm of friends approving of cyberbullying and joining in cyberbullying as a bystander. Furthermore, both the injunctive norm of parents approving of cyberbullying and bystanders’ involvement in cyberbullying perpetration were related to joining in cyberbullying as a bystander.