Contributions of Personal and Situational Factors to Bystanders' Reactions to School Bullying

Abstract

The intent of this study was to explore bystanders' personal and situational variables predicting their behavioural reactions to school bullying by investigating a sample of 298 college students who had witnessed bullying during middle or high school. Results indicated that the bystander personal variables, gender and past experience as a bully or bully-victim, significantly predicted their reactions to bullying. All three types of bullying (physical, verbal and social), plus bystander relationship with bully or victim were identified as significant situational predictors of bystander behaviour.

Bystander Intervention in Cyberbullying

“…Study 1 utilized a retrospective self-report methodology, which has been employed in previous research into bullying (Rivers, 2001), bystander intervention in bullying (Oh & Hazler, 2009), and feelings of hurt (e.g., Vangelisti, Young, CarpenterTheune, & Alexander, 2005). The validity of this recall approach is supported by research which shows that recall of past events remains relatively stable over time (Baddley, 1990;Ross & Conway, 1986).…”

“…Similar to the studies cited above (e.g., Oh & Hazler, 2009;Rivers, 2001;Vangelisti et al, 2005), participants were offered a brief definition of cyberbullying (described below) and asked to recall two experiences in which someone they know was targeted on Facebook.…”

“…For example, Kraut et al (1998) Some research on bystander intervention in traditional bullying has specifically examined the role of relationship quality and status on bystander behavior. One recent study examined college students' recalled experiences as a bystander to a traditional, offline bullying episode (Oh & Hazler, 2009). Results of the study reinforced the importance of considering the relationship between a bystander and both the bully and the victim.…”

“…In traditional bullying incidents, individuals' closeness with a victim relates to the likelihood they will defend the victim, and closeness with a bully is associated with an increased likelihood of passively observing the incident or joining in with the bully (Oh & Hazler, 2009). As more individuals transition their face to face (FtF) relationships online (Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfeld, 2007), it is important to consider relationships between bullies, victims, and bystanders when examining bystander intervention.…”

“…In traditional bullying episodes, bystanders are more likely to exhibit helping behavior, such as defending the victim, when they feel a sense of closeness to the bullying target (Oh & Hazler, 2009). Additionally, individuals are more likely to help victims whom they perceive to be part of their "in-group" rather than an "out-group" (Levine et al, 2002), and most helping behavior occurs between friends or family members (Amato, 1990).…”