Defending victims of cyberbullying: The role of self-efficacy and moral disengagement

Bussey, Kay; Luo, Aileen; Fitzpatrick, Sally; Allison, Kimberley R.

doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2019.11.006

Cited by 66 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…However, past experience in cyberbullying perpetration (i.e., being cyber-bullies) did not explain intervening behavior. Findings from the current study are also in line with other past studies (e.g., Bussey et al, 2020 ; Clark and Bussey, 2020 ) on a younger population; they found that only past cyberbullying victimization, but not cyberbullying perpetration, was positively related to cyber-defending behavior. These results could be explained by other past studies, which suggested that past experience in being cyber-victimized may activate greater empathy, and empathy has been found to be a strong predictor of defending behavior (Van Cleemput et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Consistent with previous findings, self-rated self-efficacy of students to intervene or stop cyberbullying predicted their intervening behavior (e.g., DeSmet et al, 2016 ); results of this study found that self-efficacy to intervene cyberbullying positively explained intention to cyberbullying, which, in turn, positively explained intervening behavior. Other recent studies in the Western context have also found that higher self-efficacy predicted a higher level of defending behavior among young Australian (e.g., Clark and Bussey, 2020 ) adolescents. Therefore, it seems that, regardless of the age and cultural background of students, it is important to target increasing the necessary defending and empathic skills for cyber-bystanders to intervene cyberbullying.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

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To Help or Not to Help: Intervening in Cyberbullying Among Chinese Cyber-Bystanders

Leung

2021

Front. Psychol.

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Cyberbullying has become a serious concern among Internet users worldwide. However, relatively little is known about individuals who witness cyberbullying and how they behave. A bystander is someone who sees bullying or other forms of aggressive or violent behavior that targets someone else and who may choose to respond by either being part of the problem (a hurtful bystander), or part of the solution (a helpful bystander). Few studies examined the phenomena of cyber-bystanders in Chinese populations. Guided by the five-step bystander theoretical model and the theory of planned behavior, this study, addressed this gap to understand how the characteristics of cyber-bystanders explained their intervention in cyberbullying in a Chinese population. This study tested two preregistered hypotheses: (1) controlling for age and gender, awareness of cyberbullying, attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control to intervene; plus past experience with cyberbullying (measured as past experience in cyberbullying perpetration and victimization), felt responsibility, and self-efficacy to intervene with regard to cyberbullying would explain the intention of cyber-bystanders to intervene in cyberbullying, and (2) the intention of cyber-bystanders to intervene cyberbullying would positively explain their intervening behavior. A total of 581 college students with experience of witnessing cyberbullying were included in the analysis. Applying structural equation modeling with observed variables, a path analysis model was built to test the hypotheses; this study also conducted exploratory analyses by including direct paths from the characteristics of cyber-bystanders to explain intervening behavior. Results found that only awareness of cyberbullying, a subjective norm, and self-efficacy to intervene positively explained intention to intervene cyberbullying; therefore, hypothesis 1 was partly supported. Also, intention to intervene cyberbullying positively explained intervening behavior; therefore, hypothesis 2 was supported. For the exploratory analysis, intention to intervene partially mediated the relation between a subjective norm to intervene and intervening behavior; and intention to intervene also partially mediated the relation between self-efficacy to intervene and intervening behavior. In addition, past experience in cyberbullying victimization also positively and directly predicted intervening behavior. Findings provided a foundation for designing future intervention programs to mobilize cyber-bystanders to become “upstanders.”

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

To Help or Not to Help: Intervening in Cyberbullying Among Chinese Cyber-Bystanders

Leung

2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…Thus school-based interventions need to provide specific skills for those with previous experiences of bullying victimisation to help them to intervene as proactive bystanders. Further research to explore how proactive bystanders defend, and what 'defender' or 'supporter' actions victims find most helpful, would also inform interventions as it is possible some defenders may try to stop the bullying by retaliating against the person doing the bullying (Bussey et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent Proactive Bystanding Versus Passive Bystanding Responses to School Bullying: the Role of Peer and Moral Predictors

Campbell

Hand

Shaw

et al. 2020

Int Journal of Bullying Prevention

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Bystanders to bullying perpetration are considered an extremely important group to engage in bullying prevention and intervention. It is important to understand the key differences between students who are proactive bystanders, who try to stop the bullying and those bystanders who observe but take no action to help the student being bullied. Of 1,231 secondary students (aged 11 to 15 years) surveyed in 12 Australian schools, only 26.9% (509) reported they had not witnessed any bullying. The actions taken by student witnesses were grouped into proactive bystanding (786, 41.5%) and passive bystanding (445, 23.5%) responses. Age, gender, victimisation, being connected to school, perceived peer support and moral engagement were examined. The strongest predictor for proactive bystander responses was previous experience of bullying victimisation. Feeling connected to school, having higher levels of peer support and being morally engaged also predicted proactive bystander behaviour. Age and gender were not associated with being a proactive bystander or a passive bystander. Implications for school policy and practices to prevent and reduce peer bullying behaviour are discussed.

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“…Thus, students who witness cyberbullying may be at higher risk for negative outcomes than students who witness school bullying. The majority of research conducted on cyberbullying bystanders, however, has focused on understanding what motivates or poses barriers for students to intervene in cyberbullying situations (e.g., Bastiaensens et al, 2014;Bussey et al, 2020;DeSmet et al, 2014DeSmet et al, , 2016Machackova et al, 2015;Schacter et al, 2016), rather than examining the impact of observing cyberbullying on the bystanders themselves.…”

Section: Witnessing Cyberbullying As a Bystandermentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between witnessing cyberbullying and depressive symptoms and social anxiety among elementary school students

Doumas

Midgett

2020

Psychology in the Schools

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Defending victims of cyberbullying: The role of self-efficacy and moral disengagement

Cited by 66 publications

References 45 publications

To Help or Not to Help: Intervening in Cyberbullying Among Chinese Cyber-Bystanders

To Help or Not to Help: Intervening in Cyberbullying Among Chinese Cyber-Bystanders

Adolescent Proactive Bystanding Versus Passive Bystanding Responses to School Bullying: the Role of Peer and Moral Predictors

The association between witnessing cyberbullying and depressive symptoms and social anxiety among elementary school students

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