Investigation of the bystander effect in school bullying: Comparison of experiential, psychological and situational factors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the 'bystander effect' known to occur in emergency situations is effective in bullying situations through examination of the individual experiences of 467 middle-and high-school students. While the bystander effect was not found to be valid in bullying situations, there were significant differences in factors influencing a bystander's defending behavior in terms of the presence of other bystanders. In cases where bullying was witnessed in the presence of other bystanders, factors such as one's previous experience as a perpetrator, antisocial behavior, level of harm, relationship to the victim and popularity had an effect on the defending behavior of bystanders. On the other hand, in the absence of other bystanders, one's previous experience as a victim, level of empathy, and perceived control had an effect on the defending behavior of bystanders. The implications of these results for an effective intervention for school bullying in terms of bystanders are discussed.

Prevalence of bullying and harassment in youth sport: The case of different types of sport and participant role

“…6. 16 items (IV part) -BHISQ integrated subscale "Seeing the situation, fact statement" (also identifying the role of observer), was formed by the authors on the basis of an analysis of the scientific literature: Salmivalli et al (1996), Salmivalli and Voeten (2004), Williams and Guerra (2007), Williams et al (2018), Song and Oh (2017), Brinkman and Manning (2016), Saarento and Salmivalli (2015), Forsberg et al (2014), Gini et al (2008), and BHISQ integrated subscales "Bullying intervention" and "Bullying prevention" also formed by the authors on the basis of an analysis of the scientific literature: Olweus (1994), Björkqvist and Österman (1995), Nadel et al (1996), Österman et al (1997Österman et al ( ), O'Connell et al (1999, Chan (2002), Vaillancourt et al(2003), Orpinas and Horne (2006), Chan and Rauenbusch (2004) and others. 7.…”

Penerapan Program the Good Behavior Games (Gbg) Untuk Meningkatkan Perilaku Prososial Pada Bystander

“…Konsep reinforcement adalah sebuah konsekuensi yang dapat meningkatkan kemungkinan suatu perilaku muncul. Terdapat enam strategi dari operant conditioning untuk meningkatkan suatu perilaku pada siswa, yaitu, (a) Pemilihan reinforcers atau penguat yang tepat; (b) Pemberian reinforcers kontingen dan tepat waktu; (c) Pemilihan waktu terbaik dalam pemberian reinforcement; (d) Penggunaan kesepakatan kontrak dengan siswa; (e) Penggunaan reinforcement negatif secara efektif; (f) Penggunaan instruksi dan pembentukan perilaku atau shaping (Santrock, 2015).…”

The impact of a brief, bullying bystander intervention on internalizing symptoms: Is gender a moderator of intervention effects?

“…Unfortunately, the majority of students do not intervene in support of the target, with researchers estimating that 20% to 30% of students act in ways that support or encourage the bullying (i.e., ‘assistants’ and ‘reinforcers’), 30% to 50% do nothing (i.e., ‘outsiders’), and only 20% to 30% act to defend the target (i.e., ‘defenders’) (O’Connell, Pepler, & Craig, 1999; Salmivalli & Voeten, 2004). Research indicates that bystanders may not intervene in bullying situations for several reasons including low levels of personal responsibility (Chen, Chang, & Cheng, 2016; Choi & Cho, 2013; Thornberg, Landgren, & Wilman, 2018), self-efficacy (Chen et al., 2016; Thornberg et al, 2018), and empathy (Choi & Cho, 2013; Song & Oh, 2017). Gender differences have also been identified in bystander behavior, suggesting that females are more likely to intervene in bullying situations than males (Jenkins & Nickerson, 2017; Oh & Hazler, 2009; Trach, Hymel, Waterhouse, & Neale, 2010).…”

“…Further, 70.6% of students in the US report witnessing bullying at school (Bradshaw, Sawyer, & O'Brennan, 2007). Similarly, statistics from cross-national studies, including countries such as the UK (Rivers, Poteat, Noret, & Ashurst, 2009), Australia (Rigby & Jonson, 2006), and South Korea (Song & Oh, 2017), also indicate most students have observed bullying. The majority of research on bullying, however, focuses on students who are targets or perpetrators, even though a significantly greater number of student report witnessing bullying as bystanders (Rivers, et al., 2009).…”