Kent and Medway NHS and Social CarePartnership TrustThis study explores the impact of bullying on the mental health of students who witness it. A representative sample of 2,002 students aged 12 to 16 years attending 14 schools in the United Kingdom were surveyed using a questionnaire that included measures of bullying at school, substance abuse, and mental health risk. The results suggest that observing bullying at school predicted risks to mental health over and above that predicted for those students who were directly involved in bullying behavior as either a perpetrator or a victim. Observing others was also found to predict higher risk irrespective of whether students were or were not victims themselves. The results are discussed with reference to past research on bystander and witness behavior.Keywords: bullying, observer, witness, mental health, schoolPrevious studies of bullying behavior have tended to focus on risk factors associated with the primary roles of victim, perpetrator, and that of the "bully victim" (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003;Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton, & Scheidt, 2001). Among victims of bullying, higher rates of depression and anxiety coupled with psychosomatic complaints are common (e.g., headaches and abdominal pains; Fekkes, Pijpers, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2004; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelae, & Rantanen, 2000;Srabstein, McCarter, Shao, & Huang, 2006) together with lower levels of academic attainment, self-esteem, and social functioning (Hawker & Boulton, 2000;Schwartz, Gorman, Nakamoto, & Toblin, 2005). When compared with their nonaggressive peers, perpetrators report lower levels of school engagement and belonging, as well higher rates of delinquent behavior outside school (Haynie, Nansel, & Eitel, 2001;Nansel et al., 2001). Among students who have the dual role of perpetrator in some situations and victim in others ("bully victims"), higher rates of depression and reports of somatic complaints are common, and there is an increased probability of these students being referred for psychiatric assessment above those who are primarily perpetrators and victims Swearer, Song, Cary, Eagle, & Mickelson, 2001). Furthermore, higher rates of substance use are associated with both bullying and victimization (Shepherd, Sutherland, & Newcombe, 2006;Swahn, Bossarte, & Sullivent, 2008;Thompson, Sims, Kingree, & Windle, 2008).Although students who witness bullying have a key role to play in challenging it, there remains a dearth of information on this particular subgroup (Craig & Pepler, 1997;Frey, Hirschstein, Snell, Edstrom, MacKenzie, & Broderick, 2005;Hawkins, Pepler, & Craig, 2001). Research by Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Ő sterman, and Kaukiainen (1996) 2009, Vol. 24, No. 4, 211-223 1045-3830/09/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0018164 211 beyond those of perpetrator and victim that incorporated a degree of bystander behavior (see also Salmivalli, Huttunen, & Lagerspetz, 1997). Using a combination of self-reports and peernominations, Salmivalli et al. (1996) demonstrated that t...

Is harassment based on personal characteristics such as race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or disability more detrimental than general harassment? In 2 large population-based studies of adolescents, more than one third of those harassed reported bias-based school harassment. Both studies show that bias-based harassment is more strongly associated with compromised health than general harassment. Research on harassment among youths rarely examines the underlying cause. Attention to bias or prejudice in harassment and bullying should be incorporated into programs and policies for young people.

Many adolescents experience peer victimization, which often can be homophobic. Applying the minority stress model with attention to intersecting social identities, this study tested the effects of general and homophobic victimization on several educational outcomes through suicidality and school belonging among 15,923 adolescents in Grades 7 through 12 on account of their sexual orientation and race/ethnicity. Parent support also was tested as a moderator of these effects. Homophobic victimization had different effects on suicidality across groups, indicating the importance of considering individuals' multiple social identities. However, homophobic victimization had universal negative effects on school belonging for all groups. Nearly all indirect effects of general and homophobic victimization on reported grades, truancy, and importance of graduating were significant through suicidality and school belonging across groups. Parent support was most consistent in moderating the effects of general and homophobic victimization on suicidality for heterosexual White and racial/ethnic minority youth. In nearly all cases, it did not moderate the effects of general or homophobic victimization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. Furthermore, in most cases, parent support did not moderate the effects of general or homophobic victimization on school belonging. Findings underscore the need for counseling psychologists to work with parents of all youth on ways to provide support to those who experience homophobic victimization. Furthermore, they highlight the need for counseling psychologists to be involved as social justice advocates in the passage and implementation of school policies that address homophobic bullying and other forms of bias-based bullying and harassment.

Sexual minorities (e.g., lesbians, gay men, bisexual individuals) are at higher risk for mental and physical health disparities than heterosexuals, and some of these disparities relate to minority stressors such as discrimination. Yet, there is little research elucidating pathways that predict health or that promote resiliency among sexual minorities. Building on the minority stress model, the present study utilized relational cultural theory to situate sexual minority health within a relational framework. Specifically, the study tested mediators of the relationships between distal (i.e., discrimination, rejection, victimization) and proximal stressors (i.e., internalized homophobia, sexual orientation concealment) and psychological and physical distress for sexual minorities. Among 719 sexual minority adults, structural equation modeling analyses were used to test four models reflecting the mediating effects of shame, poorer relationships with a close peer and the LGBT community, and loneliness on the associations between minority stressors and psychological distress (i.e., depression and anxiety) and physical distress (i.e., distressing physical symptoms). As hypothesized, the associations between distal and proximal minority stressors and distress were mediated by shame, poorer relationships with a close peer and the LGBT community, and loneliness. Findings underscore the possible relational and interpersonal mechanisms by which sexual minority stressors lead to psychological and physical distress.

This investigation examined the extent to which homophobic victimization predicted multiple indicators of psychological and social distress for middle school students ( n = 143) during a 1-year assessment period. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that homophobic victimization significantly predicted increased anxiety and depression, personal distress, and lower sense of school belonging in males and higher levels of withdrawal in females after controlling for previously reported levels of each variable. Results suggest that being the target of homophobic victimization has significant psychological and social consequences for students, although differentially for males and females. Although use of such content may occur within peer groups and appear to be harmless banter between friends, teachers and administrators should intervene during these occurrences, and school policies and programming should specifically address and seek to decrease this social problem.

Few studies have examined school‐based factors associated with variability in the victimization and health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Among 15,965 students in 45 Wisconsin schools, we identified differences based on Gay–Straight Alliance (GSA) presence. Youth in schools with GSAs reported less truancy, smoking, drinking, suicide attempts, and sex with casual partners than those in schools without GSAs, with this difference being more sizable for LGBTQ than heterosexual youth. GSA‐based differences were greatest for sexual minority girls on reported sex while using drugs. GSA effects were nonsignificant for general or homophobic victimization, grades, and school belonging. Findings suggest that GSAs could contribute to attenuating a range of health risks, particularly for LGBTQ youth.

In this article, the authors describe 3 interrelated investigations among White undergraduate and graduate students that document the development and initial validation of the White Privilege Attitudes Scale (WPAS). The WPAS assesses the multidimensional nature of White privilege attitudes, reflecting affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions. In Study 1 (n ϭ 250), exploratory factor analysis suggested a 28-item scale with 4 factors as follows: (a) Willingness to Confront White Privilege, (b) Anticipated Costs of Addressing White Privilege, (c) White Privilege Awareness, and (d) White Privilege Remorse. In Study 2 (n ϭ 251), confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the 4-factor model was a better fit of the data compared with competing models. The authors also found support for convergent validity between scores on the WPAS factors and theoretically related measures. Study 3 (n ϭ 40) documented test-retest reliability of each of the WPAS factors and nonsignificant associations with socially desirable responding. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Youth living with socially devalued characteristics (e.g., minority sexual orientation, race, and/or ethnicity; disability; obesity) experience frequent bullying. This stigma-based bullying undermines youths' wellbeing and academic achievement, with lifelong consequences. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based interventions to address stigma-based bullying. To characterize the existing landscape of these interventions, we conducted a systematic review of stigma-based bullying interventions targeting youth in any country published in the peer-reviewed literature between 2000 and 2015. Our analysis was guided by a theoretical framework of stigma-based bullying, which describes stigma-related factors at the societal, structural, interpersonal, and individual levels that lead to stigma-based bullying. We screened 8,240 articles and identified 22 research studies describing 21 interventions addressing stigma-based bullying. We found that stigma-based bullying interventions are becoming more numerous, yet are unevenly distributed across stigmas, geographic locations, and types of organizations. We further found that these interventions vary in the extent to which they incorporate theory and have been evaluated with a wide range of research designs and types of data. We recommend that future work address stigma-based bullying within multicomponent interventions, adopt interdisciplinary and theory-based approaches, and include rigorous and systematic evaluations. Intervening specifically on stigma-related factors is essential to end stigma-based bullying and improve the wellbeing of youth living with socially devalued characteristics.