Bidirectional Relationships Between Cyberbystanders’ Roles, Cyberbullying Perpetration, and Justification of Violence

Abstract

Bystanders play a key role in understanding the phenomenon of cyberbullying (CB). The main aim of this study is to explore longitudinal bidirectional relationships among cyberbystanders’ reaction, CB perpetration, and CB justification. Participants were 1,105 adolescents (56.7% girls; Mage = 13.56, SD = 1.21) who answered self-reported questionnaires about CB perpetration, CB justification, and cyberbystanders’ reaction at two measurement periods spaced 8 months apart. The results showed that cyberbystanders who assisted and/or reinforced the aggressor had higher scores for CB perpetration and justification than those who supported or defended the victim. Furthermore, cyberbystanders’ pro-aggressive behavior at Time 1 (T1) predicted an increase in CB perpetration and justification at Time 2 (T2), and T1 CB perpetration predicted an increase in T2 CB justification. These findings highlight the precursor role that acting as an assistant or reinforcer of the perpetrator may have on their own perpetration of future CB aggressions.

Participant Role Behavior in Cyberbullying: an Examination of Moral Disengagement Among College Students

“…In line with past findings, our results demonstrated a positive association between reinforcing online behavior and moral disengagement, implying that those who reinforce bullying behaviors online are more likely to also report higher levels of moral disengagement. Study by Orue et al ( 2021 ) examining the different bystander role behaviors showed that those engaged in reinforcing online behavior had significantly higher cyberbullying justification scores than those who engaged in online passive bystanding behavior and defending. The study defined cyberbullying justification as ideas that maintain aggression as acceptable.…”

Variables Contributing to the Awareness of Online Gendered Violence: Focus on Observers

“…It seems that there is some awareness of the magnitude of violence exercised through digital spaces, but few people identify themselves as victims or perpetrators. Regarding age differences among observers, the results are heterogeneous; while some authors found that older age predicted fewer pro-aggressive bystander behaviors (Orue et al, 2021), others found the opposite (Schultze-Krumbholz et al, 2018;Van Cleemput et al, 2014), or an insignificant relationship between age and cyberbystanders' reaction (Yudes-Gómez et al, 2018).…”

“…A more incipient line of studies establishes factors that predict or explain cyberbystanders’ behavior. Orue et al (2021) found that the more adolescents justified violence, the more they reinforced the aggressor as cyberbystanders. Another survey of 1,468 adolescents found that more than a third of the participants who witnessed cyberviolence against girls and women did not intervene (Rebollo-Catalan & Mayor-Buzon, 2020).…”

“…In adolescent studies of cyberbystanders’ reactions to cyberbullying, boys scored higher in terms of violence justification and pro-aggressive attitudes than girls (Orue et al, 2021). When gender differences in specific forms of violence against women were analyzed, the results showed moderate differences; while girls were more active in terms of helping the victim, both girls and boys normalized and even justified the violent behavior (Rebollo-Catalan & Mayor-Buzon, 2020).…”