Bystanders to bullying: fourth- to seventh-grade students’ perspectives on their reactions

Abstract

The aim with the present study was to investigate bystander actions in bullying situations as well as reasons behind these actions as they are articulated by Swedish students from fourth to seventh grade. Forty-three semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with students. Qualitative analysis of data was performed by methods from grounded theory. The analysis of the student voices of being a bystander in bullying reveals a complexity in which different definition-of-situation processes are evoked (a) relations (friends and social hierarchy), (b) defining seriousness, (c) victim's contribution to the situation, (d) social roles and intervention responsibilities, and (e) distressing emotions. There are often conflicted motives in how to act as a bystander, which could evoke moral distress among the students.Our analysis is unique in that it introduces the concept of moral distress as a process that has to be considered in order to better understand bystander actions among children The findings also indicate bystander reactions that could be associated with moral disengagement, such as not perceiving a moral obligation to intervene if the victim is defined as a non-friend ('none of my business'), protecting the friendship with the bully, and blaming the victim.

A pilot evaluation of the social validity of a bullying bystander program adapted for high school students

“…Results from this study are consistent with our prior work indicating students trained in the “aged‐up” STAC program reported increases in knowledge of bullying, knowledge of the STAC strategies, and confidence to intervene in bullying situations (Johnston et al, ). These findings are particularly important as research indicates students may not intervene in bullying situations because they do not know what to do (Forsberg, Samuelsson, & Thornberg, ; Hutchinson, ) and may have low levels of self‐efficacy related to their ability to intervene successfully (Chen, Chang, & Cheng, ; Thornberg, Landgren, & Wiman, ). Thus, increasing both knowledge and confidence are important components of bystander interventions designed to equip students to act as “defenders.”…”

Bullying victimization and the social and emotional maladjustment of bystanders: A propensity score analysis

“…This is consistent with Forsberg and colleagues' (2014) findings that when a bystander interprets bullying as a serious event, multiple distressing emotions (e.g., sadness, guilt, sympathy, moral alarm, anger) are evoked. Although distressing emotions and empathetic concern may lead to an emotional imperative to intervene (Barhight et al, 2013;Endresen & Olweus, 2001;Forsberg et al, 2014), it may have more serious negative emotional consequences (i.e., difficulty learning, feelings of sadness and/or sickness) for bystanders who were also victims of bullying, particularly girls. Indeed, girls report that social support is the best strategy to prevent bullying and help them feel better (Hunter et al, 2004).…”

“…Aiming to include important confounding variables outlined in the research literature, in addition to demographic variables, we used a combination of statistical significance (inclusion of predictors that reduced bias), prior research, and practical access to decide which covariates were included or excluded from the model (Sullivan & Field, 2013). Cases were matched on the amount of verbal and physical forms of bullying they witnessed (Verbal and Physical Bullying Scale; Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1996;Smith et al, 2012;Swearer, 2001;Wolke et al, 2000), attitudes about bullying (Swearer & Cary, 2003), gender, age (Forsberg, Thornberg, & Samuelsson, 2014;Nansel et al, 2001;Nishina & Juvonen, 2005;Obermann, 2011;Pöyhönen et al, 2010), and ethnicity (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003).…”

Efficacy of a Brief, School‐Based Bystander Bullying Intervention on High School Students' Alcohol Use

“…Although the literature demonstrates an association between bullying and alcohol use among high school students (Doumas et al, ; Johnston et al, ; Lee et al, ; Merrin et al, ; Radliff et al, ; Rivers et al, ), few researchers have examined alcohol use among bystanders (Rivers et al, ). One explanation for the relationship between witnessing bullying and alcohol use is that students may not know what to do when they observe bullying (Forsberg et al, ). Bystanders may experience negative emotions, including feelings of guilt (Hutchinson, ), hopelessness (Rivers & Noret, ), depression, and anxiety (Midgett & Doumas, in press; Rivers et al, ), which may lead to coping through alcohol use (Topper et al, ).…”