Determinants of Self-Reported Bystander Behavior in Cyberbullying Incidents Amongst Adolescents

Abstract

This study explores behavioral determinants of self-reported cyberbullying bystander behavior from a behavioral change theoretical perspective, to provide levers for interventions. Nine focus groups were conducted with 61 young adolescents (aged 12-16 years, 52% girls). Assertive defending, reporting to others, providing advice, and seeking support were the most mentioned behaviors. Self-reported bystander behavior heavily depended on contextual factors, and should not be considered a fixed participant role. Bystanders preferred to handle cyberbullying offline and in person, and comforting the victim was considered more feasible than facing the bully. Most prevailing behavioral determinants to defend or support the victim were low moral disengagement, that the victim is an ingroup member, and that the bystander is popular. Youngsters felt they received little encouragement from their environment to perform positive bystanding behavior, since peers have a high acceptance for not defending and perceived parental support for defending behavior is largely lacking. These results suggest multilevel models for cyberbullying research, and interventions are needed. With much previous research into cyberbullying insufficiently founded in theoretical models, the employed framework of the Integrative Model and Social Cognitive Theory may inspire future studies into bystander behavior.

Bullying on the pixel playground: Investigating risk factors of cyberbullying at the intersection of children’s online-offline social lives

“…Similarly, consistent with previous research suggesting that children who have stronger social relationships are less likely to be bullied (DeSmet, Veldeman, Poels, Bastiaensens, Van Cleemput, Vandebosch, & De Bourdeaudhuij, 2014;Olweus, 1994;Perren & Alsaker, 2006), we found that increased sociability with other children outside of school decreased the likelihood of being bullied both offline and online. This finding is likely related to recent research investigating bystander behavior in cyberbullying incidents, which contends that bystanders are more likely to intervene on a cyberbullying victim's behalf if the victim is an in-group member (DeSmet et al, 2014).…”

“…This finding is likely related to recent research investigating bystander behavior in cyberbullying incidents, which contends that bystanders are more likely to intervene on a cyberbullying victim's behalf if the victim is an in-group member (DeSmet et al, 2014). On the one hand, this finding highlights the benefits of having established social relationships in a virtual environment; on the other hand, it also suggests that children without strong social ties might be especially vulnerable to online victimization.…”

Whether or not to engage in sexting: Explaining adolescent sexting behaviour by applying the prototype willingness model

“…Therefore, just as in (cyber)bullying interventions (Salmivalli et al, 2011), the pivotal role of a defending bystander should be stressed when sexting is discussed at school (Van Ouytsel et al, 2014c). More particularly, when cyberbullying prevention programmes accentuate the severity of the consequences for the victim, bystanders are more inclined to support the victim (Bastiaensens et al, 2014;DeSmet et al, 2013). Just as with cyberbullying, the bystander approach can also be used to slow down the dissemination of sexting messages.…”

Brief report: The bystander effect in cyberbullying incidents

“…Prior studies also emphasized the role of the overall and immediate context and found that a lower-quality relationship to the victim (DeSmet et al, 2014;Lodge & Frydenberg, 2005;Oh & Hazler, 2009) and lack of the immediate empathic response (Mach a ckov a et al, 2013) have a negative effect on supportive behavior.…”