Staying in their own lane: Ethical reasoning among college students witnessing cyberbullying.

Abstract

Cyberbullying is pervasive on college campuses, but it is underdiscussed because the problem is denied by many students and usually invisible to school officials. This study examined how college students understand cyberbullying, their ethical reasoning about whether to help targeted peers, and their improvised helping strategies. In-depth interviews were conducted with 29 undergraduate students attending 7 colleges and universities in the northeastern United States. All of the participants had tried to help a targeted peer at least once in college, but were also asked to identify cases when they had not tried to help. Among the findings, the subtlety and ambiguity of cyberbullying in college made it difficult in many cases to appraise or name. Sharing racial identities and friendship ties were important factors for participants reasoning that they should help. They also expressed caution or skepticism about helping people they did not already know well or with whom they did not share social identities. When participants did help, they acted individually to support targeted peers rather than confronting peers or reporting incidents to administrators. They also acted in groups, organizing “circles of protection” for support and advocacy, as well as organizing retributive group punishments toward individuals associated with cyberbullying. Cyberbullying can both undermine and create opportunities for prosocial ethical learning among college students. Recommendations for campus organizing and dialogue are discussed.

Variability and change in adolescents' prosocial behavior across multiple time scales

“…These findings may not only have implications for developmental theories, but also for (educational) applications. Youth growing up in our society face multiple challenges (i.e., social injustice, climate change), and opportunities for prosocial actions may empower adolescents in dealing with these challenges (e.g., when peers are bullied or cyberbullied based on their social identities; Byers & Cerulli, 2021; Mulvey et al, 2018). Our finding that fluctuations in prosocial behavior over shorter time periods are linked to affective (i.e., empathic concern) rather than cognitive (i.e., perspective taking) processes, might indicate that adolescents are more likely to act prosocial when benevolence motives are triggered (i.e., when they empathize with the wellbeing of close others).…”

Navigating privacy tensions when responding to online aggression at postsecondary institutions

“…Despite online aggression being a well‐known issue on college campuses and students' vocalized desire for university support, the field of Higher Education and Student Affairs has not yet reached consensus on what is an appropriate way for staff and students to respond in light of university policies for privacy, free speech and harassment (Bauman & Baldasare, 2015; Byers & Cerulli, 2020; DuMont, 2016; Meter et al, 2021; Rivituso, 2014). Additionally, even when support services exist on campus for students who have experienced online aggression, they are often underutilized (Cowie & Myers, 2015).…”

“…about encroaching on their peers' autonomy (Byers & Cerulli, 2020). As a result, institutions are under-informed about incidents of online harassment impacting students' social and academic lives despite students' petition for help (eg Bauman & Baldasare, 2015;Byrne, 2020;Myers & Cowie, 2019;O'Connor et al, 2018).…”

“…Students, however, avoid telling university staff or faculty about incidents of online aggression because, among other possible reasons, they do not know who on campus they should tell or because they do not think the people on campus will be helpful (eg Byrne, 2020;Cowie & Myers, 2015;Meter et al, 2021). Despite online aggression being a well-known issue on college campuses and students' vocalized desire for university support, the field of Higher Education and Student Affairs has not yet reached consensus on what is an appropriate way for staff and students to respond in light of university policies for privacy, free speech and harassment (Bauman & Baldasare, 2015;Byers & Cerulli, 2020;DuMont, 2016;Meter et al, 2021;Rivituso, 2014).…”

Trajectories of Victimization and Bullying at University: Prevention for a Healthy and Sustainable Educational Environment

“…Besides traditional forms of bullying of a physical or psychological nature in a faceto-face setting, as occurs in other educational stages, cyberbullying also occurs at university [83][84][85][86]. The effects can be similar and very harmful, and despite being widespread on university campuses, it is not easy to detect [87]. There are also studies of university bullying focused on its incidence and differences between groups of students who experience marginalization.…”