The role of personal and perceived peer norms in bullying and sexual harassment perpetration.

Abstract

Bullying, cyberbullying, and sexual harassment can be impacted by both personal attitudes and perceived social norms, although few empirical studies on this topic have been conducted with high school students. In this cross-sectional study, 233 high school students completed measures about personal normative attitudes, perceptions of peer norms, and perpetration of bullying, cyberbullying, and sexual harassment. Consistent with social norms theory, students perceived themselves to hold more prosocial (i.e., antibullying/antisexual harassment) personal normative attitudes than they perceived the typical student in their school to hold (i.e., peer norms). Path analyses revealed that students’ personal normative attitudes (e.g., antibullying/antiharassment) were negatively related to their bullying, cyberbullying, and sexual harassment perpetration, although perceived peer norms were negatively related to sexual harassment perpetration only. Multiple-group path analysis revealed significant gender differences. Personal normative attitudes related to females’ behavior for all forms of perpetration and only sexual harassment and cyberbullying for males (with more antibullying/antiharassment attitudes relating to less perpetration), although associations for males were stronger. Perceived peer norms related to bullying perpetration for males only. Results are discussed with regard to social–cognitive and peer contextual factors and implications for social norms interventions.

Peer sexual harassment, affect, and substance use: Daily level associations among adolescents

“…Intervention approaches that promote prosocial norms and bystander intervention may be helpful in changing school culture to reduce sexual harassment and increase victim support among high school students. For example, (Nickerson, Jenkins, et al, 2022; Nickerson, Manges, et al, 2022) have found that personal and peer antiharassment norms were related to reduced perpetration and greater bystander intervention behaviors, suggesting that personal and peer norms should be targeted for intervention, along with bystander intervention. In addition, teaching adolescents strategies for coping with emotional distress and emotional regulation may help to manage emotional distress and subsequently reduce coping‐related substance use.…”

Shifting perspectives: High school students' evaluations of a social norms campaign to reduce bullying and sexual harassment and promote helping behavior

“…According to social norms theory, exposure to evocative actions, conversations, or attitudes may lead adolescents to overestimate their peers' involvement in and acceptance of problem behavior (Perkins, 2003;Perkins & Craig, 2003;Perkins et al, 2011). Such misperceptions of peer norms are related to involvement in problem behaviors, including bullying (Nickerson et al, 2022;Perkins et al, 2011).…”

“…There has been some research to document norms around bullying among high school students (e.g., Kubiszewski et al, 2019) and at least one study that included an examination of norms surrounding both bullying and sexual harassment (Nickerson et al, 2022). These cross-sectional studies have replicated the findings of Perkins et al (2011), showing that high school students view their peers as being more accepting of and more involved in bullying (and sexual harassment) than they are themselves.…”

“…The current study is part of a larger project aimed at developing and evaluating the NAB IT! intervention (Nickerson et al, 2022(Nickerson et al, , 2024. To be effective, interventions need to be viewed as feasible, relevant, and acceptable by the target audience and must be administered in sufficient dosage to ensure that the messages are received (Nation et al, 2003;Yardly et al, 2015).…”

“…| 3393 consent forms were sent home as a follow-up when an electronic response was not provided. A total of 441 students (52% of school population) returned the signed consent forms and 359 (42% of school population) completed the initial pre-test survey (see Nickerson et al, 2022 for more information about the full sample).…”