School climate and bullying bystander responses in middle and high school

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2022.101412Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Examination of 13 school-level factors and individual bystander responses

  • Student-teacher and parent-teacher connectedness associated with bystander behaviors

  • Connectedness especially important for Black and Latinx youth

  • A focus on bystander responses for boys and high school students necessary

Abstract

Bullying bystanders’ reactions are important for either stopping or perpetuating bullying behaviors. Given school-based bullying programs’ focus on bystanders, understanding the associations between school-level factors and individual bystander responses can improve intervention efficacy. Data from 64,670 adolescents were used to examine bullying bystander responses as a function of 13 school-climate dimensions within 3 main factors (Engagement, Environment, Safety) and individual-level factors (e.g., race/ethnicity, perceptions of student-teacher connectedness). Multi-level models showed schools with better Engagement and Safety had higher odds of defender behaviors, a better Environment was associated with lower odds of passive and assisting behaviors. Differences also varied by individual-level factors. For example, an aggressive climate was associated with passive behaviors more strongly in boys and high schoolers. Further, higher perceived parent-teacher and student-teacher connectedness were associated with positive bystander behaviors, and this was stronger for Black and Latinx youth, highlighting the importance of improving relationships as a crucial starting point.

Section snippets

Bystander behaviors

Research has shown that youth who witness bullying play a crucial role in either perpetuating or ameliorating the behavior (e.g., Padgett & Notar, 2013). Common categories of bystander responses include passive, assisting. and defending. Specifically, passive bystander behaviors include ignoring, or not taking any action (such as walking away or not passing on the harmful text message). Whereas assisting bystander behaviors include encouraging or contributing to the bullying behavior, such as

Adolescence as a critical developmental context for examining bystander behaviors

Peer interactions, including bullying, are best conceptualized from a developmental contextual perspective, which emphasizes the interaction of individual factors and critical contexts that change over the life course (Bronfenbrenner, 1994; Espelage & Swearer, 2004). As a theoretical perspective that is sensitive to life stages, this framework posits that the importance of specific contexts will vary over time depending on the developmental stage of interest. This is a particularly helpful

School climate

There are many aspects of the school context that could interact with individual factors to influence bystander behaviors. Within the school context, the climate is a primary force that shapes interactions between individuals in schools (students, teachers, administrators, etc.) through the shared beliefs, values, and attitudes which together, create the parameters for norms and behaviors in a school (Emmons, Corner, & Haynes, 1996; Kuperminc, Leadbeater, Emmons, & Blatt, 1997). An

School climate factors related to bystander behaviors

Literature consistently shows that school climate can influence students' bullying and victimization. For example, prior research has examined the association between selected individual constructs, separately as they related to bullying and victimization. In fact, both unsupportive teachers (i.e., low engagement) and accepting attitudes towards aggression (i.e., emotionally unsafe) may contribute to an environment that inadvertently encourages bullying behavior (Gendron, Williams, & Guerra,

Individual-level factors and bystander responses: gender differences

In addition to school-level factors that influence bullying, studies have examined the relations between demographic characteristics such as gender, developmental (i.e., grade-level), and race differences in bystander responses. For example, concerning gender differences in defenders, girls are more likely to report being or be viewed as defenders than boys (Espelage, Green, & Polanin, 2012; Pöyhönen et al., 2012; Pozzoli, Gini, & Vieno, 2012); this is most likely due to girls' higher levels of

Individual-level factors and bystander responses: developmental differences for middle schoolers vs. high schoolers

Middle school students generally demonstrate more defender behaviors than high school students (Lindstrom Johnson et al., 2013; Salmivalli & Voeten, 2004). Social dominance theory posits that hierarchies are often reestablished at the beginning of middle school, which may lead to less risk-taking in stepping into a defender role (Juvonen & Graham, 2014; Meter & Card, 2015). On the other hand, valuing how one appears to peers and having close friendships become more important to adolescents over

Individual-level factors and bystander responses: race and ethnic differences

Race and ethnicity, describe shared meanings, values, and cultural practices generalized to specific groups, and characterize how members within a group perceive their social environment and respond in social interactions (Triandis, 2002). When witnessing bullying towards peers, youth from different racial-ethnic backgrounds may evaluate and respond to the displayed aggressive behaviors consistent with their cultural normative beliefs about bullying victimization (Xu, Macrynikola, Waseem, &

The present study

Researchers have called for additional studies on bystander responses to bullying that include multiple individual-level and contextual variables, as opposed to focusing on single aspects of school climate and student characteristics (Meter & Card, 2015). The current study aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining the separate contributions of individual and school-level factors in relation to bystander behavior (Aims 1 and 2). For our third aim, we expanded on previous work by

Hypotheses related to school climate

Regarding the Engagement school climate construct, given the literature, we hypothesized that adult connections/relationships and perceptions of support would be associated with defending behaviors and lower student-teacher connections and support (hereafter teacher connectedness) will be associated with increases in passive and assistor behaviors. It is less clear how connectedness between students (hereafter student connectedness) would be associated with bystander responses, as studies have

Participants

The current study drew upon data from 64,670 youth attending 107 middle (grades 6–8, which includes youth approximately ages 11–13) and high schools (grades 9–12, which is youth approximately ages 14–18) participating in a statewide survey study of school climate called the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools (MDS3) Initiative. The schools had a mean percentage suspension of 10.95 (SD = 9.79), average enrollment was 1151 students (SD = 451.83) and an average ethnic diversity score (range: 0–1)

Descriptive analyses

We first conducted descriptive analyses on the overall sample (middle school and high school students) to explore the frequency of students' endorsement of bystander behaviors. The top three selected responses were “try to make others stop the bullying” (defending), “stay out of the bullying” (passive), and “comfort the person being bullied” (defending). The least selected response was “join in on the bullying” (assisting). Approximately 40% (39.8%) of students endorsed one or more defender

Discussion

Bullying behaviors have an impact on and are impacted by the broader context in which the bullying occurs. As such, programming to reduce bullying that targets these broader systemic factors, like increasing positive bystander responses to bullying, has shown promise for reducing bullying behaviors (Polanin, Espelage, & Pigott, 2012; Ttofi & Farrington, 2011). Although research has shown that school climate as a whole is associated with overall school bullying perpetration and victimization (

Individual-level associations

With regard to gender and grade level, the results both corroborate and build on what was found a decade ago (Trach et al., 2010). As compared to female students, male students were less likely to report defending and passive behaviors, yet more likely to report assistor behaviors. In general, boys had higher odds for endorsing the behaviors consistent with assistors (e.g., “join in on bullying”), and girls had higher odds for endorsing the behaviors consistent with defenders (e.g., try to make

Limitations

There are some limitations of the current study, such as the reliance on self-report and the cross-sectional design. Moreover, scholars have warned that the examination of bystander behavior is subjective and captures overall tendencies of behavior rather than behavior to specific incidents or most recent incident (Datta et al., 2016), the methods used in this study (i.e., a yes/no response) precluded variation in responses such as would be found using a frequency scale, moreover, the use of

Practical implications and conclusions

Taken together, these findings suggest that programing to increase positive bystander behaviors and decrease negative bystander behaviors, similar to typical bullying prevention, will likely need to have a tiered approach that includes both broad programming for all youth and targeted programming as well. For example, all high school youth would need additional supports to increase positive bystander behavior; however, boys in both middle and high school might require additional guidance

Acknowledgement

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305H150027 (PI: C. Bradshaw) and the National Institute of Justice (2014-CK-BX-0005) to the University of Virginia. The writing of the manuscript was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD; 1R01HD102491-01A1; MPI: Waasdorp). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of either the Institute, the

References (110)

  • American Association for Public Opinion Research

    Standard definitions: Final dispositions of case codes and outcome rates for surveys

  • American Institutes for Research

    School climate

  • A.D. Benner et al.

    Racial/ethnic discrimination and well-being during adolescence: A meta-analytic review

    American Psychologist

    (2018)
  • V.E. Besag

    Bullying among girls: Friends or foes?

    School Psychology International

    (2006)
  • E. Bistrong et al.

    Youth reactions to bullying: Exploring the factors associated with students’ willingness to intervene

    Journal of School Violence

    (2019)
  • J.M. Booth et al.

    Relations among perceptions of neighborhood cohesion and control and parental monitoring across adolescence

    Journal of Youth and Adolescence

    (2020)
  • C.P. Bradshaw et al.

    Addressing school safety through comprehensive school climate approaches

    School Psychology Review

    (2021)
  • C.P. Bradshaw et al.

    Altering school climate through school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports: Findings from a group-randomized effectiveness trial

    Prevention Science

    (2009)
  • C.P. Bradshaw et al.

    A social disorganization perspective on bullying-related attitudes and behaviors: The influence of school context

    American Journal of Community Psychology

    (2009)
  • C.P. Bradshaw et al.

    Measuring school climate: A focus on safety, engagement, and the environment

    Journal of School Health

    (2014)
  • C.P. Bradshaw et al.

    Teachers’ and education support professionals’ perspectives on bullying and prevention: Findings from a National Education Association (NEA) survey

    School Psychology Review

    (2013)
  • U. Bronfenbrenner

    Ecological models of human development

    (1994)
  • B.B. Brown

    Peer groups and peer cultures

  • L.M. Closson et al.

    Does the desire to conform to peers moderate links between popularity and indirect victimization in early adolescence?

    Social Development

    (2017)
  • J. Cohen et al.

    School climate: Research, policy, practice and teacher education

    School Psychology Quarterly

    (2009)
  • K.E. Copping et al.

    Age and race differences in racial stereotype awareness and endorsement

    Journal of Applied Social Psychology

    (2013)
  • D. Cornell et al.

    From a culture of bullying to a climate of support: The evolution of bullying prevention and research

    School Psychology Review

    (2015)
  • K. Cui et al.

    School climate, bystanders’ responses, and bullying perpetration in the context of rural-to-urban migration in China

    Deviant Behavior

    (2020)
  • P. Datta et al.

    Aggressive attitudes and prevalence of bullying bystander behavior in middle school

    Psychology in the Schools

    (2016)
  • R. Delgado et al.

    Critical race theory: An introdcution

    (2017)
  • X. Deng et al.

    Adolescent empathy influences bystander defending in school bullying: A three-level Meta-analysis

    Frontiers in Psychology

    (2021)
  • N.B. Dorio et al.

    School climate counts: A longitudinal analysis of school climate and middle school bullying behaviors

    International Journal of Bullying Prevention.

    (2019)
  • V.A. Earnshaw et al.

    LGBTQ bullying: Translating research to action in pediatrics

    Pediatrics

    (2017)
  • C.L. Emmons et al.

    Translating theory into practice: Comer’s theory of school reform

  • D. Espelage et al.

    Willingness to intervene in bullying episodes among middle school students: Individual and peer-group influences

    The Journal of Early Adolescence

    (2012)
  • D.L. Espelage et al.

    Understanding school climate, aggression, peer victimization, and bully perpetration: Contemporary science, practice, and policy

    School Psychology Quarterly

    (2014)
  • D.L. Espelage et al.

    Bullying in American schools: A social-ecological perspective on prevention and intervention

    (2004)
  • K.S. Frey et al.

    Aggressive forms and functions on school playgrounds: Profile variations in interaction styles, bystander actions, and victimization

    The Journal of Early Adolescence

    (2014)
  • N.A. Gage et al.

    Disproportionate bullying victimization and perpetration by disability status, race, and gender: A National Analysis

    Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

    (2021)
  • B.P. Gendron et al.

    An analysis of bullying among students within schools: Estimating the effects of individual normative beliefs, self-esteem, and school climate

    Journal of School Violence

    (2011)
  • R.M. Gladden et al.

    Bullying surveillance among youths: Uniform definitions for public health and recommended data elements, version 1.0

    (2014)
  • S. Gönültaş et al.

    The role of social-emotional factors in Bystanders’ judgments and responses to peer aggression and following retaliation in adolescence

    Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

    (2020)
  • E. Goodman et al.

    Developmental trajectories of subjective social status

    Pediatrics

    (2015)
  • G.D. Gottfredson et al.

    School climate predictors of school disorder: Results from a national study of delinquency prevention in schools

    Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency

    (2005)
  • S. Graham

    Race/ethnicity and social adjustment of adolescents: How (not if) school diversity matters

    Educational Psychologist

    (2018)
  • A. Gregory et al.

    “tolerating” adolescent needs: Moving beyond zero tolerance policies in high school

    Theory Into Practice

    (2009)
  • A. Gregory et al.

    Authoritative school discipline: High school practices associated with lower bullying and victimization

    Journal of Educational Psychology

    (2010)
  • P.D. Hastings et al.

    The development of concern for others in children with behavior problems

    Developmental Psychology

    (2000)
  • M.A. Hogg

    Social identity theory

  • J.S. Hong et al.

    Social ecology of bullying and peer victimization of Latino and Asian youth in the United States: A review of the literature

    Journal of School Violence

    (2014)
  • Cited by (7)

    • How does the school built environment impact students’ bullying behaviour? A scoping review

      2022, Social Science and Medicine
      Citation Excerpt :

      One study exploring the effects of a green schoolyard renovation found caregivers, but not teachers, reported less bullying behaviour following the renovation (Bohnert et al., 2022). Another study found middle and high schools reporting increasing levels of physical comfort (i.e., cleanliness, maintenance, temperature, and bright and pleasant appearance) had greater odds of bullying defender behaviour (Waasdorp et al., 2022). These studies do not change the overall findings of this review but should be considered in future reviews on this topic.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text