The role of bystanders in students' perception of bullying and sense of safety☆

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Abstract

Two studies employing a mixed experimental design were conducted to determine if perceptions of bullying, attitudes towards victims, and students' sense of safety at school were influenced by bystanders' reactions to different types of bullying. In Study 1, 217 middle-school children were randomly assigned to read a hypothetical scenario describing a direct bullying episode. In Study 2, 376 primary-school children and 390 middle-school children were presented with scenarios describing a direct bullying episode and an indirect bullying episode. In all scenarios, the bystanders' reactions to the bullying and the gender of the victim were manipulated. Participants endorsed the prosocial behavior in favor of the victims and did not endorse pro-bullying behavior. Furthermore, they perceived passive reactions to the bullying as negative behavior. Participants showed positive attitudes towards victims, which were significantly higher at younger grade levels and among girls. Bystanders' behavior influenced both participants' perceptions of the victims and their perceived sense of safety at school. Implications for anti-bullying programs based upon the group ecology are discussed.

Section snippets

Possible roles of those who witness

Students can play different roles when witnessing a bullying episode toward a peer (from passively onlooking to actively participating; Atlas & Pepler, 1998). In particular, Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Österman, and Kaukiainen (1996) identified three main participant roles beyond bullies and victims through peer nominations. Some children were identified as typically defending the victim (around 17%), whereas others were classified as “followers,” either assisting or reinforcing the

Perception and attitudes towards bullying and peer victimization

Literature on attitudes towards bullying has shown that the majority of children disapprove of bullies and sympathize with the victims. However, the “macho stereotype” is still observable in a significant minority of children (approximately 15–20%), who admire bullies and tend to justify their behavior or who dislike victims for their weakness (Boulton et al., 1999, Menesini et al., 1997, Randall, 1995, Rigby and Slee, 1993). Furthermore, children's negative attitudes towards bullying seem to

Victim blame

By blaming others or circumstances, the individuals self-exonerate their own harmful conduct, preventing themselves from feeling guilty. Moreover, seeing victims suffer maltreatment for which they are held partially responsible leads observers to denigrate them (e.g., Lerner & Miller, 1978). In such a vicious circle, the devaluation aroused by ascribed culpability provides further moral justification for even greater maltreatment.

Over the last 40 years, several studies focusing on the

Study 1

This article describes two studies that focused on the peer context in which bullying may occur. The studies examined whether students' perception of bullying varied as a function of bystanders' behavior. In the first study, this question was addressed by measuring participants' reaction to a scenario in which a group of students overtly bullied a schoolmate. We agree with Baldry (2004) that, to understand attitudes and predict behavior, contextual measures should be adopted, and we believe

Discussion

Results from Study 1 confirmed our main hypotheses. As anticipated, participants endorsed the prosocial behavior of the witnesses who defended the bullied child and did not endorse at all the negative behavior of those who assisted the bullies. Most importantly, a new finding of the present study showed that participants did not endorse the passive reaction in front of the bullying. This finding is consistent with previous research suggesting that students can perceive passive bystanders as a

Study 2

Findings from Study 1 only partially answered our research questions. First, a limitation of Study 1 was that only middle-school students participated. In order to allow a comparison between younger and older children, in Study 2 both primary-school children and middle-school students were involved as participants. Second, we studied only students' perception of overt bullying, which is the most prevalent form of bullying during the late childhood and early adolescence (e.g., Smith et al., 1999

Discussion and conclusion

Results from Study 2 confirmed the major findings obtained in Study 1. Overall, our results showed that participants always endorsed the prosocial behavior of the witnesses who intervened to help the victims, whereas they did not endorse the behavior of those who assisted the bullies or remained passive in front of the bullying. Furthermore, they had positive attitudes towards the victim, as demonstrated by the high mean levels of liking ratings and the low mean levels of blame ratings. As

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    Copyright © 2008 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.