Defending victims of bullying in the classroom: The role of moral responsibility and social costs

Basic moral sensitivity, moral disengagement, and defender self-efficacy as predictors of students' self-reported bystander behaviors over a school year: a growth curve analysis

Though school children tend to view peer victimization as morally wrong most do not to intervene on the victim's behalf and some instead choose to aid the victimizer. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate how students' defending and pro-aggressive bystander behaviors evolved over the course of one school year and their association to basic moral sensitivity, moral disengagement, and defender self-efficacy. Three-hundred-fifty-three upper elementary school students (55% girls; 9.9-12.9 years of age) each completed self-report surveys at three points during one school year. Results from latent growth curve models showed that pro-aggressive bystander behavior remained stable over the year, whereas defending behavior decreased. Moreover, students who exhibited greater basic moral sensitivity were both less likely to be pro-aggressive and simultaneously more likely to defend. Students with defender self-efficacy were not only associated with more defending behavior at baseline but also were also less likely to decrease in defender behavior over time. Conversely, students reporting a higher degree of moral disengagement were linked to more pro-aggressive behavior, particularly when also reporting lower basic moral sensitivity. These short-term longitudinal results add important insight into the change in bystander behavior over time and how it relates to students' sense of morality. The results also highlight the practical necessity for schools to nurture students' sense of morality and prosocial behavior in their efforts to curb peer victimization.

Being on top versus not dangling at the bottom: Popularity motivation and aggression in youth

Whereas research on aggression and status motivation in youth has predominantly looked at a promotion focus (striving for popularity), a prevention focus (wanting to avoid low popularity) could also be an important determinant of aggression, as youth who fear low popularity may use strategic aggression to secure their position. The aim of the current study was to develop reliable measures for both popularity motivations, and examine how both motivations are uniquely and jointly related to aggression. Participants were 1123 Dutch secondary school students (M age = 14.4 years, 48% girls), who completed a 3-item measure of striving for high popularity based on existing questionnaires (Li & Wright, 2014; Ojanen et al., 2005), and a 3-item measure of avoiding low popularity consisting of an adapted version of the high popularity items. Aggressive behavior was measured through peer nominations. Motivations were moderately correlated (r = .51), but did not always co-occur within the same person, as 17% of the sample belonged to a cluster that scored low on striving for popularity, but moderately high on avoiding low popularity. When considered simultaneously, striving for high popularity was not related to any type of aggression, whereas avoiding affiliation with unpopular peers was related to strategic aggression. For physical and verbal aggression, gossiping, excluding and bullying, the association of avoiding low popularity with aggression was strongest when youth also strived for high popularity. Future work should take both popularity motivations into account to better understand, predict and intervene on youth's aggression toward peers.

Personality processes of everyday moral courage

INTRODUCTION

Moral courage manifests in acts intended to intervene to stop or redress witnessed moral norm violations, despite the risk of negative consequences for the intervener. We investigate moral courage in everyday life and ask what personality processes are involved. Based on an extended process model of moral courage, we derived hypotheses on cognitive and emotional processes that should facilitate or hinder intervention. Further, we identified candidate personality dispositions that should shape these processes and thereby predict who tends to intervene against others' norm violations and who does not.

METHODS

Using a quota-based sample of the German population (N = 1108), we conducted a personality assessment, followed by a 7-day experience sampling during which participants reported norm violations witnessed in their daily life as well as their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions.

RESULTS

In total, 678 participants reported 1965 norm violations and intervened against 32% of them. Dispositional self-efficacy facilitated intervention by increasing a sense of efficacy when confronted with others' norm violations. Conversely, dispositional moral disengagement hindered intervention by reducing perceived own responsibility.

DISCUSSION

Our findings provide novel insights into the situations affording moral courage in everyday life, and the personality processes that uniquely guide this behavior.

The sound of silence: The importance of bystander support for confronters in the prevention of norm erosion

Observing deviant behaviour can lead to 'norm erosion', where a norm is no longer seen as relevant and compliance with it is reduced. Previous research argues that social confrontations can mitigate norm erosion. However, this work has not considered the impact of bystanders to confrontations, who might influence the outcome by supporting-or failing to support-the person confronting a social rule breaker. We examine the effect of bystanders' reactions on preventing norm erosion across three experimental studies. We examined how supportive and non-supportive bystander reactions to a confronter impacted the perceived strength of a prosocial norm among participants and their behavioural intentions. We find that when bystanders explicitly supported the confronter against the rule breaker, the norm was perceived as stronger-and sometimes, compliance intentions were higher-than when bystanders did not respond to the confronter. A mini meta-analysis across the three studies reveals that the effect of bystander support on perceived norm strength is large and robust. Our work demonstrates that for the prevention of norm erosion, confrontations benefit greatly from being explicitly supported by bystanders.

Does defending affect adolescents' peer status, or vice versa? Testing the moderating effects of empathy, gender, and anti-bullying norms

This study examined bidirectional associations between students' bully-directed defending behavior and their peer status (being liked or popular) and tested for the moderating role of empathy, gender, and classroom anti-bullying norms. Three waves of data were collected at 4-5-month time intervals among 3680 Finnish adolescents (Mage  = 13.94, 53.0% girls). Cross-lagged panel analyses showed that defending positively predicted popularity and, to a larger degree, being liked over time. No moderating effect of empathy was found. Popularity was more strongly predictive of defending, and defending was more strongly predictive of status among girls than among boys. Moreover, the positive effects of both types of status on defending were-albeit to a limited extent-stronger in classrooms with higher anti-bullying norms.

Aggressive and Defensive Behaviour, Normative, and Social Adjustment in the Complex Dynamics of School Bullying

Bullying is a group phenomenon in which schoolchildren take on different roles. Although certain contextual elements play a key role in its evolution, very few longitudinal studies have been carried out to date which investigate how these factors interact. This study aims to explore the different class groupings as regards bullying norms and to examine the effect of the type of norm, social, and normative adjustment and pro-sociality, also of the interaction of group norms with involvement in aggression and victim defence in bullying situations. A total of 3,358 secondary school students (50.71% girls, Mage = 13 years, SD = 1.34) participated in the study. Four groups of norms towards bullying were identified: anti-bullying, anti-bullying but not actively defending, indifference, and pro-bullying. Univariate linear regression models showed that normative adjustment and the type of norms had a direct inverse effect on both types of behaviour, while pro-sociality only had an effect on defence. In groups with pro-bullying norms, a greater effect of normative adjustment was observed for involvement in defence and aggression, and pro-social skills were associated with aggression. These results suggest the need to work on moral, social and emotional elements to improve school climate in schools.

Perceived Moral Norms in an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior in Predicting University Students' Bystander Intentions toward Relational Bullying

Relational forms of bullying, such as social exclusion, are prevalent among students in higher education (HE) and pose challenges to the creation of a safe and inclusive learning environment for young adults. Based on research showing how bystanders in bullying incidents can counteract bullying effectively, the present study investigated the extent to which bystanders' prosocial behavioral intentions may be predicted using an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). Students' behavioral intentions toward the physical-social exclusion of peers in a hypothetical group work setting were investigated in a sample of 419 university students in the United Kingdom. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that moral norms significantly predicted intention over and above cognitive attitude, descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control. In contrast, emotional attitudes and injunctive norms were not significant predictors of intention. Moreover, significant weak mediation effects could be shown for moral norms as a mediator of the relationships between standard TPB predictors and intention. The present study contributes knowledge to the growing research body on applications of the TPB and on bystander intentions in bullying in HE. Implications for a development in preventive measures to foster university students' prosocial intentions toward bullying are discussed.

Popularity Status Insecurity as a Risk Factor for Adolescents' Maladaptive Weight-Related Cognitions and Behaviors: Examining a Moderated Mediation Model

Previous studies have identified popularity as a risk factor for adolescents' body image concerns and disordered eating behaviors, yet little is known about how adolescents' insecure feelings about their popularity status may be associated with these outcomes. To address this gap, this study examined whether popularity status insecurity was linked to weight-related cognitions and behaviors one year later and whether these links were mediated by body dissatisfaction and moderated by popularity status. A total of 233 Chinese 10th and 11th grade adolescents (41% girls; M_age = 15.81 years, SD = 0.68) participated in the study. The results showed that adolescents' popularity status insecurity was positively and indirectly related to greater future drive for thinness and restrained eating through the mediation of dissatisfied feelings about their own body shape only among those with average and low popularity, and these indirect effects were strengthened as adolescents' popularity decreased. Implications for prevention and intervention of eating disturbances for adolescents are discussed.

Defending or Remaining Passive as a Bystander of School Bullying in Sweden: The Role of Moral Disengagement and Antibullying Class Norms

The overall aim of the present study was to examine whether moral disengagement and perceptions of antibullying class norms at individual level and at class level were associated with defending and passive bystanding in school bullying among school-age children. More specifically, we investigated the extent to which moral disengagement would contribute to explain defending and passive bystanding, after controlling for sex and perceptions of antibullying class norms at individual level and at class level. A total of 789 Swedish students (aged 10-14) from 40 middle school classes filled out a self-report survey. The findings revealed that girls and students who were less prone to morally disengage, and who perceived that their classmates endorsed more antibullying norms, were more likely to defend victimized peers. Students who were more inclined to morally disengage and perceive that classmates do not condemn bullying were more likely to act as passive bystanders. In addition, classes with higher levels of antibullying class norms were more likely to show higher rates of defending and lower rates of passive bystanding compared to the other classes. The findings suggest that schools and teachers need to develop educational strategies, methods, and efforts designed to make students aware of moral disengagement and to reduce their likelihood of morally disengaging in bullying situations. The present findings also point to the importance of teachers establishing class rules against bullying together with the students.

Bullying Prevention in Adolescence: Solutions and New Challenges from the Past Decade

Bullying among youth at school continues to be a global challenge. Being exposed to bullying may be especially hurtful in adolescence, a vulnerable period during which both peer group belonging and status become key concerns. In the current review, we first summarize the effectiveness of the solutions that were offered a decade ago in the form of anti-bullying programs. We proceed by highlighting some intriguing challenges concomitant to, or emerging from these solutions, focusing especially on their relevance during adolescence. These challenges are related to (1) the relatively weak, and highly variable effects of anti-bullying programs, (2) the complex associations among bullying, victimization, and social status, (3) the questions raised regarding the beneficial (or possibly iatrogenic) effects of peer defending, and (4) the healthy context paradox, that is, the phenomenon of remaining or emerging victims being worse off in contexts where the average levels of victimization decrease. We end by providing some suggestions for the next decade of research in the area of bullying prevention among adolescents.

How prosocial is moral courage?

Moral courage, that is, defending moral beliefs despite personal risks, is often seen as a hallmark of prosocial behavior. We argue that prosociality in moral courage is, however, complex. While its prosociality is often evident at a higher societal level, it can be contested in some aspects of morally courageous acts. We review the literature on two such aspects and highlight that differences and conflicts in moral beliefs, as well as the confrontational nature of many morally courageous acts, call into question prosociality. We recommend that future research takes the complexity of prosociality in moral courage into account to obtain a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the psychological underpinnings of moral courage and its contributions to the functioning of societies.

Examining the Potential Mental Health Costs of Defending Victims of Bullying: a Longitudinal Analysis

It has been speculated that defending victims of bullying is stressful for youth, and may contribute to poor mental health among those who regularly intervene to defend their victimized peers. However, the extant literature is thus far primarily limited to correlational, single-informant studies. The current study examined the concurrent and prospective mental health costs (e.g., social anxiety, depressive symptoms) of peer-reported defending among 4085 youth (43.9% boys; Mage = 14.56, SD = 0.75). Moreover, we examined two potential moderators (victimization and popularity) of the association between defending and internalizing problems. Analyses revealed that there was no evidence of a direct, positive relationship between defending and internalizing symptoms. However, a positive, concurrent association was found between defending and social anxiety, but only among youth who reported that they were also victims - the association was negative among non-victimized youth. In addition, both peer-reported victimization and social status were found to moderate the longitudinal relationship between defending and later symptoms of depression. Specifically, among low-status highly victimized youth, defending was associated with an increased risk of experiencing symptoms of depression, whereas high-status youth who were rarely seen as victims reported decreased symptoms of depression at T2 if they also had a reputation for defending others. The findings suggest that defending others is likely not a risk factor for youth who are not already vulnerable and/or have the protection of high status, and may actually have a protective effect for these youth.

Bullying Perpetration, Moral Disengagement and Need for Popularity: Examining Reciprocal Associations in Adolescence

Precursors and consequences of bullying have been widely explored, but much remains unclear about the association of moral and motivational factors. This study examined longitudinal associations between need for popularity, moral disengagement, and bullying perpetration. A total of 3017 participants, aged 11 to 16 years in wave 1 (49% girls; M_age = 13.15, SD = 1.09), were surveyed across four waves with six-month intervals. At the between-person level, cross-lagged modeling revealed a positive bidirectional association between moral disengagement and need for popularity; bullying perpetration was predicted by both need for popularity and moral disengagement. From the within-person level, random intercept cross-lagged analyses revealed that need for popularity predicted both moral disengagement and bullying perpetration. The results highlight the interplay between motivational and moral mechanisms that underlies bullying behavior.

Effects of the KiVa Anti-Bullying Program on Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Children and Adolescents

Objective: As empathy is an important predictor of both bullying and defending behavior, many anti-bullying interventions aim to increase empathy among students. However, little is known on whether these interventions enhance both affective and cognitive empathy, and whether some students are more responsive than others to empathy-raising efforts. This study examined the effects of the Finnish anti-bullying program KiVa on changes in self-reported affective and cognitive empathy and tested whether these effects varied depending on students' gender, initial levels of empathy, peer-reported bullying, and peer-perceived popularity, as well as school type (primary versus secondary school) and classroom bullying norms.Method: Multilevel structural equation modeling analyses were conducted on pretest and posttest (1 year later) data from a sample of 15,403 children and adolescents (Mage = 13.4; 51.5% girls) in 399 control and 462 intervention classrooms from 140 schools participating in the evaluation of KiVa in 2007-2009.Results: KiVa had a positive effect on affective empathy, but not cognitive empathy. The effects of the program on both types of empathy did not depend on students' gender, initial levels of empathy, bullying, or popularity, nor on school type or classroom bullying norms.Conclusion: Findings suggest that KiVa can raise students' affective empathy regardless of students' gender, status, initial empathy, or levels of bullying, and regardless of school type or classroom bullying norms.

Classroom Status Hierarchy Moderates the Association between Social Dominance Goals and Bullying Behavior in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Social dominance goals represent desires to be powerful and prominent among peers. Previous studies have documented that endorsing social dominance goals is positively associated with bullying behavior. However, little is known about how classroom context moderates the social dominance goals-bullying association. The present study examined the role of classroom status hierarchy in the longitudinal association between social dominance goals and bullying in a sample of 1,603 children attending 17 grade 3 classrooms (n = 558, 46.2% girls, M_age = 9.33 years, SD = 0.44), 15 grade 4 classrooms (n = 491, 45.0% girls, M_age = 10.31 years, SD = 0.38) and 16 grade 7 classrooms (n = 554, 49.3% girls, M_age = 13.2 years, SD = 0.46) in China, followed for 1 year. Classroom peer status hierarchy was assessed by the within-classroom standard deviation in perceived popularity. Social dominance goals were obtained through self-reports. Bullying was measured via peer nomination. The multilevel models revealed that social dominance goals at Wave 1 predicted increases in bullying at Wave 2 only in classrooms with higher status hierarchies, after controlling for gender, grade, classroom size, and classroom gender distribution. These findings indicate that children who strive for social dominance goals are more likely to bully others when power is less equally distributed in the classroom.