Longitudinal associations of social-cognitive and moral correlates with defending in bullying

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.

Can Virtual Reality be Used for the Prevention of Peer Sexual Harassment in Adolescence? First Evaluation of the Virtual-PRO Program

Objective: The present study analyzed the Virtual-PRO program's efficacy in preventing peer sexual harassment by promoting the bystanders' active intervention and incorporating a virtual reality (VR) component. The impact of the program on sexist attitudes, moral disengagement, the intention to intervene as bystanders, and the involvement in sexual aggression and victimization was tested. Method: Virtual-PRO is a VR-enhanced sexual harassment curricular prevention program of six one-hour sessions. The evaluation comprised a pre-test, a post-test after the intervention, and a follow-up measure at three months. In the study, 579 Spanish adolescent students aged between 12 and 17 years (M = 14.76, SD = 0.88; 47.1% boys) were randomly grouped into experimental (n = 286) and control (n = 293) conditions. Results: The Virtual-PRO program effectively controlled participants' levels of sexism and reduced moral disengagement in the experimental group compared to the control group three months after the intervention. The program also showed positive results in changing bystander behavior, increasing the intention to intervene when the victim was not a friend. Finally, visual/verbal and online victimization decreased in the experimental group and increased in the control group. No differences were found for physical sexual victimization and sexual aggression. Conclusions: The first trial of the Virtual-PRO program is promising and highlights the use of VR as a sexual harassment prevention tool. Follow-up measures are essential to determine the impact of interventions accurately.

Trajectories of defending behaviors: Longitudinal association with normative and social adjustment and self-perceived popularity

Defending the victim in bullying situations is a moral behavior that has received increasing attention in the literature. However, important questions about the development and maintenance of defending behaviors remain unanswered. The present study adopted a longitudinal design with two main goals: (a) identifying trajectories of change in individuals' defending behavior over time and (b) describing and comparing the initial levels and dynamics of change in normative and social adjustment and self-perceived popularity between the different defending trajectories. A total of 3303 students (49.8% girls; Wave 1 Mage = 12.61 years; SD = 1.47) participated in the study. Data were collected in four waves with self-report questionnaires. Using growth mixture modeling, we found four defending trajectories (84% stable-high, 5% decrease, 4% increase, and 7% stable-low). Growth mixture model multigroup and comparative analyses found that adolescents in the stable-high defending group exhibited the highest initial levels of normative adjustment (Mintercept = 5.47), social adjustment (Mintercept = 5.48), and self-perceived popularity (Mintercept = 5). Adolescents in the decrease defending group tended to reduce their normative adjustment over time (Mslope = -0.09), whereas the increase defending group increased their social adjustment (Mslope = 0.18) and self-perceived popularity (Mslope = -0.04). The stable-low defending group showed low and stable levels of normative adjustment (Mintercept = 5.01), social adjustment (Mintercept = 5.03), and self-perceived popularity (Mintercept = 4.4). These results indicate a strong association between normative and social adjustment and self-perceived popularity and involvement in defending behaviors. Bullying prevention programs could improve by adding a stronger focus on the development of classroom dynamics that promote adjusted behaviors and class-group cohesion.

Effects of the KiVa anti-bullying program on defending behavior: Investigating individual-level mechanisms of change

Given that defending victimized peers might help discourage bullying behavior and prevent its harmful consequences, various anti-bullying programs have attempted to increase defending behavior among participating children. However, the cognitions that underlie the effectiveness of interventions in increasing defending remain unknown. Data for this randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the KiVa anti-bullying program were collected in Finnish primary schools at baseline, after 5 months of implementation, and after 9 months of implementation and were used to examine the possible mediating role of seven psychological factors (empathy for the victim, feelings of responsibility to intervene, self-efficacy for defending, negative attitudes towards victims, and outcome expectations that defending would decrease or stop the bullying, be beneficial for one's status, and not increase one's risk of being victimized). Analyses conducted on a sample of 5731 children (baseline M_age = 11 years; 51% girls) revealed that the positive effects of KiVa on defending behavior after 9 months of implementation could partly be explained by the positive effects of the program on two factors (i.e., feelings of responsibility to intervene and expectations that the defending would make the bullying decrease or stop) after 5 months of implementation. This study provides information regarding the individual-level factors that anti-bullying interventions can target to successfully promote defending of victimized peers in primary schools.

Socio-Cognitive Processes and Peer-Network Influences in Defending and Bystanding

Peers are critical to defending and bystanding during episodes of bullying. This study investigates the extent to which friends can shape defending and bystanding as well as social cognitions associated with these two behaviors (i.e., perceptions of self-efficacy and moral distress). The study sample consisted of n = 1354 early and middle adolescents (7th‒10th grade; 81.4% Italian; 51.3% boys) in northern Italy. Employing a longitudinal social network analytic approach, using stochastic actor-oriented modeling, this study found that adolescents become more similar or stay similar to their friends in both behaviors and perceptions, with no clear indication that students select friends based on similar levels of behaviors or perceptions. The findings illustrate how defending and bystanding behaviors and related social cognitions are developed within friend (peer) networks.

The Healthy Context Paradox: When Reducing Bullying comes at a Cost to Certain Victims

Bullying remains one of the most serious problems affecting school systems around the world. The negative consequences of bullying in the short and long term have been widely documented, showing that victimized students are at greater risk of suffering psychosocial distress. In this paper, we first summarize the current situation of bullying prevention, adopting a contextual perspective, and briefly highlighting the characteristics of the most effective prevention programs. Secondly, we address a disturbing phenomenon detected in classrooms where bullying has been reduced through interventions and which has been termed “the healthy context paradox”. In these healthier contexts, students who remain in a situation of victimization have been found to present poorer psychological adjustment after the intervention. Understanding the causes of this phenomenon may offer clues for the prevention of bullying. In this regard, we present three hypotheses recently proposed to explain the phenomenon. Finally, we offer some implications for the study and prevention of bullying derived from “the healthy context paradox”.