Troubling Secondary Victimization of Bullying Victims: The Role of Gender and Ethnicity

Student Intervention Against Homophobic Name-Calling: The Role of Peers, Teachers, and Inclusive Curricula

Encouraging bystander intervention is an effective strategy to prevent episodes of bullying victimization at school. Yet there remains a paucity of evidence on this behavior in situations of homophobic name-calling, a form of peer victimization aimed at mocking individuals based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. The existing research has focused on intentionality rather than actual student intervention behaviors, and, of note, no previous studies have taken into consideration contextual factors at the classroom and school levels. The present study examined whether students' observations of teacher and peer interventions against homophobic name-calling and perceptions of the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in class are associated with student intervention behaviors against homophobic name-calling. A three-level multilevel approach was used to account for the nested nature of students' experiences in classrooms and schools. The sample included 1,296 students (43.57% girls) recruited from 84 classrooms of 22 Italian public high schools. Preliminary analyses showed that the variability in students' reports had more to do with which classrooms versus which schools students attend. Results from multilevel regressions indicated that students who observe teachers intervening during episodes of homophobic name-calling, and who perceive the representation of LGBT issues in class as positive, were more likely to intervene against homophobic name-calling and to observe other classmates intervene as well. Also, participants who observed other students intervening were more likely to intervene. These findings highlight the importance of the role of teachers in modeling classroom norms to encourage bystander interventions. Teachers can do so indirectly such as when providing a positive representation of LGBT issues in class, or directly when intervening to condemn episodes of homophobic name-calling. In addition, our results affirm the importance of peer influence in encouraging bystander interventions during episodes of homophobic name-calling.

The Role of Sociocultural Context in Cyberbullying in Israeli Society: Comparing Arab and Jewish Parents' Perceived Knowledge of Their Adolescent Children's Involvement in Cyberbullying

This paper examines the relationship between parental monitoring and control, parents' perceived knowledge of their adolescent's online activities, and parents' perceived knowledge of their adolescent's involvement in cyberbullying, among Israeli Jewish and Arab parents of adolescents. The 407 participants consisted of two groups: Jewish (n = 194) and Arab (n = 213) parents of adolescents in Israel, who were recruited via online social networks and completed an online survey. The self-report questionnaire included the Stattin and Kerr Parental Control and Parental Monitoring Questionnaire (Stattin & Kerr in Developmental Psychology 36:366, 2000), as well as parental knowledge of child online activities and witnessing and experiencing cyberbullying. Parental monitoring and control were perceived as higher by Jewish than Arab parents, while no group differences were found for perceived child disclosure or parental knowledge of adolescent online activity. Parental knowledge of the adolescent witnessing cyberbullying was higher among Arab than Jewish parents, while the opposite was found for parental knowledge of the adolescent experiencing cyberbullying. Parental knowledge of the adolescent both witnessing and experiencing cyberbullying was related to group affiliation, lower parental education, and higher parental perceived knowledge of the adolescent's online activities. Parents' perceived knowledge of the adolescent witnessing cyberbullying was further related to higher perceived adolescent disclosure. The study increases our understanding of perceived parental involvement and its relationship with parents' perceived knowledge of the adolescent's involvement in cyberbullying in a diverse and multicultural society.