Victim Reports of Bystander Reactions to In-Person and Online Peer Harassment: A National Survey of Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Lisa M JonesHeather A Turner

Abstract

Bullying prevention is increasingly targeting education to bystanders, but more information is needed on the complexities of bystander actions across a wide variety of incidents, including both online and in-person peer harassment. The current study analyzes victim report data from a nationally representative survey of youth ages 10-20 (n = 791; 51% female). Bystander presence was common across all harassment incident types (80% of incidents). In contrast to previous research, our study found that supportive bystander behaviors occurred at relatively high rates. Unfortunately, antagonistic bystander behaviors, although less common, were predictive of higher negative impact for the victim. A large percentage of victims (76%) also disclosed the harassment to confidants, who play an important role as secondary bystanders. While friends were the most common confidant, incidents were also disclosed to adults at high rates (60%) and with mostly positive results. The findings suggest that prevention programs could increase their impact by targeting education to both direct witnesses and confidants, and considering a wider variety of peer victimization incident types.

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Citations

Mar 21, 2017·Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology : the Official Journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53·Stevie N GrassettiMichael J Gawrysiak
Oct 21, 2016·Journal of Interpersonal Violence·Alexandra IrwinTom Hollenstein
Aug 18, 2018·Violence Against Women·Brittany E Hayes
Oct 1, 2019·Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking·Ann DeSmetHeidi Vandebosch
Mar 17, 2019·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Beatriz Villarejo-CarballidoOlga Serradell
Nov 26, 2021·Journal of Research on Adolescence : the Official Journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence·Christina SalmivalliClaire F Garandeau

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