Factors influencing young bystanders\u27 decisions to intervene when witnessing cyber-aggression: A mixed methods exploration

With the modern proliferation of computers, the Internet and smart phones, adolescents are at increased risk of cyber-aggression: negative, harmful behaviour expressed through electronic means and aimed at an individual (or group of individuals). Cyber-aggression can have serious consequences for the social, emotional and physical health of both targets and perpetrators. Some experts recommend tackling cyberaggression using the strategies applied to face-to-face forms of aggression and bullying in school environments. One such strategy is to encourage peer bystanders to intervene in a positive way, which has been demonstrated to influence both the duration and severity of bullying episodes in the school environment. However, cyber-aggression has some unique characteristics that differentiate it from school-based aggression such as bullying, including the potential for perpetrator and bystander anonymity, the rapid dissemination of material, and the permanence of information placed on the Internet. It therefore remains uncertain whether these unique characteristics make the wholesale adoption of face-to-face schoolbased bystander interventions inappropriate for the online environment. This thesis sought to clarify the key influences on young adolescent bystanders’ behaviour in the online environment to determine the extent to which it differs to that in the school environment. An exploratory mixed methods design was undertaken involving three phases. Phase One adopted a qualitative, phenomenological approach using in-depth interviews with 24 adolescents in Grades 8–10, to explore their perception of young bystanders’ attitudes and likely behaviours when witnessing cyber-aggression. In-depth vignette-based interviews were undertaken to explore two key research questions: (a) What factors do young adolescents think influence bystanders’ decisions to intervene when witnessing cyber-aggression? and (b) What do young adolescents perceive as differences in bystanders’ responses to peer aggression in the online versus offline (school) environments? A thematic analysis identified key themes arising from Phase One. Firstly, bystander behaviours in the online environment are perceived to be influenced by the relationship of the bystander to the perpetrator and target, with bystanders more likely to take action when they have a close relationship with one of these individuals. Relationships also assisted online bystanders to understand the context of the situation, the perceived severity of the incident and therefore the need, or otherwise, to seek adult assistance. An important difference between online and school environments is that the online environment was perceived to be lacking in clearly established rules, authority figures and formal reporting mechanisms when witnessing aggressive behaviour. In addition, when witnessing online transgressions young adolescent bystanders are more hesitant and likely to ignore or avoid intervening. This is due, in part, to difficulties they experience trying to ascertain perpetrator intentions in the absence of non-verbal cues. Phase Two sought to quantitatively confirm the themes arising from Phase One and involved the development of a quantitative measure and use of vignettes to manipulate major themes with a larger sample of adolescents in Grades 9–10 (n=292). Statistical analysis confirmed that bystander helping behaviours were more likely when the target was a close friend and when perceived harm to the target was high. Bystanders also reported being less likely to approach teachers or publicly defend targets in the online environment compared to the school environment. In addition, female bystanders were more likely to intervene, regardless of the online or school environment. Phase Three evolved from the results of the first two phases and involved a systematic review to explore the role of moral disengagement in bystander behaviours, highlighting future research directions and implications for online interventions. In this phase of the research, existing literature describing bystanders’ use of moral disengagement mechanisms when witnessing online and school bullying was appraised. A systematic review of empirical literature published over the last 25 years revealed a scarcity of research addressing bystanders’ use of moral disengagement in face-to-face environments, and no studies examining this issue in the online environment when witnessing bullying within the search parameters. In school environments, moral disengagement was found to be more likely in boys and increasing with age; affected by individuals’ histories, empathy, and selfefficacy; negatively associated with pro-social bystander behaviours; and highly influenced by socio-environmental factors, such as school culture. Collectively the three phases suggest that programs designed to encourage positive online bystander behaviours can be similar to face-to-face approaches, but also need to compensate for some aspects unique to the online environment. Such programs should consider the impact of relationships on young people’s active defending behaviours, their inhibitions surrounding public displays of bystander behaviour of any kind, and the lack of adult presence in the online environment. Strategies should sensitise adolescents to the potential harm of cyber-aggression and assist them to counter the tendency to morally disengage in the online environment. This might be achieved through programs designed to develop pro-social skills in online bystanders, to enable young people to intervene as peer supporters when they become aware of cyber-aggression

Comparing early adolescents’ positive bystander responses to cyberbullying and traditional bullying: the impact of severity and gender

Young people are frequently exposed to bullying events in the offline and online domain. Witnesses to these incidents act as bystanders and play a pivotal role in reducing or encouraging bullying behaviour. The present study examined 868 (47.2% female) 11-13-year-old early adolescent pupils’ bystander responses across a series of hypothetical vignettes based on traditional and cyberbullying events. The vignettes experimentally controlled for severity across mild, moderate, and severe scenarios. The findings showed positive bystander responses (PBRs) were higher in cyberbullying than traditional bullying incidents. Bullying severity impacted on PBRs, in that PBRs increased across mild, moderate, and severe incidents, consistent across traditional and cyberbullying. Females exhibited more PBRs across both types of bullying. Findings are discussed in relation to practical applications within the school. Strategies to encourage PBRs to all forms of bullying should be at the forefront of bullying intervention methods

Teens who intervene: identifying factors related to adolescent cyber-bystander intervention in cyberbullying

Introduction: Cyberbullying experiences have been linked to mental health difficulties, highlighting the need to refine anti-cyberbullying interventions, particularly for at-risk groups, and understand what encourages bystanders to intervene. The current study compared adolescents’ prosocial cyber-bystander intentions in an intragroup (‘UK-born’ victim status) and intergroup (‘immigrant’ victim status) cyberbullying context. State empathy and state self-efficacy were examined as potential mediators, accounting for baseline trait levels of these two factors and gender. Methods: British adolescents (N=129; 13.5-15 years old; 59.7% female; predominately White) from two comprehensive schools in the UK took part in a two (gender: female/male) by two (victim status: British/immigrant) between-subjects quasi-experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to read a gender-matched hypothetical cyberbullying vignette with an adolescent cyber-victim who was either ‘U.K.-born’ or an ‘immigrant’. Self-report questionnaires captured participants’ prosocial bystander intentions, state and trait self-efficacy and empathy, alongside demographic information. Results: Findings showed that victim status did not relate to self-efficacy or prosocial cyber-bystander intentions. Higher empathy was reported by females and, unexpectedly, within the ‘immigrant victim’ condition. An indirect relationship was found between victim status and prosocial cyber-bystander intentions, with state empathy as a statistical mediator. Trait empathy did not moderate the path between victim status and state empathy. Conclusions: The present study supports promoting bystander state empathy in anti-cyberbullying programmes, but the importance of intergroup processes is unclear. To reduce cyberbullying impact, future research should explore cyber-bystander behaviour towards at-risk groups inter-sectionally, controlling for additional intergroup variables which potentially caused a suppressor effect in the results

Investigating the nature and prevalence of mobile bullying in the rural Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

Limited studies have examined mobile bullying in South African schools in general and in rural schools in particular. The focus on rural schools is important to our understanding of the nature and forms of bullying. Studies conducted in other parts of the world suggest that bullying differs among urban, suburban, and rural schools. Evidence from studies on physical violence suggests that violence also takes place in many rural schools. Since rural areas are reported to have the highest level of mobile phone usage in South Africa, it is possible that mobile bullying may be more predominant in the rural communities and its implications severe. Using a survey of 984 students, the present study investigated the nature of mobile bullying in 7 rural high schools of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It sought to identify the factors that mainly predict this aggression and the data was analysed using quantitative methods. The findings show that males are more involved in mobile bullying than females. Gender, mobile victimization, frequent usage of the mobile phone and retaliation were the main predictors of mobile bullying. This study also revealed that the influence of anonymity of the bully on mobile bullying is not necessarily direct. This influence is moderated by other factors such as the safety risk and the economic environment of school

Curriculum Making for Social Learning : Exploring Policy and Practice in Norwegian Lower Secondary Education

This thesis explores the concept of social learning in international policy and research, and curriculum making for social learning in Norwegian policy and practice. The main purpose of the study is to investigate how students social learning is influenced by curriculum making at the national policy level and by curriculum making in subjects at the classroom level in Norwegian lower secondary education. The study has a theoretical grounding in critical realism (Bhaskar, 2008a; Danermark, Ekström, Jakobsen, & Karlsson, 2011) that emphasizes social phenomena as complex and emergent from the interactions of agents, structures and mechanisms at multiple layers of reality. Wenger’s social theory of learning (Wenger, 1999) is used to analyse collective outcomes of students and teachers’ social interactions. Curriculum theory (Deng, 2017; Englund, 2015; Reid, 2016) is used to analyse teachers practices of curriculum making in subjects as instructional events in the classroom, and to analyse curriculum making at the national policy level (Chan, 2012; Hopmann, 2003; Lundgren, 2012) as negotiated practices of educational governance and control. The study has a qualitative design building on data from policy, research and classroom interaction. Policy and literature reviews have been conducted using critical research review methodology (Suri, 2013), and methods of contents and bibliometric analysis (Bowen, 2009; Weber, 1990) to generate data on curriculum making at the national and international levels. Qualitative interviews (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015) with students and teachers and participant observation (Heath, Brooks, Cleaver, & Ireland, 2009; Okely, 2013) of their interactions has been used to generate data on curriculum making at the classroom level. The study identifies two main understandings of social learning as; the development of skills, and the development of community, in international policy and research. The study finds that Norwegian policymakers draw on both understandings in a compromised concept of social learning in the newly revised core curriculum. The study also identifies how students’ social learning is influenced by mechanism of personalization, peering, grouping and identification in subject teaching. Overall, these findings indicate that students’ social learning is influenced by a dual dialectic of curriculum making in policy and practice, and of social structures and students’ and teachers’ agency in the classroom

Bystander behaviour in response to traditional/cyber bullying scenarios: a consideration of victimisation/perpetration, empathy and severity

The current study aimed to investigate bystander behaviour across traditional and cyber bullying scenarios that changed in severity: mild, moderate and severe. Participant’s victimisation/perpetration and emotional/cognitive traits were also measured and considered in respect to bystander behaviour. A total of 868 adolescent pupils’ (males: N = 458, females: N = 410) completed a self-report questionnaire comprising of three hypothetical traditional and cyber bullying scenarios respectively that increased in severity. Victimisation/perpetration and emotional/cognitive trait items were also included within the questionnaire. The findings showed that positive bystander behaviour was higher in cyber compared to traditional bullying, with females showing higher positive bystander behaviours in both traditional and cyber bullying scenarios. No relationship of age was found. A positive relationship was found between victimisation and perpetration experience in both types of bullying, although victimisation experience was not associated with positive bystander behaviour. With the exception of traditional perpetration, cyber perpetration was associated with negative bystander behaviour where males had higher perpetration scores compared to females in both types of bullying. No gender differences on victimisation were found. Findings to support previous literature on empathy were found. It was found that severity did have an effect on bystander behaviour with more severe scenarios leading to positive bystander behaviour in both types of bullying, although no difference between severe traditional or cyber were found. The practical application of these findings encourages educators and intervention developers to utilise adolescent’s bystander knowledge to reduce bullying acts in the school environment. Future research should examine the effect of bystander awareness training on adolescent’s positive bystander behaviour across two time periods

Bystander Experiences with Bias-Based Bullying in High School

Bullying in schools has significant negative implications for the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of all students involved. Students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB), or who are perceived to behave in gender non-conforming ways, are at greater risk of being bullied than their heterosexual or gender conforming peers. In an effort to reduce instances of general bullying in school, recent research has focused on altering the behavior of student bystanders to encourage them to take action in support of victims (e.g., get a teacher, etc.). Bystander potential behaviors include assisting or reinforcing the bully, remaining an outsider, or defending the victim. Despite empirical support for the influence bystander behavior can have during school bullying, information about bystander behavior during bias-based bullying remains limited. Using thematic narrative analysis, this research reviewed high school bystanders’ experiences with bias-based bullying, their perceptions of bystander behavior in their school, and their social norms related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Results suggest bystanders experience four primary types of bias-based bullying. Additionally bystanders can enact a range of responses that are motivated by internal and external factors. Normative expectations for gender split into expected roles and dress, while sexual orientation assumptions are based on sexual behavior and gender non-conforming behaviors. Future directions for research and practice are included from the perspective of the researcher as well as the students involved

Perceptions and experiences of cyberbullying amongst high school students: an interpretive phenomenological analysis.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Cyberbullying is an emerging phenomenon among children and adolescents worldwide. Although the existing literature on cyberbullying is expanding rapidly, there is a lack of qualitative research, particularly in South Africa, which explores adolescents’ perceptions of cyberbullying. Qualitative research allows researchers to uncover the important discourses, which undergird cyberbullying, and explore the nuances of the phenomenon, both of which are often less visible in large-scale quantitative research. The purpose of this study was to explore experiences and perceptions of cyberbullying amongst high school students from an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) perspective. These experiences and perceptions were obtained through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with six high school students from a school on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Interview transcripts were analysed using IPA and this approach allowed the researcher to obtain a rich description of the participants’ lived experiences and the processes by which they made sense of their experiences. Six super-ordinate themes were obtained from the data: (1) Perceptions and Characteristics of Cyberbullying, (2) Parent Monitoring, (3) Cyberbullying vs. Traditional Bullying, (4) Perceived Cyber Bystander Motivations, (5) Perceived Cyber Bully Motivation, and finally (6) Individual, Contextual and Societal Factors. Each super-ordinate theme consisted of several sub-themes, which captured and described the participants’ lived experiences. The research findings suggested that although there are similarities between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, the latter appears to have a greater psychological impact on victims. Several factors associated with online activity appear to be appealing to cyberbullies and they are subsequently motivated to participate in bullying online. Furthermore, the cyber bystanders seem to play a passive role in the phenomenon, failing to intervene. This study contributes to the limited literature on this topic available in South Africa, and produces a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the emotions, experiences and perceptions of high school students involved in cyberbullying.Student on university database as Sarah Jane O'Connell

Cyberbullying of post-primary teachers in Ireland

Cyberbullying of teachers by their pupils has not been researched as widely as adolescent bullying or cyberbullying. The cyberbullying of teachers by pupils has been defined as “the creation of digital texts, images and recordings that portray the teacher in ways that are demeaning and/or ridicule the teacher, which are then transmitted electronically to others" (Kyriacou & Zuin, 2015, p.267). This research attempts to provide a diverse understanding of the online lives of teachers in post-primary schools in Ireland. Some of the variables for examination include how teachers self-regulate their profiles on social media, the security and privacy prevention tools used and their attitudes towards communicating with students online. This research investigates the types of cyberbullying that teachers experience and how this influences them in their roles as teachers within their school environment. Negative physical and mental health effects including severe stress, fear for personal safety, teacher and pupil performance has been identified as a result of pupils bullying and cyberbullying teachers, this is an additional area of examination. This research utilises a quantitative approach to provide further insight into teacher cyber victimisation to develop support structures for teachers and schools

Jugend – Lebenswelt – Bildung

The book gives an overview of the Austrian history in youth research, includes major contributions on current empirical and theoretical analyses and offers new perspectives on youth research in Austria. It covers topics such as education, transitions, health, migration, participation, discrimination, media, values, and youth work. The target groups are researchers as well as politicians and practitioners in the field of social work.Der Band gibt einen Überblick über die Geschichte der österreichischen Jugendforschung, versammelt aktuelle theoretische und empirische Arbeiten und zeigt Perspektiven auf für die künftige Jugendforschung in Österreich. Dabei sind sowohl grundlagenorientierte Beiträge im Bereich der Jugendforschung mit Überlegungen zu Forschungsmethoden, als auch anwendungsorientierte Beiträge zur Jugendarbeits- und Jugendhilfeforschung enthalten. Thematisch umfassen die Beiträge viele für die Lebenswelt von Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen zentrale Bereiche wie Familie, Bildung, soziale und berufliche Übergänge, Identitäten, Gesundheit, Migration, Benachteiligung, Medien, Werte, Jugendarbeit und Jugendhilfe