Bystander And Cyber-Bullying Relationship

Relationship with bully/victim. A bystander’s action against cyberbullying is affected by the relationship he/she has with the bully and the victim. Guerra and Williams (2007) gave an empirically based understanding of bullying and bystander behavior. That understanding included an increased awareness of bullying behavior, social cognitive processes involved in the prevention of bullying, the social context surrounding bullying incidents, and the involvement of adults and youth in preventing such incidents. That study also showed that bystanders were more willing to help stop the bullying if they were closer to the victim than the bully but were more likely to ignore the events if the bully was their friend, which suggests that a person’s personal

First, Nixon stated that adolescents “might not feel connected with the adults,” so they opt not to seek their help when in distress. Another reason may be that adolescents tone down the severity of the cyberbullying; they do not see it as a big issue which is why they don’t tell anyone else. The third reason Nixon proposed was that adolescents “did not consider the adults in their schools to be helpful resources in addressing cyberbullying.” The fourth reason why targets did not actively seek help is because of the overwhelming feeling of shame and helplessness.

Bystanders also play a huge role in ceasing or condoning cyberbullying (Davis & Nixon, 2014). According to Cerna, et. al. (2013):

Study findings showed that existing relationships with the target, distress experienced by witnessing the victimization, and direct appeal for help predicted positive, supportive bystander behavior. On the other hand, having a strong relationship with the perpetrator repressed supportive bystander behavior. Importantly, these results also underscore the significance of developing and maintaining prosocial relationships among adolescents.

Results from this study conducted in Belgium indicated that bystanders were more likely to “join in” on the bullying when the other bystanders were good friends as opposed to

The bystander was more likely to intervene if the act was more severe. Bastiaensens, et al also suggests that this is why we need to teach people about the seriousness of cyberbullying and the consequences it can bring to a person’s life if it is not stopped. On the other hand, Barlińska, et al (2013) showed that negative bystander behavior was significantly more evident with adolescents who had previous experiences with cyberbullying perpetration during his study in Poland. People who have bullied others before (traditional and cyber bullying) were more likely to ignore cyberbullying events they