Citation

Wood L, Smith J, Varjas K, Meyers J. J. Sch. Psychol. 2017; 61: 1-17.

Affiliation

The Center for Research on School Safety, School Climate, and Classroom Management, Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, Georgia State University, 30 Pryor Street, Atlanta 30303, Georgia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Society for the Study of School Psychology, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsp.2016.12.003

PMID

28259240

Abstract

Defending behaviors by bystanders in bullying situations have been associated with decreases in the frequency and negative effects of bullying incidents. The current study utilized qualitative methodology to investigate the role of perceived school personnel support and nonsupport in students' decisions to display defending behaviors. Forty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with upper-elementary (n=26) and middle school (n=20) students in the southeastern United States. Qualitative data were analyzed using constant comparison and a recursive inductive-deductive approach. The findings resulted in the conceptualization of a combined social support-nonsupport framework that provides details about the source, description, evaluation, and perceived effects of different types of support and nonsupport bystanders receive from school personnel. Unique contributions to the literature included expanding the sources of support and nonsupport to consider school personnel other than teachers, providing descriptions and evaluations of support and nonsupport specific to bystanders, and demonstrating an overlap between various types of support and nonsupport reiterating the need to consider both supports and nonsupports concurrently. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Copyright © 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Bullying; Bystanders; Defender behaviors; Qualitative; Social nonsupport; Social support