Citation

Pronk J, Olthof T, Aleva EA, van der Meulen M, Vermande MM, Goossens FA. J. Res. Adolesc. 2018; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jora.12450

PMID

30156740

Abstract

During adolescence, youth become more likely to avoid involvement in witnessed bullying and less likely to support victims. It is unknown whether-and how-these bystander behaviors (i.e., outsider behavior and indirect defending) are associated with adolescents' peer-group status (i.e., popularity and social acceptance) over time. Cross-lagged path modeling was used to examine these longitudinal associations in a sample of 313 Dutch adolescents (M_age-T1  = 10.3 years). The results showed that status longitudinally predicted behavior, rather than that behavior predicted status. Specifically, unpopularity predicted outsider behavior and social acceptance predicted indirect defending. These findings suggest that a positive peer-group status can trigger adolescents' provictim stance. However, adolescents may also strategically avoid involvement in witnessed bullying to keep a low social profile.

© 2018 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Language: en