Bystander responses to cyberbullying: the role of perceived severity, publicity, anonymity, type of cyberbullying, and victim response

Macaulay, P, Betts, L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6147-8089, Stiller, J and Kellezi, B ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4825-3624, 2022. Bystander responses to cyberbullying: the role of perceived severity, publicity, anonymity, type of cyberbullying, and victim response. Computers in Human Behavior, 131: 107238. ISSN 0747-5632

Preview

Text 1518060_Betts.pdf - Post-print Download (480kB) | Preview

Abstract

Cyberbullying often occurs in group-based situations; therefore, how young people respond when they witness cyberbullying is important in the process of combating the issue. This study examined how young people perceive the severity of cyberbullying incidents and how they respond as a bystander according to different factors associated with cyberbullying (i.e., publicity, anonymity, type, and victim response). The final sample was 990 (545 female, 403 male, 42 non-disclosed) students aged between 11 – 20 years (Mage = 13.16, SDage = 2.14) from two schools and one college in England. Participants responded to 24 hypothetical vignettes which were manipulated to measure publicity, anonymity, type of cyberbullying, and victim response. Participants responded to items assessing a. perceived severity, and b. bystander responses. The bystander responses examined were: ignore the incident, encourage the bully, seek adult help, seek friend help, provide emotional support to the victim, and challenge the bully. Perceived severity was higher in public scenarios, when the bully was anonymous, and when the victim was upset. Victim response was the most influential factor across all response strategies on how young people react to cyberbullying, followed by the publicity of the incident, the anonymity of the bully, and to a limited extent, the type of cyberbullying. The results suggest that bystanders do respond differently to cyberbullying according to the publicity, anonymity, type of cyberbullying, and victim response.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Computers in Human Behavior
Creators:	Macaulay, P., Betts, L., Stiller, J. and Kellezi, B.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	June 2022
Volume:	131
ISSN:	0747-5632
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.chb.2022.107238 DOI S0747563222000607 Publisher Item Identifier 1518060 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	15 Feb 2022 12:19
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2023 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/45672

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Statistics

Views

Downloads