close
Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Aug;13(3):247-52.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.2012.3.11792.

Bystander motivation in bullying incidents: to intervene or not to intervene?

Robert Thornberg, Laura Tenenbaum, Kris Varjas, Joel Meyers, Tomas Jungert, Gina Vanegas

Bystander motivation in bullying incidents: to intervene or not to intervene?

Robert Thornberg et al. West J Emerg Med. 2012 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: This research sought to extend knowledge about bystanders in bullying situations with a focus on the motivations that lead them to different responses. The 2 primary goals of this study were to investigate the reasons for children's decisions to help or not to help a victim when witnessing bullying, and to generate a grounded theory (or conceptual framework) of bystander motivation in bullying situations.

Methods: Thirty students ranging in age from 9 to 15 years (M = 11.9; SD = 1.7) from an elementary and middle school in the southeastern United States participated in this study. Open- ended, semi-structured interviews were used, and sessions ranged from 30 to 45 minutes. We conducted qualitative methodology and analyses to gain an in-depth understanding of children's perspectives and concerns when witnessing bullying.

Results: A key finding was a conceptual framework of bystander motivation to intervene in bullying situations suggesting that deciding whether to help or not help the victim in a bullying situation depends on how bystanders define and evaluate the situation, the social context, and their own agency. Qualitative analysis revealed 5 themes related to bystander motives and included: interpretation of harm in the bullying situation, emotional reactions, social evaluating, moral evaluating, and intervention self-efficacy.

Conclusion: Given the themes that emerged surrounding bystanders' motives to intervene or abstain from intervening, respondents reported 3 key elements that need to be confirmed in future research and that may have implications for future work on bullying prevention. These included: first, the potential importance of clear communication to children that adults expect bystanders to intervene when witnessing bullying; second, the potential of direct education about how bystanders can intervene to increase children's self-efficacy as defenders of those who are victims of bullying; and third, the assumption that it may be effective to encourage children's belief that bullying is morally wrong.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. The authors disclosed none. This work was funded through CDC Grant 5 R49 CE001494.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual framework of bystander motivation to intervene in bullying situations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Olweus D. Bullying at School. Malden, MA: Blackwell;; 1993.
    1. Salmivalli C, Lagerspetz K, Björkqvist K, et al. Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group. Aggressive Behavior. 1996;22:1–15.
    1. Kärnä A, Voeten M, Poskiparta E, et al. Vulnerable children in varying classroom contexts: bystanders' behaviors moderate the effects of risk factors on victimization. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 2011;56:261–282.
    1. Craig WM, Pepler DJ, Atlas R. Observations of bullying in the playground and in the classroom. School Psychology International. 2000;21:22–36.
    1. Hawkins DL, Pepler DJ, Craig WM. Naturalistic observations of peer interventions in bullying. Social Development. 2001;10:512–527.