title: School personnel social support and nonsupport for bystanders of bullying: Exploring student perspectives.
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.
authors.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. Electronic address: laurawood210@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.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.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.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.
authors.forename: Kris
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Varjas
authors.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.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meyers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D058445:Bullying; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D012944:Social Support; D015144:Southeastern United States; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Bullying; Bystanders; Defender behaviors; Qualitative; Social nonsupport; Social support