Caregivers' Advice and Children's Bystander Behaviors During Bullying Incidents.
Many bullying prevention programs take a bystander approach, which encourages children to intervene when they are bystanders to bullying incidents. Little is known about how caregivers' advice to children might promote or undermine the positive bystander behaviors targeted by these programs. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to investigate relations between caregivers' advice and children's bystander behavior during bullying situations. Participants were 106 racially/ethnically diverse 4th- and 5th-grade students (M age = 10.5 years, SD = .71 years), their classmates, and their caregivers. During classroom visits, peers reported on children's bystander behaviors. During home visits, caregivers and children completed a coded interaction task in which caregivers advised children about how to respond to bullying situations at school. Results suggested that (a) bystander intervention was positively predicted by caregivers' advice to help/comfort the victim, (b) bystander passivity was positively predicted by caregivers' advice to not intervene and negatively predicted by caregivers' advice to help/comfort the victim, and (c) bystander reinforcement/assistance of the bully was positively predicted by caregivers' advice not to intervene and not to tell adults. Results support a link between caregivers' advice at home and children's corresponding behavior when they are bystanders to bullying situations at school. These results emphasize the importance of collaboration between families and schools to reduce school bullying. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , University of Delaware.
Stevie N
SN
Grassetti
a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , University of Delaware.
Julie A
JA
Hubbard
b Pain Clinic , Children's National Medical Center.
Marissa A
MA
Smith
a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , University of Delaware.
Megan K
MK
Bookhout
c Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Lauren E
LE
Swift
d Department of Psychology , Delaware State University.|e Department of Psychiatry , University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
Michael J
MJ
Gawrysiak
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D058445:Bullying / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010379:Peer Group; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012574:Schools / Q000592:standards; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*