Bystander Intervention in Cyberbullying

While past research has focused on bystander intervention in traditional bullying (e.g., Jenkins & Troop-Gordon, 2020), the rise of cyberbullying among youth necessitates examining bystander intervention in online contexts. Current school-based intervention programs are minimally effective in reducing cyberbullying, and a large majority of adolescents tend to ignore bullying behavior in online contexts. This indicates a critical need to better understand ways to promote online prosocial bystander behavior among youth. The trend of involving bystanders in cyberbullying prevention programs is emerging, but evidence is limited, and programs tend to lack theoretical framework. Latané and Darley (1970) developed a five-step bystander intervention model describing the steps that lead to intervention in an emergency: (1) notice the event, (2) interpret the event as an emergency, (3) accept responsibility for intervening, (4) know how to intervene, and (5) implement prior research examining online prosocial bystander behavior, and describes two theoretical frameworks (i.e., bystander intervention model and social cognitive theory) as they apply to cyberbullying bystander behavior and intervention among children and adolescents, intervention decision. Further, social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1971, 1986) may help to explain obstacles that prevent individuals from moving through all steps (e.g., moral disengagement, lack of empathy, low self-efficacy; Allison & Bussey, 2016). This chapter reviews prior research examining online prosocial bystander behavior, and describes two theoretical frameworks (i.e., bystander intervention model and social cognitive theory) as they apply to cyberbullying bystander behavior and intervention among children and adolescents.