Psychological research into bullying has highlighted the importance of considering the role of bystanders within this complex social interaction (see literature review). The aim of this paper was to apply this research to develop an anti-bullying intervention programme that increases pro-defending attitudes and behaviour, and consequently reduces bullying. The methodology was a design experiment; in this first iteration, the intervention programme was designed, implemented, and evaluated in collaboration with staff and students at a secondary school. Data were collected using a mixed methods approach via questionnaires, focus groups, an interview, and observation. The results showed that there was no significant difference in prevalence estimates of defending or bullying pre and post intervention. However, two thirds of participants reported that their attitudes and behaviour had become more supportive of defending victims since the intervention. Qualitative data revealed a diversity of perspectives regarding the effects and value of the programme. A model outlining factors that influence decisions to defend a victim of bullying was developed from the results and previous literature. The findings from this paper were used to inform modifications to the design of the intervention programme for implementation in the second iteration in paper 2.

Study One: Study One aims to better understand the roles that adolescents take during cyberbullying situations exploring the influence of attitudes towards cyberbullying, social grouping (being alone or with others), age and gender. Methods: Focus groups were used to adapt the Participant Role Scales (Salmivalli, 1998) and the Pro Victim Scale (Rigby & Slee, 1991) to explore cyberbullying. These adapted measures were completed by 261 participants across four year groups (year 7 to 10) via self report questionnaires. Results: Across social groupings an average of 73% of adolescents took participant roles in cyberbullying situations. There were significant differences between assistant, defender, outsider and victim behaviour when alone or when physically with others. In addition attitude towards cyberbullying significantly influenced the role taken and females were more likely to be defenders than males. Age significantly influenced outsider behaviour when participants were alone and defender behaviour when participants were physically with others. Study Two: Study Two aims to better understand what promotes or inhibits bystander involvement in cyberbullying situations. Methods: The study adopted an explorative approach to understand the experiences of 28 adolescents in a South West Local Authority in England. Data was collected via a semi-structured interview schedule administered in focus groups. Findings were analysed using latent thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Results: The decision for adolescent bystanders to actively join a cyberbullying situation was found to be complex. CMC, social influence (prior relationship, being alone or with others) and popularity and status of those participating in cyberbullying contribute to bystanders’ assessment of the risk and reward of participation. If reward outweighs risk an active role is taken (assistant, reinforcer, defender). However if risks are perceived to be higher than rewards then an outsider role is adopted.

This study investigated the factorial validity, stability, and social, behavioral and emotional correlates of several different roles that students can play in the context of bullying. Data were collected from students at two time points across two school years, April and May of 2006 (n=284) and again in November and December of 2006 (n=185). A confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for the validity of 4 participant roles (i.e. bully, reinforcer, assistant, and defender). However, further analysis revealed that there was a strong degree of intercorrelation between the three bully factors (i.e., bully, reinforcer, and assistant). Analyses found that participant roles are fairly stable across school years and that the greater the percentage of same raters across the time points, the greater the stability. All of the bullying roles (i.e., bully, reinforcer, and assistant) were significantly related to callous unemotional traits, emotional dysregulation, positive expectations for aggression, conduct problems, reactive relational aggression, proactive relational aggression, reactive overt aggression, and proactive overt aggression, but these relationships were stronger in boys. It was also found that the defender role was associated with less aggression and more prosocial behavior. These associations were stronger in girls. Finally, a linear regression analysis of the interaction between participant roles and victimization revealed that at T1, the association between bullying roles and aggression was moderated by victimization. Specifically, the association was stronger in those low on victimization. At T2, the association between defending and lower aggression and greater prosocial behavior was stronger in those low in victimization.

Bullying is a persistent problem that negatively affects the academic performance, and the psychological, social, and emotional well-being of targeted students. Research indicates most bullying is prejudice-based. Bullying and prejudice reduction interventions used in school systems encourage empathy towards the target student to reduce these behaviors, and current national and international interventions recommend focusing on bullies, targets (or victims), and bystanders. Interventions are conducted by individuals (trainers) trained to implement such programs, a model known as train-the-trainer. Teachers and pre-education majors usually volunteer to become trainers. Effectiveness of interventions may depend on the trainees' knowledge, empathy, and adherence to the program. Research reports that the impact of the training on the trainer significantly impacts its implementation and effectiveness. Yet, the impact of the training on the trainer is rarely the focus of research. The Bullying Amongst Diverse Populations (BADP) training was conducted to study its impact on the trainees. The results show the BADP training had an overall positive impact on participants' knowledge of and skills to respond to situations involving bullying and prejudice, sense of efficacy, and likelihood to intervene. Pre- and post-test assessments demonstrate reductions on prejudicial attitudes and increments in participants' defender roles. Implications for future research are discussed and implications for university and K-12 administrators, counselor educators, school counselors, and program coordinators of teacher education programs are also reviewed.

The peer group is a dynamic context within which children and adolescents have a wide range of experiences, both positive and negative. Friendships provide support and a sense of belonging; however, friendships can also be contexts within which competition and aggression occur. During childhood and adolescence, aggression and victimization are likely to occur in the school context and in situations where several members of the peer group are present and sometimes actively (or passively) participating. In the seminal work related to bullying as a group process, Salmivalli and colleagues identified distinct roles that children take when enacting aggression (Salmivalli et al., 1996). Salmivalli's work, in the area of participant roles, however, has focused on overt bullying, a specific subtype of aggression which has a specific meaning within the peer relations literature. To date, the participant roles have not been measured within the context of overt and relational aggression. The purpose of the present study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Overt Aggression Participant Role Scale (OAPRS) and the Relational Aggression Participant Role Scale (RAPRS), two new scales designed by the author, to measure the aggressor, assistant, reinforcer, defender, outsider, and victim roles during acts aggression, as opposed to bullying. Additional goals include: 1) exploring the associations among the roles, 2) examining measurement equivalence across gender and grade level, and 3) exploring associations of the participant roles with measures of sociometric status and depressive symptoms. Findings point toward the psychometric properties of the two scales being quite robust. The data fit the 12 factor model and the scales measure the constructs equivalently across gender and three grade groups. The aggressor, assistant, and reinforcer roles were strongly associated as were the aggressor and victim roles. Several relational roles were highly overlapping, suggesting reciprocity of roles. Few meaningful gender or grade level differences were found resulting in more similarity in the overt and relational roles than differences. The outsider role was the only role not associated with depressive symptoms. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.

Nach einem Überblick über die theoretischen Erklärungsmodelle der diskursiven Subjektkonstitution von Émile Benveniste über Louis Althusser und Michel Foucault zu linguistischen Ansätzen in der Gesprächsanalyse und social semiotics angelsächsischer Provenienz, werden zwei erfolgreiche US-amerikanische "Ratgeber"-Talkshowreihen der neunziger Jahre ("Oprah Winfrey" und "Rolonda") einer umfassenden pragma-linguistisch orientierten Gesprächsanalyse unterzogen. Dazu war es nötig, je drei Sendungen dieser Shows zuerst vollständig zu transkribieren, sie dann in Phasen einzuteilen und Vergleichskriterien zu bestimmen. Die Ausgangshypothese ist, dass trotz großer Ähnlichkeiten im Format, beide Shows erhebliche Unterschiede in der öffentlichen Darstellungsform bzw. Repräsentanz ihrer Teilnehmerrollen (Talkmaster, Gäste und Publikum) und deren Verhältnis zueinander aufweisen, und dass diese erheblichen Abweichungen dem Mikrobereich der lexiko-grammatisch systematisch erfaß- und beschreibbaren Redeweisen und Gesprächsstrukturen implizit eingeschrieben ist. Kernstück der Arbeit ist die Herausarbeitung von Ebenen, auf denen sich diskursiv show-spezifische Teilnehmer-Identitäten konstituieren: Dialogsequenzierung und -organisation, Gebrauch von Personalpronomen und Anredeformen, Fragetypen, narrative Strategien, lexikalische (Selbst-) Kategorisierungen, sämtliche Bereiche der Modalität. Auf dieser Ebene der interpersonellen Funktion von Sprache werden innerhalb der Show-Sendungen und zwischen den beiden Show-Reihen sehr unterschiedliche Gesprächsstrategien deutlich, die sich erstaunlich plausibel mit Foucaults diskursiven Subjektivierungs- vs. Objektivierungsstrategien korrelieren ließen, und also als unterschiedliche Machttechnologien zur Hervorbringung und Reproduktion spezifischer "öffentlicher Subjekte" darstellen, wie sie in medialen Formaten als Abbilder des "Durchschnittsmenschen" in Erscheinung treten. Sie signifizieren Varianten eines "Alltags"-Subjekts (repräsentiert durch die in der Show zu Alltagsproblemen befragten Gäste in ihrem Verhältnis zu Talkmaster und Studiopublikum), das einmal - neoliberal-protestantisch - als rational-einsichtsfähig sich selbst disziplinierend im Diskursfeld des Neoliberalismus-Protestantismus konstituiert und gezeichnet wird, im anderen Falle als irrational-verantwortungslos fremden Regulierungsinstanzen und außengelenkten sprachlichen Disziplinierungs- und Abbitteritualen unterworfen wird und somit eine Teilnehmerrolle innerhalb autoritär-feudalistischen Diskurse charakterisiert.