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Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescents' Bullying‐Related Indirect Defending, Outsider Behavior, and Peer‐Group Status
Author(s) -
Pronk Jeroen,
Olthof Tjeert,
Aleva Elisabeth A.,
Meulen Matty,
Vermande Marjolijn M.,
Goossens Frits A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12450
Subject(s) - psychology , popularity , peer acceptance , peer group , developmental psychology , path analysis (statistics) , bystander effect , peer influence , longitudinal study , sociometric status , social psychology , clinical psychology , statistics , mathematics
During adolescence, youth become more likely to avoid involvement in witnessed bullying and less likely to support victims. It is unknown whether—and how—these bystander behaviors (i.e., outsider behavior and indirect defending) are associated with adolescents' peer‐group status (i.e., popularity and social acceptance) over time. Cross‐lagged path modeling was used to examine these longitudinal associations in a sample of 313 Dutch adolescents ( M age‐T1 = 10.3 years). The results showed that status longitudinally predicted behavior, rather than that behavior predicted status. Specifically, unpopularity predicted outsider behavior and social acceptance predicted indirect defending. These findings suggest that a positive peer‐group status can trigger adolescents' provictim stance. However, adolescents may also strategically avoid involvement in witnessed bullying to keep a low social profile.