ERIC Number: ED650924
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 172
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-5570-3117-2
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Examining the Influence of Friendship and Popularity on Cyberbystanders' Behavioral Intentions
Sherese Evette Sullivan Hicks
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Central Arkansas
Cyberbullying is a social relationship problem; however, there is limited research on college bystanders' responses to cyberbullying that occurs within social relationships. This dissertation extends the literature on the influence of relational closeness and popularity on bystanders' responses to bullying. The current study examines bystanders' intentions to support the victim of bullying when the victim and/or bully are the bystander's friend, popular or a friend and popular. A total of 107 university undergraduates viewed a fictional Instagram cyberbullying post then completed the Bystander Behavioral Intentions Scale (BBIS). The BBIS measured bystanders' intentions to perform the following actions: supportive actions towards the victim online and offline, confrontational actions towards the bully online and offline and resistance of supportive actions towards the bully online and offline. The categories for the actions were derived from categories suggested or used by Shultz et al. (2013), Barlinska et al. (2013) and Machackova et al. (2013). The hypotheses were not supported; however, there were several significant findings. First, bystanders had the highest intentions to provide victim support when the relationship was based on friendship and popularity. Second, bystanders had higher intentions to provide overall victim support offline than online. This study provided preliminary data on college bystanders' responses to bullying in social relationships. Additional research is needed to replicate and extend this study with college students in social relationships, such as individuals who are friends and members of Greek organizations or intercollegiate sports. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Bullying, Computer Mediated Communication, Audiences, Social Status, Interpersonal Relationship, Friendship, Victims, Undergraduate Students, Social Media, Behavior, Intention
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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