Who Should Defend Victims of Bullying? The Effects of Relative Status on Defender and Victim Outcomes

Although children often are encouraged to defend victims of bullying, social consequences for defenders are relatively unknown. The present study examined the protective effects of defender and bully status on social and victimization outcomes after defending. Participants (N = 222, 118 male, age 10-14, Mage = 12.28 years) from six schools in South-western Ontario completed a 44-item questionnaire in which they reported on bully-victim-defender relationships in their classroom. Polynomial regression with response surface analysis indicated that the status effects of multiple bullying roles provided information beyond the status effects of each individual role. When defender popularity exceeded bully popularity, bullies retaliated less against the defender. When the defender was better-liked than the bully, the defender gained friends and popularity. However, defenders did not deter future victimization of the victim. These results point to the importance of relative status in protecting defenders, and indicate that other strategies are needed to protect victims