School Climate as a Predictor of Cyberbullying Bystander Behavior

Cyberbullying has recently received a large amount of attention in high schools around the nation due to the massive detrimental impact it has had on youth psychologically, behaviorally, and academically. School climate has consistently shown throughout the literature to increase academic achievement and decrease problematic behaviors in adolescents. The construct shapes the quality of student, teacher, and administrator interactions that reflect the norms, values, and goals upheld within the school (Cohen et al., 2009). This study addressed the effect a school climate has on one’s own bystander behavior online. Given the lack of research, a school’s environment, safety, and engagement with their students is assessed to examine the likelihood of a student being an observing, defending, or reinforcing bystander online. Undergraduate students were asked in retrospect to provide insight on their high school’s school climate. Results indicated that none of the school climate variables were significant predictors to bystander behavior online for males. In females, when school safety increased, their chance on defending the victim online increased. Additionally, when ratings of one’s school environment decreased, their chances of intervening and defending the victim increased. These findings suggest that not only is school climate ineffective for males, but it positively and negatively impacts females. Future studies could utilize these findings as a framework for more extensive quantitative research to further conceptualize the underlying reasons why people do and do not intervene when observing cyberbullying online