Papers by Sara Bastiaensens
Narratives in Research and Interventions on Cyberbullying among Young People, 2019
Adolescents often seek and provide peer support as an effective strategy for countering cyberbull... more Adolescents often seek and provide peer support as an effective strategy for countering cyberbullying victimization. Little is known about the actual content of such peer support, however, partly due to limitations inherent to survey, interview or focus group research. The current study examined online peer support that had been sought and provided with regard to cyberbullying. It involved thematic analysis of cyberbullying message threads, and stories of benefit and effectiveness, in two online support group fora for adolescents. Applying Tardy's (1985) social support framework, and including the social support categorisations proposed by House (1981), we found that peer support in this context involved information on coping strategies, and discussion of: (cyber)bullying as a phenomenon; the actors involved; and, the victim's specific (cyber)bullying situation. In addition, online fora members provided victims with various subtypes of emotional support. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of different types of peer support, particularly regarding the coping strategies that adolescents recommend.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
Studies in health technology and informatics, 2012
This study explores behavioural determinants of defending behaviour in cyberbullying incidents. T... more This study explores behavioural determinants of defending behaviour in cyberbullying incidents. Three focus groups were conducted with youngsters aged 12-16 y. Major themes that were found as important behavioural determinants to defend the victim were a low moral disengagement, that the victim is an in-group member and that the bystander is popular. Bystanders preferred to handle cyberbullying offline and in person, and comforting the victim was considered more feasible than facing the bully. With a high peer acceptance of passive bystanding and lack of parental support for defending behaviour, youngsters do not receive much encouragement from their environment to exhibit defending behaviour towards victims. These preliminary results suggest befriending and peer support interventions hold promise, as well as environmental interventions with parents and teachers. These first results will need to be confirmed in more in-depth analyses and in quantitative research.
As cyberbullying victims can perceive various barriers for seeking social support in their face-t... more As cyberbullying victims can perceive various barriers for seeking social support in their face-to-face network (e.g. Baas, de Jong, & Drossaert, 2013; Hoff & Mitchell, 2009; Jacobs, Goossens, Dehue, Vollink, & Lechner, 2015), they can go online to seek for social support (Walther & Boyd, 2002), for instance in online support groups (White & Dorman, 2001). In this ‘netnographic’ (Kozinets, 2002) study, we investigated online fora discussions about cyberbullying within two online support group fora of youth helpline organizations, examining patterns of social support according to the social support framework by Tardy (1985). This framework not only helps distinguish between different types of social support (House, 1981 in Tardy, 1985), it also takes into account reciprocal support seeking and providing in a network, evaluations of social support in terms of helpfulness, and comparisons of social support sought or provided with the realm of available social support (Tardy, 1985).
Computers in Human Behavior, 2016
The purpose of the present study was to examine whether (repeated) exposure to cyberbullying as a... more The purpose of the present study was to examine whether (repeated) exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander has an impact on early adolescents' moral evaluations in terms of a decrease in empathy and a shift towards a more tolerant attitude towards cyberbullying. A two-wave panel study with a 6-month time interval was conducted among a sample of 1,412 adolescents aged 10-13. Cross-lagged panel analysis was used to investigate relationships over time between being a bystander of cyberbullying, empathic responsiveness towards distressed others, and the attitude towards cyberbullying, while taking into account involvement in cyberbullying as a victim or a perpetrator. The results indicate a negative relationship between standing by at Time 1 and empathic responsiveness at Time 2. In other words, exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander at Time 1 predicted subsequent lower levels of empathic responsiveness at Time 2. The attitude towards cyberbullying at Time 2 was not influenced by seeing more cyberbullying acts at Time 1. Further implications of the results for prevention and intervention, and for future research are discussed.
Computers in Human Behavior, 2016
Background. Positive bystander behavior in cyberbullying among adolescents may effectively mitiga... more Background. Positive bystander behavior in cyberbullying among adolescents may effectively mitigate cyberbullying and its harm for the victim. Limited, scattered, and sometimes only qualitative research is available on predictors of positive (e.g. defending, comforting or reporting) and negative (e.g. passive bystanding, joining, reinforcing) bystander behavior in cyberbullying. A multidimensional model and multilevel analysis were therefore applied in this study. Methods. A sample of 1979 adolescents in 7 th-9 th grade, in 16 schools and 158 classes participated in the study. Analyses were performed in MLwiN 2.32. Results. Analyses confirmed the multifaceted nature of bystander behavior and behavioral intention. No school level effects, and only limited class effects were found. Strongest individual predictors of positive bystander behavior were a positive intention, and friendship with the victim. Intention for positive bystander behavior was most predicted by positive outcome expectations of their actions for the victim. Negative bystander behavior was most predicted by intentions for negative behavior, and moral disengagement attitudes. Intentions to act as a negative bystander were most predicted by positive attitudes towards passive bystanding and a lack of skills (social, empathic, coping). Moral disengagement at classroom level also predicted positive behavior and behavioral intentions, and negative behavioral intentions, but not negative behavior. Information days for pupils on cyberbullying was a significant school-level predictor of the intention to act as a positive bystander. Conclusions. Future research and interventions should take the multidimensional nature of cyberbullying bystander behavior into account. Implications for research and practice are discussed. In cyberbullying, research on bystander behavior is still limited. Bystander interventions in cyberbullying, may, nevertheless, be important. First, bystanders are present in the majority of cyberbullying cases (Wegge, Pabian, & Vandebosch, 2012). Second, perpetrators of cyberbullying are driven by interpersonal motives and peer feedback on their social status (
Computers in Human Behavior, 2016
Introduction: The Intervention Mapping Protocol (IMP) was applied to the design of a serious game... more Introduction: The Intervention Mapping Protocol (IMP) was applied to the design of a serious game against cyberbullying among adolescents (12e14y). Method: The IMP comprises 6 predefined steps. A systematic review assessed the cyberbullying problem and associated health risks (Step 1). Surveys and focus groups collected information on behavior and its determinants from adolescents (surveys, n ¼ 1979 and n ¼ 453; focus groups, n ¼ 69), parents (surveys, n ¼ 48 and n ¼ 323) and educators (survey, n ¼ 451) (Step 1, 2). Meta-analyses analyzed effective methods for cyberbullying programs and serious games (Step 3). A survey (n ¼ 530) and focus groups (n ¼ 69 adolescents, n ¼ 8 adolescents) assessed preferences and program material appreciation (Step 4). Planned activities for step 5 (implementation) and step 6 (effectiveness) are reported. Results: Targeting positive bystander behavior (defending, reporting and comforting) was chosen as a viable approach to reduce cyberbullying. Bystander behavior differed by context and was predicted most by positive outcome expectations for the victims. Adolescents valued educator and parental support. Predictors for educator behavior and parental support are described. Serious game design was based on effective change methods and features, and took stakeholder and user preferences into account. Conclusion: Findings may aid professionals in evidence-and theory-based design of cyberbullying interventions and serious games.
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Papers by Sara Bastiaensens