Cyberbullying is a growing problem for middle school students. Bystander interventions that train witnesses to positively intervene can prevent cyberbullying. Through six focus groups, we explored forty-six middle school students' experiences with cyberbullying and opportunities for school-based prevention programs to encourage positive bystander…

The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and implementation of a text message intervention to teach adolescents bystander intervention strategies. Adolescents (N = 123) engaged daily for 15 days with bystander education materials and questions sent to them by text message to their personal cell phones. The likelihood to intervene on…

The COVID-19 pandemic-induced shift to online learning resulted in students spending more time online while quarantining. Using data collected before and during the pandemic from representative samples of eighth graders, we explored differences in cyberbullying victimization, including factors in students' daily lives that may contribute to…

This study aimed to extend the literature by examining how bystander intervention (i.e. when a witness to a bullying episodes does something to address the situation) varies with respect to the type of bystander intervention (i.e. direct intervention, emotional intervention, involving an adult, ignore) across victim status (friend, unknown),…

Peer victimization represents a pervasive problem, particularly for students in middle school. Although curriculum-based prevention programs have generated small to moderate effects on victimization, these effects tend to weaken beginning with the transition to middle school. In this study, we evaluated cooperative learning (CL) as a mechanism to…

Bullying is a pervasive and debilitating issue for youth that can lead to substance abuse, worse outcomes at school, mental and physical health problems, and in some instances serious acts of school violence. There are three criteria that must be present in order to be classified as bullying: Repetition, intentionality, and imbalance of power.…

The implementation of school-based law enforcement officers, commonly referred to as school resource officers (SROs), became an increasingly popular response to school crime in the United States, particularly in the aftermath of high-profile school shootings in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Following the expansion of SRO programs came the…

School safety continues to be a concern in today's schools, and comprehensive approaches to school safety are one way to address this concern. However, few comprehensive approaches have been rigorously evaluated. To address this gap, we evaluated the implementation and effects associated with Safe Communities Safe Schools (SCSS) comprehensive…

This study evaluated the efficacy of School-Based Teen Courts (SBTCs) using a rigorous experimental trial with 24 middle- and high-schools randomly selected to receive SBTCs (n= 12) or to business-as-usual without any SBTC program (n = 12). Analyses examined school-level longitudinal growth models and individual-level pretest-posttest comparisons…

A growing body of empirical research on teacher victimization indicates that it is widespread and yields negative consequences. However, limited research has investigated the relationship between teacher victimization and turnover. In this study, using longitudinal data from approximately 1,300 teachers in a metropolitan area in Texas, USA, we…

Addressing bullying victimization of students with disability is a significant challenge for schools. While social support can protect against bullying victimization in the general population, its role in mediating the relationship between disability and bullying is under-researched. This paper examined "covert bullying prevalence"…

Identifying patterns of victimization continuity and discontinuity over time can inform school-based efforts to prevent and intervene with peer victimization. We conducted a four-wave longitudinal study of students through their transition from middle to high school. Participants were 135 diverse students from Grade 8 to Grade 11 who completed…

The response patterns of youth who witness bullying have potential to influence future occurrence and persistence of bullying behaviors. Prevention efforts have included an increased focus on bystander interventions; however, the majority of adolescents rarely intervene in bullying situations. When they do, they often display of mixed pattern of…

Despite a wealth of knowledge for factors predicting adolescent defending behaviors, it remains unknown about victims' adjustment resulting from experiencing the presence of different bystander roles in a victimization episode. This study analyzed 209 Taiwanese adolescents' reports of school-based peer victimization, perceived bystander actions in…

School counselors help foster student's academic, social, and career development; yet, school counselors are often neglected in research on school climate and student safety. Framed by the theory of planned behavior, this study examined how 206 school counselors' multicultural counseling competence, multicultural self-efficacy, and perceptions of…