Assessing The Role Of Perceived Collective Efficacy In Help-Seeking For Peer Victimization

• In Event: Help-Seeking and Reporting Decisions for Crime and Victimization

Abstract

Peer victimization is a pervasive issue affecting a fifth of adolescents attending U.S. schools. Yet, up to half of victims do not report such incidents to school personnel. Many studies have devoted efforts to illuminate what predicts peer victimization and perpetration. However, there is limited insight about ways to increase help-seeking for these experiences, which is necessary for broadening awareness and directing intervention efforts. This study extends knowledge of the factors related to help-seeking by analyzing data on bullied and cyberbullied adolescent victims who participated in the 2013 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Guided by theories of collective efficacy, three questions are examined: 1) whether students’ perceptions of social cohesion and shared expectations for control in school impacts their decision to report peer victimization to school personnel 2) how applicable the traditional notion of collective efficacy in discouraging victimization in the physical environment is to a virtual setting in the matter of cyberbullying help-seeking 3) whether perceptions of collective efficacy and school climate differ across gender and race/ethnicity. Implications for a model school climate high in collective efficacy and supportive of reporting for peer victimization are suggested.

Author

• Raven Lewis, Rutgers University