Adolescents’ Evaluations of Peer and Teacher Unfair Treatment: Expected Interventions

• In Event: Adverse Experiences at School: Bias-based Bullying by Peers and Unfair Treatment by Teachers

Abstract

Bystander intervention can help stop instances of peer bullying and aggression (Salmivalli et al., 2011), including bias-based bullying (Gönültaş & Mulvey, 2021). Less is known about intervention in response to teacher bullying or unfair treatment in comparison to peer bullying. However, .6% to 90% of students experience teacher bullying (Gusfre et al., 2022). Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine adolescents’ judgments about teacher and peer unfair treatment and their expected reactions to this treatment.

Method: Participants included 9th and 10th graders from five public-schools in the Southeastern U.S. (N = 555, 46.4% female; 47.6% White/European-American, 22.7% Black/African-American, 14.2% Latino/a/x and 15.5% other). Participants with opt-out parental consent who assented to participate completed an online survey at school. Participants read two hypothetical scenarios about repeated, unfair treatment of a classmate by peers and teachers in a STEM class. Then, they completed measures of treatment acceptability from 1 (Really Not Okay) to 6 (Really Okay) and rated the likelihood they would engage in different types of responses (say something to the aggressor, talk to an adult, talk to a friend, do nothing, or talk to the victim (1 = Not at all likely to 6 = Really likely). They then provided open-ended reasoning indicating why the unfair treatment may have occurred. Additionally, completed measures of school climate (Zullig et al., 2015), prior experiences of discrimination (Wong et al., 2003), belonging in STEM classes (Mulvey et al., 2022), and critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2017).

Results: ANOVAs assessed differences in ratings of the acceptability of peer and teacher unfair treatment and in likelihood of different interventions in response to peer and teacher unfair treatment. Participants rated peer (M=2.13, SD=1.36) and teacher (M=2.08, SD=1.37) unfair treatment to be very wrong, but differed in what types of responses they expected to make in response to the unfair treatment. Participants were more likely to say something to the aggressor and less likely to talk to an adult or do nothing in the case of a peer aggressor, compared to a teacher aggressor (Table 1). Moreover, gender, school climate, prior experiences of discrimination, and critical consciousness predicted both acceptability and intention judgments (Table 2). Boys were more likely than girls to see unfair treatment as acceptable and less likely to intervene. School climate factors, including belonging and school connectedness, were related to increased likelihood of intervening. Higher egalitarianism predicted lower levels of acceptability, whereas critical motivation predicted intervention behaviors. Interestingly, participants who reported more teacher discrimination judged teacher unfair behavior as more acceptable, while those who experienced more peer discrimination were more likely to indicate they would talk to victims of peer bullying. Analyses of bullying attributions will be presented.

Discussion: Adolescents expected that they would respond differently to teacher and peer bullying and different factors predicted responses to these types of unfair treatment. Findings will be discussed in light of research on bullying by students and teachers and implications for school policy and practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Kelly Lynn S Mulvey, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Jacqueline Cerda-Smith, North Carolina State University

• Angelina Joy, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Emily A Herry, Ohio State University

• Christina Sophia Marlow, North Carolina State University

• Channing Jamielle Mathews, University of Virginia - Charlottesville