Predictors of Adolescents’ Bystander Responses to Bias-based Bullying of Syrian Refugee Youth in Turkey

• In Event: How Intergroup-related and Social-cognitive Factors Shape Bystanders' Responses to Bias-based Bullying and Exclusion Across Three Countries

Abstract

There is growing evidence that Syrian youth in Turkey experience bullying in schools (Demir & Özgül, 2019). One of the critical factors in improving anti-bullying efforts is the bystanders’ willingness to intervene in bias-based bullying (Salmivalli et al., 2011). However, less is known about the correlates of bystanders’ reactions to bias-based bullying in high intergroup tension contexts such as Syrian refugees in Turkey. We addressed this gap by investigating how bystander responses are related to intergroup processes and social-cognitive skills. Thus, we examined to what extent Turkish adolescents’ reactions to school bullying as bystanders vary as a function of two different forms of bullying, namely bias-based (a Syrian youth is bullied because of refugee status) and generalized bullying (a Turkish youth is bullied because of shyness) in hypothetical scenarios. Further, we explored the possible role of intergroup related factors and cognitive abilities as predictors of bystander moral judgments and responses to bias-based bullying.
Participants included 587 Turkish middle (Mage = 12.19) and high (Mage = 14.81) school students in two districts that vary in terms of Syrian refugee demographics (high-low Syrian enrollment). Participants read two stories (bias-based and interpersonal bullying). To evaluate moral judgments, they rated the acceptability of bullying after each story. Then, they evaluated how likely they would be to respond in different ways as bystanders: explicitly challenge the bully and explicitly support the bully. Adolescents’ theory of mind abilities (White et al., 2009) and empathy (Pöyhönen et al., 2008) were assessed through reliable measures to understand what role social cognitive skills play in bystander responses. Further, intergroup contact (Crystal et al., 2008), prejudice (Aboud, 2003), and discrimination (Berger et al., 2015) towards Syrian refugees were examined as intergroup related predictors of bystander responses. (Table 1 for all means).
Our novel findings from ANOVAs showed that adolescents were more likely to see bullying as more acceptable and more likely to support the bully in bias-based bullying than generalized bullying. Our hierarchical regression results also revealed that adolescents with higher theory of mind and empathy were more likely to challenge the bully and less likely to support the bully in bias-based bullying explicitly. In terms of intergroup factors, adolescents with high intergroup contact with Syrian refugees were more likely to challenge the bully explicitly and less likely to support the bully explicitly. Relatedly, adolescents with high prejudice and discriminatory tendencies towards Syrian refugees reported that they were more likely to engage in explicit support of the bully and less likely to engage in explicit challenges of bullying (Table 2 for regressions). Examining factors involved in bystander responses to bullying is essential to inform why intervention programs should consider multiple factors in intergroup contexts where there is a great need for new research to inform policy and programming to ensure just and fair treatment of all youth.

Authors

• Secil Gonultas, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

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