Association between spectator and other roles in school bullying

Introduction: The school bullying is characterized by repetitiveness of aggression and the intentionality to injure or cause suffering to others. The bystanders to this phenomenon tend to be mainly responsible for the course that bullying will take and its results. Objective: To analyse the association between the role of bystander with the other possible roles played in bullying. Method: A total of 409 children from the third to seventh grade participated in this study, with an average age of 11 years (SD = 1.61), enrolled in two municipal public schools in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The instruments used were: one of the scales of the Questionnaire for the Study of Violence Among Peers, to identify bystanders, and the Olweus Questionnaire, to describe the possible roles played in school bullying. Results: It was found that most of the participants assumed the role of bystander in school bullying. However, an association was found with regard to gender and being a bystander. Also, strong association was found between being a bystander and the other roles played in bullying, primarily in relation to the bullies. Conclusion: These results reinforce the importance of bystanders in these aggressions, not only because they represent most of the participants, but mainly because of the positive or negative reinforcement they can offer in these aggressive behaviours. Therefore, the incentive and the encouragement of these students to denounce the aggressors, as well as defending the victims is essential to reduce school bullying.