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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 May 17.
Published in final edited form as: School Ment Health. 2019 Jan 25;11(3):454–463. doi: 10.1007/s12310-019-09312-6

Witnessing Bullying at School: The Association between Being a Bystander and Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms

Aida Midgett 1, Diana M Doumas 2
PMCID: PMC11101161  NIHMSID: NIHMS1941094  PMID: 38765181

Abstract

It is well documented that bullying victimization and perpetration are associated with mental health problems, including anxiety and depressive symptoms. Although the majority of students report witnessing bullying as bystanders, very few studies have investigated if negative consequences associated with bullying extend beyond targets and perpetrators to students who are bystanders. The present study examined the association between witnessing bullying and anxiety and depressive symptoms among middle school students. Middle school students (N = 130; grades 6th through 8th) completed questionnaires assessing experiences as a bystander, target, and perpetrator of bullying, as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine if bystander status was associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms over and above the effects of victimization and perpetration and to examine bullying victimization and perpetration as moderators of these relationships. Analyses indicated being a bystander was associated with higher levels of anxiety (β = .40, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (β = .37, p < .001) even after controlling for frequency of being a target or perpetrator of bullying. Bystanders who were also targets of bullying reported the highest level of depressive symptoms; however, being a target of bullying did not moderate the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety. Furthermore, bullying perpetration did not moderate the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety or depressive symptoms. Findings indicate witnessing bullying uniquely contributes to anxiety and depressive symptoms for middle school students. For student bystanders who are also targets of bullying, depressive symptoms may be particularly high due to co-victimization or re-victimization experienced when witnessing bullying.

Keywords: bullying, bystander, anxiety, depressive symptoms

Researchers have defined bullying as intentional behavior that is repeated, unwanted, and aggressive that takes place within the context of a peer relationship with a perceived power imbalance (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2018). National data indicate that approximately 1 in 5 students between the ages of 12-18 years old report being bullied at school in the United States (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). Bullying reaches its peak in middle school, with 25.9% of students reporting being bullied (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). Additionally, rates of physical bullying and bullying-related injury are more prevalent among Latino/a students and students from low-income families (U.S. Department of Education, 2015). Further, Latino/a students report poorer perceptions of safety in culturally diverse schools with significant numbers of Latino/a and White students (Voight, Hanson, O’Malley, & Adekanye, 2015). Thus, there is a significant need to understand the impact of bullying among students attending culturally diverse schools in low-income communities.

Several researchers have documented a significant relationship between being a target of bulling and a variety of mental health problems including somatic symptoms (Ching et al., 2015; Van Geel, Goemans, & Vedder, 2016), paranoid thinking (Jack & Egan, 2018), psychotic ideation and hallucinations (Catone et al., 2015), post-traumatic stress symptoms (Nielsen, Tangen, Idsoe, Matthiesen, & Mageroy, 2015), anxiety and depression (Copeland, Wolke, Angold, & Costello, 2013), suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts (Copeland et al., 2013; Holt et al., 2015; Nielsen et al., 2015). Findings from a recent meta-analysis indicate that among mental health consequences related to being a target of bullying, the evidence is strongest for causal associations between bullying victimization and anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation and behaviors (Moore et al., 2017). Although bullying perpetration is more often associated with externalizing problems (Kelly et al., 2015; Meneseni, Modena, & Tani, 2009) and substance use (Kaltiala-Heino, Rimplela, Rantanen, & Rimpela, 2000; Kelly et al., 2015; Rivers, Poteat, Noret, & Ashurst, 2009), bullying perpetration is also associated with internalizing problems, including anxiety and depression (Rivers et al., 2009).

Witnessing Bullying as a Bystander

Because more than two thirds of students indicate they have witnessed bullying at school (Bradshaw, Sawyer, & O’Brennan, 2007; Rivers et al., 2009), there is a need for researchers to learn more about students who witness bullying as bystanders (Rivers & Noret, 2010, 2013; Rivers et al., 2009). Bystanders are students who do not participate in a bullying situation as either a target or perpetrator (Twemlow, Fonagy, and Sacco, 2004). Bystanders can intervene to stop bullying behaviors, encourage perpetration, or engage passively (Cowie, 200; Smith, Twemlow, & Hoover, 1999). The majority of research conducted on bystanders has focused on understanding what motivates or poses barriers for students to intervene in bullying situations (e.g., Pozzoli, Gini, & Vieno, A, 2012; Rivers et al., 2009; Thornberg & Jungert, 2013), rather than examining the impact of observing bullying on bystanders.

Negative Consequences Associated with Witnessing Bullying

Although mental health risks associated with being a target or perpetrator of bullying have been well-documented (Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, & Sadek, 2010; Kelly et al., 2015; Moore et al., 2017), few studies have investigated the extension of these risks to students who witness bullying (River et al., 2009; Werth, Nickerson, Aloe, & Swearer, 2015). Research conducted in Canada (Lambe, Hudson, Craig, & Peplar, 2017) and Taiwan (Wu, Luu, & Luh, 2016) indicates students who witness bullying, particularly those that intervene in bullying situations, report experiencing internalizing symptoms, including depression and anxiety.

Findings from a series of cross-sectional studies conducted in the United Kingdom also indicate witnessing bullying is associated with a range of mental health risks (Rivers & Noret, 2010, 2013; River et al., 2009). In the first of these studies, Rivers et al. (2009) examined the association between observing bullying and multiple indicators of mental health risks. The authors also examined the moderating effect of victimization on this association to determine if bystanders who report bullying victimization report higher levels of mental health risks than those who report no victimization. Results indicated that observing bullying was associated with anxiety and depression, over and above the effects of bullying victimization and perpetration. Additionally, the moderating effect of victimization was not significant, suggesting that mental health outcomes did not depend on prior or co-occurring experiences of bullying victimization. The two subsequent studies published from the same sample indicated that although students who are bystanders report lower levels of suicidal ideation relative to targets, bystanders report higher levels of suicidal ideation than students who bully (Rivers & Noret, 2010) and who are not involved in bullying as targets or perpetrators (Rivers & Noret, 2013). Further, among students who observe bullying, helplessness is the strongest predictor of suicidal ideation (Rivers & Noret, 2013). Thus, the limited literature on mental health risks for bystanders suggests that being a bystander is associated with a range of mental health risks including anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as suicidal ideation.

Data also suggest that of the 63% of students who report witnessing bullying as bystanders, more than half may also be targets or perpetrators of bullying (Rivers & Noret, 2010; Rivers et al., 2009). Researchers have demonstrated an association between anxiety and depressive symptoms among targets of bullying (Moore et al., 2017) and students who perpetrate bullying (Rivers et al., 2009). Thus, it is important to understand if anxiety and depressive symptoms are uniquely associated with being a bystander. It is also important to examine if being a target or perpetrator of bullying moderates the relationship between witnessing bullying and mental health symptoms to understand if symptoms are different for bystanders who report and do not report prior or co-occurring experiences with bullying. Although findings from prior research conducted in the United Kingdom support a unique relationship between being a bystander and anxiety and depression (Rivers et al., 2009), the researchers did not find evidence for the moderating effect of victimization. Similarly, results from a study conducted with middle school students in the United States indicated there was no difference in emotional maladjustment (e.g., feeling bad, sad, or sick) between victimized bystanders and non-victimized bystanders (Werth et al., 2015). The authors, however, did find that among bystanders, the level of emotional maladjustment associated with witnessing bullying was higher than the level of social maladjustment, regardless of victim status. Neither of these studies tested the moderating effect of perpetration on the relationship between witnessing bullying and psychological symptoms.

Additionally, the majority of research examining mental health risks for students who witness bullying has been conducted with ethnically homogeneous samples and with students across a wide age range. Because the highest rates of bullying are reported among middle school students, it is important to understand mental health risks for bystanders specifically in this age group. It is also important to understand if these risks generalize to culturally diverse samples as the highest rates of physical bullying and bullying-related injury in the United States occur among Latino/a students and there are substantial variations in rates and types of bullying across countries (Bradshaw, Crous, Rees, & Turner, 2017).

Purpose of the Present Study

The purpose of the current study is to extend the literature by examining the association between witnessing bullying as a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms among students at a culturally diverse, low-income middle school in the United States. Our first aim was to test if being a bystander would be associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms over and above the effects of victimization and perpetration. Our second aim was to examine the moderating effect of experiencing bullying as a target or perpetrator. That is, we tested whether levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms are higher for bystanders who also report bullying victimization or perpetration. Examining the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety and depression in this culturally diverse sample will add to the limited research supporting the extension of mental health risks associated with bullying to students who witness bullying. Further, examining both victimization and perpetration as moderators of this relationship will add to our understanding of experiences that may contribute to mental health risks among middle school students. We hypothesized that: (a) Being a bystander would be associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms over and above the effects of bullying victimization and perpetration; and (b) Bullying victimization and perpetration would moderate the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Methods

Participants

A cross-sectional study design was employed, utilizing a sample of middle school students recruited from a public middle school in the Northwest. The school was located in a low-income community with a total median household income of $38,259 and a Latino/a median household income of $33,843. Within this community, 18.2% of the total population and 29.7% of the Latino/a population fall below the poverty line. Additionally, statistics from the school indicate 70% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Participants included 130 students (57.4% female; 42.6% male). Among study participants, 36.15% (n = 47) were in sixth, 33.08% (n = 43) were in seventh, and 30.77% (n = 40) were in eighth grade. Participants ranged in age from 11-15 years old (M = 12.50 and SD = 1.00). Ethnic composition included 58.5% White, 36.9% Hispanic, 1.5% Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.8% African-American, and 0.8% Asian-American, and 1.5% Other.

Measures

Anxiety.

Anxiety was measured using the Anxiety Scale of The Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Third Edition Self Report of Personality-Adolescent Form (BASC-3 SRP-A; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). The scale is comprised of 13 items assessing generalized fears, nervousness, and worries that typically are irrational and poorly defined (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). Three items are rated on a dichotomous scale of 0 (True) or 2 (False). Example items include: “I can never seem to relax,” “I often worry about something bad happening to me,” and “I worry a lot of the time.” Ten items are rated on a 4-point Likert Scale ranging from 0 (Never) to 3 (Almost Always). Examples include: “I feel anxious,” “I get so nervous I can’t breathe,” and “I worry when I go to bed at night.” The total scale score was obtained through the BASC-3 SRP-A hand-scoring worksheet (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). The BASC-3 SRP-A Anxiety scale has reliability coefficient alphas ranging in the .80s for males and females and evidence of validity with correlations ranging from .50 - .97 between the Anxiety scale and other established measures including the BASC-2 SRP-A, Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment Youth Self-Report Form (ASEBA), and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – Adolescent (MMPI-A) (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). Chronbach’s alpha for the sample in the current study was .88.

Depressive symptoms.

Depressive symptoms were measured using Depression Scale of the BASC-3 SRP-A (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). The Depression Scale is comprised of 12 items measuring symptoms of depression, including feelings of unhappiness, sadness, and stress that may result in an inability to carry out everyday activities or may bring on thoughts of suicide (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). Five items are rated on a dichotomous scale, 0 (True) or 2 (False). Example items include: “I don’t seem to do anything right,” “I just don’t care anymore,” and “I used to be happier.” Seven items are rated on a 4-point Likert Scale ranging from 0 (Never) to 3 (Almost Always). Examples include: “I feel depressed,” “I feel life isn’t worth living,” and “I feel like I have no friends.” We obtained a total scale score through the BASC-3 SRP-A hand-scoring worksheet (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). The BASC-3 SRP-A Depression Scale has reliability coefficient alphas ranging in the .80s for males and females, and evidence of construct validity with correlations ranging from .51 - .93 between the Depression scale and other established measures including the BASC-2 SRP-A, ASEBA, and the Beck Youth Inventories II (BYI) (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). For this sample, Cronbach’s alpha was .92.

Bullying status.

Being a target, perpetrator, and bystander of bullying was measured using the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (Olweus, 1996). The Olweus Bullying Questionnaire is comprised of 39 self-report items that measure bullying victimization, perpetration, bystander behavior, and student perception of adult support. We used the items “How often have you been bullied at school in the past 30 days?” and “How often have you taken part in bullying another student(s) at school in the past 30 days?” to assesses frequency of being a target or perpetrator of bullying. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from 0 (It hasn’t happened in the past couple of months) to 4 (Several times a week). We used the question “Have you witnessed bullying at school in the past 30 days?” to measure bystander status. Overall, the questionnaire has moderate to high internal reliability ranging from α = .74 - .98 and satisfactory construct validity (Kyriakides, Kaloyirou, & Lindsay, 2006).

Procedures

The research team worked with the school counselor to implement research procedures. We randomly selected 360 students using a stratified proportionate sampling procedure. We divided the overall student population into smaller strata (i.e., grade and ethnicity) to match the school’s demographic composition. The researchers sent three mailings to parents/guardians of students selected including a pre-notification, consent, and reminder letter explaining the research project. Parents/guardians were asked to return the consent form in a project-addressed stamped envelope if they agreed to their student’s participation. Additionally, the school counselor and a team member hand-delivered an invitation to participate in the study and an informed consent form to students selected. Researchers provided materials to parents/guardians in both Spanish and English. Parental consent was obtained from 142 students (39.4%). Of the students with parent/guardian informed consent, 12 were absent the day of data collection and the remaining 130 provided assent for a final response rate of 36.1%. Students completed data collection during class time in the school’s cafeteria. Students were provided with a “pizza party” after completing study procedures as an incentive for participation. All study procedures were approved by the university review board and the school district.

Data Analytic Plan

All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 24. All variables were examined for skew and kurtosis. We controlled for gender and grade level in the analyses as prior research demonstrates differences in gender and grade level in witnessing bullying (e.g., Lambe, Hudson, Craig, & Peplar, 2017), bullying victimization and perpetration (e.g, Salmivalli & Voeten, 2004), as well as anxiety (e.g., Van Oort, Greaves-Lord, Verhulst, Ormel, & Huizink, 2009) and depression (e.g., Essau, Lwewinsohn, Seeley, & Sasagawa, 2010). We also included frequency of being a target and perpetrator of bullying as control variables to assess if being a bystander is associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms over and above the effects of other bullying experiences.

Bivariate correlations among control, predictor and dependent variables were calculated prior to conducting the main regression analyses. Our aim was to assess the relationship between bystander status and anxiety and depressive symptoms and the moderating effects of bullying victimization or perpetration. To test this aim, two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with interaction effects used to test for moderation. All predictor variables were mean centered to reduce problems of multicollinearity introduced into equations containing interaction terms (Aiken & West, 1991). Gender, grade, and frequency of bullying victimization and perpetration were entered on Step 1 as control variables and bystander status and the two-way interaction term bystander x target and bystander x bully were entered on Step 2. Simple slopes were plotted to examine the direction and degree of significant interactions testing moderator effects (Aiken & West, 1991). Alpha levels for all tests were set at p < .05. We calculated effect size using the R2 change for Step 1 and Step 2 of the regression analysis with .01 considered small, .09 considered medium, and .25 considered large (Cohen, 1969).

Results

Preliminary Analyses and Descriptive Statistics

Means, standard deviations, and bivariate correlations for control, predictor, and outcome variables are presented in Table 1. Skew and kurtosis were satisfactory and did not substantially deviate from the normal distribution for all variables. Although several of the correlations between the predictor variables were significant at p < .01, the variance inflation factor (VIF) ranged between 1.1 – 9.5, with corresponding tolerance levels ranging from .11 - .99. The VIF is below the rule of thumb of VIF < 10 (Norman & Streiner, 2008), suggesting acceptable levels of multicollinearity among the predictor variables. Overall, 60.5% (n = 78) of students reported witnessing bullying in the past 30 days. Of the 78 student who reported being a bystander, 48.1% (n = 37) reported being a target and 16.9% (n = 13) reported being a perpetrator at least once in the past 30 days.

Table 1.

Means, Standard Deviations, and Bivariate Correlations for Outcome and Predictor Variables

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Anxiety __
2. Depressive Symptoms .62** __
3. Bystander Status .29** .25** __
4. Frequency of Victimization .39** .36** .30** __
5. Frequency of Perpetration .09 .07 .06 .29** __
6. Gender .13 −.05 .07 −.07 .04 __
7. Grade −.01 .06 −.08 .06 −.06 −.05 __
M 10.93 5.91 0.60 0.72 0.23 0.57 6.94
SD 8.11 7.26 0.49 1.22 0.66 0.50 0.82
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Note. Bystander status is coded 0 = no and 1 = yes; gender is coded male = 0 and female = 1.

**

p < .01.

Anxiety

Results for the regression analyses for anxiety are presented in Table 2. As seen in Table 2, the control variables on Step 1 accounted for 20% of the variance in anxiety (R2 = .20, medium to large effect size). After controlling for gender, grade, and the frequency of bullying victimization and perpetration, bystander variables accounted for an additional 6% of the variance in anxiety (R2 = .06, small to medium effect size). Examination of the variables on Step 2 indicated the main effect for bystander status was significant. However, neither the bystander x target nor bystander x bully interaction terms were significant. As hypothesized, results indicate higher levels of anxiety were uniquely associated with being a bystander. The relationship between being a bystander and anxiety, however, was not moderated by bullying victimization or perpetration.

Table 2.

Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analyses for Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms

Anxiety
 Depressive Symptoms
Predictor ΔR2 B SE B β 95% CI ΔR2 B SE B β 95% CI
Step 1 .20*** .14***
 Target 2.70 .53 .44*** [1.66, 3.75] 2.11 .52 .36*** [1.09, 3.14]
 Bully −.35 0.97 −.03 [−2.27, 1.56] −.31 .95 −.03 [−2.19, 1.57]
 Gender 2.25 1.25 .15 [−0.23, 4.73] −.51 1.24 −.04 [−2.95, 1.94]
 Grade .00 .76 .00 [−1.51, 1.51] .46 .75 .05 [−1.02, 1.94]
Step 2 .06* .05*
 Bystander 3.71 1.39 .24** [.95, 6.46] 3.24 1.38 .22* [.50, 5.98]
 Bystander x Target 2.43 1.61 .33 [−.74, 5.61] 3.40 1.59 .50* [.27, 6.57]
 Bystander x Bully .759 2.32 .05 [−3.83, 5.34] −3. 46 2.30 −.26 [−8.17, 0.93]
 Total R2 .26*** .19***
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Note. N = 130. SE = standard error. CI = confidence interval.

*

p < .05

**

p < .01

***

p < .001.

Depressive Symptoms

Results for the regression analyses for depressive symptoms are presented in Table 2. As seen in Table 2, the control variables on Step 1 accounted for 14% of the variance in depressive symptoms (R2 = .14, medium to large effect size). After controlling for gender, grade, and the frequency of bullying victimization and perpetration, bystander variables accounted for an additional 5% of the variance in depressive symptoms (R2 = .05, small to medium effect size). Examination of the variables on Step 2 indicated the main effect for bystander status and the bystander x target interaction term were significant. To examine the nature of the interactions, tests of simple slopes were graphed and interpreted using Aiken and West’s (1991) procedures. Figure 1 presents the significant two-way bystander x target interaction for depressive symptoms. Examination of the slopes in Figure 1 indicates students who reported being both a bystander and target of bullying reported the highest depressive symptoms. As hypothesized, bystander status was related to depressive symptoms and this relationship was moderated by bullying victimization. The relationship between being a bystander and depressive symptoms, however, was not moderated by bullying perpetration.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Estimated marginal means for depressive symptoms by bystander status and being a target of bullying.

Discussion

The present study investigated the association between witnessing bullying as a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms among students at a culturally diverse middle school in the United States. This study also tested the moderating effect of bullying victimization and perpetration on the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Overall, our findings suggest that witnessing bullying is associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms and that students who reported being both bystanders and targets of bullying reported the highest levels of depressive symptoms among middle school students.

Consistent with our first hypothesis, results indicated a significant association between being a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms over and above the effects of bullying victimization and perpetration. This finding is consistent with prior research that found witnessing bullying is associated with internalizing symptoms, including anxiety and depression, (Lambe et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2016), and that the association between mental health risks and witnessing bullying is significant even after controlling for the effects of victimization and perpetration (Rivers et al., 2009). Results of this study extend this research by demonstrating similar findings among a sample of culturally diverse middle school students in a low-income community in the United States. Findings of this study add to the growing body of literature suggesting that the negative consequences of bullying extend beyond students directly involved in bullying as targets or perpetrators to students who observe bullying.

One explanation for the association between being a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms is that bystanders may experience cognitive dissonance when they do not intervene on behalf of targets (e.g., Craig & Pepler, 1997). That is, bystanders may understand that the bullying event is serious and experience distress related to the discrepancy between the belief they should intervene and the behavior of not intervening. This experienced dissonance between attitudes and behavior might account for mental health risks seen among bystanders (Rivers et al., 2009). Research also indicates that among bystanders, feelings of helplessness are associated with depressive symptoms (i.e., suicidal ideation) (Rivers & Noret, 2013). Thus, bystanders may feel helpless when they want to intervene in the bullying situation but do not know how to respond. Furthermore, research indicates that when bystanders witness bullying, they fear that they may also be targeted (Authors, 2018). Thus, the experience of dissonance, feelings of helplessness, and fears about being targeted may all contribute to anxiety and depressive symptoms among bystanders.

Findings from the current study partially supported our second hypothesis concerning moderators of the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Although, we found evidence for the moderating effect of bullying victimization, such that students who were both bystanders and targets reported the highest levels of depressive symptoms, the moderating effect of victimization was not significant for anxiety. Prior research examining victimization as a moderator of the association between witnessing bullying and mental health risks did not find significant moderating effects for any mental health risks, including anxiety and depression (Rivers et al., 2009). Further, in a study examining differences between victimized bystanders and non-victimized bystanders, researchers found no differences in levels of emotional maladjustment between the groups, although bystanders did report higher levels of emotional maladjustment than social maladjustment, regardless of victimization status (Werth et al., 2015). In contrast to these findings, results from the current study suggest that experiencing bullying victimization is associated with an increase in depressive symptoms among bystanders. The discrepancy in the results may be due to several reasons including different demographic makeup of the samples, including both age and ethnic composition, as well as different surveys and constructs used to measure the outcome variables.

One explanation for our finding that experiencing victimization as a bystander is associated with depressive symptoms is that bystanders who have also been targets may experience re-victimization or co-victimization (e.g., Kuther, 1999) when observing the victimization of others. Although it is not clear why we did not find that being a target of bullying did not moderate the association between witnessing bullying and anxiety, previous studies on bullying victimization may provide insight into this finding. Results from a meta-analysis indicate that among multiple mental health symptoms, bullying victimization was most strongly related to depression and least strongly related to anxiety (Hawker & Boulton, 2000). Further, in another recent meta-analysis, researchers demonstrated the association between victimization and anxiety is not significant for students under age 13 (Moore et al., 2017). Thus, the lack of support for victimization as a moderator of the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety in the current study may be due to a weak association between victimization and anxiety, as well as the age of the sample (M = 12.5, SD = 1.0).

Finally, frequency of being a perpetrator of bullying did not moderate the relationship between being a bystander and either anxiety or depressive symptoms. There is some evidence that bullying perpetration is associated with internalizing symptoms including anxiety and depression (Rivers et al., 2009). However, bullying perpetration is more often associated with externalizing symptoms, whereas victimization is more often associated with internalizing symptoms (Kelly et al., 2015; Menesini et al., 2009). It is also possible that for students who perpetrate bullying, witnessing bullying does not evoke anxiety and depressive symptoms as it might in students who are also targets of bullying, whose anxiety and depressive symptoms may be related to experiences of re-victimization or co-victimization (Rivers et al., 2009) or fear they will be targeted (Authors, 2018).

Limitations and Future Directions

Although this study has important findings, it is important to consider them within the context of certain limitations. First, the sample was relatively small. Although we recruited 360 students, only 39.4% of parents/guardians provided written consent for their adolescent to participate. The sample was also selected from one predominantly White and Latino/a school located within a low-income community, further limiting generalizability. Therefore, future studies should include larger samples from multiple middle schools to increase generalizability.

Next, because we used a cross-sectional design, we did not measure baseline levels of depression and anxiety. Controlling for baseline levels in a longitudinal design may have resulted in a reduction in the magnitude of the relationship between bystander status and the outcome variables. Further, because the study utilized a cross-sectional design, it is not possible to determine the causal direction of the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Although it is more likely that anxiety and depressive symptoms are caused by witnessing bullying, rather than anxiety and depressive symptoms causing students to observe bullying, future research utilizing a longitudinal design is necessary to address the issue of causality. Additionally, other variables not measured in this study may have contributed to the relationship between being a bystander and anxiety and depressive symptoms. For example, research indicates helplessness is associated with suicidal ideation among bystanders (Rivers & Noret, 2013). Examining feelings of helplessness, however, was beyond the scope of this study. Including variables that may mediate the relationship between witnessing bullying and anxiety and depressive symptoms, such as feelings of helplessness, would add to the literature on mental health risks for bystanders.

Finally, data were collected using student self-report measures of witnessing bullying, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Self-report of witnessing bullying may lead to a discrepancy between participants’ and researchers’ operational definition of bullying (Vivolo-Kantor, Martell, Holland, & Westby, 2014). We provided students with a definition of bullying during data collection as this has been suggested as one way to address this problem (Vivolo-Kantor et al., 2014). For internalizing symptoms, including depression and anxiety, research indicates a low convergence among multiple-informant estimates (e.g., student, teacher, caregiver), with adolescents self-reporting symptoms at a higher rate than teachers and caregivers (van der Ende, Verhulst, & Tiemeier, 2012). Because the highest level of convergence occurs during early adolescence (van der Ende et al., 2012), using single-informant self-report of internalizing symptoms may be an appropriate assessment strategy for this age group whereas multiple-informant assessment may be more appropriate for older adolescents.

Implications for Practice

Results from this study have important implications for school personnel, including school psychologists, school counselors, teachers, and principals. Data from this study indicate that 60.5% of students reported witnessing bullying in the past month and of these students, 48.1% also report being targets of bullying. Based on these statistics, nearly two thirds of students may be experiencing anxiety and depressive symptoms related to observing bullying and nearly half of those students may also be targets of bullying, increasing depressive symptoms among those students. School personnel need to be aware that the impact of bullying extends beyond students directly involved in bullying as targets or perpetrators to students who witness bullying as bystanders. In particular, school psychologists and counselors need to be aware that depressive symptoms may be even higher among bystanders who are also targets of bullying.

These findings also have important implications for addressing mental health risks for middle students who witness school bullying. A standard for practice in school-based bullying intervention are comprehensive school-wide bullying intervention programs (Ttofi & Farrington, 2011). However, according to a meta-analysis, only a few of these types of programs include a bystander component as part of comprehensive interventions (Polanin, Espelage, & Pigott, 2012). Researchers have demonstrated that students who participate in a school-wide programs that include a bystander component report reductions in anxiety (Williford et al., 2012) and that training students to act as “defenders” decreases depressive symptoms (Authors, 2017a; Authors 2017b). Therefore, implementing school-based programs that emphasize a bystander component (e.g., KiVA, Salmivalli, Voeten, & Poskiparta, 2011) or stand-alone bullying bystander interventions (e.g., STAC, Authors 2018) represent a promising approach to address anxiety and depressive symptoms associated with witnessing bullying as a bystander.

Furthermore, witnessing bullying as a bystander is associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms for middle school students. Therefore, it is important for mental health professionals working in middle schools to assess students’ experiences with bullying, including witnessing bullying. Since middle school students who report being both bystanders and targets of bullying have the highest rates of depressive symptoms, it is important for mental health professionals to identify these students, screen for anxiety and depressive symptoms utilizing screening instruments appropriate for school settings and provide services to those students who are experiencing emotional distress (Thompson, Robertson, Curtis, & Frick, 2013). Another way mental health professionals can support bystanders is to teach them to intervene in bullying situations as “defenders.” Empowering students to act when they observe bullying may lead to decreases in anxiety and depressive symptoms associated with being a bystander.

Footnotes

Ethical approval: “All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.”

Informed consent: “Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.” Specifically, informed consent and participant assent were obtained from all parents/guardians and individual participants included in this study.

Contributor Information

Aida Midgett, Boise State University.

Diana M. Doumas, Boise State University

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