On Risks and Rewards: A Longitudinal Network Analysis of Defending and Popularity in Late Childhood

Encouraging bystanders to act as defenders is a key element of many anti-bullying programs. However, it is unclear how defending affects social status (popularity) in the peer group. In addition, the relational nature of popularity and defending has not been considered. This study addresses this gap with a longitudinal multiplex social network approach to examine how defending relationships and popularity nominations co-evolve in a sample of 81 elementary school classes in the Netherlands (2,027 participants; grades 2-5; Mage= 9.71; 50% girls; 82% Dutch). This method made it possible to investigate whether the effect of defending on popularity over time depends on specific characteristics of the defender–victim relationship. Receiving more popularity nominations led to an increase in defending behaviors. Moreover, defending predicted an increase in popularity over time, and this effect was independent of the baseline popularity of both the defender and the victim. Results did not differ by grade level. The findings provide a positive message for bullying prevention: among elementary school students, defenders do not risk losing popularity but are rewarded with popularity. Bullying prevention efforts could redirect popularity-seeking motives from bullying and to defending and specifically target popular students in social network interventions.