Which Victims of Bullying are Being Defended and How? The Role of Victimization Intensity and Victims’ Adjustment

Previous work has shown that being defended can protect victims of bullying against developing psychological problems. Victimized students can be defended in victim-oriented ways, such as when classmates comfort them, and in bully-oriented ways, such as when classmates try to stop the bully. However, not all victimized youth are defended by peers. The current study aimed to identify which individual characteristics at the start of the school year (T1) predict whether victims of bullying will be defended by peers in victim- and bully-oriented ways halfway through the school year (T2). From the n = 6,357 Finnish 4th to 9th grade students who participated in the first two waves (T1 in September/October, and T2 in January) of the (MASKED) project, n = 1,303 reported being victimized at T2 (38.8% boys, Mage = 12.80, SD = 1.66). Among these victims, 920 (70.6%) reported that they had been defended: 57.2% in victim-oriented ways, 53.2% in bully-oriented ways, and 39.8% in both ways. Logistic regression analyses indicated that socially and emotionally vulnerable students were less likely to be defended. Specifically, students who were unpopular or who did not know how to stand up for themselves (low self-defense efficacy) were less likely to be defended in bully-oriented ways than students who were popular or who had high self-defense efficacy. Moreover, students with fewer friends and more psychological problems were less likely to be defended in victim-oriented ways than students with more friends and fewer psychological problems. Boys and older students were also less likely to be defended. Findings suggest that anti-bullying interventions should pay particular attention to promoting the defending of socially and emotionally vulnerable students.