The impact of victims' responses on teacher reactions to bullying

This study examined how victims' responses to bullying affect teachers' attitudes and reactions. Australian teachers (N = 289) completed online questionnaires about hypothetical videotaped bullying scenarios portraying four different victim responses (angry, sad, confident, ignoring). Teachers attributed the most blame to angry victims, while bullies of angry and confident victims attracted less blame. Episodes involving confident and angry victims (compared to sad and ignoring victims) were perceived less negatively and evoked less teacher emotion. Furthermore, teachers reported fewer intentions to intervene in incidents involving confident victims. Implications for professional development programs for teachers and programs aimed at victims are discussed.