Expectations and values in bullying: Individual and collective perceived norms and teachers' social management strategies

This longitudinal study examined the extent to which students' outcome expectations (i.e., beliefs about the consequences of behaviors) and outcome values (i.e., the importance placed on these consequences) regarding defending behavior, as well as their individually and collectively perceived expectations from teachers and peers, and teachers' social management strategies, relate to students' behaviors in bullying situations. Participants included 605 South Korean elementary school students ( M _age = 10.49; 50.41% male) and their teachers, assessed at the start and end of a five-month academic semester. Controlling for baseline behaviors, students who reported stronger outcome values and perceived greater expectations to defend at Wave 1 demonstrated lower levels of bullying, victimization, and bystanding, and higher levels of defending at Wave 2. Moreover, individual and collective perceived expectations, along with teachers' social management strategies, moderated these associations. Specifically, negative associations between outcome expectations and bullying or victimization emerged only when students perceived strong expectations from teachers and peers that they should defend. The positive association between outcome values and defending was evident only in classrooms where collective expectations for defending were high. In classrooms with high levels of teacher social management, bullying remained low regardless of students’ outcome values, whereas associations between outcome values and bullying were evident primarily in classrooms with lower levels of teacher social management. These findings underscore the importance of perceived social norms and proactive teacher strategies in shaping students' behavioral responses to bullying.