The outsider vantage point

Relatively little research has focused specifically on the outsider role in incidents of school bullying; this role is often overlooked in favor of focusing on more active participants. However, a more thorough understanding of the personal characteristics associated with those who assume this participant role can inform interventions that attempt to make these students more active agents against school bullying. This chapter provides the reader with a definition of the outsider role, information on its prevalence, and details the individual and ecological characteristics that help explain why a large proportion of students tend toward this participant disposition. Additionally, the chapter describes anti-bullying curricula that specifically aim to sway outsiders toward active defending and discusses possible avenues for further research.