The Relation between Defending, (Dis)liking, and the Classroom Bullying Norm: A Cross-Sectional Social Network Approach in Late Childhood

This study investigates the extent to which defending victims of bullying depends on liking and disliking and its relation with the classroom bullying norm (descriptive and popularity) in a sample of 1,272 students (50.8% boys) in 48 fifth-grade classrooms. Social network analysis with bivariate exponential random graph modelings showed that children are more likely to defend victims whom they like, who like them, and who are liked by the same classmates than victims who they dislike, who dislike them, and with whom they share antipathies by and to the same classmates. In addition, the analysis showed that bullying norms had an inconclusive effect on the relation between defending and (dis)liking.