Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 46(7), 2009 C  2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/pits.20404 STAND BY ME: THE EFFECTS OF PEER AND TEACHER SUPPORT IN MITIGATING THE IMPACTOF BULLYING ON QUALITY OF LIFE PAUL D. FLASPOHLER, JENNIFER L. ELFSTROM, KARIN L. VANDERZEE, AND HOLLI E. SINK Miami University ZACHARY BIRCHMEIER University of Missouri Bullying is one of the most common forms of school violence. Engagement in bullying has been shown to have adverse effects on perpetrators and victims of bullying. In this study, the impact of bullying on well-being (quality of life/life satisfaction) was explored in a sample of elementary and middle school children (N = 4,331). Results suggest that students who bully and/or are bullied experience reduced life satisfaction and support from peers and teachers compared to “bystanders” (children who are neither victims nor perpetrators of bullying). Mediational analyses demonstrate that peer and teacher support might mitigate the impact of bullying on the quality of life of victims. This study underscores the value of efforts to promote social support from peers and teachers in both universal bullying prevention programs and school climate initiatives. Furthermore, results support further investigation into the possible contributions of bystanders in supporting school-wide bullying prevention/school climate strategies. C  2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Bullying is one of the most common forms of youth violence; it has been linked to a host of negative consequences for children’s health and mental health. Previous research has demon- strated negative outcomes related to both engagement in bullying and the experience of being bullied; however, minimal research exists examining the impact of bullying on children’s well-being (Wilkins-Shurmer, O’Callaghan, Najman, Bor, Williams, & Anderson, 2003). The primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate the impact of bullying and victimization on perceptions of well- being, and to demonstrate how peer and teacher social support may buffer the effect of victimization on well-being. The article begins with an overview of quality of life/life satisfaction (QOL/LS), a means of assessing well-being, and provides an overview of research connecting QOL/LS with youth violence and victimization. The next section reviews previous research connecting QOL/LS, bullying, and social support with explicit focus on social support from teachers and peers. Using data collected as part of implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP; Olweus & Limber, 1999), we show the impact of the experience of bullying on self-reported QOL by children who are bullied, children who bully, and bystanders who witness bullying. In addition, research findings demonstrate how perceived social support from teachers and peers has differential affects the relationship between QOL and the experience of bullying. Quality of Life/Life Satisfaction The relationship between subjective well-being, LS, and QOL is not well defined in the liter- ature. For example, in some instances, the terms life satisfaction and quality of life have been used interchangeably (e.g., Huebner, Suldo, Smith, & McKnight, 2004), whereas in other instances, LS has been described as an aspect of QOL (Valois, Zullig, Drane, & Huebner, 2001). According to Huebner (1991), subjective well-being is proposed to consist of three separate, yet interrelated, parts in children and adolescents: positive affect, negative affect, and LS. According to this definition, LS This research was supported in part through funding administered by the Ohio Mental Health Network for School Success. We thank the teachers, administrators, and students of the participating schools. We also thank the undergraduate and graduate student members of the Miami University School-Community Research and Action Team. Correspondence to: Paul D. Flaspohler, Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056. E-mail: flaspopd@muohio.edu 636