Sympathy and active defending behaviors among Chinese adolescent bystanders: A moderated mediation model of attitude toward bullying and school connectedness

Abstract

This study tested the mediating role of bullying attitudes and moderating role of school connectedness in the link between sympathy and Chinese adolescents’ active defending behaviors in bullying. Participants were 808 Chinese adolescents (53.3% male, Mage = 12.40, SD = 0.50). The results showed that sympathy was significantly positively correlated with active defending behaviors through bullying attitudes. In addition, school connectedness could moderate the relationship between sympathy and active defending behaviors. Specifically, the positive correlation between sympathy and active defending behaviors was stronger for adolescents with a high level of school connectedness. These findings emphasize the importance of considering complex multiple ecological level factors when examining bullying bystander.

School Connectedness: Examining Measurement Invariance by Gender and Grade

“…In addition, students who are more attached to school are more likely to believe in the school’s values and rules, and such rule following may promote school safety. School attachment may also promote school safety through encouraging students to intervene when they observe other students behaving in antisocial ways (Feng et al, 2022).…”

Parental support and bullying bystander behaviors in Chinese adolescents: Longitudinal mediation through social harmony

“…Participants stated how often (during the last 3 months) they had acted on the behavior described in each item on a four-point scale (1 = never, 4 = almost always). The Chinese version of this scale has been widely used in previous research and has shown good reliability and validity (47,62,63). For active defending behaviors, Cronbach's alpha was 0.77 for both T1 and T2.…”