What Makes Different Bystanders? The Role of Defender Efficacy Beliefs and Teachers’ Attitudes

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Youth Civic Engagement and Attitudes Toward Social Justice and Morality (Table 1)

Abstract

This study examined whether and how the individual and collective defender efficacy beliefs and the role of teachers were associated with different bystander responses. Self‐report survey data from 1,968 Chinese students (46.3% females, Mage = 13.26 years) was collected from 59 classrooms in four middle schools. Multilevel analyses revealed that, higher defender efficacy was significantly related to students’ reduced pro-bullying behavior and passive bystanding, while increased defending behavior. The moderation results further underscored the pivotal roles of collective defender efficacy and teachers’ bullying attitudes, as they weakened the relationship between defender self-efficacy and specific bystander behaviors. Taken together, our findings emphasized the importance of fostering students' defender efficacy beliefs, and including teachers in anti-bullying interventions.

Authors

• Beilei LI, Beijing Normal University

• Tong Lin, Beijing Normal University