Bullying, defending, and outsider behaviors: The moderating role of social status and gender in their relationship with empathy

  1. Lucas-Molina, B. 4
  2. Pérez-Albéniz, A. 3
  3. Fonseca-Pedrero, E. 23
  4. Giménez-Dasí, M. 14
  1. 1 Universidad Camilo José Cela
    info

    Universidad Camilo José Cela

    Villanueva de la Cañada, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03f6h9044

  2. 2 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) Oviedo Spain
  3. 3 Universidad de La Rioja
    info

    Universidad de La Rioja

    Logroño, España

    ROR https://ror.org/0553yr311

  4. 4 Universitat de València
    info

    Universitat de València

    Valencia, España

    ROR https://ror.org/043nxc105

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Journal:
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 0036-5564

Year of publication: 2018

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1111/SJOP.12453 SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-85047490155 GOOGLE SCHOLAR

More publications in: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine whether the effect of empathy on the role children play in bullying situations, as either bullies, defenders or outsiders, was moderated by children's social status within their classroom, and whether this moderation was gender dependent. For this purpose, we used a representative sample of 2,050 Spanish primary school children (50.80% girls) from grades 3-6 (Mage = 9.80 years; SD = 1.24), recruited from 27 primary schools. Results showed that the effect of empathy on bullying behavior was moderated by the sociometric rating only in girls. Both empathy and social rating had an effect on defending behavior. However, neither the children's sociometric rating nor their gender moderated the relationship between empathy and defending and outsider behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions designed to prevent bullying in school settings. © 2018 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.