Peer Roles in Bullying: Relations to Maternal Support, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress

Abstract

Bullying is a risk factor for the current and later lives of adolescents. Although it is known that the responses of peers to bullying can both increase and decrease the frequency of bullying behavior, little knowledge exists about the factors related to these peer roles. This quantitative study aimed to examine whether two dimensions of empathy, empathic concern and personal distress, mediated the relation between adolescents’ perceived maternal support and their role(s) of assistant of the bully, guilty bystander, and defender of the victim. Dutch middle adolescents (N = 92, 64 girls) completed self report scales of the translated Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Network of Relationships Inventory, and adjusted Participant Role Questionnaire. Several simple and multiple regression analyses revealed no mediation effects. Empathic concern was positively related to the defender role, however. Moreover, personal distress was positively related to the guilty bystander role. Finally, girls had higher levels of empathic concern and personal distress, and boys more often reported to be the assistant in a bully situation. Whereas empathic concern seemed to be relevant to the defender role, personal distress appeared to be important for predicting guilty bystander behavior. Bully interventions aimed at increasing defender behavior of peers should focus on increasing adolescents' empathic concern and decreasing their personal distress.