The Influence of Gender and Bullying Behavior of Children on the Perceived Seriousness and the Willingness to Intervene

Abstract

Bullying remains a prevalent and harmful phenomenon with serious implications for children’s well-being and development. Adults, especially in supervisory roles, play a critical role in addressing bullying, yet their willingness to intervene can vary. This experimental study examined how the gender of the bully and the type of bullying behavior (physical vs. relational) influence the perceived seriousness and adults’ intervention intentions using an online vignette-based questionnaire. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 2012), System Justification Theory (Jost et al., 2004), and prior empirical findings on gendered patterns in bullying behavior, a within-subjects survey design was employed. A total of 223 adult participants evaluated eight scenarios adapted from validated bullying vignettes, varying the gender of the bully and type of bullying behaviour (physical vs. relational). A repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects for both gender and bullying type: participants were more willing to intervene when the bully was female and when the bullying was physically aggressive. Contrary to expectations based on System Justification Theory, there was no significant interaction effect between gender and bullying type. However, the highly educated nature of the sample may have led to weaker stereotypical beliefs, potentially reducing the effects of gender and the expected interaction effect. These findings contribute to the literature on bullying interventions by highlighting gender-related perceptions in adult responses to bullying and reinforcing the need for training that addresses implicit biases.