The Silver Lining in the Dark Cloud of Social Status Insecurity: The Mediating Role of Popularity Goals in the Association Between Social Status Insecurity and Chinese Adolescents’ Bullying Bystander Behaviors

Abstract

Bullying bystander behavior has an important effect on bullying—both in stopping and facilitating it. Although bullying bystander behaviors have long been understood as a peer group process, existing research that focuses on the role of peer factors is still limited. Moreover, less is known about the social cognitive-related role of peer factors and its underlying mechanisms in adolescents’ bullying bystander behaviors. Accordingly, using resource control theory, this study examines the mediating effects of popularity goals on the associations between social status insecurity and bullying bystander behaviors (active defending behaviors, passive bystanding behaviors) among 333 Chinese adolescents (181 males; Mage = 13.10; SD = .50). Analyses were conducted using SPSS 23 to conduct descriptive and correlation analyses. The hypothesized mediation model was tested using a structural equation modeling approach with bootstrapping techniques (bootstrap replications: 5,000) using AMOS 23. The results showed that popularity goals fully mediated the relationship between adolescents’ social status insecurity and their active defending behaviors. No gender differences in these mediating effects were observed. The results also indicated that popularity goals did not mediate the relationship between social status insecurity and passive bystanding behaviors. These findings enrich our understanding of bullying bystander behaviors and highlight the positive role of social cognitive factors (e.g., popularity goals) in active defending behaviors. Our findings deepen our understanding of bullying bystanders through integrating proximate and ultimate approaches. Our findings have significant practical implications, which suggest that school anti-bullying interventions should value the positive roles of social status insecurity and popularity goals in promoting active defending behaviors.

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

“…The higher the score, the higher the level of active defending behavior of the bystander. The active defending behaviors subscale was used in Chinese participants in previous research with good reliability (Zhang, Lan, et al, 2021; Zhang, Xu, et al,2021). In this study, Cronbach's α was .76.…”

“…Bullying has become a worldwide social issue that can lead to severe negative mental health problems resulting from bullying victimization (Estévez et al, 2019; Olweus, 1978; Smith & Brain, 2000). As bullying bystanders’ active defending behaviors (e.g., directly stopping the bully, finding teachers for help) can effectively stop bullies or buffer the harm to victims (Jenkins & Nickerson, 2019; Salmivalli et al, 2011), many studies have explored the predictive factors and potential underlying processes of active defending behaviors in response to bullying (Parris et al, 2020; Zhang, Tang, et al, 2021; Zhang, Lan, et al, 2021).…”

“…According to the ecological system theory, microsystem factors (such as peers and school‐related factors) may interact with individual factors that affect adolescent development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Lambe et al, 2019). Although it is necessary to consider the more complex interaction effects of factors from different ecological system levels in the bullying and bullying bystander field, this is emphasized in an increasing amount of research (Lambe et al, 2019; Zhang, Lan, et al, 2021; Zhang, Xu, et al, 2021). For example, a cross‐sectional study found that peer status (a microsystem factor) moderated the positive relationship between Chinese adolescents’ perceived peer pressure for intervention and active defending behaviors in bullying (Zhang, Tang, et al, 2021).…”

“…factors and potential underlying processes of active defending behaviors in response to bullying (Parris et al, 2020;Zhang, Tang, et al, 2021;Zhang, Lan, et al, 2021).…”

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

“…However, only one cross-sectional empirical study has examined the relationship between parental support and active defending behaviors in bullying (25). Active defending behaviors are a form of prosocial behavior (47); therefore, it is natural to assume that warm parental support may foster more active defending behaviors among bullying bystanders.…”