Citation

Ma TL. Int. J. Psychol. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, Edgewood College, Madison, WI, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, International Union of Psychological Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ijop.12565

PMID

30623410

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate adolescent bystanders' willingness to help and specific help responses as predicted by both individual characteristics (e.g., gender, empathy, victimisation experiences) and situation-specific characteristics (i.e., bystander's relationship with the victim and the presence of another bystander). The study used an experimental vignette method with a sample of Taiwanese adolescents. Participants included 730 seventh graders (49% girls, mean age 12.8 years) attending one middle school in a southern city in Taiwan.

RESULTS show that both individual characteristics (e.g., gender, empathy) and a situation-specific characteristic (i.e., the relationship a participant had with the victim) predicted adolescents' willingness to help. However, only individual characteristics predicted adolescents' specific help responses including telling the teacher, telling the bully to stop, and comforting the victims. Directions for future research and implications for interventions and prevention programs are discussed.

© 2019 International Union of Psychological Science.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescents; Bystander; Empathy; Help; Peer victimisation