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Trait anxiety and bystander motivation to defend victims of school bullying

Jungert, Tomas LU and Perrin, Sean LU orcid (2019) In Journal of Adolescence 77. p.1-10
Abstract
Introduction: School-based bullying is an omnipresent problem, but is less frequent when bystanders are inclined to defend victims. This makes it important to focus on motivation to intervene in bullying. Methods: 202 students (Mage=16.44 years, 52% boys) from public Swedish high schools participated in a vignette experiment. Students were randomized to one of two vignettes (victim belonging to/not belonging to ingroup). Self-report measures of motivation to defend and trait anxiety were used. Results: Participants reported more autonomous motivation when the victim belonged to the ingroup and more extrinsic motivation when the victim did not belong to the ingroup. Trait anxiety interacted with the manipulation: bystanders high in anxiety... (More)
Introduction: School-based bullying is an omnipresent problem, but is less frequent when bystanders are inclined to defend victims. This makes it important to focus on motivation to intervene in bullying. Methods: 202 students (Mage=16.44 years, 52% boys) from public Swedish high schools participated in a vignette experiment. Students were randomized to one of two vignettes (victim belonging to/not belonging to ingroup). Self-report measures of motivation to defend and trait anxiety were used. Results: Participants reported more autonomous motivation when the victim belonged to the ingroup and more extrinsic motivation when the victim did not belong to the ingroup. Trait anxiety interacted with the manipulation: bystanders high in anxiety reported low levels of autonomous motivation when the victim did not belong to the ingroup and low levels of extrinsic motivation when the victim belonged to the ingroup.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that anti-bullying-programs should focus on how defender motivation is influenced by the way in which victim ingroup status is perceived and address the bystander’s level of anxiety as this interacts with such perceptions. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Adolescence, school bullying, bystanders, prosocial behavior, trait anxiety
in
Journal of Adolescence
volume
77
pages
1 - 10
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85072826830
  • pmid:31593855
ISSN
0140-1971
DOI
10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.10.001
project
Promoting young people's motivation to defend victims in bullying situations
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
78c30aa8-4774-4c0a-91af-63654a0f4eec
date added to LUP
2019-10-02 22:21:09
date last changed
2023-04-10 01:24:14
@article{78c30aa8-4774-4c0a-91af-63654a0f4eec,
  abstract     = {{Introduction: School-based bullying is an omnipresent problem, but is less frequent when bystanders are inclined to defend victims. This makes it important to focus on motivation to intervene in bullying. Methods: 202 students (Mage=16.44 years, 52% boys) from public Swedish high schools participated in a vignette experiment. Students were randomized to one of two vignettes (victim belonging to/not belonging to ingroup). Self-report measures of motivation to defend and trait anxiety were used. Results: Participants reported more autonomous motivation when the victim belonged to the ingroup and more extrinsic motivation when the victim did not belong to the ingroup. Trait anxiety interacted with the manipulation: bystanders high in anxiety reported low levels of autonomous motivation when the victim did not belong to the ingroup and low levels of extrinsic motivation when the victim belonged to the ingroup. <br/>Conclusions: Findings suggest that anti-bullying-programs should focus on how defender motivation is influenced by the way in which victim ingroup status is perceived and address the bystander’s level of anxiety as this interacts with such perceptions.}},
  author       = {{Jungert, Tomas and Perrin, Sean}},
  issn         = {{0140-1971}},
  keywords     = {{Adolescence; school bullying; bystanders; prosocial behavior; trait anxiety}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--10}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Adolescence}},
  title        = {{Trait anxiety and bystander motivation to defend victims of school bullying}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.10.001}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.10.001}},
  volume       = {{77}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}