Do Victims Defend Victims? The Mediating Role of Empathy between Victimization Experience and Public-Defending Tendency in School Bullying Situations

Objectives: This study investigates the association between victimization experience and the tendency to defend on behalf of victims during school bullying incidents in public settings, with a focus on the mediating effect of empathy and the moderating role of school level among Chinese children and adolescents. Methods: Data were collected by a cross-sectional survey. A total of 1491 students in Grades 4-11 participated (Boys = 52.8%; Meanage = 13.00 years, Standard Deviationage = 2.31). Structural equation modeling is employed to test the hypotheses. Results: The results indicate that empathy measures partially mediate the relationship between victimization experience and defending tendency in public in-school bullying situations. In particular, individuals with a history of victimization typically demonstrate lower levels of empathy. They are less likely to protect victims in school bullying situations in the presence of others, which suggests that empathy plays a significant mediating role in this relationship. Group differences were found between primary and secondary school students, which indicates that the hypothesized model should be considered through a developmental perspective. Conclusions: The fi ndings of this study emphasize the importance of children's benign peer relationships, and practitioners are encouraged to prevent victimization in schools and care for students who have been victimized; specific measures include cultivating empathy, teaching defending skills that have been found to help reduce the adverse effects of victimization, and encouraging prosocial behavior during children's socialization development.