Abstract
Adolescents use various strategies to help their victimized peers during bullying episodes. However, prior research has primarily adopted a variable-centered approach that examines the effect of each defending strategies separately and does not address whether there were different types of defenders who exhibit specific combinations of defending strategies and how these profiles related to youth’s adjustment outcomes. Using latent profile analysis, this study identified defending profiles among a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 1618, Mage = 13.81, SDage = 0.94, 42% girls) and examined whether these profiles differ on victimization experiences and depressive symptoms. The results yielded four defending profiles: nonaggressive defenders (15%), aggressive defenders (7%), average defenders (54%), and infrequent defenders (24%). Aggressive defenders and infrequent defenders exhibited the highest levels of self-reported victimization and depressive symptoms, whereas nonaggressive defenders demonstrated the lowest. There were no statistical profile differences in peer-reported victimization. Findings suggest that investigating the heterogeneity of youth using defending strategies is important for understanding whether defending actually puts youth at increased risk for negative adjustment.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the participating schools as well as the research assistants who helped collect the data. Furthermore, we are grateful to all adolescents for their participation.
Funding
This work was supported by the Research Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (20dz2260300), the Key Research & Development and Promotion Projects in Henan Province (No: 222102320009), and the Program of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Henan Province (No: 2021BJY043).
Data Sharing and DeclarationThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. This study was not preregistered.
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G.J. conceived of the present study, developed the hypotheses, performed the statistical analyses, interpreted the results, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; X.B. recruited participants and collected data, participated in conceptualization, design and coordination of the project; T.Z. helped to revise the manuscript and interpret the results; J.L. developed the hypotheses, performed the statistical analyses, and interpreted the results, funded the current project and supervised the whole manuscript writing process. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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We have adhered to APA ethical standards in conducting this study and this study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of East China Normal University.
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Jin, G., Bian, X., Zhou, T. et al. Different Ways to Defend Victims of Bullying: Defending Profiles and Their Associations with Adolescents’ Victimization Experiences and Depressive Symptoms. J. Youth Adolescence 53, 621–631 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01904-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01904-5