When Push Comes to Shove: Unravelling the Developmental and Longitudinal Dynamic Relationship between Bullying and Empathy in Chinese School Children.

Abstract

While bullying has significant long-term impacts on mental health, the developmental relationship between empathy and bullying behaviors remains unclear. Specifically, it is uncertain whether bullying perpetration and victimization predict changes in empathy over time or if empathy influences these behaviors. This study addresses this gap by examining the longitudinal dynamic relationship between empathy, bullying perpetration, and victimization. The sample comprised 3337 Chinese school children (M_age = 11.23 years, SD = 1.60; 47.7% female), followed over six waves across three years. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were employed to separate between-person and within-person effects. Results indicated that at the between-person level, empathy, bullying perpetration, and victimization followed decreasing trajectories, with initial empathy negatively associated with both bullying perpetration and victimization. At the within-person level, fluctuations in bullying perpetration and victimization predicted subsequent declines in empathy, while empathy did not significantly predict later changes in bullying perpetration and victimization behaviors. These findings suggest that bullying experiences, whether as a perpetrator or victim, can impair empathy development and that empathy alone may not be sufficient to reduce bullying. This challenges current intervention models focused on empathy enhancement and calls for more nuanced approaches that address the complex dynamics between empathy and bullying.