Bullying victimization and bystander behavior in bullying: Examining the mediating roles of social anxiety and social-emotional competence

Bullying victimization has been widely recognized as a robust predictor of adverse psychosocial outcomes, yet the relationship between bullying victimization to bystanders’ behaviors toward bullying incidents remains poorly understood. Besides, the mediating roles of emotional-cognitive factors such as social anxiety and social-emotional competence in shaping these dynamics have not been systematically examined through a longitudinal lens. The present study investigated the bidirectional relationships between bullying victimization and three types of bystander behaviors (i.e., defending, passive bystanding, and pro-bullying), with a focus on the chain-mediating roles of social anxiety and social-emotional competence. A longitudinal survey was conducted across three waves with six-month intervals, involving 1,022 Chinese adolescents (52.1% female; M_age = 14.69, SD_age = 1.15). Results indicated that bullying victimization unidirectionally and longitudinally predicted bystanders’ pro-bullying behavior. Social anxiety and social-emotional competence independently mediated the cross-sectional relationship between bullying victimization and bystander behavior in bullying. These findings advance theoretical understanding of the emotional-cognitive mechanisms underlying the dynamics between bullying victimization and bystander behavior, providing valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to break the vicious cycle of their influence.