KU Leuven, School Psychology and Development in Context, Belgium.
KU Leuven, School Psychology and Development in Context, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Department of Communication Studies, Belgium.
J Sch Psychol. 2024 Aug;105:101315. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2024.101315. Epub 2024 May 8.
Peer defending has been shown to protect bullied peers from further victimization and social-emotional problems. However, research examining defending behavior has demonstrated positive and negative social-emotional adjustment effects for defending students themselves. To explain these mixed findings, researchers have suggested that associations between defending behavior and social-emotional adjustment may be buffered by protective factors (i.e., defender protection hypothesis) or exacerbated by vulnerability or risk factors (i.e., defender vulnerability hypothesis). Consistent with these hypotheses, the present study aimed to investigate whether relationships with teachers and peers would moderate the association between defending behavior and social-emotional adjustment. This three-wave longitudinal study examined the association between peer nominated defending behavior and later self-reported depressive symptoms and self-esteem in 848 Belgian students in Grades 4-6 (53% girls; M = 10.61 years, SD = 0.90 at Wave 1). Peer nominated positive and negative teacher-student relationships (i.e., closeness and conflict) and peer relationships (i.e., acceptance and rejection) were included as moderators. Clustered multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that defending behavior did not predict later depressive symptoms (β = -0.04, p = .80) or self-esteem (β = -0.19, p = .42). The lack of these associations could be explained by the defender protection and vulnerability hypotheses. However, contrary to our expectations, teacher-student closeness and peer acceptance did not play a protective role in the association between defending behavior and social-emotional adjustment (β = -1.48-1.46, p = .24-0.96). In addition, teacher-student conflict and peer rejection did not put defending students at risk for social-emotional maladjustment (β = -1.96-1.57, p = .54-0.97). Thus, relationships with teachers and peers did not moderate the association between defending behavior and later depressive symptoms and self-esteem.
同伴辩护已被证明可以保护被欺凌的同伴免受进一步的伤害和社会情感问题。然而，研究表明，同伴辩护行为对辩护学生本身的社会情感调整既有积极影响，也有消极影响。为了解释这些混合的发现，研究人员提出，辩护行为与社会情感调整之间的关联可能会受到保护因素（即，辩护者保护假说）的缓冲，也可能会受到脆弱性或风险因素（即，辩护者脆弱性假说）的加剧。根据这些假说，本研究旨在探讨与教师和同伴的关系是否会调节辩护行为与社会情感调整之间的关联。这项三波纵向研究调查了同伴提名的辩护行为与 848 名比利时 4-6 年级学生（53%为女生；第 1 波时的平均年龄为 10.61 岁，标准差为 0.90）后期自我报告的抑郁症状和自尊之间的关系。同伴提名的积极和消极的师生关系（即亲密关系和冲突）和同伴关系（即接受和拒绝）被作为调节变量纳入研究。聚类多元线性回归分析表明，辩护行为并未预测后期的抑郁症状（β=-0.04，p=.80）或自尊（β=-0.19，p=.42）。这些关联的缺乏可以用辩护者保护和脆弱性假说来解释。然而，与我们的预期相反，师生亲密关系和同伴接纳并没有在辩护行为与社会情感调整之间的关联中起到保护作用（β=-1.48-1.46，p=.24-0.96）。此外，师生冲突和同伴拒绝并没有使辩护学生面临社会情感失调的风险（β=-1.96-1.57，p=.54-0.97）。因此，与教师和同伴的关系并没有调节辩护行为与后期抑郁症状和自尊之间的关联。
