Exploring the Impact of Multiple Predictors on Teachers’ Willingness to Intervene in Relational Bullying: The Moderating Role of Victim-Blaming Tendency

ABSTRACT

This study examined how normative beliefs, identification scores, perceived severity, self-efficacy in intervention, and victim-blaming tendencies impact teachers’ willingness to intervene in relational bullying. Two groups of Taiwanese teachers (145 and 541 participants) completed self-developed questionnaires. Reliability and validity were assessed using Rasch analysis for the first group, while the second group’s data were analyzed through hierarchical multiple regression. The results indicated that normative beliefs, perceived severity, victim-blaming tendencies, and self-efficacy significantly predicted teachers’ willingness to intervene. Additionally, victim-blaming tendencies moderated the relationship between intervention efficacy and willingness. Specifically, under conditions of low self-efficacy, a high victim-blaming tendency led to a significantly reduced willingness to intervene. This study underscores the importance of improving teachers’ awareness and skills in addressing relational bullying.

KEYWORDS:

• Relational bullying
• school bullying
• willingness to intervene

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author received the financial support by National Science Council, Taiwan. [No. MOST110-2410-H-110-047]. This study received an approval from a Human Subjects Review Committee [No. NCKU HREC 109-525].

Notes on contributors

Li-Ming Chen

Li-Ming Chen, PhD, is an associate professor at the Institution of Education, National Sun Yat-Sen University. His major research interests include school bullying and teacher bullying.