TY - JOUR PY - 2018// TI - Resurrecting the empathy-bullying relationship with a pro-bullying attitudes mediator: the Lazarus effect in mediation research JO - Journal of abnormal child psychology A1 - Walters, Glenn D. A1 - Espelage, Dorothy L. SP - 1229 EP - 1239 VL - 46 IS - 6 N2 - The purpose of this study was to determine whether pro-bullying attitudes are capable of mediating the low empathy-bullying relationship in the absence of a significant unmediated correlation between low empathy and bullying behavior. Using three waves of self-report data from 1371 (677 boys, 694 girls) pre-adolescent/early adolescent members of the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence (ISBSV), the mediating effect of pro-bullying attitudes on the low empathy-bullying connection was examined. A path analysis revealed that pro-bullying attitudes successfully mediated the pathway running from low empathy to bully perpetration even though the unmediated relationship between low empathy and bullying perpetration was non-significant. A control or comparison pathway running from bully perpetration to pro-bullying attitudes to low empathy was also tested and found to be non-significant. It would appear that low empathy contributes to bullying perpetration by stimulating pro-bullying attitudes which, in turn, promote bullying perpetration. The theoretical, research, and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0091-0627 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0355-9 ID - ref1 ER -