Cyberbullying experience and bystander behavior in cyberbullying incidents: The serial mediating roles of perceived incident severity and empathy

Bystanders' behavior can influence the development of cyberbullying incidents. Previous research has demonstrated cyberbullying experience as a significant predictor of bystander behavior in cyberbullying. However, few studies have explored the explanatory mechanisms underlying this relationship. To fill in this gap, the present study investigated whether perceived incident severity and empathy mediated the relationship between cyberbullying experience and bystander behavior in cyberbullying. A total of 434 college students (female: 65.4%) aged from 18 to 25 years old (M = 20.42; SD = 1.84) were recruited to complete an online survey measuring the variables of interest. Qualitative analysis showed that individuals who experienced cyberbullying perpetration only and those who experienced both cyberbullying perpetration and victimization had stronger intentions to engage in negative bystander behavior. Besides, cyberbullying perpetration experience positively predicted negative bystander behavior, whereas cyberbullying victimization experience did not predict any type of bystander behavior. Perceived incident severity played a mediating role between cyberbullying perpetration experience and all types of bystander behavior except remaining an outsider. Empathy played a mediating role between cyberbullying perpetration experience and negative bystander behavior. Perceived incident severity and empathy played the serial mediating roles between cyberbullying perpetration experience and negative bystander behavior. When analyzing the two components of empathy, the results showed that cognitive and affective empathy had different roles in explaining the relationship between cyberbullying experience and bystander behavior. The gender differences in the mediating effects were also demonstrated. The results of the study can provide empirical support for formulating the cyberbullying intervention measures based on the bystanders' perspective.