Personality traits and defending victims of bullying: Agreeableness, neuroticism and extraversion matter
Abstract
Objectives. Research has uncovered several factors underlying the defense of victims of school bullying but has devoted only limited attention to the role of personality.
Even though the few studies that exist have confirmed the links between defending behavior and personality, they have revealed somewhat inconsistent patterns of associations. In order to expand the current knowledge, this cross-sectional study examines associations between defending and the Big Five personality traits, while controlling for other correlates of defending (gender, peer status, empathy) previously demonstrated.
Moreover, it tests whether personality traits have differential effects on defending behaviors in girls and boys. Sample and setting.
The sample comprised 662 early adolescents (M-age =13 years and 5 months, SD=5 months, range: 12.1-15.5 years, 50.2% girls) from 39 seventh-grade classrooms of 20 randomly selected urban elementary schools. Defending behavior was measured using a peer-rating procedure and peer status by means of peer nommation; other variables were registered using self-report instruments.
Hypotheses. Authors hypothesized that defending would be positively associated with agreeableness, neuroticism, and extraversion.
Statistical analysis. The main analyses consisted of a set of multilevel linear models applied in order to respect the clustering of students within classrooms.
Results. The null model showed that 54% of variance in defending could be attributed to differences among classrooms.
The final model indicated that, when gender, peer status, and empathy were accounted for, defending behavior was positively associated with agreeableness, neuroticism, and an interaction between extraversion and gender. Regression lines shown separately for boys and girls suggest that defending is related to extraversion only in girls, not boys.
Limitation. Cross-sectional design, age-homogenous sample.