Mental health and moral distress as antecedents and outcomes of students´ bystander behaviors in bullying situations: A five-wave longitudinal study

Research Problem and Specific QuestionsPrevious research has shown that bystanders actively influence school bullying dynamics through their responses, whether pro-aggressive, passive, or supportive of victims. In particular, encouraging students to defend victims can reduce bullying and improve outcomes for those targeted.

However, while peers can play a crucial role in successful bullying prevention, a few recent studies suggest potential challenges and health risks associated with defending.

The current study aims to investigate how students’ bystander behaviors evolve over time and how these behaviors influence, and are influenced by, their mental health and moral distress through the following research questions:1. How do students’ engagement in pro-bullying, defending, and passive bystanding evolves over time?2.

How are these specific bystander behaviors concurrently and longitudinally associated with students’ mental health?3.

How are these specific bystander behaviors concurrently and longitudinally associated with students’ moral distress?4.

How are the associations moderated by how often students witness bullying?Data and MethodThis project features a pre-study and a main longitudinal study, tracking approximately 1500 students from grades 4 to 6 through five data collection points.

Participants will complete web-based surveys assessing their roles in bullying, mental health, and moral distress, using validated scales.

Data analysis will involve sophisticated statistical methods, such as multilevel modeling and random intercept cross-lagged models, to account for the data´s hierarchical structure and to explore longitudinal relationships, respectively.Societal Relevance and UtilizationThe project tackles bullying from a societal viewpoint, recognizing it as a major public health concern with negative effects on students—whether as perpetrators, victims, or bystanders—and broader societal and economic implications.

By examining bystander behaviors and their link to mental health and moral distress, it seeks to inform educational policies and enhance schools´ anti-bullying efforts.Project PlanThe project plan includes detailed preparations such as ethical review application, school recruitment, comprehensive data collection and analysis phases, and collaboration as well as dissemination of results within and outside academia.

As the principal investigator, my role spans every phase of the research process, with an estimated activity level of 80%.