BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1586967
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Ideas and International Perspectives on School Bullying: A Multidisciplinary ApproachView all 12 articles
Bystander Behavior in School Bullying and Multidimensional Belief in a Just World
Provisionally accepted
- Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo, Japan
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Bullying is a significant issue that harms children's health and infringes on their right to education. Understanding the mechanisms of bullying, preventing it, and implementing appropriate interventions are essential for education. Notably, not only the victims and perpetrators but also the bystanders around them play important roles in bullying situations. This study examined the relationship between bullying bystanders' multidimensional just-world beliefs and their attitudes and behaviors when witnessing bullying. Methods: A vignette-based online survey was conducted with 400 Japanese middle school students (Mage= 13.2, SD = 0.91). The questionnaire required the students to respond independently. Results: The analysis showed that intrinsic just-world beliefs were associated with positive attitudes and behaviors toward bullying victims, whereas ultimate just world beliefs were not. It was found that higher ultimate just-world beliefs were not only related to stronger intentions to mediate bullying but also, to a greater tendency, to blame the victim and a lower likelihood of recognizing bullying in cases where it was witnessed multiple times. Discussions: Multidimensional just-world beliefs predicted both pro-bullying and anti-bullying attitudes. The findings add substantially to our understanding of the relationship between just-world beliefs and bystanders' behavior and attitudes, providing novel insights into the understanding of bullying behavior.
Keywords: Bullying, adolescence, Belief in a just world, bystanders, Aggression
Received: 03 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mizuno. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kumpei Mizuno, mizuno.kumpei@a.hokkyodai.ac.jp
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