A “Defender Protective Effect” in Multiple-Role Combinations of Bullying Among Chinese Adolescents

Although existing research has advanced our understanding of participant roles in bullying, it is limited by its focus on a single participant role and reliance on samples of children or adolescents in Western nations. Under a “multiple participant roles” perspective based on adaptive strategy hypothesis, the current study used a modified version of the Participant Role Scale approach to identify participant roles in 523 Chinese eighth graders (47.0% boys; M = 14.43) based on peer ratings using two role classification methods: single participant role (using standardized scores) and multiple participant role (using raw scores). First, the single-role method was used. Second, primary, secondary, and tertiary roles were assigned to each adolescent according to his or her three highest scores; they also were assigned to various combinations of roles. Associations between variation in bullying roles and peer social preference (i.e., peer acceptance and rejection) were examined. Overall, the results regarding single-role classification showed that the distribution of and gender differences in roles were consistent with previous studies of Western adolescents. Results regarding multiple-role classification revealed wide variation: primary roles, 85.3% of the sample; secondary roles, 54.2%; tertiary roles, 43.2%. Girls tended to occupy only one role, whereas boys occupied multiple roles. Furthermore, 11 role combinations were identified (e.g., probully-defender; probully-defender-outsider) that were dominated by boys, but also included some girls. Youth whose combination included the role of defender had higher peer acceptance and lower rejection, compared with those without the defender role—a “defender protective effect.” The findings have important implications for understanding and reducing bullying.