Empathy and defender behaviour in bullying of young children: The mediating role of peer status

The present study examined the relationship between empathy and defender behaviour in young children and the mediating role of peer status. Participants were 310 children (girls = 48.1%; mean age = 66.85 months, SD = 7.04 months, age range = 52–79 months) from China. The children completed peer nominations for defender behaviour and peer status. They also responded to questions on situational empathy stories told. Following structural equation modelling, results indicated that (i) empathy positively predicted defender behaviour in young children; (ii) the relationship between empathy and defender behaviour was exclusively through peer acceptance; and (iii) peer rejection played no mediating role between empathy and defender behaviour. The results suggest that the process of empathy expression influences defender behaviour. In developing bullying interventions/preventions, early childhood education programs should focus on developing empathy in young children and should be aware of the important influence of peer acceptance in bullying behaviour.