Trait anxiety and bystander motivation to defend victims of school bullying.
INTRODUCTION
School-based bullying is an omnipresent problem, but is less frequent when bystanders are inclined to defend victims. This makes it important to focus on motivation to intervene in bullying.


METHODS
202 students (Mage = 16.44 years, 52% boys) from public Swedish high schools participated in a vignette experiment. Students were randomized to one of two vignettes (victim belonging to/not belonging to ingroup). Self-report measures of motivation to defend and trait anxiety were used.


RESULTS
Participants reported more autonomous motivation when the victim belonged to the ingroup and more extrinsic motivation when the victim did not belong to the ingroup. Trait anxiety interacted with the manipulation: bystanders high in anxiety reported low levels of autonomous motivation when the victim did not belong to the ingroup and low levels of extrinsic motivation when the victim belonged to the ingroup.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that anti-bullying-programs should focus on how defender motivation is influenced by the way in which victim ingroup status is perceived and address the bystander's level of anxiety as this interacts with such perceptions.
['Jungert|Tomas|T|', 'Perrin|Sean|S|']
D000293:Adolescent D001007:Anxiety D058445:Bullying D002648:Child D019548:Crime Victims D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D009042:Motivation D010379:Peer Group D012574:Schools D057566:Self Report D013334:Students
Trait anxiety Bystanders School bullying Ingroup Prosocial motivation