An international investigation of variability in teacher perceptions of bias-based bullying and their likelihood of intervening

Khanolainen, D, Hall, A, Craig, W, Trach, J, Noetzel, J, Starosta, L, Dhungana-Sainju, K, Bjärehed, J, Thornberg, R, Bayram-Özdemir, S, Bjärehed, M, Görzig, A, Wright, M, Betts, L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6147-8089, Swearer, S and Hymel, S, 2025. An international investigation of variability in teacher perceptions of bias-based bullying and their likelihood of intervening. International Journal of Bullying Prevention. ISSN 2523-3653

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Abstract

Bias-based bullying (i.e., bullying due to marginalized identities) is a significant and ongoing challenge within contemporary educational settings. Teachers are crucial in mitigating such harmful behaviors and cultivating positive peer relationships. The present study explores teachers’ perceptions of and intervention intentions in bias-based bullying situations across diverse cultural and educational settings. Using a between-subjects experimental design, primary and secondary teachers from 13 international sites located in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America (n = 4,990) were randomly assigned to read a hypothetical vignette depicting student victimization based on their ethnicity, learning difficulties, physical appearance, gender expression or sexual orientation. Multilevel linear models revealed that teachers’ perceptions varied depending on the type of bias-based bullying, such that when teachers were presented with a situation of bullying based on gender expression or sexual orientation, they reported lower levels of perceived responsibility, self-efficacy, and importance of responding when compared to other types of bullying. At the same time, teachers were less likely to blame the victim of bullying and expressed greater empathy towards involved students when being presented with a situation of weight-based bullying. However, there were no significant differences in rated intervention intentions across conditions. Results have important implications for teacher education and development, as well as for existing anti-bullying intervention programs.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Bullying Prevention
Creators:	Khanolainen, D., Hall, A., Craig, W., Trach, J., Noetzel, J., Starosta, L., Dhungana-Sainju, K., Bjärehed, J., Thornberg, R., Bayram-Özdemir, S., Bjärehed, M., Görzig, A., Wright, M., Betts, L., Swearer, S. and Hymel, S.
Publisher:	Springer
Date:	22 January 2025
ISSN:	2523-3653
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s42380-025-00285-6 DOI 2339661 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	14 Jan 2025 14:40
Last Modified:	15 Jan 2026 16:19
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52845

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