Examining the Role of Socio-Emotional Factors in Italian and Dutch Bystanders’ Responses to Cyberbullying on Social Media

Cyberbullying occurs through digital devices, often on social media, where bystanders can respond through public or private comments by supporting the bully, supporting the victim, or remaining uninvolved. This study investigates how online connectedness, empathy (cognitive and affective), and social self-efficacy predict bystanders' responses to cyberbullying—specifically, inaction (IN), victim support (VS), reporting the perpetrator (RP), and supporting the perpetrator (SP)— controlling for roles in cyberbullying (cybervictim or cyberperpetrator) and country. An online survey was administered to 280 young adults from Italy (n = 186) and Netherlands (n = 94), aged 18-28 years (M = 21.03; SD = 2.64; 77.1% females) who had witnessed cyberbullying at least once in the past three months. Regression analyses showed that online connectedness predicted negatively IN, β = - 0.19, p = 0.04, and positively VS, β = 0.11, p = 0.005, and RP, β = 0.14, p = 0.004. Affective empathy was positively related to VS, β = 0.14, p = 0.007, while cognitive empathy to RP, β = 0.12, p = 0.03. Finally, being a cyberbully was the only positive predictor of SP, β = 0.31, p < 0.001. Interestingly, the Dutch tended to be more inactive, β = -0.83, p < .001, while the Italians tended more to embrace the investigated active behaviours: (VS) β = 0.29, p = 0.008, (RP) β = 0.23, p = 0.046, (SP), β = 0.17, p = 0.02. The study highlights significant implications for developing effective interventions focused on the online context.