The novel therapeutic role of self-compassion and self-coldness in bullying perpetration: cultural impact on the mediating role of compassion for others

Current bullying prevention efforts primarily focus on victims, lacking a more effective upstream approach targeting perpetrators. This study evaluated the potential culturally specific associations of self-compassion and self-coldness with traditional and cyberbullying perpetration, focusing on whether these associations showed indirect effects via compassion for others and coldness for others. In a cross-sectional design, 2313 adolescents (aged 13–17) from Hong Kong (n = 852) and the United States (n = 1461) self-reported levels of self-compassion, self-coldness, bullying behaviors, compassion for others, and coldness for others.

Moderated mediation analyses assessed whether compassion/coldness for others mediated the associations between self-compassion, self-coldness and bullying perpetration, with culture as a moderator. The indirect effects via compassion for others and coldness for others were significant in the Hong Kong sample but not in the United States sample, indicating moderated mediation by culture. Follow-up path comparisons suggested that cross-culture differences were primarily attributable to the self-to-mediator links, which were significant in Hong Kong but near-zero in the United States, whereas the mediator-to-outcome links were robust and comparable across cultures.

This study leads to a significant advancement in understanding the potential of fostering self-compassion and mitigating self-coldness in bullying prevention. Moreover, these findings highlight culturally contingent mechanisms linking self-compassion/self-coldness to bullying perpetration via other-oriented responding, underscoring the potential value of culturally sensitive prevention efforts. We would like to thank the participants in this study.

The project is supported by HKU internal seed fund. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA The authors declare no competing interests. All procedures involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of The University of Hong Kong (reference no.

EA230339; approval date: 31 August 2023). HREC approval EA230339 was granted before participant recruitment, consent, assent, and data collection commenced. The approved protocol expressly covered online recruitment of participants outside Hong Kong, including the United States, and the inclusion of participants under 18 years of age.

Participant recruitment and data collection took place from 5 to 13 March 2024.No separate United States institutional review board (IRB) approval was required or obtainable for this study. The research was designed and conducted solely by investigators affiliated with The University of Hong Kong. No US institution was engaged in the research within the meaning of 45 CFR 46 or the guidance of the US Office for Human Research Protections on institutional engagement in human subjects research: there was no US-based research site, investigator, collaborator, or institutional recruitment channel, and the study received no US federal funding.