Psychometrics Properties of the Styles of Bystander Defender Intervention Scale in Cyberbullying: Its Relationships with Moral Identity and Cyberbullying

Abstract

Researchers have a growing interest in measuring the role of bystanders in cyberbullying. Two independent studies with Mexican adolescents (Sample 1 and Sample 2; N1 = 612, N2 = 612) were used to analyze the psychometric properties of the Styles of Bystander Defender Intervention Scale (SBDI) in adolescents. In two samples, confirmatory factorial analyses revealed that a first-order two-dimensional factor structure comprising constructive and aggressive intervention factors was equivalent. The results demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar measurement invariance in the SBDI across gender and education level (secondary vs. high school). Latent mean comparisons indicate differences by gender and education level in the model dimensions. Finally, the results indicate that defenders’ aggressive interventions are positively correlated with cyberbullying and negatively associated with moral identity. On the other hand, constructive interventions were negatively related to cyberbullying and positively related to moral identity. The findings suggest that the SBDI is a helpful measure of the styles of bystander defender intervention in cyberbullying events.