Relationship Between Reactive Aggression and Follower Behavior in Bullying Among Adolescents: Moderating Effect of Negative Personal and Normative Beliefs About Follower Behavior

Abstract

Objectives: This study seeks to examine how negative personal and normative beliefs about follower behavior moderates the relationship between adolescents’ reactive aggression and follower behavior in bullying.Methods: The participants were 968 (boys 539, girls 429) adolescents who were first to second graders from six middle schools in Jeju-do. They completed self-report assessments of reactive aggression, follower behavior in bullying, and negative personal and normative beliefs about follower behavior and proactive aggression. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Model 2 in Process macro version 4.2 and a simple slope verification was analyzed to confirm the moderating effect.Results: Adolescent’s follower behavior was significantly positively correlated with reactive aggression. However, there were significant negative correlations between negative personal and normative beliefs about follower behavior. Adolescent’s reactive aggression is thought to have an effect on follower behavior in bullying. Additionally, in the state of controlling gender and proactive aggression, negative personal beliefs about follower behavior moderated the relationship between reactive aggression and follower behavior in bullying. High levels of negative personal beliefs about follower behavior were associated with reactive aggression. However, negative normative beliefs about follower behavior had no moderating effect.Conclusion: The findings reveal the need to consider negative personal beliefs about follower behavior and how they interact with reactive aggression in understanding and preventing follower behavior. Furthermore, this study emphasizes that reactive aggression is an important factor in predicting the follower behavior in bullying.