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Standing Up or Standing By: The Interplay of Moral Identity, Perspective‐Taking Skills, and Teacher Responses in Adolescents' Responses to Ethnic Victimization.

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Title: Standing Up or Standing By: The Interplay of Moral Identity, Perspective‐Taking Skills, and Teacher Responses in Adolescents' Responses to Ethnic Victimization.
Authors: Bayram Özdemir, Sevgi1 (AUTHOR) sevgi.bayram-ozdemir@oru.se
Source: Journal of Adolescence. Jun2026, Vol. 98 Issue 4, p1267-1277. 11p.
Subject Terms: *Perspective taking, *Teenagers, *Immigrants, Ethnic discrimination, Mediation (Statistics), Values (Ethics), Bystander effect (Psychology)
Geographic Terms: Scandinavia
Abstract: Introduction: Rising political polarization worldwide has created a social climate where adolescents with migrant backgrounds face increased risk of mistreatment based on their ethnic, cultural, or religious identities. Promoting prosocial bystander behavior in schools is one way to address this issue. Relatedly, this study examined how adolescents' moral identity and perspective‐taking skills relate to defending behavior, and whether teachers' responses to ethnic victimization moderated these associations. Methods: The sample included 792 adolescents (Mage = 16.47, SD = 0.67; 59.3% females; 31.1% adolescents with migrant backgrounds) living in Sweden. Results: Adolescents with stronger perspective‐taking skills and higher moral identity were more willing to defend classmates who were targets of ethnic victimization. These associations were particularly pronounced when adolescents perceived their teachers as actively intervening in such incidents. Notably, when teachers were perceived as inactive or indifferent, the positive association between perspective‐taking and defending behavior weakened. Conclusions: This study highlights that adolescents' willingness to intervene in ethnic victimization incidents is associated with their perspective‐taking skills and moral values. Importantly, it also underscores the crucial role of teachers as key socialization agents who can either foster or hinder adolescents' potential to intervene in negative inter‐ethnic interactions. Together, these findings emphasize the importance of raising teacher awareness about the impact of their responses and equipping them with the skills needed to effectively address negative inter‐ethnic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:Introduction: Rising political polarization worldwide has created a social climate where adolescents with migrant backgrounds face increased risk of mistreatment based on their ethnic, cultural, or religious identities. Promoting prosocial bystander behavior in schools is one way to address this issue. Relatedly, this study examined how adolescents' moral identity and perspective‐taking skills relate to defending behavior, and whether teachers' responses to ethnic victimization moderated these associations. Methods: The sample included 792 adolescents (Mage = 16.47, SD = 0.67; 59.3% females; 31.1% adolescents with migrant backgrounds) living in Sweden. Results: Adolescents with stronger perspective‐taking skills and higher moral identity were more willing to defend classmates who were targets of ethnic victimization. These associations were particularly pronounced when adolescents perceived their teachers as actively intervening in such incidents. Notably, when teachers were perceived as inactive or indifferent, the positive association between perspective‐taking and defending behavior weakened. Conclusions: This study highlights that adolescents' willingness to intervene in ethnic victimization incidents is associated with their perspective‐taking skills and moral values. Importantly, it also underscores the crucial role of teachers as key socialization agents who can either foster or hinder adolescents' potential to intervene in negative inter‐ethnic interactions. Together, these findings emphasize the importance of raising teacher awareness about the impact of their responses and equipping them with the skills needed to effectively address negative inter‐ethnic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:01401971
DOI:10.1002/jad.70139