Bystander intervention among Secondary school pupils: testing the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Prototype Willingness Model

Objectives: This study assessed the combined predictive ability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Prototype Willingness Model on bystander intervention behaviour among Secondary school pupils. It was hypothesised that positive and negative attitudes, social and control beliefs, and self-efficacy would be mediated by intentions and willingness to intervene. It was also hypothesised that social beliefs would moderate positive and negative attitudes towards intervening.
Design: A prospective correlational design was used (two time points around one month apart). Data were collected from September 2018 to March 2019.
Methods: More than 2000 pupils who attend mainstream secondary schools in Scotland took part. Pupils were in S1-S3 with an age range of 11-14. At Time 1, a 40 minute questionnaire was administered assessing positive and negative attitudes, control and social beliefs, self-efficacy, intentions and willingness to intervene. At Time 2, a 10 minute questionnaire was administered assessing bystanders' opportunities to intervene, and their intervention behaviour. Path analysis was used to test the hypotheses.
Results: It is expected that the path analysis will reveal that positive and negative attitudes, social and control beliefs, and self-efficacy are significantly mediated by intentions and willingness in support of the two theories. Positive and negative attitudes are expected to be significantly moderated by social beliefs.
Conclusions: The results will be discussed in terms of the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Prototype Willingness Model on understanding bystander intervention behaviour among Secondary school pupils. The results will help to inform school-based programs aimed at increasing bystander intervention behaviour.