The Relation of Empathy and Defending in Bullying: A Meta-Analytic Investigation

.This meta-analysis synthesized results about the association between empathy and defending in bullying. A total of 20 studies were included, with 22 effect sizes from 6 studies that separated findings by the defender's gender, and 31 effect sizes from 18 studies that provided effects for the total sample were included in the analysis. The weighted average correlation was 0.31 for gender-separated studies and 0.33 for studies that included total samples without separating by gender. Moderator analyses indicated that the effects differed because of measurement variables (e.g., number of items in the measure, whether the measure was used previously) for the gender-separated studies, although the total sample studies' moderator analyses were not significant. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.