The relationship between personality and bullying among primary school children: the mediation role of trait emotion intelligence and empathy

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Several studies have shown that personality traits are a benchmark in research field of bullying prevention, while others have highlighted that the socio-emotional skills are important to prevent a wide range of maladjusted behaviors, suggesting that the investment in their developing may mediate the effects of personality dispositions. The present study aims to clarify if socio-emotional attitudes can mediate the relationships between personality traits and bullying. METHODS: Five sequential mediation models are tested using the Big Five personality traits as focal predictors, bullying as the outcome, and trait emotional intelligence and empathy as causally chained mediators, involving 199 primary school children (8-10 years) through the Bullying Prevalence Questionnaire, the Big Five Questionnaire for children, the Emotional Intelligence Index and the Empathy-Teen Conflict Survey. RESULTS: Data showed that openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness were inversely related to bullying, and that the causal chain of TEI-empathy negatively and completely mediated the relationship between emotional instability and bullying and negatively and partially mediated the relationship between openness and bullying. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that TEI and empathy mediate the relationship between personality traits and bullying, reducing the risk of being involved in bullying perpetration.