Cultivating Empathy and Moral Identity in Middle School Students: The Psychological Development Mechanism for Preventing School Bullying

To explore the psychological mechanism underlying the prevention of school bullying among middle school students, this study measured 308 middle school students using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Chinese Version of the School Bullying Questionnaire, and the Adolescent Moral Identity Scale. From the perspective of internal psychological mechanisms, the study analyzed the interrelationships among school bullying, empathy, and moral identity among middle school students, and further explored the mechanism of their interactions, providing a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of school bullying. The results showed that the empathy ability of middle school students had a significant negative effect on school bullying behavior, meaning that middle school students with stronger empathy abilities had a lower probability of engaging in school bullying. Moral identity played a mediating role between empathy ability and school bullying. The conclusion was that empathy could directly predict the reduction of school bullying behavior and could further reduce the risk of school bullying by enhancing moral identity. The results provided theoretical support and practical paths for reducing and preventing school bullying by improving empathy ability and establishing correct moral concepts.