Do school bullies defend? The moderating roles of classroom bullying norms and parental autonomy support among Chinese adolescents

= 16.36, SD = 0.68) to examine how classroom bullying norms and parental autonomy support moderate the link between bullying and defending, with particular attention to variations across defending subtypes and gender. Results revealed that bullying positively predicted defending among adolescents who perceived low classroom bullying norms coupled with high parental autonomy support. This moderating effect was consistent across distinct defending subtypes, although there were nuanced variations in its strength and pattern, and it was significant only among girls. These findings provide valuable insights into the contextual mechanisms regarding defending among bullies and offer important implications for developing targeted anti-bullying interventions.