Bullying and regulation of socio-moral emotions: Adolescent experiences in school contexts.

Most studies on bullying have focused on the roles of aggressors and victims, with little attention paid to observers and limited qualitative understanding of their emotional experiences. This study aimed to explore how adolescents who have witnessed or participated in bullying situations experience and regulate socio-moral emotions, especially guilt and empathic distress, and how these influence their stance toward bullying. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 adolescents aged 10 to 14 (12 in Cuba and 12 in Chile). The analysis was developed according to Grounded Theory. The results reveal complex dynamics in the assumption of roles (pro-bullying, prosocial, outsider, and victim). Alternations, overlaps, and context-modulated responses were observed. Guilt and empathic distress emerge as activators or inhibitors of prosocial and aggressive behaviors, depending on how they are regulated. The regulatory strategies identified included: resolving the situation as a way of alleviating empathic distress (by helping the victim or repairing the damage), seeking support, distraction, avoidance, and a tendency to minimize the suffering of others. Barriers to prosocial behavior were also identified, associated with the relationship with the victim, moral judgment of the victim, self-perception of ineffectiveness, fear of negative consequences, and the severity of the situation. It is concluded that the approach to bullying must go beyond a perspective based on fixed roles, considering the dynamism and the emotional and contextual factors involved.