The impact of cognitive and affective variables on teachers’ willingness to intervene in school bullying

The present study aimed to examine the relative influences of cognitive and affective factors on teachers’ willingness to intervene in school bullying. Specifically, the study explored the effects of cognitive variables—teachers’ knowledge of bullying, classroom management self-efficacy, and trauma-informed knowledge—and emotional variables—teachers’ emotional responses when witnessing bullying—on their intervention willingness. Participants were 638 homeroom teachers from 36 primary and secondary schools in Taiwan. Using self-reported questionnaires validated through Rasch modeling, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that teachers with higher bullying knowledge, trauma-informed knowledge, and classroom management self-efficacy showed greater intervention willingness. Among bullying knowledge subdimensions, awareness of impact, handling, and intervention significantly predicted willingness, while knowledge of definitions, identification, and investigation did not. Teachers’ sadness when witnessing bullying was unrelated to intervention willingness; however, indifference or anger negatively predicted it. Cognitive variables explained more variance than emotional variables. Findings suggest professional development should prioritize enhancing teachers’ cognitive resources—including bullying knowledge, trauma-informed understanding, and classroom management self-efficacy—to promote effective bullying intervention.