Cyberbullying is a significant problem worldwide that affects adolescents' social relations, academic achievement, and mental health. As this form of bullying is typically viewed by a large audience it is important to understand the role of observers as they may hold a key for reducing bullying. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the socio-cognitive factors of defending self-efficacy (i.e., belief in one's capability to defend) and moral disengagement (i.e., justifications for aggressive behavior) associated with general cyber defending behavior and cyber defending response types: constructive and aggressive. Participants were 540 male and female students of diverse racial identity between the ages of 11 and 15 years who completed a questionnaire comprising multiple measures. Regression analyses revealed that at low levels of defending self-efficacy, moral disengagement was unrelated to general cyber defending behavior. However, at high levels of defending self-efficacy, moral disengagement was positively associated with general cyber defending. Further regression analyses revealed that the results for constructive cyber defending were the inverse of those obtained for aggressive defending. Defending self-efficacy was positively associated with constructive defending and negatively associated with aggressive defending. Moral disengagement was negatively associated with constructive defending and positively associated with aggressive defending. These results address the perplexing issue of why moral disengagement has been related to defending in some studies and not in others. As with most measures of defending, the general cyber defending measure confounds constructive and aggressive defending.

网络欺凌是世界范围内的一个重大问题，影响青少年的社会关系、学业成就和心理健康。由于这种形式的欺凌通常会被大量观众看到，因此了解观察者的作用很重要，因为他们可能是减少欺凌的关键。本研究的目的是调查与一般网络防御行为和网络防御相关的自我效能（即相信自己的防御能力）和道德脱离（即攻击行为的理由）的社会认知因素的作用。防御反应类型：建设性和攻击性。参与者是 540 名年龄在 11 至 15 岁之间、具有不同种族身份的男女学生，他们完成了一份包含多项措施的问卷。回归分析表明，在防御自我效能水平较低的情况下，道德脱离与一般的网络防御行为无关。然而，在高水平的防御自我效能感下，道德脱离与一般的网络防御呈正相关。进一步的回归分析表明，建设性网络防御的结果与积极防御的结果相反。防御自我效能与建设性防御呈正相关，与积极防御呈负相关。道德脱离与建设性防御呈负相关，与积极防御呈正相关。这些结果解决了一个令人困惑的问题，即为什么道德脱离在某些研究中与辩护相关，而在其他研究中则没有。与大多数防御措施一样，