Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Psicologia ISSN 2183-2471 Revista PSICOLOGIA, 2017, Vol. 31(2), 15-24. doi: 10.17575/rpsicol.v31i2.1138 Copyright © 2017 Associação Portuguesa de Psicologia 15 Having friends with gay friends? The role of extended contact, empathy and threat on assertive bystanders behavioral intentions Raquel António 1 , Rita Guerra 1 & Carla Moleiro 1 1 Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social (CIS-IUL) Abstract: Peers are present in more than 80% of bullying episodes and research showed that bystanders have a very important role in stopping bullying episodes. However, little is known about the predictors of assertive interventions by bystanders. The current study explored if extended contact (i.e., having friends who have gay friends), is related to assertive behavioral intentions to help the victims of homophobic bullying, through increased empathy and decreased masculinity/femininity threat. An online survey was completed by 87 heterosexual adolescents (12 to 18 years old). Results revealed that, as expected, extended contact was associated with more assertive interventions, via increased affective empathy and decreased masculinity/femininity threat. These findings replicated and extended previous studies by illustrating the underlying mechanisms through which extended contact positively affects bystanders’ interventions. Keywords: Bullying; Homophobia; Extended contact; Bystanders. Ter amigos com amigos gays/lésbicas? O papel do contacto alargado, empatia e ameaça nas intenções comportamentais assertivas dos bystanders: Os pares estão presentes em mais de 80% dos episódios de bullying e a investigação tem revelado que os bystanders têm um papel muito importante na interrupção dos episódios de bullying. No entanto, pouco se sabe acerca dos preditores das intervenções assertivas dos bystanders. Este estudo explorou se o contacto alargado (i.e., ter amigos que têm amigos gays/lésbicas) está relacionado com intenções comportamentais assertivas de ajuda às vítimas de bullying homofóbico, através do aumento da empatia e da diminuição da ameaça à masculinidade/feminilidade. Um questionário online foi preenchido por 87 adolescentes heterossexuais (entre os 12 e os 18 anos). Como esperado, os resultados revelaram que o contacto alargado esteve associado a mais intervenções assertivas, através do aumento da empatia afectiva e da diminuição da ameaça à masculinidade/feminilidade. Estes efeitos permitem replicar e alargar a investigação anterior, ilustrando os mecanismos através dos quais o contacto alargado influencia positivamente as intervenções dos bystanders. Palavras-chave: Bullying; Homofobia; Contacto alargado; Bystanders. Bullying is a specific form of violence that occurs when a student is exposed to negative actions, repeatedly and over time, by one or more students (Olweus, 1993; Olweus & Limber, 2010), that has serious psychological, social and academic consequences (e.g., depression, suicide ideation, delinquency; Berlan, Corliss, Field, Goodman, & Austin, 2010). Research on bullying has traditionally focused on the victims and aggressors taking an individualistic approach to the phenomenon. However, several recent studies consider bullying to be a group phenomenon (Meter & Card, 2015; Salmivalli, Voeten, & Poskiparta, 2011). Specifically, this new approach to bullying highlighted the importance of the peers’ role, given that they are present in more than 80% of bullying episodes (Hawkins, Pepler, & Craig, 2001). These peers, usually known as bystanders, can endorse different roles such as encouraging the aggressor, helping the victim, or passively accept bullying by watching without acting (Polanin, Espelage, & Pigott, 2012; Pronk, Goossens, Olthof, De Mey, & Willemen, 2013; Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Bjorkqvist, Osterman, & Kaukianen, 1996). Previous research showed that bystanders can have a very important role in stopping bullying episodes. Specifically, research found that bystanders can stop bullying very quickly (10-12 seconds) and that bullying decreases when bystanders intervene on behalf of the victim (Midgett, Doumas, Sears, Lundquist, & Hausheer, 2015). Given the importance of bystanders’ intervention, recent research focused on bystanders’ assertive 1 Address for correspondence: CIS-IUL – Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Edifício ISCTE – IUL, Av. das Forcas Armadas, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal. E-mail: ana_raquel_antonio@iscte-iul.pt. This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia with PhD grant awarded to the first author (PD/BD/114000/2015).