Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology; Vol. 8, No. 2; 2018 ISSN 1927-0526 E-ISSN 1927-0534 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 174 Bystanders in Bullying: Do ToM and Social Competence Skills Play a Role? Panayiota Metallidou 1 , Magdalini Baxevani 1 & Grigoris Kiosseoglou 1 1 School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Correspondence: Panayiota Metallidou, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece. Tel: 30-2310-997-972; 30-2310-997-384.E-mail: pmetall@psy.auth.gr Received: August 30, 2018 Accepted: September 7, 2018 Online Published: September 18, 2018 doi:10.5539/jedp.v8n2p174 URL: http://doi.org/10.5539/jedp.v8n2p174 Abstract The present study aimed at investigating: (a) the direct effects of Theory of Mind (ToM) on elementary school children’s self-reports of participant roles in school bullying, (b) ToM’s indirect effects via self-reported social competence skills. Gender was examined as moderator. A total of 171 elementary school children (Ν = 95 girls) from 3 rd to 6 th grade from Greek public schools participated in the study. Participants were examined individually through the administration of advanced ToM stories. Also, they were asked to complete in groups self-report questionnaires as regards their roles as bystanders in bullying situations and their social competence skills. Path analysis indicated significant positive direct effects of ToM on prosocial skills and defending behavior and a negative effect on assisting/reinforcing behavior. Significant indirect effects were found from ToM on bystanding behavior, via its direct effect on prosocial competence skills. Gender was not a significant moderator of the above relations. Keywords: bystanders in bullying, elementary school children, social competence, school bullying, theory of mind 1. Introduction In the last two decades there is a growing research interest for one of the most pervasive forms of school violence, school bullying. Given the well-documented adverse consequences of bullying victimization in students’ academic life, social functioning, and mental health, understanding its determinants in the school context is still a priority for teachers, parents and researchers. Bullying in the present study is defined as a proactive form of aggression which is characterized by imbalance of power and the bully's intention to repeatedly hurt physically and/or psychologically the victim (see Olweus, 1993). It involves traditional types of bullying (not cyberbullying), that are witnessed in school settings (e.g., hit, making laugh of, threat, tease or offend other kids). According to the evidence, school bullying occurs within a social context. This evidenced-based emphasis on the social nature of bullying has resulted in the adoption of a participant role approach and the consideration of bullying as a group process, a collective behavior (see Gini, 2006; Salmivalli, 2010; Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Bjorkqvist, Osterman, &Kankiainen, 1996; Sutton & Smith, 1999). Children may take several roles in addition to bully and victim, by helping the bully (assistants), laughing and providing the bully with positive feedback (reinforcers), sticking up for the victim (defenders) or remaining uninvolved and, thus, silently approve bullying (outsiders) (see also Gini, Albiero, Benelli, &Altoe, 2008). Research evidence has shown ‘moderate’ stability in the roles children adopt over time, implying that they may adopt multiple participant roles at the same time, depending on personal and situational factors (see Maunder & Crafter, 2018). Why someone chooses to defend a victim or to withdraw and stay silent in a bullying situation is still a puzzling question. The examination of motives, cognitions, and other personal characteristics of bystanders has recently attracted research interest, in an attempt to understand the dynamics in bullying as a group-based phenomenon (Forsberg, Thornberg, & Samuelsson, 2014; Pronk, Goossens, Olthof, De Mey, &Willemen, 2013; Van der Ploeg, Kretschmer, Salmivali, &Veenstra, 2017). Bystanders (e.g. reinforcers vs defenders) ‘matter’, as have been found to predict the frequency of bullying incidents in elementary classrooms and, thus, should be the target of interventions as well (Salmivali, Voeten, &Poskiparta, 2011). Almost 24-30% of children have been found not to take side or to withdraw from bullying incidents (see Salmivali, 2010 for a review). Research, though, is still limited as regards their cognitions, skills, and motives (e.g., Pronk et al., 2013), as most of the studies have examined the individual and contextual predictors for the three main groups of