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Published on: March 1, 2019
Individual and class moral disengagement in bullying among elementary school children
Tiziana Pozzoli1, Gianluca Gini, Alessio Vieno
1Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padova, Italy. tiziana.pozzoli@unipd.it
Abstract:
A cross-sectional study from a sample of 663 elementary school children assessed the four sets of moral disengagement mechanisms conceptualized by Bandura (i.e., cognitive restructuring, minimizing one's agentive role, disregarding/distorting the consequences, blaming/dehumanizing the victim) at both the individual and the class level. Additionally, an analysis of the relations of these mechanisms to pro-bullying behavior was conducted. Multilevel analysis showed a significant relationship between cognitive restructuring and individual pro-bullying behavior. Moreover, between-class variability of pro-bullying behavior was positively related to minimizing one's agentive role and blaming/dehumanizing the victim at the class level. Conversely, class disregarding/distorting the consequences was negatively associated with between-class variation in the outcome behavior. Implications for understanding the role of morality in children's bullying are discussed.
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