Peer Interdependence in Bullying Victimization, Self-Compassion, and Moral Disengagement: A Dyadic Analysis of Early...

Moral disengagement plays a critical role in adolescents' social adjustment, and growing evidence suggests that peer characteristics may be linked to its development. However, limited research has explored how best friend's adverse experiences and emotion regulation strategies relate to adolescents' moral strategies. Bullying victimization and self-compassion, as salient adverse experiences and emotion regulation processes during adolescence, have been associated with moral disengagement, but the interpersonal patterns of these associations remain unclear. To address this gap, the present study applied the actor-partner interdependence model in a six-month longitudinal design to examine how adolescents' own (actor effects) and best friend's (partner effects) bullying victimization experiences and self-compassion were associated with their moral disengagement over time. The study sample included 105 same-gender friend dyads (120 boys; M_age = 13.42, SD = 0.87) recruited from middle schools in Guangdong, China. Results showed that only adolescents' own bullying victimization, not that of their best friend, was significantly associated with their moral disengagement. Both adolescents' and their best friend's self-compassion were negatively associated with moral disengagement, with a relatively stronger actor effect (β = -0.191 vs. -0.113). These findings underscore the individual-specific nature of the link between bullying victimization and moral disengagement, while also highlighting the potential interpersonal relevance of best friend's self-compassion in adolescents' moral strategies.