Justifying the Unjustifiable: Unpacking the Temporal Associations Between Moral Disengagement and...

Drawing on social cognitive theory, moral disengagement offers an explanatory framework for behaviors that violate moral standards. However, limited research has explored its specific role in adolescent-to-parent violence, particularly within the Chinese context. This study examined whether global associations between moral disengagement and adolescent-to-parent violence, as well as the interrelations among individual components, may be associated with risk for adolescent-to-parent violence among Chinese adolescents.

A sample of 1310 Chinese adolescents (47.79% females; M_age = 14.05 years, SD = 0.65, range = 13-16) completed self-report measures of moral disengagement and adolescent-to-parent violence at two waves spaced 3 months apart. Data were analyzed using both structural equation modeling and network analyses.

Moral disengagement was a risk factor for subsequent adolescent-to-parent violence. When examining specific components, displacement of responsibility showed the strongest link with adolescent-to-parent violence, whereas psychological violence was most closely related to moral disengagement. Moreover, previous moral justification and displacement of responsibility were associated with increases in all forms of adolescent-to-parent violence. Adolescents reporting higher levels of psychological violence were more likely to show increased endorsement of all eight moral disengagement mechanisms over time. These findings suggest that bidirectional associations between moral disengagement and adolescent-to-parent violence emerge through specific mechanisms and behavioral forms rather than at the aggregate construct level.

These findings highlight the importance of addressing displacement of responsibility, moral justification, and psychological violence as potential intervention targets that may play a role in disrupting the cognitive-behavioral cycle of adolescent-to-parent violence.