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Moral Disengagement: A Framework for Understanding Bullying Among Adolescents
Abstract
Bullying, a subcategory of aggressive beha-vior, is encountered regularly by children and adolescents in the context of schools worldwide (for an overview see Smith et al., 1999; Whitney and Smith, 1993). In Canada, self-report data indicate that 8 to 9% of elementary school children are bullied frequently (i.e., once or more a week) and about 2 to 5% of students bully others frequently (Bentley and Li, 1995; Charach, Pepler, and Ziegler, 1995). Among adolescents, at the secondary school level, rates are somewhat higher, with 10 to 11% of students reporting that they are frequently victimized by peers, and another 8 to 11% reporting that they frequently bully others (Vaillancourt and Hymel, 2001). Observational studies show that, although peers are present in most bullying situations (85 to 88%), they seldom intervene on behalf of victims (11% to 25% of the time) (Atlas and Pepler, 1998; Craig and Pepler, 1997) and many students just watch, while others even join in (O'Connell, Pepler, and Craig, 1999). Although bullying is a common experience for students around the world, it is a complex social problem that can have serious negative consequences for both bullies and victims (see Salmivalli, 1999; Smith and Brain, 2000). The negative effects of bullying are well documented, not only in terms of the psychological harm that is inflicted upon victims, but also in terms of the maladaptive outcomes for children who engage in bullying. Studies from countries around the globe tell us that bullying behavior predicts later criminality and delinquency (Olweus, 1991; Pulkkinen and Pitkanen, 1993) and is associated with both externalizing and internalizing diffi-culties (see Juvonen and Graham, 2001; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Marttunen, Rimpela, and Rantanen, 1999; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Rantanen, and Rimpela, 2000; Swearer and Doll, 2001). Victimization is associated with both physical and mental health difficulties (Rigby 2001; Slee, 1995) as well as school disliking and avoidance that, in turn, can affect academic performance (Hodges and Perry, 1996; Juvonen, Nishina, and Graham, 2000). A growing body of evidence further suggests that children who are both bullies and victims are at even greater risk than children who are either bullies or victims (Austin and Joseph, 1996; Haynie et al., 2001; Nansel et al., 2001). Perhaps most alarming is the number of teens who have ended their own lives because of both bullying and victimization (see Marr and Field, 2001). Researchers, educators, parents, and commu-nities are struggling to understand how it is that our adolescents, most of whom we believe to be good, caring individuals, behave in ways that condone and maintain bullying, with a substantial number of students engaging directly in bullying behavior or failing to do anything to stop it. The picture that has emerged is a complicated one. A growing body of research suggests that bullying and peer harassment emerge as a result of a number of different factors, not just one (e.g., Baldry and Farrington, 2000; Espelage, Bosworth, and Simon, 2000; Pepler, Craig, and O'Connell, 1999; Swearer and Doll, 2001). Such problems are not solely the result of individual characteristics of the student, poor home environments, ineffective parenting and school practices, "bad influences," peer pressure, or exposure to violent media, etc. but rather, reflect a complex interplay among these factors. In this regard, we concur with Swearer and Doll (2001) in arguing for an ecological pers-pective on bullying in an effort to understand how both individual characteristics of the bully and victim as well as family, peer, school, cultural, and community factors each contributes to the likelihood of bullying and peer harassment. In light of this perspective, we have become increas-ingly convinced of the importance of the peer group and the social climate of the school in terms of their contributions to bullying and peer harass-ment. Accordingly, we have worked directly with schools to examine how the school climate, as reflected by student attitudes and beliefs about bullying, contribute to the maintenance of bully-ing problems in schools. Student attitudes and beliefs can play a significant role in supporting bullying behavior.
... Bandura's scale also has other versions, such as the short version consisting of 14 items for use with elementary school children and a 24-item version adjusted to adolescents (Gini et al., 2014). Since the development of Bandura's measure, some studies have created new moral disengagement scales from Bandura's original scale to make the scale more applicable to bullying or cyberbullying (Bussey et al., 2015;Hymel et al., 2005;Thornberg & Jungert, 2014). These measures were developed in an attempt to reflect the different mechanisms of moral disengagement. ...
... Ever since the development of Bandura's moral disengagement scale, several studies have created new measures of moral disengagement in the context of bullying (Bussey et al., 2015;Hymel et al., 2005;Thornberg & Jungert, 2014). The current study's main goal was to create a valid and reliable score interpretation of the measure that demonstrated a factor structure reflective of the moral disengagement mechanisms. ...
... Similar to Bandura's 32-item moral disengagement measure, a single factor fits the data best. Even though the intent of the measure was to create a multidimensional measure, the results of the factor structure support the possible unidimensionality of the moral disengagement measure, aligning with previous studies (Bussey et al., 2015;Hymel et al., 2005) including Bandura's original moral disengagement scale (Bandura et al., 1996). The results show that MDBBS is only appropriate to measure moral disengagement as a global construct. ...
To understand the underlying cognitive processes of youth involved in bullying has been of interest in bullying literature. The mechanisms of moral disengagement have gained considerable attention in research as an underlying motive for why youth engage in bullying behaviors. The current study focused on developing a new moral disengagement measure that would incorporate the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement with bullying behaviors. The current study investigated the new measure’s psychometric properties. Factor analyses of the data resulted in a single-factor 14-item measure with evidence of good fit. Further evidence of reliability and validity for the test score interpretation was provided.
... Adolescents are well into the process of moral development (Kohlberg & Hersh, 1977), and it is conceptually consistent that they would be able to engage in cognitive strategies, such as moral disengagement, to justify their behavior. Previous research has identified moral disengagement as a key correlate of bullying and cyberbullying behavior (Hymel et al., 2005;Pornari & Wood, 2010), and teens in this study might have utilized moral justification (i.e., cognitive restructuring of harmful behavior as righteous) and attribution of blame (i.e., placing the blame of the harmful act on someone else) to rationalize their behavior (Bandura, 2002). Further, the results of the current study align with findings that tendencies to feel threatened or victimized may catalyze utilization of moral disengagement and ultimately encourage unethical behavior (Chugh et al., 2014). ...
... Further, the results of the current study align with findings that tendencies to feel threatened or victimized may catalyze utilization of moral disengagement and ultimately encourage unethical behavior (Chugh et al., 2014). Interestingly, the present study's results did not necessarily align with a previous finding where bullies reported greater moral disengagement whereas bully-victims reported decreased moral disengagement (Hymel et al., 2005). In contrast, the present results suggest that moral disengagement was a key correlate of bully perpetration for bullies as well as bully-victims. ...
The current study examined the relations among socio-cognitive attitudes such as right-wing authoritarianism (submission to authority figures, aggressive behavior in the name of those authority figures, and conformance to social conventions) and moral disengagement (the justification of harmful actions) as they relate to teen bullying perpetration and victimization. Analyses tested a moderated mediation model among 212 ninth-grade students attending a public high school. Right-wing authoritarianism was directly linked to increased self-reported frequency of bullying perpetration and indirectly linked to bullying perpetration via perceptions of victimization. Both the direct and indirect effects were moderated by moral disengagement. That is, right-wing authoritarianism was only linked to higher levels of bullying perpetration when moral disengagement was also higher. Findings from the current study may help inform bullying prevention and intervention techniques as well as provide further insight regarding the etiology of bullying behaviors.
... Bandura et al., (1996) suggested that moral disengagement is based on cognitive mechanisms that make it possible to support behavior contrary to moral values without guilt. Hymel et al., (2005) explained, individuals rarely accept that their behavior is immoral. Individuals will show and justify wrong behavior by involving various kinds of circumstances outside the context that affect behavior. ...
... Participants were obtained through simple random sampling technique. The scale used in the data collection process is the moral disengagement scale adapted from the scale of Hymel et al (2005). This scale reveals the four dimensions of moral disengagement, namely cognitive restructuring, minimizing agency, distortion of negative consequences and blaming/dehumanizing the victim. ...
Penggunaan media sosial meningkatkan keterlibatan dalam perilaku cyberbullying dikalangan remaja. Ketika melakukan perilaku tersebut para remaja menganggap perilaku cyberbullying merupakan hal yang biasa dan wajar yang dikenal dengan moral disengagement. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan antara moral disengagement dengan perilaku cyberbullying pada remaja pengguna media sosial. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif korelasional untuk mengetahui hubungan kedua variabel. Patisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah remaja yang menggunakan smartphone dan aktif menggunakan media sosial dengan rentang usia 15-18 tahun. Sampel penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 265 remaja yang bersekolah disalah satu SMAN di Pekanbaru. Teknik pengambilan sampel bersifat non-probability sampling dengan teknik pengambilan sampel perposive sampling. Instrumen yang digunakan pada penelitian ini adalah skala moral disengagement yang berasal dari Hymel dan skala perilaku cyberbullying yang disusun berdasarkan bentuk-bentuk cyberbullying Willard. Berdasarkan analisis pearson correlation diperoleh nilai koefisien r = 0,205, dengan signifikansi (p) sebesar 0,001 (p ≤ 0,05). Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa adanya hubungan antara moral disengagement dengan cyberbullying pada remaja pengguna media sosial Keywords: moral disengagement; cyberbullying; remaja; media sosial
... Man bekräftigte, dass der kognitive Mechanismus des Beschuldigens des Opfers im Wesentlichen Außenstehendenverhalten erklären kann (Thornberg, 2011;Forsberg et al., 2014;Mazzone et al., 2016). Weil Verteidigerverhalten als eine "proaktive Moralform" gewertet werden kann (Kollerovà et al., 2015), ein negativer - Mazzone et al., 2016, S.428 Auch wenn es schlussfolgernd argumentativ schwerfällt, dem Konstrukt "Moral (Bandura et al., 1996;Barriga & Gibbs, 1996;Menesini et al., 2003;Hymel et al., 2005;Gini, 2006;Perren et al., 2012). Zum anderen existieren Erklärungsansätze auf moralischer Ebene, die in ihrer Erklärungskraft gleichwertig andere Schwerpunkte innerhalb des Themenkomplexes Moral setzen (Gasser & Keller, 2009;Perren et al., 2012;Doehne et al., 2018;erweitert vgl. ...
Warum funktioniert die Aktivierung der Außenstehenden nicht? Oder genauer gefragt: Wieso gelingt es Präventions- wie Interventionsprogrammen nicht, eine große Untergruppe der Antibullies, die zusammen mit Verteidigern insgesamt durchschnittlich 60% einer Schulklasse bilden, so zu befähigen, dass Mobbing vielleicht kaum, aber in jedem Fall schwerer eine Chance hat, sich zu entfalten? Die vorliegende Arbeit hebt zwei wesentliche Aspekte zur Klärung dieser zentralen, international geteilten Forschungsfrage heraus: die Heterogenität der Außenstehenden und die Rolle des Konstruktes Personal Distress. Auf Basis zweier Datensätze (NH=1631, NN=326) von deutschen Siebt- bis Zehntklässlern verschiedener Schultypen werden beide Aspekte und deren Interdependenzen anhand zweier aus bestehender Theorie abgeleiteten Forschungsfragen validiert und anschließend in bestehendes Wissen integriert, um die Bedeutsamkeit wie Grenzen der Erklärungskraft beider Aspekte zu kontrastieren.
... This scale was specifically developed in Swedish for the overarching longitudinal project to capture moral disengagement in peer aggression. Previous scales have commonly addressed either moral disengagement in more general antisocial behavior (Bandura et al., 1996), or specifically in bullying situations (Hymel et al., 2005;Thornberg and Jungert, 2014). The scale used in the current study has previously demonstrated adequate psychometric properties among Swedish school children (Thornberg et al., 2019;Bjärehed et al., 2021;Sjögren et al., 2021a;Bjärehed, 2022). ...
The aim of this study was to examine whether collective moral disengagement and authoritative teaching at the classroom level, and student-teacher relationship quality at the individual level, predicted individual moral disengagement among pre-adolescent students 1 year later. In this short-term longitudinal study, 1,373 students from 108 classrooms answered a web-based questionnaire on tablets during school, once in fifth grade (T1) and once in sixth grade (T2). The results showed, after controlling for T1 moral disengagement, gender, and immigrant background, that students with better student-teacher relationship quality at T1 were more inclined to score lower on moral disengagement at T2, whereas students in classrooms with higher levels of collective moral disengagement at T1 were more inclined to score higher on moral disengagement at T2. In addition, both collective moral disengagement and authoritative teaching were found to moderate the associations between student-teacher relationship quality at T1 and moral disengagement at T2. These findings underscore the importance of fostering positive relationships between students and teachers, as well as minimizing collective moral disengagement in classrooms. These measures may prevent the potential escalation of moral disengagement in a negative direction.
... Les dimensions morales et éthiques du harcèlement ont été reconnues (Hymel et al., 2005 ;Menesini et al., 2003) et explorées à la fois théoriquement et empiriquement au cours des quinze dernières années. Aborder les dimensions morales présuppose que le harcèlement soit considéré comme relevant du domaine moral, c'est-à-dire comme un (non-) 1 comportement affectant les droits et le bien-être d'autrui (par exemple, Smetana, 2006). ...
Ce texte propose une compréhension contextualisée de l'éthique professionnelle (professional ethos) des enseignants. Le postulat de départ est que l'éthique professionnelle est spécifique à un domaine. Cela signifie qu'elle se manifeste ou s'exprime différemment selon le domaine concerné. Cela implique aussi l'hypothèse que le domaine « contenu », c'est-à-dire ce à quoi l'éthique se réfère, a une influence sur la manière dont l'éthique est, devrait être et sa manifestation. Le domaine traité ici est celui des relations sociales à l'école. Nous nous concentrons sur le phénomène du harcèlement scolaire, un phénomène important qui concerne la santé, le bien-être, mais aussi l'apprentissage, le travail et les performances des élèves. Nous adoptons une perspective ascendante (bottom-up). Cela signifie que l'éthique professionnelle des enseignants est reconstruite, à partir du phénomène du harcèlement, et mise en relation avec une conception multidimensionnelle de l'éthique professionnelle.
... These overlapping meanings may have resulted in high correlations among these items, making it challenging to identify distinct subconstructs within the factor structure of the instrument. Using measures of MD different to the MDS (Hymel et al., 2005;Thornberg & Jungert, 2014) or new culturally tailored MD scales could offer a more accurate depiction of this construct in different contexts. In this study, the 13-item version of the scale proved highly effective in capturing the moral disengagement processes employed by Colombian children and adolescents to rationalize and justify aggressive behaviors comprehensively. ...
The Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS) is a widely employed tool for assessing moral neutralization strategies in the context of bullying. However, studies conducted globally exhibit inconsistencies in both the factor structure and the number of items comprising the MDS. This study was conducted to assess the reliability and factor structure of the MDS within a sample of Colombian adolescents (N = 375; M age = 13.3; SD = 1.69) and to compare the use of MD mechanisms across victims, perpetrators, non-involved students, and bystanders of school bullying. To begin, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) compared the fit indices of theoretical models proposed in the existing literature. The results revealed that all previously suggested models exhibited similar fit indices, indicating that these structures could be equally applicable for evaluating various dimensions of moral disengagement among adolescent populations. In order to identify the most suitable model for our culturally specific sample, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) pointed towards a more concise 13-item version of the MDS as the optimal solution. Individuals meeting the scores for “bullies” employed more MD mechanisms compared to victims and non-involved students. There were no significant differences in MDS scores between pro-victim bystanders and those remaining passive or supporting aggressors. In light of these findings, targeting cognitive mechanisms that neutralize moral self-sanctions in perpetrators and potential bystanders of bullying may prove to be a valuable strategy in enhancing the effectiveness of anti-bullying interventions.
... The moral disengagement scale regarding school bullying is used to assess the middle and high school students (Hymel et al., 2005). The scale involves cognitive restructuring, minimizing agency, distorting negative consequences, and dehumanizing the victim. ...
Several studies have explored the link between bullying victimization, antisocial behavior, moral disengagement, sleep quality, and family relationships. However, empirical findings on several of these links are contradictory and their nature requires further explanation. This investigation examines the mediation effects of moral disengagement and sleep quality and the moderation effect of family relationship on the link between bullying victimization and antisocial behavior. A total of 659 middle and high school students were selected to complete self-report questionnaires assessing the experience of bullying victimization, antisocial behavior, moral disengagement, sleep quality, and family relationship. Structural equation modeling results indicate that moral disengagement and sleep quality fully mediate the effect of bullying victimization on antisocial behavior. Both direct effect of bullying victimization on antisocial behavior and indirect effect through sleep quality are significantly moderated by family relationship. These findings contribute to further understanding of the underlying mechanism in the association between bullying victimization and adolescent antisocial behavior. Intervention programs that enhance family relationship and sleep quality but decrease moral disengagement can reduce the risk of antisocial behavior in the context of bullying victimization.
Although previous studies have indicated that adverse childhood experiences profoundly impact children's psychological and behavioural development, comprehensive investigations into the direct and indirect mechanisms through which maltreatment affects bullying perpetration among Chinese children are lacking. This study aims to explore the effect of maltreatment on children's bullying perpetration and the potential mediating role of moral disengagement. Moreover, the gender and household registration differences in the associations are also investigated. Employing a multistage cluster sampling method, 1318 questionnaires were collected (612 males, 706 females, mean age = 15). Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the hypothesized theoretical model. The findings reveal that the experiences of maltreatment in early childhood directly influence children's bullying perpetration, with moral disengagement potentially mediating this association. Furthermore, substantial gender disparities exist in the effect of maltreatment on bullying perpetration, and notable variations based on household registration are observed in the association of maltreatment on children's moral disengagement. These findings enhance our understanding of how childhood maltreatment affects children's bullying perpetration and offer valuable insights for the development of social policy and intervention programmes targeting child maltreatment and school bullying.
p> Moral degradation behavior that often occurs in students in general is of particular concern to researchers when they should have an important role as agents of social change in society. This moral degradation behavior describes moral disengagement, namely a person's cognitive mechanism to justify inhumane or morally violating behavior. The purpose of this research is to determine the influence of locus of control on moral disengagement in student organization administrators at Al Azhar University Indonesia. This research uses a quantitative approach with simple linear regression analysis techniques. The subjects in this research were 81 people with the characteristics of being active students who served as administrators in several student organizations at UAI. The research results show that locus of control can be a predictor of moral disengagement in student organization administrators at UAI. The locus of control variable contributes to moral disengagement amounting to 58.9% and the rest is due to other factors.
Keywords - Locus of Control, Moral Disengagement, Student Organization Administrators .</p
The purpose of this research was to describe bullying on the playground The subjects were children observed either bullying or being victimized on the playground. Bullying episodes were identified with 90% inter-rater agreement. Bullying occurred regularly on the playground, approximately once every seven minutes and was of short duration, 38 seconds. The majority of bullying episodes (68%) occurred within 120 feet of the school building. Adults were found to have intervened in 4% of the episodes, while peers intervened in 11% of the episodes. However, adults were more likely to intervene than peers if they were present. Peers were involved in some capacity in 85% of the episodes. Boys bullied more than girls and were more likely to bully victims of the same-sex and repeatedly target the same victim. There were no gender differences in the type of bullying and aggression. Children in the primary and junior grades were equally likely to be involved in bullying and tended to bully students from the same grade level. The results are discussed from an individual difference, socialinteractional, and ecological perspective.
Bullying was investigated as a group process, a social phenomenon taking place in a school setting among 573 Finnish sixth-grade children (286 girls, 287 boys) aged 12–13 years. Different Participant Roles taken by individual children in the bullying process were examined and related to a) self-estimated behavior in bullying situations, b) social acceptance and social rejection, and c) belongingness to one of the five sociometric status groups (popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average). The Participant Roles assigned to the subject were Victim, Bully, Reinforcer of the bully, Assistant of the bully, Defender of the victim, and Outsider. There were significant sex differences in the distribution of Participant Roles. Boys were more frequently in the roles of Bully, Reinforcer and Assistant, while the most frequent roles of the girls were those of Defender and Outsider. The subjects were moderately well aware of their Participant Roles, although they underestimated their participation in active bullying behavior and emphasized that they acted as Defenders and Outsiders. The sociometric status of the children was found to be connected to their Participant Roles. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The Anti-Bullying Handbook is an essential source of information which provides a clear overview of what we understand about bullying. This fully revised second edition of Keith Sullivan's very popular book is an ideal resource to increase knowledge on a difficult subject. It covers a vast range of issues with clarity and precision. It has been updated and expanded to include: What we know and can do about cyber bullying; Using puppet theatre to teach Early Childhood and Primary Children about bullying; Confronting issues through using a collaborative and restorative justice techniques; Social Action Drama This book is for parents, teachers, administrators, counselors, therapists, psychologists, teacher trainers and students. Keith Sullivan is a widely published author. He is professor of Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Building a school culture that does not tolerate acts of physical or emotional aggression by anyone is based on five key components
The prevalence and nature of bullying was assessed on the basis of observations of children's interactions in the classroom. This study was based on a systemic-developmental model of bullying and victimization. Participants were drawn from 1 public school in metropolitan Toronto. Twenty-seven children (19 boys, 8 girls) identified by teachers as aggressive and nonaggressive were targeted for filming. The 27 children were identified from the total number of students (N = 190) in the 8 classrooms. There were 60 bullying episodes observed from 28 hr of video and remote audio recordings of classroom observations. Bullying occurred twice every hour in the classroom and was short in duration. The boys and girls bullied at the same rate. Peers were involved in some capacity (from actively participating to passively onlooking) in 85% of the bullying episodes. Results suggest that bullying unfolds in a peer context in the classroom and is related to the type of classroom activity and individual characteristics of children involved in bullying conflicts.