The Effect of Moral Disengagement on Bystander’s Behavior in Bullying Among Middle School Students
Main Article Content
Abstract
The aim of the current study was to examine use of moral disengagement among middle school students as bystanders to bullying, as well as the links between four domains of moral disengagement and bystander’s behaviors in bullying episode, including pro-bullying,
victim-defending and passive bystanding behavior. Participants included 736 adolescents from the urban area of Hanoi (Mage = 13.69; 53.1% male). According to the main hypotheses, all four domains of moral disengagement were negatively correlated with victim-defending behavior and positively correlated with passive bystanding behavior, whereas only three sets of mechanisms were found to be related to pro-bullying behavior, including minimizing one’s agentive role, consequences distortion, and victim attribution. Linear regression analyses indicated that bystander’s behaviors were predicted by minimizing one’s agentive role. Differences regarding gender and grade were also found. These results highlight the importance of particular moral disengagement sets of mechanisms and have potential implications for prevention tackling bullying.
Keywords:
school bullying, bystander, moral disengagement, pro-bullying behavior, defending behavior, middle school
References
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[34] C. D. Pornari, J. Wood, Peer and Cyber Aggression in Secondary School Students: The Role of Moral Disengagement, Hostile Attribution Bias, and Outcome Expectancies, Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2010, pp. 81-94.
[35] S. Perren, E. Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying in Adolescence: Differential Roles of Moral Disengagement, Moral Emotions, and Moral Values, European Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2012, pp. 195-209.
[36] K. Bussey, A. Luo, S. Fitzpatrick, K. Allison, Defending Victims of Cyberbullying: The Role of Self-efficacy and Moral Disengagemen, Journal of School Psychology, Vol. 78, 2020, pp. 1-12.
[37] S. C. Caravita, J. J. Sijtsema, J. A. Rambaran, G. Gini, Peer Influences on Moral Disengagement in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2014, pp. 193-207.
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[39] M. L. Obermann, Moral Disengagement Among Bystanders to School Bullying, Journal of School Violence, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2011, pp. 239-257, https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2011.578276.
[40] S. C. Caravita, G. Gini, T. Pozzoli, Main and Moderated Effects of Moral Cognition and Status on Bullying and Defending, Aggressive Behavior, Vol. 38, No. 6, 2012, pp. 456-468.
[41] J. M. Darley, B. Latané, Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of Responsibility, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 4, Part 1, 1968, pp. 377-383.
[42] C. Salmivalli, Bullying and the Peer Group: A Review, Special Issue on Group Processes and Aggression, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2010, pp. 112-120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2009.08.007.
[2] W. M. Craig, D. Pepler, R. Atlas, Observations of Bullying in the Playground and in the Classroom, School Psychology International, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2000, pp. 22-36, https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034300211002.
[3] D. Hawkins, D. Pepler, W. Craig, Naturalistic Observations of Peer Interventions in Bullying, Social Development, Vol. 10, 2001, pp. 512-527, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00178.
[4] P. O’Connell, D. Pepler, W. Craig, Peer Involvement in Bullying: Insights and Challenges for Intervention, Journal of Adolescence, Vol. 22, No. 4), 1999, pp. 437-452, https://doi.org/10.1006/jado.1999.0238.
[5] K. Rigby, B. Johnson, Expressed Readiness of Australian Schoolchildren to Act as Bystanders in Support of Children Who are Being Bullied, Educational Psychology, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2006, pp. 425-440.
[6] C. Salmivalli, K. Lagerspetz, K. Björkqvist, K. Österman, A. Kaukiainen, Bullying as a Group Process: Participant Roles and Their Relations to Social Status Within the Group, Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, Vol. 22, No. 1, 1996, pp. 1-15.
[7] C. Salmivalli, R. Voeten, Connections Between Attitudes, Group Norms, and Behaviour in Bullying Situations, International Journal of Behavioral Development, Vol. 28, 2004, pp. 246-258, https://doi.org/10.1080/01650250344000488,
[8] C. Salmivalli, Participant Role Approach to School Bullying: Implications for Interventions, Journal of Adolescence, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1999, pp. 453-459,https://doi.org/10.1006/jado.1999.0239.
[9] C. Salmivalli, Participant Roles in Bullying: How Can Peer Bystanders Be Utilized in Interventions?, Theory Into Practice, Vol. 53, No. 4, 2014, pp. 286-292, https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2014.947222.
[10] N. Vannini, S. Enz, M. Sapouna, D. Wolke, S. Watson, S. Woods, K. Dautenhahn, L. Hall, A. Paiva, E. André, R. Aylett, W. Schneider, FearNot!: A Computer-based Anti-bullying-Programme Designed to Foster Peer Intervention, European Journal of Psychology of Education, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2011, pp. 21-44,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-010-0035-4.
[11] R. Thornberg, A Student in Distress: Moral Frames and Bystander Behavior in School, The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 110, No. 4, 2010, pp. 585-608.
[12] K. Barchia, K. Bussey, Predictors of Student Defenders of Peer Aggression Victims: Empathy and Social Cognitive Factors, International Journal of Behavioral Development, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2011, pp. 289-297.
[13] M. Bjärehead, R. Thornberg, L. Wänström, G. Gini, Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement and Their Associations with Indirect Bullying, Direct Bullying, and Pro-aggressive Bystander Behavior, The Journal of Early Adolescence, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2020, pp. 28-55.
[14] G. Gini, Social Cognition and Moral Cognition in Bullying: What’s Wrong?, Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, Vol. 32, No. 6, 2006, pp. 528-539.
[15] S. Hymel, N. Rocke-Henderson, R. A. Bonanno, Moral Disengagement: A Framework for Understanding Bullying Among Adolescents, Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2005, pp. 1-11.
[16] R. Thornberg, T. Jungert, Bystander Behavior in Bullying Situations: Basic Moral Sensitivity, Moral Disengagement and Defender Self-efficacy, Journal of Adolescence, Vol. 36, No. 3, 2013, pp. 475-483, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.02.003.
[17] R. Thornberg, T. Jungert, School Bullying and the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement, Aggressive Behavior, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2014, pp. 99-108.
[18] R. Thornberg, L. Wänström, T. Pozzoli, Peer Victimisation and Its Relation to Class Relational Climate and Class Moral Disengagement Among School Children, Educational Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 5, 2017, pp. 524-536,
https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2016.1150423.
[19] T. V. Cong, The Status of Peer Victimization among Vietnamese School Students, VNU Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 3, No. 4, 2017, pp. 465-479.
[20] T. V. Cong, Bullying Among Students in the Digital Age, Journal of Psychology - Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vol. 11, No. 236, 2018, pp. 28-41.
[21] T. V. Cong, B. Weiss, D. Cole, Peer Victimization and Its Relation with Self-perception, Depression Among High School Students, Journal of Psychology - Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vol. 11, No. 128, 2009, pp. 50-59.
[22] H. T. H. Le, M. P. Dunne, M. A. Campbell, M. L. Gatton, H. T. Nguyen, N. T. Tran, Temporal Patterns and Predictors of Bullying Roles Among Adolescents in Vietnam: A school-based Cohort Study, Psychology, Health & Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2017, pp. 107-121, https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2016.1271953.
[23] P. T. T. Ba, T. Q. Anh, Cyberbullying Among High School Students and some Related Factors, Journal of Medical Research - Hanoi Medical University, Vol. 104, No. 6, 2016, pp. 35-42.
[24] T. V. Cong, N. T. H. Phuong, The Relation Between Cyberbullying and Friendship Quality Among Highschool Students in Hanoi, Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 60, No. 4, 2018, pp. 1-5.
[25] C. V. Tran, B. Weiss, N. P. H. Nguyen, Academic Achievement, and Cyber-bullying and Cyber-victimization Among Middle-and high-school Students in Vietnam, International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 2020, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2020.1837700.
[26] C. V. Tran, N. P. H. Nguyen, B. Weiss, L. V. Nguyen, D. B. Nguyen, Definition and Characteristics of “Cyberbullying” Among Vietnamese Students, VNU Journal of Science: Education Research, Vol. 34, No. 4, 2018, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.25073/2588-1159/vnuer.4212.
[27] A. Bandura, C. Barbaranelli, G. V. Caprara, C. Pastorelli, Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 71, No. 2, 1996, 364-374.
[28] A. Bandura, Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of Inhumanities, Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1999, pp. 193-209.
[29] A. Bandura, Selective Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency, Journal of Moral Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2002, pp. 101-119.
[30] A. Bandura, Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory, Englewood Cliffs, 1986.
[31] A. Bandura, Social Cognitive Theory of Moral Thought and Action, Psychology Press, 2014.
[32] A. Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People do Harm and Live with Themselves, Worth Publishers, 2016.
[33] M. J. Boulton, K. Underwood, Bully/victim Problems Among Middle School Children, British Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 62, No. 1, 1992, pp. 73-87.
[34] C. D. Pornari, J. Wood, Peer and Cyber Aggression in Secondary School Students: The Role of Moral Disengagement, Hostile Attribution Bias, and Outcome Expectancies, Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2010, pp. 81-94.
[35] S. Perren, E. Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying in Adolescence: Differential Roles of Moral Disengagement, Moral Emotions, and Moral Values, European Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2012, pp. 195-209.
[36] K. Bussey, A. Luo, S. Fitzpatrick, K. Allison, Defending Victims of Cyberbullying: The Role of Self-efficacy and Moral Disengagemen, Journal of School Psychology, Vol. 78, 2020, pp. 1-12.
[37] S. C. Caravita, J. J. Sijtsema, J. A. Rambaran, G. Gini, Peer Influences on Moral Disengagement in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2014, pp. 193-207.
[38] G. Gini, T. Pozzoli, K. Bussey, The Role of Individual and Collective Moral Disengagement in Peer Aggression and Bystanding: A Multilevel Analysis, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Vol. 43, No. 3, 2015, pp. 441-452.
[39] M. L. Obermann, Moral Disengagement Among Bystanders to School Bullying, Journal of School Violence, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2011, pp. 239-257, https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2011.578276.
[40] S. C. Caravita, G. Gini, T. Pozzoli, Main and Moderated Effects of Moral Cognition and Status on Bullying and Defending, Aggressive Behavior, Vol. 38, No. 6, 2012, pp. 456-468.
[41] J. M. Darley, B. Latané, Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of Responsibility, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 4, Part 1, 1968, pp. 377-383.
[42] C. Salmivalli, Bullying and the Peer Group: A Review, Special Issue on Group Processes and Aggression, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2010, pp. 112-120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2009.08.007.
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