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Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model. Note: The coefficients were standardized after estimation (model input was unstandardized). Dashed arrows show non-significant paths. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
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Precursors and consequences of bullying have been widely explored, but much remains unclear about the association of moral and motivational factors. This study examined longitudinal associations between need for popularity, moral disengagement, and bullying perpetration. A total of 3017 participants, aged 11 to 16 years in wave 1 (49% girls; M age...
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Context 1
... variables within the same wave (from W2 to W4) were constrained over time showing an excellent fit, and this did not differ significantly from the model 3 (Δχ² (6) = 1.86, p > 0.05, ΔCFI = 0.002 and ΔRMSEA = −0.003) . Consequently, the model 4 was retain as the most parsimonious model. The associations between the variables are illustrated in Fig. 2 through the standardized coefficients. First, at the between-person level, the random intercept accounted for the stable differences between adolescents (i.e., with respect to their classmates) on the study variables. The random intercepts of need for popularity were positively correlated with moral disengagement and bullying, and the ...
Context 2
... random intercept accounted for the stable differences between adolescents (i.e., with respect to their classmates) on the study variables. The random intercepts of need for popularity were positively correlated with moral disengagement and bullying, and the random intercepts of moral disengagement and bullying were also positively correlated (see Fig. 2). This suggests that those adolescents with high levels-compared with the average classroom-on one of the focal variables during any of the four waves also tended to have high levels on the other focal ...
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Bullying and victimization have been of interest to a wide variety of disciplines for years due to their serious consequences (Zych et al., 2019). The focus has primarily been on personality factors which have significant associations with bully- ing perpetration. These factors include CU traits, empathy, and moral disengagement (e.g., Gini, 2006;...
Citations
... Numerous international studies have found that individuals with higher levels of moral disengagement are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior, but their motivations for antisocial behavior vary widely (Killer et al., 2019;Romera et al., 2021;Teng et al., 2020;Thornberg et al., 2019). However, there is a lack of research on this topic in the Pakistani context. ...
... Several studies have confirmed that children and adults with higher levels of moral disengagement beliefs exhibit increased aggression and a greater tendency to engage in bullying behaviors (Killer et al., 2019;Teng et al., 2020;Thornberg et al., 2019). Similarly, Romera et al. (2021) found that children and adolescents with elevated moral disengagement beliefs were primarily motivated to engage in bullying behaviors to gain popularity. Numerous studies have been conducted to identify differences in moral disengagement beliefs among bullies, victims, and bully-victims (Gini et al., 2014;Runions et al., 2019;Thornberg and Jungert, 2014). ...
Introduction: Bullying is a significant social problem that affects educational institutions worldwide, including those in Pakistan. This study extends the existing literature by going beyond reporting the prevalence and consequences of bullying in Pakistan. It examines the prevalence of different bully groups among university students (N = 1,034; male = 361; female = 665) and explores the relationships between their characteristics, moral disengagement beliefs, and perceptions about motivations for bullying perpetration.
Methods: The present study used a cross-sectional design. Descriptive analyses, Pearson correlations, one-way ANOVA, and independent t-tests were conducted.
Results: Approximately one-quarter of students identified themselves as victims only, while 14% of students identified themselves as both victims and perpetrators of bullying. Most students reported frustration as the primary motive for engaging in aggressive acts. In addition, students with higher moral disengagement beliefs were more likely to engage in bullying behavior, with the highest correlation observed between moral disengagement and bullying as a means of demonstrating power and superiority. Significant differences in perceived motivations for bullying were also observed between the victim and bully-victim groups. Analyses showed that male students were more likely to be involved in bullying others, while female students showed higher levels of fear of victimization within educational institutions.
Discussion: The results implicate the need for innovations in programs and the inclusion of moral disengagement measures. Identifying the key mechanisms underlying behavioral change away from bullying should be a central focus of anti-bullying prevention and intervention programs. KEYWORDS bullying groups, moral disengagement beliefs, perceptions about motivations behind bullying, university students in Pakistan, peer and teacher interventions
... This study aimed to examine the relational model of hostile attribution bias, moral disengagement, and reactive aggression component of cyberbullying using a verified method, that is, crosslagged design (e.g., Romera et al., 2021). The traditional crosslagged panel model (CLPM) and random intercept-cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) could identify the direction of the relationship between two variables which are widely used and are adequate statistical strategies for analyzing longitudinal data (Orth et al., 2024). ...
Objective: Although cyberbullying refers to proactive and reactive aggression, the cognitive mechanism regarding the component of reactive aggression is relatively ignored. Method: We addressed this issue by conducting a three-wave longitudinal survey with random intercept cross-lagged panel models in six Chinese universities (N = 1,258, 18–27 years, 55% females). Results: The results show that, after considering sex differences, within-person changes in cyberbullying were longitudinally predicted by a serial effect of hostile attribution bias and moral disengagement, and the within-person changes of moral disengagement acted as a mediator in the serial effect. Conclusion: The findings support the ideas regarding the novel cognitive mechanisms of cyberbullying from the perspective of its potential reactive aggression component, with moral disengagement playing a mediating role. Our results suggest that negative cognition tendencies may be an important risk factor for cyberbullying behavior.
... 15,16 Because aggressive behaviors can sometimes help adolescents gain social status, they might feel motivated to behave aggressively to get their desired social recognition. 17 Accordingly, previous research indicates that a high need for popularity is associated with increased engagement in various forms of cyberviolence, such as cyberbullying 18,19 or nonconsensual sexting. 20 To the authors' knowledge, no study has yet explored this relation in the context of cyberhate. ...
... The present study's findings suggest a potential relation between the need for online popularity and cyberhate involvement, in the same way as occurs with other forms of cyberviolence. [17][18][19][20] Thus, the need for online popularity may be a factor that amplifies the use of hateful behavior to achieve this goal. One of the possible explanations that lead adolescents to choose cyberhate to this end is the need for group conformity, status enhancement, or power, which have been found to be critical motives for cyberhate sending. ...
... Previous studies have revealed that adolescents seeking popularity in digital environments more frequently employ moral disengagement mechanisms to justify actions that lead them toward their goals. 17 These mechanisms have also been shown to moderate the relation between witnessing and sending it. 10 Therefore, adolescents who search for cyberhate and are attracted by the level of engagement it generates might justify using hateful behaviors to achieve the desired acceptance and popularity online. ...
Cyberhate, also known as hate speech, has emerged as a significant global concern. Existing research suggests that adolescents are primarily involved in cyberhate as bystanders, mainly unintentionally. However, there is growing evidence that some adolescents intentionally search for such content. Some indications suggest that actively searching for cyberhate may align more closely with sending it than mere exposure, hinting at a potentially risky behavior. Yet, the association between cyberhate searching and sending and the factors that may influence this relation has not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, the present study investigated (1) whether cyberhate searching is associated with sending and (2) whether the need for online popularity and toxic online disinhibition moderate this relation. The sample comprises 2,539 students (49.1 percent boys, 49.2 percent girls, and 1.7 percent others) aged 11–18 years (M = 14.07, SD = 1.39) from 18 middle and high schools in Spain. Self-report questionnaires were administered to assess cyberhate searching and sending, the need for online popularity, and toxic online disinhibition. Results indicated that cyberhate searching is positively associated with sending. Likewise, the high need for online popularity and toxic online disinhibition have strengthened this relation. These findings suggest that searching for cyberhate constitutes a risky behavior and highlight the importance of addressing the need for online popularity and toxic online disinhibition in cyberhate prevention programs.
... Among these factors, there are some related to motivations and emotional self-regulation processes that can impact cyberbullying experiences, such as popularity motivations (e.g., Barlett et al., 2022;Ranney & Troop-Gordon, 2020;Troop-Gordon & Ranney, 2014) and emotional intelligence (EI) (e.g., Rey et al., 2018;Zhu et al., 2021). Specifically, the need for popularity can be related to power imbalance, which has been linked to traditional bullying and could influence cyberbullying perpetration (Barlett et al., 2022;Romera et al., 2021) and cybervictimization (Ranney & Troop-Gordon, 2020). During adolescence, the growing significance of attaining status and dominance within peer groups becomes a behavioral guide, giving rise to the need for popularity as the motivation to behave in ways that will achieve them. ...
... During adolescence, the growing significance of attaining status and dominance within peer groups becomes a behavioral guide, giving rise to the need for popularity as the motivation to behave in ways that will achieve them. This need for popularity is associated with various negative behavioral outcomes and has been more extensively studied in relation to traditional bullying (e.g., Romera et al., 2021). However, it is necessary to examine how the need for popularity can influence other important factors in the online context to enable a better understanding of its role in relation to cyberbullying experiences (e.g., Barlett et al., 2022). ...
... The need for popularity is posited as a motivation to behave in certain ways while expecting to be perceived as popular within a peer group (Santor et al., 2000). Popularity has been linked with different types of aggression toward peers, including bullying and cyberbullying (e.g., Barlett et al., 2022;Dawes & Xie, 2014;Romera et al., 2021). Considering that peer relationships are critical for social and emotional development in adolescence, gaining peer acceptance and popularity is an important goal for adolescents in their social life (Santor et al., 2000). ...
The need for popularity and emotional intelligence (EI) have been shown to be relevant factors in relation to aggressive behavior, including cyberbullying. However, the need for popularity and EI have not yet been explored together in relation to cyberbullying victimization and perpetration in adolescence. This research attempts to examine whether the need for popularity was a relevant mediating variable in the link between EI dimensions and both cybervictimization and cyberbullying perpetration, and to identify possible gender differences. A total of 6,186 students aged 12 to 17 years (50.2% female, Mage =13.23, SD = 1.05) completed self-reported instruments. Structural equation analyses revealed that EI dimensions were directly associated with cyberbullying perpetration and cybervictimization, as well as indirectly via the need for popularity. However, self-emotion appraisal did not show links with cybervictimization. Gender differences were also found. For boys, self-emotion appraisal, other-emotion appraisal, and use of emotions were more strongly related to the need for popularity in comparison to girls. For girls, emotion regulation showed greater effects on both cyberbullying perpetration and cybervictimization. These findings highlight the mediating role of the need for popularity in the relationship between EI and cyberbullying, especially among boys. Overall, this research provides preliminary evidence that comprehensive prevention efforts to effectively combat cyberbullying should not only target EI skills directly and include a gender-tailored perspective, but also address the underlying motivations and influences related to popularity among adolescents.
... However, other sources reported even higher rates from about 25% to as high as 74% (Kosciw et al., 2014;Rankin et al., 2010). Although researchers recommend further studies on factors influencing bullying perpetration, there is some evidence suggesting the role of moral disengagement (Kowalski et al., 2021;Romera et al., 2021), the need for popularity (Romera et al., 2021), sexual prejudice, and allyship (Chan & Lam, 2023). ...
... However, other sources reported even higher rates from about 25% to as high as 74% (Kosciw et al., 2014;Rankin et al., 2010). Although researchers recommend further studies on factors influencing bullying perpetration, there is some evidence suggesting the role of moral disengagement (Kowalski et al., 2021;Romera et al., 2021), the need for popularity (Romera et al., 2021), sexual prejudice, and allyship (Chan & Lam, 2023). ...
Exposure to bias-motivated aggression results in adverse mental health outcomes among sexual and gender minorities. However, less is known about what influences people to engage in aggressive behaviors, especially the subtle and less blatant type. In the present study, we examined how ally identity and attitude mediate the relationship of intergroup contact with the perpetration of sexual orientation microaggression and bullying among cis–straight students (N = 1,736; Mage = 21.32 years, SD = 4.98, age range = 18–68, 78.1% assigned female at birth) in a southwestern university in the United States. Bivariate correlation analysis showed that a greater number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in one’s social network and greater frequency of interactions with them are associated with greater ally identity and lesser negative attitude toward sexual minorities. Likewise, bullying and all types of microaggressions were associated with a greater negative attitude. Except for microinvalidation, all other bias-motivated behaviors were associated with lesser ally identity. Results showed that although the direct associations of intergroup contact to bullying, assumption of pathology, and enforcement of binary gender roles were not significant after accounting for ally identity and attitude, this remained significant for microinvalidation. Microinvalidations may occur in intergroup interactions even after accounting for ally identity and attitude. Implications and future directions for research and interventions toward addressing bullying and microaggressions were discussed.
... It is noteworthy that the incidence of bullying seemed to remain constant in recent years [2,32]. In our study, boys were more involved in aggressive behaviour than girls, as in other studies [6,8,33], although there were no significant differences with respect to victimisation as in recent studies in adolescents [8,13]. In relation to the age and school year of the participants, less victimisation was observed as age and school year increased. ...
... However, there was no significant relationship between age and school year with perpetration behaviour. These results align with other studies regarding victimisation [8,26], but not with perpetration, where it seems that perpetration behaviour increases with age [26,33]. ...
Physical education classes can be a place where both bullying and harassment take place, and a powerful strategy is needed to prevent it. The present study analyses bullying and students’ behaviour as active or passive observers in a general educational context and physical education lessons. A sample of 958 adolescents aged 12 to 18 was studied. A questionnaire was used to analyse the victimisation and the bullying and behaviour observed. The results showed a lower incidence rate than that observed in other studies in physical education classes with a higher level of perpetration by boys than by girls and a more active rejection of aggression by victims and girls. On the other hand, passive attitudes were greater among perpetrators and boys. The observers’ attitudes were similar in both contexts. The scenario in which this subject takes place could reduce the risk of these phenomena occurring. Therefore, physical education teachers should analyse these behaviours and intervene, especially when creating awareness in boys.
... A large number of studies have found that moral disengagement is positively associated with bullying perpetration (Bjärehed et al., 2021;Elits & Bäker, 2024;Esposito et al., 2022;Orue & Calvete, 2019;Pozzoli et al., 2016;Romera et al., 2021;Teng et al., 2020;Tolmatcheff et al., 2022), including cyberbullying perpetration Fang et al., 2020;Gao et al., 2020;Luo & Bussey, 2022;Orue & Calvete, 2019;Yang et al., 2021). Thus, in accordance with social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1999(Bandura, , 2016, empirical evidence shows that students who score higher on moral disengagement are more inclined to engage in bullying perpetration. ...
The aim of the current study was twofold. The first aim was to examine whether callous-unemotional (CU) traits are directly related to moral disengagement and bullying perpetration as well as whether CU traits are indirectly related to bullying perpetration mediated by moral disengagement among adolescents. The second aim was to examine whether the three distinct dimensions of CU—callousness, uncaringness, and unemotionality—are directly related to moral disengagement and bullying perpetration, as well as whether they are indirectly related to bullying perpetration mediated by moral disengagement among adolescents. Self-report survey data from 706 adolescents ( M age = 14.5) from 20 schools in Sweden were gathered and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that CU traits were positively and directly linked to bullying perpetration, but also indirectly mediated by moral disengagement. Similarly, callousness and uncaringness showed direct and indirect associations with bullying perpetration, whereas unemotionality was found to be only indirectly associated with bullying perpetration. Unemotionality had the weakest connection to moral disengagement and was not directly related to bullying perpetration, whereas callousness, in particular, but also uncaringness, had stronger connections to moral disengagement and bullying perpetration. In sum, the findings underscore the importance of explicitly integrating moral considerations into endeavors aimed at preventing school bullying among adolescents.
... Furthermore, not all hypothesized path coefficients were significant. However, seemingly small effect sizes are common in RI-CLPM results (e.g., Romera et al., 2021;Yang et al., 2024) and the number of inconsistently estimated effects is higher in the RI-CLPM than in the traditional CLPM (Orth et al., 2021;Usami et al., 2019). These problems may arise owing to the greater complexity of RI-CLPM estimation (Mulder & Hamaker, 2020). ...
Moral disengagement is an important aggressive and moral cognition. The mechanisms of changes in moral disengagement remain unclear, especially at the within‐person level. We attempted to clarify this by exploring the serial effects of personal relative deprivation and hostility on civic moral disengagement. We conducted a three‐wave longitudinal survey with 1058 undergraduates (63.61% women; mean age = 20.97). The results of the random intercept cross‐lagged panel model showed that personal relative deprivation at Wave 1 and hostility at Wave 2 formed a serial effect on the within‐person changes in civic moral disengagement at Wave 3, and the longitudinal indirect effect test showed that the within‐person dynamics in hostility at Wave 2 acted as a mediator. The results of multiple group analysis across genders further showed that the longitudinal indirect role of hostility at Wave 2 was only observed for men, but not for women, which indicates the moderating effect of gender. These findings facilitate an understanding of the mechanisms of aggressive cognitions at the within‐person level and offer implications for the prevention and intervention of aggression from the perspective of moral cognition.
... To date, confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) across the literature report a range of factor structures to the MDS, including eight (Qi, 2019;Romera et al., 2023), six (Boardley & Kavussanu, 2007), four (Marín-López et al., 2019;Newton et al., 2016;Romera et al., 2021), and three (García Vázquez et al., 2019;Rubio-Garay et al., 2017), while other studies favor a single-structure model as the best fit (Çapan & Bakioğlu, 2016;Caprara et al., 2009;Concha-Salgado et al., 2022;Ettekal & Ladd, 2020;Luo & Bussey, 2022;Paciello et al., 2008;Pelton et al., 2004). Furthermore, the distribution and number of items recommended within each subconstruct varies across studies; some studies discard the original 32-item MDS and suggest a brief version with 10 items (Concha-Salgado et al., 2022), 11 items (García Vázquez et al., 2019, 15 (Çapan & Bakioğlu, 2016), 16 (Luo & Bussey, 2022;Marín-López et al., 2019), while others propose 24 (Romera et al., 2023) or 22 items (Newton et al., 2016). ...
... Model 2: three-factor (Rubio-Garay et al., 2017). Model 3: four-factor (Romera et al., 2021). Model 4: eight-factor (Qi, 2019) ...
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.
... A large number of studies have shown a positive association between MD and bullying perpetration among children and adolescents, but the vast majority of these studies have been cross-sectional (for meta-analyses, see Gini et al., 2014;Killer et al., 2019). There is, however, a small but growing body of longitudinal studies that have found that MD predicts bullying perpetration (Georgiou et al., 2022;Obermann, 2013;Thornberg, W€ anstr€ om, Pozzoli, et al., 2019;Wang et al., 2017), at least at the between-person level (Romera et al., 2021), and that change in MD is positively linked to change in bullying perpetration over time (Bj€ arehed, 2022;Thornberg, W€ anstr€ om, & Hymel, 2019). In a longitudinal study on verbal bullying, students with higher average levels of MD engaged more in verbal bullying in general and increased this behaviour more over time, compared to students with lower levels of average MD (Bj€ arehed et al., 2021b). ...
... According to the few past studies, individual MD predicts bullying perpetration over time (e.g. Georgiou et al., 2022;Obermann, 2013), at least when making comparisons between students (Romera et al., 2021), and studies in elementary schools have shown that change in individual MD is associated with concomitant change in bullying perpetration (Bj€ arehed, 2022; Thornberg, W€ anstr€ om, & Hymel, 2019). Our study contributes to the current literature by demonstrating that the positive relationship between change in individual MD and change in bullying perpetration could be found in secondary schools as well. ...
This study examined whether individual and collective moral disengagement (MD) in seventh grade were associated with bullying perpetration across seventh and eighth grade, and whether changes in individual and collective MD from seventh to eighth grade were associated with concomitant changes in individual-level bullying perpetration. In this short-term longitudinal study, 1232 students from 96 lower secondary classrooms answered a web-based questionnaire on tablets during school, once in seventh grade and once in eighth grade. According to the findings, and in line with the study's hypotheses, students who scored higher in individual MD in seventh grade and students who belonged to classrooms with higher levels of collective MD in seventh grade were more inclined to engage in bullying perpetration across seventh and eighth grade. In addition, students who increased in individual MD or belonged to classrooms that increased in collective MD from seventh to eighth grade reported increased levels of bullying perpetration. In contrast, students who decreased in individual MD and who belonged to classrooms that decreased in collective MD declined in their levels of bullying perpetration from seventh to eighth grade.