This study examined the relationships between forgiveness, reconciliation, shame and school bullying. The sample consisted of 1,875 Bangladeshi adolescents (60% girls) in grades 7 to 10 (M = 8.28). In a structural equation model, both forgiveness and reconciliation directly predicted less bullying. In addition to the direct effect, an indirect pathway showed reconciliation reduced bullying via adaptive shame management. Shame acknowledgment predicted less bullying whereas shame displacement predicted more in accord with the shame management theory. An alternative model was also tested, which demonstrated that parental forgiveness eroded when children displaced their shame. The nature of the intersection between these two theoretically viable psychological models has implications for both restorative justice theory and practice.

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This study focuses on the prediction of self-initiated bullying from family, school, personality, and shame management variables. Reintegrative shaming theory provided a theoretical framework for data gathered from students (n = 1,401) and their parents (n = 978). To test the importance of shame management in relation to bullying, the MOSS-SASD instrument (Management Of Shame State-Shame Acknowledgment and Shame Displacement) was developed. Bullying was related to a child's unacknowledged shame and its displacement to other-directed blame and anger. The results of path analysis indicated that shame management partially mediated the effects of family, school, and personality variables on bullying. The implications of these findings for creating a safer school environment are discussed.Past research has shown an impressive link between children's bullying behavior and family variables (e.g., ). Children's psychological well-being has also been found to be associated with bullying (Rigby and Cox 1996;Slee 1995). What is poorly understood, however, is the emotion of shame, and the role it may play in explaining these well-established interrelationships. The current study considers the multivariate influence of shame management variables, family variables, school variables, and personality variables in developing bullying.The relevance of shame management to an analysis of bullying is supported by a body of clinical, developmental, and criminological literature that suggests a relationship between shame, anger, and criminal behavior (Ahmed, Harris, Braithwaite, and

Shame management is purported to be part of the healing process that is a goal of restorative justice. However, the development of shame management capacities and how they are engaged in conflict resolution remains a relatively understudied phenomenon. This study examines how shame management (acknowledgment and displacement) is employed by children as they move into and out of cultures of school bullying. The analysis is based on self-reported changes in bullying experiences of 335 Australian children over a threeyear period. Children were classified into bully, victim, bully-victim, nonbully-nonvictim, or residual conflict groups. Shame displacement and bullying tolerance accompanied transition into bullying. Shame acknowledgment and control of bullying marked desistence from bullying. Effects of shame management and social control were not uniform across groups. Findings indicate that interventions to change behaviour need to be flexible and responsive to prior bullying experiences so specific risk and protective factors can be targeted. This study demonstrates that responsiveness to context, building socially responsible relationships, and adaptive shame management are all integral to behaviour change, supporting the use of restorative justice as a way of dealing with school bullying as well as other forms of harm.

This study investigated tax morale among a sample of 447 Australian graduates who completed the GraduatesÕ Hopes, Visions and Actions Survey shortly after receiving their higher education degrees. Using structural equation modeling (AMOS), pathways are mapped out showing linkages from (a) the values that individuals hold concerning the kind of society they want to live in, through (b) satisfaction with government policy requiring students to pay fees financed through a government loan (HECS or the Higher Education Contribution Scheme), to (c) HECS morale, that is, an internalized obligation to repay the loan, and finally to (d) tax morale, that is, an internalized obligation to pay income tax. Also affecting tax morale indirectly are the personal experiences of the new graduates. Those who were dissatisfied with their university course and those who were in the process of repaying their loan were more opposed to HECS and had lower levels of HECS morale, which in turn, adversely affected tax morale.