A Meta-Analytic Review of Moral Disengagement and Cyberbullying

Abstract

With the development of technology, cyberbullying prevalence rates are increasing worldwide, and a growing body of the literature has begun to document cyberbullying behavior. Moral disengagement is often considered a key correlate factor in cyberbullying. This article aims to conduct a meta-analysis review of the relationship between moral disengagement and cyberbullying and some psychosocial and cultural variables. Based on the PRISMA method, a random-effects meta-analysis is employed in this study to obtain reliable estimates of effect sizes and examine a range of moderators (age, gender, measure method, and cultural background). Relevant studies, published from 2005 to February 30, 2021, were identified through a systematic search of the Web of Science, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Pubmed, EBSCO, and Wiley Online Library. Finally, 38 studies (N=38,425) met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis conclusion demonstrated that moral disengagement positively correlated medium intensity with cyberbullying (r=0.341). Age, gender, and cultural background had moderated the relationship between moral disengagement and cyberbullying.

Truth-telling with a smartphone: The effect of communication media in strategic interactions

“…Prior evidence suggests that digital interaction is perceived as more anonymous than the use of pen and paper (Naquin et al, 2010). A powerful illustration of this is online bullying where individuals seemingly perceive greater anonymity even if their identity is known (e.g., as classmates) (Wang and Ngai, 2020;Zhao and Yu, 2021). We also suggest that the effect of anonymity is not mediated by whether the dishonesty benefits or harms another.…”

The moral disengagement scale-24: Factorial structure and cross-cultural comparison in Spanish and Colombian adolescents.

“…Based on cross-cultural differences of the MDS-24, it was therefore hypothesized to find mostly higher moral disengagement in this group and the results confirm Hypothesis 2.2. In a collectivist culture, as in Colombia, an individual's behavior is often dependent on collective behavior, which results in a higher susceptibility to distort their immoral behavior and assign their misconduct to others (Zhao & Yu, 2021). However, more individualistic cultures, as in Spain, adolescents have weaker collective support, resulting in lower self-efficacy about their immoral behaviors.…”

Psychometric Properties of the Moral Disengagement through Technologies Questionnaire (MDTech-Q) in a Sample of Chilean University Students

“…MD is linked to different negative behaviors such as online hate speech [ 20 ], racist behavior on news websites [ 21 ], hostile emotions [ 22 ], sexist memes online [ 23 ], cyberbullying [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], and increased cyberaggression and cybervictimization [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. In addition, it has a moderating role between social network fatigue and online trolling [ 31 ].…”

“…In this way, university students have more opportunities to use MD because they are on the Internet and have access to social networks without supervision or restrictions, and they could frequently avoid the sanctions that the negative behavior exerted physically entails [ 27 , 35 , 36 ]. In addition, emerging adults could activate this cognitive mechanism more quickly and easily given the greater development of cognitive abilities compared to previous stages of development [ 24 ].…”

“…However, Bandura [ 48 ] posits that virtual spaces favor disconnection from moral self-sanctions due to the difficulties in supervising and regulating people’s behavior on the Internet. It is noteworthy that interactions through electronic devices have characteristics that could favor a display of negative behaviors such as the scarcity and difficulties of recognizing and interpreting socio-emotional signals, anonymity, distance in time and space, among others [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. Wang & Ngai [ 56 ] refer to anonymity and asynchronicity as being related to the perpetration of cyberbullying through MD.…”