Moral disengagement in youth: A meta-analytic review

A short-term longitudinal study on the development of moral disengagement among schoolchildren: the role of collective moral disengagement, authoritative teaching, and student-teacher relationship quality

“…With reference to social cognitive theory ( Bandura, 2016 ), children can develop their moral standards, self-regulatory processes, and behaviors but can also learn to use moral disengagement mechanisms from socialization agents such as teachers and peers in school. Understanding the antecedents of moral disengagement is crucial, given its well-established link to school bullying ( Killer et al, 2019 ; Luo and Bussey, 2023 ; Thornberg, 2023 ) and peer aggression more generally ( Gini et al, 2014a ; Luo and Bussey, 2023 ). In alignment with social cognitive theory and reciprocal determinism ( Bandura, 2016 ), this study offers insights into the complex interplay between personal factors, including cognitions, and social factors, that are transmitted through the influence of peers and teachers.…”

“…While students’ moral disengagement is in itself a risk factor for peer aggression and bullying ( Gini et al, 2014a ; Luo and Bussey, 2023 ), and a predictor of later bullying perpetration (for a review see Thornberg, 2023 ), collective moral disengagement at the classroom level has also been shown to be associated with bullying behaviors, over and above individual moral disengagement ( Bjärehed et al, 2021 ; Sjögren et al, 2021a ). In addition to this existing research, and a recent longitudinal study showing that classroom collective moral disengagement explains between-classroom variability in later aggression ( Gini et al, 2022 ), the current findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that classroom collective moral disengagement also predicts students’ moral disengagement over time.…”

“…According to our study it can also be associated with less moral disengagement. The literature, in turn, has linked low moral disengagement with less bullying ( Killer et al, 2019 ; Thornberg, 2023 ) and peer aggression ( Gini et al, 2014a ; Luo and Bussey, 2023 ). Altogether, this could be interpreted in terms of what Bandura (2016) calls triadic codetermination, which means that “human functioning is a product of the interplay of personal influences, the behavior individuals engage in, and the environmental forces that impinge on them” (p. 6).…”

“…Previous research from Sweden ( Thornberg et al, 2021 ; Bjärehed, 2022 ) and other European countries ( Gini et al, 2014b ; Kollerová et al, 2018 ) has demonstrated that students in classrooms characterized by higher levels of collective moral disengagement are more likely to engage in peer aggression and bullying. With the particular interest of the current study, a meta-analytical review ( Luo and Bussey, 2023 ) identified collective moral disengagement as one of the environmental correlates of moral disengagement, suggesting a positive association between the two constructs. In other words, in classrooms with higher levels of collective moral disengagement, students are also more prone to enlist moral disengagement mechanisms ( Gini et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Drawing on social cognitive theory, which posits that behaviors and cognitions are, in part, the result of socialization processes within different socio-cultural contexts ( Bandura, 1999 ), and empirical evidence from cross-sectional studies that collective moral disengagement at the classroom level is negatively associated with defending behavior ( Gini et al, 2015 ; Kollerová et al, 2018 ), and positively linked with peer aggression ( Gini et al, 2015 ), bullying perpetration ( Kollerová et al, 2018 ; Bjärehed et al, 2021 ; Thornberg et al, 2021 ), siding with peer aggressors ( Sjögren et al, 2021a ), and individual moral disengagement ( Luo and Bussey, 2023 ), we hypothesized that greater collective moral disengagement at the classroom level would predict greater individual moral disengagement 1 year later ( Hypothesis 1 ).…”