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.

The aim of this study was to examine whether collective moral disengagement and authoritative teaching at the classroom level, and student-teacher relationship quality at the individual level, predicted individual moral disengagement among pre-adolescent students 1 year later. In this short-term longitudinal study, 1,373 students from 108 classrooms answered a web-based questionnaire on tablets during school, once in fifth grade (T1) and once in sixth grade (T2). The results showed, after controlling for T1 moral disengagement, gender, and immigrant background, that students with better student-teacher relationship quality at T1 were more inclined to score lower on moral disengagement at T2, whereas students in classrooms with higher levels of collective moral disengagement at T1 were more inclined to score higher on moral disengagement at T2. In addition, both collective moral disengagement and authoritative teaching were found to moderate the associations between student-teacher relationship quality at T1 and moral disengagement at T2. These findings underscore the importance of fostering positive relationships between students and teachers, as well as minimizing collective moral disengagement in classrooms. These measures may prevent the potential escalation of moral disengagement in a negative direction.

Unfair teachers, unhappy students: longitudinal associations of perceived teacher relational unfairness with adolescent peer aggression and school satisfaction.

Introduction: Teacher relational unfairness is a significant risk factor for students' physical and mental well-being, especially during adolescence. However, school psychology research has not yet fully analyzed the links between teacher unfairness and important indicators of school experience and wellbeing, including peer aggression and school satisfaction. Even less evidence does exist with longitudinal, multilevel data. Methods: The present study tested the prospective relations between Fall perceived teacher unfairness and Spring reactive and proactive aggression, and school satisfaction. At T1, participants were 1,299 students (48.3% girls, mean age = 13.6 years, SD = 1.1) attending 67 classrooms in Italian public schools, whereas 1,227 students participated in the second wave 6 months later. Results: Multilevel regressions showed that, at the individual level, T1 perceived teacher unfairness positively predicted T2 reactive and proactive aggression, and negatively predicted school satisfaction. At the class-level, T1 class teacher unfairness explained between-class variability in T2 school satisfaction, but not variability in peer aggression. Discussion: The findings expand current knowledge about the role of teacher unfairness with the classroom and have implications for interventions at school.

The Dynamic Interplay of Affective, Cognitive and Contextual Resources on Children's Creative Potential: The Modulatory Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence.

In the present work we explored in two separate studies the modulatory role of trait emotional intelligence (EI) over the effect exerted on children's creative potential by two other key elements defining creativity, namely cognitive resources (here explored through basic executive functions, Study 1) and contextual-environmental factors (that is, teachers' implicit conceptions of the factors influencing children's creativity, Study 2). Confirming previous research, executive functions (particularly interference control and working memory) emerged as main predictors of children's creative performance; however, their positive effect arose especially when associated with a high trait EI level. In the same vein, teachers' implicit conception about children's creative potential and about their efficacy in teaching creativity emerged to exert a facilitatory effect on children' creative potential. This effect occurred particularly when associated with low trait EI levels, affecting differently girls and boys. Trait EI emerged from these studies as an important individual resource to consider in order to understand the potential benefit of other (cognitive and contextual-environmental) resources on children's creative potential. The implications on the role of trait EI as a constitutional element of children's creativity, capable of promoting the expression of their creative potential, are discussed.

Effects of Socioeconomic Status, Parental Stress, and Family Support on Children's Physical and Emotional Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In the current study, we conduct an exploratory study on children's emotional and physical health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The direct and interactive effects of parental stress, family socioeconomic status (SES), and family support on child adjustment were investigated. A total of 116 children of varied socioeconomic and their parents were interviewed. Parents with low household income perceived greater distress related to uncertainty and health worries compared to those with higher household income. However, it was among high-SES families that parental distress was associated with child difficulties. At a multivariate level, children's health was associated with SES, family support, and parental COVID-19 stress. Among families with low household income, when parents perceived low/average COVID-19 stress, family support worked as a protective factor for children's adjustment. Understanding how COVID-19 relates with children's emotional and physical health within families with low and high household income may help to inform recommendations for best practices, for example through family support interventions.

Socio-Cognitive Processes and Peer-Network Influences in Defending and Bystanding.

Peers are critical to defending and bystanding during episodes of bullying. This study investigates the extent to which friends can shape defending and bystanding as well as social cognitions associated with these two behaviors (i.e., perceptions of self-efficacy and moral distress). The study sample consisted of n = 1354 early and middle adolescents (7th‒10th grade; 81.4% Italian; 51.3% boys) in northern Italy. Employing a longitudinal social network analytic approach, using stochastic actor-oriented modeling, this study found that adolescents become more similar or stay similar to their friends in both behaviors and perceptions, with no clear indication that students select friends based on similar levels of behaviors or perceptions. The findings illustrate how defending and bystanding behaviors and related social cognitions are developed within friend (peer) networks.

Longitudinal associations of social-cognitive and moral correlates with defending in bullying.

Defending in bullying is a complex, yet important behavior that is likely associated with individual characteristics and group factors that operate simultaneously in the classroom microsystem. However, little research has longitudinally analyzed the role of multiple promoting factors at both the individual and classroom level. Drawing on the social-ecological theory and social-cognitive theory, the present study examined the prospective associations between Fall defending self-efficacy, moral disengagement, moral identity, and moral distress and Spring defending behavior. Participants were 1163 adolescents (48.7% females; Mage = 13.6, SD = 1.1) attending 67 classrooms in Italian public schools. Defending showed moderate stability over one school year. At the individual level, multilevel analyses showed that T1 self-efficacy for all students, and moral distress for male students, positively predicted T2 defending. Moreover, high moral disengagement negatively predicted T2 defending only when students also reported high levels of moral identity. At the class-level, T1 class defending and class moral identity explained between-class variability in T2 defending. The findings have multiple implications for interventions that aim to increase defending behavior.

Defending or Remaining Passive as a Bystander of School Bullying in Sweden: The Role of Moral Disengagement and Antibullying Class Norms.

The overall aim of the present study was to examine whether moral disengagement and perceptions of antibullying class norms at individual level and at class level were associated with defending and passive bystanding in school bullying among school-age children. More specifically, we investigated the extent to which moral disengagement would contribute to explain defending and passive bystanding, after controlling for sex and perceptions of antibullying class norms at individual level and at class level. A total of 789 Swedish students (aged 10-14) from 40 middle school classes filled out a self-report survey. The findings revealed that girls and students who were less prone to morally disengage, and who perceived that their classmates endorsed more antibullying norms, were more likely to defend victimized peers. Students who were more inclined to morally disengage and perceive that classmates do not condemn bullying were more likely to act as passive bystanders. In addition, classes with higher levels of antibullying class norms were more likely to show higher rates of defending and lower rates of passive bystanding compared to the other classes. The findings suggest that schools and teachers need to develop educational strategies, methods, and efforts designed to make students aware of moral disengagement and to reduce their likelihood of morally disengaging in bullying situations. The present findings also point to the importance of teachers establishing class rules against bullying together with the students.

Distance learning during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: The role of family, school, and individual factors.

School closure and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic have posed several challenges to children. Drawing upon the social-ecological framework, in this preliminary study, we tested what factors may help to explain students' difficulties with distance learning during COVID-19 lockdown, by analyzing family, school, and individual variables. The final sample included 183 Italian middle-school students (97 girls and 86 boys; Mage = 11 years, 9 months; SDage = 8 months; range: 11-14 years), who completed online surveys before the pandemic (November 2019) and during lockdown (May 2020). Key findings indicate that students who showed fewer difficulties with distance learning reported a more positive family climate, a better relationship with their teachers, and were more able to regulate their emotions in stressful situations. The educational and policy implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal Links of Individual and Collective Morality with Adolescents' Peer Aggression.

Adolescents' aggressive behavior has been often linked to biases in morality. However, limited knowledge is available regarding the relative strength of different moral correlates, both at the individual and class-level, in predicting different types of aggressive behavior over time. To address this gap, the present study tested the prospective associations of moral identity and moral disengagement with reactive and proactive aggression in a short-term longitudinal study. The sample consisted of 1158 Italian adolescents (48.7% females; Mage = 13.6 years, SD = 1.1). Participants completed self-report measures of moral identity, moral disengagement, perceived collective moral disengagement in the fall, and reactive and proactive aggression in the fall and in the spring. Multivariate multilevel analysis indicated that, at the individual level, after controlling for the stability of aggressive behavior, T2 (Time 2) reactive aggression was higher for students who reported lower moral identity and higher moral disengagement at T1 (Time 1). For proactive aggression, a significant interaction effect indicated that the negative association between T1 moral identity and T2 aggression was apparent only at high levels of T1 moral disengagement. Moreover, proactive aggression was significantly predicted by higher perceived collective moral disengagement. At the class-level, T1 collective moral disengagement helped explain between-class variability of T2 reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. How these results expand previous research on morality and aggressive behavior and their potential implications for prevention and intervention programs is discussed.

Behavior during cyberbullying episodes: Initial validation of a new self-report scale.

Research on cyberbullying has been growing worldwide, with much of the focus on the characteristics of perpetrators and targets of cyberbullying. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid on bystanders of cyber-attacks. This study presents the Italian validation of a newly developed self-report scale that measures different forms of participation in cyberbullying, namely cyberbullying, cybervictimization, cyber-defending and cyber-passive bystanding. We used responses from 561 young adolescents (289 girls; mean age = 12 years, 1 month; SD = 9 months) attending middle schools in Italy. A 16-item scale was developed paralleling the content of an already existing scale that measures young adolescents' behavior in traditional bullying. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-dimensional structure of the scale and the four subscale's scores showed acceptable levels of internal consistency. Multigroup analyses demonstrated full scalar invariance of the scale across gender groups. Finally, each behavior in the electronic context was positively correlated with its counterpart in the school context, suggesting certain stability across contexts. It is concluded that the scale may be a first, promising attempt to measure different youths' behavior during cyberbullying episodes.

Victimization and Somatic Problems: The Role of Class Victimization Levels.

BACKGROUND: The link between peer victimization and somatic problems is well-established. What is currently understudied is under what contextual conditions victims' health might be most likely to be compromised. Studies demonstrate that victims suffer from poorer adjustment when they belong to a group in which victimization is less normative (social misfit hypothesis). We examined whether the association between individual victimization and somatic problems was stronger in classrooms with lower class victimization. METHODS: A sample of 1906 adolescents (65% girls; Mage  = 14.4, SD = 1.2) completed a survey about school life quality, peer victimization, and health problems. RESULTS: Multilevel modeling with Bayes estimator indicated modest variation in somatic problems between classrooms. At the individual level, peer victimization was associated with higher reports of somatic problems. This association varied across classroom as a function of class victimization level. Simple slope computation confirmed that the association between peer victimization and somatic complaints became stronger as class victimization levels decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Victims in classrooms with lower levels of victimization are more likely to report somatic problems. Anti-bullying programs should consider the effects of class norms on victims' adjustment and address the possible risks for those who continue to be victimized.

Associations between peer victimization, perceived teacher unfairness, and adolescents' adjustment and well-being.

Negative relationships within the classroom, both with peers and teachers, can be very stressful for adolescents and are often found to be associated with a variety of negative outcomes. In this study, we investigated the concurrent role of peer victimization and perceived teacher unfairness in explaining psychosocial problems in a sample of 1378 Italian students (353 middle school students, Mage=12.61, SD=0.69, and 1025 high school students, Mage=14.92, SD=0.81). Structural equation modeling showed that both peer victimization and perceived teacher unfairness were positively associated with reports of more frequent psychological and somatic problems, and negatively related to satisfaction with friends and sense of safety. Only perceived teacher unfairness showed a significant association with satisfaction with school. Results of multi-group modeling demonstrated measurement invariance (total scalar invariance) across both gender and school-level groups. Some gender and school-level differences in the regression coefficients were found. In general, associations between the risk factors and adolescents' problems were stronger for girls and for higher school students. Findings confirmed that both peer victimization and perceived teacher unfairness are significant risk factors within the classroom microsystems. Implications for school psychologists are discussed.

A meta-analysis of the differential relations of traditional and cyber-victimization with internalizing problems.

This meta-analysis examined the associations between cyber-victimization and internalizing problems controlling for the occurrence of traditional victimization. Twenty independent samples with a total of 90,877 participants were included. Results confirmed the significant intercorrelation between traditional and cyber-victimization (r = .43). They both have medium-to-large bivariate correlations with internalizing problems. Traditional victimization (sr = .22) and cyber-victimization (sr = .12) were also uniquely related to internalizing problems. The difference in the relations between each type of victimization and internalizing problems was small (differential d = .06) and not statistically significant (p = .053). Moderation of these effect sizes by sample characteristics (e.g., age and proportion of girls) and study features (e.g., whether a definition of bullying was provided to participants and the time frame used as reference) was investigated. Results are discussed within the extant literature on cyber-aggression and cyber-victimization and future directions are proposed.

Associations between facial emotion recognition and young adolescents' behaviors in bullying.

This study investigated whether different behaviors young adolescents can act during bullying episodes were associated with their ability to recognize morphed facial expressions of the six basic emotions, expressed at high and low intensity. The sample included 117 middle-school students (45.3% girls; mean age = 12.4 years) who filled in a peer nomination questionnaire and individually performed a computerized emotion recognition task. Bayesian generalized mixed-effects models showed a complex picture, in which type and intensity of emotions, students' behavior and gender interacted in explaining recognition accuracy. Results were discussed with a particular focus on negative emotions and suggesting a "neutral" nature of emotion recognition ability, which does not necessarily lead to moral behavior but can also be used for pursuing immoral goals.

Getting angry matters: Going beyond perspective taking and empathic concern to understand bystanders' behavior in bullying.

The present study examined the relations between different empathic dimensions and bystanders' behavior in bullying. Specifically, the indirect effects of empathic concern and perspective taking via empathic anger on defending and passive bystanding were tested in a sample of Italian young adolescents (N = 398; Mage = 12 years, 3 months, 47.2% girls). Path analysis confirmed the direct and indirect effects, via empathic anger, of empathic concern and perspective taking on bystanders' behavior, with the exception of the direct association between perspective taking and passive bystanding that was not significant. Our findings suggest that considering empathic anger together with empathic concern and perspective taking could help researchers to better understand the links between empathic dispositions and bystanders' behavior in bullying.

Bullying and defending behavior: The role of explicit and implicit moral cognition.

Research on bullying has highlighted the role of morality in explaining the different behavior of students during bullying episodes. However, the research has been limited to the analysis of explicit measures of moral characteristics and moral reasoning, whereas implicit measures have yet to be fully considered. To overcome this limitation, this study investigated the association between bullying and defending, on one hand, and both explicit (moral disengagement, self-importance of moral values) and implicit (immediate affect toward moral stimuli [IAMS]) moral components, on the other hand. Young adolescents (N=279, mean age=11years, 9months, 44.4% girls) completed a series of self-report scales and individually performed a computer task investigating the IAMS. Two hierarchical regressions (bootstrapping method) were performed. Results showed that moral disengagement was associated with bullying and defending behavior at high levels of IAMS, however not when IAMS was low. In contrast, self-importance of moral values was not significantly associated to the two behaviors when IAMS was high whereas both associations were significant at low levels of IAMS. These results significantly expand previous knowledge about the role of morality in bullying and defending behavior. In particular, they highlight the role of the interaction between explicit and implicit moral dimensions in predicting bullying and defending behaviors.

Time trends in bullying behavior in Italy.

BACKGROUND: Given the severity of outcomes associated with involvement in bullying and the resources spent in an effort to reduce its prevalence, it is important to investigate trends in the bullying's occurrence. The main aim of this study was to identify trends from 2002 to 2010 in prevalence of bullying and victimization among Italian adolescents. METHODS: The survey reported here is part of the larger population-based cross-sectional (2002, 2006, and 2010) "Health Behaviour in School Aged Children" (HBSC) transnational study. The sample was comprised of 13,174 Italian middle and secondary school students (11- to 15-year-olds; 50.3% girls). Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire. Measures included involvement in bullying as either a perpetrator or a victim. Trends were determined using Gamma statistics. RESULTS: Consistent and robust decreases in the prevalence of bullying between 2002 and 2010 were detected in Italy. During this time frame both frequent and occasional bullying and victimization decreased by half. CONCLUSIONS: We measured a strong decrease in involvement in bullying behavior in Italy, in particular after 2006, when the Italian government invested more systematically in the prevention effort on bullying. This is encouraging news for policymakers and practitioners working in the field of bullying prevention.

Cybervictimization and somatic and psychological symptoms among Italian middle school students.

BACKGROUND: Existing literature clearly documents the association between cybervictimization and psychological symptoms; less clear is the association between cybervictimization and somatic symptoms. This study aims to verify the association between cybervictimization and both psychological and somatic symptoms on a representative sample of Italian early adolescents. METHODS: This study used data from 24 099 students aged 13 years participating in the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey. Self-completed questionnaires, devised by the HBSC international group, were administered in classrooms. Multilevel models of logistic regression (controlling for traditional bullying victimization, computer use and demographics) were used to investigate the association between cybervictimization and psychological and somatic symptoms. RESULTS: Overall, 3.1% of the students reported having been bullied frequently electronically and 8.7% occasionally (compared, respectively, to 4.0 and 9.2% victims of traditional forms of bullying). Overall, prevalence of students reporting psychological and somatic symptoms was 32.5 and 12.0%, respectively. Being victims of cyberbullying was positively associated to students' psychological and somatic symptoms, after controlling for traditional bullying victimization and computer use. CONCLUSION: Cybervictimization has similar psychological and somatic consequences for boys and girls, thus suggesting that intervention and prevention efforts should focus on both gender groups.

The role of individual and collective moral disengagement in peer aggression and bystanding: a multilevel analysis.

This study investigates the relationships between individual and collective moral disengagement and aggression-related behaviors (peer aggression, defending, and passive bystanding) among 918 adolescents (55.8% boys; M age = 14.1 years, SD = 1.1). Hierarchical linear modeling showed that, at the individual level, aggressive behavior was significantly explained by both individual moral disengagement and student perceived collective moral disengagement, which was also positively associated with defending. Student perceived collective moral disengagement moderated the link between individual moral disengagement and peer aggression. At the class level, classroom collective moral disengagement explained between-class variability in all the three aggression-related behaviors. These results extend previous research by demonstrating the role of collective moral disengagement at the individual and the class levels and have potential implications for interventions.