Best friends' discussions of social dilemmas

School Climate and Adolescents' Cyberbullying Perpetration: A Moderated Mediation Model of Moral Disengagement and Friends' Moral Identity

Based on an integration of the positive youth development model and the social cognitive theory, friends' moral identity was examined as a moderator of the direct and indirect relations between school climate and adolescent's cyberbullying perpetration via moral disengagement. Participants were 404 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 13.53 years, SD = 0.92). They completed the Perceived School Climate Scale and the Moral Identity Scale and nominated up to three friends whom they considered to be their "best friend" in their classroom at Time 1. After 6 months, they completed the Moral Disengagement Scale and the Cyberbullying Scale at Time 2. Results showed that adolescents who experienced positive school climate were less likely to cyberbully others, which was mediated by their moral disengagement. Friends' moral identity moderated the direct and indirect relations between school climate and cyberbullying perpetration. Specifically, the indirect relationship between school climate and cyberbullying perpetration through moral disengagement became nonsignificant for adolescents interacting with high moral identity friends. The direct association between school climate and cyberbullying perpetration was moderated by friends' moral identity.

Bridging the Divide: The Role of Motivation and Self-Regulation in Explaining the Judgment-Action Gap Related to Academic Dishonesty

There is often a divide between moral judgment and moral action; between what we believe we ought to do (or not do) and what we do. Knowledge of this divide is not new, and numerous theories have attempted to offer more robust accounts of ethical decision-making and moral functioning. Knowledge of widespread academic dishonesty among students is also not new, and several studies have revealed that many students report cheating despite believing it is wrong. The present study, involving cross-sectional survey data from a sample of secondary students (N = 380) in the United States, contributes to the literature on this important area of theory and research by fulfilling three broad purposes. The first purpose concerned the assessment of students' judgments related to academic dishonesty, and offered evidence for the utility of a new instrument that measures what domain (personal, conventional, or moral) students use to categorize various types of cheating behavior rather than how much they believe it to be wrong. The second purpose involved exploring the relations between domain judgments and engagement in academic dishonesty, and results provided evidence for the hypothesis that students who believed an action to be morally wrong would be less likely to report doing it. Finally, the third and most important purpose of the study involved bridging the divide between moral judgment and action of academic dishonesty by testing competing theoretical models of moral functioning. Results indicated that the data demonstrated the best fit to a modified version of the hypothesized four-component model, whereby self-regulation (in the form of selective moral disengagement) played a significant mediating role in the relations between moral judgment and academic dishonesty, and that moral judgment also affected self-regulation indirectly through moral motivation (i.e., responsibility judgments). In brief, findings from this study offer support for the contention that moral functioning is both multi-component and effortful. Moral judgment is important, but only one of several components needed for effective moral functioning, and motivation and self-regulation play critical mediating roles in helping to bridge the divide between judgment and action.

Relações de amizade e autoconceito na adolescência: um estudo exploratório em contexto escolar

Resumo No presente estudo, analisou-se a relação entre a qualidade das relações de amizade e as autoperceções dos adolescentes, expressas no seu autoconceito. A amostra foi constituída por 65 estudantes portugueses, com idades compreendidas entre os 12 e os 16 anos (M = 14). Os instrumentos foram o Questionário de Qualidade da Amizade e a versão portuguesa do Perfil de Autoperceção da Escala de Autoconceito para Adolescentes. Através de análises correlacionais, verificou-se uma relação entre a qualidade das relações de amizade e o autoconceito, sendo a dimensão companheirismo e recreação preditora do autoconceito global. Verificou-se, ainda, a ausência de um efeito de gênero na qualidade reportada das relações de amizade. Pelo contrário, ocorreu um efeito moderado do gênero no autoconceito, nomeadamente nas dimensões competência escolar, competência atlética, aparência física e autoestima, com o gênero masculino apresentando resultados médios superiores. Os resultados foram discutidos tendo em conta a importância das relações sociais para o desenvolvimento na adolescência.

Developmental Trajectories of Peer-Reported Aggressive Behavior: The Role of Friendship Understanding, Friendship Quality, and Friends' Aggressive Behavior

OBJECTIVE

To investigate developmental trajectories in peer-reported aggressive behavior across the transition from elementary-to-middle school, and whether aggressive behavior trajectories were associated with friendship quality, friends' aggressive behavior, and the ways in which children think about their friendships.

METHOD

Participants included a community sample of 230 5th grade children who were assessed when they made a transition from elementary-to-middle school (6th grade). Peer nominations were used to assess the target child's and friend's aggressive behavior. Self- and friend reports were used to measure friendship quality; friendship understanding was assessed via a structured interview.

RESULTS

General Growth Mixture Modeling (GGMM) revealed three distinct trajectories of peer-reported aggressive behavior across the school transition: low-stable, decreasing, and increasing. Adolescents' understanding of friendship formation differentiated the decreasing from the low-stable aggressive behavior trajectories, and the understanding of friendship trust differentiated the increasing from the low-stable aggressive and decreasing aggressive behavior trajectories.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicated that a sophisticated understanding of friendship may serve as a protective factor for initially aggressive adolescents as they transition into middle school. Promoting a deepened understanding of friendship relations and their role in one's own and others' well-being may serve as an important prevention and intervention strategy to reduce aggressive behavior.