The moral self-concept in preschool children: Its dimensions and relation to prosocial behaviors

Unravelling cyberbullying among Egyptian adolescents: the protective influence of self-control and moral identity with gender and socioeconomic dynamics

BACKGROUND

Cyberbullying presents a significant challenge for adolescents, leading to severe psychological and social consequences. This study explores the relationships between cyberbullying, self-control, and moral identity among Egyptian school students, considering gender and socioeconomic factors from a nursing perspective.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study was conducted among 304 preparatory and secondary school students aged 12-20 years in Egypt. Data were collected through a validated online questionnaire incorporating standardized tools to assess cyberbullying involvement, self-control, and moral identity. Statistical analyses included correlation and regression to examine the relationships between study variables. Ethical approval was secured, and informed consent was obtained from participants and legal guardians.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that 78.6% of students had low cyberbullying involvement, 58.6% exhibited moderate self-control, and 78.6% demonstrated high moral identity. Self-control showed a significant negative correlation with cyberbullying (r = -0.32, p < 0.001) and emerged as a strong predictor of lower cyberbullying engagement (β = -0.287, p < 0.001). Although moral identity did not directly predict cyberbullying, gender moderated its influence (β = -0.221, p = 0.006). Socioeconomic status did not significantly mediate the relationships among self-control, moral identity, and cyberbullying.

CONCLUSION

Self-control serves as a critical protective factor against cyberbullying among adolescents, while moral identity's role appears to be gender dependent. These findings emphasize the necessity of targeted interventions in school health programs to enhance self-regulation and ethical awareness among students. Psychiatric and school nurses should integrate cyberbullying prevention strategies into educational initiatives, reinforcing self-control development and ethical reasoning. Future research should further explore psychological and social determinants of cyberbullying and evaluate the effectiveness of nursing-led interventions in adolescent populations.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

Not applicable.

Good child, bad child: the development of and relations between children's socioemotional competencies and moral self-concept from kindergarten to the end of Grade 1

Socioemotional competencies (SEC) such as prosocial behaviour and emotion regulation are important for successful social interactions and develop early in life. A high moral self-concept (MSC), that is, children's view of themselves as moral actors, can support the development and application of SEC. The transition from kindergarten to school represents a critical period requiring well-adjusted SEC and MSC, yet research on this phase remains limited. This longitudinal study assessed data of 500 German children (Mage_t1 = 60.97 months) and their teachers to examine the relation and stability of SEC and MSC over two years. After imputing data via multivariate imputation by chained equations due to missing ratings in teacher surveys, cross-lagged relations indicate that a stronger MSC in the last year of kindergarten can lead to greater SEC, which in turn can predict later MSC at the end of Grade 1. Both constructs showed stability over time, with significant correlations between SEC and MSC emerging only in primary school. Gender and socioeconomic differences for SEC and MSC were also observed. These findings enhance our understanding of the interplay between SEC and MSC and their development during the school transition.

Preschoolers' cognitive skills predict their developing moral self

Although individual differences in children's moral self-concept emerge during early childhood and predict future behavioral outcomes, the cognitive skills underlying the development of the moral self have received little attention. We addressed this gap with a longitudinal sample of 106 children (Mage = 52.78 months, SD = 6.61, range = 37-64 at Time 1) living in urban economic deprivation. In the fall, children completed interviews on the moral self as well as hot and cool executive function (EF) tasks, a five-task theory of mind (ToM) battery, and a receptive verbal assessment. Approximately 6 months later, children again completed the moral self interview. Results from a series of latent change score models, controlling for age and parents' education, demonstrate that different aspects of the moral self were supported in different ways, and at different times, by aspects of cognition. For instance, the aggressive moral self was initially predicted by both cool and hot EF, whereas change was predicted by cool EF. In comparison, the socioemotional moral self was initially predicted by cool EF, as were changes over time. The initial instrumental helping moral self was predicted by ToM. Findings suggest that a multidimensional moral self may be best enhanced by a multipronged approach to cognitive support.

Children's moral self-concept relates to moral judgment, but not to arousal

We investigated the relationships among the moral self-concept, arousal reactions to third-party moral situations, and moral judgment in 5- to 7-year-old children (N = 59). Children's moral self-concept was assessed using a puppet task. In addition, children were shown audiovisual scenes depicting prosocial, antisocial, and neutral interactions between children. We measured phasic pupil dilation responses to the actions and collected children's judgments of the actions. The results show that children judged antisocial behavior as more negative and prosocial behavior as more positive than neutral behavior. In addition, children showed significantly higher arousal when observing antisocial behavior compared with neutral and prosocial behavior. Moreover, children's moral judgment related to their arousal: the more negative the moral judgment, the higher the arousal, even in prosocial and neutral scenarios. Finally, children's moral self-concept correlated with their explicit judgments, but not with their physiological arousal. These results support developmental theories suggesting a relationship between the moral self and moral judgment.

I help, therefore, I am? - A registered report on longitudinal inter-relations of the three-dimensional moral self-concept and prosocial behaviours in preschool children

Children's moral self-concept (MSC) has been proposed to relate to prosocial behaviour. However, systematic assessments of their inter-relations are scarce. Therefore, this longitudinal study investigated the development, structure and inter-relation of prosocial behaviours and the MSC in childhood, using three measurement points at ages 4, 5 and 6 years. We assessed children's MSC and helping, sharing and comforting behaviours in a laboratory setting. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-dimensional MSC structure at 5 and 6 years, but not at 4 years. There was inconsistent stability across time points regarding prosocial behaviour and MSC. For the comforting domain, but not the other domains, cross-lagged relations between self-concept and behaviour were present. Moreover, helping behaviour and self-concept were inter-related at 6 years. Results provide support for reciprocal associations between MSC and prosocial behaviour, albeit only in the comforting domain. They highlight the importance of distinguishing between types of prosocial behaviour and corresponding dimensions of the self-concept, as different developmental trajectories and associations emerge.

I help, therefore, I am?-longitudinal interrelations of the three-dimensional moral self-concept and prosocial behaviours in 4-6-year-old children

Children's moral self-concept (MSC) has been proposed to relate to prosocial behaviour. However, systematic assessments of their interrelations are scarce. The current study examines the early development, structure, stability and interrelation of three key prosocial behaviours and the corresponding dimensions of the moral self-concept. To this end, we use a longitudinal approach with three measurement points during the preschool years at ages 4, 5 and 6 years. We assess three prosocial dimensions of children's MSC through a puppet-interview. In addition, behavioural measures of children's helping, sharing and comforting were administered in a laboratory setting. By examining the longitudinal associations between MSC and prosocial behaviours, this study will provide valuable insights into the complex nature of prosocial development in early childhood.

Attachment and prosocial behavior in middle childhood: The role of emotion regulation

There is a lack of research on the development of prosocial behavior in middle childhood. The current study addressed this gap through the application of attachment theory; attachment security has been shown to promote prosocial behavior in early childhood, and emotion regulation may be an important intervening variable in this association. A sample of 199 children (aged 6-12 years) reported on their attachment internal working models for the mother-child and father-child relationships, parents reported on child emotion regulation and emotional lability/dysregulation, and children completed a sticker donation task to assess their prosocial behavior. Child emotional lability/dysregulation served as an intervening variable in the association between father-child attachment security (communication and trust) and greater sticker donation. Mother-child and father-child attachment security was also associated with child emotion regulation, but emotion regulation was not associated with sticker donation. Findings suggest that secure attachment may foster prosocial behavior toward peers in middle childhood primarily by reducing dysregulated responses to the distress of others.

Varieties of normative understanding and their relation to sharing behavior in preschool children

Children increasingly appreciate normative obligations and share resources across the preschool years. But the internal structure and behavioral relevance of normative expressions in the context of sharing-that is, the relation with children's own sharing behavior-remains disputed. Here, 4- to 6-year-old children (N = 90; 37 female) observed protagonists sharing or not sharing resources. As measures of normative expressions, children's evaluation, punishment acceptability, non-costly punishment, and costly punishment of the protagonists as well as their moral self-concept were assessed. To measure actual prosocial behavior, children had the possibility to share resources. A factor analysis revealed that the variety of normative expressions constitutes two distinct factors: normative representation (evaluation and hypothetical punishment) and norm enforcement (actual non-costly and costly punishment). Children's moral self-concept was the only normative expression that related to sharing behavior. Person-centered analyses suggest some consistency in individual differences across normative and prosocial development, with normative expressions and sharing behavior being aligned for some children on a low level and for some children on a high level. This study advances our understanding of early normative development and highlights the internal structure of normative stances during the preschool years.

How does the moral self-concept relate to prosocial behaviour? Investigating the role of emotions and consistency preference

The moral self-concept has been proposed as a central predictor of prosocial behaviour. In two experiments (one preregistered), we explored the nature of the relation between the moral self-concept (explicit and implicit) and prosocial behaviour. Specifically, we investigated the role of emotions associated with prosocial behaviour (consequential or anticipated) and preference for consistency. The results revealed a relation between the explicit moral self-concept and sharing behaviour. The explicit moral self-concept was linked to anticipated and consequential emotions regarding not-sharing. Importantly, anticipated and consequential emotions about not-sharing mediated the relation between self-concept and behaviour. Yet, the relation was independent of preference for consistency. The implicit moral self-concept was neither related to prosocial behaviour nor to emotions associated with behaviour. Overall, our study demonstrates the interplay between cognitive and emotional processes in explaining prosocial behaviour. More specific, it underlines the link between the moral self-concept and prosocial behaviour and highlights the role of emotions about the omission of prosocial behaviour.

Neural processing of moral content reflects moral identity in 10-year-old children

Middle childhood seems to be crucial for the emergence of a moral identity, that is, an evaluative stance of how important it is for someone's sense of self to be moral. This study investigates the effects of moral identity on the neural processing of moral content in 10-year-old children. Participants were presented with scenes portraying prosocial and antisocial behavior, while electroencephalographic responses were collected. Analyses of event-related potentials (ERPs) showed that, for children with a strong moral identity, antisocial scenes elicited a greater early posterior negativity (EPN) as compared to prosocial scenes. Thus, for children with a strong moral identity, antisocial scenes capture more attentional resources than prosocial ones in early processing stages. In contrast to previous findings with adults, the implicit moral self-concept was not related to any ERP differences. Overall, the results show that, even in its developmental emergence, moral identity relates to the neurocognitive processing of third-party moral content. Together, the study supports the social-cognitive model of the development of moral identity a based on a chronical activation of moral schemas that guide a person's perception of the social world. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.