Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Used to Justify School Violence in Sicilian Primary School

Minimizing responsibility in the aggressive dynamics of bullying and its impact on other strategies of moral disengagement: a longitudinal study

Not assuming responsibility, or minimizing it, after committing an offence is one of the four moral disengagement strategies linked to the phenomenon of bullying described by the Social Cognitive Theory. However, to date, there has been no research into the role of the agent’s locus in this process and the mediating effect of bullying perpetration in the possible evolutionary sequencing of moral disengagement strategies. This study addresses both of these goals. A total of 1107 schoolchildren (54.7% girls; Mage = 14.49; SD = 0.789) were surveyed in a longitudinal study at three time points spaced six months apart. The results indicated that minimizing responsibility directly predicts both cognitive restructuring and distortion of consequences. They also confirmed that aggressive perpetration in bullying has a mediating effect on all three strategies. Nevertheless, this sequential dynamic does not include dehumanization, which was not directly linked to minimizing responsibility and was mediated by the perpetration of aggression in bullying. We discuss the extent to which minimizing responsibility is the first step in a temporal sequence of moral disengagement mechanisms that help maintain the aggressive dynamic in bullying, so that it stimulates the other mechanisms and incorporates the locus of the aggressive agent. These findings allow us to advance in our understanding of the ethical dimension (sensitivity and moral criteria) implicit in the phenomenon of unjustified aggressiveness known as bullying.

The Relationship between Personal Variables and Perceived Appropriateness of Coping Strategies against Cybervictimisation among Pre-Service Teachers

Cyberbullying behaviours begin at primary school, so the actions taken by pre-teachers will play a key role in achieving the goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. More specifically, active coping strategies are essential in reducing victimisation. The aim of this study was to identify the coping strategies considered effective by pre-service teachers and to analyse the perceived appropriateness of active and passive strategies in relation to personal variables. The participants were 1122 students on the Bachelor’s Degree in Education at the University of Castile-La Mancha in Spain. The study measured the perceived appropriateness of five active coping strategies and four passive coping strategies, moral disengagement, experiences of bullying and cyberbullying, emotions in response to bullying and gender stereotypes. The results show that more than 25% of pre-service teachers are not prepared to manage cyberbullying effectively. Prior experiences of victimisation, personal masculinity in men and moral emotions in women are related to active strategies, while moral disengagement, and pleasant emotions in women, are related to passive strategies. Universities must implement initiatives to ensure that pre-service teachers receive training on effective coping strategies and reflect on the personal factors influencing their decisions.

Restorative Justice Education from Intrajudicial Criminal Mediation Associated Factors

The restorative justice (RJ) paradigm requires coherence among legal, justice, and educational systems to promote a culture of restorative dialogue with victims of violence and to reintegrate aggressors into the community. The objective of this study, from an evolutionary social perspective, was to examine criminal mediation files in the archives of the Murcia Intrajudicial Criminal Mediation Service (UMIM), Spain, to see which variables are associated with which types of violence and understand the contents and adoption of agreements. In this study the sociodemographic, procedural, and interpersonal variables of 216 people who used criminal mediation were analysed. The results showed statistically significant differences concerning age, the procedural moment of referral, and the participants’ relationship. The main conclusions are that the youngest group had a more significant number of encounters with physical violence; most agreements occurred in the initial phase of a judicial procedure; and the majority of agreements had moral content regardless of the age of the parties involved. These factors are of interest to the establishment of judicial and educational restorative models.

Teaching Socio-Emotional Competencies Among Primary School Students: Improving Conflict Resolution and Promoting Democratic Co-existence in Schools

Teaching socio-emotional skills among primary school students is the key to creating a climate of cooperation in classrooms and reducing disruptive or aggressive behaviors among students. The primary goal of this research is to present an educational proposal for imparting socio-emotional competencies among primary school students. We attempt to impart socio-emotional competencies based on: (1) fostering self-knowledge, self-esteem, and respect for others among students; (2) developing behaviors that allow them to perceive and express feelings and self-regulating emotions; and (3) developing assertive communication skills aimed at improving conflict resolution. This program has been designed in such a way that it is implemented throughout the academic year by organizing bi-monthly sessions of 45 min each, held until the completion of 15 sessions. The sample consists of 100 students in the third grade, with the control and experimental groups having an equal number of students (50 each). The instruments used for this research are: (a) BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (Youth Version [BarOn EQ-i:YV]): used for measuring emotional and social functioning; (b) the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY): used for assessing social skills; and (c) Questionnaire for the Assessment of School Violence in Preschool and Primary School Questionnaire. To check the effectiveness of the educational intervention, a quasi-experimental design, along with pretest-posttest control group design, is used in accordance with the general linear model. Its effectiveness is also checked using repeated measures analysis of variance. The results show that the program is useful in preventing violent behaviors in the educational field and promoting the development of socio-emotional skills among third grade students. Finally, the applicability of the program to other educational contexts is discussed to enhance students' personal development and decrease the levels of violence found in primary school.

Witnessing Cyberbullying and Internalizing Symptoms among Middle School Students

Cyberbullying is a significant problem among school-aged youth. Cyberbullying peaks in middle school with 33% of middle school students reporting cyberbullying victimization and more than 50% reporting witnessing cyberbullying as bystanders. Although the association between cyberbullying victimization and internalizing symptoms is well documented, there is limited research examining the impact of witnessing cyberbullying on bystanders. To assess differences in internalizing symptoms between cyberbullying bystanders and non-bystanders, a school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among middle school students (6th-8th grade) in the United States (N = 130; 57.4% female; 42.6% male). Questionnaire data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of co-variance (MANCOVA) with three outcome variables (depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms) and the between-subject factor bystander status (bystander, non-bystander). We controlled for witnessing school bullying to examine the unique effect of witnessing cyberbullying on internalizing symptoms. Results of the MANCOVA indicated a significant effect for cyberbullying bystander status (p < 0.04). Post hoc analyses demonstrated that bystanders reported significantly higher levels of depression (p < 0.05), anxiety (p < 0.02), and somatic symptoms (p < 0.01) than non-bystanders. Findings suggest that programs to support students who witness cyberbullying are needed to reduce the mental health risks associated with being a cyberbullying bystander.