Work

Moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy and their associations with defending, unconcerned bystanding, and guilty bystanding in school bullying

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy were related to defending, unconcerned bystanding, and guilty bystanding in school bullying among pre-adolescent students. In this study, 1168 pre-adolescent students from 74 upper elementary classrooms in 31 schools in Sweden completed a series of self-report scales. Through structural equation modeling, the study found that defending was positively associated with defender self-efficacy and negatively associated with moral disengagement. Unconcerned bystanding was negatively associated with defender self-efficacy and positively associated with moral disengagement. Finally, guilty bystanding was negatively associated with defender self-efficacy and moral disengagement.

Source: Social Psychology of Education

DOI: 10.1007/s11218-025-10156-z

Authors: Robert Thornberg, Björn Sjögren, Gianluca Gini, Tiziana Pozzoli

Institutions: Linköping University, University of Padua

Language: English

Topic: Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,290