Parental Moral Disengagement Induction as a Predictor of Bullying and Cyberbullying: Mediation by Children’s Moral Disengagement, Moral Emotions, and Validation of a Questionnaire

Little is known about the relation between parental morality induction, moral function- ing in children and children’s involvement in bullying and cyberbullying. This study aimed at advancing knowledge on parenting practices regarding morality induction. The Perceived Parental Moral Disengagement Induction Questionnaire was designed and validated. The relation between the perceived parental moral disengagement induction, bullying and cyberbullying mediated by children’s moral disengagement and moral emotions was explored in this study. The survey was answered by 1483 Primary and Secondary Education students enrolled in eight different schools. High perceived parental moral disengagement induction, children’ s high moral disengagement and low moral emotions were related to high involvement in bullying and cyberbullying. Parenting practices regarding morality predicted moral functioning in children which in turn predicted bullying and cyberbullying. Thus, bullying and cyberbullying could possibly be decreased by enhancing morality in children and promoting desirable morality-related parenting practice

This study was conducted to advance in the knowledge on the dynamic relations among parental induction of moral disengagement, moral functioning in children, and involvement in bullying and cyberbullying. Results show that high moral disengagement was related to high involvement in bullying perpetration and victimization in Primary and Secondary education. Low moral emotions were related to high cyberperpetration in Primary and Secondary Education. The relation between cyber victimization and low moral emotions was significant in Secondary Education but not in Primary Education. The authors point out that it seems that bullies find excuses and justify their immoral acts and feel less moral emotions related to the transgressions that probably decrease their motivation to desist from bullying, adding that "It is also possible that victims who believe that transgressions can be justified do not seek help and assume that there might be a reason to hurt them" (Zych et al., 2019: 1078). On the other hand results of this study show that high parental moral disengagement induction perceived by the children and adolescents was related to high bullying and cyberbullying perpetration mediated by high moral disengagement and low moral emotions. Zych et al. (2019: 1078) point out that "It is possible that children who perceive that their parents justify their transgressions are likely to increase their own moral disengagement regarding different aggressive behaviors including bullying and cyberbullying". These moral disengagement mechanisms decrease their moral emotions to which Zych et al. (2019: 1078) point out that "if they do not feel guilty or ashamed after hurting other children, they might continue to do this and become bullies or cyberbullies". The current study has some important implications for policy and practice. The authors address the need for designing tailored anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying interventions which might include parental training and should be necessarily implemented as extracurricular activities and would require investment in these programs (Zych et al., 2019: 1080).