Bullying and Cyberbullying Moral Sensitivity in Early and Middle Adolescents

The present study focuses on developing and validating domain-specific moral sensitivity in the phenomena of bullying ( Bullying Moral Sensitivity [BMS]) and cyberbullying ( Cyberbullying Moral Sensitivity [CMS]). The sample consisted of 2,157 Spanish early and middle adolescents (50% girls; M age = 12.67, SD = 1.53). Participants were randomly divided into two subsamples. Exploratory factor analysis in Sample 1 ( n = 1,076) identified a two-factor structure (affective response and recognition), along with good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Sample 2 ( n = 1,081) confirmed the two-factor structure for both scales through confirmatory factor analysis and demonstrated invariance across gender and developmental stages. Predictive validity analyses showed that the affective response factor in both BMS and CMS was associated with lower bullying and cyberbullying perpetration, respectively. Additionally, affective response in bullying and cyberbullying predicted higher engagement in defending victims. This study provides a validated measure of domain-specific moral sensitivity, highlighting its role in decision-making when facing peer aggression.