Mechanisms of moral disengagement as predictors of direct and indirect bullying perpetration: a short-term longitudinal study

The current study explored whether specific mechanisms of moral disengagement predicted bullying perpetration from a sample of upper elementary school students in Sweden. The study hypothesized that both moral justification (portraying harmful actions as serving a noble or socially valuable purpose) and victim attribution (blaming the victims for their own suffering) would be positively associated with subsequent bullying perpetration. Participants, who consisted of 471 students in grades 4–6, completed a web-based questionnaire at two timepoints. Analyses included two linear regression analyses—one with indirect bullying and one with direct bullying. Results indicated that moral justification significantly predicted bullying. The victim attribution predicted higher levels of indirect bullying and was significantly associated with bullying among girls. The findings suggest that assessing students’ morals and identifying and intervening in disengagement patterns might potentially be avenues practitioners need to consider. Also, programs need to consider gender differences and specifically target victim-blaming attitudes.