The hidden cost of digital aggression: How engaging in cyberbullying facilitates moral disengagement among children through changes in normative beliefs about aggression

Cyberbullying is an increasingly common public health issue worldwide, with serious implications for the development of children and young people. However, most existing studies have treated normative beliefs about aggression (NOBAGs) and moral disengagement (MD) solely as causes of cyberbullying, while few have examined whether the same cyberbullying behaviors may conversely influence the development of NOBAGs and MD. In this study, a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) and a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) were used to explore the reciprocal, longitudinal relationships between cyberbullying and MD and the mediating effect of NOBAGs. Participants were 1393 children (mean age at enrollment = 9.38, 56.2% boys) from 16 primary schools in Hong Kong, China. The CLPM analyses revealed significant positive relationships between cyberbullying, NOBAGs, and MD, with NOBAGs acting as a mediator. The RI-CLPM analyses separated stable individual differences from changes over time: There were strong positive between-person relationships among cyberbullying, NOBAGs, and MD, but the only within-person effects were unidirectional, with cyberbullying significantly predicting increases in later NOBAGs and in MD but without NOBAGs as a mediator. From a practical perspective, these results suggest that interventions should not only address individual differences in moral-cognitive vulnerabilities but also consider the impact of cyberbullying on the escalation of MD. The findings also demonstrate how RI-CLPM complements conventional CLPM and prevents the overinterpretation of apparent longitudinal mediation effects.