Longitudinal link between moral disengagement and bullying among children and adolescents: A systematic review

Abstract

Moral disengagement (MD) refers to social-cognitive distortions that allow individuals to sidestep the self-regulatory processes that normally prevent immoral conduct. MD has been linked to bullying in childhood and adolescence, but most studies have used a cross-sectional design. Less is known about the longitudinal link. Therefore, the aim of this review was to examine the longitudinal relationship between MD and bullying among school-aged children and adolescents. The focus included individual MD, classroom collective MD, MD loci, traditional bullying, and cyberbullying. Eligibility criteria resulted in a final sample of 16 peer-reviewed research articles. A large part of these studies examined and found that MD predicts subsequent bullying. Only a few studies have investigated whether bullying predicts subsequent MD, and the findings were mixed. Most studies used a short-term longitudinal approach and, in particular, longitudinal studies on the link between MD loci and bullying and the link between classroom collective MD and bullying were scarce.