Dispositional and situational moral emotions, bullying and prosocial behavior in adolescence

Xavier Oriol,Alberto Amutio,Rafael Miranda

doi:10.1007/s12144-021-02396-x

Xavier Oriol, Alberto Amutio + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02396-x

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Abstract

Studies that distinguish the role of dispositional and situational moral emotions in bullying situations remain limited in the international literature. This work, therefore, aims to analyze the role of dispositional and situational moral emotions in bullying and prosocial behavior in adolescents. Two studies were conducted: a cross-sectional study including 644 adolescents aged 14–18 years (M = 15.6, DT = 1.4) and a repeated measures design including 235 adolescents aged 10–15 years (M = 12.5, DT = 0.9). The objectives of Study 1 were 1) to validate two scales for the situational moral emotions elicited in bullying situations (elevation and moral disgust) and 2) to examine the relationships between dispositional and situational moral emotions and prosocial behavior toward victims and bullying behavior. The results show adequate psychometric properties for both elevation and moral disgust scales. Furthermore, both situational moral emotions are negatively related to bullying behavior, whereas dispositional emotions such as compassion and gratitude have a positive effect on prosocial behavior. Study 2 assessed the prospective relationship between dispositional gratitude and prosocial behavior toward victims and bullying behavior. The results of this study indicate that dispositional gratitude has a positive prospective effect on prosocial behavior towards victims and a negative effect on bullying behavior. In conclusion, the relevance of moral emotions for the prevention of bullying behavior is highlighted and the role that self-transcendent dispositional emotions have on prosocial behavior from the perspective of developmental psychology.

Highlights

Bullying is considered a form of interpersonal violence that affect children and adolescents
The results of this research emphasize the fundamental role of both self-transcendence dispositional emotions and situational moral emotions in their relationship with prosocial behaviors toward victims and bullying behavior
The findings of our study suggest the need to continue delving into the role of other moral emotions, in addition to those usually studied in the field of bullying, i.e., sympathy, empathy, guilt, shame, and pride

Summary

Introduction

Bullying is considered a form of interpersonal violence that affect children and adolescents. A study conducted in more than 70 countries found that approximately 30% of young adolescents are victims of bullying (Elgar et al, 2015). Moral disengagement in bullying cases has been related to low scores in consideration of others and poor self-control (García-Vázquez et al, 2020). In this line, a longitudinal study by Thornberg et al (2019) including elementary students revealed that changes in moral disengagement altered the bullying behavior and increased the collective efficacy of the class, which stopped aggression towards other students

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