Abstract
The aim of the current study was to examine whether moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy at individual level and collective efficacy to stop peer aggression at classroom level were associated with defending and reinforcing in school bullying situations in late childhood. Self-reported survey data were collected from 1060 Swedish students from 70 classrooms in 29 schools. Multilevel analysis found that greater defender self-efficacy at individual level and collective efficacy to stop peer aggression at classroom level were associated with greater defending. We also found that greater moral disengagement and less (but very weakly) defender self-efficacy at individual level and less collective efficacy to stop peer aggression at classroom level were associated with greater reinforcing. The positive relationship between moral disengagement and reinforcing and the negative relationship between defender self-efficacy and reinforcing were less strong in classroom high in collective efficacy to stop aggression.
Highlights
Bullying, defined as repeated inhumane, aggressive or offensive actions directed at individuals who are disadvantaged or less powerful in relation to the perpetrator(s) (Jimerson et al 2010)
We examined bystanders’ moral agency in school bullying, and we have delimited our focus on moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy at the individual level and collective efficacy to stop peer aggression at classroom level
As all correlations were calculated at individual level, collective efficacy here represents the individuals’ perceived collective efficacy to stop aggression
Summary
Bullying, defined as repeated inhumane, aggressive or offensive actions directed at individuals who are disadvantaged or less powerful in relation to the perpetrator(s) (Jimerson et al 2010). At classroom level, reinforcing has been positively linked with greater bullying (Kärnä et al 2010; Nocentini et al 2013; Salmivalli et al 2011; Thornberg and Wänström 2018), whereas defending has been associated with less bullying (Kärne et al 2010; Nocentini et al 2013; Salmivalli et al 2011) These two bystander responses are two opposite ways to take sides in bullying situations (Pöyhönen et al 2012), and demonstrate the moral agency students as bystanders may or may not, manifest in school bullying
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