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Parental Moral Disengagement Induction as a Predictor of Bullying and Cyberbullying: Mediation by Children’s Moral Disengagement, Moral Emotions, and Validation of a Questionnaire

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Abstract

Little is known about the relation between parental morality induction, moral functioning in children and children’s involvement in bullying and cyberbullying. This study aimed at advancing knowledge on parenting practices regarding morality induction. The Perceived Parental Moral Disengagement Induction Questionnaire was designed and validated. The relation between the perceived parental moral disengagement induction, bullying and cyberbullying mediated by children’s moral disengagement and moral emotions was explored in this study. The survey was answered by 1483 Primary and Secondary Education students enrolled in eight different schools. High perceived parental moral disengagement induction, children’s high moral disengagement and low moral emotions were related to high involvement in bullying and cyberbullying. Parenting practices regarding morality predicted moral functioning in children which in turn predicted bullying and cyberbullying. Thus, bullying and cyberbullying could possibly be decreased by enhancing morality in children and promoting desirable morality-related parenting practice.

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Acknowledgements

The current work was supported by research projects PSI2015-64114-R and PSI2016-74871-R granted by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness within the I + D + I National Program for Research Aimed at the Challenges of the Society (RETOS). It was also partially supported by a H2020 project granted by the European Research Council: 755175.

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  1. Universidad de Cordoba, Avda. San Alberto Magno s/n, 14004, Córdoba, Spain

    Izabela Zych, Olga Gómez-Ortiz, Lidia Fernández Touceda, Elena Nasaescu & Vicente J. Llorent

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  1. Izabela Zych
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  2. Olga Gómez-Ortiz
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Zych, I., Gómez-Ortiz, O., Fernández Touceda, L. et al. Parental Moral Disengagement Induction as a Predictor of Bullying and Cyberbullying: Mediation by Children’s Moral Disengagement, Moral Emotions, and Validation of a Questionnaire. Child Ind Res 13, 1065–1083 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-019-09670-2

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