Designing and Testing the Causal Model of the Relationship between Moral Identity and Bullying with the Mediation of Moral Disengagement among Iranian Adolescents

Identifying the factors implicated in adolescent bullying perpetration, particularly moral mechanisms, is important for driving research, policy, and practice to prevent and reduce adolescent bullying behavior. Therefore, based on the social-cognitive model of moral identity and the social-cognitive theory of moral agency, the present study examined the relationship between moral identity and bullying of Iranian adolescents with the mediating role of moral disengagement.
The participants consisted of 392 adolescent (217 male and 175 female) high school students in Kuhdasht, aged 15-18 years (M = 16.44 and SD = 0.72). They were selected using a multistage random sampling method and completed the Parada Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument (2000), Aquino and Reed's Moral Identity Scale (2002), and Bandura’s Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale (1996). Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.
The findings showed that moral identity negatively and significantly predicted bullying (β = -0/37) and moral disengagement (β = -0/27). Also, moral disengagement played a positive and significant role in predicting bullying (β = 0/23). In addition, the results of structural equation modeling indicated that moral disengagement significantly mediated the relationship between moral identity and bullying (β = -0/051).
In sum, these findings highlight the role of moral identity and moral disengagement in adolescent bullying behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.