An increasing number of immigrant students attend Italian schools, with the possibility of being involved in bullying episodes. A few studies have investigated this phenomenon, providing some evidence that immigrant students may face an increased risk to being bullied compared to native students. The present study adopted a mixed-method design, which may better catch the dynamics of bullying towards immigrant peers. Six-hundred and twenty-nine native and immigrant students (20.5 % with immigrant background; 54.8% girls) filled in self-report measures about their bullying experiences, popularity, acceptance of diversity at school and prejudice. Thirty-five pupils (54% with immigrant background) were also interviewed. Two hypothetical bullying scenarios were presented, one depicting a native victim and one depicting an immigrant victim. After each scenario, adolescents were encouraged to reason about the motives for bullying. Quantitative data showed that general bullying was associated with perceived popularity status among peers, while racial bullying was associated with prejudice but not peer status. The relevance of anti-immigrant prejudices in driving bullying emerged also from adolescents' interview. The qualitative data indicated that among the reasons for bullying, adolescents mentioned a desire for dominance and popularity, in particular when the victim was non-immigrant. Findings suggest that, in addition to individual and peer group-related risk factors, prejudice also needs to be addressed in anti-bullying interventions aimed to counteract racial bullying.

We examined the moderating effect of guilt on the associations between moral disengagement and bullying, defending, and outsider behaviors in a sample of 404 students (203 boys; Mage = 11.09 years; SD = 1.48). Bullying, defending, and outsider behavior were assessed through peer nominations, whereas guilt and moral disengagement were assessed by self-reports. Results showed that moral disengagement was associated with high levels of bullying and low levels of defending. Guilt was negatively associated with bullying and positively with defending. A moderating effect for guilt was also found: Increasing levels of moral disengagement contributed to more bullying and outsider behavior, and to less defending, among students with low levels of guilt. The current research broadens the extant literature, showing the combined effects of guilt and moral disengagement on bullying-related behaviors.

This study investigated students' perspectives about bullying towards same-country and immigrant peers. Thirty-five Italian and immigrant students (age range: 11-15) took part to the study.Participants were probed with two bullying scenarios, depicting respectively a new classmate from another Italian city and from a foreign country. A Grounded Theory approach was adopted to examine participants' perspectives about the motives for bullying. Findings showed that a process of socializing deviance is at the core of both forms of bullying. This social process refers to a series of shared beliefs within the peer group about the victim's deviant features. Three sub-categories related to both forms of bullying emerged from the core concept: (a) Rejecting the newcomer deviance, (b) Rejecting physical deviance, (c) and Rejecting personality deviance. These sub-categories were related to the subcategories of bullying towards immigrant peers: (d) Rejecting cultural deviance, (e) and Learned racism. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical relevance.

The complex temporal associations among moral disengagement, moral emotions and aggressive behavior were investigated within a short-term four-wave longitudinal study in a sample of early adolescents (at T1: N = 245; Mage = 12.16 years; SD = 0.85). Moral disengagement and aggressive behavior were investigated by validated self-report scales. Shame and guilt were assessed in response to six-story vignettes. A series of four-wave longitudinal mediation analyses were conducted to test several theoretically meaningful models. Mediation models revealed positive reciprocal longitudinal effects between aggressive behavior and moral disengagement. Aggressive behavior negatively predicted moral emotions, and moral disengagement was negatively associated with moral emotions over time. When testing competing models including all three variables in one model, no theoretical meaningful mediation process emerged: Instead, high moral disengagement predicted lower moral emotions but higher aggressive behavior over time. Results are discussed regarding their practical importance for prevention and intervention programs.