To examine whether high moral reasoning competence of adolescents is associated with low levels of bullying, and to understand whether moral disengagement mediates or moderates this relationship, 925 German children ranging from 11 to 17 years of age (M = 14.18, SD = 1.21) completed questionnaires on moral reasoning competence and moral disengagement in surveys at three different schools. The children were classified according to their bullying role, based on a peer‐nomination procedure. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that moral reasoning competence negatively predicted whether a student took an aggressive role. Moral disengagement partially mediated this relationship. Corresponding effects for defenders and outsiders were not found. These results extend previous findings about the effect of moral reasoning on bullying in primary school. The implications for the prevention of bullying are discussed.
Causal mapping is often recognized as a technique to support strategic decisions and actions in complex problem situations. Such drawing of causal structures is supposed to particularly foster the understanding of the interaction of the various system elements and to further encourage holistic thinking. It builds on the idea that humans make use of mental maps to represent their environment and to make predictions about it. However, a profound theoretical underpinning and empirical research of the effects of causal mapping on problem solving is missing. This study compares a causal mapping approach with more common problem solving techniques utilizing the standardized computer-simulated microworld Tailorshop. Results show that causal mapping leads to a worse performance in managing the Tailorshop and was not associated with increased knowledge about the underlying system's structure. We conclude that the successful representation of the causal structure and the control of a complex scenario require the concerted interplay of cognitive skills that go beyond drawing causal maps.
Research has found that moral competence is negatively associated with bullying behavior in schools, but the drivers of this association are not yet well understood. In this paper, we report on two studies which suggest that moral competence acts as a moderator of peer influence in the context of school bullying. Data were collected at two time points in three German higher secondary schools (grades 7-10, average age at measurement: 14.26 years). Using a cross-lagged panel design (CLPD), study 1 (N = 251) found adolescents with low moral competence to be susceptible to peer influence, while no such effect was found for adolescents with high moral competence. Study 2, a cross-sectional analysis (N = 748), found moral competence to be inversely related to the likelihood of an individual's conforming with the pro-bullying behavior of his or her peers. Neither study found corresponding effects for pro-social, defending behavior. Our findings further illuminate the associations between moral competence, peer influence, and school bullying. Some implications for bullying prevention are discussed.
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