The Role of Traditional and Online Moral Disengagement on Cyberbullying: Do Externalising Problems Make Any Difference?

Marinella Paciello; Carlo Tramontano; Annalaura Nocentini; Roberta Fida; Ersilia Menesini

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.024

The Role of Traditional and Online Moral Disengagement on Cyberbullying: Do Externalising Problems Make Any Difference?

Marinella Paciello, Carlo Tramontano, Annalaura Nocentini, Roberta Fida, Ersilia Menesini

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32 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

This study examines the differential role of traditional and online moral disengagement (MD) in relation to cyberbullying. Traditional MD is operationalised as a process operating across contexts, whereas online MD as a contextualised process related to online settings. We hypothesised that they are separate, although correlated, and have different roles depending on externalising tendencies. The sample comprised 856 high school students (mean age = 14.7, S.D. = 1.7; 45.6% females). Regression analyses highlighted that: a) for low externalising adolescents, only online MD was significantly related to cyberbullying; b) for medium externalising adolescents, both online and traditional MD are significant, with the former more strongly associated with cyberbullying; c) for high externalising adolescents, traditional MD is key. Cluster analyses identified five configurations: 1) the Externalising Traditionally Disengaged; 2) the Externalising Not-Disengaged; 3) the Online Disengaged; 4) the All Good; and 5) the Unsuspected. The Online Disengaged has the highest engagement in cyberbullying. The Unsuspected (showing the same low externalising behaviour but significantly higher level of online MD than the All Good) engage in cyberbullying as much as Externalising Traditionally Disengaged and Not-Disengaged.
These findings have implications for intervention programmes, underlining the relevance of considering the moral processeses within the online environment.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	190-198
Number of pages	9
Journal	Computers in Human Behavior
Volume	103
Early online date	25 Sep 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.024
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2020

Bibliographical note

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Computers in Human Behavior. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 103, (2019) DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.024

© 2019, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

Cyberbulling
Externalising problems
ICT
Moral disengagement
Online

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Human-Computer Interaction
Psychology(all)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.024

Post-PrintAccepted author manuscript, 895 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "The Role of Traditional and Online Moral Disengagement on Cyberbullying: Do Externalising Problems Make Any Difference?",

abstract = "This study examines the differential role of traditional and online moral disengagement (MD) in relation to cyberbullying. Traditional MD is operationalised as a process operating across contexts, whereas online MD as a contextualised process related to online settings. We hypothesised that they are separate, although correlated, and have different roles depending on externalising tendencies. The sample comprised 856 high school students (mean age = 14.7, S.D. = 1.7; 45.6% females). Regression analyses highlighted that: a) for low externalising adolescents, only online MD was significantly related to cyberbullying; b) for medium externalising adolescents, both online and traditional MD are significant, with the former more strongly associated with cyberbullying; c) for high externalising adolescents, traditional MD is key. Cluster analyses identified five configurations: 1) the Externalising Traditionally Disengaged; 2) the Externalising Not-Disengaged; 3) the Online Disengaged; 4) the All Good; and 5) the Unsuspected. The Online Disengaged has the highest engagement in cyberbullying. The Unsuspected (showing the same low externalising behaviour but significantly higher level of online MD than the All Good) engage in cyberbullying as much as Externalising Traditionally Disengaged and Not-Disengaged.These findings have implications for intervention programmes, underlining the relevance of considering the moral processeses within the online environment.",

keywords = "Cyberbulling, Externalising problems, ICT, Moral disengagement, Online",

author = "Marinella Paciello and Carlo Tramontano and Annalaura Nocentini and Roberta Fida and Ersilia Menesini",

note = "NOTICE: this is the author{\textquoteright}s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Computers in Human Behavior. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 103, (2019) DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.024 {\textcopyright} 2019, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ",

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AU - Fida, Roberta

AU - Menesini, Ersilia

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SN - 0747-5632

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The Role of Traditional and Online Moral Disengagement on Cyberbullying: Do Externalising Problems Make Any Difference?

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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Carlo Tramontano

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The Role of Traditional and Online Moral Disengagement on Cyberbullying: Do Externalising Problems Make Any Difference?

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

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Carlo Tramontano

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