Publicação
The role of moral disengagement in cyberbullying
| datacite.subject.fos | Ciências Sociais::Psicologia | pt_PT |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Simão, Ana Margarida Veiga | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Ferreira, Paula da Costa | |
| dc.contributor.author | Francisco, Sofia | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-06-28T10:54:24Z | |
| dc.date.embargo | 2026-07 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-09 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2022-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon with multiple factors involved, both individual as well as contextual, therefore a multiplicity of interventions are possible. Nonetheless, there are specific individual factors, such as moral disengagement (MD), which have already been investigated previously in relation to bullying, that are considered risk factors for cyberbullying involvement. Thus, this investigation focused specifically on MD and how it is related to cyberbullying from the perspective of adolescents. The processes involved in cyberbullying can be seen as the two sides from the same coin. On one side, there are the protective factors, and on the other side, there are the risk factors. Hence, considering the fact that cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon, which can be explained by several factors, we also aimed to understand the relation between MD and empathy. This provided evidence on how to include these two constructs together in order to develop more effective anti-cyberbullying interventions. Hence, in a first study, we proposed to examine how students belonging to different cyberbullying roles, perceived beliefs related to cyberbullying, both at the individual level and concerning the peer group. Specifically, we aimed to understand how adolescents (N=404) perceived their personal and normative beliefs about cyberbullying, considering their specific role in this type of aggressive behavior. For this purpose, students answered to the Inventory of Observed Cyberbullying Incidents. To this objective, 34 adolescents participated in semi-structured interviews with scenarios, and content analysis was used with a mixed approach, based on the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Results from hierarchical regressions followed by Post Hoc Tukey test revealed that those who were involved as bystanders, victims and aggressors presented the lowest scores on all four types of beliefs. Specifically, this group believed that cyberbullying was less severe and less unfair, and thought that their peer group believed cyberbullying was less severe and unfair than others (i.e., bystanders, bystanders-victims and those who were not involved at all). Moreover, the most used MD mechanisms were blaming the victim and euphemistic labeling (regarding the seriousness of the situation). Therefore, we concluded that those who were involved as bystanders, victims and aggressors that would most benefit from cyberbullying interventions, specifically targeted at clarifying beliefs about the fairness and severity of these types of behavior. Furthermore, this study enabled us to understand the role of MD, considering that specific mechanisms are more related to the aggressors’ behavior and others are more related to bystanders’ aggressive behavior. Furthermore, the adolescents’ perspectives of cyberbullying led to a cyclical model, where some mechanisms were related to the antecedents, others to the behavior, and finally, others mechanisms were related to the consequents. In a second study, we investigated how adolescents reported empathy in online contexts and MD in cyberbullying incidents. To accomplish this goal, we had to adapt and develop two instruments, the short version of the Empathy Quotient, to Portuguese and to online contexts, which originated the Empathy Quotient in Virtual Contexts (EQVC), and develop the Process Moral Disengagement in Cyberbullying Situations Questionnaire (PMDCSQ), based on the content analysis from the previous study and on the SCT. Exploratory factor analyses (N=234) and Confirmatory factor analyses (N=345) to assess both instruments revealed empathy as a bi-dimensional structure including difficulty and self-efficacy in empathizing (Cronbach's α = .44, .83, respectively), and process MD was assessed with four unidimensional questionnaires including locus of behavior, agency, outcome and recipient (Cronbach's α = .76, .65, .77, .69, respectively). Results of a correlational study showed that difficulty in empathizing was negatively associated with sex, meaning that girls revealed more difficulty than boys. Difficulty in empathizing was also negatively associated with all MD loci, with exception for behavior. Self-efficacy in empathizing was not associated with any variable. Lastly, MD was positively correlated with sex, suggesting that boys morally disengaged more from cyberbullying than girls. Lastly, we analyzed how MD and empathy could be related, longitudinally. Specifically, two gamified tasks (one for empathy and other for MD) were analyzed. These tasks were developed attending to the specificities of the cyberbullying scenarios presented in a serious game. To accomplish this goal, data from gamified tasks (N=208), from 4 different moments, were analyzed through multilevel linear modeling. Results suggest that there was a change in adolescents’ MD over time. Participants with greater empathy revealed lower MD overall. Over time, adolescents with greater empathy revealed lower MD within their own growth rate. Overall, our results provide important information about the dynamic relationship between MD, empathy and cyberbullying, which informs future studies and interventions. | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.tid | 101564490 | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10451/58375 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | pt_PT |
| dc.relation | The Role of Moral Disengagement in Cyberbullying | |
| dc.subject | Descomprometimento moral | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | cyberbullying | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | empatia | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | adolescentes | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | intervenção | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Moral Disengagement | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | cyberbullying | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | empathy | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | adolescents | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | intervention | pt_PT |
| dc.title | The role of moral disengagement in cyberbullying | pt_PT |
| dc.type | doctoral thesis | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.awardTitle | The Role of Moral Disengagement in Cyberbullying | |
| oaire.awardURI | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/OE/SFRH%2FBD%2F130982%2F2017/PT | |
| oaire.fundingStream | OE | |
| person.familyName | Mateus Francisco | |
| person.givenName | Sofia | |
| person.identifier.ciencia-id | 911F-DA82-8A17 | |
| person.identifier.orcid | 0000-0002-1421-0995 | |
| project.funder.identifier | http://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871 | |
| project.funder.name | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | |
| rcaap.rights | embargoedAccess | pt_PT |
| rcaap.type | doctoralThesis | pt_PT |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication | 5ebdb569-c35c-4288-b088-07ae731cc131 | |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery | 5ebdb569-c35c-4288-b088-07ae731cc131 | |
| relation.isProjectOfPublication | 44a18eae-4a83-4bfe-be8d-a347407e571e | |
| relation.isProjectOfPublication.latestForDiscovery | 44a18eae-4a83-4bfe-be8d-a347407e571e | |
| thesis.degree.name | Tese de doutoramento, Psicologia (Psicologia da Educação), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2022 | pt_PT |