Filial beliefs reduce aggression in different cultures: A conditional process model

The dual filial piety model divides filial piety beliefs into two types: reciprocal and authoritarian filial piety beliefs (RFP vs. AFP) in terms of attitude, emotion, and obligation towards parents. Previous studies have shown that these two types of filial piety beliefs related to different psychological outcomes. Literature also suggests that some aspects of the function of filial piety beliefs may be a cultural universal. This research aimed to test the effects of filial piety beliefs on aggression using participants from two cultures (Chinese vs. Islamic). We further explored the mediating role of moral disengagement, forgiveness, and self-control between filial piety beliefs and aggression, and the moderating role of culture. The results showed that moral disengagement, forgiveness, and self-control played mediating roles in the relationship between filial piety beliefs and aggression. The functions of filial piety beliefs showed both similarities and differences across cultures. (1) RFP was negatively associated with aggression in both cultures, while AFP was negatively associated with aggression only among Muslim participants. (2) RFP can reduce the aggression of Chinese participants through moral disengagement, forgiveness, and self-control; while the RFP of Muslim participants can reduce their aggressiveness only through forgiveness. (3) AFP enhanced aggression via moral disengagement and reduced self-control among; Chinese participants, but reduced aggression via self-control among Muslim participants. Findings of this study confirmed that the functions of RFP show more similarities than differences across cultures, while functions of AFP do the opposite.

Adolescents High in Callous-Unemotional Traits are Prone to be Bystanders: The Roles of Moral Disengagement, Moral Identity, and Perceived Social Support

Bystanders are the most common role that adolescents play in bullying episodes, they have considerable influence on the formation of the victim's experience and the perpetrator's behavior. Based on the social-cognitive model, the current study examined the mediating role of moral disengagement in the association between callous-unemotional traits and bystander behavior and the moderating roles of moral identity and perceived social support. Participants included 2,286 Chinese adolescents aged 11-16 years (49.3% boys; Mage = 13.46, SDage = 0.93). The study showed callous-unemotional traits were significantly and positively associated with bystander behavior and this relation was partially mediated by moral disengagement. Moral identity moderated the relation between callous-unemotional traits and moral disengagement as well as callous-unemotional traits and bystander behavior. Perceived social support moderated in the direct and indirect associations between callous-unemotional traits and bystander behavior via moral disengagement. The relation between callous-unemotional traits and moral disengagement and the relation between callous-unemotional traits and bystander behavior became weaker for adolescents with high perceived social support. Surprisingly, the relation between moral disengagement and bystander behavior became stronger for adolescents with a high level of perceived social support. The results supported two specific patterns of perceived social support: stress-buffering and reverse stress-buffering. The present study contributes to our understanding of the key mechanisms underlying the association between callous-unemotional traits and adolescents' bystander behavior.

Moral disengagement in the media discourses on meat and dairy production systems

Meat and dairy production and consumption are the subject of ongoing public debates that touch on various sustainability issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, animal welfare, and social and health aspects. Despite extensive discussions specifically relating to the environmental impacts of livestock farming in conjunction with animal welfare aspects, there have been no substantial changes in production or consumption patterns. Moreover, the focus of extant research is usually on consumers' responses to public concerns around livestock production. In this study, we shed light on the discrepancy between the normative discourse and action of relevant value chain actors with the help of Bandura's theory of moral disengagement, which allows us to identify mechanisms that contribute to the perpetuation of unsustainable production and consumption patterns. In particular, we focus on the shifting of responsibility between actors in the normatively charged field of sustainable livestock production. We collected 109 media interviews on meat and dairy production and consumption from the years 2020-2022, including interviews with actors from agriculture, processing industries, and food retail. Using qualitative content analysis, we investigated the role of moral disengagement in the media discourse on meat and dairy production and explored differences between actors in terms of moral disengagement. We found that shifting of responsibility shows a quasi-circular dynamic of being shifted from all actors to all, in our case most frequently to consumers, politics, and (diffuse) economic forces. In addition, our analysis showed the use of social justifications, beneficial comparisons, and euphemistic labelling to be common mechanisms of moral disengagement, constituting a collective problem within agri-food systems.

The role of anger rumination as a mediator in the relationship between driver moral disengagement and driving angry

Background

Road rage is a common phenomenon during driving, which not only affects the psychological health of drivers but also may increase the risk of traffic accidents. This article explores the impact of moral disengagement and anger rumination on road rage through two studies.

Method

This research combined experimental studies with survey questionnaires. Study one used a driving simulator to investigate whether moral disengagement and anger rumination are psychological triggers of road rage in real-time driving, and whether there are differences in the main psychological triggers of road rage under different road scenarios. Building on the first study, study two employed a survey questionnaire to analyze the relationship between moral disengagement, anger rumination, and road rage. Participants in both studies were drivers with certain driving ages and experience. Data were processed and analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability and validity tests, and multiple regression analysis.

Results

The findings indicated: (1) There were significant differences in the anger induction rate across different road scenarios, χ2 = 35.73, p < 0.01, effect size = 0.29. Significant differences in average anger levels were observed in scenarios involving oncoming vehicles, lane-cutting, sudden stops by the vehicle ahead, pedestrians crossing the road, and traffic congestion (F = 20.41, p < 0.01, ηp2 = 0.36), with anger rumination playing a major role in the formation of road rage; (2) Moral disengagement significantly predicted road rage (β = 0.25, t = 3.85, p < 0.01). The predictive effect of moral disengagement on anger rumination was significant (β = 0.39, t = 6.17, p < 0.01), as was the predictive effect of anger rumination on road rage (β = 0.43, t = 6.3, p < 0.01). The direct effect of moral disengagement on road rage included 0 in the bootstrap 95% confidence interval, while the mediating effect of anger rumination did not include 0 in the bootstrap 95% confidence interval, indicating that anger rumination fully mediated the relationship between moral disengagement and road rage.

Neither a problem nor my problem: Risk factors for underage drinking disengagement among college students

OBJECTIVE

Underage drinking disengagement (UDD; cognitive restructuring/minimizing agency) measures attitudes about the acceptability and responsibility of drinking. We examined demographic correlates of UDD, as well as the moderating effects of legal drinking status on the association between UDD and drinking.

PARTICIPANTS

College student drinkers (n = 893; Mage = 19.48, range = 18-25; White = 74.1%; female = 68.1%) from a multi-site study.

METHODS

An online confidential survey included the UDD Scale for College Students and the AUDIT-C.

RESULTS

White and multiracial, underage students, or those living with others endorsed greater cognitive restructuring disengagement than Hispanic students, legal-age students, or those living alone or with parents, respectively. Greek membership and greater "party school" perceptions were related to more cognitive restructuring and minimizing agency. The associations between UDD and alcohol use were not moderated by legal drinking age status.

CONCLUSION

Identifying and educating students at risk for UDD on the ramifications associated with underage drinking could combat drinking.

Moral disengagement and empathy in cyberbullying: how they are related in reflection activities about a serious game

Cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon with multiple factors involved, both contextual and individual factors, such as moral disengagement and empathy. This study investigated how moral disengagement and empathy could be related, longitudinally in cyberbullying events. Specifically, two gamified tasks (one for empathy and other for moral disengagement) 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 suggested that there was a change in adolescents' moral disengagement over time. Participants with greater empathy revealed lower moral disengagement overall. Over time, adolescents with greater empathy revealed lower moral disengagement within their own growth rate. Overall, our results provide important information about the dynamic relationship between moral disengagement, empathy and cyberbullying, which informs future studies and interventions.

Shaping Citizenship in the Classroom: Peer Influences on Moral Disengagement, Social Goals, and a Sense of Peer Community

Despite the important role of peers in the social process of classroom citizenship, the peer influence related to moral disengagement, social goals, and a sense of peer community remain unclear. To this end, it was examined to what extent youth become similar to their friends in moral disengagement, social goals, and a sense of peer community. Participants were 283 South Korean third to sixth graders (Mage = 9.60 years, SD = 0.97; 51.6% girls) who completed an online survey for moral disengagement, social goals, the sense of peer community and friendship network across the beginning (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of the school semester (September to December). Longitudinal social network analyses indicated that youth became more similar to their friends concerning moral disengagement and a sense of peer community, but did not select friends based on these aspects. The strength of these influence effects varied in terms of different levels of these aspects. Specifically, youth were more likely to become similar to their friends at lower levels of moral disengagement. Youth tended to be similar to the friends' level of sense of peer community. This tendency was relatively strong at the lowest and the highest levels of a sense of peer community. Future research should address the role of friendship in shaping classroom citizenship and the importance of classroom daily teaching practice in youth citizenship development.

Gender-based differences in the impact of Dark Triad traits on academic dishonesty: The mediating role of moral disengagement in college students

This study explores whether gender differences influence the components of the Dark Triad of personality and moral disengagement on the manifestations of dishonest academic behavior in Peruvian university students. Moreover, it evaluates how moral disengagement mediates the effect that the Dark Triad components have on academic dishonesty. The participants were 591 university students, aged between 18 and 40 years (women = 71.7 %; Mage = 21.5; SDage = 3.60), to whom the Dirty Dozen Dark Triad, the Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale, and the Scale of Academic Dishonesty, which has 3 dimensions (cheating on exams, plagiarism, and falsification) were applied. The results reveal that only Machiavellianism has a significant and consistent influence on all dimensions of academic dishonesty, in both men and women, while psychopathy influences the dimension of plagiarism in both men and women and falsification only in men. In addition, moral disengagement affects falsification in both groups, cheating on exams only in the men's group, and plagiarism in the women's group. Finally, the mediating role of moral disengagement between the effect of the Dark Triad and the manifestations of academic dishonesty was not demonstrated.

Boosting attachment security promotes prosociality: The mediating effect of moral disengagement

While attachment security is known to promote prosocial behaviour, a closer examination is needed to clarify the active mechanism in this relationship. We addressed this issue by examining the mediation effect of moral disengagement in two studies. Participants were assigned to the control priming group or the attachment security priming group. After the priming procedure, they completed the measurements of a sense of security, moral disengagement and prosocial behaviour. The results from both studies showed that compared with control priming, attachment security priming enhanced prosociality. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that moral disengagement mediated the relationship between attachment security and prosociality. The present findings extend the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of attachment security and prosociality, and provide insights into the effectiveness of boosting attachment security in intervening in moral disengagement.

The effect of relative deprivation on aggressive behavior of college students: a moderated mediation model of belief in a just world and moral disengagement

BACKGROUND

Previous research found that college students have exhibited a group of concern, and aggressive behavior occurs from time to time in daily life. In order to investigate the effect of relative deprivation on aggressive behavior of college students, this study conducted a moderated mediation model to examine the relationship between relative deprivation, aggressive behavior, belief in a just world, and moral disengagement.

METHODS

1169 college students(71.7% female; mean age = 19.41, SD = 1.3, range = 17-30years) participated in and completed measures of Relative Deprivation Questionnaire, Belief in a Just World Scale, Moral disengagement Scale and Aggression Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by using a moderated mediation model with SPSS and Process 3.1 macro.

RESULTS

The results revealed that: (1) Relative deprivation significantly positively predicted college students' aggressive behavior controlling for gender, grade, and age (B = 0.45, p＜0.001). (2) Belief in a just world played mediating role in relative deprivation and aggressive behavior(indirect effect = 0.04, 95%CI = [0.002,0.007], accounting for 9% of the total effect). (3) The moderated mediator model test showed that moral disengagement regulates the first half of the mediator effect path (B = 0.71, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The present study analyzed the moral disengagement mechanisms deeply and shed light on how to decrease the aggressive behavior of college students.

Moral disengagement, self-control and callous-unemotional traits as predictors of cyberbullying: a moderated mediation model

BACKGROUND

Cyberbullying has become more prevalent, more difficult to detect, and more harmful to the victims. Whereas considerable prior work has investigated predictors and consequences of cyberbullying, additional research is needed to better understand the mechanisms by which these factors relate to cyberbullying perpetration and victimization. The goal of the present study was to examine the extent to which the link between individual differences in moral disengagement and cyberbullying perpetration is mediated by low self-control and, if so, whether this mediation effect varies by individuals' degree of callous-unemotional traits.

METHOD

To explore these questions, we used cyberbullying, moral disengagement, self-control, and callous-unemotional traits scales and collected online survey data from a sample of 860 Chinese internet users aged 18 years old or older.

RESULT

As hypothesized, a significant positive relation between moral disengagement and cyberbullying emerged that was mediated by individual differences in self-control. Additionally, evidence of moderated mediation was found. That is, the indirect effect varied by degree of callous-unemotional traits, with a significantly stronger mediation effect (and association between self-control and cyberbullying) for individuals who were relatively higher in callous-unemotional traits.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that moral disengagement partially predicts cyberbullying through self-control, while callous-unemotional traits moderate the pathway between self-control and cyberbullying.

A cross-sectional study of gender role adherence, moral disengagement mechanisms and online vulnerability in adolescents

The wide availability of electronic devices accessible to teenagers has enabled them to use the internet to communicate, share, and obtain information. However, the use of the internet and social media has also increased the risk of vulnerability, exposing people, particularly adolescents, to several risks. We collected data from a sample of 366 adolescents (186 females and 180 males) aged 14-20 years (mean age = 17 ± 1.33 years) to investigate the mediating role of moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms in the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. Data were collected in both the inner-city and suburban high schools of Rome (Italy) using the Qualtrics Platform Online. The participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Online Vulnerability Scale, and the Civic Moral Disengagement Scale. All participants declared that they accessed and used the internet frequently. Using SPSS, the data were checked for outliers, common method bias, and normal distribution; then, correlation and mediation analyses were performed. Based on the correlation results, a mediation analysis was performed using only the displacement of responsibility as a mediator of the gender-online vulnerability link. Age was entered in the mediation model as a covariate. The results showed that girls were more vulnerable online than boys, who in turn used more moral disengagement mechanisms. In addition, moral displacement showed a positive indirect effect on the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. This means that when including the moral displacement in the mediation model boys appeared more exposed to online vulnerability as they probably adopted more immoral behaviors. These results could help to develop interventions to sensitize adolescents on both taking responsibilities for their actions on the Internet. Limitations and future research directions are briefly discussed.

Future orientation and moral judgment in chinese youths: the mediating role of moral disengagement and the moderating role of self-control

Based on the self-regulation theory, this study aims to examine the relationship between youths' future orientation and judgment of their own immoral behaviors. A moderated mediation model was constructed to investigate the mediating role of moral disengagement and moderating role of self-control. Six hundred and twenty-eight Chinese youths, with an age range from 16 to 34 years (M = 23.08, SD = 2.65), were recruited to take part in an anonymous survey about future orientation, moral disengagement, self-control, and moral judgment. Results revealed that youths with high future orientation judged their own moral transgressions more harshly and that moral disengagement partially mediated the relationship between the two. Moderated mediation analysis further demonstrated that self-control moderated the relationship between future orientation and moral disengagement and the indirect effect between future orientation and youths' judgment of their own immoral behaviors. To be specific, the indirect effect was much stronger for youths with high levels of self-control. These findings not only enrich the research about how future orientation affects youths' judgment of their own immoral behaviors, but also reveal the underlying mechanisms between future orientation and moral judgment, which can provide practical guidance for implementing measures that effectively enhance youths' moral character and cultivate their ability to think positively about the future.

Defender self-efficacy and moral disengagement on social support and bystander behaviors among primary school students: a multilevel moderated mediation model

This study examines the influence of social support on bystander behaviors, the mediating and moderating effects of moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy at the individual and class levels, and their cross-level interaction. A total of 1310 children in grades 4-6 completed our questionnaire survey at four-time points between October and December in 2021. The questionnaires include the Scale of Perceived Social Support (T1), Moral Disengagement Scale (T2), Defender Self-Efficacy Scale (T3), and Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (T4). The multilevel moderated mediating model results show that (1) social support negatively predicts reinforcer and outsider behavior and positively predicts defender behavior; (2) defender self-efficacy plays a mediating role between social support and defender behavior, moral disengagement plays a mediating role between social support and bystander behaviors, and defender self-efficacy and moral disengagement play a chain mediation role between social support and bystander behavior; (3a) class-level defender self-efficacy has a direct impact on defender behavior and moderates the relationship between individual defender self-efficacy and reinforcer behavior; and (3b) class-level moral disengagement has a direct impact on defender and outsider behavior and a cross-level moderated role between individual moral disengagement and reinforcer behavior. These results show that the individual and class level defender self-efficacy and moral disengagement can influence the bystander behavior of primary school students, which is of great significance for schools to develop anti-bullying moral education courses and design measures to improve students' anti-bullying self-efficacy.

Does Sensation Seeking Lead to Adolescents' Cyberbullying Perpetration? The Mediating Role of Moral Disengagement and The Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support

Based on the general aggression model, the current study examined the mediating role of moral disengagement in the association between sensation seeking and cyberbullying perpetration and the moderating role of perceived social support. A total of 2,286 Chinese adolescents aged 11-16 years completed the questionnaires regarding sensation seeking, cyberbullying perpetration, moral disengagement, and perceived social support. After gender and age were controlled, sensation seeking was significantly and positively associated with cyberbullying perpetration and this relationship was partially mediated by moral disengagement. Moderated mediation analysis further indicated that perceived social support moderated the relationship between sensation seeking and moral disengagement as well as sensation seeking and cyberbullying perpetration. These two relationships became weaker for adolescents with high perceived social support. Specifically, adolescents with higher levels of sensation seeking were more likely to develop moral disengagement and further engaged in cyberbullying perpetration, when they perceived less social support.

Athlete doping confrontation efficacy and confrontation likelihood

Evidence supports the role of coach doping confrontation efficacy (DCE; Sullivan et al., 2015) as a deterrent against athletes' doping cognitions (Boardley et al., 2019; Sullivan & Razavi, 2017), but the role of the athlete has largely been ignored. Current anti-doping campaigns encourage athletes to report doping misconduct (i.e., whistleblowing), but some athletes would prefer to confront the athlete directly (Erickson et al., 2017). Thus, it is important to consider what may contribute to athletes' likelihood to confront a doping teammate or opponent. The purpose of this study was to determine whether DCE could predict an athlete's likelihood to confront a doping teammate or opponent. Additionally, doping moral disengagement (MD) was included as a possible moderator of this relationship. Surveys were completed by 155 college athletes (nmale = 145) to measure their perceived DCE, doping MD, likelihood to confront a teammate, and likelihood to confront an opponent. Separate linear regression analyses were run for the two targets of confrontation. In the teammate model, both DCE and doping MD were significant predictors of confrontation likelihood. DCE was the only significant predictor in the opponent model. Neither model presented with a significant interaction, suggesting no moderation effect. Results suggest perceived DCE is associated with a greater likelihood to confront a doping athlete, regardless of whether they are a teammate or opponent; however, moral disengagement plays a greater role if the athlete is a teammate. These findings imply that confrontation may be the first line of defense against doping before whistleblowing action is taken. Research should continue to explore antecedents and consequences of athlete doping confrontation, providing greater insight into the whistleblowing process.

The indirect effect of compassion on katagelasticism: the mediatiang role of moral disengagement and the moderating effect of intolerance of uncertainty

The junction between moral psychology, humor, and some specific personality variables (i.e., uncertainty intolerance and compassion toward others) has been a neglected field of study. The present research explored the role of moral disengagement and intolerance of uncertainty in the relationship between compassion and katagelasticism. The sample was formed by 763 adults aged 18 to 70 (M = 24.62, SD = 8.29, 73.9% women). The findings suggested significant negative associations between compassion and moral disengagement and positive correlations between katagelasticism, moral disengagement, and intolerance of uncertainty. Furthermore, moral disengagement mediated the link between compassion and katagelasticism, while intolerance of uncertainty moderated the link between compassion and moral disengagement. Significant gender differences were also suggested concerning all our study's primary variables, with women scoring higher in the compassion and intolerance of uncertainty and significantly lower than men in the moral disengagement and katagelasticism dimensions. The results are discussed regarding their theoretical and practical implications related to moral disengagement and the underlying personal factors.

Conspiracy beliefs, regulatory self-efficacy and compliance with COVID-19 health-related behaviors: The mediating role of moral disengagement

Although recent studies on the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have highlighted the negative effects of moral disengagement on intentions to comply with COVID-19 containment measures, little is known about the mediating role of moral disengagement in the relationship between regulatory self-efficacy in complying with the containment measures, beliefs in conspiracy theories and compliance with COVID-19 health-related behaviors. Data were collected from 1164 young adults (women, N = 796; 68.4%; mean age 25.60 ± 4.40 years) who completed an online survey from 15th May to 22nd June 2021. Results of the multi-group path analyses indicated that higher beliefs in conspiracy theories were associated with lower compliance with COVID-19 health-related behaviors, whereas higher self-efficacy beliefs in complying with the containment measures were associated with higher compliance with COVID-19 health-related behaviors. Moral disengagement significantly mediated the associations between beliefs in conspiracy theories, regulatory self-efficacy, and compliance with COVID-19 health-related behaviors. Finally, the tested model was gender-invariant. Findings suggest that public health authorities and social care professionals should promote interventions aimed at improving regulatory self-efficacy, emphasizing the moral significance of respecting or ignoring the recommended COVID-19 measures (e.g., physical distance in public), and enhancing people's concern for the potential harms of their immoral actions.

Examining the Pathologic Adaptation Model of Community Violence Exposure in Justice Involved Adolescents: the Moderating and Mediating Effects of Moral Disengagement

According to the pathologic adaptation model (Ng-Mak et al. in The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72, 92-101, 2002), youth who experience community violence exposure may become desensitized to these experiences. Moral disengagement, which refers to changing one's moral or ethical standards to justify engaging in destructive or harmful behavior, has been proposed as a construct to explain the relation between community violence exposure and desensitization (Bandura et al., 1996). The purpose of the current study was to test the pathologic adaptation model of community violence exposure and examine the role of moral disengagement in these pathways. The current study included a sample of justice-involved adolescents (n = 1,170; M age = 16.05, SD = 1.16) from the Pathways to Desistance study. The PROCESS bootstrapping procedure for SPSS was used to examine whether moral disengagement mediates the associations from community violence to aggressive behaviors and depressive. Exploratory analyses examined moral disengagement as a moderator these associations. Moral disengagement significantly moderated the association between witnessing violence and self-reported offending such that witnessing violence at baseline significantly positively predicted offending for individuals who were moderate to high (but not low) in moral disengagement. In contrast, moral disengagement did not moderate the linear association between community violence exposure and depressive symptoms. Further, moral disengagement did not mediate the association between community violence exposure and offending. Results from this study highlight the need to increase access to mental health services and re-entry programs to reduce offending behaviors for justice-involved youth.

Participant Role Behavior in Cyberbullying: an Examination of Moral Disengagement Among College Students

The current study examined the role of moral disengagement in cyberbullying participant role behavior among college-aged individuals. Participants included 434 students who completed surveys measuring their participation in cyberbullying, including online bystander role behaviors, as well as their moral disengagement. Regression analysis results indicated that moral disengagement was positively associated with cyberbullying perpetration, cyberbullying victimization, passive bystanding online behavior, and reinforcing online behavior. The current study furthers knowledge on the associations between online bullying-related behavior and moral disengagement and could lead to necessary cyberbullying prevention and intervention support for young adults.

The Impact of Work-Related Use of Information and Communication Technologies After Hours on Time Theft

Time theft is a prevalent, costly, and generally discreet employee activity in firms; nonetheless, very limited research is available on it. To explore why, how, and when employees exhibit time theft, we investigate the influence mechanism of work-related use of information and communication technologies after hours (W_ICTs) on time theft from the perspective of resource gain and loss. Our study found that W_ICTs significantly promotes employee time theft. Emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement play a mediating role in the relationship between W_ICTs and time theft, respectively, and these two variables have a chain-mediating role in the relationship above. Perceived organizational support moderates this chain mediation by moderating the positive effect of W_ICTs on emotional exhaustion. Overall, the findings have important theoretical and managerial implications for research on W_ICTs and time theft.

COVID-19 moral disengagement and prevention behaviors: The impact of perceived workplace COVID-19 safety climate and employee job insecurity

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed recommendations for individual COVID-19 prevention behaviors, as well as guidance for the safe reopening of businesses. Drawing from previous research on occupational safety, business ethics, and economic stressors, we tested the hypothesis that more positive perceptions of the workplace COVID-19 safety climate would be associated with lower employee COVID-19 related moral disengagement. In turn, we predicted that higher COVID-19 moral disengagement would be associated with lower enactment of preventive behaviors both at work and in nonwork settings (i.e., a spillover effect). Further, we investigated whether employee job insecurity would impact organizational socialization processes, such that the relationship between the perceived COVID-19 safety climate and moral disengagement would be weaker at higher levels of job insecurity. By analyzing a three-wave lagged dataset of U.S. employees working on-site during the pandemic using a Bayesian multilevel framework, we found empirical support for the hypothesized moderated mediation model. We discuss the relevance of these findings (i.e., the spillover effect and the role of job insecurity) in light of the extant safety climate literature and outline how our findings have several implications for the scope and conceptualization of safety climate in light of the surge of new working arrangements, infectious diseases, and continuing employment instability.

Dark personality and intimate partner relationships in young adults

People with dark personality traits tend to be unsympathetic, manipulative, and violent, and this can affect their intimate partner relationships. The objective of this research is to analyze how the presence of the dark personality traits affects young people's intimate couple relationships. Sociodemographic variables, sexual practices, and tendencies towards the partner, moral disengagement (PMD), and the dark personality traits were assessed in 308 participants, all of them aged between 18 and 25, of whom 78.3% were women and 21.2% were men. Men obtained higher scores than women both in moral disengagement and dark personality traits, as did people who were unfaithful or who consumed pornographic content, which conditions the quality of couple relationships. Consistent with this, men with higher levels of dark personality traits and higher use of a moral disengagement mechanism also presented a greater tendency towards infidelity, especially repeated infidelity. Infidelity is highly related to the presence of dark personality traits, unrestricted socio-sexuality, and having more sexual partners. These results aid in the design of interventions to prevent sexual harassment and abuse in young people and their intimate partner relationships.

COVID-19 social distancing compliance mechanisms: UK evidence

Non-compliance with social distancing (SD) measures clearly has negative effects on both public health and post-pandemic economic recovery. However, little is as yet known about people's views on and factors influencing their behavioral intentions toward SD measures. This study draws on moral disengagement theory and the norm-activation model to investigate mechanisms that promote or hinder compliance with SD measures. A longitudinal research approach was adopted to compare changes in the main factors over three periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in England (UK). The results reveal significant differences between the three periods regarding intentions to comply with SD measures, altruistic value, moral obligation and moral disengagement, with no significant change in ascription of responsibility. Residents showed the strongest intentions to comply with SD measures during the first national lockdown, with the highest moral obligation and lowest moral disengagement levels, compared with the lowest intention to comply during the first re-opening period. Altruistic value is important in promoting moral obligation and compliance with SD measures, whereas the predictive powers of ascription of responsibility and moral disengagement were weaker than expected. These findings offer guidance to policymakers and researchers in developing more effective policies and public communication strategies. The results suggest that communication is key to normalizing SD compliance, which can be achieved most effectively by fostering residents' altruistic value and moral considerations. Particular attention must be paid to re-opening periods between lockdowns, with clear messages to remind residents of prosocial aspects of SD compliance and public health. In addition to appropriate communication and education, technologies such as apps, QR codes and contactless shopping settings may also be used to facilitate compliance with SD measures.

Longitudinal Links of Individual and Collective Morality with Adolescents' Peer Aggression

Adolescents' aggressive behavior has been often linked to biases in morality. However, limited knowledge is available regarding the relative strength of different moral correlates, both at the individual and class-level, in predicting different types of aggressive behavior over time. To address this gap, the present study tested the prospective associations of moral identity and moral disengagement with reactive and proactive aggression in a short-term longitudinal study. The sample consisted of 1158 Italian adolescents (48.7% females; M_age = 13.6 years, SD = 1.1). Participants completed self-report measures of moral identity, moral disengagement, perceived collective moral disengagement in the fall, and reactive and proactive aggression in the fall and in the spring. Multivariate multilevel analysis indicated that, at the individual level, after controlling for the stability of aggressive behavior, T2 (Time 2) reactive aggression was higher for students who reported lower moral identity and higher moral disengagement at T1 (Time 1). For proactive aggression, a significant interaction effect indicated that the negative association between T1 moral identity and T2 aggression was apparent only at high levels of T1 moral disengagement. Moreover, proactive aggression was significantly predicted by higher perceived collective moral disengagement. At the class-level, T1 collective moral disengagement helped explain between-class variability of T2 reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. How these results expand previous research on morality and aggressive behavior and their potential implications for prevention and intervention programs is discussed.