Relationships Among Normative Beliefs About Aggression, Moral Disengagement, Self-Control and Bullying in Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

Huaibin Jiang,1 Hanyu Liang,1 Huiling Zhou,1 Bin Zhang2 1Department of Education, Fujian Normal University of Technology, Fuqing, Fujian, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Applied Psychology, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Bin Zhang, Email zb303@163.comPurpose: Adolescent bullying has varying degrees of negative impact on both bullies and victims. Bullying in adolescents is complex, and the influence of individual factors and social factors should not be underestimated. Normative beliefs about aggression play an important role in adolescents’ bullying. However, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this association remain largely unknown. The current study investigated the mediating role of moral disengagement between normative beliefs about aggression and bullying, as well as the moderating role of self-control in this relationship from the perspective of individual cognition.Methods: A sample of 491 Chinese adolescents (female = 38.9%; mean age = 13.05 years) were study participants. They completed questionnaires about normative beliefs about aggression, bullying, moral disengagement and self-control. SPSS21.0 statistical software was used to collate the obtained data, analyze descriptive statistics, and carry out reliability analysis and correlation analysis.Results: Moral disengagement mediated the relationship between normative beliefs about aggression and bullying (ab=0.13, 95% CI=[0.07, 0.21]). The association between normative beliefs about aggression and moral disengagement was moderated by self-control (β=− 0.08, t=− 2.25, p