Speaker
Description
While numerous student-related factors in bullying have been well-studied, less is known about how teachers’ characteristics influence students’ involvement in bullying. This exploratory study examined how teachers’ moral disengagement toward bullying and self-efficacy to address bullying relate to students’ perceptions of teachers’ bullying-related attitudes and behaviors, as well as self-reported general and specific forms of bullying and victimization. We collected data from 1,722 Finnish Grade 4-6 students (48.5% boys) and 117 teachers (74% women, Mage = 42.7 years, SD = 9.9) during the spring 2022. Multiple regression path analyses revealed that teachers’ moral disengagement was negatively associated with students’ perceptions of teachers’ tendency to condemn bullying, notice bullying incidents, and intervene. Teachers’ self-efficacy was positively linked to students’ perceptions of teachers’ capacity to address bullying. Perceiving teachers as noticing bullying incidents and finding it easy to report bullying were both associated with less bullying and victimization. Perceiving teachers as intervening in bullying was linked to less victimization. Perceiving victim-blaming attitudes in teachers, conversely, was linked to more bullying and victimization. Teacher condemning bullying was unexpectedly positively associated with both bullying and victimization, which might reflect students’ increased awareness of bullying. Overall, our findings suggest that teachers’ moral disengagement is associated with less prevention and intervention behaviors perceived by students, which, in turn, may influence bullying and victimization. Anti-bullying training for teachers might benefit from targeting moral disengagement toward bullying.
Keywords
teachers, moral disengagement, self-efficacy
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
|---|---|
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
