Abstract
Moral disengagement processes are cognitive self-justification processes of transgressive actions that have been hypothesized to be learned and socialized within social contexts. The current study aimed at investigating socialization of moral disengagement by friends in two developmentally different age groups, namely late childhood (age: 9–10 years; n = 133, 42.9 % girls) and early adolescence (age: 11–14 years; n = 236, 40.6 % girls) over a 1-year period. Specifically, the current study examined whether similarity in moral disengagement between friends was the result of friends’ influence or friend selection. Moreover, gender (42 % girls), individual bullying behavior, and perceived popularity status were examined as potential moderators of socialization for moral disengagement within friendship networks. Self-report measures were used to assess moral disengagement, sociometric questions and a peer-nomination scale for friendship networks and bullying behavior, respectively. Longitudinal social network analysis (RSiena) was used to study change of moral disengagement in friendship networks during a 1-year interval. In early adolescence, friends were more likely to be similar to each other over time and this was explained only by influence processes and not by selection processes. Gender, bullying, and perceived popularity did not moderate the friends’ influence on moral disengagement over time. Results indicate that self-justification processes change over time already in late childhood, but only in early adolescence this change is likely to be dependent upon peers’ moral disengagement.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the students, teachers, and school administrators participating in this study, and to Mrs. Silvia Capraro for her help in collecting the data. Part of this study was presented at the 2012 Biennal Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Vancouver, Canada, March, 2012 and at the European Association for Research on Adolescence, Spetses, Greece, August 2012. This work was partially supported by grant D1-2006 from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore to the first author.
Author Contributions
SC conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, collected the data, and drafted the manuscript; JS participated in the design, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; AR participated in the design of the study, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; GG participated in design of the study and data collection, and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Caravita, S.C.S., Sijtsema, J.J., Rambaran, J.A. et al. Peer Influences on Moral Disengagement in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 43, 193–207 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9953-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9953-1