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Classroom norms of bullying and group school bullying: a mediated moderation model

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Abstract

Previous studies have primarily concentrated on the factors influencing bullying at the individual level; few studies have explored it at the collective level. To fill this research gap, this research explored the relationship between classroom norms of bullying and group school bullying, the moderating role of group identity, and the mediating role of collective moral disengagement and collective guilt at the class level. This is a cross-sectional study, a total of 1025 middle school students in 29 classes in China were surveyed in the fall semester of 2020 (Mage = 14.82 years; 49% female). The results confirmed that: (1) classroom norms of bullying were positively correlated with group school bullying; (2) group identity moderated the relationship between classroom norms of bullying and group school bullying; (3) this moderating effect is owing to the mediating effect of collective moral disengagement and collective guilt. Hence, the role of classroom norms, as well as students’ moral cognition and emotion, should be considered in the prevention and intervention of group school bullying.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the students who participated in the survey, as well as the reviewers and editors who provided valuable suggestions during the revision stage.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Education Science Planning project “Mechanism and Intervention Countermeasures of bullying behavior in primary and secondary schools” (BHA190150), and the General scientific research project of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education “The influence of classroom norms of bullying on group school bullying” (Y202148277).

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  1. Yanling Chen and Siyao Wang shared the co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department and Institute of Psychology, Ningbo University, No. 818, Fenghua Road, Jiangbei District, Ningbo, 315211, China

    Yanling Chen, Siyao Wang, Lan Jiao & Lin Zhang

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  1. Yanling Chen
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  2. Siyao Wang
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  3. Lan Jiao
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Contributions

Yanling Chen and Siyao Wang performed the study and wrote the paper. Lan Jiao and Lin Zhang revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lan Jiao or Lin Zhang.

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The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest concerning the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical Statement

The present study was approved by the Ningbo University Ethics Committee. Our survey’s introductory page stated explicitly that proceeding to the questionnaire would signify consent to participate.

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Chen, Y., Wang, S., Jiao, L. et al. Classroom norms of bullying and group school bullying: a mediated moderation model. Curr Psychol 43, 9899–9908 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05125-8

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