Defend, Stand By, or Join In?: The Relative Influence of Moral Identity, Moral Judgment, and Social Self-Efficacy on Adolescents' Bystander Behaviors in Bullying Situations.

In bullying situations, adolescent bystanders may help bullied others, just stand by, or join in the antisocial behavior. Current studies have yet to fully examine the moral and social factors motivating these varied responses to bullying encounters. Extending from pertinent developmental theories, the present study investigated the relative contributions of moral identity (i.e., viewing moral qualities as central to the self), moral judgment, and social self-efficacy to adolescents' bystander behaviors vis-à-vis bullies. Also investigated were the interactions among these variables. Three hundred and thirty-seven adolescents (M age = 13 years, 56.1% female) who self-identified as Caucasian (90.2%), Hispanic-American (2.1%), Asian-American (0.9%), African-American (3.9%), or Other/Unknown (2.9%) participated in the study. Students completed questionnaires assessing moral identity, moral judgment, social self-efficacy, and how they would respond if they observed a peer being bullied. Moral identity predicted more prosocial action, particularly for adolescents high in social self-efficacy. Moral identity related positively to moral judgment, and both predicted less antisocial (joining in) behavior. Interestingly, moral judgment maturity primarily diminished antisocial behavior when moral identity was relatively low. Social self-efficacy predicted less passive bystanding. Overall, moral identity strongly relates to defending behavior, and-as does moral judgment maturity-predicts less antisocial behavior among bystanders.

What Accounts for Prosocial Behavior? Roles of Moral Identity, Moral Judgment, and Self-Efficacy Beliefs.

Prior research suggests that moral identity influences individuals' willingness to engage in prosocial behavior. Little attention, however, has been given to the roles of and relations between moral identity and other factors, such as moral judgment, in accounting for types of prosocial behavior in adolescence. The current study examined the extent to which moral identity, moral judgment, and social self-efficacy contribute to prosocial behaviors in adolescence. Approximately 338 adolescents (Mage = 13.4 years) completed measures of moral identity, moral judgment, social self-efficacy, and prosocial behavior. Teachers rated adolescents' prosocial behaviors, which largely corroborated the adolescents' self-reports. Moral identity was found to predict most types of prosocial behavior. Moral judgment and moral identity were related and jointly predicted altruistic prosocial behaviors, but did not predict helping in front of others. Further, moral identity mediated the relationships between moral judgment and some forms of prosocial behavior (e.g., emotional, volunteering). Self-efficacy beliefs were found to predict some types of prosocial behavior (e.g., public), perhaps providing adolescents with confidence to engage in prosocial action. Overall, moral identity was especially effective in directly accounting for prosocial behavior, and may act as a mediator to bridge the moral judgment-moral action gap among adolescents.

Maternal Acceptance: Its Contribution to Children's Favorable Perceptions of Discipline and Moral Identity.

The authors examined the contribution of maternal acceptance or warmth to children's and adolescents' perceptions of discipline and formation of moral identity. The sample consisted of 93 male and female students from Grades 5, 8, and 10 and their mothers. Students completed measures pertaining to perceived maternal discipline practices and acceptance-rejection, as well as moral identity. A subsample of mothers reported on their accepting or rejecting actions toward their children. Children were more likely to feel accepted, if their mothers used inductive discipline (vs. power assertion and love withdrawal). Perceived acceptance was also related to more favorable discipline evaluations in certain respects. Specifically, inductive discipline recipients who felt accepted also evaluated induction as appropriate and responded to it with positive and guilt-related emotions. Power assertion was evaluated as appropriate among those children who did feel accepted. Finally, among inductive discipline recipients, those who felt accepted also reported higher moral identity.

Impact of antisocial behavior on psychopathic traits in a community sample of adolescents.

The objective of this study was to cross-sectionally explore the mediating role of self-serving cognitions in the relationship between antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. A sample of 970 high school students completed self-report questionnaires assessing antisocial behavior, cognitive distortions, and psychopathic traits. Cognitive distortions partially mediated (and gender moderated) the relationship between antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. Gender was found to moderate this relationship. Longitudinal studies would permit a fuller understanding of how these relationships interrelate-an understanding that may have important implications for clinical intervention.

Callous-unemotional traits and antisocial behavior among adolescents: the role of self-serving cognitions.

Self-serving cognitions and callous-unemotional traits play important roles in adolescent antisocial behavior. The objective of this study was to cross-sectionally explore the mediating role of self-serving cognitions in the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and antisocial behavior. A sample of 972 high-school students completed self-report questionnaires assessing callous-unemotional traits, self-serving cognitive distortions and antisocial behavior. Two competing models exploring indirect effects accounting for the relationships between self-serving cognitive distortions, callous-unemotional traits and antisocial behaviors were tested. Both models revealed significant indirect effects, suggesting both pathways are possible. Gender was found to moderate these models. These findings suggest the importance of targeting self-serving cognitions in therapeutic interventions and increase our understanding of the role of self-serving cognitions in antisocial behavior.

Inductive discipline, parental expression of disappointed expectations, and moral identity in adolescence.

Within the fields of socialization and moral development, the relationship of parenting to adolescents' sense of morality and self has been understudied. This study investigated the relationships between perceived parental disciplinary techniques and moral identity among early and middle adolescents. Participants included 93 (54% female) 5th, 8th and 10th graders, as well as their mothers. Students completed self-report measures concerning their mothers' disciplinary techniques and moral self-concept; mothers reported specifically on parental discipline frequency. The parental discipline measure was structured in terms of Hoffman's typology of induction, love withdrawal, and power assertion. Adolescents reported the frequency of their mothers' disciplinary techniques, as well as their perceptions (fairness or appropriateness evaluations, emotional reactions) concerning their mothers' most frequently used technique. Parental induction (orienting the transgressor to the plight of the victim) and expression of disappointed expectations were viewed as more appropriate and responded to with more positive emotion and guilt relative to other disciplinary techniques (e.g., power assertion). In addition, parental use of inductive discipline (including parental disappointment) during the adolescent years related to higher moral identity, defined in terms of the ascription of specifically moral (e.g., fair, kind) over non-moral (e.g., athletic, smart) qualities to the self. In contrast, love withdrawal and power assertion did not relate to moral identity. The findings suggest that parental expression of disappointed expectations, especially when perceived favorably, plays an important role in the formation of moral identity during the adolescent years.

Moral cognitive correlates of empathy in juvenile delinquents.

INTRODUCTION: Numerous theories of anti-social behaviour have featured lack of empathy as an essential characteristic of the anti-social personality. AIM: To investigate the relationships between empathy and three theoretically related moral cognitive constructs: moral judgement maturity, moral identity and self-serving cognitive distortion. METHODS: Seventy-eight adjudicated juvenile delinquents aged 13 to 21 years who had been directed by the court to attend a 10-week empathy training programme completed self-report measures as part of routine evaluation. Their anonymized scores were retrieved from programme records. RESULTS: Applying zero-order correlation, followed by regression analysis, we established that moral judgement maturity was associated with greater empathy, whereas extensive endorsement of self-serving cognitive distortions was associated with lower empathy. An observed association between moral identity and empathy was mediated or 'neutralised' by self-serving cognitive distortion. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Our results suggest that interventions designed to promote empathy and curtail anti-social behaviour should embrace strategies that facilitate moral judgement maturity and correct or counteract self-serving cognitive distortions.

It's all about me: a brief report of incarcerated adolescent sex offenders' generic and sex-specific cognitive distortions.

This study investigated the scope of cognitive distortions and their relationship to empathy among adolescent sex offenders. Self-report measures of sex-specific and generic self-serving cognitive distortions as well as empathy were administered to 175 male sex offenders aged 12 to 20 incarcerated at a juvenile correctional facility. Generic distortions (e.g., attribution of carelessness to theft victims) were elevated and correlated with sex-specific distortions (e.g., attribution of promiscuity to rape victims). Sex-specific and generic distortions were each inversely associated with unique variance in empathy. Relationships of the distortions to particular contexts of victimization and empathic distress (i.e., for their own sexual abuse victim, another offender's sexual abuse victim, or an accident victim) were also explored. Results suggested that adolescent sex offenders' self-serving cognitive distortions may pervasively neutralize concerns for victims and, therefore, that treatment programs should aim to remediate not only their sex-specific but also their generic self-serving cognitive distortions.

Parental expression of disappointment: should it be a factor in Hoffman's model of parental discipline?

The authors addressed whether parental expression of disappointment should be included as a distinct factor in M. L. Hoffman's well-established typology of parenting styles (induction, love withdrawal, power assertion). Hoffman's 3-factor model, along with a more inclusive 4-factor model (induction, love withdrawal, power assertion, and expressions of disappointment), were respectively evaluated in exploratory factor analyses. The analysis utilized extant data comprised of responses by children (N = 73) and their mothers (N = 67) to an adaptation of M. L. Hoffman and H. D. Saltzstein's parental discipline measure. The findings supported Hoffman's original model. Disappointment may be reducible to love withdrawal or induction, although disappointment may be a more appropriate induction for adolescents.

The moral judgment of juvenile delinquents: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of 50 studies was conducted to investigate whether juvenile delinquents use lower levels of moral judgment than their nondelinquent age-mates and, if so, what factors may influence or moderate the developmental delay. The results show a lower stage of moral judgment for juvenile delinquents (d=.76). Effect sizes were large for comparisons involving male offenders, late adolescents, delinquents with low intelligence, and incarcerated delinquents. The largest effect sizes were found for period of incarceration and comparisons involving juvenile delinquents with psychopathic disorder. Production instead of recognition measures, dilemma-free assessment methods, and non-blind scoring procedures yielded relatively large effect sizes, whereas effect sizes were medium for comparisons involving delinquents with average intelligence, non-incarcerated delinquents, female offenders, as well as early and middle adolescents. Psychopathic disorder and institutionalization were identified as unique moderators of the link between moral judgment and juvenile delinquency. It is concluded that developmentally delayed moral judgment is strongly associated with juvenile delinquency, even after controlling for socioeconomic status, gender, age and intelligence.

Should Kohlberg's cognitive developmental approach to morality be replaced with a more pragmatic approach? Comment on Krebs and Denton (2005).

Krebs and Denton (2005) proposed that Kohlberg's cognitive developmental approach to morality be replaced by a pragmatic approach more relevant to everyday social behavior and the cooperative moral orders of society. Although the Krebs and Denton article raises some legitimate questions, their proposal is at best premature and provokes some serious concerns. Their starting point, that Kohlberg's model of morality is inadequate, is an evaluation shared by many neo-Kohlbergians. Before the cognitive developmental approach is replaced, however, important contributions (e.g., Rest's schema interpretation of the stages) toward refining or improving the approach must be adequately considered. Evidence suggests that Krebs and Denton may have underestimated relations between moral judgment stages and social behavior, including sudden behavior in emergency situations.