Childhood Maltreatment and Bullying Perpetration among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model of Moral Disengagement and Trait Anger

Xingchao Wang; Fengqing Zhao; Jiping Yang; Ling Gao; Biao Li; Li Lei; Pengcheng Wang

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104507

Childhood Maltreatment and Bullying Perpetration among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model of Moral Disengagement and Trait Anger

Child Abuse Negl. 2020 Aug:106:104507. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104507. Epub 2020 Apr 30.

Authors

Xingchao Wang¹, Fengqing Zhao², Jiping Yang¹, Ling Gao¹, Biao Li³, Li Lei⁴, Pengcheng Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Educational Science, Shanxi University, No. 92 Wucheng Road, Xiaodian District, Taiyuan 030006, China.
² School of Education, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Street, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
³ School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100872, China. Electronic address: libiao@ruc.edu.cn.
⁴ The Center of Internet + Social Psychology, Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, No. 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100872, China.

PMID: 32361515
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104507

Abstract

Background: Childhood maltreatment plays an important role in adolescents' bullying perpetration. However, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this association remain largely unknown.

Objectives: The current study examined the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescents' bullying perpetration and extended previous literature by examining the mediating effect of moral disengagement and the moderating effect of trait anger in this relationship.

Participants and setting: Four hundred and thirty-five Chinese adolescents (228 girls, mean age = 13.55 years) participated in the current study.

Methods: Our theoretical model was examined using a short-term longitudinal design. During the fall of 2016, adolescents completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form. After six months, they completed the moral disengagement Scale, the Bullying Scale, and the Trait Anger Scale in the spring of 2017.

Results: The results indicated that childhood maltreatment positively predicted adolescents' bullying perpetration at six months later, and moral disengagement mediated this relationship. Trait anger moderated the relationship between moral disengagement and bullying perpetration, but not the relationship between childhood maltreatment and bullying perpetration. Specifically, high trait anger adolescents who had higher levels of moral disengagement were more likely to bully their peers than low trait anger adolescents.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that childhood maltreatment plays an important role in adolescents' bullying perpetration, and this relationship is mediated by moral disengagement. Moreover, trait anger moderates the relationship between moral disengagement and bullying perpetration. Educators who examine adolescents' bullying perpetration should pay closer attention to their moral disengagement and trait anger, as well as their childhood maltreatment experiences, in order to provide appropriate interventions.

Keywords: Bullying perpetration; Childhood maltreatment; Moral disengagement; Trait anger.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior / psychology*
Anger*
Asian People / psychology
Bullying / psychology*
Child Abuse / psychology*
Female
Humans
Male
Mediation Analysis
Morals*
Surveys and Questionnaires