Interaction of moral disengagement mechanisms and risk appetite in adolescence

Abstract

The problem of moral disengagement within aggressive behavior and cyberbullying among adolescents is getting more attention relevant as these actions become widespread on the Internet. In the model of moral freedom A. Bandura introduced moral disengagement mechanisms emerging when moral norms are violated. The present study aimed to investigate moral disengagement mechanisms in adolescents with different levels of risk-taking. Two questionnaires were used: The Moral Disengagement scale by S. Moore and The Sensation Seeking Scale by M. Zuckerman. The study comprised 411 adolescents aged 15 to 17 years. It was found that the most used moral disengagement mechanisms by adolescents are dehumanization, attribution of blame and moral justification. The mechanism of advantageous comparison is the least common. Different clusters of adolescents were distinguished depending on the degree of moral disengagement use: passive users, active users and victim image distortion. Degree of the moral disengagement use was shown to relate to one's idea of cyberbullying admissibility. In particular, active users significantly more often considered cyberbullying to be acceptable compared to the passive users. The relationship between risky behavior, specifically intolerance to monotony and active use of moral disengagement was shown. With respect to gender differences, moral disengagement was employed more often by males rather than females.