Pathways Linking Exposure to Community Violence, Self-serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration: A Three-Wave Study

Mirella Dragone, Concetta Esposito, Grazia De Angelis, Gaetana Affuso and Dario Bacchini
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Mirella Dragone: Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Napoli, Italy
Concetta Esposito: Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Napoli, Italy
Grazia De Angelis: Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Gaetana Affuso: Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Dario Bacchini: Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Napoli, Italy

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: School bullying is a social phenomenon stemming from a complex interrelationship between the individuals and their environments. Underpinned by the social-ecological models, this study investigated the mediation of self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs) in the relationship between community violence exposure, as a victim and as a witness, and bullying perpetration. Bidirectional associations between violence exposure and bullying perpetration, and between CDs and bullying perpetration over time were also hypothesized. The study used a three-waves cross-lagged panel modeling in a sample of 829 Italian high school adolescents (46% males; M age [Time 1; T1] = 12.71; Standard deviation [SD] = 1.68). The results showed that being exposed to community violence as a witness at T1 increased the development of CDs at Time 2 (T2), which in turn promoted the bullying perpetration at Time 3 (T3). Being exposed to community violence as a victim was not a significant predictor of CDs and bullying perpetration over time. Bidirectional associations were found between witnessing violence and bullying perpetration, and between CDs and bullying perpetration. The association between community violence exposure and individual moral cognitions over time plays a crucial role in predicting bullying perpetration. These findings highlight the need to consider both contextual and individual factors in understanding and preventing bullying perpetration.

Keywords: adolescence; bullying perpetration; community violence exposure; morality; self-serving cognitive distortions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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