Perceived school climate and adolescents’ bullying perpetration: A moderated mediation model of moral disengagement and peers’ defending

This research examined whether moral disengagement mediated the association between adolescents’ perceived school climate and bullying perpetration, and this mediating process was moderated by peers’ defending. Participants were 404 Chinese adolescents. Results indicated that adolescents who perceive a positive school climate were less likely to bully others and moral disengagement mediated this relationship, even after controlling for adolescents’ gender, age, defending, perspective taking, and empathic concern. Furthermore, peers’ defending moderated the direct and indirect associations between adolescents’ perceived school climate and bullying perpetration through moral disengagement. This indirect association was moderated by peers’ defending in the first stage of the mediation process, such that the association between perceived school climate and moral disengagement became nonsignificant for adolescents with high peers’ defending. The direct association between perceived school climate and bullying perpetration surprisingly became nonsignificant for adolescents with low peers’ defending. This study contributes to research clarifying the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the beneficial effect of adolescents’ perceived school climate on bullying perpetration.