Dr. Angela Mazzone:

One of the main issues I investigated in my PhD was morality. In particular, my PhD was focused on moral disengagement which is the tendency to justify immoral behaviours. Children who bully their peers show high levels of moral disengagement. The tendency to justify immoral conduct is socialised within the peer groups. We know from the research that in classrooms where there is a high tendency to collectively morally disengage, children bully their peers more - in other words, children tend to justify bullying. They think it is something that is admissible and tolerated. They also tend to put the blame on the target for having provoked the bullying. Morality is one of the components that is associated with bullying perpetration. There are also some variables related to family functioning. In dysfunctional families, for instance, in families with low levels of cohesion and communication, children are more likely to bully their peers. This is also based on some of my research findings. I suggest we need to focus on both individual and contextual factors to understand the causes of bullying perpetration.