Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School Norms
This study focuses on understanding the relationship between moral disengagement mechanisms in adolescents who engage in law-breaking activities and those who violate school norms. To do so, we administered the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale (MMDS), which evaluates moral justification, euph...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Children |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/11/1/70 |
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| author | Daniela Agudelo Rico Carolina Panesso Giraldo Joan Sebastian Arbeláez Caro Germán Cabrera Gutiérrez Valeria Isaac María Josefina Escobar Eduar Herrera |
| author_facet | Daniela Agudelo Rico Carolina Panesso Giraldo Joan Sebastian Arbeláez Caro Germán Cabrera Gutiérrez Valeria Isaac María Josefina Escobar Eduar Herrera |
| author_sort | Daniela Agudelo Rico |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study focuses on understanding the relationship between moral disengagement mechanisms in adolescents who engage in law-breaking activities and those who violate school norms. To do so, we administered the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale (MMDS), which evaluates moral justification, euphemistic labeling, advantageous comparison, deflection of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, distortion of consequences, dehumanization, and attribution of blame, to 366 adolescents (60.1% males (<i>n</i> = 220) and 39.9% females (<i>n</i> = 146)). Our results confirmed the hypothesis that law-breaking adolescents presented a higher degree of moral disengagement than those adolescents who violate school norms. Additionally, we found that adolescents who violated school norms displayed significantly higher levels of dehumanization than the controls, and law-breaking adolescents obtained the highest score in this domain. Our findings allow us to suggest that the presence of the dehumanization mechanism in adolescents who violate school norms could be used as an early indicator of the emergence of antisocial behaviors, since this was the only component of moral disengagement that significantly differentiated this group from the controls in the study. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:01:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc306eb69e6b4aafa614bacb325ebfef |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:01:25Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Children |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc306eb69e6b4aafa614bacb325ebfef2024-01-26T15:48:10ZengMDPI AGChildren2227-90672024-01-011117010.3390/children11010070Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School NormsDaniela Agudelo Rico0Carolina Panesso Giraldo1Joan Sebastian Arbeláez Caro2Germán Cabrera Gutiérrez3Valeria Isaac4María Josefina Escobar5Eduar Herrera6Universidad Icesi, Departamento de Estudios Psicológicos, Cali 760031, ColombiaCenter for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 2580335, ChileFacultad de Psicología, Universidad de San Buenaventura Medellín, Medellín 050035, ColombiaFacultad de Ciencias Humanas y de la Educación, Corporación Universitaria Empresarial Alexander Von Humboldt, Armenia 63001, ColombiaCenter for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 2580335, ChileCenter for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 2580335, ChileUniversidad Icesi, Departamento de Estudios Psicológicos, Cali 760031, ColombiaThis study focuses on understanding the relationship between moral disengagement mechanisms in adolescents who engage in law-breaking activities and those who violate school norms. To do so, we administered the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale (MMDS), which evaluates moral justification, euphemistic labeling, advantageous comparison, deflection of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, distortion of consequences, dehumanization, and attribution of blame, to 366 adolescents (60.1% males (<i>n</i> = 220) and 39.9% females (<i>n</i> = 146)). Our results confirmed the hypothesis that law-breaking adolescents presented a higher degree of moral disengagement than those adolescents who violate school norms. Additionally, we found that adolescents who violated school norms displayed significantly higher levels of dehumanization than the controls, and law-breaking adolescents obtained the highest score in this domain. Our findings allow us to suggest that the presence of the dehumanization mechanism in adolescents who violate school norms could be used as an early indicator of the emergence of antisocial behaviors, since this was the only component of moral disengagement that significantly differentiated this group from the controls in the study.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/11/1/70antisocial behaviormoral disengagementadolescent school norm offendersadolescent legal offendersadolescent lawbreakersaggression |
| spellingShingle | Daniela Agudelo Rico Carolina Panesso Giraldo Joan Sebastian Arbeláez Caro Germán Cabrera Gutiérrez Valeria Isaac María Josefina Escobar Eduar Herrera Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School Norms Children antisocial behavior moral disengagement adolescent school norm offenders adolescent legal offenders adolescent lawbreakers aggression |
| title | Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School Norms |
| title_full | Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School Norms |
| title_fullStr | Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School Norms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School Norms |
| title_short | Moral Disengagement in Adolescent Offenders: Its Relationship with Antisocial Behavior and Its Presence in Offenders of the Law and School Norms |
| title_sort | moral disengagement in adolescent offenders its relationship with antisocial behavior and its presence in offenders of the law and school norms |
| topic | antisocial behavior moral disengagement adolescent school norm offenders adolescent legal offenders adolescent lawbreakers aggression |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/11/1/70 |
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