Effectiveness of Ethical Sensitivity Skill Training on Moral Disengagement and Bullying in Adolescent Girls

Due to the high prevalence of bullying and the effect of the moral disengagement mechanism in increasing bullying perpetration rate, this study is conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of ethical sensitivity skill training on decreasing the moral disengagement mechanism and bullying perpetration.

This study was conducted using the quasi-experimental method and a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population in this study consisted of all middle school girls in Abhar in the academic year of 2019-2020, and two schools from the middle schools were selected using random cluster sampling to conduct Crick-Grotpeter’s self-reporting children’s social behavior scale (1995) survey. 31 students from each group were also selected with the collaboration of each school’s management staff and consultant. Then, one of the schools was purposefully selected as the experimental group for conducting the program, and the other school, as the control group, did not receive any interventional program. The interventional program, consisting of ethical sensitivity skill of Endicott, Bock, Mitchell, and Narvaez (2001), was conducted in nine 45-minute sessions in the control group. Bandura’s moral disengagement survey (1996) and Crick-Grotpeter’s self-reporting children’s social behavior scale survey (1995) were as well conducted before and after the interventional program. Data were analyzed using the multivariate and univariate covariance analysis.

MANCOVA analysis results show that receiving ethical sensitivity training in the experimental group leads to a decrease in the grades of moral disengagement and bullying perpetration post-tests in comparison to the control group.

Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that the topic of ethical growth and the related skills should be considered for development of multi-aspect skills of children and adolescents in prevention and control of aggression and bullying.