Attitudes toward violence and cultural beliefs among adolescents involved in bullying

Abstract

Research around the world has confirmed that some of the main predictors related to bullying are the attitudes toward violence and cultural beliefs. Unfortunately, in Mexico, there are no multivariate studies including the analysis of these variables. Due to this gap in the scientific literature, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of attitudes toward violence, moral disengagement, cultural beliefs, and approval of violence as predictors of bullying and the experience of victimization as well as to analyze the possible differences between perpetrators, victims, and witnesses of violence regarding study variables. In order to achieve this goal, in this study participated a total of 195 adolescents (92 men and 103 women) enrolled in three public high schools located in the State of Mexico. Results showed that perpetrators reported higher levels of perception of violence as legitimate, moral disengagement, vertical individualism, and attitudes toward violence as enjoyment in comparison to victims and witnesses. Furthermore, moral disengagement and attitudes toward violence was the most important predictors related to bullying and victimization.