Concetta Pastorelli

Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency

This research examined the role of mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Regulatory self-sanctions can be selectively disengaged from detrimental conduct by converting harmful acts to moral ones through linkage to worthy purposes, obscuring personal causal agency by diffusion and displacement of responsibility, misrepresenting or disregarding the injurious effects inflicted on others, and vilifying the recipients of maltreatment by blaming and dehumanizing them. The study examined the structure and impact of moral disengagement on detrimental conduct and the psychological processes through which it exerts its effects. Path analyses reveal that moral disengagement fosters detrimental conduct by reducing prosocialness and anticipatory self-censure and by promoting cognitive and affective reactions conducive to aggression. The structure of the paths of influence is very similar for interpersonal aggression and delinquent conduct. Although the various mechanisms of moral disengagement operate in concert, moral reconstruals of harmful conduct by linking it to worthy purposes and vilification of victims seem to contribute most heavily to engagement in detrimental activities. Psychological theories of moral agency focus heavily on moral thought to the neglect of moral conduct. The limited attention to moral conduct reflects both the rationalistic bias of many theories of morality (Kohlberg, 1984) and the convenience of investigatory method. It is much easier to examine how people reason about hypothetical moral dilemmas than to study how they behave in difficult life predicaments. People suffer from the wrongs done to them, regardless of how perpetrators might justify their inhumane actions. The regulation of conduct involves much more than moral reasoning. A theory of morality must specify the mechanisms by which people come to live in accordance with moral standards. In social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1991), moral reasoning is translated into actions through self-regulatory mechanisms through which moral agency is exercised. In the course of socialization , moral standards are constructed from information conveyed by direct tuition, evaluative social reactions to ones conduct, and exposure to the selfevaluative standards modeled by others. Once formed, such standards serve as guides and deterrents for action. People regulate their actions by the consequences they apply to them

Prosocial Foundations of Children's Academic Achievement

The present longitudinal research demonstrates robust contributions of early prosocial behavior to childrens developmental trajectories in academic and social domains. Both prosocial and aggressive behaviors in early childhood were tested as predictors of academic achievement and peer relations in adolescence 5 years later. Prosocialness included cooperating, helping, sharing, and consoling, and the measure of antisocial aspects included proneness to verbal and physical aggression. Prosocialness had a strong positive impact on later academic achievement and social preferences, but early aggression had no significant effect on either outcome. The conceptual model accounted for 35% of variance in later academic achievement, and 37% of variance in social preferences. Additional analysis revealed that early academic achievement did not contribute to later academic achievement after controlling for effects of early prosocialness. Possible mediating processes by which prosocialness may affect academic achievement and other socially desirable developmental outcomes are proposed.

Self-efficacy pathways to childhood depression.

This prospective research analyzed how different facets of perceived self-efficacy operate in concert within a network of sociocognitive influences in childhood depression. Perceived social and academic inefficacy contributed to concurrent and subsequent depression both directly and through their impact on academic achievement, prosocialness, and problem behaviors. In the shorter run, children were depressed over beliefs in their academic inefficacy rather than over their actual academic performances. In the longer run, the impact of a low sense of academic efficacy on depression was mediated through academic achievement, problem behavior, and prior depression. Perceived social inefficacy had a heavier impact on depression in girls than in boys in the longer term. Depression was also more strongly linked over time for girls than for boys.

Sociocognitive Self-Regulatory Mechanisms Governing Transgressive Behavior

This longitudinal research examined a structural model of the self-regulatory mechanisms governing transgressive conduct. Perceived academic and self-regulatory efficacy concurrently and longitudinally deterred transgressiveness both directly and by fostering prosocialness and adherence to moral self-sanctions for harmful conduct. The impact of perceived social self-efficacy was mediated through prosocialness. Moral disengagement and prosocialness affected transgressiveness through the mediating influence of irascible affectivity and hostile rumination. Ruminative affectivity, in turn, both concurrently and longitudinally affected transgressiveness. Moral disengagement also contributed independently to variance in transgressiveness over time. This pattern of relations was obtained after controlling for prior transgressiveness. The structural model was replicated across gender and provided a better fit to the data than did several alternative models.

A questionnaire for measuring the Big Five in late childhood

A study is presented which aims at measuring the Big Five factors in late childhood through self-report as well as parent and teacher ratings. First, several factor analyses examined self-report and teacher and parent ratings on a 65-item questionnaire developed for assessing the Big Five. Five clear factors emerged from these analyses conducted on self-report and other ratings of elementary and junior high school children. Factors showed a high degree of congruence. Self-reports, parent and teacher ratings resulted moderately although significantly convergent. Second, as a validation step, the Big Five factors were used as concurrent predictors of academic achievement and of Externalizing and Internalizing problematic behavior syndromes. Intellect/Openness and Conscientiousness resulted as important predictors of Academic Achievement. Externalizing problems were associated to low Conscientiousness and low Emotional Stability, Internalizing problems to low Emotional Stability. Finally, also the correlations of the Big Five factors with the dimensions of Sybil Eysencks Junior Personality Questionnaire further corroborated the construct validity of the questionnaire.

Early emotional instability, prosocial behaviour, and aggression: some methodological aspects

The internal consistency of Emotional Instability, Prosocial Behaviour, and Aggression scales was examined in elementary school children aged between 7 and 10 years. Multiple informants (self‐report, teacher rating, mother rating, and peer nomination) were obtained on the above three dimensions. Relationships between the scales were first examined within the single informant frame of reference and then between informants. The concurrent validity was assessed using sociometric measures (popularity, rejection, social impact, and social preference) and the Achenbach and Edelbrock Child Behavior Checklist (teacher and parent form). The results confirm the internal validity of the three scales measuring emotional instability, prosocial behaviour, and aggression in child self‐report, teacher rating, and mother rating. The use of self‐report measures seems promising within the multiple informant strategy of research on child behaviour. Correlational results show satisfactory concurrent validity for the three scales, especially for teacher rating and peer nomination. The strict relation between emotional instability and aggression poses problems of discriminant validity which need to be further investi gated.

The Structure of Children's Perceived Self-Efficacy: A Cross-National Study

Summary: The present study investigated the replicability of the factor structure of the Children’s Perceived Self-Efficacy scales (CPSE; Bandura, 1990) in Italy, Hungary, and Poland. The findings of this cross-national study support the generalizability of the factor structure of children’s social and academic efficacy. Perceived efficacy to resist peer pressure to engage transgressive conduct had a somewhat different factor structure for Hungarian children. Gender and national differences in the pattern of efficacy beliefs underscore the value of treating perceived self-efficacy as a multifaceted attribute. There were no overall gender differences in perceived social efficacy, but girls in all three societies have a higher sense of efficacy for academic activities and to resist peer pressure for transgressive activities. Italian children judge themselves more academically efficacious than do Hungarian children and more socially efficacious than their counterparts in both of the other two countries. An analysis of the facets of academic efficacy revealed that Hungarian children have a high sense of efficacy to master academic subjects but a lower efficacy than their Italian and Polish counterparts to take charge of their own learning. Polish children surpassed their counterparts in academic self-regulatory efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy concerns people’s beliefs in their capabilities to produce given attainments. This construct was developed by Bandura (1977) within a social-cognitive theory of human functioning. According to this perspective, sense of personal efficacy is a key factor in the exercise of human agency within a causal structure involving triadic reciprocal causation between the person, the environment, and behavior (Bandura, 1986). People

The association between parental warmth and control in thirteen cultural groups

The goal of the current study was to investigate potential cross-cultural differences in the covariation between two of the major dimensions of parenting behavior: control and warmth. Participants included 1,421 (51% female) 7- to 10-year-old (M = 8.29, SD = .67 years) children and their mothers and fathers representing 13 cultural groups in nine countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. Children and parents completed questionnaires and interviews regarding mother and father control and warmth. Greater warmth was associated with more control, but this association varied widely between cultural groups.

Prosocial Development from Childhood to Adolescence: A Multi-Informant Perspective with Canadian and Italian Longitudinal Studies.

OBJECTIVES To longitudinally describe prosocial behaviour development from childhood to adolescence, using multiple informants within Canadian and Italian samples. METHOD Participants in Study 1 were 1037 boys from low socioeconomic status (SES) areas in Montreal, Canada, for whom yearly teacher and mother reports were obtained between the ages of 10 and 15. Participants in Study 2 were 472 children (209 girls) from Genzano, Italy, for whom yearly self and teacher reports were obtained between the ages of 10 and 14. Developmental trajectories were estimated from ratings by each informant to identify subgroups of children following distinct courses of prosocial development. RESULTS In Study 1, three trajectory groups (low/declining 53%, high/declining 16%, high/steep declining 31%) were identified from teacher ratings, while five trajectories (low/stable 7%, low/declining 19%, moderate/stable 41%, high/declining 24%, high/stable 9%) were identified from mother ratings. Small but significant associations were observed between mother and teacher ratings. In Study 2, three trajectory groups (low/stable 9%, moderate/stable 50%, high/stable 42%) were identified from self-ratings, while four trajectory groups (low/stable 8%, moderate/declining 48%, high/declining 37%, increasing 7%) were identified from teacher ratings. Small but significant associations were observed between self- and teacher ratings. CONCLUSIONS The present studies investigated levels of prosocial behaviours from childhood to adolescence, using a multi-informant, cross-cultural perspective. All but one of the developmental trajectories identified were characterised by stable or declining levels of prosocial behaviours. Further research longitudinally investigating prosociality across developmental periods is needed to clarify prosocial behaviour development over time.

Agreement in Mother and Father Acceptance-Rejection, Warmth, and Hostility/Rejection/ Neglect of Children Across Nine Countries

The authors assessed whether mothers’ and fathers’ self-reports of acceptance-rejection, warmth, and hostility/rejection/neglect (HRN) of their preadolescent children differ cross-nationally and relative to the gender of the parent and child in 10 communities in 9 countries, including China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States (N = 998 families). Mothers and fathers in all countries reported a high degree of acceptance and warmth, and a low degree of HRN, but countries also varied. Mothers reported greater acceptance of children than fathers in China, Italy, Sweden, and the United States, and these effects were accounted for by greater self-reported warmth in mothers than in fathers in China, Italy, the Philippines, Sweden, and Thailand and less HRN in mothers than in fathers in Sweden. Fathers reported greater warmth than mothers in Kenya. Mother and father acceptance-rejection were moderately correlated. Relative levels of mother and father acceptance and rejection appear to be country specific.