Dragone, Mirella (2021) Exposure to violent contexts, moral cognitions, and bullying perpetration in adolescence: Implementation and evaluation of an anti-bullying intervention program. [Tesi di dottorato]

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The present dissertation tried to provide a comprehensive explanatory model of bullying perpetration in adolescence taking into account contextual risk factors, i.e., the experiences of violence exposure within the more proximal (i.e., the family) and distal (i.e., the neighborhood/community) microsystems, and individual pro-violence moral cognitions (i.e., the self-serving cognitive distortions - CDs); furthermore, given by the growing need for evidence-based antibullying prevention programs as for clarifying the potential mechanisms involved in explaining "why, for whom, and under what circumstances" some interventions work, we evaluated the effects of "Equipping Youth to Help One Another (EQUIP) for Educators" (EfE; DiBiase, Gibbs, Potter, & Spring, 2005) in counteracting both law-breaking supporting attitudes and bullying perpetration, trying to remedy to the key moral cognitive limitations of the students and examining the potential mediation and moderation mechanisms involved. Three independent studies have been carried out. Guided by the social-ecological model of the development of conduct problems in adolescence (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Dodge & Pettit, 2003), in the first study we tested, in a sample of high school students, two four‐wave cross-lagged panel mediation models, one for each specific daily life violent context, to examine the transactional nature and likely causal direction of the pathways linking domestic and community violence exposure, through witnessing and victimization, self-serving CDs and school bullying perpetration. Consistent with the concept of equifinality, our findings showed that both exposure to violence within the family and the community were associated to self-serving CDs and bullying perpetration over time although through different forms; more specifically, through domestic violence victimization (i.e., child maltreatment or abuse), and community violence witnessing. Moreover, significant associations between self-serving CDs and bullying perpetration over time were found. Each of these longitudinal patterns was found to have a bidirectional direction. Finally, as regards the tested cognitive desensitization hypothesis, a marginally significant mediating role of self-serving CDs in the relationship between violence exposure that occurs through direct victimization, within the family, and through witnessing, within the community, with school bullying perpetration was found, thus confirming a basic postulate that "violence breeds violence". In the second study we developed a new dimensional measure of "Attitudes towards Law-Breaking Behaviors" (AtLBBs) able to capture the multiple dimensions from which antisocial acts may drawing on in the high-risk local context under consideration. Once we built the measurement scale, our aim was to test its factorial structure by performing a series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses, specifically to compare the hypothesized four first-order factors model with two alternative models: a single-factor model and a second-order factor model. Subsequently, we analyzed the psychometric properties of the developed measurement scale by: (i) examining reliability, considering both internal consistency and test/retest reliability; (ii) evaluating the measurement invariance across gender-groups and across time; and (iii) corroborating the criterion-related validity, testing both convergent, divergent, and predictive validity, in a community sample of Italian adolescents coming from a high-risk urban area of Southern Italy. Results provided additional evidence for the legitimacy of the multi-dimensional nature of the antisocial behaviors, specifically those related to more serious illegal conducts. Indeed, the hypothesized four first-order factors model composed of distinct although inter-correlated dimensions (labelled "Civic sense", "Street code", "Loyalty code", and "Organized crime") was the best-fitting model with all factor loadings were satisfactory, even though the second-order factor solution was also acceptable. Moreover, since the AtLBBs scale revealed satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability, criterion-related validity (both convergent, divergent, and predictive validity), and the measurement invariance evaluation we tested supported both the full and partial scalar invariance across gender groups (i.e., males and females) and over time (i.e., pre- and post-assessment), respectively, the developed AtLBBs scale demonstrated to be a promising tool to capture the multi-dimensional nature of antisocial thinking in adolescence. Finally, the third study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of EfE program on both social-cognitive processes (i.e., self-serving CDs and AtLBBs) and behavioral (i.e., bullying perpetration) outcomes by using a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test with control group design. In addition, based on the social-cognitive approach (e.g., Bandura, 1977, 1986) according to which by altering individual biased thinking patterns, it would be possible to modify antisocial aspects of personality and consequent behaviors, we tested whether changes in the AtLBBs as well as in bullying outcomes after intervention would be attributed to the decrease in the tendency to make self-serving CDs, whose correction is at the heart of the EfE psychoeducational curriculum (DiBiase et al., 2011). Moving towards the analysis of potential personality traits involved in explaining "for whom" the EfE program could promote the expected outcomes, we examined the moderating role of environmental sensitivity, that is the inherent ability to perceive and process environmental stimuli (Pluess, 2015), in enhancing the effects of EfE program. To this end, a moderated mediational model using structural equation modeling with latent variables was tested. Our findings revealed a significant moderated mediation effects of the EfE program on social-cognitive and behavioral outcomes through the decrease of self-serving CDs with highly sensitive males who participated to the EfE benefitting significantly more from the effects of the program compared with females and those less sensitive to environmental influences. Results are discussed highlighting their contributions to the literature both on bullying phenomena and on evidence-based interventions. Finally, the overall strengths, limitations and implication for future studies are pointed out.

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