Open Access

ARTICLE

The Growth Trajectory of Moral Disengagement in Junior High School Students: Influence of Trait Aggressiveness and Gender

Xuezhi Liu^1,2, Jianxiao Wu³, Lingjing Guo⁴, Ronghuan Wang⁵, Qiang Yang¹, Baojuan Ye^1,*, Xiufeng Guo⁶

1 School of Education, School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330099, China
2 Student Affairs Office, Jiangxi College of Foreign Studies, Nanchang, 330099, China
3 School of Business Administration, Nanchang Institute of Technology, Nanchang, 330099, China
4 Mental Health Education Center, Chengdu University, Chengdu, 610106, China
5 School Administration Office, Nanchang Hongdu Middle School, Nanchang, 330024, China
6 Mental Health Education Center, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Nanchang, 341000, China

* Corresponding Author: Baojuan Ye. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Exploring the Impact of School Bullying, Aggression and Childhood Trauma in the Digital Age: Influencing Factors, Interventions, and Prevention Methods)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2025, 27(3), 303-318. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2025.060117

Received 24 October 2024; Accepted 12 February 2025; Issue published 31 March 2025

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to verify the causal relationship between trait aggressiveness (TA) and moral disengagement (MD), know more about the growth trajectory of MD, and explore the effects of gender and TA on the growth trajectory. Methods: We used the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire and Moral Disengagement Scale to survey 433 Chinese junior high school students longitudinally three times. Results: The results of the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) analysis indicated that TA positively predicted MD, while MD did not predict TA at the within-person level. Thus, TA could be considered an antecedent variable of MD. Furthermore, the unconditional latent growth linear model analysis revealed that MD among junior high school students exhibited an upward trend, characterized by an increasing rate of growth over time. In the conditional latent growth linear model analysis, we found that gender influenced only the initial level of MD but had no effect on its growth rate. Conversely, TA demonstrated both delayed and immediate positive effects on the growth of MD. Conclusions: Our findings suggested a one-way cross-lag effect between TA and MD. Additionally, the growth trajectory of MD among junior high school students was found to be ascending. This growth trajectory was influenced by gender and TA, offering valuable insights for the prevention and intervention of behavioral problems in junior high school students.

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Keywords

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