TY - EJOU
AU - Liu, Xuezhi
AU - Wu, Jianxiao
AU - Guo, Lingjing
AU - Wang, Ronghuan
AU - Yang, Qiang
AU - Ye, Baojuan
AU - Guo, Xiufeng
TI - The Growth Trajectory of Moral Disengagement in Junior High School Students: Influence of Trait Aggressiveness and Gender
T2 - International Journal of Mental Health Promotion
PY - 2025
VL - 27
IS - 3
SN - 2049-8543
AB - 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.
KW - Moral disengagement; trait aggressiveness; junior high school students; cross-lagged regression analysis; latent growth analysis
DO - 10.32604/ijmhp.2025.060117