Association between empathy, social intelligence, moral disengagement and different forms of bullying behaviour in Italian adolescents.

The study focused on the role of empathy, social intelligence and moral disengagement on bullying and prosocial behaviour in a sample of Italian adolescents. Overt and covert bullying and defending behaviour were measured through peer nominations. Moreover, participants completed self-report measures for empathy [Davis’s Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983) and the Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006)], social intelligence [the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (Silvera, Martinussen, & Dahl, 2001)], and moral disengagement (Caprara et al., 1995). The aims of the study were: (a) to tested whether different levels of empathic responsiveness would be differently associated to bullying and defending behaviour; (b) to test whether social intelligence would be more significantly associated with covert forms of bullying (i.e., relational or indirect bullying) than with overt bullying (i.e., physical or verbal bullying); (c) to test whether the activation of moral disengagement mechanisms would moderate the relations between empathy, social intelligence and bullying; (d) to analyse possible gender differences in these paths of relations. Preliminary results confirmed that low levels of empathic responsiveness are associated to adolescents’ frequent involvement in bullying others. In contrast, empathy is positively associated with the tendency to actively help victimized schoolmates. Results from the present study may have important theoretical and educational implications for developing effective anti-bullying intervention programs.