Self-efficacy and moral disengagement in Mexican secondary school bullying bystanders

The role of bystander involvement in bullying has been widely researched and documented. Nevertheless, bystanders who stop the bullying and/or aid the victim are still the exception rather than the norm. Two factors that seem to be closely related with the decision by bystanders regarding whether to support the victim, are their levels of self-efficacy and moral disengagement. This study seeks to explore students’ perception of their own power to make a difference in bullying situations and their level of responsibility towards their victimized peers. These perceptions will be compared before and after a bystander focused intervention at a secondary school in Mexico in order to explore moral disengagement dynamics and the bystander roles that students can adopt to make a difference within their own behavioural repertoire. This intervention model could increase responsible bystander intervention and reduce bullying situations in schools. This paper presents preliminary findings from the pre-intervention data collection stage.