A Study on the Relationship Between Moral Cognitive Distortion and Peer Bullying of Children and Adolescents : Physical, Verbal, Relational, and Cyberbullying

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between moral cognitive distortion and peer bullying of children and adolescents. For this study, questionnaires on moral cognitive distortion and peer bullying were administered to 678 students in the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th grades in elementary, middle and high schools located in the metropolitan area of Seoul. The data were analyzed through frequency analysis, mean and standard deviation, t-test, two-way ANOVA, Pearson`s correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS Win 12.0. The main findings of this study are as follows: 1) While grade had a significant influence on the moral cognitive distortion of children and adolescents, gender did not. On bullying perpetration and bullying victimization, both gender and grade had a significant influence. 2) Moral cognitive distortion had a significant influence on peer bullying. More specifically, for elementary school students, the variables affecting bullying victimization and bullying perpetration were found to be worst-case-scenario thinking and other-blame thinking, respectively. For middle school students, victimization was affected most significantly by worst-case-scenario thinking, followed by gender; perpetration was most significantly affected by worst-case-scenario thinking. For high school students, victimization was affected most significantly by other-blame thinking, followed by gender; perpetration was most significantly affected by other-blame thinking.