Development and Factor Structure of a New Questionnaire Measuring Moral Disengagement in Cyber conducts: Preliminary Findings.

The impact of Moral Disengagement (MD)– a set of cognitive mechanisms allowing individuals to engage in aggressive conducts while upholding the feeling of behaving morally (Bandura, 1996) – on the involvement in cyberbullying represents a new research field. The purpose of this study was to develop, and establish the initial factor structure of, a new questionnaire for the measurement of MD related to cyberconducts. Numerous items (statements referring, in various ways, to the acceptability of media-based aggressions) were generated by the researchers within the framework of Bandura’s conceptualization, and underwent the examination of a panel of experts and of adolescents participating in focus groups. Items considered appropriate by most raters formed the preliminary version of the new measure (22 items), subsequently administered to 679 adolescents (55% Females; Mage = 16.51, SD = 1.52), who were asked to rate their agreement with the items on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Bartlett’s test and the KMO value indicated that data were suitable for exploratory factor analysis (EFA). To evaluate the structure of the instrument , we conducted a common factor analysis using principal axis factoring and Varimax rotation. The number of factors was determined by Eigenvalues > 1.0 and a noticeable change in the slopes within the scree plot. Items with factor loadings < .50 were excluded and a further EFA was performed which indicated a two-factor structure with adequate internal consistency. The variance explained by the two dimensions was 45 %. Factor 1 includes five items related to attenuation of consequences, while Factor 2 comprises four items referring to attribution of blame to victims. Confirmatory factor analysis, the examination of the construct validity and test-retest reliability procedures have been planned to confirm the suitability of this instrument for assessing self-justifying strategies in cyberaggressions.