Determining the Effectiveness of Moral Intelligence Skills Training on Empathy and Social Wellbeing of Bullying Students

Gharehdaghitanourlouei, Mohammadreza; Fakhrabadi, Sajede; Pourdel, Mojgan

Volume 13 - Articles-1402 MEJDS (2023) 13: 70 | Back to browse issues page

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Gharehdaghitanourlouei M, Fakhrabadi S, Pourdel M. Determining the Effectiveness of Moral Intelligence Skills Training on Empathy and Social Wellbeing of Bullying Students. MEJDS 2023; 13 :70-70
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-2840-en.html

Determining the Effectiveness of Moral Intelligence Skills Training on Empathy and Social Wellbeing of Bullying Students

Mohammadreza Gharehdaghitanourlouei¹

, Sajede Fakhrabadi²

, Mojgan Pourdel ^*³

1- MA in Personality Psychology, Islamic Azad University E-Campus, Tehran, Iran
2- MA in Family Counseling, University of Science and Arts of Yazd, Yazd, Iran
3- MA in School Counseling, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

Abstract: (978 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Bullying poses a pervasive problem, disrupting one's learning process and leading to undesirable personality and social consequences. Adverse consequences of bullying include loneliness, low self–esteem, psychological problems, high suicidal ideation and suicide attempt in adulthood, problems in romantic relationships in adulthood–marriage, substance abuse, anxiety, carrying weapons, adjustment problems, poor relationships with peers, challenging friendships, personality disorders, antisocial behaviors, and reduced empathy. Bullying is one of the factors that, in the long run, can decrease empathy and social wellbeing in students. Meanwhile, people with high moral intelligence show more warmth and intimacy. They are kind to their friends and are more sensitive to their needs. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of teaching moral intelligence skills on empathy and social wellbeing of bullying students.
Methods: The method of the present study was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest design and a control group. The statistical population comprised all senior high school students in the 18^th district of Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year 2021–2022. Two schools were selected from the boys' high schools in the region. Finally, 40 students who received the highest score in Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire–Revised (OBVQ–R) (Olweus, 2003) were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental group (20 students) and the control group (20 students). The inclusion criteria included not using other psychological and psychotherapeutic services while participating in the research, lacking psychiatric disorders, not taking psychiatric drugs, and not undertaking the advice of another group during the research. The exclusion criteria included dissatisfaction to participate in the study, absence from more than two training sessions, and inability to perform training sessions. The study data were collected using Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006), Social Welfare Questionnaire (Keyes, 1998), and Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire–Revised (OBVQ–R) (Olweus, 2003). Experimental group participants received 11 sessions of moral intelligence skills training (Borba, 2001). However, no intervention was provided for the control group. The analysis of the data obtained from the research was done with the help of SPSS version 22 in two parts: descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multivariate covariance analysis). The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.
Results: The results showed that after removing the effect of the pretest, moral intelligence training was effective in increasing the empathy (p<0.001) and social wellbeing (p<0.001) of students. According to Eta squared, the increase in the mean scores of empathy and social wellbeing was 85% and 76%, respectively, after the intervention with moral intelligence training.
Conclusion: According to the results, moral intelligence skills training effectively increases the empathy and social wellbeing of bullying students. Therefore, it is recommended that school counselors use moral intelligence skills training to improve the empathy and social wellbeing of bullying students.

Keywords: Moral intelligence skills, Empathy, Social welfare, Bullying students

Full-Text [PDF 510 kb] (363 Downloads)

Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology

References

1. Friedman HS. Encyclopedia of mental health. 2nd edition. Amsterdam ; Boston: Elsevier; 2016, pp: 216–21.

2. Kokkinos CM, Baltzidis E, Xynogala D. Prevalence and personality correlates of Facebook bullying among university undergraduates. Computers in Human Behavior. 2016;55:840–50. [DOI]

3. Brito CC, Oliveira MT. Bullying and self–esteem in adolescents from public schools. J Pediatr. 2013;89(6):601–7. [DOI]

4. Cassidy T. Bullying and victimisation in school children: the role of social identity, problem-solving style, and family and school context. Soc Psychol Educ. 2009;12(1):63–76. [DOI]

5. Schultz DP, Schultz SE. Theories of personality. Seyed Mohammadi Y. (Persian translator). Tehran: Virayesh Pub; 2014.

6. Barzegar Bafrooei K, Barzegar Bafrooei M, Khezri H. The role of school bonding in the appearance of bullying in junior secondary school in Yazd. Educational Psychology. 2016;12(42):21–40. [Persian] [DOI]

7. Azhassaran M, Mehdinezhad V, Farnam A. The relationship between empathy, self–efficacy and bullying with the mediating role of parenting styles in students. Journal of Educational Psychology Studies. 2021;18(42):135–110. [Persian] [DOI]

8. Vervoort MHM, Scholte RHJ, Overbeek G. Bullying and victimization among adolescents: the role of ethnicity and ethnic composition of school class. J Youth Adolesc. 2010;39(1):1–11. [DOI]

9. Pellegrini AD, Long JD. A longitudinal study of bullying, dominance, and victimization during the transition from primary school through secondary school. British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 2002;20(2):259–80. [DOI]

10. Pepler DJ, Craig WM, Connolly JA, Yuile A, McMaster L, Jiang D. A developmental perspective on bullying. Aggressive Behavior. 2006;32(4):376–84. [DOI]

11. Vanderbilt D, Augustyn M. The effects of bullying. Paediatrics and Child Health. 2010;20(7):315–20. [DOI]

12. Golestan F, Shahani Yeylagh M, Behrozi N, Omidiyan M. The effect of bullying prevention program training on bullying, adjustment and empathy among middle school female students, in Ahvaz. Journal of Cognitive Strategies in Learning. 2017;5(8):183–204. [Persian] [DOI]

13. Andreoni J, Rao JM, Trachtman H. Avoiding the ask: a field experiment on altruism, empathy, and charitable giving. Journal of Political Economy. 2017;125(3):625–53. [DOI]

14. van Vliet M, Jong M, Jong MC. Long–term benefits by a mind–body medicine skills course on perceived stress and empathy among medical and nursing students. Med Teach. 2017;39(7):710–9. [DOI]

15. Ferguson FJ, Austin EJ. Associations of trait and ability emotional intelligence with performance on theory of mind tasks in an adult sample. Personality and Individual Differences. 2010;49(5):414–8. [DOI]

16. Soleimani E, Moharam Zade H. The effectiveness of social problem solving training on adjustment and self–efficacy in bullying students. Educational Psychology. 2018 Mar 21;14(47):49–73. [Persian] [DOI]

17. Keyes CLM. Social well–being. Social Psychology Quarterly. 1998;61(2):121–40. [DOI]

18. Kelley–Gillespie N. Quality of life for older adults, an integrated conceptual model. In: Michalos AC, editor. Encyclopedia of quality of life and well–being research. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2014. pp: 5340–55. [DOI]

19. Hahn EA, Cella D, Bode RK, Hanrahan RT. Measuring social well–being in people with chronic illness. Soc Indic Res. 2010;96(3):381–401. [DOI]

20. Shahbaziyan Khonig A, Hasani O, Mahmoudi A. The relationship between moral and social intelligence with the bullying among high school student. Bioethics Journal. 2018;8(28):7–18. [Persian] [DOI]

21. Shahbaziyan Khonig A, Hasani O, Soleymani S. The survey of the role of moral and social intelligence in high–risk behaviors of students of Kurdistan university of medical sciences in the 2016–2017 academic year. Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. 2018;17(1):39–52. [Persian] [Article]

22. Bao Z, Zhang W, Lai X, Sun W, Wang Y. Parental attachment and Chinese adolescents' delinquency: the mediating role of moral disengagement. J Adolesc. 2015;44:37–47. [DOI]

23. Dortaj F, Masaebi A, Asadzadeh H. The effect of anger management training on aggression and social adjustment of 12–15 year old male students. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2010;3(4):62–72. [Persian] [Article]

24. Gini G, Pozzoli T, Hymel S. Moral disengagement among children and youth: a meta–analytic review of links to aggressive behavior. Aggress Behav. 2014;40(1):56–68. [DOI]

25. Yasaminezhad P. Tasir amoozesh hoosh akhlaghi bar masouliat paziri, hamdeli hayajani, akhlagh tahsil va bakhshoudegi beyn fardi danesh amoozan Dokhtar paye sevom maghta'a motevasete [The effectiveness of moral intelligence training on interpersonal forgiveness, emotional empathy, responsibility and academic ethics of female high school students] [Thesis for Master]. [Ahvaz, Iran]: Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz; 2014. [Persian]

26. Javadinezhad A, Heydari A, Naderi F, Bakhtiyipoor S, Hafezi F. The effectiveness of educating moral intelligence on psychological well–being of the secondary school students. Bioethics Journal. 2018;8(29):53–62. [Persian] [DOI]

27. Rezapor Mirsaleh Y, Kheradmand T, Shahedi S. Effectiveness of moral intelligence on social performance and behavioral problems. Ethics in Science and Technology. 2018;12(4):48–59. [Persian] [Article]

28. Pahlavan F, Ebrahiminejad Gh. Determining the effectiveness of moral intelligence training on positive communication with others in high school girls [Internet]. In: World Conference on Psychology and Educational Sciences, Law and Social Sciences at the Beginning of the Third Millennium. Tehran, Iran: Civilica; 2016. [Persian] [Article]

29. Lee YJ. The effect of children's moral emotions on social competence: focusing on empathy, and sympathy. Korean Journal of Childcare and Education. 2016;12(1):225–44. [DOI]

30. Olweus D. A profile of bullying at school. Educational Leadership. 2003;60(6):12–7.

31. Jolliffe D, Farrington DP. Development and validation of the Basic Empathy Scale. J Adolesc. 2006;29(4):589–611. [DOI]

32. Jafari MA, Nooroozi Z, Foolad Chang M. The study of factor structure, reliability and validity of Basic Empathy Scale: Persian form. Journal of Educational Psychology Studies. 2017;14(25):23–38. [Persian] [DOI]

33. Heidari Gh, Ghanaei Z. The normalization of Well–Being Social Inventory. Journal of Thought & Behavior in Clinical Psychology. 2008;2(7):31–40. [Persian]

34. Rezapour M, Soori H, Khodakarim S. Testing psychometric properties of the perpetration of bullying and victimization scales with Olweus Bullying Questionnaire in middle schools. Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention. 2014;1(4):212–21. [Persian] [DOI]

35. Sheykholeslami A, Mohammadi N. The effectiveness of moral intelligence skills training on adjustment (emotional, educational, social) in bully students. Journal of Psychologicalscience. 2019;18(77):519–27. [Persian] [Article]

36. Borba M. Building moral intelligence: the seven essential virtues that teach kids to do the right thing. 1st edition. Jossey-Bass; 2001, pp: 108–54.