The social-ecology from child maltreatment to dating violence: The impact of bullying

The purpose of the current study was to gain greater understanding of how bullying impacts the link between child maltreatment and dating violence. The first research question examined how well a structural equation model with the pathways from child maltreatment through moral disengagement, emotion dysregulation, and bullying to dating violence explained the relationship between child maltreatment and dating violence. The second research question analyzed the impact bullying had on improving the model\u27s ability to predict dating violence. The third and fourth research questions determined the mediating effect of moral disengagement and emotion dysregulation on bullying involvement and dating violence involvement, respectfully. The final research question examined the moderating effects of bully/victim roles. Results suggested that moral disengagement significantly predicted involvement in dating violence while emotion dysregulation significantly predicted involvement in both bullying and dating violence. Additionally, a model including bullying explained the relationship between child maltreatment and dating violence slightly better than a model without the bullying construct. Implications for the prevention and intervention of bullying and dating violence involvement are discussed