School Moral Atmosphere and Normative Orientation to Explain Aggressive and Transgressive Behaviours at Secondary School

The school moral atmosphere refers to informal norms and values that regulate the relationships in school and their degree of sharing among students. We tested whether the school moral atmosphere is a mediating variable between adolescents' normative orientation and their self-reported aggressive and transgressive behaviours. A total of 664 Italian students (age range 15-21, M = 17.06, SD = 1.15) filled out a questionnaire to measure their perception of: (1) school moral atmosphere, (2) normative orientation and (3) frequency of aggressive and transgressive behaviours at school. Normative orientation and school moral atmosphere were good predictors of both aggressive and transgressive behaviours. Normative orientation was proved as a "direct" explicative variable with transgressive behaviours as dependent variable, but an "indirect" variable with aggressive behaviours as dependent. In this case the relation was mediated by the school moral atmosphere, confirming previous results. Educational implications are discussed. (Contains 4 figures and 3 tables.)