Classroom ethnic diversity and bullyingLampret, Ana (Avtor) Špes, Tanja (Avtor) Košir, Katja (Avtor) classroom ethnic diversitybullyingclassroom moral desengagementThis study investigated how classroom ethnic diversity, students’ ethnicity, andclassroom moral disengagement (MD) interact to predict students’ bullying involvement. The sample consisted of 6391 students (50.2% boys, 87.6% ethnic majoritystudents, mean age 13.43 years) from 329 classrooms. Using a multilevel modellingapproach, we found that individual and classroom-level MD were strong predictorsof bullying perpetration and victimization. Higher ethnic diversity was associatedwith increased bullying perpetration among ethnic minority/mixed students, butnot among ethnic majority students. In addition, the positive association betweenethnic diversity and bullying perpetration among minority/mixed students waspresent only in classrooms characterized by high MD, while in classrooms withlow MD, ethnic diversity was unrelated to bullying perpetration for both groups. Forvictimization, classroom MD was more strongly associated with higher victimizationin ethnically diverse classrooms than in more homogeneous classrooms, althoughthe association remained significant across both contexts. The study contributes tothe limited body of research investigating the moderating role of classroom climatevariables in the relationship between classroom ethnic diversity and bullying andhighlights the relevance of MD in shaping peer dynamics in ethnically diverseclassrooms. Practical implications include the potential of interventions targetingMD to foster inclusive, low-conflict classroom environments.20262026-08-28 13:39:39Znanstveno delo99885sl