Since only T1 self-reported bullying and changes in self-reported
bullying behavior influenced changes in levels of moral disengagement, participants
were assigned to four positions of stability based on their scores
on these variables. As recommended by Solberg and Olweus (2003), T1 bullying
was dichotomized into a bully and a nonbully group depending on
whether children had a score of either 12 and below (indicating that either
no bullying or that one bullying related incident had happened during the
past two months) or a bullying score of 13 and above (indicating that bullying
had occurred 2–3 times or more during the past 2 months). When
combining the T1 bullying/nonbullying with the change-score, four different
patterns of bullying development emerged. Children indicating no bullying