Antecedents of Moral disengagement among youth: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This systematic literature review explores the main antecedents of moral disengagement with special emphasis on emotional styles and achievement-oriented pressures. The empirical studies analyzed were published in 2000-2025 and analyzed using PRISMA guidelines. The results show that emotional factors, in particular, emotional suppression along with the hustle culture adoption contributes significantly to the moral disengagement through debilitating internal regulators of morality, like empathy and guilt, and providing a protective factor in the form of emotional engagement. The review also indicates that these antecedents are working within a self-reinforcing process such that repeated disengagement has the effect of reducing moral sensitivity over time.