Moderators of the Effect of Peer Victimization During Fifth Grade on Subsequent Symptoms of (Anxious) Depression: The Roles of Engagement in Bullying and Baseline Symptomatology

The Relationship between Paranoid Tendencies and Cyberbullying among Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Moral Disengagement

BACKGROUND

Cyberbullying has become an essential public health psychological issue affecting people's lives in the online ecology. However, previous studies have rarely examined adolescent paranoia, moral cognition, and cyberbullying in association. Therefore, this study was based on cognitive-behavioral theory to investigate the relationship between child-like paranoid tendencies, cyberbullying, and moral disengagement.

METHODS

This study used the Paranoia Scale, Cyberbullying Scale, and Moral Disengagement Scale to conduct an anonymous online survey of 1519 adolescents in China.

RESULTS

(1) Paranoid tendencies, moral disengagement, and cyberbullying were all significantly and positively correlated. Boys showed higher rates of moral disengagement, while girls showed higher rates of paranoid tendencies. (2) The direct effect of paranoid tendency on cyberbullying was significant (β = 0.31, p < 0.01). (3) There was a mediating effect of moral disengagement in the influence of paranoid tendencies on cyberbullying, with an effect proportion of 20.5%.

CONCLUSION

Adolescent cyberbullying should be regulated at the family and social levels to enhance juvenile mental health issues and help them establish proper moral standards.

Exploring Whether Talking With Parents, Siblings, and Friends Moderates the Association Between Peer Victimization and Adverse Psychosocial Outcomes

The purpose of this study is to explore whether talking with parents, siblings, and friends will moderate the association between peer victimization and adverse outcomes (internalizing problems, alcohol/tobacco use, and delinquent friend affiliation). Data were derived from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children, 2009 to 2010 cohort study in the United States (n = 12,642). Bivariate, logistic regression and ordinal least squares regression analyses were conducted. Peer victimization was found to be associated with all the adverse outcomes. Although ease of talking with parents had a lower likelihood of alcohol/tobacco use, it increased alcohol/tobacco risk when peer victimization increased. Ease of talking with friends showed a higher likelihood of alcohol/tobacco use, but the likelihood was lower when peer victimization increased. Ease of talking with parents and ease of talking with friends both lowered the likelihood of delinquent friend affiliation; however, ease of talking with parents increased the risk of delinquent friend affiliation when peer victimization increased. Moreover, ease of talking with friends decreased the risk of internalizing problems, although it increased the risk of such behaviors when peer victimization increased. Talking with siblings did not buffer the association between peer victimization and adverse outcomes. Implications for practice are also discussed.

Children's bullying involvement and maternal depressive symptoms

Bullying among school-age children is a public health issue in the United States. Although research and policy recommendations emphasize parental responsibility for preventing and dealing with children's bullying involvement, either as victims or perpetrators, we know little about how parents' mental health is linked to children's bullying involvement. We examine three questions on the association between children's bullying involvement and maternal depressive symptoms: (a) Does children's bullying victimization or perpetration increase maternal depressive symptoms?; (b) Do maternal depressive symptoms increase the risk of children bullying or being bullied by other children?; and (c) Do both directions of the associations vary by maternal education level, a key indicator of parenting resources which may buffer the intergenerational stress proliferation? Using panel data from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 963), we conduct cross-lagged structural equation models to examine bidirectional associations between children's bullying involvement as victims or perpetrators and maternal depressive symptoms across three years when children were third, fifth, and sixth graders in 2001, 2003, and 2004, respectively. Controlling for concurrent associations among children's bullying victimization, perpetration, and maternal depressive symptoms, children's bullying victimization in third grade increases depressive symptoms for mothers without college degrees in fifth grade, whereas children's bullying perpetration in third grade increases depressive symptoms for mothers with college degrees in fifth grade. Regardless of maternal education levels, maternal depressive symptoms in children's third and fifth grade years increase the odds of children bullying or being bullied by other children in subsequent years. These findings underscore the need to take parents' mental health into account to prevent or solve issues concerning children's bullying involvement.

Victimisation in urban primary schools of high-poverty areas: associations with health-related quality of life, depression and social support

BACKGROUND

Although a widespread issue, research on victimisation among primary school children in high-poverty regions is limited. The aim of this research was to explore victimisation incidence and associated mental health correlates from first-wave data of the 'Healthy Schools' programme in a high-poverty urban region.

METHOD

The study explored victimisation incidences among 458 Irish primary school children and associations with depression, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and social support.

RESULTS

Victimisation (33.8%) was consistent with recent literature. On the stand-alone victimisation question, victims scored lower on all HRQoL subscales compared with nonvictims. Further categorisation revealed that frequent victims scored lower on four of these subscales, compared with nonvictims. Furthermore, over half of children felt that their school was not doing enough to combat school aggression.

CONCLUSIONS

Although from a high-poverty area, rates were consistent with data from more affluent areas. Results stress an importance on specific school aggression behaviours when measuring victimisation rates, along with corresponding health consequences. Future research should continue to adopt the behaviour-based assessment of victimisation to provide an overall picture of the problem.

Bullying by peers in childhood and effects on psychopathology, suicidality, and criminality in adulthood

Bullying is shown to be associated with adverse outcomes in cross-sectional studies, but only a few studies have prospectively examined the effects of childhood bullying on adult outcomes. Our Series paper focuses on prospective longitudinal studies that used large, population-based, community samples analysed through quantitative methods and published between 1960 and 2015. We describe the results of childhood bullying in adulthood in three of the most burdensome areas: psychopathology, suicidality, and criminality. We note that the different groups involved (ie, victims, bullies, and bully-victims) are at risk of difficulties later in life, but their risk profiles differ and the contributions are probably not independent. Controlling for confounders reduces the risk and sometimes eliminates it. Victims are at a high risk of internalising disorders. Bullies seem to be at risk of later externalising disorders and criminality, mainly violent crime and illicit drug misuse. Bully-victims seem to be at risk of internalising disorders, externalising disorders, and criminality, but not all studies examined bully-victims as a separate group. Boys and girls differ in their long-term outcomes. A dose effect exists in which frequent bullying involvement in childhood is most strongly associated with adult adversities. Future studies need to control for additional factors (including genetic, psychosocial, and environmental) to account for the mechanisms behind the reported longitudinal associations.