The relationship between peer victimization and social anxiety among adolescents: a moderated mediation model with cognitive flexibility and affect intensity

The association between school bullying and executive functions in children and adolescents: A three-level meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Even though existing amounts of results have shown that school bullying could be related to the main components of executive functions (EFs) (inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility), research focused on this association yields inconsistent results.

METHOD

To address this research gap, the current study conducted a three-level meta-analysis approach and simultaneously considered the two perspectives of the bully and victim to clarify the relationship between school bullying experienced by children and EFs. It also explored the moderating variables that affect the relationship between school bullying and EFs.

RESULTS

Based on 18 studies reporting 73 effect sizes (N = 21,725), the results revealed that the overall effect size for the association between both the bullies and victims of school bullying incidents with EFs (rbullies = -0.154, p < .05; rvictims = -0.187, p < .001). Moderator analyses revealed that the negative correlation between bullies of school bullying and EFs was moderated by EF components, but it was not affected by gender, age, and the EF measurement method. Moreover, the negative correlation between victims of school bullying and EFs was not affected by the form of bullying, source of report, facet of EFs, EF measurement, gender, age, and culture.

CONCLUSIONS

The present meta-analysis revealed a relationship between school bullying and EFs. Both bullies and victims appear to have lower EF levels. The results also emphasized that lower inhibitory control was more likely to be a crucial risk factor for bullying behavior.

How Society Anxiety Influences Attention Control in College Students: The Moderated Mediation Effect of Cognitive Flexibility and Resting-state Electroencephalography Activity

Social anxiety is a prevalent issue among college students, adversely affecting their overall well-being. Drawing from the cognitive model of social anxiety and attention control theory, heightened levels of social anxiety may correspond to poorer attention control ability. However, little is known about the underlying cognitive mechanisms of the relationship between social anxiety and attention control. To address this research gap, the current study recruited a sample of 156 college students (56 women) who underwent self-report measures of social anxiety, cognitive flexibility, and attention control, followed by a resting-state EEG recording. The results revealed a significant negative predictive effect of social anxiety on attention control, with cognitive flexibility partially mediating this relationship. Furthermore, resting-state theta power emerged as a significant moderator, accentuating the negative impact of social anxiety on cognitive flexibility among individuals with lower theta power. In addition, frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) demonstrated a moderating effect, with lower FAA intensifying the predictive influence of cognitive flexibility on attention control. Taken together, these results suggested that social anxiety can predict attention control either directly or indirectly via the mediating role of cognitive flexibility, and lower theta power and FAA has a risk amplification effect, which provide novel insights into the treatment and prevention of social anxiety and its negative impact on college students.

Are Perceived Executive Functions Beneficial for Adolescents Who Experience Peer Victimization?

Peer victimization can lead to dysfunctional cognitions and numerous internalizing psychological problems. Thus, it is essential to identify factors that can moderate the impact of victimization. This study aimed to analyze the potential moderating role of perceived executive functions (PEF) in the impact of peer victimization (traditional and online) on internalizing symptoms (depression and social anxiety), early maladaptive schemas (disconnection/rejection domain), and PEF in adolescents. A two-wave longitudinal study was carried out with 680 Spanish adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age (M = 14.58, SD = 1.36; 41.18% girls). Participants completed measures of self-reported executive functions, traditional and online victimization, early maladaptive schemas of the disconnection/rejection domain, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety symptoms in waves 1 and 2. Traditional and online perpetration was completed only in wave 1. The results indicated that when PEF were high (i.e., adolescents perceive that they have good executive functions), traditional and online victimization predicted more schemas of the disconnection/rejection domain and internalizing symptoms of depression and social anxiety. In non-victims, high PEF showed a protective role in the development of depressive symptoms and schemas of the disconnection/rejection domain. The findings highlight that PEF have a protective role that disappears when victimization (traditional and online) occurs.

Attributions about Peer Victimization in US and Korean Adolescents and Associations with Internalizing Problems

Although there is cultural variability in how individuals make attributions for their own and others' behaviors, cultural variation in youth's attributions about peer victimization and their relation with internalizing problems has gone unexamined. To address this issue, adolescents from the U.S. (n = 292, 60% female, 79.5% White, M_age = 13.6, SD = 0.65) and Korea (n = 462, 50.2% female, M_age = 13.7, SD = 0.58) reported on their peer victimization, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, self-worth, and rated their attributions to vignettes about peer victimization. Multigroup confirmatory analyses found that Korean and American youth conceptualized characterological self-blame, behavioral self-blame, and externalization of blame similarly. However, Korean youth differentially endorsed each of the three types of attributions, while U.S. adolescents endorsed characterological self-blame and behavioral self-blame at similar levels. Attributions had unique relations with internalizing problems (depression, social anxiety, global self-worth) in each culture. In multigroup SEM analyses, characterological self-blame predicted all internalizing problems for U.S. adolescents, while behavioral self-blame was not uniquely related to internalizing problems. For Korean adolescents, behavioral self-blame significantly predicted all internalizing problems, whereas characterological self-blame predicted global self-worth only. The results suggest that attributions about victimization have different adjustment implications in Korea than in the U.S.