Cross-National Associations Among Cyberbullying Victimization, Self-Esteem, and Internet Addiction: Direct and Indirect Effects of Alexithymia

The Effect of Bullying Victimization on Adolescent Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: The Mediating Roles of Alexithymia and Self-Esteem

Background & Aim

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents is a serious public health issue influenced by the interaction of multiple factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the multiple mediating roles of alexithymia and self-esteem in the association between bullying victimization and NSSI in a sample of Chinese adolescents.

Methods

A survey of 1299 adolescents from two public middle schools in Henan Province, China, was undertaken. Data were collected using the Chinese version of the Delaware bullying victimization scale-student (DBVS-S), the Toronto Alexithymia-20 Scale (TAS-20-C), the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES), and the adolescent self-injury questionnaire. Besides, we performed a structural equation modeling (SEM) with latent variables using AMOS 26.0 to examine the relationship between variables and the mediating effects.

Results

The SEM analysis found that not only can bullying victimization directly impact NSSI, but that alexithymia and self-esteem have a chain mediating effect in the association between bullying victimization and NSSI. This mediating effect contributed 22.47% to the total effect.

Conclusion

These findings validate bullying victimization, alexithymia, and low self-esteem are important variables that affect NSSI among Chinese adolescents. Educators need to implement some prevention and intervention strategies to ameliorate the campus atmosphere and adolescents' mental health aimed at avoiding NSSI behavior in adolescence.

How social media usage affects psychological and subjective well-being: testing a moderated mediation model

BACKGROUND

A growing body of literature demonstrates that social media usage has witnessed a rapid increase in higher education and is almost ubiquitous among young people. The underlying mechanisms as to how social media usage by university students affects their well-being are unclear. Moreover, current research has produced conflicting evidence concerning the potential effects of social media on individuals' overall well-being with some reporting negative outcomes while others revealing beneficial results.

METHODS

To address the research gap, the present research made an attempt to investigate the crucial role of social media in affecting students' psychological (PWB) and subjective well-being (SWB) by testing the mediating role of self-esteem and online social support and the moderation effect of cyberbullying. The data in the study were obtained from a sample of 1,004 college students (483 females and 521 males, Mage = 23.78, SD = 4.06) enrolled at 135 Chinese universities. AMOS 26.0 and SPSS 26.0 as well as the Process macro were utilized for analyzing data and testing the moderated mediation model.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that social media usage by university students was positively associated with their PWB and SWB through self-esteem and online social support, and cyberbullying played a moderating role in the first phase of the mediation process such that the indirect associations were weak with cyberbullying reaching high levels.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the importance of discerning the mechanisms moderating the mediated paths linking social media usage by young adults to their PWB and SWB. The results also underline the importance of implementing measures and interventions to alleviate the detrimental impacts of cyberbullying on young adults' PWB and SWB.

Parental neglect and short-form video application addiction in Chinese adolescents: The mediating role of alexithymia and the moderating role of refusal self-efficacy

BACKGROUND

The phenomenon of short-form video application addiction among Chinese adolescents is noteworthy. More research has focused on the influencing factors of internet addiction, but research on specifically exploring the antecedents and influencing mechanisms of short-form video application addiction (a subcategory of internet addiction) among adolescents is insufficient.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate the relation between parental neglect and short-form video application addiction among Chinese adolescents and examine the mediating effect of alexithymia and the moderating role of refusal self-efficacy.

METHODS

A total of 1203 Chinese adolescents were assigned to complete scales regarding parental neglect, alexithymia, refusal self-efficacy and short-form video application addiction.

RESULTS

Parental neglect was positively related to short-form video application addiction among Chinese adolescents, and alexithymia mediated this link. Furthermore, refusal self-efficacy moderated the direct connection between parental neglect and short-form video application addiction. Specifically, the link between parental neglect and short-form video application addiction became weaker as adolescents' refusal self-efficacy increased.

CONCLUSION

The experiences of parental neglect are closely related to higher levels of short-form video application addiction among Chinese adolescents. Parental neglect is associated with higher level of short-form video application addiction through stronger alexithymia, and the relationship between parental neglect and short-form video application addiction is attenuated when adolescents have high refusal self-efficacy.

Parenting Styles and Self-Esteem in Adolescent Cybervictims and Cyberaggressors: Self-Esteem as a Mediator Variable

BACKGROUND

Family relationships and self-esteem are relevant variables into the understanding of cyberbullying. However, little is known about the mediating role of self-esteem in the connections between cyberbullying and parenting. The study had two goals: (1) to analyze the relation between being a cybervictim and/or cyberaggressor and self-esteem, parents' acceptance/coercion, and parenting styles and (2) to explore whether self-esteem is a mediator in the relationship between parents' acceptance/coercion and being a cybervictim/cyberaggressor.

METHOD

The sample comprises 3026 Spanish adolescents (51.5% girls and 48.5% boys) aged 12-18 years (M_age = 14.39; SD = 1.69). The study has a cross-sectional design, retrospective ex-post with multiple measurements.

RESULTS

(1) cybervictims and cyberaggressors have low self-esteem, and their parents have a low level of involvement/acceptance and a high level of coercion/imposition towards their sons/daughters, (2) participants whose parents were authoritarian obtained significantly lower scores in self-esteem and higher scores in cybervictimization/cyberaggression, whereas those whose parents were indulgent obtained significantly higher scores in self-esteem and lower scores in cybervictimization/cyberaggression, and (3) it was found a mediation of self-esteem in the relationship between the involvement/acceptance of both parents and being a cybervictim, as well as between the father's coercion/imposition and being a cyberaggressor.

CONCLUSION

An adequate level of self-esteem, high parental acceptance/involvement, and a reasonably low level of coercion/discipline as the parenting style can have very positive effects on the prevention of cyberbullying.

Assessing Cyberbullying in Adolescence: New Evidence for the Spanish Version of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIP-Q)

The prevention of cyberbullying at school requires assessing its prevalence by means of brief measurement instruments with adequate psychometric properties. The present study aims to study the psychometric properties of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIP-Q) in a sample of 1777 Spanish adolescents (54.1% women, M = 15.71 years; SD = 1.26), selected by stratified random cluster sampling. The two-factor model (victimization and aggression) displayed appropriate goodness of-fit indices. Configural measurement invariance model across gender was found. The omega reliability coefficient for the victimization subscale was 0.82, and for the aggression subscale was 0.68. The ECIP-Q scores were negatively associated with self-esteem and prosocial behavior, and positively associated with depression symptoms and emotional and behavioral difficulties. Significant differences were found between victim and non-victim groups, and between aggressor and non-aggressor groups on the same variables. Victims and aggressors scored lower on self-esteem, and higher on depression symptoms and emotional and behavioral difficulties than those not involved in cyberbullying situations. These findings contribute to demonstrate the satisfactory psychometric quality of the ECIP-Q scores as an assessment tool for cyberbullying in Spanish adolescents.

Association of Cyberbullying and Internet Use Disorder

Purpose of Review

The purpose of this review is to critically assess the published studies on the relationship between cyberbullying and internet use disorder (IUD), and propose directions for further study.

Recent Findings

There were only four prospective studies out of thirty-two reviewed studies conducted since 2004, with only one prospective study conducted during the past 5 years. The field of study has been stagnant during the past 5 years with the vast majority of studies conducted on primary or secondary education and failing to address cyberbullying and IUD in social media and online gaming.

Summary

Cyberbullying and IUD have been described since the nineties, yet there are still significant issues with their definition and research. Lately, both these problematic behaviors are sharing the same environments in social media and online gaming. This critical appraisal of published research examined thirty-two published peer-reviewed studies carried out since 2004. Findings indicate a number of significant issues including an overreliance on cross-sectional study design, near-exclusive focus on primary and secondary education students, widespread employment of unstandardized measures for cyberbullying and IUD, and lack of assessment for objective measures of psychological distress. Directions for future research are offered.

The influence of parental autonomy support on cyberbullying victimization of high school students: A latent moderation analysis

OBJECTIVE

To explore the relationship between parental autonomy support and cyberbullying victimization and the role of mobile phone addiction and teacher-student relationships.

METHOD

Using the Perceived parental autonomy support scale, the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the Teacher-Student Relationship Questionnaire, and the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale, 1297 high school students were surveyed and a model based on latent moderated structural equation method was adopted.

RESULTS

(1) Parental autonomy support can predict the level of cyberbullying victimization of high school students; (2) Mobile phone addiction plays a part of the mediating role between parental autonomy support and high school students' cyberbullying victimization; (3) With the increase of the level of teacher-student relationship, the predictive effect of parental autonomy support on mobile phone addiction gradually increases, and the predictive effect of parental autonomy support and mobile phone addiction on internet victimization becomes insignificant.

CONCLUSION

A good teacher-student relationship helps to enhance the positive effect of parental autonomy support on high school students' mobile phone addiction and alleviate the negative effects of parental autonomy support as well as mobile phone addiction on increasing the risk of cyberbullying victimization among high school students.

The influence of alexithymia on problematic mobile phone use among Chinese adolescent students: Multiple mediating roles of social interaction anxiousness and core self-evaluations

BACKGROUND

Alexithymia can lead to problematic mobile phone use (PMPU). However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

METHODS

Drawing on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model, the present study tests the mediating effects (parallel and serial) of social interaction anxiety (SIA) and core self-evaluations (CSE) on the relationship between alexithymia and PMPU. We obtained 1267 valid responses from adolescent students (mean age, 20.36, standard deviation, 0.97) from southeast China who completed the Mobile Phone Addiction Index, Toronto Alexithymia-20 Scale, Social Interaction Anxiousness Scale, and Core Self-Evaluation Inventory.

RESULTS

After controlling for demographic variables (i.e., gender) as covariates, the results revealed that: (1) alexithymia had a positive predictive effect on PMPU in adolescent students; (2) SIA and CSE mediated the association between alexithymia and PMPU; and (3) a series of indirect pathways (i.e., from alexithymia to PMPU via SIA and CSE) were detected. Thus, alexithymia can directly affect (parallel mediation) PMPU by increasing SIA and lowering CSE simultaneously. However, alexithymia can also indirectly affect (serial mediation) PMPU by increasing the level of SIA by decreasing CSE.

LIMITATIONS

Data were collected by participant self-report. This method may lead to recall bias. Further, we adopted a cross-sectional rather than an experimental design, thus precluding causal conclusions. Lastly, it would be useful to validate our findings with other age groups outside southeast China.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study findings are conducive to understanding the relationship between alexithymia and PMPU and inspire the prevention and intervention of PMPU.

Internet Addiction as a Moderator of the Relationship between Cyberhate Severity and Decisional Forgiveness

(1) Background: Cyberhate is becoming increasingly prevalent, just as Internet addiction. One way to deal with hate speech may be to make a decision to forgive the offence. However, addiction to the Internet, due to cognitive changes caused, can play a role in the making of this decision. (2) Methods: A total of N = 246 participants completed the Online Cognitive Scale (OCS), Decision to Forgive Scale (DTFS), and a single-item scale to assess cyberhate severity. In our cross-sectional study, we tested the moderating role of Internet addiction in the relationship between the severity of cyberhate and decisional forgiveness. (3) Results: The results of our study show an inverse correlation between cyberhate severity and decisional forgiveness. We found that Internet addiction moderated the relationship between the perceived severity of cyberhate and forgiveness. In case of a high level of Internet addiction, the transgression severity–forgiveness link is not significant. (4) Conclusions: These results are in accordance with the studies that showed the negative effects of Internet addiction on cognitive processes.

The Mobile Phone Addiction and Depression Among High School Students: The Roles of Cyberbullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Gender

Objective

To examine the relation between mobile phone addiction and high school students' depression, and its inner mechanism-the sequential mediating roles of the cyberbullying victimization and the cyberbullying perpetration in this relationship.

Methods

1297 high school students were recruited to complete the Smartphone Addiction Scale, European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.

Results

(1) Mobile phone addiction was positively correlated with and high school students' depression; (2) cyberbullying victimization and the cyberbullying perpetration significantly mediated the relation between mobile phone addiction and high school students' depression, which contained tow mediating paths-the independent mediating effects of cyberbullying victimization and the sequential mediating effect of cyberbullying victimization and the cyberbullying perpetration; (3) there are gender differences in the sequential mediation model, and boys who are victims of cyberbullying are more likely to develop into cyberbullying perpetrators than girls.

Conclusion

The results of this study indicate that depression among high school students with mobile phone addiction can be eliminated through the development of cyberbullying victimization and the cyberbullying perpetration.

The associations between reading mind in the eyes abilities, alexithymia, empathy, and bullying behavior in Turkish adolescents

PROBLEM

The development of any program to reduce bullying is possible with a better understanding of the associated underlying factors with its emergence. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate three different social cognitive abilities: abilities to read minds in the eyes, alexithymic personality traits, and empathy, in association with bullying behaviors in adolescents. Although these factors have been studied separately, our data highlighted their effect, relationship, and interconnectivity.

METHODS

The participants consisted of 351 adolescents (57.8% girls) aged 13-16 years (mean: 14.32 ± 0.73 for girls, 14.38 ± 0.86 for boys). The data used in this cross-sectional study were collected using self-reported questionnaires. Pearson's moment product correlation analysis and hierarchical linear regression analysis were performed to evaluate the associations between variables.

FINDINGS

Bullying behavior levels were higher in male adolescents compared with females. The results indicated that bullying behavior was associated with low levels of reading minds in the eyes abilities, alexithymic personality traits, and low affective empathy levels.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the critical impact of the poor comprehension of mental states and emotional statuses of other people and low emphatic thinking capacity in the emergence of bullying behaviors among adolescents. Therapeutic interventions focusing on improving these factors may therefore be useful in prevention and management programs for bullying behavior.

Effect of Alexithymia on Internet Addiction Among College Students: The Mediating Role of Metacognition Beliefs

Background: Previous studies have found that alexithymia plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Internet addiction. However, the effect of alexithymia on both metacognition and Internet addiction has yet to be examined. Methods: The Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Metacognition Questionnaire, and Internet Addiction Test were used to assess a sample of 356 college students. A parallel mediator effect analysis was applied to test the hypothesis that metacognition mediates the relationship between alexithymia and Internet addiction. Results: The parallel multiple mediator models showed that alexithymia predicted the five dimensions of metacognition and Internet addiction, and that three dimensions-cognitive confidence, positive beliefs about worry, and the need to control thoughts-partially mediated this relationship. Conclusion: Alexithymia could directly and indirectly predict Internet addiction via metacognition.

Perpetration of and Victimization in Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying in Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Roles of Impulsivity, Frustration Intolerance, and Hostility

Victimization and perpetration of cyberbullying and traditional bullying are prevalent among adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study examined the associations of impulsivity, frustration discomfort, and hostility with victimization and with the perpetration of cyberbullying and traditional bullying in adolescents with ADHD. Self-reported involvement in cyberbullying and traditional bullying was assessed in 195 adolescents with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD. Adolescents also completed questionnaires for impulsivity, frustration discomfort, and hostility. Caregivers completed the Child Behavior Checklist for adolescents’ ADHD, internalization, oppositional defiance, and problems with conduct. The associations of impulsivity, frustration discomfort, and hostility with victimization and perpetration of cyberbullying and traditional bullying were examined using logistic regression analysis. The results demonstrated that after the effects of demographic characteristics and behavioral problems were controlled for, frustration intolerance increased the risks of being cyberbullying victims and perpetrators whereas hostility increased the risks of being the victims and perpetrators of traditional bullying. Impulsivity was not significantly associated with any type of bullying involvement. Prevention and intervention programs should alleviate frustration intolerance and hostility among adolescents with ADHD.

Motor Vehicle Collisions during Adolescence: The Role of Alexithymic Traits and Defense Strategies

International literature has shown that adolescents represent the population most at risk of fatal and nonfatal motor vehicle collisions (MVCs). Adolescents’ alexithymic traits and significant use of immature defense strategies have been seen to play a key role. This study aimed to investigate the possible mediation role played by defense strategies use in the relationship between alexithymia and MVCs. Our sample consisted of 297 adolescents divided into four subgroups, based on the number of visits to the emergency department due to an MVC. We assessed adolescents’ alexithymic traits and defense strategies use through self-report instruments. Results showed that males reported a higher rate of MVCs than females. Higher rates of MVCs are associated with more alexithymic traits and maladaptive defense strategies use. Adolescents’ Acting Out and Omnipotence use significantly mediated the relationship between alexithymia and MVCs. Our findings suggest the recidivism of MVCs as an attempt to cope with emotional difficulties, with important clinical implications.

Prevalence of Internet Addiction during the COVID-19 Outbreak and Its Risk Factors among Junior High School Students in Taiwan

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has significantly disrupted normal activities globally. During this epidemic, people around the world were expected to encounter several mental health challenges. In particular, Internet addiction may become a serious issue among teens. Consequently, this study aimed to examine the prevalence of Internet addiction and identify the psychosocial risk factors during the COVID-19 outbreak. This study was constructed using a cross-sectional design with 1060 participants recruited from among junior high school students around Taiwan using stratified and cluster sampling methods. Taiwan's first COVID-19 case was diagnosed on 28 January 2020. New cases exploded rapidly in February, and as a result, participants were surveyed during March 2 through 27 March 2020. The prevalence of Internet addiction was found to be 24.4% during this period. High impulsivity, high virtual social support, older in age, low subjective well-being, low family function, and high alexithymia was all independently predictive in the forward logistic regression analyses. The prevalence rate of Internet addiction was high among junior high school students during the COVID-19 outbreak. Results from this study can be used to help mental health organizations and educational agencies design programs that will help prevent Internet addiction in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.