Chains of tragedy: The impact of bullying victimization on mental health through mediating role of aggressive behavior and perceived social support

A study on sleep quality under the shadow of school bullying: The interwoven effects of depressed mood, low self-esteem, and negative parenting practices

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to reveal the relationship between school bullying and sleep quality in adolescents. It proposes a theoretical model where depressed mood, low self-esteem, and negative parenting practices serve as mediating variables, providing new directions and measures for preventing and treating school bullying and sleep disorders.

METHODS

In this study, a total of 4483 middle school students from Anhui Province in China were selected anonymously to participate in a questionnaire survey. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 software. PROCESS model 6 was employed to investigate the mediating role of depressed mood, low self-esteem, and negative parenting styles in the association between school bullying and sleep disorders.

RESULTS

The study results generally lend support to the hypothesis that bullying exerts an influence on sleep disorders through the mediating pathways of depressed mood, low self-esteem, and negative parenting styles. The aforementioned findings may provide an explanation for the correlation between school bullying and sleep disorders, thus offering implications for intervention strategies targeting sleep disorders.

CONCLUSION

This study innovatively integrates the impact of school bullying on adolescent sleep disorders. Depressed mood, low self-esteem, and negative parenting practices have independent and persistent mediating effects on the relationship between school bullying and sleep disorders. The influence pathway of school bullying on sleep disorders offers a novel direction for relevant governmental agencies and educational institutions to develop mental health measures and establish robust mechanisms for regulating emotions.

The Effect of Bystander Features on Displaced Aggression in Provocative Situations among Male Juvenile Delinquents

Two studies were conducted to explore the influence of bystander features of displaced aggression in provocative situations among male juvenile delinquents. Study 1 examined the differences in displaced aggression between provoked male juvenile delinquents in the presence or absence of bystanders. The results revealed that provoked male juvenile delinquents exhibited significantly higher levels of displaced aggression when bystanders were present compared to when they were not. Study 2 further manipulated the bystanders' trigger level and investigated the differences in displaced aggression exhibited by provoked male juvenile delinquents towards highly versus lowly triggered bystanders. The results indicated that after low provocation, male juvenile delinquents exhibited significantly higher levels of displaced aggression towards highly triggered bystanders compared to lowly triggered bystanders. These findings demonstrated that male juvenile delinquents exhibited a high level of displaced aggression towards bystanders in provocative situations, particularly with highly triggered bystanders. This study supported the personality and social model of displaced aggression, emphasizing that bystanders, especially those with high triggers, were more likely to become targets of displaced aggression. The current study provides references for subsequent criminal rehabilitation and crime prevention.

Higher physical activity level and perceived social support is associated with less psychological distress in people with anxiety

Introduction

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental illnesses in first world societies, generating discomfort in the people who suffer from it, and high expenses and economic losses in the society. The physical activity (PA) performed, together with the perceived social support (PSS) by people with anxiety could be related to the psychological distress of people with anxiety.

Objectives

To study the relationships between mental health and its dimensions, through Golberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12), and the level of PA (PAL) and the PSS in the Spanish adult population with anxiety.

Hypothesis

A higher PAL, and a higher PSS, is related to a lower psychological distress in this population.

Design and Methodology

This study included 1,661 adults with anxiety, residents in Spain. It was a cross-sectional study with data obtained from the Spanish National Health Survey. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to examine the data distribution of the variables. The median and interquartile range were used to characterize the sample for continuous variables, and absolute and relative frequencies were used for categorical variables. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine the differences between sexes. Dependence between PAL and sex was studied using the chi-square statistic. A Krustal-Wallis test was used to evaluate the existence of differences in the baseline medians on the GHQ-12, according to PAL level. Finally, the correlations between mental health and its dimensions with PAL and the Duke-UNC-11 scores were analysed, obtaining Spearman's rho and Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Results

Moderate inverse correlations were found between the GHQ-12 and: PAL (rho: -0.219); PSS (r: -0.347). PAL and PSS presented moderate inverse correlations with successful coping (rho: -0.206 and r: -0.325), self-esteem (rho: -0.222 and r: -0.333) and stress (rho: -0.158 and r: -0.288).

Conclusions

Greater PAL and social support are associated with reduced psychological distress in people with anxiety.