Associations among Life Events, Empathic Concern, and Adolescents' Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviors Toward Specific Targets

Perceived chronic social adversity and cyberbullying perpetration among adolescents: the mediating role of rumination and moderating role of mindfulness

Backgrounds

The prevalence of cyberbullying has brought about many adverse effects on adolescents' mental health. Although current studies have shown that perceived chronic social adversity (PCSA) is closely related to cyberbullying perpetration among adolescents, the underlying mechanism of the relationship between the two remains relatively unclear. This study investigated the association of PCSA, rumination, mindfulness, and cyberbullying perpetration among adolescents, building upon the general strain theory, the general aggressive model, and the limited resource of self-control theory.

Methods

A sample of 477 Chinese high school students (M age = 15.84 years, SD age = 0.67, 49.69% female) completed the Perceived Chronic Social Adversity Questionnaire, the Ruminative Responses Scale, the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure, and the cyberbullying subscale of the Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory. The current study constructed a moderated mediation model to examine the relationship between PCSA and cyberbullying perpetration among adolescents and assessed the mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of mindfulness.

Results

The results revealed a significant positive correlation between PCSA and cyberbullying perpetration. Rumination mediated the relationship between PCSA and cyberbullying perpetration, whereas mindfulness moderated the latter half of the mediation pathway. Specifically, compared to adolescents with higher mindfulness, the association between rumination and cyberbullying perpetration is greater for adolescents with lower mindfulness.

Conclusion

The results further deepen our understanding of the mechanisms linking subjective perception of negative life events and cyberbullying perpetration among adolescents from the interaction of multiple factors, thus providing a basis for future interventions to encourage adolescents to properly cope with social adversity and promote positive mental health to reduce the risk of cyberbullying.

Coercive Parenting and Juvenile Delinquency in China: Assessing Gender Differences in the Moderating Effect of Empathic Concern

Coercive parenting has been identified as a prevalent parenting style in Chinese society. Previous research has shown that personal attributes such as empathic concern moderate the positive impact of coercive parenting on juvenile delinquency. However, there has been a paucity of research examining if and how such a moderating mechanism would operate differently across genders. Drawing on the two-wave survey data from a sample of 1088 Chinese adolescents (mean of age = 13.82, SD = 1.49; 49.7% females), this study found that compared to those with lower empathic concern, adolescents with higher empathic concern were less delinquent under a low-to-moderate level of coercive parenting, but more delinquent when coercive control reached a medium-to-high level. Furthermore, multiple group analyses revealed gender differences in the moderation mechanism, such that empathic concern only significantly moderated the relationship in females. The findings underscore the importance of considering adolescent personal characteristics and gender differences when examining the relationship between parenting styles and juvenile delinquency.

What Should I do and Who's to blame? A cross-national study on youth's attitudes and beliefs in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has had a major impact on youth. This study examined factors associated with youth's attitudes towards their government's response to the pandemic and their blaming of individuals from certain risk groups, ethnic backgrounds, and countries or regions. In a sample of 5,682 young adults (Mage = 22) from 14 countries, lower perceived burden due to COVID-19, more collectivistic and less individualistic values, and more empathy were associated with more positive attitudes towards the government and less blaming of individuals of certain groups. Youth's social identification with others in the pandemic mediated these associations in the same direction, apart from the COVID-19 burden on attitudes, which had a positive indirect effect. No evidence of country-level moderation was found.

Coercive Parenting and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes: The Moderating Effects of Empathic Concern and Perception of Social Rejection

Previous studies have identified coercive parenting as a prevalent parenting style in Chinese society. They suggested that this style of parenting could promote prosocial behavior and school commitment when combined with close monitoring and proper training, but it could also undermine mental health. This study critically examines these claims. Based on the existing theory and research, it is predicted that the influences of coercive parenting on adolescent development vary according to adolescent personal attributes including empathic concern and perception of social rejection. Through the analysis of two-wave survey data collected from a probability sample of 1085 Chinese adolescents, this study found that adolescents with higher levels of empathic concern and perceived social rejection reported less delinquency and stronger school commitment than their peers with lower levels of such attributes, when coercive parenting was low to moderate. However, under the condition of excessive coercive control, these adolescents demonstrated more delinquency and weaker school commitment. Empathic concern and perception of social rejection, on the other hand, played no or limited role in moderating the relationship between coercive parenting and depression. These results suggest that the influences of coercive parenting are dynamic and are subject to change as they interact with adolescent personal characteristics across different developmental domains.

Life Events and Prosocial Behaviors Among Young Adults: Considering the Roles of Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern

The authors examined the altruism born of suffering model in a culturally diverse sample of young adults. They hypothesized that major life events would interact with perspective taking to predict empathic concern, which would predict multiple types of prosocial behaviors among young adults. The sample included 202 young adults (M age = 20.94 years; 76.5% girls; 36.5% White, 50.5% Latino) who reported on their exposure to major life events, perspective taking and empathic responding, and tendency to engage in six forms of prosocial behaviors. Life events indirectly, positively predicted prosocial behaviors via empathic concern. Empathic concern and perspective taking also interacted to predict empathic responding. The results demonstrated links that support the altruism born of suffering model, suggesting that life stressors might not always be negative and might promote resilience and social connection among young adults under specific conditions.