Internet-Risk Classes of Adolescents, Dispositional Mindfulness and Health-Related Quality of Life: A Mediational Model

Jealousy or Abuse? Dispositional Mindfulness Helps Chinese College Students Understand and Save From Cyber Dating Abuse

Technology advances lead to a high prevalence of cyber dating abuse among youth. Previous studies had demonstrated its detrimental outcomes and predictors, but neglected the characters in Eastern countries. Therefore, exploring the comprehensive mechanisms of cyber dating abuse in different cultures and mitigating it are necessary. The current study first recruited 242 participants (65.7% women, Mage = 20.79 years, SD = 1.89) through social media to revise a localized Cyber Dating Abuse Questionnaire. Then, we conducted a moderated mediation model with 300 participants (60.0% women, Mage = 20.92 years, SD = 1.86) recruited through snowball sampling to examine the utilities of anxious attachment, jealousy, and dispositional mindfulness on cyber dating abuse perpetration. The two samples were integrated to examine the prevalence of cyber dating abuse, including 542 Chinese college students who were in heterosexual relationships the past year. The results showed that both perpetrators and victims of cyber dating abuse were 48.5% respectively. Women reported more perpetration behaviors (men = 40.9%; women = 53.1%) and less victimization (men = 56.2%; women = 44.0%) than men. Jealousy mediated the association between anxious attachment and cyber dating abuse perpetration. Moreover, dispositional mindfulness, particularly its non-judgment facet, could be a protective factor. These findings underscored the commonalities and expanded theories in understanding cyber dating abuse, facilitating the development of preventive and interventive strategies. Future studies should focus on this phenomenon and provide more comprehensive protection and psychosocial education for youth and adolescents.

Solicitation and Sexualized Interactions of Minors with Adults: Prevalence, Overlap with Other Forms of Cybervictimization, and Relationship with Quality of Life

Sexual solicitation and sexualized interaction with minors by adults constitute one of the most pernicious risks of the Internet. Little is known about the age range in which this phenomenon is most prevalent or the relationship and overlap of this problem with other risks, such as peer-to-peer cybervictimization and cyber dating abuse. Additionally, little empirical evidence exists on whether the overlap between these types of online victimization affects health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to: 1) analyze the prevalence of sexual solicitation and interaction according to sex and stage of adolescence; 2) relate this problem to other forms of online victimization (cybervictimization and cyber dating abuse); 3) analyze the overlap between these forms of online victimization and differences in HRQoL scores. A cross-sectional and analytical study with 3,578 adolescents (52.7% girls) aged between 10-15 years was carried out. Of the adolescents in the study sample, 12.6% (n = 448) had received sexual requests and 6.4% (n = 230) had interacted sexually with adults. Sexual solicitation was most common among girls in middle adolescence. Of the participants, 33.9% (n = 1,216) had been involved in some form of online victimization. Peer cybervictimization and cyber dating abuse were positively and significantly correlated with sexualized solicitation/interactions with adults. Victims with the overlapping of all three types of online victimization (2.7%, n = 98) presented the lowest HQRoL scores (p < .001).

The Protective Role of Dispositional Mindfulness on Cyber Dating Abuse: A 6-Month Longitudinal Study

Dispositional mindfulness has been related to a decreased propensity to aggressive behaviors toward others, including dating partners. Nevertheless, research in the context of romantic relationships is scarce, based on cross-sectional designs and offline (face to face) aggression. Thus, this 6-month longitudinal study seeks to fill a gap in the literature by examining the predictive role of dispositional mindfulness facets (observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging, and non-reacting) in the perpetration of cyber dating abuse (CDA) behaviors in adolescents. The moderator role of the dispositional mindfulness facets in the perpetuation over time of cyber aggression toward the partner was also explored. Participants were 501 high school students (54.1% girls; mean age: 14.17 years, SD = 1.39) from different regions of Spain who completed self-report measures about CDA and dispositional mindfulness at two time points with a 6-month interval between them. Path analysis showed that the acting with awareness mindfulness facet predicted a decrease in the perpetration of CDA 6 months later. Moreover, non-reacting showed a moderator role in the perpetuation over time of CDA. In particular, adolescents with higher scores on non-reacting, evidenced a lower perpetuation of CDA. Mindfulness-based interventions can be a valuable tool in preventing cyber aggression that occurs in adolescent dating relationships.

Naturalistic development of trait mindfulness: A longitudinal examination of victimization and supportive relationships in early adolescence

Scholars have only just begun to examine elements of young adolescents' social ecologies that explain naturalistic variation in trait mindfulness and its development over time. We argue that trait mindfulness develops as a function of chronically encountered ecologies that are likely to foster or thwart the repeated enactment of mindful states over time. Using data from 4,593 fourth and seventh grade students (50% female; MageG4 = 9.02; 71% English first language) from 32 public school districts in British Columbia (BC), Canada, we examined links from peer belonging, connectedness with adults at home, and peer victimization to mindfulness over time. Variable-centered analyses indicated that young adolescents with lower victimization in fourth grade reported higher mindfulness in seventh grade, and that cross-sectionally within seventh grade victimization, peer belonging, and connectedness with adults at home were each associated with mindfulness. Contrary to our hypothesis, connectedness with adults at home moderated the longitudinal association between victimization and mindfulness such that the negative association was stronger among young adolescents with high (vs. low) levels of connectedness with adults at home. Person-centered analysis of the fourth graders' data confirmed our variable-centered findings, yielding four latent classes of social ecology whose mindfulness levels in seventh grade largely tracked with their victimization levels (from highest to lowest mindfulness): (1) flourishing relationships, (2) unvictimized but weak relationships with adults, (3) moderately victimized but strong relationships, and (4) victimized but strong relationships. Overall, our findings contribute to a growing body of evidence indicating that trait mindfulness may develop as a function of ecologically normative experiences in young adolescents' everyday lives.

Safety.Net: A Pilot Study on a Multi-Risk Internet Prevention Program

Many programs exist to prevent bullying and cyberbullying. Nevertheless, despite evidence of the numerous overlapping risks of the Internet, programs that jointly and adequately address large sets of risks are not presently described in the scientific literature. This study's main objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Safety.net program in a pilot sample. This program prevents eight Internet risks: cyberbullying, sexting, online grooming, cyber dating abuse, problematic Internet use, nomophobia, Internet gaming disorder, and online gambling disorder. The Safety.net program comprises 16 sessions and 4 modules (digital skills, relational risks, dysfunctional risks, and change of attitudes and cognitions). Each session lasts one hour, but the program has a networked instructional design to recall previous content in later sessions. For its assessment, a pre/post-test repeated measures design with a control group and an intervention group was used. The study sample was 165 adolescents between 11 and 14 years old (M = 12.11, SD = 0.89). The intervention group demonstrated improvements compared to the control group concerning online grooming, problematic Internet use, Internet gaming disorder, and nomophobia. These results suggest that the Safety.net program is effective in preventing the increase of most of the assessed risks and that it reduces some of them with a small number of sessions.