School Mental Health Curriculum Effects on Peer Violence Victimization and Perpetration: A Cluster-Randomized Trial

Perceptions of stigma in youth at clinical high risk for psychosis and depressive symptomatology

It is unclear what types of stigma youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) experience, and the relationship between them and symptomatology. 94 CHR youth, and a control group of 45 youth with no psychosis spectrum symptoms (NP) were rated for perceived devaluation (i.e. negative views from others) and internalized mental health stigma (i.e. the extent to which they would agree with said views) as well as positive and mood symptomatology. CHR youth reported stigma more frequently than the NP group (χ2(1) = 53.55, p < .001) and at higher levels (perceived devaluation: t (137) = 8.54, p < .001; internalized stigma: t (137) = 7.48, p < .001). Surprisingly, in the CHR group, positive symptoms held no significant relationship to stigma measures. However, ratings of perceived devaluation stigma were associated with depressive symptomatology (β = 0.27, t = 2.68, p = .0087) and depression scores were conversely associated with perceived devaluation stigma (β = 0.30, t = 2.05, p = .043). These findings speak to the relationship between depressive symptomatology and perceived devaluation stigma in CHR youth. Perceived devaluation stigma showed greater clinical significance and could have different mechanisms than internalized stigma in CHR youth. It is also noteworthy that while positive symptoms play a central role in defining the CHR syndrome, they seem less relevant to the experience of stigma than mood symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of interventions aimed at ameliorating youth's exposure to negative views about mental health as those managing depressive symptomatology.

Antibullying Interventions in Schools: Assessing the Evidence Base

OBJECTIVE

This systematic review used established rating criteria to describe the level of evidence for interventions aimed at preventing or reducing bullying perpetration and victimization in schools, synthesized the evidence for students from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, and reviewed the literature for available information to conduct an economic analysis of the interventions.

METHODS

Major databases, gray literature, and evidence-base registries were searched to identify studies published from 2008 through 2022. The authors rated antibullying intervention models as having high, moderate, or low evidence depending on the number and rigor of studies with positive findings.

RESULTS

Overall, 80 articles reporting on 71 original research studies describing a total of 48 antibullying interventions met the inclusion criteria for this review. Two schoolwide interventions received a high-evidence rating: the KiVa (Kiusaamista Vastaan) Antibullying Program and the Friendly Schools program. Multilevel interventions with components at the levels of school, classroom, and individual student most consistently showed strong evidence for reducing bullying behavior in elementary and middle school grades. Four interventions yielded positive effects in reducing bullying and victimization among diverse samples of students.

CONCLUSIONS

Antibullying interventions can reduce bullying in schools. Some interventions show effectiveness with students from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. The gains relative to per-student costs were in the range that is considered cost-effective. Most implementation costs are spent on staff training and support. Research on successful implementation of whole-school interventions and additional synthesis of evidence pertaining to program structures would further advance the antibullying evidence base.

The Effect of Teacher Discrimination Behavior on Adolescent Suicidal Ideation: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Introduction

 Suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior, as the most severe psychological and behavioral problems among adolescents, bring not only significant damage to individual social functioning but also cause enormous economic and social pressure, which will ultimately be detrimental to social development and social stability. This paper aimed to explore the potential relationship between teacher discrimination behavior, peer bullying victimization, anxiety disorders, and adolescent suicidal ideation based on the Vulnerability-Stress Model.

Methods

 From September to November 2022, our research team surveyed 21,017 junior high school students from 12 secondary schools in ten cities in China. Mplus 8.3 software was used to analyze the pathways of teacher discrimination behavior on adolescent suicidal ideation.

Results

 The results showed that teacher preference had a significant negative effect on suicidal ideation, and teacher prejudice significantly positively affected suicidal ideation. Mediation test results indicated that there were significant independent mediating effects of peer bullying victimization and anxiety disorders between teacher discrimination behavior and adolescents' suicidal ideation, as well as significant chain mediating effects.

Conclusion

 Secondary school teachers should improve their self-quality and pay more attention to adolescents' suicidal ideation. Teachers are expected to put love into their education, respect and trust each student, and attend to their emotional needs unbiasedly. Educators should develop targeted prevention and intervention measures according to the actual situation of school bullying and also strengthen adolescents' life-value education to improve the psychological quality of adolescents and create a healthy campus atmosphere.

The association between violent video game exposure and sub-types of school bullying in Chinese adolescents

BACKGROUND

School bullying among adolescents has been a worldwide public health issue. It has been observed that adolescents who are exposed to violent video games (VVGs) are often more aggressive. However, research on the association between violent video game exposure (VVGE) and different types of school bullying is limited in the Chinese context.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to explore whether VVGE is linked to school bullying behaviors among Chinese adolescents and to examine the relationship between different levels of violent game exposure and four sub-types (physical, verbal, relational, and cyber) of school bullying involvement.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of 1,992 Chinese students (55.02% boys and 44.98% girls) with the average age of 15.84 ± 1.62 years. Sub-types of school bullying victimization and perpetration, Internet addiction, and VVGE were measured by using a self-administrated questionnaire. The association was examined by multiple logistic regression analysis, adjusting for covariates.

RESULTS

Physical, verbal, relational, and cyber school bullying victimization were reported by 18.12, 60.34, 11.75, and 12.05% of the adolescents, and physical, verbal, relational, and cyber school bullying perpetration were reported by 16.62, 54.62, 21.49, and 8.23% of them. Of the students, 1,398 (70.18%) were normal Internet users, 514 (25.80%) showed moderate Internet addictive behaviors, and 31 (1.56%) of the students showed severe Internet addictive behaviors. The prevalence of no VVGE, low-level VVGE, medium-level VVGE, and high-level of VVGE were 27.70, 24.10, 24.20, and 24.00%, respectively. The risk of physical victimization and physical perpetration significantly increased with the increasing degree of violent video game exposure (P for trend < 0.001), with the highest adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 2.251 (95% CI 1.501-3.375) and 2.554 (95% CI 1.685-3.870), when comparing high-level VVGE with no VVGE.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the specific association between different sub-types of school bullying involvement and violent video game exposure. Physical school bullying prevention and intervention programs should be conducted after adolescents are exposed to violent video games.