From Bully Victimization to Aggressive Behavior: Applying the Problem Behavior Theory, Theory of Stress and Coping, and General Strain Theory to Explore Potential Pathways

Cyberbullying in Higher Education: Unraveling Internalizing and Externalizing Behavioral Profiles and Social Support

PURPOSE

This study employs a person-centered approach to identify unique profiles of internalizing (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and externalizing (aggressive behaviors and substance use) behavioral problems among cyberbullied college students. Additionally, this study examines the impact of social support in internalizing and externalizing behavioral problem profiles.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data were collected from November 2022 to January 2023 from 175 college students across multiple U.S. universities using a cross-sectional design via web surveys.

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis (LPA) identified a two-profile model, where one group showed higher internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, while the other showed lower levels. Logistic regression analysis revealed that social support significantly predicts membership in the low behavioral problem profile.

DISCUSSION

The findings reveal the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems of cyberbullied college students. Also, those students with robust social support are more likely to belong to the group with lower levels of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings underscore the importance of targeted intervention strategies that consider students' behavioral problem profiles and emphasize social support as a protective factor.

Longitudinal and Reciprocal Effects in the Association Between School Bullying and Homicidal Ideation During Early Adolescence

Several cross-sectional studies indicated a positive association between school bullying and homicidal ideation during early adolescence. However, few longitudinal studies investigated this association. This study examined whether a bi-directional relationship exists within the longitudinal association between bullying victimization or bullying perpetration and homicidal ideation among early adolescents using a Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model. A total of 1611 early adolescents (39.5% girls; Mage = 12.50 years, SD = 0.50) were recruited from the Chinese Early Adolescents Cohort study. Data on bullying victimization, bullying perpetration, and homicidal ideation collected during three time points (September 2019, September 2020, and September 2021) were used. Bullying victimization showed a significant positive association with homicidal ideation at the between-person level. Bullying victimization and bullying perpetration had a bi-directional relationship with homicidal ideation at the within-person level. Additionally, this study considered the impact of biological sex-based differences and bullying types on adolescents' homicidal ideation. Based on these findings, school bullying might exhibit unique reciprocal associations with homicidal ideation.

Distinguishing pathways from bullying victimization to nonsuicidal self-injury and to cyberaggression: Do perceived ostracism and depression mediate their links?

Bullying victimization is related to increased aggressive behaviour, but little research considers both self- (e.g., nonsuicidal self-injury; NSSI) and other-directed (e.g., cyberaggression) outcomes. Moreover, little is known about the mediating mechanisms that underlie this relationship. Based on the General Aggression Model, the current study investigates the mediating roles of Perceived ostracism (PO) and depression in the relationship between bullying victimization and cyberaggression/NSSI among emerging adult. A total of 795 emerging adults (Mage = 19.66 years, SD = 1.46; 59.9% female) completed a multimeasure questionnaire measuring the targeted variables at three time points over one year. Structural equation modelling was used to test temporal mediation. After controlling for gender, age, and family monthly income, bullying victimization was found to positively predict later cyberaggression and NSSI. Mediation analysis revealed that the longitudinal association between bullying victimization and cyberaggression was mediated by PO; the longitudinal association between bullying victimization and NSSI was mediated by depression and was sequentially mediated by PO and depression. These findings extend the theory, prevention and interventions to include both self- and other-directed aggressive behaviour in the bullying context. Future research and practice may benefit from an emphasis on PO and depression-focused psychological interventions.

Mediating Effect of Life Satisfaction on the Relationship between Hope and Internalizing/Externalizing Behaviors among Chinese Adolescents

This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of life satisfaction in the relationship between hope and internalizing/externalizing behaviors among a sample of 1170 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 14.80 ± 1.76 years, 46.24% boys). Through the use of structural equation modeling (SEM), the study revealed a negative association between hope and internalizing/externalizing behaviors. Furthermore, the findings indicated that life satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between hope and internalizing/externalizing behaviors. The findings highlight the significance of hope and life satisfaction as protective factors in reducing internalizing/externalizing behaviors among adolescents. These results also contribute to the existing research on the role of hope and emphasize the importance of fostering hope and enhancing life satisfaction in prevention and intervention programs targeting adolescent internalizing/externalizing behaviors.

Applying GST to Understand and Contextualize Bullying: A Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations

Drawing from Agnew's general strain theory, this study examines whether certain risk factors have a consistent effect across different situational contexts that characterize bullying perpetration. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations was conducted to examine and identify situational factors that increase adolescents' risks for bullying perpetration using data from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey. Results from a sample of 166,176 U.S. adolescents show that (1) incidents of traditional bullying perpetration cluster significantly among dominant situational profiles; (2) students most likely to be bullies experience victimization, but students least likely to bully their peers rarely experience bullying victimization; and (3) being a victim of traditional bullying can increase the chances of traditional bullying perpetration in some situational contexts, but can have almost no influence on perpetration in other contexts. Current findings are discussed considering existing bullying scholarship and recommendations for policy and future areas of research are presented.

Profiling Experiences of Bullying in the Elementary School: The Role of Gender

The purpose of the present study was to profile bullying behaviors in elementary schools in Saudi Arabia. A secondary purpose was to examine differences in bullying behaviors across gender. Participants were 3867 fourth graders who completed surveys during the TIMSS 2019 survey. An 11-item bullying experience scale was utilized with good internal consistency reliability. Data were analyzed using latent class analysis with Mplus 8.9 to identify profiles of bullying experiences. The results indicated the presence of five profiles with levels of low, medium, and high bullying experiences, as well as two profiles with no cyberbullying experiences and medium high and medium low physical and verbal instances of bullying. Gender effects were highly pronounced, with most maladaptive bullying profiles being predominantly male. It is concluded that physical bullying is mainly occupied by males and the levels of cyberbullying are generally low in the elementary school grades. Implications for educational policy can clearly direct the development of support groups and expert counseling for both bullies and victims, staff training for identification and course of action, and the development of standardized school policies when such incidences occur.

Association between Bullying Victimization and Aggression in Lebanese Adolescents: The Indirect Effect of Repetitive Negative Thinking-A Path Analysis Approach and Scales Validation

(1) Background: The purpose of the present study was to validate the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ) and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire-Short Form (BPAQ-SF) and test whether repetitive negative thinking plays an indirect role in the relationship between bullying victimization and aggression among Lebanese adolescents. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and May 2022 and included 379 Lebanese adolescent students (64.9% females, mean age 16.07 years). (3) Results: The three-factor solution of the PTQ and the four-factor solution of the BPAQ-SF showed excellent model fit. PTQ mediated the association between bullying victimization and physical aggression, verbal aggression, hostility, and anger. (4) Conclusions: This study expands on previous research by showing that repetitive negative thinking, an impactful socio-cognitive factor for students' mental health, has a mediating (indirect) effect on the cross-sectional relationship between bullying victimization and aggression. This suggests that interventions aiming to prevent aggressive behaviors among adolescent students may be more effective if focused on repetitive negative thinking.

Neuroticism and Aggressive Behavior among Left-Behind Children: The Mediating Roles of Interpersonal Sensitivity and Bullying Victimization

When children are "left behind", aggressive behavior is a common manifestation of problem behaviors, and several previous studies suggested that neuroticism has characteristics such as oversensitivity and impulsivity, which may be important predictors of aggressive behavior. However, the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship are unknown. This study is designed to analyze how neuroticism leads to left-behind children's aggressive behaviors through mediators of interpersonal sensitivity and bullying victimization. A sample of 1478 Chinese children (67.72% left-behind children; 37.28% non-left-behind children) through whole-class contact and voluntary participation completed measurements of neuroticism, interpersonal sensitivity, bullying victimization, and aggressive behavior. Findings from the mediation analysis show that interpersonal sensitivity and bullying victimization could mediate the relationship between neuroticism and aggressive behavior among left-behind children separately and sequentially. These findings suggest helpful ways to reduce the aggressive behaviors of left-behind children by decreasing interpersonal sensitivity and bullying victimization.

The relationship between Group relative deprivation and aggressive collective action online toward deprivation-related Provocateurs within the Group: the mediating role of hostile feelings

Aggressive collective action online has many negative impacts on the online environment and can even lead to political violence or social panic in the offline world. Although the effect of relative deprivation on aggression toward the compared object is well known, the influence of relative deprivation on aggressive collective action online toward deprivation-related provocateurs within the group has been ignored. Thus, this study attempted to explore the effect, as well as the mediating mechanism underlying it. We found that group relative deprivation manipulated by an employment problem scenario (with the triggering event as a covariable) can enhance aggressive collective action online toward deprivation-related provocateurs within the group, with hostile feelings mediating the effect. These results support and develop the relative deprivation theory, frustration-aggression theory, stress and coping theory, and deepen the understanding of the relationship between relative deprivation and aggression. The findings also suggest that colleges should focus more on graduate employment problems and decreasing the relative deprivation experienced by undergraduate students in efforts to prevent aggressive collective action online.

Pathways from Exposure to Community Violence to Bullying Victimization among African American Adolescents in Chicago's Southside

The present study proposes and examines the pathways from exposure to community violence to bullying victimization through the influences of depression, exposure to peer delinquency, and drug use among 638 African American adolescents (aged 12-22) from low-resourced neighborhoods in Chicago's Southside. The study found that African American adolescents who were exposed to community violence were likely at risk of bullying victimization, depression, exposure to peer delinquency, and drug use. Depression can heighten the risk of bullying victimization. These findings have implications for future research.

Examining Associations Between Race, Gender, Alcohol Use, School Performance, and Patterns of Bullying in the School Context: A Latent Class Analysis

Although many studies addressed bullying occurrence and its associations, they often use individual variables constructed from few items that probably are inadequate to evaluate bullying severity and type. We aimed to identify involvement patterns in bullying victimization and perpetration, and its association with alcohol use, school performance, and sociodemographic variables. Baseline assessment of a randomized controlled trial were used and a latent class analysis was conducted to identify bullying patterns among 1,742 fifth-grade and 2,316 seventh-grade students from 30 public schools in São Paulo, Brazil. Data were collected using an anonymous self-reported, audio-guided questionnaire completed by the participants on smartphones. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to verify how covariant variables affected bullying latent classes. Both grades presented the same four latent classes: low bullying, moderate bullying victimization, high bullying victimization, and high bullying victimization and perpetration. Alcohol use was associated with all bullying classes in both grades, with odds ratio up to 5.36 (95% CI 3.05; 10.38) among fifth graders from the high bullying victimization and perpetration class. Poor school performance was also strongly associated with this class (aOR = 10.12, 95%CI = 4.19; 24.41). Black/brown 5th graders were 3.35 times more likely to fit into the high bullying victimization class (95% CI 1.34; 8.37). Lack of evidence for association of sociodemographic variables and bullying latent class among seventh-grade students was found. Bullying and alcohol use are highly harmful behaviors that must be prevented. However, prevention programs should consider how racial and gender issues are influencing the way students experience violence.

Longitudinal relationships between bullying and prosocial behavior: The mediating roles of trauma-related guilt and shame

The present study examined the relationships between bullying, trauma-related guilt, trauma-related shame, and prosocial behaviors. We investigated 1,322 college students using a longitudinal approach to explore the internal mechanism between bullying, prosocial behaviors, and the probable mediating effects of trauma-related guilt and shame. The results suggested that bullying negatively predicted prosocial behaviors and that trauma-related guilt played a positive mediating role. In contrast, trauma-related shame played a negative mediating role in the relationship between bullying and prosocial behaviors. These findings indicated that trauma-related guilt and shame played adaptive and maladaptive roles after bullying victimization, which also provided a theoretical basis for the relevant intervention.

Association between Smoking and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption, Tooth Brushing among Adolescents in China

The study aimed to investigate the relationship between smoking, Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) consumption and tooth brushing among adolescents in China. A valid sample of 6084 middle school students from the Zhejiang province was included. Participants were questioned about smoking status, SSB consumption, tooth brushing, and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Among the participants, smoking prevalence was 1.9% and nearly half of the students consumed SSBs. The demographic factors associated with smoking were gender, place of residence, and parental level of education. There are co-variations between smoking status, SSB consumption, and tooth brushing. Logistic regression showed that smoking adolescents were more likely to brush their teeth less than once per day (OR = 1.74, p < 0.05), consume soft drinks once or more per day (OR = 2.18, p < 0.01) and have a higher score on the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (OR = 1.05, p < 0.05) after adjusting for demographic factors. The findings provide compelling evidence for governments and related stakeholders to intervene in the lifestyle of adolescents. Future studies are needed to understand the interaction effects of such behaviors, and should help to inform appropriate interventions.

Perceived Parental Warmth, Peer Perpetration, and Peer Victimization: Unraveling Within-Child Associations from Between-Child Differences

Although perceived parental warmth and "peer victimization and peer perpetration" are believed to be unidirectionally related, researchers have not examined the possibility of bidirectional relations among them, especially with regard to within-child relations. We thus explored the dynamic longitudinal associations among children's perceived parental warmth (maternal warmth and paternal warmth), peer perpetration, and peer victimization at the within-child level. A total of 3720 Chinese children (M_age = 9.95 years at Time 1, 46.1% girls) were investigated on five occasions, every 6 months. Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models (RI-CLPMs) were applied to estimate the within-child associations among these variables. The results were: (1) for peer perpetration, peer perpetration inversely predicted subsequent perceived parental warmth, while perceived maternal (but not paternal) warmth inversely predicted subsequent peer perpetration; (2) for peer victimization, perceived maternal and paternal warmth both inversely predicted a child's subsequent peer victimization, and perceived parental warmth and peer victimization bidirectionally predicted each other; and (3) peer perpetration and peer victimization bidirectionally predicted each other. These findings enhance understanding of how perceived parental warmth temporally interrelates with peer perpetration and peer victimization from a positive spillover theory perspective, as well as how peer perpetration temporally interrelates with peer victimization from a negative vicious cycle perspective.

Parental Behavioral Control and Bullying and Victimization of Rural Adolescents in China: The Roles of Deviant Peer Affiliation and Gender

Bullying and victimization (BAV) have been widely studied, but the potential mechanism of parental behavioral control (PBC) on bullying and victimization in Chinese adolescents has not been explored. This study aimed to examine a moderated mediation model for the association between PBC and BAV mediated by deviant peer affiliation (DPA) and moderated by gender. A total of 3779 adolescents (N_boy = 1679, M_age = 14.98 years, SD = 0.95) from southwest China has completed the Peer Bullying, Peer Victimization, PBC, and DPA questionnaires. The results indicated that: (1) PBC significantly predicted adolescents’ BAV (−12%); (2) DPA mediated the effect of PBC on BAV only for those adolescents who were both bullies and victims; (3) the mediating role of DPA was moderated by gender only in the relationship between PBC and victimization, with a relatively stronger effect in girls than in boys.