Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption, Personality, and Cybervictimization among Adolescents

Predicting bullying victimization among adolescents using the risk and protective factor framework: a large-scale machine learning approach

BACKGROUND

Bullying, encompassing physical, psychological, social, or educational harm, affects approximately 1 in 20 United States teens aged 12-18. The prevalence and impact of bullying, including online bullying, necessitate a deeper understanding of risk and protective factors to enhance prevention efforts. This study investigated the key risk and protective factors most highly associated with adolescent bullying victimization.

METHODS

Data from the Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) survey, collected from 345,506 student respondents in Utah from 2009 to 2021, were analyzed using a machine learning approach. The survey included 135 questions assessing demographics, health outcomes, and adolescent risk and protective factors. LightGBM was used to create the model, achieving 70% accuracy, and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values were utilized to interpret model predictions and to identify risk and protective predictors most highly associated with bullying victimization.

RESULTS

Younger grade levels, feeling left out, and family issues (severity and frequent arguments, family member insulting each other, and family drug use) are strongly associated with increased bullying victimization - whether in person or online. Gender analysis showed that for male and females, family issues and hating school were most highly predictive. Online bullying victimization was most highly associated with early onset of drinking.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a risk and protective factor profile for adolescent bullying victimization. Key risk and protective factors were identified across demographics with findings underscoring the important role of family relationships, social inclusion, and demographic variables in bullying victimization. These resulting risk and protective factor profiles emphasize the need for prevention programming that addresses family dynamics and social support. Future research should expand to diverse geographical areas and include longitudinal data to better understand causal relationships.

Childhood Traumas and Personality Traits' Impact on Rhinoplasty Decision

OBJECTIVE

Aesthetic surgeries are increasingly common procedures today, with rhinoplasty being the most frequently performed. The desire for improved appearance is closely linked to an individual's psychological health. It is known that patients seeking rhinoplasty tend to be more anxious and have experienced more negative childhood experiences. However, the impact of personality traits and adverse childhood experiences on the decision to undergo rhinoplasty remains unclear.

METHODS

The study included 256 individuals, consisting of 106 who had undergone rhinoplasty, 46 considering rhinoplasty, and 104 not considering rhinoplasty. All participants completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised Short Form and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

RESULTS

Neuroticism increased the likelihood of undergoing rhinoplasty by 16.3%, and this rate rose to 29.3% if a family member had undergone rhinoplasty. Psychoticism increased the likelihood by 15.4%, and the rate increased to 19.1% if no family member had undergone rhinoplasty. Extraversion increased the likelihood by 24.4%, and this rose to 30.9% if a family member had undergone rhinoplasty. Emotional abuse, mediated by neuroticism, increased the likelihood of undergoing rhinoplasty by 5.4%, and this increased to 17.7% if a family member had undergone rhinoplasty. Physical neglect increased the likelihood by 17.9%, and this rate rose to 22% if no family member had undergone rhinoplasty.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that both personality traits and childhood traumas influence the decision to undergo rhinoplasty. These results will serve as an important guide for future research.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE II

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Profiling the Offline and Online Risk Experiences of Youth to Develop Targeted Interventions for Online Safety

We conducted a study with 173 adolescents (ages 13-21), who self-reported their offline and online risk experiences and uploaded their Instagram data to our study website to flag private conversations as unsafe. Risk profiles were first created based on the survey data and then compared with the risk-flagged social media data. Five risk profiles emerged: Low Risks (51% of the participants), Medium Risks (29%), Increased Sexting (8%), Increased Self-Harm (8%), and High Risk Perpetration (4%). Overall, the profiles correlated well with the social media data with the highest level of risk occurring in the three smallest profiles. Youth who experienced increased sexting and self-harm frequently reported engaging in unsafe sexual conversations. Meanwhile, high risk perpetration was characterized by increased violence, threats, and sales/promotion of illegal activities. A key insight from our study was that offline risk behavior sometimes manifested differently in online contexts (i.e., offline self-harm as risky online sexual interactions). Our findings highlight the need for targeted risk prevention strategies for youth online safety.

Recognizing the Frequency of Exposure to Cyberbullying in Children: The Results of the National HBSC Study in Serbia

Nowadays, children are able to enrich their reality via the Internet. Unfortunately, this may increase their risk of becoming victims of cyberbullying. We analyzed the health characteristics and risk behavior of two cohorts of children in Serbia; those who reported being exposed to cyberbullying and those who did not. The statistical differences and logistic regression models were applied to the data on 3267 students collected from 64 schools participating in the 2017 Serbian Study on health behavior in school-age children (HBSC). Children exposed to cyberbullying reported having the following health problems on a daily basis: headache (18.5%), back pain (19.5%), depression (21.6%), irritability or bad mood (17.7%), nervousness (16.0%), sleep problems (16.1%), and dizziness (21.2%). As for the different types of risk behavior, cigarette smoking ranging from six to nine days ever was the most prevalent (26.9%). It was followed closely by getting drunk more than 10 times ever (24.1%). Compared to non-victims, victims were found to be at a higher risk of perceived back pain (OR = 2.27), depression (OR = 1.43), irritability or bad mood (OR = 2.07), nervousness (OR = 2.23), and dizziness (OR = 2.43) as well as being injured once or twice (OR = 1.98) or three or more times (OR = 4.09). Victims were associated with further risk factors: having smoked more than five cigarettes ever in life (OR = 1.73) and having gotten drunk two to three times (OR = 1.71) or four or more times (OR = 1.65). As the number of school-age children using social media continues to rise, we must prioritize educating them about self-help and community resources for addressing related health issues with greater speed and intensity. The findings from Serbia suggest that while children may be aware of their health issues, they may be unaware of their link to cyberbullying, which could hinder their ability to address these issues promptly. The respondents' attention to the health implications of cyberbullying could be increased by reformulating the survey questions used in the HBSC study.

Impulsivity Drives Adolescents to Smoke and Drink: Gender Differences in the Mediating Effects of Resilience and Depression

High and rising rates of smoking and drinking among Chinese adolescents are contributing to increasingly serious physical and mental health issues. While impulsivity has been demonstrated to be significantly related to adolescent cigarette and alcohol use, little is known about the mechanisms behind this association. The current study focused on resilience and depressive symptoms as potential mediators of this link, exploring the indirect pathways connecting impulsivity to teenage tobacco and alcohol use. Possible gender differences in this indirect pathway were also explored. Participants were secondary school students from southern China (N = 3466; 49.2% were female; Mage = 14.18; SDage = 1.57). Results revealed that adolescents who were more impulsive used cigarettes and alcohol more frequently, and that this effect was partially mediated by lower resilience and more depressive symptoms. It is noteworthy that there were gender differences in this mediating effect, with the effect of impulsivity on cigarette use for girls being mediated by resilience and depressive symptoms, whereas this statistically significant association was not identified for boys. These findings show how adolescents' impulsivity drives them to smoke and drink, and also emphasize gender as a crucial consideration for intervening with adolescents' drinking and smoking behaviors.

Will personality traits affect the use of e-cigar among college students? A cross-sectional study in Guangdong Province, China

Background

The prevalence of e-cigar among adolescents and young adults around the world is increasing rapidly, which has a serious impact on the health of young people. This study assessed the prevalence of e-cigar among college students and to explore the relationship between e-cigar use and personality traits.

Methods

This study conducted an electronic questionnaire survey on college students who were from three undergraduate universities and three junior colleges in Guangdong Province from January 2022 to March 2022. The survey was conducted by stratified cluster sampling, and the respondents were 1362. Statistical descriptions are used to describe the demographic characteristics and personality traits of participants. Mann-Whitney U tests, and Chi-square tests were used to compare the differences between current e-cigar users and non e-cigar users. Two-step hierarchical Logistic regression was used to predict the associated factors with e-cigar use.

Results

The prevalence of current e-cigar users was 5.1%. Agreeableness showed statistically significant higher in non-users (Z = 2.585, P < 0.01). Moreover, gender (AOR = 0.312, 95%CI: 0.174-0.562), the relationship with mother (AOR = 5.887, 95%CI: 1.460-23.748), friends who use e-cigar (AOR = 3.808, 95%CI: 2.159-6.719), allowance per month (AOR = 2.482, 95%CI: 1.371-4.490), and agreeableness (AOR = 0.957, 95%CI: 0.918-0.997) were related to the use of e-cigar.

Conclusion

The level of agreeableness is associated with the use of e-cigar among college students. All these provided an important theoretical basis for future intervention.

Factors Associated with Cyberbullying Victimisation among Colombian High-School Adolescents

The study's purpose was to examine the prevalence and explore some factors associated with cyberbullying in high-school adolescents at ​​Santa Marta, Colombia. A cross-sectional study was designed, which participated in students between 13 and 17 years. Participants completed the item for being a victim of cyberbullying of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey for high school students designed by the Center for Disease Control of the United States. A total of 1462 students answered the questionnaire (M = 14.4 years, SD = 0.8). 19.6% (n = 287) reported lifetime cyberbullying victimisation. Cyberbullying victimisation was associated with post-traumatic stress disorder risk (OR = 2.05, 95%CI 1.51-2.79), lifetime cigarette smoking (OR = 1.91, 95%CI 1.42-2.57), female gender (OR = 1.68, 95%CI 1.25-2.26), family dysfunction (OR = 1.68, 95%CI 1.18-2.41), and poor-fair health condition (OR = 1.45, 95%CI 1.08-1.95). Being a victim of cyberbullying is frequent among Colombian high-school adolescents. It is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder risk, cigarette smoking, female gender, family dysfunction, and poor-fair general health condition. Longitudinal investigations are needed to measure better the dynamics of cyberbullying and the nature of such associations.

A Correlative Study Between Personality Traits and the Preference of Site Selection in Cosmetic Treatment

Background: Cosmetic treatment was closely associated with beauty seekers' psychological well-being. Patients who seek cosmetic surgery often show anxiety. Nevertheless, not much is known regarding how personality traits relate to the selection of body parts that receive cosmetic treatment. Aims: This study aims to investigate the correlation between personality traits and various selection sites for cosmetic treatment via Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Methods: A cross-sectional approach was adopted to randomly recruited patients from a general hospital planning to undergo cosmetic treatments. All respondents completed the EPQ and provided their demographic information. The EPQ involves four scales: the extraversion (E), neuroticism (N), psychoticism (P), and lying scales (L). Psychological scales were evaluated to verify that people who selected different body sites for cosmetic intervention possessed different personality portraits. Results: A total of 426 patients with an average age of 32.14 ± 8.06 were enrolled. Among them, 384 were females, accounting for more than 90% of patients. Five treatment sites were analyzed, including the body, eye, face contour, nose, and skin. Comparatively, patients with neuroticism were more likely to undergo and demand rhinoplasty (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.07-1.24, P < 0.001). Face contour treatment was commonly associated with extraversion (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.00-1.11, P = 0.044), psychoticism (OR 1.13, CI 1.03-1.25, P = 0.013), and neuroticism (OR 1.05, CI 1.01-1.10, P = 0.019). Conclusions: This novel study attempted to determine the personality profiles of beauty seekers. The corresponding assessments may provide references for clinical treatment options and enhance postoperative satisfaction for both practitioners and patients.

Cyberbullying Victimization and Adolescent Drinking Behavior: Deviant Peer Affiliation as a Mediator and Personal Growth Initiative as a Moderator

Research has demonstrated a robust positive association between cyberbullying victimization and adolescent drinking behavior; however, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship remain largely unexplored. Grounded in the social development model and person-environment interactions model, our study explored whether deviant peer affiliation mediated the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and adolescent drinking behavior and whether this mediating effect was moderated by personal growth initiative. A sample of 1,006 adolescents (M_age = 13.16 years; SD = 0.67) anonymously completed self-report questionnaires. Structural equation modeling indicated that the positive association between cyberbullying victimization and drinking behavior was partly mediated by deviant peer affiliation for both girls and boys. Further, this mediating process was stronger for adolescents with low personal growth initiative than for those with high personal growth initiative. There were no significant gender differences for this moderating effect. These findings underline the importance of deviant peer affiliation and personal growth initiative in understanding how and when cyberbullying victimization impacts adolescent drinking behavior.

Cybervictimization among secondary students: social networking time, personality traits and parental education

Background

Cyberbullying among children and adolescents is a major public health concern. However, research has not yet definitively identified the risk factors associated with cybervictimization. The purpose of this study was to determine the association of cybervictimization with use of social networks, personality traits and parental education in secondary students.

Methods

The study population consisted of 765 secondary students (56.5% girls) from Majorca (Spain) who were aged 15.99 years (grade 4). The data were from the 16 secondary school centers that participated in the ITACA Project, a multi-center, cluster randomized controlled trial. Cybervictimization was measured by the Garaigordobil Cybervictimization Scale, and the Big Five Questionnaire for Children was used to assess personality traits.

Results

Results showed that 39.9% of the students were cybervictims. Univariate analysis indicated that more girls than boys were cybervictimized (43.1% vs 35.7%). Cybervictims spent more time in social networking sites than non-victims (6 h 30 min vs. 5 h 16 min) and had greater emotional instability (0.16 vs. -0.23) and extraversion (0.11 vs. -0.09) and were less conscientious (− 0.001 vs. 0.20). Multivariable analysis indicated that social networking time was not significantly associated with cybervictimization after controlling for personality traits, but the same personality traits remained significantly associated.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that cyberbullying is a frequent and relevant problem in adolescents. Big Five personality traits are related with cybervictimization. Possible ways to design interventions include promoting social leisure activities, encourage responsible attitudes and provide stress coping tools.