The aim of this study was to test a model in which psychopathic traits (callous-unemotional, grandiose-manipulative, and impulsive-irresponsible) and moral disengagement individually and ...interactively predict two types of bullying (traditional and cyberbullying) in a community sample of adolescents. A total of 765 adolescents (464 girls and 301 boys) completed measures of moral disengagement and psychopathic traits at Time 1, and measures of bullying and cyberbullying at Time 1 and 1 year later, at Time 2. The results showed that callous-unemotional traits predicted both traditional bullying and cyberbullying, grandiose-manipulative and impulsive-irresponsible traits only predicted traditional bullying, and moral disengagement only predicted cyberbullying. Callous-Unemotional Traits × Moral Disengagement and Grandiose-Manipulative × Moral Disengagement were significantly correlated with the residual change in cyberbullying. Callous-unemotional traits were positively related to cyberbullying at high levels of moral disengagement but not when moral disengagement was low. In contrast, grandiose-manipulative traits were positively related to cyberbullying at low levels of moral disengagement but not when moral disengagement was high. These findings have implications for both prevention and intervention. Integrative approaches that promote moral growth are needed, including a deeper understanding of why bullying is morally wrong and ways to stimulate personality traits that counteract psychopathic traits.
There have been few studies on the bidirectional interaction between the parental and the offspring’s psychological symptoms. It is important to fill in this lacuna to understand the development and ...vicious cycles of psychological symptoms in the familial context. The objective was to study the bidirectional relationships between parental anxiety, early adolescents’ internalizing symptoms, and peer victimization and aggression. 288 early adolescents (54% girls) between 9 and 15 years (
M
a
g
e
= 12.84 and SD = 1.22) and their parents participated in a two-wave bidirectional study. Path analyses showed bidirectional relationships between early adolescents’ internalizing symptoms and peer victimization. Maternal anxiety was preceded by the offspring’s internalizing symptoms. The hypothesized model differed by gender but not age, indicating that the path from peer victimization to peer aggression was stronger in girls. These results contribute to the study of parental and early adolescent symptoms from a multi-informant perspective.
Abstract Purpose To analyze the temporal and reciprocal relationships between being a victim of cyberbullying (CB) and three frequent problems during adolescence: depressive symptoms, substance use, ...and problematic Internet use; also, to analyze whether the relationship between CB and these psychological and behavioral health problems differs as a function of being only a victim or being both bully and victim. Method A total of 845 adolescents (mean age = 15.2, SD = 1.2) completed measures at T1 and at T2, 6 months apart. The relationship among variables was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results CB victimization at T1 predicted depressive symptoms and problematic Internet use at T2, and higher depressive symptoms and more substance use at T1 predicted more CB victimization at T2. However, the relationships of CB predicting substance use and problematic Internet use predicting CB were not significant. Bully-victims presented higher levels than victims of all three problem variables, both at T1 and T2. Conclusions CB is predictive of some significant psychological and behavioral health problems among adolescents. Intervention efforts should pay attention to these in the prevention and treatment of consequences of CB.
The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess the relationship between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and child-to-parent aggression (CPA) and to test whether social information processing ...(SIP) mediates this association. A total of 903 adolescents (50.9% girls) completed measures of EMSs at Time 1, SIP at Time 1 and Time 2 (1 year later), and CPA at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3 (2 years later) to determine whether SIP measured at Time 2 mediated between the EMSs measured at Time 1 and CPA measured at Time 3. The results showed that each schema evaluated in this study had a different effect on SIP components and CPA. The SIP components of anger and aggressive response access in turn predicted CPA, mediating the relationship between two EMSs and CPA. More specifically, the schemas of defectiveness and the justification of violence predicted the response access component of SIP, which in turn predicted CPA. The results also showed bidirectional relationships between SIP components and CPA; whereas SIP components predicted CPA, the latter also predicted a worsening in SIP, perpetuating the problem. Furthermore, several gender differences were found in these paths. The findings indicate that intervention in the social-cognitive mechanisms is important to reduce adolescents’ aggression directed toward their parents.
Introduction
Pregnancy is a time of major transition that can be stressful for women. Dispositional mindfulness may protect individuals when they face stress. Recent studies have adopted a ...person-centered approach to examine the role of mindfulness by identifying subtypes of individuals based on their scores in five mindfulness facets. Latent profile analysis was used to identify different mindfulness profiles in a sample of pregnant women, and we explored the relationships between these profiles, depression and anxiety symptoms, and whether dyadic adjustment mediated these relationships.
Method
A total of 535 women aged 18–45 years in their 26th week of pregnancy completed questionnaires regarding mindfulness, dyadic satisfaction and cohesion, and depression and anxiety symptoms.
Results
Three profiles were identified: (1) low mindfulness (53.8%), (2) moderate mindfulness (34.3%), and (3) non-judgmentally aware (11.9%). The most adaptive profile was the non-judgmentally aware profile. Compared to the low mindfulness profile, the non-judgmentally aware profile and the moderate mindfulness profile were related to fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, and these relationships were partly mediated by dyadic satisfaction.
Discussion
These results suggest that analyzing each pregnant woman’s mindfulness profile can improve the prevention of and interventions for anxiety and depression.
This study examined the longitudinal relationships between three psychopathic trait dimensions (callous-unemotional, CU; grandiose-manipulative, GM; and impulsive-irresponsible, II) and their ...interaction in the prediction of psychological and physical child-to-parent violence (CPV). Furthermore, the study examined whether the predictive relationships were different for boys and girls. A total of 765 adolescents (463 girls), with a mean age of 15.28 years (
SD
= 1.04), completed measures of the psychopathic trait dimensions (CU, GM, and II) and psychological and physical CPV at the beginning of the study and six months later. At the cross-sectional level, all the psychopathic trait dimensions were related to psychological and physical CPV, although the effect sizes were small. At the longitudinal level, II predicted increased psychological CPV. A significant three-way interaction between the three psychopathic trait dimensions (CU, GM, and II) indicated that the longitudinal association between II and physical CPV was higher for adolescents with high CU and low GM. However, the predictive model did not differ for boys and girls.
The Internet is the setting for several forms of violent and risky behavior among adolescents, such as cyberbullying, sexualized interactions with adults, sexting, and online dating violence. Often, ...these behaviors are responses to experiences of online victimization. This study examined the differential effects of a wise intervention (WI), combining growth mindset and self-affirmation strategies, on these behaviors for adolescents who had experienced victimization and those who had not. A sample of 1,085 adolescents (54.3% girls; ages 11–18 years) were randomized into two intervention conditions (WI and an anti-stress control intervention). They completed measures of violent and risky behaviors at pretest and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups and measures of victimization at pretest. The results of multilevel analyses indicated that the WI was beneficial for adolescents without experiences of victimization at pretest, as they displayed smaller increases in online peer aggressions, sexualized interactions with adults, and sexting than the adolescents in the control condition. However, the WI was not beneficial for adolescents with experiences of victimization at pretest. Moreover, the adolescents under the anti-stress control condition displayed better outcome. These findings suggest that previous victimization experiences of adolescents should be considered to select an appropriate intervention.
Mindfulness has been associated with fewer negative mental health symptoms during adolescence, but fewer studies have examined longitudinal associations between mindfulness and symptoms in ...conjunction with two vulnerability factors for psychopathology with mindfulness: rumination and impulsivity. This study examined longitudinal associations between internalizing symptoms (depression, anxiety, stress), mindfulness, rumination, and impulsivity over a one-year period among 352 Spanish adolescents (57.4% girls; M = 14.47, SD = 1.34). Participants completed self-reported measures of symptoms, mindfulness, rumination, and impulsivity at two time points. Mindfulness negatively predicted stress and depressive symptoms, and a bidirectional negative association was found between mindfulness and impulsivity. Impulsivity positively predicted stress, and anxiety positively predicted depressive symptoms, stress, and rumination. This study highlights the importance of mindfulness as a protective factor and impulsivity and anxiety as risk factors for internalizing symptoms throughout adolescence. These findings build on previous studies that examined longitudinal associations between mindfulness and symptoms by including rumination and impulsivity’s roles.
The incremental theory of personality interventions (ITPI) teaches adolescents that people can change. Researchers have found that these interventions can reduce the perpetration of bullying and ...cyberbullying. Moreover, there is reciprocity between perpetrating bullying behaviors and being a victim of them. The objective of this study was to examine whether the ITPI reduces the reciprocity between victimization and perpetration of bullying and cyberbullying. A sample of 858 high school students (52% boys) aged 12 to 17 at pretest (M = 14.56, SD = 0.97) participated in a double-blind randomized controlled trial (452 participants were assigned to the experimental condition and 406 to the control condition). Measures of bullying and cyberbullying were taken at baseline, six-month, and 12-month follow-ups. The results indicated that victimization was a strong predictor of perpetration for bullying and cyberbullying over time. Perpetration was not a predictor of victimization. Consistently, for both forms of aggressive behavior, the intervention reduced the intensity of the association between victimization and perpetration. This effect was not moderated by the age or sex of the participants. Finally, the effectiveness of the ITPI was moderated by age. Specifically, among the youngest (< 14.48 years), those who received the ITPI showed a slight tendency to reduce aggressive behavior that contrasted with the growing trend in the control group. Among the oldest participants (> 14.48), the trajectories were similar in the two groups. Our findings show that influencing adolescents' reactions to peer aggression victimization is one of the mechanisms that could explain the beneficial effects of the ITPI and other preventive interventions.
Adolescence is often accompanied by an increase in stress and depression. Although there is considerable consensus about the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions to reduce these problems, the ...results for the role of dispositional mindfulness facets have been mixed. Recent studies have contributed to clarifying this role by identifying subtypes of individuals according to their profiles in mindfulness facets and examining the functioning of these profiles in relation to several self-reported indicators of wellbeing and health. The current study extends previous research by exploring mindfulness profiles in adolescents and by providing several sources of indicators (self-reports, parent-reports, and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis hormones) to examine the adaptive role of these profiles. A sample of 571 adolescents (50.61% girls; 12–17 years old) completed measures of mindfulness, depression, maladaptive schemas, and temperament (neuroticism, extraversion, and effortful control), and provided salivary samples for cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. In addition, 331 adolescents’ parents completed measures of their children’ temperaments. The results of latent profile analyses supported a three-profile solution: (1) moderate mindfulness (65.5%), (2) judgmental observing (24.2%), and (3) nonjudgmentally aware (10.3%). The judgmental observing profile was associated with a worse adjustment, indicated by higher depressive symptoms, maladaptive schemas, perceived stress, stress-associated hormones, and neuroticism, as well as lower scores on extroversion and effortful control. This profile was more frequent among the oldest adolescents. In contrast, the nonjudgmentally aware group presented a better adjustment and was more frequent among the youngest adolescents. These findings have implications for preventive interventions. Analyzing the specific profile of each adolescent can help improve individual intervention, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of each adolescent.