Abstract

     Online peer victimized adolescents are at an increased risk of several behavioral and emotional problems. Most cyberbullying interventions have focused on reducing the frequency of online peer aggressions. Meanwhile, less attention has been given to building resilience in victims to reduce the impact of victimization on their mental health. This study tested the effects of an online growth mindset intervention aimed at building resilience in victims. Eight hundred and fifty-six adolescents (47.10% female) were randomly assigned to the resilience vs. educational control intervention. The adolescents completed measures of online peer victimization, behavioral and emotional problems (online peer aggressions, depression, social anxiety, eating problems, and non-suicidal self-injury), entity theory of personality beliefs, and attitudes toward defending the victims of online peer aggressions at pretest and at three and six months. The resilience intervention reduced the predictive association between online peer victimization and online peer aggression and social anxiety, and it increased the association between online peer victimization and attitude towards defending the victims. The resilience intervention also reduced the entity theory of personality beliefs in all adolescents. These results are promising given that the intervention lasted only approximately 40–45 min.

Introduction

     Online peer aggressions are a major problem among adolescents. They consist of behaviors of threat, harassment, and embarrassment through electronic means or devices (Chun, Lee, Kim, & Lee, 2020). When these behaviors include as properties the vulnerability of the victims and the repetitiveness of the behaviors they are labeled as cyberbullying (Chun et al., 2020; Smith et al., 2008). According to a scoping review that included 159 studies distributed worldwide, the prevalence of online peer victimization in the last year varied from 1.0 to 61.1% (Brochado, Soares, & Fraga, 2017). Adolescents who are victims of online peer aggressions exhibit an increased risk of several emotional and behavioral problems. For example, findings of several meta-analyses reveal significant relationships between online peer victimization and anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, self-harming behaviors, and suicidal ideation (Fisher, Gardella, & Teurbe-Tolon, 2016; John et al., 2018; Katsaras et al., 2018). A recent meta-analysis of longitudinal studies found cyberbullying victimization as a predictor of internalizing problems, such as anxiety and depression (Marciano, Schulz, & Camerini, 2020). Online peer victimization was also associated with other behavioral problems, such as aggressions and social problems with peers and family members (Fisher et al., 2016). Moreover, the meta-analysis of longitudinal studies conducted by Marciano et al. (2020) showed that victimization significantly predicted perpetration of online aggressive behaviors over time, contributing to the perpetuation of these problematic behaviors and to the bully-victim circle. Beyond the emotional and behavioral problems highlighted in previous meta-analyses, some studies have also found a significant relationship between online peer victimization and eating problems as, for example, body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating behaviors (Calvete, Orue, & Gámez-Guadix, 2016; Marco, Tormo-Irun, Galán-Escalante, & Gonzalez-García, 2018; Salazar, 2021).

Conclusions

     The findings of this study support the benefit of this growth mindset intervention in reducing the typical increase in social anxiety and online peer aggression after being victimized and improving attitudes to defend victims. The high prevalence rates of victimization among adolescents and the adverse effects that this victimization entails call for the implementation of interventions to reduce the effects of these aggressions. This type of short intervention, which can be applied easily and cheaply in schools, can be a useful tool. Future studies should continue to investigate its effects on other problems and in the long term.

Abstract

     Self-harm and aggression increase markedly during early adolescence. However, few studies considered these harmful behaviors simultaneously. This study employed a person-centered approach to identify profiles of adolescents who differed in their patterns of self-harm, reactive aggression, and proactive aggression, examined the stability of these patterns, and explored the effect of bullying victimization on latent profile membership and transition. A total of 2463 early adolescents (48.8% girls, Mage = 13.93 ± 0.59) participated in two waves of the study over six months. The results indicated that low symptoms profile (80.4%), moderate aggression profile (14.2%), high aggression profile (3.0%), and high self-harm profile (2.4%) were identified at time 1, and low symptoms profile (82.1%), dual-harm profile (7.6%), high aggression profile (7.7%), and high self-harm profile (2.6%) were identified at time 2. Adolescents assigned to at-risk profiles showed moderate to high transition, suggesting the developmental heterogeneity of self-harm and aggression. Moreover, adolescents high in bullying victimization were more likely to belong or transition to at-risk profiles. The findings revealed the co-occurring and transitional nature of self-harm and aggression and the transdiagnostic role of bullying victimization, which can be used to guide prevention and intervention strategies.

Introduction

     Self-harm and aggression during adolescence are important public health issues. According to a representative survey conducted in China (Wan et al., 2011), 17.0% of adolescents and young adults reported that they had harmed themselves deliberately in the past 12 months. Similarly, about 9.0% to 24.3% of Chinese children and adolescents exhibited aggressive behaviors (Han et al., 2017; Huang et al., 2017). Self-harm and aggression can have detrimental effects on adolescents’ development and mental health outcomes (Hawton et al., 2012; Hubbard et al., 2010). Most existing studies have typically focused on either self-harm or aggression, far fewer studies explored the combination of these two harmful behaviors. Indeed, relevant research has suggested that self-harm and aggression are linked (O’Donnell et al., 2015; Shafti et al., 2021). The coexistence of aggressive and self-harming behavior within the same individual has been recently termed “dual harm” (Slade, 2019). Individuals who engage in dual-harm may represent a highrisk group with unique characteristics and patterns of harmful behaviors (Shafti et al., 2021). To better understand the cooccurrent nature of self-harm and aggression, the current study employed a person-centered approach to determine profiles of co-occurring self-harm, reactive aggression, and proactive aggression, their short-term stability and change, and the role of bullying victimization on behavioral profiles and their transitions among Chinese early adolescents.

Conclusion

     The coexistence of self-harm and aggression has received increasing attention recently. However, the scientific knowledge about co-occurring types of self-harm and aggression and their developmental process among adolescents was scarce. Further, understanding the antecedents that affected the stability and transition of behavioral patterns could be a key step for prevention and early intervention. The current research employed a person-centered approach to reveal the co-occurring and transitory nature of self-harm, reactive aggression, and proactive aggression among early adolescents, while also demonstrating how bullying victimization influenced the stability and transition of these behavioral patterns. It was found that there was a small subgroup of adolescents for whom self-harm and reactive aggression co-occur. Adolescents with low levels of selfharm and aggression exhibited a stable pattern, while adolescents in at-risk subgroups showed varying degrees of transitional patterns, indicating that self-harm and aggression change dramatically during early adolescence. Moreover, adolescents high in bullying victimization were more likely to be classified in and transition toward at-risk profiles. These findings can be used to guide prevention and intervention strategies for reducing self-harm and aggression.

The present study examined presence of sexual assault history and perfectionism (viz., positive strivings & evaluative concerns) as predictors of self-destructive behaviors (viz., NSSI & suicidal behaviors) in a sample of 287 women college students. Results obtained from conducting a series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated several notable patterns. Sexual assault history was a consistent predictor of both NSSI and suicidal behaviors. Moreover, the inclusion of perfectionism was also found to consistently predict additional unique variance in NSSI and suicidal behaviors, even after accounting for sexual assault history. These patterns remained largely unchanged even after accounting for shared variance between NSSI and suicidal behaviors. Within the perfectionism set, evaluative concerns emerged as the most consistent unique predictor of both indices of self-destructive behavior. Finally, we did not find evidence for a significant Positive Strivings × Evaluative Concerns interaction effect in our analyses. Overall, our findings indicate that beyond the presence of sexual assault history, perfectionism remains an important predictor of self-destructive behaviors in women college students.

Introduction

Findings from a number of epidemiological studies around the world have shown that adolescents and emerging adults (e.g., college students) are at heightened risk for engaging in a variety of self-destructive behaviors (Muehlenkamp, Williams, Gutierrez, & Claes, 2009; Thompson & Swartout, 2018; Zetterqvist, Lundh, Dahlström, & Svedin, 2013). Across a spectrum of self-destructive behaviors, two of the most examined in the empirical literature have been non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behaviors. In contrast to suicidal behaviors (e.g., suicidal ideation, suicidal attempts), NSSI behaviors have been defined as the direct and deliberate destruction of body tissue without the intent to die by suicide (Klonsky & Glenn, 2009; Nock & Favazza, 2009). Importantly, findings have shown that women, compared to men, are often at higher levels of risk for engaging in these self-destructive behaviors (e.g., Muehlenkamp et al., 2009; Zetterqvist et al., 2013). For example, in a recent study of a large sample of college students drawn from two universities in the United States, women, compared to men, were more likely to report a prior suicide attempt (Becker, Holdaway, & Luebbe, 2018). Thus, it is not surprising that researchers have been interested in trying to identify factors that predict self-destructive behaviors in women. One distinct factor that has been found to be consistently involved in accounting for self-destructive behavior has been the presence of sexual assault history (e.g., Chang, Batra, Premkumar, Chang, & Hirsch, in press; Tomasula, Anderson, Littleton, & Riley-Tillman, 2012; Ullman, 2004; Ullman & Najdowski, 2009).