مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد بهبود تاب آوری در برابر قربانی شدن آنلاین با مداخله نگرش رشد – الزویر 2022

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.