Psychological maltreatment and adolescent internet harassment perpetration: The mediating role of deviant peer affiliation and the moderating role of self-compassion.

BACKGROUND: Psychological maltreatment has been regarded as a risk factor for adolescent internet harassment. However, previous studies failed to take family, peer, and individual factors into account comprehensively when comes to adolescent internet harassment perpetration. OBJECTIVE: Based on the Social-Ecological Diathesis-Stress Model, the present study established a moderated mediation model to investigate the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation in the association between psychological maltreatment and adolescent internet harassment perpetration, as well as the moderating role of self-compassion. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A total of 1,592 Chinese adolescents (51.07 % girls, Mage = 13.23 years) participated in the current study. METHOD: The participants completed questionnaires regarding demographics, psychological maltreatment, internet harassment perpetration, deviant peer affiliation, and self-compassion. RESULTS: Psychological maltreatment was positively related to adolescent internet harassment perpetration. Mediation analyses revealed that deviant peer affiliation partially mediated this relationship (indirect effect = 0.14, 95 % CI = [0.09, 0.20]). Moderated mediation analyses further indicated that self-compassion not only moderated the link between psychological maltreatment and adolescent internet harassment perpetration, with the effect being significant only for adolescents with low levels of self-compassion, but also moderated the indirect association between psychological maltreatment and internet harassment perpetration via deviant peer affiliation, with the association being much more potent for adolescents with low levels of self-compassion. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of considering multiple circumstantial and individual factors to understand the development of adolescents' externalizing problems.

Teasing and Internet Harassment among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Envy and the Moderating Role of the Zhong-Yong Thinking Style.

Extant research studies have documented that teen victims of traditional bullying are more likely to be perpetrators of Internet harassment. Teasing is a typical form of verbal bullying, but, unfortunately, its link with Internet harassment perpetration has rarely been investigated to date. Therefore, this study constructed two moderated mediation models to explore the relation between weight-related/competency-related teasing (the two main types of teasing) and Internet harassment, and whether these associations are mediated by envy and moderated by the Zhong-Yong thinking style. A total of 1811 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.22 years, SD = 0.97) were investigated to examine the two models. The results clarified that: (1) weight-related/competency-related teasing was positively predictive of adolescent Internet harassment; (2) envy acted a partially mediating role in the associations between weight-related/competency-related teasing and Internet harassment; (3) the Zhong-Yong thinking style not only moderated the link between weight-related/competency-related teasing and envy, with the effect being more profound for a high-level Zhong-Yong thinking style possessed by adolescents, but also moderated the direct link between competency-related teasing and Internet harassment, with the relation being more potent when the level of Zhong-Yong thinking style was low. Nevertheless, the direct link between weight-related teasing and Internet harassment was not moderated by the Zhong-Yong thinking style. These findings are important to comprehend the psychological mechanisms linking weight-related/competency-related teasing to Internet harassment, and provide some enlightenment for preventing and intervening in adolescent Internet harassment perpetration.

COVID-19 Information Overload and Cyber Aggression during the Pandemic Lockdown: The Mediating Role of Depression/Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Confucian Responsibility Thinking.

Many countries adopted lockdown measures to curb the spread of the outbreak in 2020, while information about COVID-19 has dominated various media outlets, which has led to information overload for people. However, previous research has mainly focused on cancer information overload and the corresponding consequence, and failed to examine its adverse effects in the context of major public health events. Based on the Frustrate Aggression Theory and the Scapegoat Theory, the present study established a moderated mediation model to investigate the emotional and behavioral outcomes of COVID-19 information overload. The mediating role of depression/anxiety in the association between COVID-19 information overload and cyber aggression, as well as the moderating role of Confucian responsibility thinking, were tested. This model was examined with 1005 Chinese people (mean age = 26.91 years, SD = 9.94) during the COVID-19 outbreak. Mediation analyses revealed that COVID-19 information overload was positively related to cyber aggression, depression, and anxiety, parallelly and partially mediated this relationship. Moderated mediation analyses further indicated that Confucian responsibility thinking not only moderated the direct link between COVID-19 information overload and cyber aggression, with the effect being significant only for people with a low level of Confucian responsibility thinking, but also moderated the relationship between COVID-19 information overload and depression/anxiety respectively, with the associations being much more potent for individuals with low levels of Confucian responsibility thinking. These findings have the potential to inform the development of prevention and intervention programs designed to reduce the negative emotions and cyber aggression associated with information overload in public health events.

Childhood Psychological Maltreatment and Depression among Chinese Adolescents: Multiple Mediating Roles of Perceived Ostracism and Core Self-Evaluation.

Previous studies have primarily focused on the separate mediating role of interpersonal context or personal characteristics in the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and depression, neglecting the combined effects, which have limited ecological validity. Therefore, this study investigated the multiple mediating roles of perceived ostracism and core self-evaluation in the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and depression. A total of 1592 Chinese adolescents (51.1% boys), ranging in age from 11 to 15 years (M = 13.23, SD = 0.96), completed a self-report questionnaire regarding demographics, psychological maltreatment, perceived ostracism, core self-evaluation and depression. A multiple mediation model was tested using Model 6 of the PROCESS macro. After controlling for the variables of gender and age, the results indicated that perceived ostracism and core self-evaluation parallelly and sequentially mediated the link between psychological maltreatment and depression. The multiple mediation model could account for 55% of the total effect. In conclusion, the current study helps us better understand the mechanisms of depression caused by psychological maltreatment, and contributes to preventing and intervening in depression among Chinese adolescents.