Depression is a disabling illness which increases the risk of suicide. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rise in fear, anxiety, stress, and depression among the population: of these, university undergraduates from countries severely affected by COVID-19 are some of the most vulnerable of all, as they face strict lockdown measures and have fewer resources to cope with it. The aim of this study was to analyze the levels of fear of COVID-19, stress, anxiety, and depression during lockdown among undergraduates from Ecuador, and to test these possible predictors of depression using a model taken from our study of the scientific literature. A total of 640 undergraduates (72% women) between 18 and 47 years old (M = 21.69; S.D = 4.093) were surveyed. The resulting mean levels found for stress, anxiety, and depression were above levels considered non-pathological. Women showed higher levels of fear of COVID-19 than men. The statistical prediction for depression showed a good fit. This depression could be related: both directly and positively by fear of COVID-19 and stress, and indirectly, as a result of these two factors, positively mediated by anxiety. Our study concludes by highlighting the important role that the complex relationships between fear, stress, and anxiety can play in the development of depression symptoms and how they can be taken into account in programs aimed at preventing and alleviating this disorder. We propose some general measures for reducing fear of COVID-19 and stress and suggest that specific programs be designed to control and overcome anxiety among undergraduates.

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Previous studies have shown that there is overlap between victimization and the perpetration of bullying, and social and motivational variables are known to mediate this relationship. However, the effects of different moral disengagement strategies have not been studied, despite the fact that they exert a major influence on aggressive behavior. This hypothesis and the moderating role of gender were tested through a longitudinal study ( N = 2,066) administered in three waves at 6-month intervals. The results indicated that cognitive restructuring influenced the association between victimization and subsequent bullying. In high victimization scores, boys had higher scores in bullying perpetration compared to girls. The conclusion underlines the importance of the role of morals and ethics in peer relations and in the cycle of violence.

The important role of morality in the transgressive behavior which occurs within peer groups, such as bullying, has often been observed. However, little attention has been paid to this kind of violence in the initial stages of primary education. This study aims to analyze the attribution of moral emotions (self and other) to victims in different bullying types (verbal, physical, relational, and exclusion) and roles (aggressor and victim). An ad hoc questionnaire with supporting stick-figure cartoons was used. In total, 1150 schoolchildren between the ages of 6 and 11 years took part in the study (50.3% girls). The results showed that over 80% of schoolchildren had been involved in any type of aggressive behavior, and that there were significant differences by gender, year, and involvement in self- and other-attributed moral emotions. Aggressors showed less shame in general. In self-attribution situations, there was a greater indifference in aggressors. Victims had less shame and greater indifference in self-attributions for verbal and physical aggression. Girls recognized higher percentages of guilt in victims. The main moral emotion in the first stage was shame. This tendency changed to guilt as the children got older in both situations. Results support the need for the study of moral emotions development of victims and aggressors. How the experience of being involved in bullying biases the moral interpretation toward from the feelings of the victim is discussed.

Moral disengagement and empathy have been linked to aggression in traditional bullying. A number of longitudinal studies have focused on how these variables predict aggressive behavior within the dynamics of bullying. However, no conclusive results have been produced as to whether aggressive behavior in bullying can predict lower levels of empathy, and to date, no studies have explored in depth the mediating role of moral disengagement strategies in this relationship, which is the aim of this study. A total of 1,810 students (51.0% girls; Mage = 14.50; SD = 1.05) completed a survey in three waves at 6-month intervals. The results showed that aggressive behavior in bullying at Time 1 was inversely related to affective and cognitive empathy at Time 3. Minimization of responsibility, distortion of consequences and dehumanizing mediated in the aggressive behavior exhibited by the bullying aggressors and in cognitive empathy, while cognitive restructuring and the distortion of consequences mediated in affective empathy. We discuss the impact on moral and emotional sensitivity of the continued aggression occurring in the interpersonal dynamics of bullying, as well as the relationship between certain strategies of moral disengagement and the different types of empathy. We also comment on the need to design intervention programs to address the lowering of moral criteria and empathy in young people and adolescents involved in traditional bullying.