Are Loneliness and Emotional Intelligence Important Factors for Adolescents? Understanding the Influence of Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimisation on Suicidal Ideation

Abstract

Suicide is a public health problem that makes up the second leading cause of death for young persons aged from 15 to 29 years (World Health Organization [WHO, 2016]). This serious global health concern, especially in adolescent age groups, has become a public concern-thus calling for efforts to understand how, why, and when it can be prevented (Hinduja & Patchin, 2018). Over the past decades, some research efforts (Hinduja & Patchin, 2018; Holt et al., 2015; Klomek et al., 2010) have focused on the links between exposure to bullying and suicide. Traditional bullying (also known as face-to-face bullying) has been considered as repeated aggressive actions, extending over time and occurring in the context of a power imbalance, wherein

Peer Victimization, Peer Aggression and Depressive Symptoms over Time: A Longitudinal Study with Latent Growth Curves

“…Our results indicate that experiences of victimization are not only related to aggression, but that the evolution of victimization is related to the evolution of depressive symptomatology, thus suggesting that prevention strategies emphasizing these variables should be considered. Likewise, the implementation of school interventions aimed at developing and improving mental health strategies can be beneficial, such as the promotion of emotional intelligence (Quintana-Orts et al, 2021), the enhancement of emotional control in students (Dray et al, 2017), the promotion of specific moral disconnection strategies (Romera et al, 2021), and favoring cohesion among students (Lucas-Molina et al, 2022) and collective school efficacy (Peraza-Balderrama et al, 2021). Also, interventions focused on transforming the implicit beliefs about the personality of adolescents (Incremental Theory of Personality Intervention), based on teaching that personality can change, have been shown to reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression among adolescents and peer aggression (Calvete et al, 2021).…”

Attached but Lonely: Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator and Moderator between Attachment Styles and Loneliness

“…For example, they interpret stressful situations as a risk rather than a threat and have stronger faith in their ability to cope with such situations [ 44 ]. In a social context, in research on adolescents, it was found that EI buffered the impact of traditional victimization on loneliness [ 28 ]. In a different study, Nozaki and Koyasu [ 45 ] demonstrated that a high level of emotional self-regulation predicted better inhibition of retaliation for ostracism.…”

“…First, previous studies showed that EI buffered various kinds of stress [ 27 ], and loneliness is, undeniably, a kind of social distress. Moreover, a recent investigation by Quintana-Orts et al revealed that EI was a buffer against loneliness in adolescents experiencing cyber-victimization [ 28 ]. In the case of anxiously attached individuals, EI may enable more effective regulation of rejection anxiety and thus make it possible to establish more interpersonal contacts.…”

A systematic literature review on bullying and cyberbullying models, programs, and intervention strategies

“…Further, this factor can also be an indication of the aggressors [49], in addition to the lack of self-confidence [54]. Aggressors may have feelings of jealousy or envy [55] and loneliness [81]. Regarding social risk factors, it is mentioned that the victim is usually perceived as inferior [55], even one study mentions that alcohol consumption is related to victimization [18], while other studies mention that substance abuse is related to aggressors [7,43], and victims show a lower facility to make friends [43].…”

“…They are mostly mentioned in a general way and without distinctions. Among these factors, we find those related to personal characteristics such as emotional intelligence, emotional competence skills, empathy, and emotional control skills [21,80,81]. When talking about schools, there is evidence that those schools that have an antibullying program have a better school climate [1,3,18,21,43,49] and that teachers involved in the care and supervision of students also improve the school climate [2,55].…”