School assets and bullying in Chinese youth: A multiple mediation model of intentional self-regulation and internet gaming disorder

Abstract

Bullying is a severe social problem affecting young people all over the world. Previous studies suggested that engagement in bullying had massive effects on teenagers’ physical and psychological development. It is critical and necessary to investigate the antecedents and underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon among young generations. The present study, based on the positive youth development perspective and the developmental assets theory, attempts to explore the positive factors in the school subsystem that could effectively prevent adolescents from bullying, as well as the multiple mediation effects of intentional self-regulation (ISR) and internet gaming disorder (IGD). In this study, we adopted a two-wave design and recruited a sample of 768 Chinese adolescents using a randomized cluster sampling method in the post-pandemic era. The results revealed that T1 school assets significantly and negatively predicted T2 adolescent bullying. Furthermore, T2 ISR and T2 IGD mediated the association between T1 school assets and T2 bullying separately and sequentially. Overall, school resources play a protective role in adolescent development and could effectively prevent them from negative outcomes. These current findings contribute to the literature by providing a further understanding of the direct and indirect protective effects of school assets on adolescent bullying. Moreover, practitioners could also benefit from these findings in preventing and intervening in bullying in the school subsystem.

Cyberbullying and internet gaming disorder in Chinese youth: The role of positive youth development attributes

“…And this finding enriched the previous studies by directly confirming the cumulative effects of 15 positive attributes on cyberbullying (34,35,37) and empirically responded to Schiamberg et al's advocacy (31) to incorporate PYD theory to investigate bullying behaviors. Additionally, this finding echoes the studies of Xiang et al (28) and Gan et al (38) which revealed the cumulative effects of various developmental assets on reducing Chinese adolescents' IGD. And this current finding also expanded the indirect evidence on relation between several positive attributes and IGD, as well as other forms of addiction (41)(42)(43)(44).…”

“…Moreover, personal resources and several PYD attributes were significantly associated with bullying behaviors among adolescents ( 36 , 37 ). In terms of IGD, previous studies have revealed the protective effects of various developmental assets in reducing Chinese adolescents' IGD ( 28 , 38 ). Besides, resilience, social competence, emotional competence (e.g., emotional intelligence), self-efficacy, and self-determination are negatively associated with IGD in young people ( 39 – 42 ).…”

The relationship between parental neglect and cyberbullying perpetration among Chinese adolescent: The sequential role of cyberbullying victimization and internet gaming disorder

“…The mean scores were calculated, with higher scores reflecting a higher risk of IGD. Previous studies have demonstrated that this questionnaire has good reliability and validity among Chinese adolescent samples ( 92 , 108 ). In the current study, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.83.…”

“…Considering that IGD is also an internet use disorder, this study has reason to assume that IGD has a strong association with cyberbullying perpetration in youth. Moreover, previous research has also suggested the mediating effect of IGD between environmental variables and bullying (92). Addictive behaviors (e.g., smartphone addiction) can also exacerbate the effects of parental neglect on cyberbullying perpetration (24).…”

“…A longitudinal study on the relationship between risky online behaviors has indicated that problematic internet use predicts an increase in subsequent cyberbullying perpetration among Chinese youth ( 91 ). Gan et al ( 92 ) and Nwanosike et al ( 93 ) also found that IGD had a positive impact on both traditional bullying and social bullying behaviors among adolescents and undergraduate students. Considering that IGD is also an internet use disorder, this study has reason to assume that IGD has a strong association with cyberbullying perpetration in youth.…”