Protective Factors and Mechanisms of Mental Health in Children and Adolescents

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Developmental Psychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 5614

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Interests: adolescents’ social and personality development; adolescent cyberpsychology and behavior; psychological development of disadvantaged children
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Guest Editor
School of Psychology, Shan Dong Normal University, Jinan 250061, China
Interests: cyberpsychology and behavior
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Guest Editor
School of Educational Science, Shan Xi University, Taiyuan 030091, China
Interests: cyberpsychology and behavior
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As a generation of digital natives, adolescents have always been the main users of social networks. While social networking apps and websites are convenient for adolescent socialization and life, they are also full of potentially harmful information (e.g., regarding alcohol and tobacco). Numerous studies have shown that risk behaviors have negative effects on the physical, psychological, and social adaptation of adolescents. Therefore, the influencing factors of adolescent risk behaviors have always been the focus of researchers. Adolescents with immature mental development are vulnerable to the negative impact of harmful information on social networking sites, resulting in risky behaviors such as alcohol use. Compared with traditional media, social networking sites not only contain a large number of susceptibility conditions, such as celebrity demonstrations and advertisements of risk behaviors, but also include the attitudes and tendencies of peers towards risk behaviors. How does the content on social networking sites affect adolescents’ attitudes and tendencies towards risk behaviors? At the same time, apart from passively accepting the influence of bad information from social networking sites, social networking sites give teenagers the opportunity to actively interact with information, such as liking, commenting on, and collecting such information. Will the behavior on social networking sites enhance the impact of potentially harmful information on adolescents’ risk behaviors? In addition to addressing these questions, researchers should also focus on finding protective factors and feasible interventions. In response to these problems, this Special Issue aims to focus on the influencing mechanisms and protective factors of adolescent social network use and risk behaviors (alcohol, tobacco, etc.) in order to reduce the likelihood of adolescent risk behaviors and the impact of negative messages.

Prof. Dr. Xiaojun Sun
Prof. Dr. Lei Han
Prof. Dr. Xingchao Wang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • adolescent
  • social networking
  • social network sites
  • risk behaviors
  • alcohol use

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 712 KiB  
Article
Breaking the Cycle: Perceived Control and Teacher–Student Relationships Shield Adolescents from Bullying Victimization over Time
by Zhongjie Wang, Kaiyuan Lu, Xuezhen Wang, Juanjuan Zheng, Xinyi Gao and Qianqian Fan
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(12), 1198; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14121198 - 13 Dec 2024
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Abstract
Background: Bullying victimization remains a grave issue in early adolescence. However, existing research often lacks a longitudinal perspective and sufficient attention to protective factors, particularly the dynamic role of teacher–student relationships. Objective: This study explores the longitudinal protective mechanisms against bullying victimization, focusing [...] Read more.
Background: Bullying victimization remains a grave issue in early adolescence. However, existing research often lacks a longitudinal perspective and sufficient attention to protective factors, particularly the dynamic role of teacher–student relationships. Objective: This study explores the longitudinal protective mechanisms against bullying victimization, focusing on the roles of perceived control and teacher–student relationships. Methods: A sample of 1454 adolescents (mean age = 13.63 years, SD = 0.76, 51% female) was followed over the course of one year. Latent growth models were employed to examine the developmental trajectories of bullying victimization, perceived control, and teacher–student relationships, and to investigate the longitudinal mediating role of teacher–student relationships in the relationship between perceived control and bullying victimization. Results: Both perceived control and teacher–student relationships showed a consistent increase over time, while bullying victimization declined over time. The intercept of perceived control negatively predicted the intercept of bullying victimization, with this relationship mediated by the intercept of teacher–student relationships. Furthermore, the slope of perceived control affected the slope of bullying victimization solely through the slope of teacher–student relationships. Conclusions: These findings highlight that perceived control serves as a stable protective factor against bullying, while strong teacher–student relationships can further reduce bullying victimization. Enhancing students’ perceived control and fostering supportive teacher–student relationships should be key components of anti-bullying interventions. Full article
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14 pages, 1030 KiB  
Article
How Is Rejection Sensitivity Linked to Non-Suicidal Self-Injury? Exploring Social Anxiety and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy as Explanatory Processes in a Longitudinal Study of Chinese Adolescents
by Junyan Zhao, Anna Li, Kunlin Li and Fengqing Zhao
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 943; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14100943 - 14 Oct 2024
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Abstract
Early adolescents are at high risk for non-suicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI). Based on the Rejection Sensitivity Model, the Experiential Avoidance Model, and the Affect Regulation Model of Self-Injury, this study aimed to explain how rejection sensitivity was related to NSSI among adolescents by [...] Read more.
Early adolescents are at high risk for non-suicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI). Based on the Rejection Sensitivity Model, the Experiential Avoidance Model, and the Affect Regulation Model of Self-Injury, this study aimed to explain how rejection sensitivity was related to NSSI among adolescents by unraveling the mediating role of social anxiety and the moderating role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE) in this relationship. A three-wave longitudinal investigation with a three-month interval was conducted among 726 adolescents (Mage = 13.47, SD = 0.95; 46.0% girls) from a middle school in North China. The Cross-Lagged Panel Models (RI-CLPMs) were utilized to estimate the associations among the study variables. The results indicated that the incidence rates of NSSI in the three measurements among adolescents were 33.3%, 30.3%, and 24.1%, respectively. Adolescents’ rejection sensitivity and NSSI showed a declining trend over time. Furthermore, rejection sensitivity predicted NSSI through the longitudinal mediating effect of social anxiety. RESE played a protective role in adolescents’ NSSI, but its moderating effect was not significant. The findings increase our understanding of the association between rejection sensitivity and NSSI in adolescents, and they benefit educators in conducting targeted interventions through improving adolescents’ rejection sensitivity and social anxiety to reduce the risk of NSSI. Full article
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15 pages, 334 KiB  
Article
Parental Competence and Pornography Use among Hispanic Adolescents
by María Calatrava, Paola Alexandria Pinto de Magalhaes, Marta Vidaurreta, Sonia Rivas, Cristina López-Del Burgo and Maider Belintxon
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 926; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14100926 - 10 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1188
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to determine the association between parental competence (warmth, demandingness, and parental education in fortitude and in privacy) and pornography use. Methods: This study presents cross-sectional data from an ongoing international study (YOURLIFE Project) about the opinions and lifestyles of [...] Read more.
Objectives: This study aims to determine the association between parental competence (warmth, demandingness, and parental education in fortitude and in privacy) and pornography use. Methods: This study presents cross-sectional data from an ongoing international study (YOURLIFE Project) about the opinions and lifestyles of adolescents with respect to affectivity, love, and sexuality. Adolescents (N = 2516) aged 12–15 from Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Spain were included. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to analyze the association between family assets (parental demandingness, warmth, and parental fortitude and privacy education) and pornography use. Results: The results indicated an association between parental warmth and pornography use among boys and girls. Furthermore, privacy education was highly associated with less pornography use only in girls. Parental demandingness and parental fortitude education were not associated with pornography use. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that new educational perspectives including privacy issues should be considered within programs for pornography use prevention among adolescents. Parents should incorporate these variables when discussing pornography with their adolescents and not only focus on filters or demandingness. Full article
9 pages, 601 KiB  
Article
The Effects of the Medium of Notetaking on the Delayed Learning Effect of College Students: A Mediated Moderation Model
by Lei Xu, Shuangshuang Cai, Yanxi Liu, Jiwen Chen, Shun Peng and Frank Andrasik
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(9), 756; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14090756 - 27 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1546
Abstract
This study systematically probed the relationship between the medium of taking classroom notes (virtual variable, electronic notetaking = 0 vs. traditional notetaking = 1), the word count in each medium, as well as the review process, and the students’ delayed learning effect for [...] Read more.
This study systematically probed the relationship between the medium of taking classroom notes (virtual variable, electronic notetaking = 0 vs. traditional notetaking = 1), the word count in each medium, as well as the review process, and the students’ delayed learning effect for each notetaking approach. Data were collected from 189 college students, with the influence of gender and prior knowledge being controlled. The conclusions were as follows. (1) The notetaking medium was positively correlated with delayed test scores, irrespective of whether reviews were allowed or not. (2) The mediating role of word count between notetaking medium and delayed test scores was moderated by review. That is, when reviews were allowed, a significant correlation was found between the medium of the notes and the delayed test scores; when reviews were not allowed, the mediating effect of word count was not significant. Full article
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