19 research outputs found
Adolescents' involvement in cyber bullying and perceptions of school: the importance of perceived peer acceptance for female adolescents
Young people are spending increasing amounts of time using digital technology and, as such, are at great risk of being involved in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim. Despite cyber bullying typically occurring outside the school environment, the impact of being involved in cyber bullying is likely to spill over to school. Fully 285 11- to 15-year-olds (125 male and 160 female, M age = 12.19 years, SD = 1.03) completed measures of cyber bullying involvement, self-esteem, trust, perceived peer acceptance, and perceptions of the value of learning and the importance of school. For young women, involvement in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school, and perceived peer acceptance mediated this relationship. The results indicated that involvement in cyber bullying negatively predicted perceived peer acceptance which, in turn, positively predicted perceptions of learning and school. For young men, fulfilling the bully/victim role negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school. Consequently, for young women in particular, involvement in cyber bullying spills over to impact perceptions of learning. The findings of the current study highlight how stressors external to the school environment can adversely impact young women's perceptions of school and also have implications for the development of interventions designed to ameliorate the effects of cyber bullying
Using acute tryptophan depletion to investigate predictors of treatment response in adolescents with major depressive disorder: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Background Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are amongst the most prescribed antidepressants for adolescents with depressive symptoms and major depressive disorder. However, SSRIs have significant shortcomings as a first-line treatment considering that not all patients respond to these antidepressants. Amongst paediatric populations, meta-analyses indicate that up to approximately 40% of patients do not respond, and for those who do show benefit, there is substantial heterogeneity in response onset. The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) plays a role in the clinical effectiveness and mechanisms of action of SSRIs. However, the exact and complete mechanism of action and reasons for the low response rate to SSRIs in some adolescent populations remains unknown. Methods To examine SSRI response and the role of 5-HT, this study will employ a randomised double-blind within subject, repeated measures design, recruiting adolescent patients with major depressive disorder. Participants will be subjected to acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) and the balanced control condition on two separate study days within a first study phase (Phase A), and the order in which these conditions (ATD/balanced control condition) occur will be random. This phase will be followed by Phase B, where participants will receive open label pharmacological treatment as usual with the SSRI fluoxetine and followed-up over a 12-week period. Discussion ATD is a neurodietary method typically used to investigate the impact of lowered brain 5-HT synthesis on mood and behaviour. The major hypothesis of this study is that ATD will be negatively associated with mood and cognitive functioning, therefore reflecting individual serotonergic sensitivity and related depressive symptoms. Additionally, we expect the aforementioned effects of ATD administration on mood to predict clinical improvement with regard to overall depressive symptomatology 12 weeks into SSRI treatment
I Do It Because I Feel thatâŠMoral Disengagement and Emotions in Cyberbullying and Cybervictimisation
Few studies have jointly explored the role of factors such as the use
of social media, the personality characteristics of young people, the use of thinking
mechanisms aimed at moral disengagement, and the emotions experienced
in relation to cyberbullying and cybervictimisation behaviour. The analysis presented
here, carried out through a questionnaire distributed online and filled in by
655 Italian high school students, allowed to highlight the relationships between
these variables. In particular, it emerged that the phenomena of cyberbullying and
cybervictimisation are related to the time spent online and to the mechanisms of
moral disengagement, which in turn are related to the personality trait of agreeableness.
Emotions experienced are most clearly positive in cases of cyberbullying
and negative for the victims. This correspondence, however, is reversed in bullies
who resort more to thoughts aimed at moral disengagement and feel more negative
emotions. The same reversal seems to occur in the victims who, in correspondence
with an increased use of the mechanisms of moral disengagement, report to feel
more positive emotions