How School Contexts Shape the Relations Among Adolescents’ Beliefs, Peer Victimization, and Depressive Symptoms

Kaufman, Tessa M. L.; Lee, Hae Yeon; Benner, Aprile D.; Yeager, David S.

doi:10.1111/jora.12558

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(86 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…An important next step, however, will be to more fully assess the generalizability and heterogeneity of these effects with new large-scale trials in diverse populations and contexts 43 . These trials might reveal previously undiscovered context-, population- or individual-level moderators of the intervention’s effects that inform decisions about how best to scale the intervention; for example, by identifying environmental conditions known as 'affordances' on which the beneficial effects of the intervention depend 44 , 45 . Doing so can also contribute to theory by shedding light on the psychological mechanisms by which the intervention has its effects 43 , 46 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress

Yeager

Bryan

Gross

et al. 2022

Nature

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social-evaluative stressors—experiences in which people feel they could be judged negatively—pose a major threat to adolescent mental health1–3 and can cause young people to disengage from stressful pursuits, resulting in missed opportunities to acquire valuable skills. Here we show that replicable benefits for the stress responses of adolescents can be achieved with a short (around 30-min), scalable 'synergistic mindsets' intervention. This intervention, which is a self-administered online training module, synergistically targets both growth mindsets4 (the idea that intelligence can be developed) and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets5 (the idea that one’s physiological stress response can fuel optimal performance). In six double-blind, randomized, controlled experiments that were conducted with secondary and post-secondary students in the United States, the synergistic mindsets intervention improved stress-related cognitions (study 1, n = 2,717; study 2, n = 755), cardiovascular reactivity (study 3, n = 160; study 4, n = 200), daily cortisol levels (study 5, n = 118 students, n = 1,213 observations), psychological well-being (studies 4 and 5), academic success (study 5) and anxiety symptoms during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns (study 6, n = 341). Heterogeneity analyses (studies 3, 5 and 6) and a four-cell experiment (study 4) showed that the benefits of the intervention depended on addressing both mindsets—growth and stress—synergistically. Confidence in these conclusions comes from a conservative, Bayesian machine-learning statistical method for detecting heterogeneous effects6. Thus, our research has identified a treatment for adolescent stress that could, in principle, be scaled nationally at low cost.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress

Yeager

Bryan

Gross

et al. 2022

Nature

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Consequently, victims are more likely to blame themselves (i.e., make an internal attribution) as they are the only one or one of the few who have this problem. They may also conclude that nothing can be done about it (uncontrollable), because the many defending efforts in the classrooms did not to stop the perpetrators (Kaufman et al 2020). Victims who make internal and uncontrollable attributions have more psychosocial problems than victims who do not make these attributions (Schacter et al 2015).…”

Section: Defending Descriptive Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Defending Norms in Victims’ Classroom Climate Perceptions and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Secondary School

Laninga‐Wijnen

Berg

Mainhard

et al. 2020

Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Victims of bullying are at increased risk of developing psychosocial problems. It is often claimed that it helps victims when others stand up against the bullying and when defending is typical (descriptive norm) or rewarded with popularity (popularity norm) in classrooms. However, recent work on the healthy context paradox suggests that victims – paradoxically – tend to do worse in more positive classrooms. Therefore, it is possible that defending norms are counterproductive and exacerbate victims’ adjustment difficulties, possibly because social maladjustment is more apparent in classrooms where everybody else is doing well. The current study examined whether descriptive and popularity norms for defending predicted victims’ classroom climate perceptions and psychosocial adjustment. Using data of 1,206 secondary school students from 45 classrooms (Mage = 13.61), multi-level analyses indicated that descriptive norms for defending increased rather than decreased negative classroom climate perceptions and maladjustment of victimized youths. In contrast, popularity norms for defending positively predicted all students’ classroom climate perceptions and feelings of belonging, except victims’ self-esteem. Interventions may benefit more from promoting popularity norms for defending rather than descriptive norms for defending in secondary schools.

show abstract

“…First, as mentioned previously, peer victimization experiences enable adolescents to develop negative self-images through their reflective self-evaluation (Yue et al, 2020) and self-blame attributions (Lopez & Dubois, 2005). Social comparisons may also operate in these processes (adolescents likely compare themselves to peers who are not victimized; Kaufman et al, 2020). Moreover, peer victimization often threatens adolescent peer status in the group, which also increases victims’ negative self-evaluations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Victimization and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese Adolescents: Moderated Mediation by Forgiveness and Self-Esteem

Liu

Jia

et al. 2023

J Interpers Violence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Considerable developmental research has shown an association between peer victimization and subjective well-being among adolescents. However, the mediating processes and protective factors that constrain this association are less understood. To fill these gaps, we investigated whether self-esteem mediates the association between peer victimization and subjective well-being and whether forgiveness moderates the direct and indirect associations of peer victimization with adolescents’ subjective well-being via self-esteem. A large sample of 2,758 adolescents ( Mage = 13.53 years, SD = 1.06) from 10 middle schools in China participated in this study. Participants provided data on demographic variables, peer victimization, self-esteem, forgiveness, and subjective well-being by answering anonymous questionnaires. After controlling for demographic covariates, we found that self-esteem mediated the relationship between peer victimization and subjective well-being. Furthermore, as a protective factor, forgiveness moderated the relationship between peer victimization and self-esteem. Consistent with the protective-reactive model, when adolescents experienced more peer victimization, those with higher forgiveness levels exhibited a greater decline in self-esteem, and low self-esteem was then associated with decreased subjective well-being. These findings demonstrate the utility of examining both mediating and moderating factors in this relationship and highlight the negative impact of peer victimization on adolescent self-worth and the limited role of forgiveness as a protective factor.

show abstract

How School Contexts Shape the Relations Among Adolescents’ Beliefs, Peer Victimization, and Depressive Symptoms

Cited by 10 publications

References 49 publications

A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress

A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress

The Role of Defending Norms in Victims’ Classroom Climate Perceptions and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Secondary School

Peer Victimization and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese Adolescents: Moderated Mediation by Forgiveness and Self-Esteem

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About