School resources, self-control and problem behaviors in Chinese adolescents: a longitudinal study in the post-pandemic era

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought many challenges to youth development. During this specific period, adolescents have suffered from numerous behavioral problems, which will lead to more maladaptive consequences. It is necessary to explore several protective factors to prevent or reduce the occurrence of problem behaviors in adolescence. The current study combined school resources and self-control to evaluate the multiple protective effects on adolescents’ problematic behaviors in a two-wave longitudinal study. A sample of 789 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.00 years, SD = 2.05, 418 boys) were recruited via the random cluster sampling method to participate in the survey. The results confirmed the assumptions about the multiple protective effects of school resources and self-control on adolescents’ problem behaviors. Specifically, school resources could negatively predict IGD and victimization, and self-control mediated these associations. Moreover, one problematic behavior could also mediate the associations between self-control and another problematic behavior. This is the first study to focus on the multiple protective effects of positive factors on adolescents’ problem behaviors during the post-pandemic period, which has made several contributions to the literature and practice.

Bullying Victimization, Real and Perceived Physical Fitness, and Self-Perception Profiles in Middle-School Students with Overweight or Obesity

“…Exclusion from group activities was less frequently reported (roughly 9%), which was also more frequent in the overweight/obesity group. Our findings confirm that weight-based teasing and verbal offences are common experiences reported by youths, particularly for those with a higher body weight [4,5,9,25,27]. These experiences may have negative consequences since they are associated with psychological distress and may predict obesity and adverse eating behaviours into adulthood [28][29][30], given the increase in obesity prevalence observed worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic [31].…”

Longitudinal relationships between school assets, traditional bullying, and internet gaming disorder: the role of self-control and intentional self-regulation among Chinese adolescents

“…Demographic variables were collected as covariates in this study, including age, sex (1 = boys, 2 = girls), grade (1 = junior high school in grade 1, 2 = junior high school in grade 2, 3 = junior high school in grade 3, 4 = senior high school in grade 1, 5 = senior high school in grade 2, 6 = senior high school in grade 3), family economic status (1 = under the average level, 2 = equal to the average level, 3 = above the average level), and only child (1 = yes, 2 = no). The significant relationship between these demographic variables and the main study variables has been confirmed in earlier studies ( 49 , 50 , 97 , 98 ).…”

“…Adolescent IGD symptoms were measured with the elevenitem Internet Gaming Disorder Questionnaire (47,96). All of the participants were required to respond to these items on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (never) to 2 (often) (e.g., "Have you played video games to avoid problems or bad feelings?"…”

The effects of online game addiction on reduced academic achievement motivation among Chinese college students: the mediating role of learning engagement

“…Students' participation in and control over the teaching and learning process as well as their closeness to teachers can increase their satisfaction and thus enhance their learning-related well-being . More school resources can lead to higher adolescent self-control, attenuating students' online gaming disorders (Xiang et al, 2022c).…”