Social media addiction (SMA) is considered a risk factor for aggressive behaviors in adolescents, while its underlying mechanisms remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the possible mediating roles of nighttime social media use and sleep quality in the relationship between SMA and aggressive behaviors. A sample of 773 Italian secondary…

This study examined whether social mistrust in early adolescence was general or referent-specific. We used a multi-trait multi-method approach to examine the validity of mistrust measures across social referents (mistrust toward people in general, toward peers, and toward teachers), using questionnaires and an online task. Sixth graders (N = 1243,…

Connections between prosociality and antisocial behaviors have been recognized; however, little research has studied their developmental links longitudinally. This is important to illuminate during early adolescence as a sensitive period for social development in which prosociality could protect against the development of later antisocial…

Although there is a body of literature that addresses victimization of adolescents based on their membership in stigmatized groups, there is little that focuses on this type of aggression delivered digitally. Furthermore, the extant literature typically focuses on the targets of such aggression, but scant attention has been paid to the aggressors.…

This study using PROSPER data (N = 977, age 11.5-age 15) investigated the longitudinal within-family associations between parent reported parental monitoring and adolescent aggression. Importantly, this study is the first one to examine parent gender and adolescent gender differences on these within-family associations. Results differed between…

This study's goal was to identify patterns of risk and promotive factors across multiple social-ecological domains and their associations with adolescents' problem behaviors (aggression, substance use, and other delinquent behaviors), victimization, and distress symptoms. Participants were a mostly African American (79%) sample of 2711 middle…

Prior research on bullying victimization has often explored the behavior from a binary perspective in which victims and non-victims are examined. However, there has been an increasing amount of literature taking a more nuanced approach towards different subtypes of victims in recent years. This study sought to examine heterogeneous patterns of…

There have been few studies on the bidirectional interaction between the parental and the offspring's psychological symptoms. It is important to fill in this lacuna to understand the development and vicious cycles of psychological symptoms in the familial context. The objective was to study the bidirectional relationships between parental anxiety,…

This study examined beliefs about aggression and self-efficacy for nonviolent responses as mediators of longitudinal relations between exposure to violence and physical aggression. Participants were a predominantly African American (79%) sample of 2705 early adolescents from three middle schools within urban neighborhoods with high rates of…

In this study, we identified (1) subgroups of youth during middle childhood who displayed distinct profiles of social emotional learning (SEL) skills including cooperation, prosocial behaviors, work habits, emotion regulation, and self-control; and (2) how these profiles predict longitudinal academic and social functioning during early…

The goal of this study was to assess longitudinal, predictive relationships between community violent crime and reactive and proactive aggression. Community violent crime data were gathered from local law enforcement agencies and combined with an existing dataset of at-risk youth. Aggression was assessed by parents using the Reactive and Proactive…

The main aim of this study was to examine one potential mediator of the prospective association between depressive symptoms and peer victimization: sadness rumination. Data were collected from 302 early adolescents (M[subscript age] = 10.53, SD =0.16; 55.3% girls), at two waves, 1-year spaced, using self-reports. Depressive symptoms preceded…

This study examined associations of best friend and peer group aggressive characteristics with students' overt and relational aggression, and whether coolness moderated these associations across the fall and spring of the first year in middle school. Students (N = 174; 57% females) self-reported best friendship and peer group members, as well as…

Effectively coping with peer victimization may be facilitated by deploying attention away from threat (i.e., bullies, reinforcers) and toward available support (e.g., defenders). To test this premise, 72 early adolescents (38 girls; M[subscript age] = 11.67, SD = 8.14 months) watched video clips of youth actors portraying a bully aggressing…

Many adolescents want to be popular. Popularity goals are associated with adolescents' relational and overt aggression and aggression has been linked to greater risk for victimization. The current study sought to examine if popularity goals may be linked to victimization through associations with aggression and if self-perceived popularity and…