Daniel Falla

Couple relationships and breakups are frequent during emerging adulthood, a stage characterized by social exploration and instability in various developmental areas. However, there is no frame of reference from which to approach the main risk factors for these breakups during this period, despite the significant impact that such experiences can have on the mental health of those involved. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is to examine the variables that recent studies have identified as key risk factors associated with breakup in emerging adulthood. Following PRISMA guidelines, a structured search was performed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. A total of 1,779 articles published between 2007 and 2024 were reviewed, with 23 meeting the inclusion criteria. The results show that breakups are influenced by individual factors (e.g., age or substance use), relational factors (e.g., low commitment and satisfaction), and contextual factors (e.g., work and income). These findings offer a foundation for designing psychoeducational interventions aimed at fostering healthier romantic relationships.

In Spain, bullying is considered a damaging, violent behaviour that seriously affects all the members of the school community. A lot of knowledge on bullying in Spain has been gathered since the first studies conducted in the 1990s. Nevertheless, bullying is still present and prevalent in Spanish schools, and cyberbullying is a newer problem behaviour perpetrated online. There have been many anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying interventions implemented in Spain, but more programmes are still needed. Many current policies and laws are also intended to decrease bullying and promote a positive school climate. Thus, research and practice regarding bullying have been fruitful in Spain, but more needs to be done.

Moral emotions play a crucial role in aggressive group dynamics. Developing specific instruments to measure these emotions is essential for understanding the decision-making processes. In particular, moral anger refers to the anger elicited by perceived injustice or transgressions of ethical values. This emotion is especially relevant in the school context, where research suggests an association between the anger experienced in reaction to aggression and their ethical behavior. However, to date, no specific instrument has been developed to measure moral anger in response to such situations. This study aimed to design and validate a scale for measuring moral anger in the context of online and offline peer aggression and to examine the predictive validity of the instrument in relation to defending behaviors. A total of 3,183 pupils (51.6% boys, M _age = 12.76, SD = 1.52) participated in the study. The results confirmed that the unidimensional model provided the best fit, presenting good psychometric properties in terms of reliability and validity. Likewise, the invariance and replicability of the scale were tested across gender and age groups. Good incremental predictive validity was also demonstrated, as evidenced by a positive association between moral anger and defending behaviors. In conclusion, the instrument designed in this study can be used to measure moral anger in aggressive peer contexts, both online and offline. Identifying moral anger is a key to understanding group dynamics in cases of aggression and power imbalance, as well as the behavior of bystanders. Moreover, this research contributes to the development of interventions aimed at promoting social justice, equity, and the creation of a more peaceful society that actively opposes mistreatment and aggression.

Moral disengagement is a cognitive mechanism that seeks to avoid the feeling of guilt in the face of transgressive behaviors and seems to be present in behaviors such as cyberbullying, cybergossip or bullying in adolescence. Few studies have explored this connection in the primary school years, even though gossip, bullying and cyberbullying are also frequent during these early years. The aim of this study was to examine, in primary school children, the relationship of aggression in bullying, cyberbullying, and cybergossip with moral disengagement, over a time interval of 18 months. The longitudinal study was conducted through different questionnaires with a final sample consisting of 507 schoolchildren (48.5% girls; M = 11.86; SD = 0.74). The results showed that there was a direct, significant relationship between involvement as an aggressor in cyberbullying behaviors and moral disengagement, but this relationship was not significant in aggressive behaviors in bullying and cybergossip. These results are discussed in relation to the importance of the formation of moral judgment during these years and its educational implications.

Background: Schadenfreude is a moral emotion consisting of enjoyment when seeing other people suffer, and whose activation has been related to transgressive behaviour in adulthood. Despite this, the study of this emotion in aggression phenomena among schoolchildren has received little scientific attention, possibly due to a lack of instruments. We aimed to design and provide evidence of the validity and reliability of a scale for measuring schadenfreude in situations of online and offline bullying. Methods: The sample consisted of 3,183 primary and secondary school pupils (48.4% girls; M age = 12.76; SD = 1.52). Results: The data confirmed that the two-dimensional model was the best fit (χ 2 S-B = 81.800; CFI = .984; SRMR = .036; RMSEA = .049). Scale scores were shown to be invariant with regard to gender and age, and evidence was provided of predictive validity, with a clear relationship found between schadenfreude, bullying and cyberbullying. Conclusions: These findings confirm the validity of the instrument scores, which may be useful for measuring this emotion in educational contexts and guiding psycho-educational interventions aimed at improving moral emotion regulation and preventing bullying and cyberbullying.

El uso de las Tecnologías en la Relación, la Información y Comunicación (TRIC) ha cambiado la manera en que los estudiantes universitarios interactúan y se relacionan entre sí, dando lugar a experiencias tanto positivas como negativas, en las que han de enfrentarse a ciberconductas de riesgo. El ciberostracismo es una forma de exclusión social en el espacio virtual que conlleva sentimientos de ansiedad social y que puede darse en estudiantes universitarios, provocando consecuencias perniciosas. Sin embargo, aún no se ha explorado lo suficiente si este sentimiento puede relacionarse con un aumento del uso de Internet al percibir la exclusión online. Tomando este reto como foco, el objetivo de este trabajo es conocer la asociación entre el ciberostracismo y la ansiedad social, así como el posible efecto indirecto del uso de Internet. En el estudio participaron un total de 1605 estudiantes de diferentes universidades españolas, con edades comprendidas entre los 17 y 25 años (M = 19.59, DT = 1.75), siendo 66.3% mujeres, el 31.7% hombres y el 2% no indicó su género. Se utilizaron diferentes instrumentos: Cuestionario de Experiencias Relacionadas con Internet (CERI), Escala de Ansiedad Social para Adolescentes (SAS-A) y Escala de Experiencia de Ciberostracismo para Adolescentes. Los análisis estadísticos incluyeron la prueba t Student y el análisis de mediación con la macro PROCESS. Los resultados indicaron que los hombres mostraron mayores niveles de ciberostracismo, mientras que en ansiedad social puntuaron más alto las mujeres. El ciberostracismo se asoció con mayor ansiedad social entre estudiantes universitarios, mediado por el uso de Internet. Se discute cómo esta forma de ostracismo virtual continúa progresando y afectando a estudiantes de educación superior y cómo el uso de Internet puede aumentar el riesgo de ansiedad social en víctimas de ciberostracismo. Estos hallazgos tienen importantes implicaciones prácticas en futuros programas de prevención e intervención.

Studies on cyberbullying recognize that peer group pressure can activate certain moral disengagement mechanisms that promote the perpetration of aggressive behaviors online. The objectives of this research were to analyze the association of peer group pressure with cyberaggression and to test the mediation effect of different moral disengagement strategies. The total sample was 1,487 schoolchildren (48.1% girls; M = 13.46, SD = 1.07) aged 11 to 17, who were surveyed using self-reports. Descriptive and mediation analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro. The results indicated that there was a direct, significant relationship between peer pressure and cyberaggression. The moral disengagement strategies that showed an indirect effect on the relationship between peer pressure and cyberaggression were minimizing of responsibility, distortion of consequences, and dehumanization. Here, we discuss how the cognitive processes originated by peer pressure may be related to the perpetration of immoral behaviors online.

Research has shown that high self-esteem has numerous personal and social benefits, especially in adolescents. However, it is necessary to examine whether involvement, as aggressors or victims, in online and offline aggressive behaviours or the presence or absence of empathy, affective and cognitive, can influence adolescents’ self-esteem. The present study analysed whether bullying, cyberbullying, and empathy were longitudinally related to self-esteem. It was hypothesized that low bullying and cyberbullying involvement and high affective and cognitive empathy would be related to high self-esteem. The sample consisted of 876 students (48.7% girls) aged 12-19 years (M = 14.91, SD = 1.71) through a longitudinal study with two waves of survey data collection. Low bullying victimization and high cognitive empathy were found to be related to high self-esteem cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Likewise, lower affective empathy, low cyberbullying victimization, and low bullying aggression were longitudinally related to higher self-esteem. It is suggested that decreased bullying and cyberbullying and increased cognitive empathy could have numerous benefits for self-esteem improvement in prevention and mental health intervention programs with adolescents who are in the educational stage.