Carolina Yudes

The increasing prevalence of problematic social media use (PSMU) has heightened concerns about its adverse impact on social media users’ mental health, and specifically on suicidality. Despite reviews investigating the associations between PSMU, emotion regulation, and suicidality, there is a lack of understanding of the potential role that specific emotion regulation might play. This study aimed to bridge this gap by examining the mediating role of four specific maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) (i.e., rumination, self-blame, other-blame, catastrophizing) in the prospective link between PSMU and suicidal ideation in a sample of 517 adolescents (M = 13.41, SD = 1.06). The results showed that PSMU was significantly associated with suicidal ideation nine months after its assessment. Maladaptive CERS were negatively associated with both PSMU and suicidal ideation, with the exception of other-blame, which was not significantly related to PSMU. The findings of mediation analyses indicated that only self-blame mediates the negative and prospective link between PSMU and suicidal ideation. Specifically, those adolescents who present PSMU were found to exhibit a higher level of self-blame, which, in turn, contributed to greater suicidal ideation nine months later. These findings reinforce the notion that not only might PSMU be a risk factor for suicide in adolescence, but also that efforts should focus on identifying such adolescents and on helping them to reduce self-blame. The implications of this study for the prevention of suicidal ideation associated with PSMU in adolescents are discussed.

El principal objetivo de la obra es abordar el reto que supone el aumento del uso de las tecnologías y los riesgos asociados, como el ciberacoso, evaluando sus consecuencias en el ajuste psicológico, el funcionamiento social y el rendimiento académico de los/as adolescentes. La guía describe paso a paso cómo implementar con los adolescentes un programa de intervención orientado a abordar el uso problemático de las tecnologías y el ciberacoso y a aumentar la concienciación y el conocimiento sobre estos fenómenos y su impacto durante la adolescencia.El programa psicoeducativo PsicoTIC se estructura en seis sesiones de una hora, llevadas a cabo semanalmente. Durante estas sesiones, los/as adolescentes van a adquirir (dependiendo de su implicación y las condiciones de aplicación del programa) conocimientos sobre el uso problemático de las tecnologías y el ciberacoso, junto con las principales características que los definen.

Introduction: The main aim of this research was to explore the contribution of both core self‐evaluations (CSE) and classmate support as unique predictors of positive and negative psychological adjustment among adolescents.Methods: In a cross‐sectional study, 2,293 Spanish adolescents (M_age = 14.07) completed the Core Self‐Evaluations Scale, the Classmate Support subscale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales and the Frequency of Suicidal Ideation Inventory. Pearson correlations among assessed variables were examined, and three hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictive role of CSE and classmate support on life satisfaction, depressive symptomatology, and suicidal ideation.Results: Both CSE and classmate support were positively related to life satisfaction and negatively related to depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Hierarchical regression analyses identified CSE and classmate support as independent predictors of both positive and negative psychological outcomes in this sample. These results indicated support for a comprehensive model involving CSE and classmate support as additive predictors of both positive and negative outcomes among adolescents.Conclusion: These findings underscore the unique and additive role of both individual (i.e., CSE) and, to a lower degree, social factors (i.e., classmate support) to augment the prediction model of positive and negative psychological adjustment among adolescents. Practical implications are discussed, focusing on preventive programs that include strategies to increase positive self‐appraisals and create a supportive classroom climate.

While findings have documented the association between emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, and suicidal ideation among adolescents, few studies have investigated the moderating effect of family climate on the association. This study examined the moderating effect of family cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict on the relationships between emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, and suicidal ideation among Spanish adolescents. A total of 2,722 adolescents aged 12 to 18 (M_age = 14.11, SD = 1.42, 52.8% girls) formed the sample. The interaction effects were significant, with family conflict mitigating the effects of emotional intelligence on life satisfaction, and family cohesion and expressiveness strengthening the effects of emotional intelligence on suicidal ideation. These findings provide additional evidence for the protective role of family cohesion and expressiveness in adolescent suicidal ideation, and the harmful role of family conflict in adolescent wellbeing. The results imply that enhancing family cohesion and expressiveness and reducing family conflict may be a promising way to boost the link between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction and to prevent suicidal ideation among adolescents.

A large body of literature has identified the problematic Internet use as a risk factor for cyberbullying perpetration. Nevertheless, the studies on protective factors that may moderate this relationship are still scarce. The purpose of the present study was to examine if the emotional intelligence is a moderator in the relationship between problematic Internet use and cyberbullying perpetration. A total of 2039 Spanish adolescents between 12 to 18 years filled out three self-report questionnaires to evaluate these variables. Results indicated that cyberbullying perpetration was positively associated with problematic Internet use and negatively with emotional intelligence. On the other hand, problematic Internet use was negatively related to emotional intelligence, being this relationship stronger in girls. With respect to the possible buffering effect, emotional intelligence moderated the relation between problematic Internet use and cyberbullying perpetration in boys, especially at lower levels. These findings suggest that emotional intelligence is a personal resource which have an important protective role for the problematic Internet use in adolescents. Implications for the preventive interventions of cyberbullying perpetration are discussed.

(1) Cyberbullying has gained increased attention from society and researchers due both to its negative psychosocial consequences and the problems that have risen relating to the misuse of technology. Despite the growing number of scientific studies, most research has focused on victims of cyberbullying rather than on the cyberbullies. This study examines the predictive value of personal resources (emotional intelligence, gratitude, and core self-evaluations) and risk factors (cybervictimization, problematic Internet use), and parental control in online activities on adolescents’ involvement in cyberbullying perpetration. (2) A total of 2039 Spanish adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age took part in this research (53.9% females). (3) Twenty-two percent of the sample was engaged in cyberbullying behaviors (more male adolescents). Insults and online social exclusion were the most frequent types of cyberbullying perpetration. Age, cybervictimization, problematic Internet use, and deficits in the use and regulation of emotions were the best predictors of cyberbullying perpetration. (4) Cyberbullying is a social reality in which personal and family variables converge on a particularly vulnerable age group. Our findings suggest that both well-known predictors of cyberbullying (cybervictimization and problematic Internet use) along with others less studied dimensions (i.e., emotional abilities) need to be taken into account in future school-based interventions aimed to prevent cyberbullying perpetration.

The goal of this cross-cultural study was to analyze and compare the cybervictimization and cyberaggression scores, and the problematic Internet use between Spain, Colombia and Uruguay. Despite cultural similarities between the Spanish and the South American contexts, there are few empirical studies that have comparatively examined this issue. The study sample consisted of 2,653 subjects aged 10-18 years. Data was collected through the cyberbullying questionnaire and the Spanish version of the “Revised generalized and problematic Internet use scale”. Results showed a higher prevalence of minor cyberbullying behavior in Spain between 10-14 years. In the three countries compared, there was a higher prevalence of two types of bystanders: the defender of the victim and the outsider, although in Colombia there were more profiles of assistant to the bully. Regarding the problematic use of the Internet, there were not differences between the three countries. We provide evidence on the relationship between cybervictimization and cyberaggression and problematic use of the Internet. The dimensions of compulsive use and regulation of mood are the best predictors of cyberbullying. We discuss our results in relation to the possible normalization of violence and its lack of recognition as such. El objetivo de este estudio transcultural ha sido analizar y comparar las puntuaciones de cibervictimización y ciberagresión, y el uso problemático de Internet en adolescentes de España, Colombia y Uruguay, ya que pese a las semejanzas culturales existentes entre el contexto latinoamericano y español son escasos los estudios empíricos que los han comparado previamente. La muestra estuvo formada por 2.653 participantes de 10 a 18 años. Se recogieron datos a través del cuestionario de ciberacoso y de la versión en castellano del «Revised generalized and problematic Internet use scale». Los resultados ponen de manifiesto una mayor prevalencia de conductas de ciberacoso leve en España entre los 10-14 años. En los tres países, destacan dos roles de ciberobservador: defensor de la víctima y no comprometido ante la agresión, aunque con más perfiles de apoyo al agresor en Colombia. No se observan diferencias en un uso problemático de Internet entre los tres países. Se proporcionan evidencias sobre la relación de la cibervictimización y ciberagresión con el uso problemático de Internet. Las dimensiones de uso compulsivo y regulación del estado anímico son las que mejor predicen el ciberacoso. Los resultados son discutidos con relación a la posible normalización de la violencia y su falta de reconocimiento como tal.

In the current study we explored lexical, syntactic, and semantic processes during text comprehension in English monolinguals and Spanish/English (first language/second language) bilinguals with different experience in interpreting (nontrained bilinguals, interpreting students and professional interpreters). The participants performed an error-detection task in which they read English texts and tried to identify lexical, syntactic, and semantic errors embedded in texts. After reading, global comprehension of the texts was assessed by means of a sentence verification task and open/ended questionnaire. The results showed that the interpreters detected more syntactic and semantic errors than monolinguals, nontrained bilinguals and interpreting students. They also had better global comprehension. We discussed the consequences of bilingualism, working memory capacity, and training in interpreting on text comprehension.

This study aimed to investigate the capacity of coordinating comprehension and production processes and the role of phonological working memory in simultaneous interpreting. To this end we evaluated the Articulatory Suppression (AS) effect in three groups of participants, monolingual controls, students of interpreting and professional interpreters. Three variables were examined, the material to be studied (words, pseudo-words), the complexity of the articulations (simple, complex) and the articulatory rate (participants produced their speech at their own rate). Monolingual controls showed AS effect in all study conditions; students of interpreting showed AS effect in complex study conditions and professional interpreters showed AS effect only when they studied pseudo-words and produced complex articulations. These results suggest that coordinating comprehension and production processes in interpreters is mediated by the retrieval of lexical–semantic information and the distribution of the speech.