Longitudinal Associations Between Interpersonal Distrust and Social Aggression During College: Disentangling the Within-Person Process from Stable Between-Person Differences.

There is a dearth of information on the relationship between interpersonal distrust and social aggression in the youth, although both may lead to negative interpersonal relationships. Furthermore, scholars have not explored whether interpersonal distrust influences later social aggression over time at the within-person level. This study used five wave longitudinal data to investigate the longitudinal association between interpersonal distrust and social aggression and the role of hostile attribution bias in this relationship; notably, it used a relatively rigorous approach-the random intercept cross-lagged panel model-to disentangle within-person processes from stable between-person differences. The final number of participants included 1053 undergraduate students (677 female students and 376 male students), and 64.3% were female students, with a mean age of 18.45 years (SD = 0.95) at first measurement. Participants completed assessments for interpersonal distrust, hostile attribution bias, and social aggression at five time points across 6-month intervals. At the within-person level, the results revealed that interpersonal distrust was a predictor of later social aggression and that hostile attribution bias acted as a longitudinal mediator in this relationship. This result indicates that to enhance interpersonal harmony and reduce individual hostility and aggression toward others, intervention programs should aim to reduce interpersonal distrust.

Can Treating Oneself Kindly Inspire Trust? The Role of Interpersonal Responsibility.

Self-compassion, as a personal psychological resource, has been proved to play an important role in coping with suffering. Based on self-determination theory, the present study attempts to establish that self-compassion can promote trust, and the sense of interpersonal responsibility mediates this relationship. Study 1 used cross-sectional data in a community sample of 322 adults to reveal that self-compassion was positively related to trust, and the mediating effects of the sense of interpersonal responsibility were significant. Study 2 used the latent cross-lagged panel model among 1304 college students at three-time points set at six-month intervals to replicate the results and proved the longitudinal mediating effects across groups. Finally, a casual chain design was used to test the mediation effect in Studies 3 and 4. The results indicated that self-compassion induced by writing task resulted in a sense of responsibility in Study 3 (N = 145), and the manipulated sense of responsibility promoted both trust behaviors and beliefs in Study 4 (N = 125). Through four studies, this study highlights a novel but unexpected viewpoint that treating oneself in a self-compassionate way can not only help individuals cope with various challenges but also motivate them to obtain interpersonal benefits. These findings can help motivate community workers and mental health researchers to increase social capital by focusing on self-compassion and interpersonal responsibility.

The effect of problematic smartphone use on school engagement and disengagement among middle school students: The mediating role of academic procrastination and sleep quality.

INTRODUCTION: Although a few research have tried to explore the relationship between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and school engagement, most of them are limited to relatively simple correlation, and the mechanism needs to be further explored. This research focused on the relationship between PSU and school engagement/disengagement, and intended to verify two mediation paths. METHODS: We conducted two studies in 2019 at a middle school in China. 289 students (44.6% girls), aged 11-18 (Mage = 13.25, standard deviation [SD] = 1.73), participated in Study 1, a longitudinal cross-lag analysis intend to verify the relationship between PSU and school engagement/disengagement. Using a separate sample, Study 2 explored the mediating roles of academic procrastination and sleep quality. Four hundred thirty-two students aged 11-19 (42.1% girls, Mage = 16.11, SD = 1.56) participated in this cross-sectional study. In both studies, all participants completed self-report measures in classrooms during regular school hours. RESULTS: In Study 1, the results showed that PSU (T1) could significantly predict school engagement/disengagement (T2), but school engagement/disengagement (T1) could not predict PSU (T2). In Study 2, we found that academic procrastination could mediate the effect of PSU on school engagement, and sleep quality could mediate the effect of PSU on both school engagement and disengagement. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlighted that the school engagement/disengagement of adolescents can be influenced by PSU through several different ways, through which we can protect adolescents from the negative effects of PSU.