The role of late adolescents' emotion regulation in the experience of COVID-19 lockdown: A longitudinal study.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be considered a unique mass-trauma experience. This study examined the relations between Italian late adolescents' emotion regulation strategies, their anxiety states, and their experience of the lockdown (in terms of discomfort related to restrictions, capacities to create new functional daily routines, and to find positive changes in one's own life) during the first wave of this pandemic. We analysed how participants' reports of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were associated with anxiety states during the 2020 Italian COVID-19 lockdown (large scale physical distancing and movement restrictions) and one month after the lockdown restrictions had been removed. We also examined how cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and anxiety states were linked to late adolescents' experience of lockdown. The participants were 497 Italian adolescents, aged from 17 to 24 years (Mage  = 21.11, SD = 1.83). A longitudinal structural equation modelling showed that emotion regulation strategies and anxiety states were not associated across time. Cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with routine reorganization and positive changes. In contrast, participants' expressive suppression was negatively related to their discomfort related to restrictions, ability to functionally reorganise their daily routine, and ability to find positive changes related to the COVID-19 emergency. Anxiety was positively linked to discomfort related to restrictions. The findings are discussed in light of the current literature related to emotion regulation and anxiety. Limitations and implications for practice are presented.

Pro-Environmental Behaviors and Well-Being in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Place Attachment.

Adolescents represent the future generation, so it is important to pay attention to behaviors that involve them as actors in social activities and constitute the expression of an adequate growth path. Engaging in pro-environmental behaviors leads adolescents to do something good for themselves, for their own community, and for the place in which they live, and this type of conduct increases their levels of well-being and place attachment. This study examines the association between pro-environmental behavior and personal and social well-being in a sample of 1925 adolescents aged 14 to 20 years. Structural equation analyses showed a direct positive effect of pro-environmental behavior on personal and social well-being as well as place attachment. The latter partially mediated the relationship between pro-environmental behaviors and personal and social well-being. This study is significant in that it provides new data on how pro-environmental behaviors enhance adolescents' personal and social well-being by potentially ensuring long-term benefits, thereby suggesting that it is important to stimulate, motivate, and recommend these kinds of actions.

Cybervictimisation and Well-Being during the Outbreak of COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Depression.

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to modifying relational habits and increasing Internet use to engage in antisocial behaviours such as cybervictimisation. Additionally, social distancing can reinforce the relationship with internalising behaviours such as depression. Through an adolescent sample, this study examines the relationship between cybervictimisation and well-being and the mediating role of depression. The hypothesis was tested via Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis to verify the role of depression as a mediator between cybervictimisation and well-being. The main results reveal that the effect of cybervictimisation on well-being was fully mediated by depression. The findings should stimulate debate on possible interventions to promote adolescent well-being and to avoid emotional and mental health problems related to social isolation.

Adolescent Psychological Well-being, Radicalism, and Activism: The Mediating Role of Social Disconnectedness and the Illegitimacy of the Authorities.

The identification of factors that counter youth's radicalization while promoting democratic activism is a timely social issue. This paper examines the association of psychological well-being (PWB) with violent radicalism and nonviolent activism, by focusing on the mediating role of both social disconnectedness (SD) and the perceived illegitimacy of the authorities (PIoA). Two mediation structural equation models (full vs. partial) were applied to data collected from 328 Italian adolescents (14-19 years). The results showed how SD and PIoA fully mediated the link of PWB with radicalism (negatively) and activism (positively). This model was further supported when compared with an alternative one proposing PWB as a mediator between SD and PIoA. The findings are discussed in light of the existing literature and provide potential implications for practice.

Mediating Processes in the Relations of Parental Monitoring and School Climate With Cyberbullying: The Role of Moral Disengagement.

In recent years, studies have extensively explored both personal and environmental predictors of cyberbullying. Among these predictors, parental monitoring and school climate were often expected to be associated with cyberbullying behaviors. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms through which these relations may develop. The present study aimed to expand the current research by testing a theoretical model including the mediating role of moral disengagement in the relations between parental monitoring (including less collaborative vs. more collaborative strategies), school climate, and cyberbullying behaviors. Five hundred and seventy-one Italian adolescents (54.5% male) aged 14 to 20 years were recruited from high schools. Measures included demographics and parental monitoring, school climate, moral disengagement and cyberbullying scales. To test the hypothesized model, we estimated full and partial mediation models by structural equation modeling. Results showed negative indirect links of parental monitoring (but only the more collaborative strategies) and school climate with cyberbullying via moral disengagement. Less collaborative strategies of parental monitoring were neither directly nor indirectly related to cyberbullying. The findings revealed moral disengagement as an important process in explaining how ecological factors, such as parenting behaviors and school environments, are associate with cyberbullying. Limitations, strengths, and implications for practice are presented.