Stability and change in longitudinal patterns of antisocial behaviors: The role of social and emotional competencies, empathy, and morality

Studies show that different types of antisocial behaviors share similar risk and protective factors related to particular social, emotional and moral competencies. Nevertheless, little is known about the longitudinal relation of social, emotional and moral competencies with patterns of antisocial behaviors in youth. The present study aimed to discover the longitudinal relations between social and emotional competencies, empathy, moral emotions, moral disengagement, and perceived moral disengagement induced by parents, and the patterns of antisocial behaviors and change in these patterns over time. A sample of 898 Spanish students aged between 9 and 17 was followed up for one year. Self-reported data were analyzed using latent transition analyses and multinomial regressions. Results showed that age, several mechanisms of moral disengagement, perceived parental moral disengagement induction, and several social and emotional competencies predicted offenders outside of school and highly antisocial and victimized patterns, including their stability over time. Moreover, males at early ages and perceived parental moral disengagement induction predicted the high bullying victimization pattern. Being a male, with high victim dehumanizing and blaming, predicted stability of the high bullying victimization pattern. Being a male, early ages, and low responsible decision-making predicted changes from the high bullying victimization pattern to the low antisocial pattern. Results are discussed emphasizing the need to conduct prevention and intervention programs from a comprehensive perspective promoting social, emotional and moral competencies. This study could have useful implications for prevention and intervention focused on decreasing risk and increasing protective factors.

Bullying and Cyberbullying in Spain and Poland, and Their Relation to Social, Emotional and Moral Competencies

Bullying and cyberbullying have been intensively studied in many countries, and research on the topic has been fruitful. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to advance knowledge on bullying and cyberbullying in many geographical areas and to discover their risk and protective factors. The objective of this study was to describe and compare the involvement in different bullying and cyberbullying roles in Spain and Poland, identifying risk and protective factors such as moral disengagement, social and emotional competencies, moral emotions and empathy. This study was carried out with a sample of 2535 primary and secondary school students from Spain and Poland. More bullying and cyberbullying involvement were found in Poland in comparison with Spain. Different moral disengagement mechanisms were found to be risk factors for involvement in bullying and cyberbullying in both countries. Low moral emotions were a risk factor for bullying and cyberbullying perpetration in Spain and Poland. Different social and emotional competencies were protective against bullying and cyberbullying in both countries. These results suggest the need to design and implement more programs to promote social, emotional and moral competencies in Spain and Poland to protect children against bullying and cyberbullying.

Evaluation of the SPARK Child Mentoring Program: A Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum for Elementary School Students

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs seek to enhance social and emotional competencies in children, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. By means of direct instruction regarding social and emotional competencies, SEL programs have the potential to strengthen resilience in children and thus their capacity to effectively cope with life’s challenges. Strengthening resilience in children who are repeatedly exposed to adverse experiences, particularly those from economically disadvantaged minority backgrounds, is of particular importance and has implications for the prevention of a multitude of problems later in life. Our study reports the result of an investigation of the SPARK Child Mentoring program, a resilience-focused SEL program designed to reduce risk factors, uncover innate resilience, promote natural emotional well-being, and facilitate school success. We employed a randomized controlled trial comprising 94 elementary school students that included pre- and post-intervention measurements. After controlling for pre-intervention levels, we found a significant difference between students’ understanding of underlying program principles; communication, decision making, and problem-solving skills; emotional regulation; and resilience for students who received the intervention compared to students who did not receive the intervention. These results provide initial evidence for the efficacy of the SPARK Child Mentoring program with a diverse sample of elementary school students and adds to the existing literature base concerning positive outcomes associated with SEL programs. We discuss implications for future research focused on long-term preventive effects of the program and the characteristics of students most likely to benefit from it.

Bias-Based Cyberbullying in Spanish Adolescents and Its Relation to Social and Emotional Competencies and Technology Abuse

Some studies suggest that sexual and ethnic-cultural minority groups are at high risk of cyberbullying, but almost all of them focused on general cyberbullying without including specific bias-based behaviors. This study analyzed psychometric properties of a bias-based cyberbullying measure, described prevalence rates of bias-based cyberbullying in ethnic-cultural and sexual majority and minority groups, and discovered if social and emotional competencies and technology abuse predicted bias-based cyberbullying. A survey was answered by a representative sample of 2,139 adolescents from Andalusia (Spain). The measure of bias-based cyberbullying was found to have good psychometric properties. Bias-based cyberbullying victimization and being a cyberbully/victim were common among the immigrants and sexual minorities. The majority group and Roma ethnicity showed similar prevalence rates, with more perpetration than the immigrants and sexual minorities. Social and emotional competencies were protective, and technology abuse was a risk factor for bias-based cyberbullying. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.