Although a large body of research has indicated that parent-adolescent communication is a crucial protective factor for adolescent Internet addiction, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. To address this research gap, this study, based on social control theory and the organism-environment interaction model, was designed to test whether school engagement mediated the relationship between parent-adolescent communication and adolescent Internet addiction and whether this mediating effect was moderated by rejection sensitivity. A sample of 1006 adolescents (Mean_age = 13.16 years, SD = 0.67) anonymously completed the questionnaires. The results showed that the positive association between parent-adolescent communication and adolescent Internet addiction was mediated by school engagement. Moreover, this indirect link was stronger among adolescents with high rejection sensitivity than those with low rejection sensitivity. These findings highlighted school engagement as a potential mechanism linking parent-adolescent communication to adolescent Internet addiction, with high rejection sensitivity being an important risk factor amplifying this indirect effect. Intervention programs aimed at reducing Internet addiction among adolescents might benefit from the current research.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is an emerging health problem among adolescents. Although previous studies have shown that deviant peer affiliation is an important risk factor for this behavior, the reasons for this relationship are unclear. Based on the integrated theoretical model of the development and maintenance of NSSI and the social development model of delinquency prevention, this study tested whether depression mediated the relationship between deviant peer affiliation and NSSI and whether this mediating effect was moderated by sensation seeking. A sample of 854 Chinese adolescents (31.50% male; M_age = 16.35; SD = 1.15) anonymously completed questionnaires on the study variables. Results of regression-based analyses showed that depression mediated the association between deviant peer affiliation and NSSI, and this effect was stronger among adolescents who reported high sensation seeking. The results demonstrate the role of individual differences in the link between affiliation with deviant peers and NSSI, and have implications for preventing and treating this risky behavior.

Cybervictimization has been shown in many studies to be a risk factor for adolescent non-suicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI). In this study we tested the roles of depression and school connectedness in this association. The Integrative Model of NSSI, Emotion Regulation and Interpersonal Relationship Model of NSSI, and Integrative Model of Social Media and Suicide provided the conceptual framework for the study. A sample of 1106 adolescents (M_age = 13.17; SD = 0.69; 51.78% girls) completed anonymous questionnaires in their classrooms. The results of structural equation modeling showed that the positive association between cybervictimization and adolescent NSSI was mediated by depression. Moreover, this indirect link was stronger for adolescents with low vs. high school connectedness. The results have implications for intervention programs aimed at reducing NSSI among adolescents.

Although numerous researches have shown that self-control is a significant promoter of prosocial behavior, the mechanism behind this relationship is still unclear. According to the organism–environment interaction model and self-control model, this study researched whether life satisfaction played a mediating role between self-control and adolescents’ prosocial behavior and if friendship quality played a moderating role between self-control and prosocial behavior. This study used a longitudinal tracking research (T1&T2; and the interval between T1&T2 is 6 months). A total of 1182 Chinese middle school students participated the survey. They were between 12 and 15 years old (average age: 14.16 years old, SD = 1.29). Results indicated that life satisfaction played a mediating role between self-control and adolescents’ prosocial behavior. Furthermore, this direct relationship in the link between self-control and prosocial behavior was significant when adolescents had a good-quality friendship. These results highlight that life satisfaction plays an important role in the relationship between self-control and prosocial behavior. The present study further determined that a high-quality friendship was an important factor that amplified this direct effect.

Research has shown that violent video games induce attentional bias toward aggressive information. However, the effects of prosocial video games on selective attention are poorly understood. This study investigated attentional bias toward prosocial stimuli at different presentation durations (i.e., 100, 500, and 1,250 milliseconds [ms]) after short-term prosocial video game exposure. Sixty males (mean age: 20.26 years; range: 19–23 years) participated in this study. Half of them played a prosocial video game for 30 minutes, whereas others played a neutral one. A spatial cueing paradigm was then used to investigate attentional bias. Results showed that there was both attention orientation and difficulty in attention disengagement toward prosocial stimuli when the presentation lasted 100 ms in the prosocial game group, but not in the neutral group. There was no group difference at 500 or 1,250 ms, suggesting that the attentional bias toward prosocial information might occur at the early stages of cognitive processing. These results provided initial evidence of the influence of prosocial video games on cognitive processing and advanced our understanding of related theories.