The present study aimed to examine differences in three psychological constructs (satisfaction with life, loneliness, and helplessness) among adults experiencing ghosting and breadcrumbing. A sample of 626 adults (303 males and 323 females), aged from 18 to 40 years, completed an online survey asking to indicate whether someone they considered a dating partner had ghosted or breadcrumbed them in the last year and to complete three different scales regarding satisfaction with life, loneliness, and helplessness. The results showed than those participants who had indicated experiencing breadcrumbing or the combined forms (both breadcrumbing and ghosting) reported less satisfaction with life, and more helplessness and self-perceived loneliness. The results from the regression models showed that suffering breadcrumbing would significantly increase the likelihood of experiencing less satisfaction with life, and of having more feelings of loneliness and helplessness. However, no significant relation was found between ghosting and any of the examined psychological correlates.
The present study examined the relations among poly-bullying victimization (experiencing multiple forms of peer bullying), resilience and subjective well-being. This study specifically examined late adolescents’ resilience as a moderator of the relation between poly-bullying victimization and subjective well-being. In a region of central Spain, 1430 undergraduate students (64% females, 36% males), aged between 18 and 22 years, completed three self-reported measures, including bullying victimization experiences, self-reported subjective well-being and resilience. A substantial proportion of the participants (16.9%) reported being victims of poly-bullying. The results showed that the poly-bullying victimization group reported the poorest subjective well-being and the lowest resilience levels. The regression analyses revealed that resilience was significantly and positively associated with subjective well-being, and resilience moderated the association between poly-bullying victimization and subjective well-being. However, the relation was very weak and accounted for only an additional 1% of variance in the participants’ subjective well-being. Future research should assess resilience trajectories of youth exposed to multiple forms of bullying victimization in order to better understand the potential protective effect of resilience over negative mental health outcomes.
Digital life forms part of daily reality for young people. For this reason, traditional bullying in school has been reproduced in the online environment, resulting in an overlap of off- and online bullying. Research on socio-emotional competencies and bullying is revealing interesting results among students in secondary schools. However, studies involving primary school students are much scarcer. In addition, the majority of studies have been carried out based on an understanding of socio-emotional competencies as a unidimensional construct. In the present study, we examined the overlap between off- and online bullying victimization and the influence of the factors comprising socio-emotional competencies on this overlap. Participants comprised 1130 students (49.7% were boys and 50.3% were girls) from the fifth and sixth grades at 15 schools in the autonomous communities of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The results indicate a high rate of overlap between off- and online bullying victimization, without significant gender differences. Poor relationship skills in boys and low self-management in girls were associated with being a victim of both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. The conclusions point to an interesting line of intervention and prevention, establishing a framework of confluence for social and emotional variables within the primary education context.