Bullying and cyberbullying are important global issues with negative consequences for physical and mental health in education. The objective of this study was to analyze to what extent some dimensions of emotional intelligence predict certain manifestations of bullying and cyberbullying in adolescents. The total number of subjects recruited in compulsory secondary education schools, was 309 (53.1% female). Their ages ranged from 12 to 16 (M = 14.17, SD = 1.4). The used instruments were the school violence questionnaire and the emotional coefficient inventory; the study design was cross-sectional. Results showed that the score increases on some scales (adaptability, stress management, and interpersonal) involved a greater risk of increasing the likelihood of social perception the different manifestations of school violence. However, in the general mood, the increase in this variable score implied lower perceiving in likelihood of violent behavior. It is important to take into account preventive actions aimed at improving school life and, above all, to alleviate difficulties in managing stress, adaptability, and interpersonal relationships.
School anxiety and psychopathological symptoms tend to co-occur across development and persist in adulthood. The present study aimed to determine school anxiety profiles based on Lang’s model of the triple response system (cognitive anxiety, psychophysiological anxiety, and behavioral anxiety) and to identify possible differences between these profiles in psychopathological symptoms (depression, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, anxiety, psychoticism, obsessive-compulsive, phobic anxiety, and paranoid ideation). The School Anxiety Inventory (SAI) and the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire (SA-45) were administered to 1525 Spanish students (49% girls) between 15 and 18 years old (M = 16.36, SD = 1.04). Latent Profile Analysis identified four school anxiety profiles: Low School Anxiety, Average School Anxiety, High School Anxiety, and Excessive School Anxiety. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed statistically significant differences among the school anxiety profiles in all the psychopathological symptoms examined. Specifically, adolescents with Excessive School Anxiety showed significantly higher levels of the nine psychopathological symptoms than their peers with Average School Anxiety and Low School Anxiety. In addition, the Excessive School Anxiety profile scored significantly higher in phobic anxiety than the High School Anxiety group. These findings allow to conclude that it is necessary enhance well-being and reduce psychopathology of those adolescents who manifest high and very high reactivity in cognitive, psychophysiological, and behavioral anxiety.
Failure in dealing with anxiety-provoking situations and stressors in the school setting may have negative consequences not only on children’s performance, but also on their well-being in the future. This research aimed to examine the relationship of forms of anxiety (anticipatory anxiety, school-based performance anxiety, and generalized anxiety) with sources (teacher interactions, academic stress, peer interactions, and academic self-concept) and manifestations (emotional, behavioral, and physiological) of school-based distress. Specifically, our objectives were to examine the correlations between anxiety and school-based distress and, using a person-centered approach, to verify whether different anxiety profiles differed in their levels of distress. The Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised (VAA-R) and the School Situation Survey (SSS) were administered to 756 Spanish students (Mage = 9.6, SD = 1.12); 50.3% were girls. Pearson’s correlation coefficients revealed a positive and significant association between each form of anxiety and each source and manifestation of distress. The latent profile analysis identified three anxiety profiles: High Anxiety, High School-based performance Anxiety, and Low Anxiety. The High Anxiety profile scored significantly higher in all sources and manifestations of distress than the Low Anxiety profile. The High Anxiety profile showed significantly higher scores in peer interactions and emotional and behavioral manifestations of distress than the group High School-based performance Anxiety. Suggestions for intervention strategies according to the risk profile are discussed.
School refusal is a serious problem that negatively affects academic performance, connection to school, and socioemotional well‐being of students. Numerous scientific works have suggested that school refusal is associated with internalizing problems. However, it is necessary to determine how this condition may affect certain academic variables, such as perceived academic self‐efficacy. This study has three objectives: to identify school refusal profiles according to the Kearney and Silverman functional model (1990); to analyze differences in means based on the identified profiles of perceived academic self‐efficacy; and to determine the predictive capacity of school refusal on perceived academic self‐efficacy. Participants consisted of 2357 Spanish students (56.8% girls), aged 13–17 (M = 15.24, SD = 1.26). They were administered the School Refusal Assessment Scale‐Revised (SRAS‐R) and the Academic Situation‐Specific Perceived Self‐Efficacy Scale (ASSPSE). Three profiles of school refusal were identified using Latent Profile Analysis, and the differential functioning of these profiles was determined using the academic self‐efficacy dimension. Mixed profiles of school refusal obtained the lowest mean scores on the academic self‐efficacy dimension. The findings are discussed with regard to the importance of enhancing perceived academic self‐efficacy to prevent school attendance problems in adolescents and young children.
This research aimed to examine the relation between child anxiety and causal attributions in mathematics using a person-centered approach. The Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised and the Sydney Attribution Scale were administered to 1287 Spanish students aged 8 to 11 (M = 9.68, SD = 1.20); 49.4% were girls. Four child anxiety profiles were obtained by the latent class analysis technique: Low Anxiety, Moderate Anxiety, High Anxiety, and Low Anxiety School-type. The four anxious groups significantly differed in all attributions of failure and in attributions of success to ability and effort, with effect sizes ranging from small to large (d = 0.24 to 0.99). The group with the highest anxiety levels attributed its failures more to the lack of ability and effort, and less to external causes. This group attributed its successes less to ability and effort. However, the Low Anxiety School-type group attributed its failures more to external causes and its successes more to ability and effort. The practical implications of these findings suggest that applying cognitive-behavioral programs for anxiety with a component of attribution retraining could be useful to improve both anxiety levels and the maladaptive attributional pattern of each child anxiety profile.
The relationship between school refusal behavior (SRB) profiles and personality traits has received little attention from investigators. Identifying the profiles of students with school attendance problems may improve the understanding of the characteristics defining these students. The aim of this study was to identify different SRB profiles and analyze the relationship between these profiles, and optimism/pessimism and personality traits. The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised, the Youth Life Orientation Test, and the Big Five Questionnaire were administrated to 739 Spanish students aged 8–11 (Mage = 9.92; SD = 1.12). Pearson’s correlation coefficients revealed a significant association between personality dimensions and SRB. Three distinct profiles were identified: (1) SRB by negative reinforcement (high scores on avoiding school-related stimuli provoking negative affectivity), (2) SRB by positive reinforcement (high scores on pursuing positive tangible reinforcement outside of school), and (3) Low SRB. The SRB profile by positive reinforcement scored higher on Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Optimism, whereas the SRB profile by negative reinforcement scored higher on Neuroticism and Pessimism. More statically significant differences were found between the negative and positive reinforcement profiles. The role of negative personality traits and pessimism as risk factors for students who are truant or refuse to attend school are discussed.