The Effects of Positive Interventions on Happiness and Depressive Symptoms, with an Examination of Personality as a Moderator

The advent of positive psychology has triggered research into positive interventions, which focus on strengths instead of deficits. The present study aims to investigate the effects of gratitude and strengths-based interventions on happiness and depressive symptoms against a control group, as well as to explore personality traits as moderator variables of the potential effectiveness of these interventions. A total of 122 participants completed at least two stages of the research. Data were collected at three stages—baseline pre-test, post-intervention assessment, and 1-month follow-up assessment. The findings partially support the effectiveness of the gratitude and strengths-based interventions in increasing happiness and decreasing depressive symptoms compared to a control group. Two personality domains showed significance as moderator variables. More research is needed to enable a higher degree of control when administering these promising interventions.     

Parental Awareness and Monitoring of Adolescent Internet Use

This study focused on four aspects of parental monitoring of Internet use by their children: parental supervision, communication and tracking, and adolescent disclosure. Data were obtained from a SAFT (Safety Awareness for Teens Project) national survey of Singapore youths and parents regarding Internet safety at home. Study 1 examined 1,124 adolescents and 1,002 parents; Study 2 examined a subsample of 169 dyads of adolescents and their parents. Frequency of use and engagement in risky Internet behaviors such as visiting inappropriate websites were analysed. The results indicated that parents tend to underestimate adolescents’ engagement in risky Internet behaviors and overestimate the amount of parental monitoring regarding Internet safety that occurs at home. The study suggested that mothers have a better awareness of their adolescents’ Internet use than fathers. The findings were explained in the context of parental monitoring. The results suggest that parental monitoring needs to be reconceptualized and that parents need to improve the communication with their adolescents regarding Internet use.     

Initial behavior outcomes for the peacebuilders universal school-based violence prevention program

PeaceBuilders is a universal, elementary-school-based violence prevention program that attempts to alter the climate of a school by teaching students and staff simple rules and activities aimed at improving child social competence and reducing aggressive behavior. Eight matched schools (N > 4,000 students in Grades K-5) were randomly assigned to either immediate postbaseline intervention (PBI) or to a delayed intervention 1 year later (PBD). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze results from assessments in the fall and spring of 2 consecutive school years. In Year 1, significant gains in teacher-rated social competence for students in Grades K-2, in childself-reported peace-building behavior in Grades K-5, and reductions in aggressive behavior in Grades 3-5 were found for PBI but not PBD schools. Differential effects in Year 1 were also observed for aggression and prosocial behavior. Most effects were maintained in Year 2 for PBI schools, including increases in child prosocial behavior in Grades K-2. Implications for early universal school-based prevention and challenges related toevaluating large-scale prevention trials are discussed.     

Factors influencing adolescents engagement in risky Internet behavior.

The present study used data from the SAFT (Safety, Awareness, Facts and Tools) Singapore survey, a national survey of 1,124 youths aged 12-17, to explore the issue of risk on the Internet. We investigated factors that influence adolescents' engagement in risky Internet behavior, in particular, meeting face-to-face someone they first encountered online. The adolescents ranged from ages 12 to 17, with a mean of 14.32 (SD = 1.37); 49.6% of the adolescents were girls. The study utilized a 93-item survey that was part of the SAFT Project. Results indicated that 16% of adolescent Internet users in Singapore have had a face-to-face meeting with someone first encountered online. The following factors were found to be predictors of adolescents engagement in such face-to-face meetings: age, frequency of Internet use, frequency of chatting and gaming behavior, parental rules, type of personal information given out, amount of inappropriate messages received, whether inappropriate websites have been visited, and type of internet advice heard. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Relations between self-serving cognitive distortions and overt vs. covert antisocial behavior in adolescents

The present study addressed the relations between cognitive distortions (inaccurate thoughts, attitudes, or beliefs) and antisocial behavior that is either overt/confrontational (e.g., fighting) or covert/nonconfrontational (e.g., stealing). A controlled analysis of 52 male delinquents and a comparison sample of 51 high school students aged 14–18 years found the delinquents to be higher in both cognitive distortions and self-reported antisocial behavior. Furthermore, cognitive distortion related specifically to overt and covert antisocial behavior in both samples. In particular, cognitive distortion having overt antisocial behavior as its referent (e.g., “People need to be roughed up once in a while”) evidenced a significant path to overt but not covert antisocial behavior. Conversely, covert-referential cognitive distortion (e.g, “If someone is careless enough to lose a wallet, they deserve to have it stolen”) evidenced a significant path to covert but not overt antisocial behavior. The theoretical and treatment implications of the findings are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 24:335–346, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Examining the influence of actual-ideal self-discrepancies, depression, and escapism, on pathological gaming among massively multiplayer online adolescent gamers

This study examined whether actual-ideal self-discrepancy (AISD) is related to pathological gaming through escapism as a means of reducing depression for adolescent massively multiplayer online gamers. A Discrepancy-reduction Motivation model of pathological video gaming was tested. A survey was conducted on 161 adolescent gamers from secondary schools. Two mediation effects were tested using path analysis: (a) depression would mediate the relationship between AISDs and escapism, and (b) escapism would mediate the relationship between depression and pathological gaming. Results support the hypotheses stated above. The indirect effects of both AISD and depression were significant on pathological gaming. AISD and escapism also had direct effects on pathological gaming. The present study suggests that pathological behaviors may be over-regulated coping strategies of approaching the ideal self and avoiding the actual self.