Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-07-21
Abstract： As a kind of negative social behavior, aggression not only brings harm to others, but also disturbs social harmony and order and threatens public security. Numerous studies have discussed the inducing factors of aggression, among which social exclusion has been widely concerned as a strong predictor. However, the studies about the association between social exclusion and aggression have shown mixed results. Theoretically, there are two main arguments about the relationship between social exclusion and aggression. The general aggression model suggests that social exclusion triggers negative emotions, hostile cognition, or a high level of physiological arousal, which leads to aggression. While the emotional numbness hypothesis argued that social exclusion causes individuals to be a state of physiological or emotional numbness, which avoids the occurrence of aggressive behaviour. Empirically, the effect sizes of this relationship reported in the existing literature were far from consistent, with r values ranging from -0.02 to 0.74. Therefore, this meta-analysis was conducted to clarify the strength of the relationship between social exclusion and aggression and reveal possible moderators.
Through literature retrieval, 92 studies (99 independent effect sizes, a total of 65564 subjects) met the inclusion criteria were selected. A random-effects model was selected to conduct the meta-analysis in Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.3 software, aiming at testing our hypotheses. The results of heterogeneity test illustrated that there was significant heterogeneity among 99 independent effects, indicating that the random effect model is suitable for subsequent meta-analysis. Based on the funnel chart and Egger’s regression test of intercept, no significant publication bias was found in the included studies.
The main effect analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between social exclusion and aggression (r = 0.38, 95% CI [0.34, 0.41]); The moderation analyses revealed that the relationship between social exclusion and aggression was moderated by age, research methods, aggression types (reactive aggression vs. proactive aggression), social exclusion and aggression measurement tools, and research design (cross-sectional study vs. longitudinal study), but not by individualism index and gender.
The results of this meta-analysis can clarify the controversy of the correlation between social exclusion and aggression, indicating that excluded individuals are often accompanied by the increase of aggression level. Future research are encouraged to strengthen the prevention and intervention of aggressive behavior caused by social exclusion among low-age groups, especially preschool children and primary school students.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Junior high school students are in a stage of rapid development in physiology and psychology, and they are prone to some mental health problems when facing stressful events in life. In addition, with the advent of the digital age, contemporary junior high school students have become digital natives, and their mental health is facing greater challenges. Therefore, the mental health care of junior high school students is a realistic problem that can not be ignored. The prevalence of mental health problems of junior high school students is an important topic in many fields, but the results of the research on this problem are not consistent, and the detection rate varies greatly across studies, which brings confusion to mental health workers. It is necessary to integrate the original research and draw more general and accurate conclusions from the macro perspective, so as to provide high-quality evidence support for precise intervention of mental health. Therefore, based on literature review, the present study focuses on the prevalence of internalizing problems including anxiety, depression, sleep problems, suicidal ideation, and suicide plans, as well as the prevalence of externalizing problems including self-harm and suicide attempt among junior high school students. By searching the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database and Web of Science core collection database from 2010 to 2020, we obtained the final effective literatures including 50 articles about anxiety, 95 articles about depression, 21 articles about sleep problems, 26 articles about self-injury, and 30 articles about suicide. We used the software Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 3.3 and the random effect model for data analysis. The results showed that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, sleep problems, self-injury, and suicidal ideation were 26.9%, 23.9%, 16.7%, 22.4%, and 17.1%, respectively. The prevalence of suicide plans and suicide attempts were 6.6% and 3.9% separately. In addition, the moderating effect analysis found that in terms of anxiety, the moderating effects of publication year, measurement tools, detection time, grade, and economic region were significant, but the moderating effects of gender, only child or not and birthplace were not significant. In terms of depression, the moderating effects of measurement tools and detection time were significant, but the moderating effects of publication year, grade, gender, only child or not, birthplace, and economic region were not significant. In terms of sleep problems, the moderating effects of publication year, grade, gender and economic region were not significant. In terms of self-injury, the moderating effects of economic region were significant, but the moderating effects of publication year, measurement tools, grade, gender, only child or not, and birthplace were not significant. As to suicidal ideation, the moderating effects of measurement tools and gender were significant, but the moderating effects of publication year, grade and economic region were not significant. In terms of suicide plans, the moderating effect of grade was significant, but the moderating effects of grade, gender and economic region were not significant. Finally, in terms of suicide attempts, the moderating effect of publication year is significant, but the moderating effects of grade, gender and economic region were not significant. In conclusion, junior high school students faced different levels of mental health problems, among which the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and self-injury rank in the top three. The prevalence of mental health problems of junior high school students showed a deteriorating trend with the development of the years, especially anxiety and suicide attempt. The prevalence of mental health problems of junior high school students is affected by the inconsistency of measurement tools, detection standards and detection time. In addition, the prevalence of mental health problems increased with grade, especially that of anxiety; The prevalence of mental health problems in girls is higher than that in boys, especially that of suicide. Students in the central and western regions in China are more likely to have mental health problems, especially anxiety and self-injury. In the future, we should develop scientific measurement tools and screening standards based on Chinese culture, and establish a dynamic monitoring system of mental health and a school mental health service system.
Subjects: Psychology >> Other Disciplines of Psychology submitted time 2022-01-04
Abstract： The prevalence of mental health problems of junior high school students is very different in many studies, which fails to provide sufficient basis for the formulation of mental health policy and the construction of mental health service system. In order to identify the overall prevalence of mental health problems and clarify its influencing factors, a meta-analysis of literature retrieved from 2010 to 2020 was performed. The results showed that: (1) Junior high school students faced different degrees of mental health problems, among which the prevalence of anxiety, depression and self-harm ranked in the top three. (2) Some aspects of mental health problems of junior high school students showed a worsening trend with the development of the years, especially anxiety and suicide attempt. (3) The prevalence of mental health problems of junior high school students is seriously affected by the inconsistency of measurement tools, detection criteria and detection time. (4) Generally, the prevalence of mental health problems in junior high school students increases with the grade, especially anxiety. (5) The prevalence of mental health problems among girls is higher than that of boys, especially suicide. (6) Junior high school students in the central and western regions are more likely to have mental health problems, especially anxiety and self-harm, than those in the northeast and eastern regions. In the future, scientific measurement tools and standards should be developed based on the Chinese background, and a mental health dynamic monitoring system and school mental health service system should be established.
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