Camodeca Marina, Nava Elena
University of Udine, Italy.
University of Milan-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
J Interpers Violence. 2022 Feb;37(3-4):NP2056-NP2075. doi: 10.1177/0886260520934438. Epub 2020 Jun 29.
Bullying at school is a serious social problem that influences the wellbeing of everyone involved, that is, victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. Among the many health and psychological problems that these individuals may develop, emotion dysregulation appears to be a common marker. To date, however, it remains unclear whether bullying experienced during the school years is associated with emotion dysregulation also in adulthood. In this study, by adopting a retrospective approach, we investigated whether involvement in bullying at school-either as a bully, victim, or bystander-could put these individuals at risk of presenting deficits in emotion regulation in adulthood, as assessed with behavioral (explicit) and physiological (implicit) indexes (i.e., skin conductance), and whether the association between the involvement in bullying and emotion regulation was direct or mediated by other factors, such as somatic complaints and sensation seeking. A total of 58 young adults were asked to control their emotional reactions in front of images with strong emotional content, and to explicitly evaluate them with ratings, while their arousal was measured through skin conductance. They also responded to questionnaires about retrospective involvement in bullying, somatic complaints, and sensation seeking. Results revealed that victimization and bystander behavior were directly and negatively associated with emotion regulation as assessed with skin conductance, whereas bullying was positively associated with implicit emotion regulation through the mediation of sensation seeking. Interestingly, emotion regulation as assessed with explicit ratings was not associated with any of the characteristics of the participants. Our study suggests that being directly (as victim) but also indirectly (as bystander) involved in bullying at school time is associated with difficulties in emotional wellbeing in adulthood. Furthermore, it reveals that behavioral and physiological indexes associated with emotion regulation dissociate, suggesting that subtle physiological changes may remain hidden from explicit behavior.
校园霸凌是一个严重的社会问题，会影响到每一个相关人员的幸福安康，即受害者、霸凌者和旁观者。在这些人可能出现的众多健康和心理问题中，情绪失调似乎是一个常见特征。然而，迄今为止，尚不清楚在学生时代遭受的霸凌是否在成年后也与情绪失调有关。在本研究中，我们采用回顾性研究方法，调查了在学校参与霸凌行为（无论是作为霸凌者、受害者还是旁观者）是否会使这些人在成年后出现情绪调节缺陷的风险，这通过行为（显性）和生理（隐性）指标（即皮肤电传导）进行评估，以及参与霸凌与情绪调节之间的关联是直接的还是由其他因素（如躯体不适和寻求刺激）介导的。共有58名年轻成年人被要求在面对具有强烈情感内容的图像时控制自己的情绪反应，并用评分进行明确评估，同时通过皮肤电传导测量他们的兴奋程度。他们还回答了关于回顾性参与霸凌、躯体不适和寻求刺激的问卷。结果显示，以皮肤电传导评估，受害经历和旁观者行为与情绪调节呈直接负相关，而霸凌行为通过寻求刺激的中介与隐性情绪调节呈正相关。有趣的是，以明确评分评估的情绪调节与参与者的任何特征均无关联。我们的研究表明，在学生时代直接（作为受害者）或间接（作为旁观者）参与霸凌与成年后的情绪健康问题有关。此外，研究还表明，与情绪调节相关的行为和生理指标相互分离，这表明细微的生理变化可能在显性行为中难以体现。
