{"title":"Analytical Robustness and Competing Interpretations in Violent Video Game Research: A Response to Teng and Bushman's (2026) Reanalysis of Lacko et al. (2024)","authors":"David Lacko, Hana Machackova, David Smahel","doi":"10.1002/ab.70073","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ab.70073","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Recent debates on violent video game (VVG) effects highlight the importance of analytical robustness and transparency in longitudinal research. Teng and Bushman reanalyzed our prior study, identifying several methodological concerns and arguing that our conclusions were unwarranted. In this response, we examine their reanalysis and assess whether their conclusions hold across alternative analytical specifications and operational decisions. Through comprehensive robustness checks available on OSF, we address concerns regarding model specification, missing data, measurement decisions, and time constraints. We further examine the unexpected empathy–aggression association and alternative VVG operationalizations. While some inconsistencies emerge across different specifications, the results do not consistently support General Aggression Model (GAM) interpretations in this dataset. We further identify inconsistencies and incomplete reporting in Teng and Bushman's presentation of results, data processing procedures, and interpretation of effect sizes. Finally, we argue that the current debate reveals a fundamental theoretical problem: without precise specifications of mechanisms, developmental patterns, and falsifiable predictions, GAM risks unfalsifiability when contradictory findings can all be accommodated as supporting evidence. We advocate for formal modeling approaches to enhance theoretical rigor and predictive specificity in violent media research.</p>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ab.70073","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148213184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When Anonymity Fades: Continued Impact of an Intervention Targeting Emerging Adult Cyberbullying","authors":"Christopher P. Barlett, Jordan E. Scott","doi":"10.1002/ab.70072","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ab.70072","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Research has demonstrated the psychological and behavioral consequences of cyberbullying—for both perpetrators and victims alike. These effects highlight the importance of continued empirical attention towards validating efficacious cyberbullying interventions. However, the majority of cyberbullying interventions target youth and employ in-person and whole-school lessons that are derived from theory that does not distinguish traditional and cyberbullying. The current study aims to provide continued validity evidence of the “You're Not Anonymous” intervention, which (i) is derived from theory unique to cyberbullying, (ii) delivers the curriculum online using a short video, (iii) targets adults, and (iv) educates participants on how online behavior is not anonymous. US adult participants (<i>N</i> = 171) completed measures of cyberbullying perpetration, cyberbullying attitudes, and online disinhibition before being randomly assigned to view the YNA video or a control video. Afterwards the same online disinhibition and cyberbullying attitudes measures were completed. Finally, 1 month later, participants completed the cyberbullying perpetration measure again. Results showed that online disinhibition (specifically dissociative anonymity) decreased significantly for only YNA participants, and post-video online disinhibition mediated the relationship between the condition participants were assigned to and cyberbullying 1 month later. Taken together, these results suggest continued efficacy for the YNA intervention while highlighting the role that certain online disinhibition facets play in that efficacy.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148200987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kyle T. Edwards, Andrew V. Dane, Anthony A. Volk, Naomi C.Z. Andrews, Ann H. Farrell
{"title":"An Evolutionary Perspective on Bullying and Social Power: The Roles of Cooperation and Manipulation","authors":"Kyle T. Edwards, Andrew V. Dane, Anthony A. Volk, Naomi C.Z. Andrews, Ann H. Farrell","doi":"10.1002/ab.70070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.70070","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Bullying has been shown to have adaptive functions, and some research has suggested this may be partly due to perpetrators making flexible use of both coercive and prosocial strategies. The current study probes this possibility further by examining whether bullying is differentially associated with two distinct affiliative strategies—genuinely cooperative affiliation and manipulative affiliation. Our study also examines whether bullying and the two affiliative strategies have differential relations with cooperative and competitive aspects of social power. A sample of 477 adolescents (45.5% girls; <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 15.50) completed peer nomination measures assessing direct and indirect bullying, cooperative affiliation, manipulative affiliation, and three facets of social power: social dominance (dominance and popularity), peer affection (likeability and number of friendships), and dating popularity. Multigroup path modeling by gender indicated that both direct and indirect forms of bullying were significantly associated with manipulative affiliation but not cooperative affiliation. Path analyses examining bullying and the two affiliative strategies in relation to social power found that bullying was positively associated with social dominance and dating popularity (direct bullying only), but these links depended on the level of manipulative affiliation. Manipulative affiliation had significant positive relations only with competitive aspects of social power (social dominance and dating popularity), whereas cooperative affiliation had significant positive associations with all three aspects of social power, and most strongly with peer affection. These findings underscore the importance of understanding how bullying may be combined with manipulative affiliation and highlight the potential of promoting genuine cooperation as an alternative to bullying within anti-bullying interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ab.70070","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148147196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Aggression in Social Anxiety: Narcissistic Self-Centeredness as a Differentiator in Person-Centered and Variable-Centered Analyses.","authors":"Reyihangu Tuerxun, Yanan Li, Lixia Cui","doi":"10.1002/ab.70069","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ab.70069","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although social anxiety (SA) is typically conceptualized as an internalizing vulnerability, a subset of socially anxious individuals display heightened aggression. The present study examined whether vulnerable narcissism-particularly narcissistic self-centeredness-helps explain heterogeneity in the SA-aggression association. Chinese university students (N = 872) completed measures of SA (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale; Social Phobia Scale), vulnerable narcissism (Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale; self-centeredness and rejection sensitivity), and proactive/reactive aggression (Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire). Latent profile analysis using the two SA indicators and the two vulnerable-narcissism facets identified seven profiles. A high-SA/high-vulnerable-narcissism profile (\"Vulnerable-Defensive\"; 9.9% of the sample) reported aggression levels in the highest tier across all three aggression indices, together with a Moderate-SA/Moderate-VN profile (Class 5; 23.9%) and a High-SA/Low-VN profile (Class 6; 6.3%). Planned contrasts showed that, despite both profiles occupying the highest SA tier, the Vulnerable-Defensive profile-which additionally scored substantially higher on self-centeredness-reported higher reactive aggression (d = 0.32) and total aggression (d = 0.34) than a high-SA/low-vulnerable-narcissism profile. Complementary moderated regressions indicated that self-centeredness modestly strengthened the association between SA and proactive aggression (interaction B = 0.095, p = 0.032; f<sup>2 </sup>= 0.005) but not reactive aggression. These results suggest that SA is not uniformly associated with aggression; narcissistic self-centeredness helps differentiate high-SA individuals who are at heightened risk for aggressive responding.</p>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 3","pages":"e70069"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148037288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Ostracism in Social Media Drives Aggression to Others and the Self Among Adolescents: The Dual Pathways of Thwarted Belongingness and Perceived Burdensomeness.","authors":"Deqin Tan, Rui Zhang, Li Yang","doi":"10.1002/ab.70068","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ab.70068","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the growing prevalence of social media use among adolescents, its potential negative consequences warrant serious attention. This longitudinal study examined the associations between three common types of cyber social ostracism, namely cyber personal chat ostracism, cyber group chat ostracism, and cyber personal space ostracism, and adolescent suicidality and bullying behavior, as well as the mediating roles of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. A total of 5478 adolescents were assessed across three waves spaced 6 months apart. The results showed that all three forms of online ostracism significantly predicted adolescents' suicidality through elevated thwarted belongingness, and that cyber personal chat ostracism and cyber personal space ostracism further increased suicidality via perceived burdensomeness. Multi-group analyzes demonstrated that the indirect pathway from cyber personal chat ostracism to suicidality via thwarted belongingness was significantly stronger for girls than for boys, whereas other pathways did not differ by gender. These findings highlight the distinct psychological mechanisms linking online ostracism to self-directed suicidality in adolescents, and underscore the importance of considering gender differences in prevention and intervention efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 3","pages":"e70068"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147678320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bullying Profiles and Co-Rumination: A Latent Transition Analysis in Adolescents","authors":"María Misas, Antonio Camacho, Eva M. Romera","doi":"10.1002/ab.70066","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ab.70066","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Bullying during adolescence implies different forms of involvement that shape specific profiles, whose identification allows for understanding this phenomenon. However, it is essential to explore the mechanisms associated with the persistence or change of these profiles over time. Co-rumination may be crucial as a social-cognitive process in bullying development, reinforcing negative thought patterns among peers. The aim of this study was to examine involvement in bullying by identifying participation profiles and analyzing their longitudinal probability of stability or transition according to adolescents' levels of co-rumination. A total of 1537 adolescents aged 12–16 years (54% boys and 46% girls; <i>M</i><sub>AgeT1</sub> = 12.98, SD = 0.82) participated at two time points 1 year apart. The latent profile analysis conducted with M<i>plus</i> 8.10 identified three bullying profiles: bully-victims, victims, and uninvolved, which showed stability across both time points. There was a tendency for bully-victims and victims to transition toward the uninvolved profile, although bully-victims also showed some probability of subsequently adopting the victim role. When considering co-rumination, adolescents with higher levels were more likely to belong to the victim profile across both assessments. Regarding transitions, the findings revealed that an increase in co-rumination was associated with a higher probability that victims maintain this profile, as well as with the transition of bully-victims toward victimization. These results provide a deeper understanding of the evolving dynamics of bullying profiles and offer valuable insights for designing interventions aimed at promoting effective coping strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13051527/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maya A. Irvin-Vitela, Monica A. Marsee, Tess M. S. Neal
{"title":"Parsing Heterogeneity: Sex Differences in Youth Antisocial Behavior","authors":"Maya A. Irvin-Vitela, Monica A. Marsee, Tess M. S. Neal","doi":"10.1002/ab.70065","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ab.70065","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examined sources of heterogeneity in antisocial behaviors in a large-scale and nationally representative sample of <i>n</i> = 7655 youth from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study. Separate latent profile analyses were conducted for males and females using indicators of physical aggression, relational aggression, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and conduct symptom severity. Distinct profiles emerged within each sex. Among females, profiles were primarily differentiated by levels of CU traits, whereas among males, physical aggression played a more central role in distinguishing groups. In both sexes, a higher-risk profile characterized by elevated aggression and/or CU traits was identified alongside a lower-severity marked by minimal conduct problems and aggression. Profiles also differed significantly in overall distress, with the higher-risk male profile demonstrating the greatest distress and the lower-risk female profile the least. Findings highlight meaningful sex-specific configurations of aggression and CU traits and underscore the importance of person-centered, sex-informed approaches to developmental models, assessment, and intervention in youth with antisocial behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13014443/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147516455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Well, That Was a Rude Exchange! A Multi-Study Examination of Trust as a Mediator Between Cyberbullying or Cyber Incivility Victimization and Relational Outcomes at Work","authors":"Gary W. Giumetti, Robin M. Kowalski","doi":"10.1002/ab.70064","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ab.70064","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Guided by social exchange theory, we conducted two experiments and a longitudinal field study to examine the role of trust as a mediator between victimization from two forms of online mistreatment (cyber-incivility and cyberbullying) and three relational outcomes: supervisor satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). In Experiment 1, 90 employees were randomly assigned to read email exchanges that contained either uncivil, cyberbullying, or neutral messages between a co-worker and a team leader. Results indicated that participants perceived the leader as less trustworthy when cyber-incivility or cyberbullying messages were communicated. In Experiment 2, 136 employees were randomly assigned to read a series of email exchanges between a co-worker and a team leader that were either low or high in trust. Participants reported greater satisfaction and likelihood of engaging in OCBs and lower likelihood of engaging in CWBs with a highly (as compared to low) trustworthy leader. In the longitudinal field study, 313 employed adults completed four waves of an online survey. Findings indicated that trust mediated the relationships between cyber-incivility or cyberbullying victimization and supervisor satisfaction and OCBs (but not CWBs). Implications for future research and practice are discussed.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50842,"journal":{"name":"Aggressive Behavior","volume":"52 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147470126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}