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This cross-sectional study aims to examine the age differences in state anxiety (i.e., anxiety triggered toward specific situations) as well as its relationship to the reading comprehension of Chinese students with and without dyslexia across school ages. In total, 131 typically developing students and 81 students with dyslexia in primary and secondary schools were recruited in Taiwan. Our results indicate that students with versus those without dyslexia have different patterns of state anxiety across the three age levels. In addition, we found similar patterns between students with dyslexia and those without across the three age levels in the effects of state anxiety on reading comprehension. However, the contributions of state anxiety to reading comprehension tended to decline as typically developing students matured, while they remained relatively constant for students with dyslexia across the three age levels. These results may have implications for teaching activities or examinations for students whose state anxiety has a significant impact on their reading comprehension skills.

The present study examined the mediating effect of processing speed on the relationship between state anxiety and reading comprehension in Chinese children with and without reading disabilities (RD). A total of 53 Chinese children with RD and 66 typically developing children were administered cognitive and noncognitive measures. We found that the two groups had distinct patterns of state anxiety and processing speed. A significant indirect effect of state anxiety on reading comprehension through processing speed was found only in children with RD. Our findings contribute to filling a research gap and provide evidence to front-line practitioners for adapting the teaching and measures for Chinese children with RD.

While there is a strong assumption of a direct link between family climate and school bullying victimization, studies on such a direct link have shown inconsistent results. Furthermore, family climate and children's social relationships with teachers and peers at school have been considered potential protective factors against school bullying victimization among adolescents. However, not much is known about how these factors function as protectors against school bullying victimization among children early in middle childhood. Studies examining how these protective factors work together to reduce school bullying victimization are also lacking. This paper attempts to fill the gap by studying how children's social relationships with peers and teachers at school mediate the association of family climate with school bullying victimization among children in the early period of their middle childhood in Taiwan. It also examines how sex influences the mediating effects and interrelationships among family climate, children's school social relationships at school, and school bullying victimization. Data were obtained from a nationally representative sample of 1230 third graders (about 8 years old) in Taiwan. The results showed that family climate had a nonsignificant direct link with school bullying victimization, but a significant indirect link with school bullying victimization mediated through relationships with peers and teachers. These findings are relevant for both sexes. Findings provide empirical support that family climate has an indirect link with school bullying victimization through relationships with teachers and peers. The study indicated that to reduce school bullying victimization among those who are early in middle childhood, potential intervention programs may consider promoting students' relationships with teachers and peers.

Although previous research has indicated an association between school engagement and adolescent victimization, its causal direction has not been determined, particularly in Chinese and East Asian cultural contexts. This study used a longitudinal panel data to explore the likely causal direction between school engagement and adolescent victimization in the context of school and cyberspace. Three hundred fifty-six students and their homeroom teachers in lower secondary school (Grades 7-9) in Hong Kong participated in a 2-wave panel study with a 9-month time interval. Students provided self-report information on their experiences with school violence and cyberbullying, and their homeroom teachers assessed their students' engagement in school. The results of latent variables and autoregressive cross-lagged panel analysis suggested that school engagement at wave 1 was a significant predictor of school victimization at wave 2, but school victimization at wave 1 did not predict school engagement at wave 2. Similarly, school engagement at wave 1 was a significant predictor of cyberbullying victimization at wave 2, but school victimization at wave 1 did not predict school engagement at wave 2. These findings were also relevant for both sexes. The findings demonstrated that school engagement could be a protective factor against adolescent exposure to violence in school and cyberspace in Hong Kong. The findings informed school practitioners in Hong Kong that increasing student engagement in school could be a key strategy to reduce students' risk of being bullied in school and cyberspace.

Despite contradictory empirical evidence, some suggest that physical exercise is directly related to bullying perpetration. Moreover, the quality of social relationships between adolescents and their parents, peers, and teachers has been proposed as a crucial mediator in the relationship between physical exercise and bullying perpetration. However, few empirical studies have examined such hypotheses. This study used data obtained from the 2014–2015 China Education Panel Survey to examine the direct association between physical exercise and bullying behaviors, as well as the indirect pathways from physical exercise to bullying that are mediated by teenagers' social relationship quality. The results showed no significant direct relationship between physical exercise and bullying behaviors. However, physical exercise has indirect associations with bullying behaviors mediated through social relationship quality, with peer relationships having the strongest mediating effect. The findings indicate that social relationships could mediate the association between physical exercise and bullying behaviors. The study suggests that future prevention and intervention programs should promote adolescents' participation in physical exercise and their social interactions with parents, peers, and teachers to reduce bullying perpetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the Tendency to Avoid Physical Activity and Sport Scale (TAPAS) among university students living in Hong Kong to assess weight and body image concerns. A convenience sample of 787 students (63.5% females; 24.5% overweight) were recruited online. The factor structure of the scale was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Multigroup CFA was used to assess measurement invariance across gender and weight categories. The unidimensional structure of the scale was confirmed (χ2 = 78.046, CFI = 0.996). Factor loading ranged from 0.536 to 0.902, and internal consistency was good (α =.93, ω =.95). The scale was measurement invariant across gender and weight status using both metric and scalar invariance methods (−0.004<ΔCFI<-0.002). The scale can help to identify barriers of weight concerns regarding physical activity engagement which would help in the development of preventive interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the similarities and differences between three distinct Chinese societies (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China) regarding the contribution of gender and grade level to school violence, the ranking orders of perpetration and victimization behavior, and the correlates of school nonattendance due to violence. A cross-national random sample of 2,582 junior high school students was obtained. The results of Rasch analyzes revealed that verbal violence is most frequent. Male students are most likely to be aggressive and victimized. Grade-level differences in school violence were shown to be weak or insignificant. School nonattendance is generally associated with being kicked, punched, socially excluded, blackmailed, threatened, or sexually kissed without consent. The results were similar across societies. The findings imply that the contextual differences between Chinese societies may not account for different effects of gender and grade level on school violence, behavioral patterns of school violence, and correlates of school nonattendance.

We consider auditory and visual temporal processing and alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric rapid naming to separately examine the associations of temporal processing and rapid naming with Chinese character reading in children with and without dyslexia. A total of 112 Chinese children in primary school from third grade to sixth grade were recruited from Taiwan. Half of them were identified as dyslexic, and the other half were typically developing children matched to the dyslexic group by age, gender, and IQ. The interaction of groups of participants and non-alphanumeric rapid naming contributed significantly to Chinese character reading in addition to temporal processing and rapid naming. Moreover, the important role of rapid naming in the contribution of temporal processing to Chinese character reading was found only in children with dyslexia (specific to non-alphanumeric rapid naming). On the contrary, the significant contributions of temporal processing to Chinese character reading without rapid naming were found in children with and without dyslexia. However, the auditory modality was identified for typically developing children, while the visual modality was identified for children with dyslexia. The present study is among the first to show the associations among temporal processing on visual and auditory modalities, different rapid naming, and reading in Chinese children with and without dyslexia. Our results imply qualitative differences between the cognitive profiles of Chinese children with and without dyslexia. Our findings in this study may enhance understanding and preliminarily bridge the current research gap in the field of temporal processing in Chinese.

This study aims to bridge the research gap in the humour comprehension problems of individuals with dyslexia in Chinese culture. We conducted a nonexperimental study to examine the differences between Chinese adolescents with and without dyslexia in visual humour comprehension as well as the group differences in the correlation of visual humour comprehension with other abilities. In total, 48 Chinese adolescents (16 individuals with dyslexia and 32 individuals without dyslexia) were recruited in Hong Kong. They were all administered several tasks: tests of nonverbal IQ, Chinese character reading, visual-spatial attention, orthographic knowledge, and visual humour comprehension. Our results indicated that visual humour comprehension is correlated with other abilities. Additionally, the group with dyslexia performed significantly less accurately on most tasks except humour comprehension accuracy. However, only visual spatial attention, orthographic knowledge, and humour comprehension speed significantly predicted membership in the two groups. Finally, approximately half of the participants with dyslexia had significantly slower humour comprehension than those with typical development. Our findings shed light on problems with humour comprehension exhibited by Chinese individuals with dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Problematic use of internet (PUI) may have negative impacts on psychological distress and quality of life (QoL). This situation might be more profound in people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) due to poorer behavioral control and regulatory capacity. However, there is little evidence regarding mediated effects in the associations between PUI, psychological distress, and QoL in people with ADHD. Aims: To investigate mediating effects of psychological distress in the associations of problematic smartphone use (PSPU), problematic use of social media (PUSM), and problematic gaming (PG) with QoL in individuals with ADHD. Methods and Procedures: PUI behaviors of participants with ADHD (n = 99) were assessed using the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, and Internet Gaming Disorder-Short Form. Psychological distress was assessed using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale and QoL using the Kid-KINDL. Outcomes and Results: Psychological distress mediated the associations between PUI and different domains of QoL, except for self-esteem QoL. There were also positively direct effects between PG and physical QoL, PUSM and friends' QoL, and PSPU and physical QoL. Conclusions and Implications: PUI may associate with poor QoL in people with ADHD via psychological distress. Programs on reducing PUI for people with ADHD are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate teachers' perspectives on the implementation and effectiveness of anti-bullying strategies in schools. A total of 538 primary and secondary school teachers from 22 schools in Taiwan agreed to participate in this study. They were asked to rate self-developed questionnaires regarding the implementation and perceived effectiveness of anti-bullying strategies in their schools. The Rasch measurement method was adopted to both analyse the data and ensure the validity and the reliability of the evidence. The results of this study showed that strategies like patrolling, reporting and appeal measures as well as school safety facilities had high levels of implementation and perceived effectiveness. Strategies with both low implementation and low perceived effectiveness included classroom decorations with anti-bullying elements, bullying prevention brochures and establishing anti-bullying committees within schools. Strategies regarding anti-bullying lectures for teachers and analysing the results of bullying prevention for further improvement were perceived as effective strategies with low implementation. Strategies with high implementation but low perceived effectiveness included anti-bullying slogans and posters, regular surveys and student competitions. In addition, it was shown that teachers' perceived effectiveness can correlate with and impact their implementation of anti-bullying strategies. Researchers and practitioners can refer to teachers' perceived effectiveness and implementation of anti-bullying strategies to design bullying prevention programmes.

This cross-sectional study aims to examine the age differences in state anxiety (i.e., anxiety triggered toward specific situations) as well as its relationship to the reading comprehension of Chinese students with and without dyslexia across school ages. In total, 131 typically developing students and 81 students with dyslexia in primary and secondary schools were recruited in Taiwan. Our results indicate that students with versus those without dyslexia have different patterns of state anxiety across the three age levels. In addition, we found similar patterns between students with dyslexia and those without across the three age levels in the effects of state anxiety on reading comprehension. However, the contributions of state anxiety to reading comprehension tended to decline as typically developing students matured, while they remained relatively constant for students with dyslexia across the three age levels. These results may have implications for teaching activities or examinations for students whose state anxiety has a significant impact on their reading comprehension skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]