Mindfulness Moderates the Association Between Perceived Discrimination and Cyber Aggression Among Emerging Adults with Early Left-Behind Experience: A Longitudinal Study

PURPOSE: Although the risk effect of perceived discrimination on left-behind youth’s mental health (mainly emotional problems) has been demonstrated in prior studies, there is a lack of longitudinal studies examining the effect of perceived discrimination on behavioral problems, particularly in emerging adults with early left-behind experience. In addition, little is known about individual differences in terms of this association. In the present study, we draw on the social information processing model of aggression to examine the effect of perceived discrimination and mindfulness on cyber aggression. METHODS: We used two-wave longitudinal panel data involving 535 emerging adults with early left-behind experience in rural China (M (age) = 19.89 years; SD = 1.20; 57.2% female). To test the moderating role of mindfulness, hierarchical multiple regression and simple slope test analyses were performed. RESULTS: The results of linear regression analysis demonstrated that higher levels of perceived discrimination at T1 were significantly associated with higher cyber aggression at T2; the strength of this association was buffered by mindfulness over time. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the facilitation of mindfulness training may be an effective strategy for reducing the risk of perceived discrimination leading to cyber aggression in emerging adults with early left-behind experience.