Open Access

ARTICLE

Personal Belief in a Just World and Adolescents’ Emotional Intelligence: The Indirect Role of Online Self-Disclosure in a Two-Wave Semi-Longitudinal Study

Yuting Zhao¹, Shaojie Wang^1,*, Junchi Meng², Jiayuan Chen¹, Xinyi Li¹, Xiumin Xu¹, Shuling Luo¹, Yaqi Kuang¹, Zhengzhen Liang¹
1 School of Education, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, China
2 School of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
* Corresponding Author: Shaojie Wang. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Promoting Mental Health and Cognitive Development Among Digital Natives)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2026.085638

Received 14 May 2026; Accepted 10 August 2026; Published online 27 August 2026

Abstract

Background: Adolescents’ online interactions are important contexts for emotional development, yet little is known about how personal belief in a just world (PBJW) is prospectively associated with emotional intelligence (EI) through online self-disclosure. This study aimed to examine whether honest online self-disclosure (HOSD) and positive online self-disclosure (POSD) were indirectly associated with the prospective relationship between PBJW and adolescents’ EI. Methods: A two-wave survey was conducted with 567 adolescents from two junior high schools in Guangdong Province, China, over approximately seven months. PBJW, HOSD, POSD, and EI were assessed at both waves. In the focal structural equation models, T1 PBJW was specified as the predictor, T2 HOSD and POSD as indirect variables, and T2 EI as the outcome. Specific and serial indirect associations were tested using bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals. Results: T1 PBJW was positively associated with T2 HOSD, POSD, and EI. T2 HOSD was positively associated with T2 POSD, and both forms of self-disclosure were associated with EI. Significant specific and serial indirect associations were identified. The HOSD-specific indirect association was significant only for other-emotion appraisal, whereas the POSD-specific indirect association was significant for self-emotion appraisal and use of emotion. The serial indirect association through HOSD and POSD was significant for self-emotion appraisal, regulation of emotion, and use of emotion, but not for other-emotion appraisal. Conclusions: PBJW was prospectively associated with adolescents’ later EI through dimension-specific indirect associations involving online self-disclosure. These findings highlight heterogeneity across EI dimensions.

---

Keywords

Adolescents; personal belief in a just world; emotional intelligence; online self-disclosure; serial indirect effects; two-wave semi-longitudinal study

---