School Psychology International 1–19 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0143034315605574 spi.sagepub.com Article Message processes and their associations with adolescents’ executive function and reports of bullying John P. Crowley Colorado State University, CO, USA Jacquelyn A. Harvey-Knowles University of Washington, WA, USA Nathaniel R. Riggs Colorado State University, CO, USA Abstract Substantial research has identified the negative health outcomes associated with bullying for adolescent victims. Researchers have examined expressive writing as a possible method by which to decrease violence among adolescents. Results of these studies, however, suggest that expressive writing is associated with positive, negative, and neu- tral outcomes for adolescents. The present study had two aims related to these mixed findings. First, it sought to investigate the association between micro- and macro-level message processes that relate with self-regulation in adolescent writings about bullying and their reports of bullying behavior. Second, it examined whether executive function processes may play a role in explaining the inconsistent results for expressive writing among adolescents. Results identify several message processes that are linked with reports of bullying behavior directly as well as indirectly through the pathway of execu- tive function. Implications for expressive writing interventions aimed at reducing bully- ing are discussed, particularly with respect to the importance of screening for executive function. Keywords Adolescents, bullying, executive function, expressive writing, message processes, self-regulation Corresponding author: John P. Crowley, Department of Communication Studies, 1783 Campus Delivery Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO 80523-1783 USA. Email: john.crowley@colostate.edu at COLORADO STATE UNIV LIBRARIES on September 17, 2015 spi.sagepub.com Downloaded from