The association between social exclusion and malevolent creativity among chinese vocational college students: a chain mediation model of rumination and forgiveness

Malevolent creativity refers to the generation of novel ideas intended to inflict harm on others. Although prior studies have linked social exclusion to malevolent creativity, little is known about the cognitive and emotional mechanisms underlying this relationship. Guided by the 6P Model of Malevolent Creativity, this study examined whether rumination and forgiveness sequentially mediate the association between social exclusion and malevolent creativity among Chinese vocational college students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 427 vocational college students in China. Participants completed validated Chinese versions of measures assessing social exclusion, rumination, forgiveness, and malevolent creativity. Correlation analyses and PROCESS Models 4 and 6 (with 5,000 bootstrap resamples) were employed to evaluate direct and indirect pathways while controlling for gender. Social exclusion was positively associated with rumination and malevolent creativity, and negatively associated with forgiveness. Rumination and forgiveness each independently mediated the association between social exclusion and malevolent creativity. Furthermore, a significant sequential chain mediation pathway through rumination and forgiveness was observed. Cognitive and moral-emotional processing mechanisms help clarify how social exclusion relates to malevolent creativity among vocational college students. Interventions aimed at reducing rumination and fostering forgiveness may reduce harmful creative behaviors stemming from social rejection.