Fine traditional Chinese culture is the foundation for building an independent knowledge system of Chinese psychology. In the history of developmental psychology, Confucius of China was the first scholar to analyze psychological phenomena from a developmental perspective. The view of psychological development in traditional Chinese culture reveals the laws of human individual psychological development, mainly including the relationship between innate and acquired factors, the relationship between internal and external causes, the relationship between education and development, and the relationship between age characteristics and individual differences.

One effective way to obtain a trustworthy assessment of text difficulty is to employ comparative judgment, a holistic assessment method that has not yet been utilized in Chinese research. The current study gathered 80 evaluators and evaluated the difficulty of 80 texts using the comparative judgment approach. The results showed that the results obtained from comparative judgment had high reliability and were significantly correlated with the number of volumes and readability scores. The reliability and validity tended to be stable with the increase in the number of comparative judgments. No effect of the evaluator characteristics on the comparative judgment results was found, which implies that comparative judgment is also reliable in the assessment of the difficulty of Chinese texts.

In this study, eye-tracking technology was employed to examine the developmental trajectories of eye movement patterns among primary school students and to explore the correlation between reading comprehension and reading cognitive strategies. A total of 291 children from grades 3 to 5 participated in the study. They were instructed to read twelve texts while their eye movements and reading comprehension scores were recorded. Based on their reading comprehension scores, participants were classified into highly- and less-skilled comprehenders. The results revealed that: 1) Eye movement patterns in children from grades 3 and 4 remained relatively stable, while significant developmental changes were observed in grade 5, suggesting that the transition from grade 4 to grade 5 is a critical period for eye movement development during reading. 2) Highly-skilled comprehenders employed more cautious reading strategies, characterized by reduced reading speed and increased regression, to enhance comprehension. The study concludes that children develop “high accuracy focus” reading strategy throughout elementary education.

To explore the relationship between the contextual variable of intercultural sensitivity climate in special education schools and the bicultural identity integration as well as the prosocial behavior of visually impaired students, a total of 1228 visual impairment students from 26 special schools were investigated by using the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale, Bicultural Identity Integration Scale and Adolescent Prosocial Behavioral Tendencies Scale. The results showed that: hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), including HLM with prior Bayesian information, demonstrated that bicultural identity integration plays a significant partial mediating role in the relationship between the intercultural sensitivity climate of special education schools and the prosocial behavior of visually impaired students. Consequently, these findings indicate that special education schools should actively implement multicultural education strategies. Specifically, creating cross-cultural simulations (e.g., sitting in on mainstream school classes) and organizing cooperative projects can enhance students’ bidirectional cultural adaptability. Ultimately, such initiatives offer scaffolded transition support to foster the development of prosocial behaviors in visually impaired students.

The study employed the Physical Health Behavior Scale, the Chinese version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale to conduct a longitudinal survey using cluster sampling among 1034 eighth-grade adolescents, aiming to investigate the dynamic developmental relationships between adolescents’ exercise habits, self-esteem and resilience. The results showed that: 1) Cross-lagged panel model revealed a mutual predictive relationship between exercise habits and self-esteem, with exercise habits unilaterally predicting resilience; also, there was a mutual predictive relationship between self-esteem and resilience. 2) Random intercept cross-lagged panel model revealed that at the within-person level, a reciprocal relationship was observed between exercise habits and resilience, and between resilience and self-esteem. These findings suggest dynamic interconnections among exercise habits, resilience, and self-esteem during adolescent development.

Based on a sample of 481 junior high school students, this study employed polynomial regression and response surface analysis to examine the impact of the consistency between self-appraisal and reflected appraisal on mental health issues, as well as the moderating role of gender in this relationship. The results showed that: 1) when self-appraisal and reflected appraisal were congruent, adolescents with low self-appraisal and low reflected appraisal exhibited higher levels of mental health issues than those with high self-appraisal and high reflected appraisal; 2) when self-appraisal and reflected appraisal were incongruent, adolescents with low self-appraisal and high reflected appraisal reported higher levels of mental health issues than those with high self-appraisal and low reflected appraisal; 3) gender moderated the association between appraisal matching patterns and mental health. These findings highlight that low self-appraisal is a critical risk factor within the relationship between appraisal matching patterns and mental health and provide empirical evidence for the development of gender-differentiated psychological interventions for adolescents.

This study recruited 548 adolescents and their parents as participants to investigate the relationship between discrepancies in perceived parental warmth and adolescent internalizing problems, and the potential gender differences in this relationship, using binomial regression and response surface analysis. The results revealed that: 1) Parents generally perceived higher levels of warmth than their adolescents. 2) When perceptions were congruent, higher levels of warmth were associated with fewer adolescent internalizing problems. Whether paternal warmth increased or decreased, it was associated with elevated internalizing problems among boys. 3) When perceptions were incongruent, adolescents perceiving higher warmth than their parents, with a greater discrepancy, exhibited fewer internalizing problems. However, an increase in the perceived discrepancy between mothers and sons, regardless of the direction of the difference, was associated with an increase in adolescent internalizing problems. These findings reveal the complex role of consistency and discrepancy in perceived parental warmth in adolescent internalizing problems and their gender-specific patterns, extending the intergenerational stake hypothesis and the operational triad model, and providing insights for developing gender-specific mental health interventions and differentiated parenting strategies.

Selective trust and belief revision are key to children’s selective learning. This study used a single-source paradigm to examine how 3- to 5-year-olds use an informant’s kindness and their own prior beliefs in learning. Results showed that: 1) Children were more likely to trust testimony from kind informants and revise their beliefs accordingly. 2) Children with weaker initial beliefs were more receptive to others’ testimony and more willing to change their beliefs. 3) When initial beliefs were weak, 3-year-olds accepted testimony regardless of the informant’s kindness, while 4- and 5-year-olds rejected unkind informants’ input and resisted belief revision. When initial beliefs were strong, 3-year-olds showed no consistent trust in testimony but were more likely to revise beliefs when the informant was kind; in contrast, 4- and 5-year-olds generally distrusted all testimony and maintained their original beliefs. These findings indicate that 3- to 5-year-olds can use kindness as a cue for selective learning, strategically integrate the strength of their existing beliefs, and demonstrate age-related differences in this process.

By using a third-party dictator game paradigm, this study examined how cost imposition (cost-free vs. costly) and inequity direction (disadvantageous vs. advantageous) influence third-party punishment and the role of negative emotions in 4- to 6-year-old children. The results showed that: 1) third-party punishment frequency increased significantly with age; 2) children exhibited significantly higher punishment rates in cost-free conditions than in costly conditions; 3) both punishment behavior and negative emotions were significantly stronger in disadvantageous inequity scenarios than in advantageous inequity scenarios, with negative emotions significantly subsided after punishment. The results indicate that cost imposition and inequity direction have a significant impact on children’s third-party punishment behavior. Children demonstrate both the maintenance of fairness norms and aversion to selfish distributions, with the latter being stronger. Children exhibit negative emotions, and third-party punishment effectively reduces children’s negative emotions.

The current study investigated the relationship between future time perspective (FTP) and sleep quality in high school students, and examined the multiple mediating roles of perceived stress and coping styles. High school students completed surveys including the Future Time Perspective Scale for Adolescents and Young Adults, the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale, the Coping Style Scale of Middle School Students, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The results showed that FTP directly predicted high school students’ sleep quality. Furthermore, perceived stress and positive coping styles independently mediated the relationship between FTP and sleep quality. Two chain-mediated pathways were also identified: one from perceived stress to positive coping styles, and the other from perceived stress to negative coping styles. These findings suggest that FTP not only directly predicts sleep quality of high school students but also exerts indirect effects through its influence on perceived stress and coping styles.

To explore the relationship between materialistic values and sense of gain, as well as the mediating role of psychological capital and the moderating role of technoference, 3070 middle school students were investigated with the Material Values Scale-C, Psychological Capital Questionnaire for Adolescent Students, Technoference Scale and Chinese Sense of Gain Scale. The results showed that: 1) the materialistic values of middle school students had a significant negative predictive effect on their sense of gain; 2) psychological capital played a mediating role between materialistic values and sense of gain; 3) technoference as a moderating variable specifically moderated the predictive pathway of materialistic values on psychological capital (the first half of the mediating pathway). The study reveals the mechanism of the relationship between materialistic values and sense of gain among middle school students, which helps guide them to promote the development of positive psychological qualities through rational consumption.

To explore the relationship between parents’ social emotional competence and children’s social emotional competence and its mechanism, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 523 students in grades three to six and their parents in a primary school. The results showed that parents’ social emotional competence positively predicted children’s social emotional competence; open parent-child communication played a full mediating role between the two; family atmosphere positively moderated the direct effect of parents’ social emotional competence on children’s social emotional competence, and negatively moderated the first half of the mediating path of “parents’ social emotional competence → open parent-child communication → children’s social emotional competence”. This study reveals that the formation and development of children’s social emotional competence to a certain extent are the result of the joint shaping and interaction of family environment and parents’ social emotional competence.

Struggle stories of role models describe that the role models make great efforts, overcome a series of setbacks, and ultimately achieve success. The current study aimed to examine the impact of reading struggle stories of role models on the subsequent behavioral performance of undergraduates who had experienced failure. In study 1, undergraduates with high and low levels of perseverance who had experienced failure were randomly assigned to read struggle stories or achievement stories of role models (scientists vs patterns). The results showed that reading struggle stories rather than achievement stories of role models increased the persistence behavior and challenge-seeking behavior of undergraduates after experiencing failure. Reading stories of scientists rather than stories of patterns increased the persistence behavior of undergraduates after experiencing failure. In study 2, based on the model of perseverance, the struggle stories of scientists were divided into stories emphasizing controllability, enlightenment, conviction and optimism. Undergraduates with high and low levels of perseverance who had experienced failure were randomly assigned to read achievement stories or different types of struggle stories. The results showed that only reading stories emphasizing enlightenment increased the persistence behavior of undergraduates after experiencing failure. These findings reveal that undergraduates can benefit from reading struggle stories of scientists. Reading stories emphasizing enlightenment has a unique effect on persistence behavior of undergraduates.

Using the “false survey report” paradigm, this study conducted two experiments to examine how different levels and types of protective behavioral norms influence junior high school students’ protection willingness to act as bystanders in school bullying, as well as the mediating role of self-determined motivation in this relationship. The results showed that: 1) high levels of both descriptive and injunctive protective behavior norms significantly enhanced bystanders’ protection willingness; 2) introjected motivation mediated the effect of both high descriptive and high injunctive protective behavior norms on bystanders’ protection willingness; 3) autonomous motivation mediated the relationship between high injunctive norms and bystanders’ protection willingness. In summary, high descriptive and injunctive protective norms not only directly increase the junior high school student-bystanders’ protection willingness in school bullying but also indirectly enhance it by stimulating introjected motivation.

This study explored the bidirectional relationship between perceived chronic social adversity and social media addiction in adolescents, as well as the mediating role of sense of control. By using a seven-month longitudinal survey of 1370 adolescents, the results revealed that: 1) there was a reciprocal positive predictive relationship between perceived chronic social adversity and social media addiction; 2) sense of control played a mediating role between perceived chronic social adversity and social media addiction. These findings suggest that enhancing sense of control is important for breaking the vicious cycle of perceived chronic social adversity and social media addiction．

To investigate the longitudinal relationship between social anxiety and mobile phone dependency among adolescents, as well as the longitudinal moderating role of self-control, a one-year, three-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 750 adolescents. The study utilized the Social Anxiety Scale, Mobile Phone Dependency Scale, and Self-Control Scale to assess the participants. The results indicated that: 1) Social anxiety and mobile phone dependency both exhibited linear growth trends, while self-control showed a linear decline. 2) The initial level and development rate of social anxiety significantly and positively predicted the initial level and development rate of mobile phone dependency. 3) The initial level of self-control significantly negatively moderated the relationship between social anxiety and initial mobile phone dependency. 4) The development rate of self-control significantly negatively moderated the relationship between changes in social anxiety and changes in mobile phone dependency. These findings suggest that self-control plays a longitudinal moderating role in the effect of social anxiety on mobile phone dependency among adolescents.

To develop the Government-Funded Normal University Students’ Identity Scale (GNUSIS) and assess its reliability and validity, we created an initial scale through interviews and by reviewing relevant measurement tools from both domestic and international sources. The scale was administered to government-funded normal university students. Based on item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis, the scale was refined. The final version of the GNUSIS consisted of three dimensions, that is, student, teacher, and promisor. Reliability testing showed strong internal consistency, split-half reliability, and test-retest reliability. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate measurement invariance, with results supporting invariance across gender at the configural, metric, scalar, and error variance levels. The GNUSIS meets psychometric criteria and can be effectively used to assess the identity of government-funded normal university students.

The rapid development of mobile communication technology has diluted the boundary between work and home, and work connectivity behavior has become a common way for employees to work, which has an important impact on their work engagement. Previous studies have mainly analyzed the factors affecting work engagement from a single perspective, while the present study explored how similarity between supervisor and employee in work-family centrality impacts employees’ work engagement based on the job demands-resources model. Polynomial regressions and response surface analyses were performed using a sample of 387 subordinates matched with their 129 supervisors. Results revealed that: 1) when both supervisors and employees held high work-low family centrality, employees engaged more in their work via work connectivity behavior; 2) employees who had high work-low family centrality did more engagement in their work through work connectivity behavior despite their supervisors with low work-high family centrality. This study breaks through the limitations of analyzing the influence of work-family centrality on employees’ work behavior from a single perspective, and the research results help to deeply understand the antecedents of employees’ work engagement and enrich the relevant theories of work-family centrality.