This study employed a longitudinal study design to survey 1507 middle school students after the implementation of the “double reduction” policy, aiming to investigate the relationship between parental autonomy support and psychological control with academic engagement, as well as its potential mechanisms. The results showed that: 1) Parental autonomy support was significantly positively predicted with middle school students’ academic engagement. 2) During the middle school stage, father-child cohesion negatively predicted mother-child cohesion. 3) Mother-child cohesion and father-child cohesion mediated the relationship between parental autonomy support and psychological control: the mediating effect of mother-child cohesion alone; the mediating effect of father-child cohesion alone; the chain mediating effect of father-child cohesion and mother-child cohesion. The findings of this study expand the relevant theories and have implications for adolescent family education.
A survey was conducted on the development status of mental health education in 812 universities nationwide using self-developed survey criteria, aiming to reveal the development characteristics and practical challenges of mental health education in universities in the new era, and to put forward some suggestions for its development. Study 1 established a set of survey criteria for university mental health education work, comprising 8 first-level indicators, 19 second-level indicators, and 53 third-level indicators. Study 2 revealed that the construction goals of “the 2011 standards” were generally well achieved, and the main tasks proposed in “the 2018 guidelines” were also largely completed. The results indicate that the construction of mental health education systems in Chinese universities has been highly effective, particularly in terms of education and teaching, practical activities, and curriculum development, showcasing Chinese characteristics. However, significant shortcomings remain in the construction of counseling systems, collaboration between schools, medical professionals, families, and communities in crisis intervention, as well as funding and facility investments, which require improvement and enhancement.
The present research employed a longitudinal, five-wave design to examine the developmental trajectories of future occupation planning. Furthermore, the current research examined the influence of just world belief. The sample comprised 1646 high school students, who were followed up for two years from their first to third year of high school. The just world belief was initially assessed at Time 1, and future occupation planning was evaluated from Time 1 to Time 5. The results of the unconditional latent growth model indicated that the high school student’s future occupation commitment was heterogeneous, with both decline and rise groups. Furthermore, the future occupation exploration among high school students exhibited a piecewise trend. A significant decline was observed during the first and second years of high school, while a significant increase was observed during the second and third years of high school. The results of the conditional latent growth model demonstrated that: 1) personal just world belief could predict the subgroup of future occupation commitment development trajectories among high school students; 2) general just world belief could both predict the initial levels and the rates of development of future occupation exploration among high school students. The present study has revealed the developmental trajectories of future occupation planning among high school students. The findings indicate that the just world belief plays an important role in the development of future occupation planning among high school students, which support the just world theory.
The study aimed to explore the mediating effect of coping style and resilience between peer attachment and adolescent internet addiction. A total of 936 adolescents were recruited in the study to complete the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents, and Chen Internet Addiction Scale. The results revealed that: 1) peer attachment significantly negatively predicted adolescent internet addiction; 2) negative coping style mediated the effect of peer attachment on adolescent internet addiction; 3) resilience mediated the impact of peer attachment on adolescent internet addiction; 4) coping style and resilience played a chain mediating effect between peer attachment and adolescent internet addiction. These findings hold significant practical implications for understanding the influencing factors of adolescent internet addiction and promoting their mental health.
To explore the mediating role of parent-child communication in parental phubbing and adolescent loneliness and the moderating role of parent-child attachment, this study recruited 1123 adolescents using the Parental Phubbing Scale, Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale and Revised Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. The results showed that: 1) Parental phubbing positively predicted adolescent loneliness. 2) Parent-child communication played a partial mediating role in the relationship between parental phubbing and adolescent loneliness. 3) The indirect paths of parental phubbing on adolescent loneliness through parent-child communication were moderated by parent-child attachment.
This study explored the impact of emotional neglect on short video addiction in rural adolescents and the mediating role of negative emotions, examining differences between left-behind and non-left-behind groups. By using a three-month longitudinal survey of 417 rural adolescents, the results showed that: 1) Emotional neglect significantly predicted short video addiction after three months. 2) Negative emotions mediated the relationship between emotional neglect and short video addiction. 3) The relationship varied significantly between left-behind and non-left-behind situations. Specifically, negative emotions fully mediated the relationship in left-behind children, while partially mediating it in non-left-behind children.
To investigate the impact of voluntary choice on the subjective experience and autonomic nervous system responses to positive and negative emotions, this study employed a situational selection paradigm with 41 college students recruited via randomly recruiting. Participants were exposed to positive and negative images under both voluntary and forced choice. The findings revealed that in positive situations, the subjective experience of positive emotion under voluntary choice was significantly higher compared to forced choice condition, with HF-HRV being marginally greater than under forced choice, and LF/HF was significantly lower than under forced choice. In negative situations, the subjective experience of negative emotions under voluntary choice was marginally lower than under forced choice, with HF-HRV being marginally greater than under forced choice, and LF/HF was significantly lower than under forced choice. These findings indicate that voluntary choice enhances participants’ positive emotional experience, attenuates participants’ negative emotional experience, and simultaneously decreases participants’ physiological arousal levels, which, thereby, helps maintain an optimal emotional state.
To explore the relationship between core self-evaluation, perceived stress, short video addiction and perceived time poverty, this study used the Core Self-Evaluation Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, Short Video Addiction Scale and Perceived Time Poverty Scale to conduct a questionnaire survey on 810 college students in China. The results showed that: 1) core self-evaluation significantly negatively predicted time poverty; 2) perceived stress played a mediating role in core self-evaluation and perceived time poverty; 3) perceived stress and short video addiction played a chain mediating role in core self-evaluation and perceived time poverty. This study suggests that improving core self-evaluation may be an effective way to reduce perceived time poverty.
Based on the general aggression model as the conceptual framework, this study investigated the underlying mechanisms by which parental conflict influences the aggressive behavior of early adolescents. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 812 junior high school students using the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale, the Security in the Interparental Subsystem Scale, the Self-Control Scale, and the Aggression Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was performed using Mplus 7.0 to analyze the data. The results indicated that: 1) inter-parental conflict indirectly predicted early adolescents’ aggression through three mediated pathways: the mediating roles of emotional insecurity and self-control, as well as the chain mediation of both factors; 2) among the three mediating pathways, the mediating effect of self-control had the largest effect size. These findings offer valuable insights for preventing and intervening in early adolescent aggression, thus promoting adolescents’ development.
People’s moral judgments of AI differ from those of humans, which may stem from AI’s algorithmic identity and the social cognition it elicits. The CNI model of moral judgment allows simultaneous consideration of both factors. Based on this model, the present study conducted three experiments to investigate the effects of identity (human vs. AI) and AI anthropomorphism (high vs. low) on moral dilemma judgments, as well as the mediating role of perceived warmth between anthropomorphism and moral judgment. The results revealed that: 1) compared to humans, people were more sensitive to outcome-based utilities and less sensitive to moral norms when evaluating AI’s moral choices; 2) AI anthropomorphism enhanced expectations for AI to adhere to moral norms by increasing perceived warmth. The results suggest that anthropomorphism can reduce people’s focus on AI’s algorithmic identity and prevent them from making moral judgments about AI based on instrumental rationality. This study holds positive implications for promoting the integration of AI into human society.
Based on Ecological Systems theory and the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution theory, the study examined the relationship between family cumulative risk and internet addiction as well as the roles of negative emotions and adversity beliefs in it by using a questionnaire method to investigate 2077 left-behind children and adolescents in the city of Lechang. The key results showed that: 1) family cumulative risk positively predicted internet addiction; 2) negative emotions fully mediated family cumulative risk and internet addiction; 3) adversity beliefs moderated the first and second halves of the mediating effect; 4) the moderating effect of adversity beliefs exhibited gender differences. For boys, adversity beliefs only moderated the first half of the mediation pathway, while for girls, adversity beliefs moderated the second half. These results provide some insights for the prevention and intervention of internet addiction in left-behind children and adolescents.
Using the Five-Factor Model (FFM), the HEXACO model of personality, and the Dark Triad (DT) as theoretical frameworks, this study conducted a meta-analysis of 150 domestic and international articles published over the past two decades to investigate the relation between personality traits and aggression among the student population. The results showed that, firstly, FFM-neuroticism and DT traits (Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism) were positively correlated with aggression. Secondly, FFM-agreeableness, honesty-humility, HEXACO-agreeableness, and conscientiousness were negatively correlated with aggression. Thirdly, extraversion, openness, and HEXACO-emotionality were not related to aggression. Finally, age and gender did not moderate the relationship between personality traits and aggression, while culture moderated the relationship between the two personality traits (i.e., FFM-agreeableness and openness) and aggression. These findings provide implications for preventing aggression and violence in school setting.
The current study aimed to explore the structure of the telecom network fraud susceptibility of college students by using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Study 1 used qualitative research method in which 30 college students were interviewed in depth, focusing on “what are the characteristics of college students who are susceptible to telecommunication network fraud?” Study 2 used quantitative research method to develop the scale of the telecom network fraud susceptibility of college students based on previous studies and the findings of Study 1. Combining the results of Study 1 and Study 2, we found that the structure of the telecom network fraud susceptibility of college students consists of telecom network risk preference, telecom network information processing and vigilance, telecom network interaction compliance and telecom network interaction self-control, which meets the requirements of psychometrics.
Children and adolescents’ mental health has become a global challenge in recent years. The development of children and adolescents’ mental health services in China started relatively late and there is a need to draw on international advanced experience. Through literature review, this study comprehensively combed through the current status of children and adolescents’ mental health services in 12 countries including but not limited to the United States of America, Finland, and Singapore, from three perspectives: the management mechanism of mental health services, the system of school mental health services, and the digital empowerment of school mental health services. Subsequently, this study put forward a set of recommendations including strengthening the policy system guarantees and management mechanisms for mental health services, building an evidence-based mental health service system centered on serving all students, and accelerating the exploration of multiple pathways for digitally empowering mental health services.
The study aimed to examine the relationship between parenting stress and young children’s self-regulation, as well as the chain mediating effect of parental mediation and children’s screen exposure. Four hundred and thirty-one children aged 2~7 years and their parents were surveyed by using questionnaires. Results showed that: 1) parenting stress was negatively correlated with both children’s self-regulation and parental mediation, while parental mediation was positively correlated with children’s self-regulatory ability; 2) educational screen content was positively related to children’s self-regulation; 3) instructive mediation and educational screen content played a chain mediating role in the relationship between parenting stress and children’s self-regulation. The findings reveal the complex relationship between parenting stress and young children’s self-regulation, providing practical implications for guiding preschool family education in the digital age.
A study was conducted on 1004 adolescents using the Family Socioeconomic Status Scale, Parent-Child Attachment Scale, Self-Esteem Scale, and Adolescent Prosocial Behavior Scale. The research examined the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and adolescent prosocial behavior, exploring its underlying mechanisms and differences between only children and those with siblings. The results showed that: 1) SES was significantly positively correlated with adolescents’ prosocial behavior; 2) the impact of SES on adolescents’ prosocial behavior was mediated by parent-child attachment and self-esteem through independent and chain mediation pathways; 3) mediation models varied by only-child status. Among adolescents with siblings, all three mediation pathways (parent-child attachment, self-esteem, and their combined chain mediation) were significant, with self-esteem being the strongest mediator. However, for only children, parent-child attachment was the sole significant mediator.
Previous studies have demonstrated that cortical gray matter structure can predict individual reading ability which was measured by reading test tasks. However, such tasks are limited in capturing the neural morphological substrates underlying specific lexical processing during natural reading. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the structural neural basis of individual differences in lexical processing during natural Chinese reading. Given that word frequency is one of the most influential properties of a word, word frequency effect is a good indicator for individual differences in lexical processing. We used eye tracking to quantify word frequency effects in 76 adult readers during Chinese sentence reading. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was employed to measure participants’ gray matter volume (GMV), while connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) was applied to explore the morphological structural connectivity patterns associated with individual differences in word frequency effect. The results showed that word frequency effect in regression path duration was significantly and positively correlated with GMV in the left superior parietal lobule (LSPL), which suggests that LSPL plays a critical role in lexical integration. Regarding morphological structural connectivity, both positive and negative models successfully predicted word frequency effect in the number of first fixations. Additionally, the positive model successfully predicted word frequency effect in total number of fixations. These findings reveal that the individual differences in lexical processing during Chinese reading are associated with the morphological structure of specific brain regions.
To explore the relationship between belief in a just world and malevolent creativity in college students and the chain mediating effect of relative deprivation and anger rumination, this study surveyed 1333 college students using the Belief in a Just World Scale, the Relative Deprivation Scale, the Anger Rumination Scale and the Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale. The results showed that: 1) Belief in a just world could significantly negatively predict malevolent creativity. 2) Relative deprivation mediated the relationship between belief in a just world and malevolent creativity. 3) Anger rumination mediated the relationship between belief in a just world and malevolent creativity. 4) Relative deprivation and anger rumination played significant chain mediating roles between belief in a just world and malevolent creativity. These findings clarify the underlying mechanism of how belief in a just world affects malevolent creativity and provides novel theoretical perspective for preventing and intervening in malevolent creative behaviors.
Research indicates that a prolonged period of time is needed for a new word to become integrated with the existing lexicon and generate stable and long-lasting memory representations, with sleep playing an important role in the offline consolidation of this process (known as sleep-associated memory consolidation). This study explored the effects of immediate and delayed sleep on the semantic learning of new Chinese words using rare, real ancient Chinese animal names. Forty-one university students were divided into two groups: a sleep-wake group that learned at night and a wake-sleep group that learned in the morning. Participants were tested immediately after learning, and again after 12 and 24 hours. Results showed that in the explicit word representation tasks, the sleep-wake group had greater performance improvement at the 12-hour mark (compared to immediately after learning) than the wake-sleep group, indicating that immediate sleep aids memory consolidation, with the advantage persisting for 24 hours in the definition task. However, the wake-sleep group showed greater improvement at 24 hours (compared to 12 hours), indicating that delayed sleep can also effectively consolidate memory, performing comparably to immediate sleep in the picture-naming task. In the implicit size judgment task, both immediate and delayed sleep promoted the semantic integration of new words, though in different ways. These findings support the dual role of sleep in both active consolidation and passive protection of memory.
This study examined the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological distress among college freshmen and explored the mediating role of a sense of security and the moderating effect of friendship quality. A survey was conducted on 710 college freshmen by using measures such as the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, the Sense of Security Questionnaire, the Friendship Quality Inventory and the short-form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. The results revealed that the severity of childhood trauma was significantly positively correlated with psychological distress. A sense of security mediated the impact of childhood trauma on psychological distress. Friendship quality moderated the relationships between childhood trauma and sense of security, as well as between childhood trauma and depression. The findings indicate that the loss of a sense of security is an important mediating mechanism through which childhood trauma leads to various psychological distress among college freshmen. High friendship quality can mitigate the impact of childhood trauma on depression but is insufficient to buffer the negative effects of childhood trauma on a sense of security.
