Perceived Social Mobility and Smartphone Dependence in University Students: The Roles of Hope and Family Socioeconomic Status.

Purpose: Drawing upon the cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use (PIU) and tunnel effect, this study aimed to construct a moderated mediation model from the perspective of social ecology. Specifically, the model investigated the relationship between perceived social mobility and smartphone dependence, with a focus on the mediating role of hope and the moderating effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) underlying this relationship. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 718 Chinese university students (Mage = 19.19, 70.2% female) from Beijing, Henan, and Tianjin, who anonymously filled out the Perceptions of Socioeconomic Mobility Scale, Mobile Phone Addiction Index Scale, Openness to the Future Scale, and family socioeconomic status questionnaire. Preliminary data analysis was executed using SPSS 22.0, and the moderated mediation effect was tested using the latent moderated structural equations approach in Mplus 8.3. Results: The results showed that (a) less perceived social mobility was linked with greater smartphone dependence; (b) hope mediated the aforementioned relationship; and (c) family SES moderated the first-stage path of the indirect effect through hope. For university students with low (rather than high) family SES, their level of hope increased with the improvement of perceived social mobility, and in turn, that of smartphone dependence decreased. Conclusion: These findings suggest that positive perceptions of upward social class mobility and hopeful attitudes toward future opportunities and personal development among disadvantaged university students may alleviate their reliance on smartphones. Researchers and policymakers should pay attention to the role of individuals' perceptions of the macro environment in motivating specific risky behaviors among university students. Future interventions are essential to mitigate pessimistic environmental perceptions and foster a sense of hope among university students.

Reciprocal Relationship Between Learning Interest and Learning Persistence: Roles of Strategies for Self-Regulated Learning Behaviors and Academic Performance.

Learning interest (internal driving motivation) and learning persistence (explicit behaviors) are important factors affecting students' academic development, yet whether they operate reciprocally and how to bolster them are still issues requiring attention. This study aimed to examine the reciprocal relationship between learning interest and persistence as well as the potential mechanisms behind the relationship from the perspectives of internal self-regulation and external feedback (i.e., academic performance). 510 students (Mage = 13.71, SD = 1.77, 44.1% girls) were tracked for one year using questionnaires. Results showed that higher learning interest was linked to greater subsequent learning persistence and vice versa; and both predicted each other over time indirectly through academic performance and the multiple mediating paths from strategies for self-regulated learning behaviors to academic performance. Ancillary analysis verifies the robustness of these results. The findings not only provide evidence of a dynamic relationship between learning motivation and behaviors, highlighting the important role of positive performance feedback in leading to a benign cycle, but also contribute to understanding the potential avenue (i.e., teaching strategies for self-regulation) for optimizing student learning.

Subjective Age and Memory Performance Among Older Chinese Adults : A Moderated Mediation Model.

This study aims to examine the mediating role of learning self-efficacy in the relationship between subjective age and memory performance as well as the moderating role of education in these indirect and direct relationships. A study was conducted with 200 older adults aged 60 to 81 years who completed measures of subjective age, learning self-efficacy, education, and memory performance. Analysis revealed that learning self-efficacy partially mediated the association between subjective age and memory performance. Further analysis found that the indirect associations between subjective age and memory through learning self-efficacy vary as a function of education. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

'Feeling younger, remembering better': the effect of experimentally induced subjective age on memory performance among Chinese older adults.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore whether experimentally induced younger subjective age can lead to better memory performance among Chinese older adults.Method: A total of 203 participants aged 60-84 years were randomly assigned to three groups. In the positive and neutral feedback groups, participants were told that their memory performance was better than and equivalent to the same-aged peers after an initial memory task, respectively, in contrast to no feedback in the control group. Participants then completed a second memory measure.Results: The results revealed that participants in the positive feedback group felt younger and showed a significant increase in memory performance, whereas participants in the neutral feedback group felt older but also showed a significant increase in memory performance. For participants in the control group, no significant changes in memory performance were observed.Conclusion: It seems that experimentally induced younger subjective age can lead to better memory performance among older adults, providing a promising strategy to maintain memory functioning in old age.

The Relationship Between Big Five and Self-Control in Boxers: A Mediating Model.

Self-control seems to be the core element for achieving optimal competitive performance, and be of great importance to well-being and healthy development of humans. According to the literature, there exist some correlations between personality traits and self-control. The aim of this study was to shed some additional light on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and self-control in boxers and investigate self-efficacy as a mediator between the two variables. Two hundred and ten boxers (age: M = 18.89, SD = 3.83; amount of boxing practice: M = 4.93 years, SD = 3.22; 76 males) of Chinese national athletes participated the study. Results showed a pronounced level of self-control. The higher the competitive level, the higher the level of self-control. There were significant correlations among the Big Five, self-control, and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy mediated the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and self-control.

Subjective age and depressive symptoms among Chinese older adults: A moderated mediation model of perceived control and self-perceptions of aging.

Although subjective age has been shown to play an important role in older adults' experiences of depressive symptoms, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship have not been adequately examined. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role perceived control plays between subjective age and depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating role self-perceptions of aging plays in this indirect relationship. To examine this, a cross-sectional study was conducted with 609 Chinese older adults, who completed measures of subjective age, perceived control, self-perceptions of aging, and depressive symptoms. The results indicated that: (1) possessing a younger subjective age is significantly associated with less depressive symptoms; (2) perceived control partially mediates the relationship between subjective age and depressive symptoms; and (3) the indirect effect of subjective age on depressive symptoms, through perceived control, is moderated by self-perceptions of aging, while the mediated path is stronger for older adults with less favorable self-perceptions of aging. The findings underscore the importance of identifying the mechanisms that moderate the mediated paths between subjective age and depressive symptoms.

Parent-Child Cohesion, Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction, and Emotional Adaptation in Left-Behind Children in China: An Indirect Effects Model.

This study aimed to validate an indirect effects model of parent-child cohesion in emotional adaptation (i.e., loneliness and depression) via basic psychological needs satisfaction in Chinese left-behind children as well as the applicability of the model to both genders. A cross-sectional study was conducted and included 1,250 children aged between 9 and 12 years (635 left-behind children and 615 non-left-behind children) from rural primary schools. The results showed that: (1) relative to non-left-behind children, left-behind children exhibited significantly higher loneliness and depression scores and greater disadvantages involving father-child cohesion, mother-child cohesion, and psychological needs satisfaction. (2) Father- and mother-child cohesion were significantly negatively correlated with loneliness and depression and significantly positively correlated with psychological needs satisfaction in left-behind children. (3) Through structural equation modeling showed that psychological needs satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between parent-child cohesion and emotional outcomes in left-behind children. (4) Through multi-group analyses showed significant gender differences in structural weighting between parent-child cohesion and emotional adaptation, in that parent-child cohesion in left-behind boys was a stronger negative predictor of unfavorable emotional outcomes relative to that observed in left-behind girls, while psychological needs satisfaction in left-behind girls was a stronger negative predictor of unfavorable emotional outcomes relative to that observed in left-behind boys. The implications of these findings for interventions directed at Chinese left-behind children were discussed.