Frontiers in Psychology最新文献

Introduction: This meta-analysis seeks to explore how the complex relationship between loneliness and belongingness in higher education students can be explained by a set of pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic dynamics.

Methods: A meta-analysis including 56 studies and involving a total of 30,062 participants was conducted, and the review explores direct relations and moderation through age, education, and country.

Results: Results indicate a moderate-to-strong negative relationship between loneliness and belongingness (r = -0.48, 95% CI [-0.529, -0.422]), such that a consistent association was found across situations such that increases in one's level of loneliness is associated with decreases in one's level of belongingness. Nevertheless, there was no small-degree of inter-study heterogeneity (Q = 1058.86, p < 0.0001, I² = 94.33%), which is a potential reason for the differences in the study populations and methods, employing a random-effects model to account for these discrepancies. After further scrutiny of the results, location, and year of study, and country did not moderate the effect size, which in turn reflects the stability of the association across context and time. In the subgroup analysis the effect size of the relationship between the level of the Information Technology (IT) usage and the externalisation was lower in the time of the pandemic than in the time preceding the pandemic. The effect size of the pre-pandemic group is -0.515 (95% CI: -0.589 to -0.441, p < 0.001 < 0.001) and the effect size of pandemic group is slightly smaller with -0.427 (95% CI: -0.502 to -0.352, p < 0.001 < 0.001). This means that although the level of loneliness have normalised, there have been a subtonic influence on perceived belonging of the novelty stressor caused by breakdowns in social connection from pandemic-level influences. In addition, no significant publication bias was observed.

Discussion: Overall, these findings confirm the strong negative association between loneliness and sense of belonging and emphasise the important role in providing community support for students, especially during social disruptions.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1702516.].

Introduction: Considerable research suggests there may be three primary qualities desired in romantic/sexual partners: physical attractiveness, interpersonal warmth, and social status. However, they might not capture the full range of needs served by what people seek in their partners; one omission may be compatibility.

Methods: In one volunteer (N = 339, 26% male, Aged = 18-70 years, M = 30.36 years) and one Prolific (N = 309, 51% male, Aged = 18-79 years, M = 26.74 years) dataset, we assessed the relative importance of physicality (e.g., height, attractiveness), compassion (e.g., kindness, generosity), competence (e.g., social status, intelligence), and compatibility (e.g., interpersonal coordination) in mate preferences as a function of sex differences, context effects, and people's pace of life, mating strategies, and social strategies.

Results: We replicated several established effects like physicality was valued in men strongly in the short-term context, and that more psychopathic and narcissistic people chose physicality more often in their long-term mates. Uniquely here, compatibility was more valued in the long-term context especially for women extending more parenting effort when considering short-term relationships and men who were less psychopathic when considering short-term relationships.

Discussion: Importantly, our research begins to carve out a unique space for considering compatibility as a further higher-order trait worthy of consideration in mating research.

Purpose: This study explored the protective role of psychological resilience in children's sports injury recovery, and verified the chain mediating effect of emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) and sports self-efficacy, to provide empirical evidence for psychological intervention in children's injury rehabilitation.

Methods: A total of 128 injured children aged 8-12 years were selected via cluster sampling from the school (March 2024-March 2025). A 6-month follow-up (T0: baseline, T1: 3 months, T2: 6 months) was performed with scales measuring psychological resilience, emotion regulation (child version), sports self-efficacy, and injury recovery progress. SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive and correlation analyses, and Mplus 8.3 for longitudinal mediation and chain mediation models.

Results: This study uses longitudinal mediation analysis to explore associative pathways, acknowledging unmeasured confounders may influence results. Baseline resilience was positively correlated with T1/T2 recovery (r = 0.407, 0.462; both p < 0.001). β = 0.196 is consistently reported for T0 resilience → T1 self-efficacy, but negatively predicted T1 expressive suppression (β = -0.179, p < 0.05); T1 self-efficacy was positively associated with T2 recovery (β = 0.372, p < 0.001). Key limitations include single-time-point measurements of resilience (T0 only) and self-efficacy (T1 only), which restrict causal inference. Two chain paths were significant: "resilience → cognitive reappraisal → self-efficacy → recovery" (indirect effect = 0.098, 95% CI = [0.065, 0.131]) and "resilience → expressive suppression → self-efficacy → recovery" (indirect effect = -0.029, 95% CI = [-0.048, -0.012]), with total mediation accounting for 37.9% of total effect. This study uses longitudinal mediation analysis to explore associations, acknowledging unmeasured confounders may influence results.

Conclusion: Resilience affects recovery via two chains: improving cognitive reappraisal to enhance self-efficacy, and reducing expressive suppression to boost self-efficacy. Cognitive reappraisal is a more positive mediating path and a core target for psychological intervention.

Introduction: This study examines how social support from parents, educators, and peers influences psychological factors-self-efficacy, self-worth, and intrinsic motivation-and how these, in turn, affect music performance anxiety (MPA) among vocal music students. It aims to identify both direct and indirect pathways through which social and psychological variables interact to shape MPA.

Methods: A total of 526 vocal music students from China participated in this study, with a balanced gender distribution (51.3% male, 48.7% female) and educational levels (55.3% undergraduates, 44.7% postgraduates), ranging in age from 20 to 35 years. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesised model, incorporating multi-group analysis to explore gender-based differences in pathways.

Results: Findings confirmed that self-efficacy, self-worth, and intrinsic motivation significantly mediated the relationship between social support and MPA. Gender differences emerged in the strength and significance of these pathways, with female students showing stronger indirect effects, particularly through self-worth and intrinsic motivation.

Discussion: This study validates the theoretical model, highlighting the importance of both social and psychological resources in managing performance anxiety. While the mediating role of self-efficacy aligns with existing research, the inclusion of self-worth and intrinsic motivation provides new insights into gender-sensitive dynamics of MPA. These findings offer practical implications for educators and policymakers in designing gender-responsive support strategies for vocal music students.

Objective: The Sport Education Model is widely regarded as a structured instructional framework capable of enhancing students' motor skills, motivation to participate in physical activity, and socio-emotional competence. However, most existing studies focus on college students and major team sports. Empirical evidence for high school populations and individual racket sports such as table tennis remains limited.

Methods: A quasi-experimental design was employed with two parallel classes from one high school. The experimental group received instruction based on the Sport Education Model, while the control group followed the traditional three-part lesson structure. Both groups experienced the same instructional duration and total class hours. After the intervention, students' performance was assessed using table tennis skill tests, the Sport Motivation Scale, and the Social Adaptation Questionnaire. Independent-samples t-tests were used to compare post-intervention differences between groups.

Results: In terms of sport skills, the experimental group showed significantly greater improvements in flat serve and backhand push-drive performance (p < 0.01), as well as significant gains in forehand attack and half-table two-point forehand drills (p < 0.05). In sport motivation, the experimental group demonstrated highly significant increases in intrinsic motivation for knowledge, accomplishment, and excitement (p < 0.01). Identified regulation and external regulation also improved significantly (p < 0.01), and introjected regulation reached a significant level (p < 0.05). Regarding social adaptation, the experimental group obtained significantly higher total scores than the control group (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: Compared with the traditional teaching model, table tennis instruction based on the Sport Education Model substantially enhanced students' sport-specific skills, learning motivation, self-efficacy, and social adaptation. These results indicate strong feasibility and practical value for implementing and promoting this instructional approach.

With the advancement of large language models and multimodal interaction technologies, AI anchors capable of substituting human hosts have been increasingly applied in the live streaming e-commerce field, demonstrating anthropomorphic characteristics that extend beyond physical appearance. Among these applications, the impact of the anthropomorphism level of AI anchors on users' willingness to engage in human-machine value co-creation in tourism live streaming contexts remains an underexplored yet critical area. Existing studies mostly focus on the impact of anthropomorphism on purchase intention, but overlook the underlying mechanism in high-interaction contexts. Grounded in the social response theory, social presence theory and self-determination theory, this study investigates tourism live streaming as a contextual setting through experimental designs involving two levels of anthropomorphism (high vs. low). It systematically examines the impact of AI anchor anthropomorphism on users' willingness to co-create value, the mediating role of social presence, and the moderating role of perceived control. The findings indicate that: (1) The level of anthropomorphism exhibited by AI anchors significantly and positively influences users' willingness to participate in human-machine value co-creation, with participants in the high anthropomorphism condition reporting significantly greater willingness than those in the low anthropomorphism condition; (2) Social presence mediates this relationship; and (3) Perceived control negatively moderates the path between anthropomorphism and social presence-higher perceived control attenuates the positive effect of anthropomorphism on social presence, but does not moderate the direct relationship between anthropomorphism and willingness to co-create. This study elucidates users' dual psychological needs for "social connection" and "autonomous control" in human-machine collaborative settings, highlights the importance of balancing these competing demands, and offers both theoretical insights and practical implications for the design of AI-driven interactions in tourism live streaming.

Objectives: This study aimed to qualitatively explore the experiences of professionals in social services who completed a compassion training intervention in their workplace. The focus was on understanding how contextual factors influence the implementation of such an intervention. Additionally, the study sought to investigate how the professionals perceive and apply compassion and compassion-related skills after completing the training, with the aim of gaining insights into how they incorporate the competencies from the program into their daily lives both at the micro (personal experience) and macro (implementational barriers) level.

Methods: Seven participants (four pedagogical staff workers and three social workers) from a municipal institution in Denmark, who had completed the compassion training in their workplace, were recruited and semi-structured interviews conducted. The data was analyzed using Thematic Analysis.

Results: The analysis identified four themes relating to the acceptability of compassion training including: (1) Challenges related to meditation; (2) Follow-up and maintenance; (3) Vulnerability, feelings of psychological safety, and inter-connectedness; (4) and Task overload as a challenge to the implementation of compassion training. The professionals' understanding and use of (self)compassion were grouped into three themes: (1) Boundaries, (2) Mindfulness, and (3) Self-care as a form of self-compassion.

Conclusion: The study emphasizes the importance of a supportive environment, managing task overload, and organizational commitment to the implementation of compassion training programs aimed at social care workers.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the associations among social participation, sleep quality, multidimensional frailty, and activities of daily living (ADL) in older adults with knee osteoarthritis (KOA), and to further evaluate whether sleep quality and frailty jointly mediate these relationships.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 288 older adults with KOA recruited via convenience sampling. Validated scales were used to assess social participation, sleep quality, multidimensional frailty, and ADL. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 26.0 and the PROCESS 4.1 macro, including descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and mediation modeling.

Results: Social participation was significantly associated with sleep quality, multidimensional frailty, and ADL (all p < 0.001). Sleep quality was significantly associated with frailty and ADL, and frailty was also associated with ADL. Mediation analysis indicated that sleep quality and frailty each partially mediated the association between social participation and ADL, and jointly formed a significant chain mediation pathway. The combined indirect effect was 0.315, accounting for 42.51% of the total effect.

Discussion: Social participation was significantly associated with ADL in older adults with KOA, both directly and indirectly through sleep quality and multidimensional frailty. These findings suggest that enhancing social engagement and addressing sleep and frailty issues may be important for maintaining functional independence in this population. Future longitudinal and interventional studies are needed to validate these findings and inform targeted strategies for improving daily functioning among older adults with KOA.

This article aims to explain how emotions arise and operate within the framework of my attention-based theory of consciousness, referred to here as the AME theory of consciousness (Attentional Modulation of Energy). According to the AME theory of consciousness, the phenomenal aspect of consciousness is produced by the modulation of the energy level of the area of the organ of attention (aOA) that underpins our attentional activity. The phenomenal aspect of consciousness, in turn, provides us with a sense of self and informs us about how our activities affect it. It manifests through five main dimensions-qualitative, quantitative, hedonic, temporal, and spatial-each of which can be explained by a specific aspect of the modulation of the energy level of the aOA. Emotions, which represent some of the most informative forms of conscious experience, emerge from the interaction of three main components-core affect, cognitive appraisal processes, and physiological and behavioral manifestations-whose interplay unfolds through cycles of conscious and unconscious processing. They arise when an object elicits an affective response capable of shifting the focus of attention from the object to the sense of self. This shift results in the activation of an aOA related to the sense of self (or to an aspect of it) and leads to the adoption of a corresponding set-point. Deviations from this set-point generate the conscious experience of emotion, which informs the individual about the state of his internal equilibrium and the integrity of his sense of self. Emotions thus act not only as adaptive regulators of behavior but also as fundamental operations through which the individual monitors, defines, and continually reconstructs his sense of self.