PsyCh journal最新文献

This study examined the language use in Chinese university students with depressive symptoms based on negative and positive memory recall tasks. People with depression used more first-person singular pronouns in the negative memory task and more negative words in both memory tasks.

Mutual support groups are increasingly implemented in higher education settings across high-income countries to promote peer-based support, with demonstrated benefits for emotional well-being and social connectedness. However, their impact on other domains of students' lives remains underexplored, particularly in low- and middle-income contexts. This study investigates the outcomes of mutual support groups by examining students' perceived changes in mental well-being, academic skills, career certainty, social support attitudes, interpersonal functioning, and attitudes toward seeking psychological help. Using a qualitative retrospective approach, open-ended responses were collected from 20 Kosovar students (aged 18-25 years) at a major public university after a 5-week support group program. Data were thematically analyzed using a deductive approach based on predefined themes aligned with the study's objectives. Findings revealed that participating in mutual support groups contributed to reduced stress, lower anxiety, and improved mood, as students felt heard and emotionally supported by peers facing similar challenges. Students adopted more effective study habits and time management techniques through the sharing of practical strategies and encouragement. Open discussions about career uncertainty fostered clarity and confidence in students' academic and professional goals. Hearing from the perspectives of others on mental health reduced internalized stigma and increased willingness to seek psychological support. The group setting also enabled students to develop stronger interpersonal skills, including empathy, emotional expression, and a sense of connection and belonging. This study highlights the potential of mutual support groups as effective peer-led supplements in higher education by emphasizing improvements in student well-being, academic development, and mental health attitudes.

Situational awareness (SA) refers to "knowing what is going on" in a situation. As an essential concept originating in aviation literature approximately 40 years ago, SA has demonstrated significant potential and has since been extended across various fields, leading to a growing body of research. With its expanding application in diverse fields, SA literature has become increasingly fragmented. This study systematically reviews previous empirical studies to provide a structured categorization and comprehensive analysis of SA applications, contributing to the advancement of SA research. Our search identified 2860 empirical studies on SA published between 1975 and 2024, spanning 11 major fields, including aviation, driving, power systems, traffic and transportation, health care and medicine, emergency management, military, training, sport, system autonomy, and network information and communication. We examined the specific characteristics of SA in these fields and, by integrating the characteristics with human factors/ergonomics principles, developed a comprehensive framework. Based on this framework, we categorized the SA research into three groups: the ergonomics-centered group (e.g., aviation), the human-centered group (e.g., sports), and the machine-centered group (e.g., system autonomy). Our findings have the potential to foster collaboration among researchers across diverse fields, facilitating the expansion and integration of SA research through cross-referencing theories, models, and methodologies.

Most studies on stress have primarily focused on Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic samples, which may differ from populations in non-Western countries in terms of how they think and respond to stress. This study investigated the interplay of stress-related variables, including repetitive negative thinking (RNT), neuroticism, mindful awareness, cognitive control, academic or general stress, anxiety, and depression among Indonesian university undergraduates. Network analyses (association, graphical least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (gLASSO), and relative importance network) were conducted to estimate associations between the aforementioned constructs in 474 undergraduate students in Indonesia. Consistent with the association network, the gLASSO network revealed that general stress and anxiety had the strongest partial association. The relative importance network further demonstrated that general stress and anxiety exhibited the most robust bidirectional predictive relationships. Furthermore, general stress, RNT, and depression emerged as the strongest predictors within the network structure. The centrality indices from the gLASSO network (expected influence, strength, and closeness) identified general stress as the most central node in terms of expected influence and strength. Additionally, RNT and depression showed high strength and closeness values. Similarly, in the relative importance network, RNT, depression, and stress showed the highest outstrength and closeness centrality values. These findings suggest that general stress, anxiety, depression, and RNT are interconnected constructs that play crucial roles in the mental health of non-Western students. Further studies are required to investigate interventions for those constructs tailored to undergraduate students.

Natural disaster exposure is considered to be one of the risk factors for mental health. We investigated whether natural disaster exposure was associated with insomnia severity and the roles of catastrophizing and dark personalities in the association. The current study, using data collected from 1526 participants (27.50 ± 15.49 years old, 40.4% male), was conducted within 2 weeks after the 7⋅20 flood in Henan, China. Results showed that natural disaster exposure was significantly positively associated with insomnia severity, catastrophizing partially mediated the association between natural disaster exposure and insomnia severity, and the Dark Triad played moderating roles in the mediation model. Specifically, higher levels of the Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy weakened the negative link between disaster exposure and catastrophizing; whereas a higher level of narcissism exacerbated the relationships between natural disaster exposure and catastrophizing, and between natural disaster exposure and insomnia severity in the mediation model. The present results may provide important practical implications: the preventions and interventions that target the change of Dark Triad traits and the mitigation of catastrophizing could potentially be more effective in counteracting the development of sleep issues following exposure to floods.

Conceptual expansion, referred to as the expansion of existing conceptual structures and the generation of new concepts, is a key cognitive component of creative ideation in human beings. However, the specific brain regions associated with the process of conceptual expansion remain unclear, particularly in the field of divergent thinking. In the present study, we examined neural correlates of conceptual expansion in the alternate uses task (AUT). Specifically, during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, participants were asked to process a set of creative AUT ideas, each consisting of a common object and a corresponding alternate use, and then in the post-scan phase, they were required to evaluate the degree of conceptual expansion for each AUT idea (i.e., compared with the familiar concept, the extent to which the AUT idea could expand the conceptual boundaries of the object). By linking the behavioral assessments with brain activation, the results showed that greater engagement of the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) was involved in the processing of creative AUT ideas with higher conceptual expansion, which aligns with previous findings from other creative domains such as insight problem solving and creative product design. Given the recognized function of the pMTG in conceptual processing, our findings indicate that the pMTG may specifically support the forming of new conceptual categories in AUT.

Previous research has established a strong link between parental attachment and depression in youth. However, the nuances of paternal-maternal attachment congruence and its relationship with depressive symptoms, as well as the roles of gender differences and peer attachment in this context, remain unclear. This study aimed to explore these associations among emerging adults. Attachment and depressive symptoms were assessed in 1564 college students using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), respectively. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis were utilized for data analysis. The results revealed that when paternal and maternal attachment were congruent, students with average-range levels of parental attachment (i.e., scores near the IPPA mean) exhibited the least depressive symptoms. Conversely, greater discrepancies between paternal and maternal attachment were associated with more pronounced depressive symptoms, while this effect was buffered by higher levels of peer attachment. In addition, incongruent paternal and maternal attachments were not significantly associated with depressive symptoms in sons, whereas insecure maternal attachment was more closely related to daughters' depressive symptoms. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of parental attachment (in)congruence in college students' depressive symptoms and the moderating roles of gender and peer attachment.

Different types of epistemic curiosities are associated with opposite attitudes toward risky behavior. However, few studies have taken environmental factors into account. We do not know the specific performance of different curiosities regarding traffic risky behavior (TRB) after introducing public attitudes. Epistemic curiosity is the desire for new knowledge or information. There are two types: interest curiosity and deprivation curiosity. Based on the uncertainty-identity theory and the interest/deprivation model of curiosity, we explored the impact of epistemic curiosity on TRB and the mediating role of conformity. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional design with mediation effect tests. Study 2 employed two substudies, further exploring the specific performance of different levels of interest/deprivation curiosity through a 2 × 2 mixed design and elaborating on the causal relationships between the variables. Study 1 revealed a positive correlation between interest curiosity and TRB, but no such correlation was found between deprivation curiosity and TRB. Mediation test results showed that conformity fully mediated the relationship between deprivation curiosity and TRB, while it could not explain the relationship between interest curiosity and TRB. Study 2 results showed that people with higher levels of deprivation curiosity could be influenced by public attitudes to change their attitudes toward TRB. Our findings provide empirical evidence for distinguishing between different types of epistemic curiosity, as well as a new explanatory mechanism for the emergence of TRBs.

To evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions in reducing suicidal ideation among patients with depression, and to identify factors that moderate treatment outcomes, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted searching seven major biomedical databases (CNKI, China Wanfang Database, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Sinomed) from inception to November 8, 2023. Randomized controlled trials examining CBT interventions for suicidal ideation in depressed patients were included. Fourteen studies (1256 patients) met inclusion criteria. CBT demonstrated a moderate effect in reducing suicidal ideation compared to control conditions (Hedges' g = -0.47 (95% CI [-0.73, -0.22]), p < 0.01). Significant moderators included intervention mode (Q = 8.33, p < 0.05), suicidal ideation measure (Q = 17.98, p < 0.001), intervention duration (Q = 9.55, p < 0.05), and CBT follow-up interval (Q = 6.66, p < 0.05). Age, intervention cycles, frequency, and intervention form did not significantly moderate outcomes. No publication bias was detected, and the overall quality of evidence was moderate. CBT is effective in reducing suicidal ideation among patients with depression. Factors associated with greater effectiveness include combining CBT with drug, targeting older adults, using specific suicidal ideation measures (e.g., C-SSRS, SIOSS), interventions lasting 0-12 weeks with more than once a week, more than an hour per session, and short-term follow-up. Group therapy formats may also enhance outcomes. Future randomized trials should further examine these factors and assess impacts on suicidal behaviors in addition to ideation.

This study aims to assess the validity of the Revised Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-RR) within the Chinese population to examine the applicability of the 19-factor Theory of Individual Values in the Chinese cultural context. A sample of 9590 Chinese participants (age range: 11-60; 4360 males) completed the Chinese version of the PVQ-RR. Psychometric analyses indicated that the Chinese version of the PVQ-RR consistently measures 19 basic values and 4 higher-order values. Multidimensional scaling results showed that the circular structure of individual values among Chinese generally aligns with the Theory of Individual Values, but the positions of some values among the 19 basic individual values exhibit strong cultural characteristics. The findings also revealed that the most valued among Chinese people is security-societal, while the least valued are power-resources and power-dominance. This study reaffirms the cross-cultural consistency of the Theory of Individual Values and provides a reliable tool for assessing individual values among Chinese people.