BMC Psychology最新文献

Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between physical activity and mental health among Chinese university students and to test a serial mediation model in which sports lifestyle and phubbing act as sequential mediators.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 3,009 university students from Linyi University in Shandong Province, China. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF). Sports lifestyle was measured with the Sports Lifestyle Form(SLF), phubbing with the General Scale of Phubbing (GSP), and mental health with the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), with higher scores indicating poorer mental health. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted, followed by a regression-based serial mediation analysis using PROCESS Model 6 with 5,000 bootstrap samples, controlling for age and gender.

Results: Physical activity was significantly associated with mental health (total effect: β=-0.123, p < 0.001). Sports lifestyle significantly mediated this association (indirect effect: β=-0.014, 95%CI [- 0.022,-0.006]), accounting for 11.12% of the total effect. Phubbing also served as a significant mediator (indirect effect: β=-0.041, 95%CI [- 0.062,-0.021]), accounting for 33.52% of the total effect. In addition, a significant serial mediation pathway was observed through sports lifestyle and phubbing (physical activity→sports lifestyle→phubbing→mental health; indirect effect:β=-0.014, 95%CI [- 0.020,-0.009]), accounting for 11.53% of the total effect. The total indirect effect accounted for 56.07% of the overall association, while the direct effect of physical activity on mental health remained significant (β=-0.054, p < 0.001), indicating partial mediation.

Conclusion: The association between physical activity and mental health among university students is explained through both direct effects and multiple indirect behavioral pathways. Sports lifestyle and phubbing independently and sequentially mediate this relationship, highlighting the importance of promoting sports lifestyle and reducing phubbing to enhance mental health outcomes.

Background: Hikikomori is a phenomenon of social isolation characterized by an individual's intentional and prolonged withdrawal from social life, and it has increasingly drawn global scholarly attention. In Turkey, the limited number of empirical studies on hikikomori underscores the importance of examining its psychological determinants among young adults. This study aims to analyze the relationships between depression, psychological resilience, and hikikomori-related tendencies in individuals aged 18 to 34, and to test the mediating role of psychological resilience in these associations.

Methods: The study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional design and included 776 young adults recruited through convenience sampling. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory, the Brief Resilience Scale, and the Adaptive Behaviors Scale for Hikikomori Self-Report. Data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0, and mediation analysis was conducted using Pearson correlation and Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 4).

Results: Higher levels of depression were associated with an increase in hikikomori-related withdrawal behaviors, whereas higher levels of psychological resilience were related to more adaptive functioning. Psychological resilience significantly mediated the association between depression and hikikomori tendencies, indicating that depression influences social withdrawal partly through its impact on resilience.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that psychological resilience functions as a protective mechanism against social withdrawal among young adults. Strengthening resilience may therefore serve as an important target for preventive and therapeutic interventions. These results highlight the value of resilience-focused approaches within youth mental health policies and clinical practice.

This study aims to examine the relationships among happiness at work, psychological safety, and job satisfaction among employees in educational settings. Exploring the core dimensions and network structure of these constructs provides deeper insight into how they interact and how organizational interventions may be improved. Network analysis was used to investigate the associations among happiness at work, psychological safety, and job satisfaction. The Happiness at Work Scale, the Psychological Safety Scale, and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire were administered to a convenience sample of 372 employees in the educational sector in the Sultanate of Oman (mostly teachers, with a smaller number of supervisory staff). The network analysis showed that specific items from the happiness at work scale, particularly those reflecting enjoyment of work and environmental quality, were embedded within the network and played an important role in shaping employees' job satisfaction. The results also revealed that the extrinsic job satisfaction dimension occupied a central position in the network, functioning as a primary link between psychological safety and job satisfaction. The comparison between male and female employees indicated no meaningful gender differences in network structure or overall connectivity. These findings carry important implications for policy and practice in Oman, highlighting the value of strengthening managerial fairness, organizational clarity, and recognition practices to enhance employee happiness at work.

Background: Social relationships are shaped by a complex interplay of interests and emotions, making negative interactions inevitable. Research on negative bias and loss aversion demonstrates that people are more sensitive to negative interactions, which often leads to social distancing. However, one study found that individuals with anxious attachment styles may actively seek partners who treat them poorly, suggesting that such relationships can strengthen bonds. But the cognitive mechanisms underlying how negative relationships can signal positive relational outcomes remain unclear. Through five experiments, we examine how shared negative relationships help individuals infer positive relationships and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Methods: We conducted five pre-registered experiments (N = 1,085; M_age = 20.22, SD = 2.05) using hypothetical scenarios and social network methodologies. In Experiment 1, participants inferred interpersonal relationships from images depicting shared negative relationships. Building on this, Experiment 2 specifically focused on images of bidirectional shared negative relationships. Experiment 3 extended this paradigm to the intergroup level, where participants inferred relationships between groups based on shared negative relationships with a third-party. Experiment 4 refined this focus by examining in-group and out-group dynamics, asking participants to infer relationships from images of shared negative relationships between members of these distinct groups. Finally, Experiment 5 employed a simulated social network paradigm in which participants inferred relationships by learning and remembering social knowledge within an incomplete network, thus modeling real-world social inference under uncertainty.

Results: Our results showed that humans can (a) infer positive relationships from shared negative ones and their quantity; (b) adjust these inferences by group size and contextual boundaries-shifting from resource-based inferring in ambiguous settings to identity-based mechanisms in well-defined groups; and (c) shape network representations from incomplete social knowledge, revealing human differences in cognitive mechanisms.

Conclusions: While negative relationships can weaken social experiences, shared negative interactions can serve as prosocial tools for inferring positive relationships. Research shows that humans adjust their strategies based on relationship quantity and group structure, enabling them to build networks from incomplete social knowledge.