Journal of Adult Development最新文献

College life involves navigating different educational and career development options, as well as social relationships. The pressure to “fit in” can be stressful and involve the fear of missing out (FOMO) on fun, social events. The college environment is especially challenging for those who experience social anxiety – the fear of being rejected and humiliated in social encounters. One factor that could be related to social difficulties in college students is helicopter parenting – a distinct parenting style characterized by parental over-involvement and over-control, which has been shown to be harmful to college students’ development. Given that college students experience helicopter parenting, FOMO, and social anxiety simultaneously, we examined how these experiences were associated with one another, as well as their stability and change across time. We expected helicopter parenting to be related to college students’ FOMO and social anxiety. Using a 12-week longitudinal design with a sample of 282 college students, we employed an interrelated latent growth curve to determine the associations between changes in helicopter parenting, FOMO, and social anxiety. The results showed that the levels of FOMO decreased over time, and a slower decrease in helicopter parenting was associated with a slower decrease in FOMO. In addition, decreases in social anxiety were associated with decreases in helicopter parenting and FOMO. Implications for practice are discussed.

The current study uses socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen in Psychology and Aging. 7(3):331–338,1992,10.1037/0882-7974.7.3.331) as a framework to examine the experiences of older adults during COVID-19 in Aotearoa/New Zealand. SST posits that when time horizons are perceived as limited—such as with increasing age, or during times of medical uncertainty—people selectively focus on spending time with emotionally close others and in personally fulfilling activities. This may be the case particularly when uncertainty is experienced by older people. Aotearoa/New Zealand instigated an elimination strategy early in the pandemic (prior to widespread vaccine availability), employing a series of lockdowns that further challenged older adults’ perceptions of future horizons, their ability to maintain social connections with loved ones, and engagement in pleasurable activities. This study used thematic analysis to analyze existing qualitative COVID-19-related data drawn from the experiences of 510 older adults who participated in the 2021 Health, Work, and Retirement study (HWR). Participants ranged in age from 56 to 87 (M_age = 69.73); 15.9% identified as Māori, and 76.2% identified as female. Two broad themes were revealed: Social Connection and Anticipating the Future. Although most participants expressed comparatively more positive than negative experiences, some also expressed frustration and anxiety about health directive-related divisions in relationships, and the inability to share in important life events (such as weddings, births, and funerals). Findings highlight the complex impact of COVID-19 on older adults’ perceptions of time horizons, and the opportunities presented by the pandemic for reassessment of social relationships and activities.

Cognitive fatigue arises after a long-lasting task, as attested by increases in reaction times (RTs). However, most studies have focused on young adults. Therefore, we investigated cognitive fatigue through changes in RT distributions in three age groups—young, middle-aged, and older adults—during a 160-min Stroop task. Task duration was divided into four blocks and the ex-Gaussian parameters (μ, σ, τ) were extracted from individual RT distributions in each time block for each item type. The results showed a significant Group effect on μ. Young adults had smaller μ values than the other two groups, meaning that middle-aged and older people performed the whole task slower than young adults. By contrast, τ showed no Group effect but increased with Time-on-Task in middle-aged people. Older adults did not show τ increase with Time-on-Task, which echoes studies showing some resistance to task monotony in this population. Globally, our results showed dissociated age and Time-on-Task effect on the ex-Gaussian parameters, confirming the relevance of this approach in the cognitive fatigue domain. We proposed here that cognitive fatigue affects only the decision component of response production, and that midlife may be a life stage with high sensitivity to cognitive fatigue.

This research identified college students’ definitions of independence as well as topics they wish parents had discussed with them prior to college. Applying the theory of emerging adulthood to understand college students’ construal of independence, participants included 117 emerging adults, aged 18–25. Utilizing inductive coding to categorize participants’ open-ended responses from an online questionnaire, most emerging adults conceptualized independence in terms of self-reliance or freedom, and this was examined through the lens of social construction theory. The majority reported they felt their parents communicated what was necessary regarding independence with them before college. For those who did not, however, life skills and expectations were two of the topics students most wished parents would have communicated prior to college. Implications and suggestions are provided.

Covid-19 and its lockdown measures have uniquely challenged people’s wellbeing and numerous studies have been carried out to understand the effects of such lockdown measures on mental health. Yet, to date most of these studies do not assess psychological pathways and conditional effects. By drawing on self-determination theory, the present study tested whether the relationship between lockdown loneliness and mental health is mediated via basic needs satisfaction (relatedness, autonomy, and competence) and whether these associations are exacerbated for younger age groups. A total of 339 Portuguese residents completed an anonymous web-based survey during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2021. The results corroborate a significant link between perceived loneliness and anxiety as well as depression. Parallel mediation analyses showed that competence consistently mediated the lockdown loneliness-mental health link. Moderated mediated analyses also confirmed that the psychosocial pathway applied most strongly to younger age groups. These findings highlight the role of social factors for competence need satisfaction and mental health among younger people during the Covid-19 lockdown in Portugal. The results also point to potential avenues for future prevention measures to mitigate the harmful effects that social exclusion can bring about.

Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity. Life challenges are present in all stages of human development, including the stage of emerging adulthood. Being resilient is crucial to cope with these challenges. Existing studies have revealed that parenting styles have a significant impact on one’s resilience level. Nevertheless, the impact of a specific parenting style, particularly helicopter parenting on resilience has not been extensively studied in Malaysia. In addition, the underlying mechanism of the relationship between helicopter parenting and resilience is also under-examined, though it is suggested that fear of negative evaluation may play a mediating role in it. A cross-sectional design was employed to examine the relationship between helicopter parenting and resilience, as well as the mediating role of fear of negative evaluation in the relationship among Malaysian Chinese university students. A survey questionnaire including the Helicopter Parenting Scale, Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, and Brief Resilience Scale was answered by 204 participants. Results indicated that helicopter parenting predicts resilience, and the relationship is partially mediated by fear of negative evaluation. This study sheds light on how university students’ resilience level could be promoted by reducing the fear of negative evaluation. The result of the study could be useful in promoting greater resiliency and reducing the negative effect of helicopter parenting among university students, by lessening the fear of negative evaluation.

The mediational role of parental contingent self-worth and maternal separation anxiety between maternal reports of narcissism (grandiose: assertive/extroverted and antagonistic/disagreeable; vulnerable: vulnerable/neurotic narcissism) and mothers’ and emerging adults’ reports of overparenting (n = 243 dyads) was investigated. Given the theoretical differences between assertive/extroverted, antagonistic/disagreeable, and vulnerable/neurotic forms of narcissism, mothers’ reports of assertive/extroverted, antagonistic/disagreeable, and vulnerable/neurotic narcissism were hypothesized to be mediated by parental contingent self-worth in predicting overparenting, and the association between vulnerable/neurotic narcissism and overparenting was hypothesized to work through parent separation anxiety. Results generally supported hypotheses. Structural equation models revealed that narcissistic assertive/extroverted and antagonistic/disagreeable forms of narcissism were positively and directly associated with maternal reports of overparenting, as expected, and they were partially mediated through parental contingent self-esteem. Maternal assertive/extroverted and vulnerable/neurotic narcissism were linked to overparenting via parental contingent self-worth and maternal separation anxiety. Similar patterns appeared for emerging adults’ reports of overparenting. Results are discussed in terms of narcissistic mothers’ use of overparenting as a tactic to control, ensure self-validation, and maintain child dependency of their emerging adults.