Front Psychol [JOURNAL]
Sun
200 papers
Rumination as a mediator between mindfulness and emotion regulation difficulties in female combat sports coaches.
Duyan M, Gunel I, Musa M … +2 more , Bayansalduz M, Ugur E
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389112 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: This study examined the mediating role of rumination in the relationship between mindfulness and difficulties in emotion regulation among female combat-sports coaches. METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectiona...
INTRODUCTION: This study examined the mediating role of rumination in the relationship between mindfulness and difficulties in emotion regulation among female combat-sports coaches. METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectional design was used with 398 female coaches. Data were collected using self-report measures of mindfulness, rumination, and difficulties in emotion regulation. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted using LISREL, and the indirect effect was tested using the Sobel test. RESULTS: The proposed model demonstrated acceptable fit indices (CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.084, SRMR = 0.076). Mindfulness negatively predicted rumination and difficulties in emotion regulation, whereas rumination positively predicted difficulties in emotion regulation. Rumination partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and difficulties in emotion regulation. Specifically, higher mindfulness was associated with fewer difficulties in emotion regulation both directly and indirectly through lower rumination. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that rumination is an important cognitive mechanism linking mindfulness to difficulties in emotion regulation in high-demand coaching contexts. The study highlights the need to integrate rumination-focused strategies with mindfulness-based approaches in psychological support programs for female combat-sports coaches.
Muscle and mind: rewiring cognitive-motor recovery through exercise-responsive neurophysiology in neurological populations.
Calderone A, Baricich A, Pournajaf S … +7 more , Sottile F, Maggio MG, Bonanno M, De Luca R, Ligato F, Quartarone A, Calabrò RS
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389111 · Full text
Exercise in neurological rehabilitation is often prescribed to improve mobility, yet its influence extends to cognition through interacting peripheral, central, and behavioral pathways. This narrative review synthesizes...
Exercise in neurological rehabilitation is often prescribed to improve mobility, yet its influence extends to cognition through interacting peripheral, central, and behavioral pathways. This narrative review synthesizes evidence on how skeletal muscle activity can engage peripheral biomarkers and system-level interactions that become clinically meaningful only when translated into behaviorally relevant cognitive-motor integration (CMI). We examine neurotrophic, metabolic, immune, vascular, and endocrine relays, then consider central translation through synaptic plasticity, metabolic adaptation, neurovascular coupling, white matter integrity, and functional network reorganization. The central argument is that cognitive benefit cannot be inferred from biomarker change alone. Exercise is most likely to support recovery when biological pathway engagement is paired with attentionally demanding movement, dual-task control, gait automaticity, error-based adaptation, and context-sensitive learning. Research in stroke, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and traumatic brain injury illustrates the heterogeneous benefits of exercise. This heterogeneity may be shaped by lesion topology, inflammatory activity, fatigue, autonomic stability, medication state, baseline fitness, and exercise tolerance, all of which alter the internal biological dose generated by a given external training prescription. Virtual reality, robotics, wearable sensing, and non-invasive brain stimulation may strengthen this framework when they manipulate task complexity, salience, repetition, feedback, and ecological monitoring for a defined mechanistic purpose. Current evidence supports exercise as a biologically and behaviorally meaningful adjunct in neurorehabilitation, but it cautions against uniform prescriptions and overly direct biomarker interpretations. A more precise next generation of trials should integrate exercise prescription, mechanistic readouts, technology-enabled assessment, and ecologically valid cognitive-motor outcomes within the same translational logic. Across the review, CMI is treated as the behavioral test of whether exercise-responsive biology has been recruited into adaptive function, rather than as a separate concept appended after conditioning.
Understanding psychological flourishing across the lifespan: an integrative review of theory and evidence.
Meiping W, Akhter S, Tan M
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389110 · Full text
Psychological flourishing is increasingly recognised as a multidimensional construct within contemporary positive psychology. It extends beyond the mere absence of psychopathology to encompass the active presence of posi...
Psychological flourishing is increasingly recognised as a multidimensional construct within contemporary positive psychology. It extends beyond the mere absence of psychopathology to encompass the active presence of positive functioning across emotional, cognitive, social, and existential dimensions. Despite decades of theoretical development and empirical investigation, a coherent integrative account of how flourishing unfolds, varies, and can be cultivated across the entire human lifespan remains elusive. This integrative review synthesizes theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence pertaining to psychological flourishing from early childhood through late adulthood. Drawing on major theoretical paradigms-including Seligman's PERMA model, Keyes's Mental Health Continuum, VanderWeele's comprehensive framework, and Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the article examines the distinctive flourishing challenges and opportunities at each developmental stage. Evidence from longitudinal and cross-sectional studies is integrated with intervention research to identify both universal and stage-specific determinants of flourishing. Implications for research, clinical practice, education policy, and public health are discussed.
Cognitive processes of scientific problem-solving while using simulations: an expert-novice comparison.
Zeng Y, Tao J
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389109 · Full text
The ability to utilize simulations to address problems is emphasized in current science standards, but learners often struggle with scientific tasks involving simulations. Understanding the gap between beginner and exper...
The ability to utilize simulations to address problems is emphasized in current science standards, but learners often struggle with scientific tasks involving simulations. Understanding the gap between beginner and expert scientific problem solvers in simulation settings is useful for helping students to develop their expertise. However, limited studies have investigated the differences in cognitive processes between specialists and novices when they tackle simulation-based scientific tasks. Therefore, in this study, the think-aloud method was adopted to compare the cognitive mechanisms of 12 science teachers (experts) and 12 middle school students (novices) as they used simulations to solve scientific problems. The results showed that the experts demonstrated greater cognitive engagement than the novices. Specifically, the experts exhibited a more comprehensive understanding of the tasks. The novices typically ran the simulations blindly and rarely recorded the specific details of the scientific phenomena. The experts also engaged in more logical reasoning, in-depth questioning, and rational decision-making, whereas the novices were more inclined to rely on their intuition and gave hasty responses.
College students' life stress and internet addiction: the roles of loneliness and physical exercise.
Song G, Wang W, Zhao S … +2 more , Yi X, Lin W
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389108 · Full text
OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the relationship between life stress (LS) and Internet addiction (IA) among college students, focusing on the mediating role of loneliness (LL) and the moderating role of physical exerc...
OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the relationship between life stress (LS) and Internet addiction (IA) among college students, focusing on the mediating role of loneliness (LL) and the moderating role of physical exercise (PE). A moderated mediation model was developed based on stress-coping theory and self-regulation theory. METHODS: A survey was conducted with 409 college students from various regions, and statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 28.0 and Process 4.1. RESULTS: (1) Life stress, loneliness, and Internet addiction were significantly positively correlated, whereas physical exercise exhibited a significant negative correlation with all three variables; (2) Loneliness served as a partial mediator in the relationship between life stress and Internet addiction, with a mediating effect value of 0.248, representing 40.7% of the total effect; (3) Physical exercise negatively moderated the relationships between life stress and Internet addiction ( = -0.366, < 0.01), life stress and loneliness ( = -0.348, < 0.01), and loneliness and Internet addiction ( = -0.341, < 0.01). DISCUSSION: Life stress and loneliness are identified as risk factors for Internet addiction among college students, while physical exercise emerges as an effective intervention strategy.
A psychological network analysis of parental and peer support on children's football participation: the bridging role of self-efficacy.
Zeng X, He W, Guo Z
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389107 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: Guided by ecological systems theory, this study employs psychological network analysis to investigate how parental and peer support interact with children's football participation and whether these ecologic...
INTRODUCTION: Guided by ecological systems theory, this study employs psychological network analysis to investigate how parental and peer support interact with children's football participation and whether these ecological dynamics differ by gender. METHODS: We estimated regularized partial correlation networks using EBICglasso on a sample of 287 primary school students ( age = 9.704, = 1.010, age range = 8 to 13 years) and computed centrality, clustering, and bridge centrality metrics. Gender differences were tested via the Network Comparison Test. RESULTS: Self-efficacy emerged as the most central node and the primary bridge connecting social support to football participation. The global network structure did not differ significantly between boys and girls, suggesting a largely similar psychological architecture across genders. Descriptive patterns suggested that internal persistence items were more central for boys, whereas participation and relational support items were more central for girls. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest a possible integration of social cognitive and ecological systems perspectives within a network framework. They offer tentative insights that could be considered when developing broadly applicable or gender-responsive interventions to support children's sustained football participation.
Types and influencing factors of psychological health among freshmen in Chinese art vocational colleges: a latent profile analysis.
Chen S, Xie Q, Pan J … +2 more , Guo J, Yin J
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389106 · Full text
PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the latent categories of psychological health among freshmen in art vocational colleges and examine the influence of demographic variables on these categories, thereby providing an...
PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the latent categories of psychological health among freshmen in art vocational colleges and examine the influence of demographic variables on these categories, thereby providing an empirical basis for developing targeted intervention strategies. METHODS: A cluster convenience sampling method was employed to recruit 1,685 first-year students from an art vocational college in Anhui Province, China. Participants completed the Chinese College Student Mental Health Screening Scale (CSMHSS). Grounded in the theoretical framework of Probabilistic Epigenesis, latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify latent psychological health categories. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multinomial logistic regression analysis were subsequently performed to examine the associations between demographic variables and latent category membership. RESULTS: Significant heterogeneity was observed in the psychological health of art vocational college freshmen, with three latent categories identified: the high stressors-low symptoms group (41.8%), the moderate stressors-moderate symptoms group (43.5%), and the low stressors-high symptoms group (14.7%). All 22 dimensions of psychological health were significantly positively correlated with each other ( = 0.29-0.86, < 0.01), and each of the 22 dimensions was significantly positively correlated with the total score of psychological health ( = 0.62-0.91, < 0.01). ANOVA revealed significant differences across the three latent categories on all 22 dimensions of the CSMHSS ( < 0.001). Post-hoc comparisons indicated that the high stressors-low symptoms group scored significantly lower than both the moderate stressors-moderate symptoms group and the low stressors-high symptoms group on all dimensions, while the moderate stressors-moderate symptoms group scored significantly lower than the low stressors-high symptoms group across all dimensions. Multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrated that gender, place of origin, and academic school significantly influenced the distribution of psychological health subtypes ( < 0.05), whereas ethnicity and only-child status did not ( > 0.05). Specifically, male students exhibited higher levels of psychological health (OR = 1.790, < 0.01), while freshmen from small towns (OR = 0.528, < 0.05) and those from the School of Fine Arts (OR = 0.429, < 0.05) demonstrated lower levels of psychological health. CONCLUSION: This study reveals significant group heterogeneity in the psychological health of art vocational college freshmen. Female students, freshmen from small towns, and those enrolled in the School of Fine Arts warrant particular attention. A tiered and differentiated mental health intervention system should be developed based on latent profile characteristics to address the specific needs of each subgroup.
The value of interdisciplinary exposure: how university disciplinary diversity shapes research productivity of PhD students.
Cao S
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389105 · Full text
PURPOSE: PhD students at different universities face varying opportunities for interdisciplinary exposure, which may influence their academic performance. This study empirically investigates how university disciplinary d...
PURPOSE: PhD students at different universities face varying opportunities for interdisciplinary exposure, which may influence their academic performance. This study empirically investigates how university disciplinary diversity, which creates a context for the sharing and transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge, is associated with PhD student research productivity. METHODS: This study proposes a novel measure of university-level disciplinary diversity and employs Poisson regression to examine its impact on PhD students' research productivity, controlling for a range of individual-, supervisor-, and institution-level factors, based on a sample of 1,418 accounting dissertations submitted to Chinese universities between 1999 and 2022. RESULTS: While a linear model points to an aggregate negative effect of university disciplinary diversity on PhD students' research productivity, detailed analyses reveal a more nuanced inverted U-shaped relationship, suggesting that moderate levels of disciplinary diversity facilitate research productivity, and that the optimal level of diversity increases with a university's overall resources. Further analyses uncover that the negative effect is concentrated in universities with greater disciplinary imbalance or those that expand into too many irrelevant disciplines. Additionally, evidence indicates that PhD students at universities with higher disciplinary diversity are more likely to engage in interdisciplinary research and produce work with greater impact. DISCUSSION: This study sheds new light on how interdisciplinary exposure is associated with PhD students' research productivity and offers practical implications for doctoral training. Engaging with interdisciplinary knowledge may help students identify innovative research questions and produce novel insights, underscoring the value of maintaining adequate disciplinary diversity at the university level.
Prevalence and determinants of academic burnout among undergraduates in a traditional Chinese medicine university: a cross-sectional study.
Zhan J, Xiang J, Zhang Y … +5 more , Zhao X, Zhang K, Ou H, Zhan L, He A
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389104 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Academic burnout (AB), characterized by emotional exhaustion (EE), cynicism (CY), and reduced academic efficacy (AE) in academic settings, has become a growing concern in higher education. Students in traditi...
BACKGROUND: Academic burnout (AB), characterized by emotional exhaustion (EE), cynicism (CY), and reduced academic efficacy (AE) in academic settings, has become a growing concern in higher education. Students in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) universities face unique challenges due to the demanding curriculum, which integrates both TCM and modern medical knowledge, along with high clinical practice expectations. However, limited data exist on the prevalence and determinants of AB in this population. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and identify the determinants of AB among undergraduates at Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (GZUCM). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 March to 31 August 2025. Using convenience sampling, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to undergraduates at GZUCM. The questionnaire collected demographic information, academic-related characteristics, health-related behaviors, family background, perceived school climate (assessed with the revised Perceived School Climate Scale), and AB (using the the Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey, MBI-SS). Data were analyzed using SPSSAU (version 26.0). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participant characteristics. Differences in AB prevalence across characteristics were assessed using Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test, or Fisher's exact test. Spearman's correlation analyzed relationships between AB and perceived school climate dimensions. Binary logistic regression (backward LR) identified independent predictors, with adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) reported. RESULTS: Out of 747 invited undergraduates, 666 completed the questionnaire (response rate 89.29%). The median age was 21 (IQR: 19, 21) years. The median (IQR) scores on the MBI-SS subscales were 17 (12, 20) for EE, 9 (5, 13) for CY, and 25 (22, 29) for AE. The overall prevalence of AB was 20.87%. Among the burnout subdimensions, high EE was present in 63.66% of undergraduates, high CY in 67.57%, and low AE in 37.24%. Factors significantly associated with AB included religious affiliation (aOR = 5.56, 95% CI: 1.93-15.87, = 0.001), pre-university residence (aOR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.39-0.94, = 0.027), and regularity of daily routine (aOR = 2.03, 95% CI: 1.32-3.12, = 0.001). Previous semester class ranking was also correlated with higher AB risk. For each one-point increase in the teacher support score, the adjusted odds of AB decreased by 22% (aOR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.73-0.84, < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study reveals a notable prevalence (20.87%) of AB among TCM undergraduates, with independent determinants including religious affiliation, pre-university urban residence, irregular daily routine, lower academic ranking, and reduced teacher support. These findings highlight that burnout arises from an interplay of demographic, behavioral, academic, and environmental factors. To address this, we propose four actionable strategies: (a) training faculty to provide supportive mentorship and growth-oriented feedback; (b) integrating mandatory courses on time management and sleep hygiene into the core curriculum; (c) implementing targeted support programs for students with lower academic rankings and those from religious minority backgrounds; and (d) establishing cross-year peer mentoring initiatives. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: https://www.chictr.org.cn/ identifier ChiCTR2300070050.
Visual guidance patterns and comprehension mechanisms in children's nonlinear picture book reading: an eye-tracking study.
Sun H, Wang X, Chen H
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389103 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Nonlinear narrative picture books represent an emerging literacy form in children's literature, yet their cognitive processing mechanisms remain understudied. This study investigated visual guidance patterns...
BACKGROUND: Nonlinear narrative picture books represent an emerging literacy form in children's literature, yet their cognitive processing mechanisms remain understudied. This study investigated visual guidance patterns and comprehension mechanisms in 6-7-year-old children reading nonlinear narrative picture books using eye-tracking technology. METHODS: Sixty-four children (72-95 months) read two Chinese nonlinear narrative picture books while their eye movements were recorded using Tobii Pro Spectrum (1,200 Hz). Four eye-tracking metrics were analyzed: fixation duration, path consistency index, cross-AOI scanning frequency, and image-first reading proportion. Comprehension was assessed through structured interviews evaluating factual understanding, inference, global coherence, and narrative structure understanding. RESULTS: Children exhibited a predominant "image-first" pattern, with 58.6% of total fixation time on images versus 26.3% on text. However, mean fixation duration was longer for text (348.6 ms) than images (256.2 ms), indicating deeper text processing. Path consistency (r = 0.48, < 0.001) and cross-AOI scanning (r = 0.45, < 0.001) positively correlated with age. Eye movement measures explained an additional 26.3% variance in comprehension beyond baseline ability, with cross-AOI scanning as the strongest predictor ( = 0.45, < 0.001). Cluster analysis identified three reader types: integrative readers achieved highest comprehension (M = 21.8), followed by text-dominant (M = 18.7) and image-dominant readers (M = 16.2). CONCLUSION: Findings extend text-image integration models to nonlinear contexts, supporting age-adaptive design principles and differentiated reading instruction strategies for children's picture book reading.
Associating (dis)consonance of harmonic intervals with emotional valences: exploring the visual representation of music through crossmodal associations.
Pillay M, Zhang T, Li H … +1 more , Spence C
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389102 · Full text
The current paper investigates whether people associate certain emotions and visual features (specifically roughness, colour, and brightness) with different musical intervals. It was hypothesised that more dissonant inte...
The current paper investigates whether people associate certain emotions and visual features (specifically roughness, colour, and brightness) with different musical intervals. It was hypothesised that more dissonant intervals would be associated more with sadness and tragedy while more consonant intervals would be more strongly associated with happiness and hopefulness instead. It was further hypothesised that the relationship between intervals and emotional valence would be crossmodally mediated by roughness, brightness, and the warmth of colour. We also investigated whether providing an explanation of consonance and dissonance might affect participants' ratings. A total of 303 UK citizens rated the brightness, roughness, colour warmth, and associated emotions (sadness-happiness; tragic-hopeful) of 13 musical intervals. The results indicated that participants associated more dissonant intervals with sadness and tragedy, with the relationship between the dissonance of intervals and emotional attributes mediated through roughness, warmth of colour, and brightness. Furthermore, those participants who had been provided with an explanation rated the intervals as more dissonant, sadder, and more tragic. The results reveal that the different musical intervals present in musical modes are responsible for the different emotions that are typically associated with certain modes and this relationship can sometimes be mediated by features presented visually.
Associations of HEXACO and dark traits with power and gender harassment.
Tokiwa E
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389101 · Full text
Workplace harassment carries substantial individual and organizational costs, yet the roles of antagonistic 'dark' traits and broader personality remain debated. In a cross-sectional online survey of 354 currently employ...
Workplace harassment carries substantial individual and organizational costs, yet the roles of antagonistic 'dark' traits and broader personality remain debated. In a cross-sectional online survey of 354 currently employed Japanese adults recruited via Lancers, we tested whether HEXACO traits-especially Honesty-Humility (H-H)-are associated with self-reported power and gender harassment perpetration tendencies beyond the Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy), and whether predictor structure differs by sex. Participants completed the HEXACO-60, the SD3-J, and validated harassment measures. HC3-robust hierarchical regressions showed that psychopathy was positively associated with power-harassment perpetration tendencies ( ≈ 0.32-0.40, < 0.001), whereas H-H was negatively associated (β = -0.14, = 0.049). For gender-harassment perpetration tendencies, narcissism and psychopathy were positive predictors, while H-H and Openness were negative; Machiavellianism showed a negative coefficient in the multivariate models. Adding HEXACO traits explained additional variance beyond Dark Triad-only models (ΔR = 0.032, = 0.036 for power; ΔR = 0.096, < 0.001 for gender). Sex-stratified analyses revealed a meaningful divergence in predictor structure: among men, Openness was the dominant negative predictor of gender-harassment perpetration tendencies ( = -0.44, < 0.001), whereas among women H-H and Machiavellianism (negative, conditional on the other Dark Triad traits) were the most prominent predictors. We interpret these findings cautiously: incremental variance from H-H is consistent with-but does not by itself establish-a moral-personality contribution distinct from antagonistic traits, an inference that ultimately requires latent-variable modeling. Findings are framed as patterns of association in a Japanese employee sample rather than as evidence of universal mechanisms.
How organizational justice reduces turnover intention of Korean and non-Korean employees in South Korea: the mediating roles of organizational conflict and job satisfaction.
Cho I, Jo SJ, Bui MH
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389100 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: The high turnover intention has a particularly negative impact on continuous organizational development in South Korea. This study explores the impact of organizational justice on turnover intention, examin...
INTRODUCTION: The high turnover intention has a particularly negative impact on continuous organizational development in South Korea. This study explores the impact of organizational justice on turnover intention, examining the mediating roles of organizational conflict and job satisfaction among employees in foreign enterprises in Korea. It also examines whether these relationships differ by employee nationality. METHODS: The non-probability convenience sampling method was employed to collect and analyze data from 775 employees working in foreign enterprises across the Seoul metropolitan area. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test the proposed hypotheses. Further, a multi-group analysis (MGA) was conducted to investigate differences in all hypotheses between Korean and non-Korean groups. RESULTS: The finding revealed that organizational justice positively influenced job satisfaction and negatively affected organizational conflict and turnover intention. Organizational conflict increased turnover intention, whereas job satisfaction reduced it. Both conflict and satisfaction partially mediated the justice-turnover intention link. The results of MGA revealed that most structural relationships were generally similar between Korean and non-Korean employees. However, differences were observed in selected structural relationships, particularly in the relationship between interactional justice and organizational conflict. It indicates the need for culturally responsive HR strategies. DISCUSSION: This research contributes to the literature on factors influencing turnover intention in foreign enterprises in South Korea, while its limitations underscore the need for future studies to broaden and validate the findings across diverse contexts. From the findings, we offer contributions to talent management in multicultural settings, supporting more effective and inclusive workforce retention strategies.
The two correlations between Academic Stress and Subjective Academic Achievement: the mediating roles of Emotion Regulation and Cognitive Decline, and the moderating role of Mind Wandering.
Xu C, Ma H
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389099 · Full text
This study, based on a sample of 705 social science doctoral students in China, constructs a dual-mediation model of "Academic Stress → Emotion Regulation/Cognitive Decline → Subjective Academic Achievement" and introduc...
This study, based on a sample of 705 social science doctoral students in China, constructs a dual-mediation model of "Academic Stress → Emotion Regulation/Cognitive Decline → Subjective Academic Achievement" and introduces Mind Wandering as a moderating variable to examine the two correlational pathways between Academic Stress and Subjective Academic Achievement. The findings reveal that: (1) Academic Stress is positively correlated with Emotion Regulation ( = 0.322, < 0.001), and Emotion Regulation is positively correlated with Subjective Academic Achievement ( = 0.137, < 0.001). Concurrently, in the negative pathway, Academic Stress is positively correlated with Cognitive Decline ( = 0.335, < 0.001), and Cognitive Decline is negatively correlated with Subjective Academic Achievement ( = -0.126, < 0.001). (2) Mind Wandering significantly moderates both pathways: under conditions of high Mind Wandering, the positive correlation between Academic Stress and Emotion Regulation is stronger, and the positive correlation between Academic Stress and Cognitive Decline is also stronger. This study reveals the potential "double-edged sword effect" of Academic Stress through the parallel mediating roles of Emotion Regulation and Cognitive Decline, and validates the double-edged moderating mechanism of Mind Wandering on the stress-transformation pathways. The findings provide theoretical foundations and practical guidance for universities to design differentiated stress intervention programs.
Lived experiences and acceptability challenges among caregivers of people with epilepsy in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Ngobeni H, Makhado TG, Makhado L
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389098 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Epilepsy places substantial demands on family caregivers, particularly in rural settings where stigma, poverty, limited access to health services, and misinformation shape care. In South Africa, little qualit...
BACKGROUND: Epilepsy places substantial demands on family caregivers, particularly in rural settings where stigma, poverty, limited access to health services, and misinformation shape care. In South Africa, little qualitative evidence has explored how caregivers experience epilepsy care across rural provinces and how social acceptability influences caregiving. OBJECTIVE: To explore the lived experiences and acceptability challenges among caregivers of people with epilepsy (PWE) in Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces, South Africa. METHODS: A qualitative exploratory-descriptive study was conducted among informal caregivers of PWE in rural and peri-urban communities across both provinces. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed inductively using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five interrelated themes captured caregivers' experiences: (1) caregiving as constant vigilance, (2) emotional and physical strain in responding to unpredictable seizures, (3) stigma and low social acceptability of epilepsy, (4) caregiving under structural and service constraints, and (5) coping, endurance, and unmet support needs. Caregivers described continuous supervision, fear during seizures, physical exhaustion, and major disruption to work, mobility, and household routines. Their experiences were further shaped by community judgment, misconceptions about epilepsy, and exclusion in schools, churches, and social spaces. Poverty, transport barriers, limited practical support, and inadequate caregiver guidance from services intensified these burdens. Although caregivers demonstrated endurance through treatment monitoring, family responsibility, faith, and selective use of available support, these coping mechanisms were often fragile and insufficient. CONCLUSION: Caregiving for PWE in rural South Africa is a demanding and socially shaped experience that extends beyond seizure management to include emotional labor, social negotiation, and structural hardship. Interventions to improve epilepsy outcomes should include caregiver education, stigma reduction, family-centered psychosocial support, and stronger community- and primary healthcare-based support systems.
The system-level organisational design framework: a neuro-cognitive trait interaction approach to workplace inclusion for autistic people.
Dark J
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389097 · Full text
Employment outcomes for autistic people in the United Kingdom (UK) remain persistently low despite increasing attention to workplace inclusion. Drawing on my positionality as an autistic doctoral student in Organisationa...
Employment outcomes for autistic people in the United Kingdom (UK) remain persistently low despite increasing attention to workplace inclusion. Drawing on my positionality as an autistic doctoral student in Organisational Psychology, this perspective article examines how workplace inclusion is often approached through individually negotiated adjustments implemented within existing workplace systems and practices. While these approaches provide important forms of support, organisational conditions continue to shape participation in ways that do not fully account for differences in how autistic people think, process information, and communicate. In response, the article introduces the system-level organisational design framework (SLODF), underpinned by a neuro-cognitive trait interaction lens, as a reflexive framework for examining how organisational conditions shape workplace participation across cognitive variation. Drawing on multidisciplinary literature, the article explores how barriers emerge through interactions between neuro-cognitive traits and the organisational domains of environment, systems, people, and policy. Rather than functioning as a predictive or prescriptive model, the SLODF conceptualises workplace inclusion as an ongoing, context-sensitive organisational process. In doing so, the article contributes to broader developments within Organisational Psychology by encouraging reconsideration of workplace inclusion through organisational design and neuro-cognitive trait interaction.
Statistical indirect associations of sleep disturbance and GAD symptoms in the relationship between childhood trauma and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents with depression.
Shao H, Xie Z, Wu Y … +3 more , Yang T, Zhang M, He K
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389096 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma is an early stressor for adolescent depression. Previous studies have reported a link between childhood trauma and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors; however, the underlying associati...
BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma is an early stressor for adolescent depression. Previous studies have reported a link between childhood trauma and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors; however, the underlying associations among these variables remain unclear. METHOD: Using the Chinese Version of the Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7) as research instruments, we evaluated adolescents with depression who met the ICD-10 criteria for depressive episodes (n = 2,308) from the outpatient clinic of 12 psychiatric hospitals in China. RESULTS: The scores of sleep disturbance, GAD symptoms, childhood trauma, and their subtypes for the adolescents with depression in the NSSI group were higher than those in the non-NSSI group. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that childhood trauma and its subtypes showed significant positive correlations with NSSI severity, sleep disturbance, and GAD symptoms. PROCESS-based mediation analysis and SEM-based sensitivity analyses showed significant statistical indirect associations between childhood trauma and NSSI behavior through sleep disturbance, GAD symptoms, and the sequential pathway involving sleep disturbance and GAD symptoms. After excluding general confounding factors, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and physical neglect were significantly associated with NSSI severity in the cross-sectional regression model. CONCLUSION: It is essential to remain alert to the increased risk of NSSI behavior among adolescents with depression, particularly those who have experienced different types of childhood trauma. Special consideration should be given to the impact of clinical symptoms such as sleep disturbance and GAD symptoms, and early intervention should be implemented to mitigate or reduce the possibility of NSSI behavior.
From doubt to trust: how AI safety voice bridges the gap between employees and AI teammates through perceived capability and benevolence.
Qi Z, Yan Y, Ren P
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389095 · Full text
PURPOSE: With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) computing power, the creation and development of human-AI collaborative teams have become a significant trend in organizational development. However, in...
PURPOSE: With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) computing power, the creation and development of human-AI collaborative teams have become a significant trend in organizational development. However, in organizational practice, the introduction of AI is often accompanied by significant psychological resistance and algorithm aversion among employees. Based on this, this article aims to investigate the critical variable of AI safety voice, analyzing its impact mechanism on employees' willingness to collaborate. The study focuses on examining the mediating roles of perceived AI capability and perceived AI benevolence, as well as the moderating effect of voice endorsement within this framework. METHODS: Drawing upon the theory of mind perception, this study investigated mediating and moderating effects through a multi-wave questionnaire survey administered to 385 enterprise employees routinely engaged in human-AI collaboration. RESULT: Employees' perceptions of AI capability and benevolence mediate the relationship between AI safety voice and employees' willingness to work with AI. Furthermore, voice endorsement positively moderates the relationships between AI safety voice and perceived AI capability as well as perceived AI benevolence, further enhancing the indirect effect of AI safety voice on employees' willingness to work with AI. CONCLUSION: The findings contribute to enhancing the relationship between human and AI teammates and provide practical insights for organizations aiming to introduce human-AI collaborative teams, thereby improving team synergy and work output.
Testing whether paralinguistic cues alter math learning in highly math anxious adults.
Tabrizian BI, Lyons IM
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389094 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: Recent discovery of a "math anxiety transference" effect - wherein math anxious instructors produce underperforming learners, who are then more prone to math anxiety themselves - threatens to undercut math...
INTRODUCTION: Recent discovery of a "math anxiety transference" effect - wherein math anxious instructors produce underperforming learners, who are then more prone to math anxiety themselves - threatens to undercut math education's provision of individually- and societally-vital numeracy skills. While previous theorists have explained this transference using and explanations, the present work explores a perspective via the novel Paralinguistic Model of Math Anxiety Transference. This model posits that math anxiety influences the way teachers during math instruction, producing anxious paralinguistic cues that, when detected by learners, produce appraisals of instructor anxiety, then elevated learner state anxiety, and finally worsened math performance and math avoidance. METHODS: Data from = 86 highly-math-anxious, adult participants were collected via Prolific across two sessions, with session two exposing participants to either paralinguistically anxious ( = 46) or paralinguistically confident ( = 40) math instruction. RESULTS: Results indicated that paralinguistically-anxious teachers [H] were rated as more anxious, but [H] did produce elevated learner state anxiety, and [H] did not produce differential changes in math performance or avoidance, relative to their paralinguistically-confident counterparts. Rather, participants in the anxious-instructor and confident-instructor groups exhibited significant improvements in math performance and significant reductions in math avoidance from S1 to S2. We also tested for the role of time-pressure, which did not interact with the above effects. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that math anxious adult educators needn't be worried that their potentially-anxious speech will interfere with students' ability to learn. Moreover, they propose a low-cost, easily distributable medium of effective adult math education in an age of declining numeracy.
Acute psychological responses to formal and small-sided volleyball games in male youth athletes: an exploratory repeated-measures study.
do Nascimento MH, de Sá Filho AS, Aprigliano V … +10 more , Clemente FM, Vieira CA, Campos MH, Rocha ACR, Arantes DDLC, Praça GM, Freire AB, Kawczyński A, Noll M, Costa GCT
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42389093 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: Small-sided games are frequently used in youth sport training, yet their acute psychological effects in volleyball remain insufficiently described. This study examined whether formal games (6 vs. 6) and sma...
INTRODUCTION: Small-sided games are frequently used in youth sport training, yet their acute psychological effects in volleyball remain insufficiently described. This study examined whether formal games (6 vs. 6) and small-sided games (3 vs. 3) were associated with distinct short-term responses in anxiety, mood, affective valence, enjoyment, perceived recovery, and perceived exertion among male youth volleyball athletes. METHODS: Thirty male athletes aged 14-18 years completed repeated training sessions under two game formats during the pre-competitive period. Psychological and perceptual measures were obtained before and/or after each session, depending on the outcome assessed. Generalized Estimating Equations were used to examine condition, moment, and condition × moment effects. Given the sample size, the nonrandomized repeated-measures design, and the fixed sequence of conditions, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory, as condition effects cannot be fully separated from order and time-related influences. RESULTS: State anxiety increased from pre- to post-session, irrespective of game format. Among the mood-related outcomes, only tension demonstrated a statistically robust condition × moment interaction after false discovery rate correction, with less favorable post-session responses in the 3 vs. 3 format. Depression, fatigue, and confusion increased, and vigor decreased from pre- to post-session regardless of condition. Affective valence, perceived recovery, and perceived exertion did not differ between formats. Although anger and enjoyment showed condition-related differences in the unadjusted analyses, these findings did not remain statistically robust after correction for multiple comparisons. DISCUSSION: In this exploratory sample of male youth volleyball athletes, formal and small-sided games produced broadly similar acute psychological responses across most outcomes. The most robust condition-related finding was higher post-session tension in the small-sided format, whereas the unadjusted findings for anger and enjoyment should be interpreted with caution, as they did not remain statistically robust after false discovery rate correction. These findings suggest that different game formats may be associated with specific short-term emotional experiences during training, but larger, better-controlled studies are needed before drawing definitive conclusions about their implications for mental health-related outcomes in youth sport.
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