The effect of involuntary positive memory retrieval on mood repair of non-clinically depressed people Abstract Previous studies have demonstrated that voluntary positive memory retrieval commonly leads to mood repair in the non-depressed population but not in depressed people, while it has been suggested that involuntary positive memory retrieval can repair the mood of depressed people. However, the difference in the mood repair effect between voluntary and involuntary positive memory retrieval on depressed people remains unclear from an experimental perspective, and thus, we examined this difference in a laboratory setting. After inducing negative mood in non-clinical participants with high and low depressive tendency (n = 48), they were asked to conduct a voluntary memory retrieval task or sound location task inducing involuntary memory retrieval. In this retrieval phase, participants retrieved memories of positive pictures that had been encoded in the laboratory. The results demonstrated that involuntary positive memory retrieval caused a more positive change in the mood of people with high depressive tendency compared to voluntary retrieval. These results suggest that involuntary positive memory retrieval contributes to the repair of depression.

Cognitive behavioural therapy as an effective treatment for social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination Abstract Social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination in adults have been known to significantly decrease an individual’s perceptions toward their quality of life, yet little is known or understood about possible therapeutic approaches in Iranian populations. This randomized, controlled trial study was designed to examine the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) on social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination among individuals diagnosed with social anxiety in Tehran, Iran. A total of 52 individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) (68% female, mean age = 35.67) were allocated to a CBT group or to a control group. The intervention group was given one session of therapy per week over a duration of 8 weeks, while the control group did not receive any intervention and was placed on a waiting list. Self-reported social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination were measured before the CBT intervention, after the intervention, and two months after the intervention for both groups. Repeated measurement ANOVA revealed greater improvements in social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination in the intervention group compared with the control group. The findings revealed that CBT effectively decreased social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination in individuals with SAD offering implications for therapists and clinicians.

The relationship between self-esteem and cyberbullying: A meta-analysis of children and youth students Abstract This study aims to reveal the relationship between self-esteem and cyberbullying by using meta-analysis. We identified 61 articles with 49,406 student participants. The results provide strong evidence regarding the link between self-esteem and cyberbullying. In addition, the meta-analysis has found that factors such as self-esteem measurements, participants’ culture, sample size, and participants’ age all moderated this relationship. The betas between self-esteem and cyberbullying is stronger in studies that used RSES (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) and weaker in studies that used other measures. The betas coefficient was larger for participants in Asia than those in the U.S. and Europe. Compared to “N < 200″ and “N > 800″, the betas coefficient was larger in “200 < N < 800″. As the participants’ age increased, the betas coefficient between self-esteem and cyberbullying was smaller. Implications of this meta-analysis are discussed.

The effects of direct violence and witnessed violence on the future fear of violence and turnover intention: A study of health employees Abstract Workplace violence in healthcare organizations is a growing problem in Turkey. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of violence and witnessed violence on the fear of future violence and turnover intention in health care workers and mediating role of fear of violence in the effect of direct violence and witnessed violence on turnover intention. The population of the study was 299 health care workers. Validity and reliability analyses of the scales were carried out and it was found that each scale was valid and reliable. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical methods and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results showed that Direct Violence at Work and Witnessed Violence at Work have a significant effect on Fear of Future Violent Events at Work and Turnover Intention. The effect of Direct Violence at Work and Witnessed Violence at Work on Turnover Intention is further increased when the Fear of Future Violent Events at Work is used as a mediating variable. Violence affects those witnessing it as well as the direct victims. This affects both the fear of violence and the turnover intention. Serious precautions should be taken to prevent violence against health workers in order to protect and improve the health of society. It should not be forgotten that healthy societies are possible with healthy health human resources.

Gaining or losing wisdom: Developmental trends in theory of mind in old age Abstract Theory of mind (ToM) is a tool in the field of social cognition that is employed to judge and predict others’ intentions, motives, and psychological states. At present, studies on the development of ToM in older adults have offered some meaningful insights. However, researchers still lack an overall understanding of the differences of ToM abilities based on different age brackets. Accordingly, the present study utilized a variety of tasks to investigate the development of ToM in the elderly at different ages. The results demonstrated that: (1) The ToM abilities showed a declined tendency with the increasing age. (2) While overall, different types of ToM tasks varied in accordance with each age brackets. In the double emotion task, the development of ToM abilities showed no difference among three groups of people aged 65–74, 75–79, 80–84, while in comparison, the people aged 85–89 had a notable decline in ToM abilities. In the double bluff task, the ToM abilities of people aged 65–74 were notably stronger than that of the people aged 85–89, while the other groups did not varied much. In the false belief task, ToM abilities of people aged 65–74 were significantly stronger than that of people aged 65–74 and 85–89, while the other groups did not varied much. In the second-order false belief task, the ToM abilities of people aged 65–74 and 75–79 were greatly stronger than that of other two groups that had similar results. In the faux pas task, the ToM abilities of people aged 65–74 were notably stronger than that of other three groups, people aged 75–79 than that of 85–89, while other groups showed no difference. In general, the ToM abilities of the elderly displayed the inner consistency of development, but manifested particularity in different tasks.

Associations between social support, career self-efficacy, and career indecision among youth Abstract Previous research suggests that social support affects both career self-efficacy and career decision-making status. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between social support and career indecision and the role that career self-efficacy plays in this relationship. A series of validated measures assessing social support, career self-efficacy, and career indecision were administrated to 700 Kosovar youth (mean age = 18.1 years, 57% women and 42.9% men). The findings revealed that social support was significantly negatively correlated with career indecision. The study results also indicated that social support was indirectly correlated with career indecision, as career self-efficacy played a mediating role in this relationship. The findings provide useful insight into the links between social support, career self-efficacy, and career decision making. Therefore, these results provide a foundation for the development of interventions for adolescents.

Authenticity and rumination mediate the relationship between loneliness and well-being Abstract In recent years, plentiful data has emerged indicating the detrimental effects of loneliness on well-being. One of the challenges for researchers dealing with this issue is to find the mechanism underlying the relationship. The present study investigated 293 adults, aged 19-40, and examined whether authenticity and rumination functioned as mediators in the relationship between loneliness and well-being (and its three domains – pleasure, engagement, and meaning). The results of the study confirmed the loneliness-well-being link and, additionally, revealed potential mechanisms explaining this relationship, which were of different character in the cases of the particular domains of well-being. As it turned out, authenticity was the sole significant mediator in the relationship between loneliness and meaning, and rumination played the role of key mediator between loneliness and pleasure. Both these mediators had their share in the indirect effects of loneliness on engagement and overall well-being. The relations revealed between loneliness and authenticity are, in turn, congruent with recent conceptualizations of authenticity, which emphasize the interpersonal sources of this variable.

Missing children appeal designs: Is recall accuracy influenced by the design of the appeal? Abstract When a child goes missing it is common practice to release an appeal of the child in the hope that a member of the public could help to identify and locate them. Despite being an everyday occurrence, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of how effective these appeals are. The present study sought to explore the effectiveness of missing children appeals through the recall accuracy of the general public immediately after observing the appeals and again after a three-day delay. One hundred and eighty-two participants observed either a mock Child Rescue Alert or a mock Twitter appeal. The results found no significant difference in recall accuracy between the design of the appeals although there was a significant difference in recall error. Confidence in own recall accuracy and the length of time spent observing the appeals were also found to be significantly associated with recall accuracy. Initial recall accuracy scores were significantly higher than recall accuracy scores following a three-day break. This exploratory study demonstrates the requirement to improve missing children appeals and lays the foundation for future studies to build on these findings further.

The mediating role of boredom proneness and the moderating role of meaning in life in the relationship between mindfulness and depressive symptoms Abstract A growing body of research has demonstrated that mindfulness can effectively alleviate depressive symptoms. However, few studies to date have investigated how mindfulness links to depressive symptoms from the perspective of attention. Moreover, it remains unknown under what conditions mindfulness links to depressive symptoms. To fill in these gaps, this study examined boredom proneness as a possible mediator and meaning in life as a possible moderator of the link between mindfulness and depressive symptoms. A sample of 746 college students (Mage = 19.23; SDage = 1.06) in China completed the self-report questionnaires of mindfulness, boredom proneness, depression, and meaning in life. Results of mediation analysis showed that boredom proneness partially mediated the association between mindfulness and depressive symptoms. Moderated mediation analyses further revealed that the indirect effect of mindfulness on depressive symptoms via boredom proneness was moderated by presence of meaning and search for meaning (two components of meaning in life), respectively, with the indirect effect being stronger for individuals with lower levels of presence of meaning/search for meaning. These findings broaden our understanding of the psychological processes that underlie the association between mindfulness and depressive symptoms, and offer practical guidance on relieving depressive symptoms. Limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.

Development and psychometric properties of the problematic mobile video gaming scale Abstract This study aimed to develop the Problematic Mobile Video Gaming Scale (PMVGS) and test its reliability and validity in two samples. Sample 1 contained 578 junior high school students, and Sample 2 contained 1501 college students. The data from Sample 1 was examined using exploratory factor analysis to define the factorial structure of the scale. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, a three-factor structure (withdrawal symptoms, mood modification, and conflict) composed of 11 items was obtained, which explained 66.25% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis was then performed to confirm that factorial structure using data from Sample 2; the obtained fit indices confirmed the second-order three-factor structure, indicating good construct validity. We used depression, loneliness, social anxiety, and game usage time to evaluate the scale’s criterion-related validity, and significant correlations between PMVGS and these criterion variables were revealed. The scores of the PMVGS and the Excessive Online Gaming Scale, which have similar structures, were strongly correlated, suggesting that the PMVGS has good convergent validity. The moderate correlation between the scores of the PMVGS and the Mobile Phone Addiction Index scale, which have different structures, indicates that the PMVGS has good discriminant validity. Further, the scale has a high level of internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of .84 and .91 for the two samples. Thus, the PMVGS has good reliability and validity, and is an effective and reliable tool for assessing problematic mobile video gaming.