BackgroundResponsible leadership may be associated with ICU nurses’ innovative behavior, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study examined the mediating roles of perceived insider status and voice behavior.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted between January and February 2025 in three tertiary hospitals in northern China. A total of 372 ICU nurses were recruited using convenience sampling. Validated instruments were used to measure responsible leadership, perceived insider status, voice behavior, and innovative behavior. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized model and mediating pathways.ResultsThe results indicated significant positive correlations among responsible leadership, perceived insider status, voice behavior, and innovative behavior (all p < 0.01). Responsible leadership not only directly influenced the innovative behavior of ICU nurses but also had indirect effects through the mediating roles of perceived insider status and voice behavior. Specifically, perceived insider status and voice behavior accounted for 22.56 and 21.05% of the total effect, respectively. In addition, perceived insider status and voice behavior played a sequential mediating role between responsible leadership and innovative behavior, with the chain mediation effect accounting for 8.77% of the total effect.ConclusionThis study highlights the critical role of responsible leadership in enhancing ICU nurses’ innovative behavior within the Chinese healthcare context. By fostering a strong sense of insider identity and encouraging upward communication, responsible leadership can create an inclusive, psychologically safe environment that empowers nurses to generate and implement innovative ideas. Hospital administrators should promote leadership practices that emphasize ethical responsibility, stakeholder engagement, and open communication to stimulate innovation and improve care outcomes in intensive care settings.
IntroductionThis study examined EEG and autonomic responses during an emotionally intense and morally paradoxical film scene from Sophie’s Choice.MethodsThe cinematic content was segmented into 56 segments based on characters’ facial expressions and categorized by emotional valence. EEG and autonomic analyses were conducted across the full scene and by character.ResultsResults showed increased delta activity in left frontal areas during morally ambiguous segments, indicating anticipatory control; theta in left temporoparietal regions reflected empathic engagement with the narrative; gamma increased during the victim’s distress, signaling emotional resonance. Skin conductance rose during Nazi-related scenes, highlighting external threat salience.DiscussionFindings illustrate how film can elicit distinct neurophysiological patterns, offering a powerful lens to study moral and emotional processing in immersive, narrative-driven contexts. These findings should be considered preliminary and exploratory, offering initial evidence on neurophysiological dynamics during morally complex cinematic experiences.
Many organizations invest in developing proactive employees while simultaneously maintaining structural conditions that make proactivity unsustainable. This paper addresses that contradiction. Although research has documented the psychological costs of proactive behavior at the episode level, how these dynamics accumulate into longer-term behavioral trajectories remains theoretically underdeveloped, as does the role of organizational conditions in shaping which trajectory employees follow. Integrating Conservation of Resources theory with Self-Determination Theory, a multilevel framework is developed that identifies four proactivity trajectories over time: sustainable, contingent, declining, and suppressed, tracked jointly through an employee's visible initiative and the self-efficacy and motivational quality supporting it. Organizational structural conditions are identified as predictors of trajectory type, setting a “ceiling” within which individual regulatory resources operate. Performance management and leadership behavior translate these conditions into daily employee experience. Eleven propositions and a future research agenda are derived. The framework argues that sustaining proactivity over time is primarily an organizational design problem, not an individual development one, with direct implications for HR practice, work design, and the management of initiative at work.
IntroductionInterpersonal gait synchronization is widely observed during side-by-side walking and has been hypothesized to contribute to gait rehabilitation. Nonetheless, the specific effects of gait synchronization on gait asymmetry, as distinguished from mere side-by-side walking, have not been experimentally investigated under overground walking conditions. This study aimed to examine the effects of interpersonal gait synchronization on gait asymmetry during overground side-by-side walking.MethodsTen pairs of participants performed overground side-by-side walking tasks under synchronization and asynchronization (control) conditions. Gait asymmetry was simulated in one member of each pair by applying unilateral ankle loading and was quantified across five spatiotemporal gait parameters using inertial measurement unit sensors. The degree of interpersonal synchronization was verified using the Gait Synchronization Index (GSI). Statistical analyses were conducted using Friedman’s test, followed by Wilcoxon signed-rank test with Bonferroni correction.ResultsAll participants achieved synchronized walking under the synchronization condition and asynchronized walking under the asynchronization condition, as verified by the GSI values. Compared with baseline, stride height asymmetry was significantly reduced during synchronized walking (W = 0, p = 0.002, r = 0.979), and this reduction was maintained immediately after synchronization ceased (p = 0.002), indicating a short-term carry-over effect. No significant changes in gait asymmetry or other gait parameters were observed under the asynchronization condition.ConclusionInterpersonal gait synchronization specifically reduces stride height asymmetry and produces a short-term carry-over effect in overground walking, suggesting its potential as a basis for gait rehabilitation interventions.
Although visual arts engagement is widely regarded as beneficial for psychological health, more frequent participation may not always correspond to more favorable outcomes. This cross-sectional survey identified latent profiles of visual arts engagement among 586 Chinese non-art-major university students and examined their associations with subjective well-being, psychological distress, and emotion regulation. Latent profile analysis was based on four engagement dimensions: active creation, receptive appreciation, digital engagement, and social/learning involvement. Profile differences were tested using Welch’s ANOVA, Games–Howell post hoc comparisons, BCH sensitivity analyses, and parallel statistical indirect association models including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. A four-profile solution was retained as a parsimonious person-centered representation of a graded engagement continuum, distinguishing very low, low, moderate, and high visual arts engagement. Students in the high-engagement profile reported the lowest subjective well-being and the highest depression, anxiety, stress, and overall psychological distress. Continuous-model sensitivity analyses indicated that profile membership did not provide significant explanatory value beyond continuous quadratic or spline specifications of overall engagement. In the statistical indirect association models, emotion-regulation variables were statistically involved in associations between moderate and high engagement profiles and mental health outcomes. However, the substantial overlap between cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression limits strategy-specific interpretation of their mutually adjusted coefficients. Because all data were cross-sectional and self-reported, these findings describe association patterns rather than temporal or causal effects. They motivate future research on the emotional function, motivation, and quality of visual arts engagement rather than supporting conclusions about these unmeasured features in the present study.
IntroductionThe brain functional correlates of phonological encoding have been examined by means of tasks requiring silent articulation, in many cases utilizing judgments of whether two words rhyme or not. However, most studies have employed written stimuli, which may not be appropriate in languages with transparent orthography (e.g. Spanish), and control tasks have often been less than ideal for functional imaging purposes. We aimed to identify brain activations during phonological encoding using a visual rhyming judgment task that minimized reading-related confounds, and we employed a novel control task that engaged presemantic stages of visual object processing.MethodsTwenty-eight healthy, right-handed adults, out of an initial sample of 32, performed a task requiring them to judge whether the names of line drawings of animals and objects rhymed. The control task consisted of judging whether two pictures of animals and objects viewed from different angles were the same or different. Brain activations were examined using fMRI and whole-brain, voxel-based analysis.ResultsThe rhyming condition (rhyming > control) elicited increased activation in the left inferior frontal cortex, including Broca's area, as well as the precentral, supramarginal, and superior temporal gyri, plus the supplementary motor area, with subcortical activity being seen in the basal ganglia and left cerebellum. The reverse contrast (control > rhyming) activated occipital and ventral temporal cortical regions.DiscussionThese results support the validity of this new picture-based rhyming task to study phonological encoding, and they highlight the role of the left inferior frontal cortex including Broca's area, among other regions, in silent articulation. Regions activated by the control task overlapped those known to be involved in visual object processing.
ObjectiveTo investigate an optimal 24-h movement behavior recommendation framework to promote mental health and evaluate its equivalent impacts on these psychological outcomes.MethodsA sample of 319 junior high school students (mean age: 13.73 years, 52.6% male) from Chengdu, China, were included in the study. Their 24-h movement behaviors, comprising light physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sedentary behavior (SB), and sleep (SLP), were objectively measured using accelerometers combined with sleep logs. Psychological wellbeing and anxiety were assessed using the Adolescent Wellbeing Scale and the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC-C), respectively. Compositional linear regression, the optimal time-use zone analysis, time reallocation analysis, and equivalent impact curves were applied to systematically examine the relationships between 24-h movement behaviors and mental health outcome.ResultsThe overall 24-h movement behavior composition was significantly associated with both psychological wellbeing and anxiety scores. Relative to the remaining behaviors, LPA (β = 6.109, P = 0.028) and SLP (β = 18.610, P = 0.004) were positively associated with psychological wellbeing, whereas SB (β = −24.476, P < 0.001) was negatively associated with psychological wellbeing. For anxiety, SB (β = 32.000, P < 0.001) was positively associated with anxiety scores, whereas MVPA (β = −6.353, P = 0.029) and SLP (β = −25.827, P = 0.009) were negatively associated with anxiety scores. To optimize overall mental health, the recommended durations and ranges for 24-h movement behaviors were 316 min/day (270–420 min/day) for LPA, 68 min/day (50–110 min/day) for MVPA, 510 min/day (460–550 min/day) for SB, and 545 min/day (470–610 min/day) for SLP. Under the one-to-three isoproportional substitution model, three compositional time-reallocation patterns were estimated to correspond to a predicted 0.1-standard deviation (SD) higher psychological wellbeing score: a relative increase in LPA (+ 56.5 min/day), a relative decrease in SB (−26.2 min/day), or a relative increase in SLP (+ 31.8 min/day). Under the one-to-one isotemporal substitution model, a comparable predicted difference was observed when reallocating 27.9 min/day of SB to LPA or 24.7 min/day of SB to SLP. For anxiety, the corresponding one-to-three isoproportional substitution patterns associated with a predicted 0.1-SD lower anxiety score were a relative increase in MVPA (+ 19.4 min/day), a relative decrease in SB (−28.5 min/day), or a relative increase in SLP (+ 32.6 min/day). Similarly, under the one-to-one isotemporal substitution model, a comparable predicted reduction was estimated when reallocating 26.1 min/day of SB to SLP.ConclusionFor junior high school students, the recommended daily durations of 24-h movement behaviors for overall mental health were316 min of LPA, 68 min of MVPA, and 545 min of SLP, while SB should be limited to no more than 550 min per day. Beyond these specific durations, comparable predicted mental health profiles may correspond to multiple behavioral time-reallocation patterns. In particular, relative reductions in SB showed the strongest magnitude of association with favorable mental health outcomes.
Little is known about how motivation relates to physical activity within large-scale school-based programs and whether this association varies according to contextual factors such as perceived school leader support, peer affiliation, or duration of program participation. This study examined the association between motivation for physical activity and physical activity levels among students participating in the Global Health Program (GHP) and tested whether this association was moderated by these contextual factors. Cross-sectional data were drawn from the Autumn 2024 baseline evaluation of the GHP, a school-based program implemented across 48 public schools in Québec, Canada. A total of 664 students completed an online questionnaire, with participants represented across 22 schools. Among students with valid age data, the mean age was 14.05 years (SD = 1.80), and 58% were boys. Motivation was assessed using the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2, and physical activity was assessed using the PAQ-C or PAQ-A according to school level. Linear mixed-effects models with a random intercept for school were used to examine associations between motivation and physical activity, adjusting for age, sex, and mother’s education. Moderation analyses tested interactions between the Relative Autonomy Index (RAI) and perceived school leader support, peer affiliation, and years of participation. A higher RAI was associated with a higher physical activity score in the adjusted model (β̂ = 0.02, 95% CI [0.01, 0.03], p < 0.001). Identified regulation (β̂ = 0.30, 95% CI [0.24, 0.36], p < 0.001) and intrinsic regulation (β̂ = 0.28, 95% CI [0.22, 0.35], p < 0.001) showed the strongest positive associations with physical activity. Introjected regulation was also positively associated with physical activity (β̂ = 0.12, 95% CI [0.08, 0.17], p < 0.001), whereas amotivation and external regulation were not statistically significant. Perceived school leader support and peer affiliation did not significantly moderate the association between the RAI and physical activity. However, years of participation significantly moderated this association (interaction β̂ = 0.004, 95% CI [0.001, 0.008], p = 0.022), with a stronger positive association among students reporting longer participation in the GHP. Autonomous motivation was positively associated with physical activity among students participating in the GHP, particularly identified and intrinsic regulation. These findings support the relevance of Self-Determination Theory for understanding physical activity in school-based programs, while longitudinal research is needed to clarify the direction of the observed associations and the role of continued program participation.
BackgroundNurses’ innovative work behavior represents an important form of proactive workplace behavior in healthcare organizations. Although head nurses’ scientific research and innovation leadership may create conditions that support innovation, how such leadership is translated into nurses’ innovative work behavior through team-level cognitive processes and under what motivational conditions this association is strengthened or weakened remain insufficiently understood.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 clinical nurses in China. Participants completed validated measures of head nurses’ scientific research and innovation leadership, intra-team competition perception, harmonious work passion, and nurses’ innovative work behavior. Pearson correlation analyses, hierarchical regression analysis, mediation analysis, and moderated mediation analysis were performed.ResultsHead nurses’ scientific research and innovation leadership was positively associated with nurses’ innovative work behavior. Intra-team competition perception partially mediated this association. Harmonious work passion moderated the association between intra-team competition perception and nurses’ innovative work behavior: the association was stronger among nurses with lower harmonious work passion and weaker among those with higher harmonious work passion. The conditional indirect association between head nurses’ scientific research and innovation leadership and nurses’ innovative work behavior through intra-team competition perception was also stronger when harmonious work passion was lower.ConclusionBy integrating transformational leadership theory and self-determination theory, this study extends existing research on nurses’ innovative work behavior by identifying intra-team competition perception as a team-level cognitive pathway and harmonious work passion as a motivational boundary condition linking leadership context with innovation behavior. Nursing managers should not rely solely on competitive cues to stimulate innovation, but should also cultivate nurses’ internalized work passion and provide supportive leadership for sustainable innovation.
BackgroundAs an important part of classical Chinese literature, Tang poetry and Song ci have long been regarded as having distinctive aesthetic appeal and affect-evoking power. However, existing studies have mostly discussed their artistic value from the perspectives of literary history, textual interpretation, or aesthetic features. Fewer studies have begun from readers' lived experience to examine why contemporary individuals are moved by Tang and Song poetry, or how this experience of being moved is associated with personal experience, relational memory, cultural identity, and life understanding. Therefore, based on the aesthetics of reception and reader-response theory, this study aimed to explore the experiential structure and interpretive psychological processes through which contemporary readers are moved by Tang and Song poetry.MethodsThis descriptive qualitative study conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 adults. The interviews used no standardized list of poems; participants independently recalled and discussed a Tang poem or Song ci that had clearly moved them. Interview data were analyzed at the level of meaning units using inductive content analysis. Categories and subcategories were developed through open coding, cross-case comparison, category aggregation, and category refinement. Independent coding by two researchers, Cohen's kappa, member checking, peer review, negative case analysis, and reflexive memos were used to enhance analytic trustworthiness.ResultsData analysis identified six categories and 20 subcategories. The categories were sensory aesthetics, individual experience, relational emotions, cultural memory, existential reflection, and barriers and facilitating factors. The findings indicate that textual aesthetic cues provide an initial trigger; personal experience and relational memory establish self-relevance; cultural schemas support understanding; and existential reflection integrates meaning. Facilitating factors and barriers influence these processes through textual accessibility, attentional engagement, and experiential matching.ConclusionThe power of Tang and Song poetry to move readers is reflected not only in the aesthetic experience evoked by language, imagery, rhythm, and visual scenes, but also in poetry's activation of personal memory, emotional relationships, cultural identity, and life meaning. These findings help explain the contemporary reception of classical Chinese poetry from a psychological perspective. They also suggest that poetry education should prioritize readers' subjective experience by encouraging connections with personal experience, engagement with cultural contexts, and reflection on life.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system, associated with a range of physical, cognitive, and psychological difficulties. Beyond classical neurological symptoms, disturbances in bodily experience, including functional neurological symptoms, somatization, body-image disturbances, and disordered eating behaviors, represent an underrecognized, yet clinically relevant dimension of the disease. This narrative review synthesizes evidence from adult and pediatric populations, highlighting the frequent co-occurrence of these disturbances with MS and their associations with psychological symptoms, reduced quality of life, and functional impairment. Across studies, these manifestations appear to be shaped by a complex interplay of psychological vulnerability (e.g., depression, anxiety, perceived stigma, and low self-esteem), disease-related characteristics (such as disability level and disease course), and contextual factors including stress and treatment experiences, rather than being solely attributable to neurological pathology, such as demyelinating lesions, axonal damage, or brain atrophy. Notably, the relationship with objective disease markers is often modest or inconsistent, underscoring the importance of considering non-organic contributors to bodily experience. The limited available literature suggests that disturbances in bodily experience represent a clinically relevant yet underexplored dimension of MS, particularly in pediatric populations, warranting greater attention in both research and clinical assessment.
IntroductionGrounded in the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) theory and flow theory, this study investigates the pathways through which five dimensions of artificial intelligence (AI) video content characteristics—generation quality, emotional resonance, visual novelty, interaction, and narrative coherence—influence university students’ AI video creation willingness (AW), with a particular focus on the mediating role of flow experience.MethodsA hybrid approach combining structural equation modeling (SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) analysis was adopted. Using the Jimeng (Dreamina) AI video generation platform as the research context, questionnaire data were collected from 512 Chinese university students with more than 1 month of usage experience.ResultsAll five AI video content characteristics significantly and positively influenced flow experience, which in turn significantly affected AW. Among these characteristics, visual novelty and narrative coherence exerted the most prominent effects on AW. Bootstrap mediation tests confirmed that flow experience significantly mediated all examined pathways. ANN sensitivity analysis further verified that visual novelty was the primary predictor of flow experience, while flow experience was the core predictor of creation willingness.DiscussionThis study extends the application boundary of S-O-R theory to generative AI creation contexts and elucidates the psychological mechanism through which external stimuli are transformed into behavioral responses. The findings also provide theoretical grounding and practical guidance for AI video platforms to optimize user experience and enhance users’ willingness to adopt AI video creation.
BackgroundAs research on music and health expands across disciplines, inconsistent terminology limits communication, replication, and mechanistic discovery. The absence of a shared lexicon obscures comparisons across studies and hinders identification of the specific music-based intervention (MBI) components and mechanistic pathways responsible for change in health-related outcomes.ObjectiveTo address this gap, a multidisciplinary working group representing four U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) U24 Music Research Networks developed and validated the Music-Based Intervention (MBI) Taxonomy.MethodsUsing an iterative, expert consensus process, the working group developed an initial framework of MBI components, terms, and definitions. The draft taxonomy was subsequently validated, interrogated, and refined through a two-part systematic review of 200 studies, including 100 clinical MBI and 100 laboratory-based music studies, using a phased, iterative, consensus-based process.ResultsThe resulting taxonomy provides a hierarchical framework comprising seven core constructs of MBIs: Music Features; Person-Specific Music Factors; Engagement Mode; Music Delivery Factors; Social and Environmental Contexts; Music Selection; and Additional Non-Music Components. Across these constructs the taxonomy specifies components, subcomponents, recommended terminology, and definitions to support the conceptualization and description of mechanistic music research.ConclusionThe MBI Taxonomy aims to improve the consistency and transparency of MBI components, support mechanistic study conceptualization and design, and facilitate replication and cross-study synthesis. As a comprehensive meta-framework, it serves as a foundational tool to help overcome disciplinary silos and foster a more cohesive, rigorous body of mechanistic music research.
IntroductionGenerative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly entering design education and influencing how students engage in the design process. Existing studies have widely explored the potential of AI for creative production and improving design efficiency. Less attention has been paid to whether hands-on learning is still necessary in the age of AI.MethodsThis study adopted a thematic review approach to examine changes in the role of hands-on learning in AI-supported design education and its educational value. The review was based on 32 peer-reviewed studies retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus.ResultsThe reviewed literature suggests that AI does not simply replace hands-on learning but changes how it may take place. Two interrelated forms can be distinguished: Embodied Hands-on, based on the body, tools, and materials, and Cognitive Hands-on, based on language, judgement, and human -AI iteration. Both share a cycle of action, feedback, reflection, and refinement, but their educational roles are not equivalent. The review also identifies concerns including the compression of learning processes, dependence on AI-generated outcomes, and an increasing emphasis on evaluation.DiscussionThis study proposes a process-oriented framework for understanding how Embodied Hands-on and Cognitive Hands-on may relate to creative thinking, design judgement, and student agency. The findings suggest that design literacy may increasingly involve critical evaluation, metacognitive regulation, and decision-making in human -AI collaboration.
BackgroundShort-video platforms have become important sources of autism-related information, intervention guidance, and emotional support for parents of children with autism. However, algorithmic recommendations, selective presentation, and heterogeneous content may also heighten anxiety and complicate caregiving decisions. This study explored how short-video platforms shape the psychological adjustment of Chinese parents of children with autism.MethodsThis study employed an exploratory qualitative design. Twenty-four parents (13 mothers and 11 fathers) were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews lasting 45–75 min were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, with social support theory and social comparison theory used as complementary interpretive frameworks.ResultsThree themes and 12 subthemes were identified. Through audiovisual demonstrations, algorithmic recommendations, parent narratives, and longitudinal records of children’s development, short videos provided informational support, emotional resonance, and hope. Conversely, decontextualized intervention advice, repeated recommendations, selective success narratives, urgency-based messaging, and commercial promotion contributed to informational confusion, comparisons of children’s development and parental effort, self-doubt, and intervention-related anxiety. With increasing platform experience, parents recalibrated credibility judgments, comparison standards, emotional boundaries, and caregiving decisions by integrating online information with professional advice and their children’s individual needs.ConclusionShort-video platforms have both supportive and stress-inducing effects on the psychological adjustment of parents of children with autism. These effects are shaped by interactions among platform algorithms, content presentation, family circumstances, and parental interpretation. Psychological adjustment involved recalibrating credibility, comparison, emotional responses, and caregiving decisions. Professionals should strengthen parents’ information-evaluation skills and digital health literacy, while platforms should improve content moderation, disclose creators’ qualifications and commercial interests, and regulate promotional content.
BackgroundIntensive trauma-focused treatment (ITFT) has demonstrated robust results in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in specialized trauma centers. Whether this treatment is feasible in a non-specialized treatment facility has not been previously investigated.ObjectiveThis pilot study aimed to examine if an ITFT program is feasible in a non-trauma-specialized public treatment facility, where many therapists had limited experience with trauma-focused treatment.MethodsEighteen female patients diagnosed with PTSD or Complex PTSD (CPTSD), with multiple traumas and comorbidity, participated in an intensive 2-week (4 + 4 days) inpatient trauma treatment program that included Prolonged Exposure, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, group psychoeducation, and physical activity, and that also used therapist rotation. The patients were assessed using a battery of validated self-report questionnaires and interviews before and after the intervention, and at 2 and 6 months post-treatment. Therapists' and ward staff's readiness to provide TFT was assessed with a questionnaire after participating in the program.ResultsAll participants completed treatment. Individual session attendance was very high, and no significant adverse effects were reported. The reduction in PTSD symptoms was considerable and sustained, with 83% of the sample showing clinically reliable change at the 6-month follow-up. Half of patients with a CPTSD diagnosis and all patients with a PTSD diagnosis lost their diagnosis. Trauma-related negative cognitions also showed a statistically significant reduction from baseline to the 6-month follow-up. Treatment satisfaction was high, including measures of the individual treatment components, and therapist rotation. Both therapists and ward staff reported increased readiness to start TFT after participating in the project.ConclusionsThis feasibility study indicates that intensive trauma-focused treatment for PTSD and CPTSD is acceptable and associated with symptom improvement in a public treatment facility.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05342480. Date of registration: 2022-04-22.
This study examined the relationship between digital capital and social alienation, conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, among undergraduate students in the United Arab Emirates. A cross-sectional survey design was employed using a convenience sample of 320 undergraduate students enrolled at a government-affiliated university in the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Data were collected during the 2025–2026 academic year through a self-administered online questionnaire. The findings indicated high levels of digital capital and low levels of social alienation. At the dimensional level, meaninglessness emerged as the most prominent dimension of social alienation, followed by normlessness, powerlessness, and social isolation. Digital capital was significantly and negatively associated with overall social alienation and all of its dimensions, with the strongest association observed for normlessness, followed by social isolation, meaninglessness, and powerlessness. Multiple regression analysis further showed that digital capital remained significantly associated with social alienation after controlling for sex, age, and academic level (β = −0.61, p < 0.001), explaining 39.7% of the variance in social alienation. Significant differences in digital capital were found according to sex, favoring females, and academic level, with higher levels observed among senior students. No significant differences in digital capital were found across age groups, and no statistically significant differences in social alienation were observed across sex, age, or academic level. These findings suggest that digital capital may represent an important resource associated with lower levels of social alienation among university students within digitally mediated higher education environments. The findings further support the view that the potential contribution of digital capital extends beyond the acquisition of digital competencies and may be associated with broader processes of academic and social integration.
BackgroundAs digital natives, Generation Z exhibits distinct attitudes, values, and information behaviors, characterized by a heightened willingness to disclose personal information. This study investigates the associations between product familiarity and willingness to disclose among Generation Z consumers, with online shopping self-efficacy and emotional closeness to shopping-circle members as mediating variables and sense of community in shopping circles (particularly its emotional resonance dimension) as a moderating variable. By integrating the theory of planned behavior and social identity theory, with insights from the recently proposed vulnerability and emotional bond theory, this study develops a dual-mediation model to elucidate the psychological mechanisms underlying Generation Z’s willingness to disclose in digital consumer contexts.MethodsTo test the proposed relationships, a quantitative survey was administered to 524 participants. The theoretical framework—encompassing hypothesized paths, mediating effects, and moderating effects—was examined using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) implemented in R.ResultsProduct familiarity showed a significant positive association with willingness to disclose. This association was mediated through the dual paths of online shopping self-efficacy and emotional closeness to shopping-circle members. Sense of community in shopping circles negatively moderated the relationships between product familiarity and both mediators, as well as the indirect effects of the two mediating paths.ConclusionThese findings indicate dual pathways of online shopping self-efficacy and emotional closeness to shopping-circle members linking product familiarity to willingness to disclose and highlight the boundary role of sense of community in shopping circles. The study contributes to psychological theories of information disclosure in digital environments and offers empirical insights into youth behavioral decision-making in online communities.
ObjectiveThis study examines the factors, relational structure, and exploratory configurational associations related to career adaptability among university students in the school-to-work transition under artificial intelligence-related employment pressure.MethodsGrounded primarily in Social Cognitive Career Theory and supplemented by Career Construction Theory, this study draws on questionnaire data from 564 Chinese university students and integrates structural equation modelling, mediation analysis, multigroup analysis, necessary condition analysis, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.ResultsCareer adaptability was directly associated with multidimensional cognitive, behavioural, and contextual factors, as well as with indirect pathways involving outcome expectations and goal reengagement intention. However, the serial indirect effects were generally weak, indicating that career adaptability was not explained primarily by a single sequential cognition–action pathway. The overall relational structure was largely stable across undergraduate and postgraduate groups, with differences in the strength of only a few paths. Necessary condition analysis identified no single necessary condition with a substantial practical effect, whereas the exploratory configurational analysis identified multiple combinations of conditions associated with higher career adaptability, suggesting substitution and compensation among different resources. Artificial intelligence threat perception was not associated exclusively with poorer adaptation; under specific configurations of conditions, it coexisted with higher career adaptability.ConclusionCareer adaptability in an employment context shaped by artificial intelligence is not determined by a single factor; rather, it represents a complex adaptive structure jointly associated with multiple cognitive, behavioural, and contextual resources. By combining the explanation of the relationship between career cognition and action offered by Social Cognitive Career Theory with the multi-resource perspective on adaptation provided by Career Construction Theory, this study advances understanding of career adaptability in contexts where artificial intelligence-related pressure and opportunities for collaboration coexist. The findings suggest that career education and employment support in universities should not be confined to training in a single skill. Instead, they should integrate capability beliefs, career judgements, technology-related practice, goal adjustment, and external support to provide diverse career preparation pathways for students with different resource profiles.
IntroductionThe cultural identity of overseas Chinese populations, particularly new generations born and raised in their host societies, has become an increasingly important topic in globalization research. Previous studies have largely focused on Western immigrant populations, with limited attention to non-Western, non-migrant communities such as new-generation ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia. Moreover, prior research has tended to examine language and media factors in isolation. To address these gaps, this study proposes an integrative model examining how Chinese content exposure, large screen preference, visits to China, and Chinese language proficiency shape Chinese cultural identity (CCI) among new generations of ethnic Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand (SMT).MethodsA self-report questionnaire survey was conducted through an online panel platform, yielding 1,298 valid responses from second-generation or beyond ethnic Chinese across the three countries. One-way ANOVA, hierarchical regression, and mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro with 5,000 bootstrap resamples were employed to test the proposed hypotheses.ResultsMalaysian new-generation ethnic Chinese exhibited the highest CCI levels, followed by Singapore, with Thailand the lowest. Chinese content exposure and visits to China emerged as the two factors most consistently and positively associated with CCI across all three countries. Chinese language proficiency was significantly associated with CCI only in Malaysia, while large screen preference showed inconsistent associations. Mediation analyses revealed that Chinese content exposure mediated the relationships between visits to China and CCI, and between Chinese language proficiency and CCI, across all three countries.DiscussionThese findings underscore the importance of media consumption and direct cultural engagement as key pathways to CCI. The cross-national variations highlight the need for country-specific approaches to understanding diaspora cultural identity. This study contributes to the literature by integrating media and personal factors within a comparative three-country framework, offering a more comprehensive understanding of how CCI is shaped among new-generation overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia.
