Despite growing recognition that positive youth development (PYD) depends on the dynamic interaction of individual and ecological resources, existing studies rely on linear models that cannot capture high-dimensional, nonlinear predictor configurations. This study applied machine learning to four-wave longitudinal data from 5019 Chinese adolescents (ages 9-19) to identify the key predictors of PYD at T4 (controlling for prior PYD at T3), measured by the Chinese 4Cs model (Character, Competence, Confidence, Connection). We compared 12 algorithms; CatBoost achieved the best prediction ( R 2 = .816). SHAP analysis identified school psychological climate, depression, and parental loneliness as the top three predictors. Heterogeneity analyses revealed an age gradient: School climate dominated for primary and middle school students, whereas parental loneliness dominated for high school students. Student type analyses uncovered three distinct developmental pathways: an aspirational pathway characterized by social mobility belief for migrant children, a relational pathway characterized by parental loneliness for left-behind and urban children, and a clinical pathway characterized by depression for rural ordinary children. These findings provide empirical support for differentiated, context-sensitive intervention strategies targeting PYD across diverse Chinese adolescent populations.
Adolescents with overweight/obesity face co-occurring declines in physical activity (PA) and intensifying weight self-stigma (WSS), yet the longitudinal reciprocal dynamics remain poorly understood, particularly outside Western contexts. This three-wave study examined developmental trajectories and within-person bidirectional associations between PA and WSS in 325 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 15.41), using latent growth curve and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models to disentangle stable between-person differences from temporal fluctuations. PA showed a significant linear decrease (β = -.25) while WSS linearly increased (β = .31). Parallel growth analyses revealed that higher initial PA predicted slower WSS accumulation (β = -.22), and higher initial WSS forecasted steeper PA declines (β = -.20). Critically, reciprocal within-person effects emerged only during the academic semester (T1 → T2): deviations above one's typical PA level reduced subsequent WSS (β = -.15), and elevated WSS suppressed later PA (β = -.18), whereas the corresponding cross-lagged effects were not significant during the winter vacation (T2 → T3), underscoring context-dependent temporality. No gender moderation was detected. These findings demonstrate that PA and WSS form a mutually reinforcing loop that is acutely sensitive to environmental structure, informing targeted, phase-sensitive interventions that combine stigma reduction with PA promotion within naturalistic educational settings.
Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), we tested whether momentary palatable food availability and appetitive drive predict adolescents' palatable food/drink intake and dysregulated eating and whether trait hedonic hunger moderates these momentary links. Adolescents aged 13-17 (N = 74) completed a 10-day smartphone EMA protocol with three to seven semi-randomly delivered surveys daily and event reports of eating episodes. Outcomes included intake of sweet foods, salty/fried foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), plus momentary loss of control eating (LOCE) and overeating symptoms. Generalized linear mixed models separated within-person (momentary elevations) from between-person (average differences) effects and tested trait hedonic hunger (Power of Food Scale) as a moderator. Higher trait hedonic hunger was associated with greater odds of intake of sweet foods and SSBs and with greater LOCE and overeating. Within-person increases in food availability prospectively predicted higher odds of sweet food intake at the subsequent eating episode, and between-person food availability was associated with higher odds of salty/fried foods intake. Appetitive drive was inversely associated with sweet food intake. Trait hedonic hunger strengthened the positive association between appetitive drive and subsequent salty/fried food intake and LOCE. Findings emphasize the need to consider both momentary contexts and trait-level factors when designing strategies to support healthy eating among adolescents.
Chinese adolescents are commonly exposed to higher levels of subjective academic stress, which has been shown to be negatively associated with their subjective well-being (SWB). However, despite preliminary investigations into this association, little is known about the bidirectional relationship between the two, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Using four-wave longitudinal data collected over 2 years from 10,550 Chinese adolescents aged 12 to 15 years, the present study examined the bidirectional relationship between subjective academic stress and SWB from the perspective of evaluative theories, as well as the mediating role of sleep duration drawing on mind-body unity theory. Random intercept cross-lagged panel model analyses showed that, at the within-person level, subjective academic stress and SWB exhibited a significant bidirectional relationship over time, forming a reciprocal cycle. Specifically, increases in subjective academic stress predicted subsequent decreases in SWB, and decreases in SWB predicted subsequent increases in subjective academic stress, with the predictive effects of subjective academic stress on SWB being significantly stronger than the corresponding reverse effects. In addition, sleep duration played a mediating role in the bidirectional relationship between subjective academic stress and SWB, and the mediating effects of sleep duration in the paths from subjective academic stress to SWB were significantly stronger than those in the reverse paths. These findings provide empirical support for evaluative theories and, from a mind-body unity perspective, reveal sleep duration as an important mechanism linking subjective academic stress and adolescents' SWB, offering practical insights for alleviating adolescents' academic stress and promoting their SWB.
This study investigated weekly within-person relations between physiological (measured through salivary cortisol) and perceived stress (measured through self-report) among youth participating in a rural positive youth development (PYD) program in South Africa. Participants (N = 35, Mage = 11.6, SDage = 0.62) took part in an intensive longitudinal study involving 16 weeks of salivary cortisol collection and completion of a brief weekly survey. Using dynamic structural equation modeling, we tested for changes in physiological and perceived stress over time, as well as for autoregressive and cross-lagged effects. Results revealed a significant decrease in physiological stress over time among youth in the program, whereas perceived stress remained low and stable. We also found that higher stress in 1 week-both physiological and perceived-predicted higher stress in the following week (autoregressive effects), but the two types of stress did not predict one another (cross-lagged effects), and these relations varied across individuals. These findings suggest that, even within the same PYD program context, different indicators of stress remain distinct and may follow person-specific patterns. Implications for future PYD research and programs are discussed.
Evidence suggests that dynamic norm messages, which communicate a positive collective change in behaviour over time, are more effective for changing some behaviours than messages that highlight current normative behaviour (i.e. static norm messages). However, it is unclear whether this is true for physical activity behaviours. We sought to advance understanding by testing this in two pre-registered experiments with mixed designs. In Study 1 (N = 105), we assessed the effects of the two types of messages on young adults' performance (distance travelled) and exertion (maximum and average heart rate) during a cycling task. In Study 2 (N = 163), we assessed their effects on older adults' physical activity interest, intentions and self-reported weekly activity. Static norm messages consistently had stronger effects on behaviour than dynamic norm messages, leading to greater improvements in exercise task performance and total weekly physical activity. There was also some evidence that both types of messages boosted physical activity outcomes indirectly via their positive impact on motivation and self-efficacy. Findings suggest that communicating current norms in a way that either provides people with a 'target' to aim for or that speaks to the proportion of others that are outdoing them can be particularly effective for improving physical activity behaviours.
Poor sleep quality is highly prevalent among older adults and is associated with a wide range of adverse psychological, cognitive, and physical health outcomes. However, existing evidence has largely been derived from single-country studies, limiting the understanding of whether predictors of poor sleep quality are consistent across different sociocultural contexts. Guided by the biopsychosocial framework, this study aimed to identify shared and context-specific predictors of subsequent poor sleep quality among older adults using data from four nationally representative longitudinal cohorts (Health and Retirement Study [HRS], English Longitudinal Study of Ageing [ELSA], China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study [CHARLS], and Mexican Health and Aging Study [MHAS]). Participants aged ≥60 years with good baseline sleep quality were included, and harmonized predictors across demographic, biological, psychological, and social-behavioral domains were examined using cross-validated least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression within each cohort. Depressive symptoms consistently emerged as the strongest predictor of subsequent poor sleep quality across all cohorts, whereas gender, cognitive function, educational attainment, self-rated health, and comorbidity burden showed varying predictive contributions across populations. These findings highlight the multidimensional nature of sleep quality in later life and suggest that psychological health, particularly depressive symptoms, represents a potential target for early identification and intervention across diverse cultural settings.
Although models on habit formation identify the importance of contextual cues as a prerequisite for physical activity (PA) habit formation, no quantitative synthesis has yet established which cue dimensions matter most for habit strength and PA behaviour. This study primarily examined the relationships of context consistency with PA behaviour and PA habit strength, compared effect sizes across five cue dimensions and explored potential moderators. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted, including a search of six electronic databases. A three level random effects model was employed to account for effect size dependency. A total of 14 independent studies involving 6069 participants were integrated. Context consistency was significantly correlated with both PA behaviour (r = 0.11) and PA habit strength (r = 0.20). Although effect sizes were small, they are consistent with population-level benchmarks in the PA literature. Only temporal consistency and routine consistency were significantly correlated with PA behaviour; consistency of temporal, social, location, routine and mood cues showed significant positive associations with PA habit strength; no studies examined associations involving object cues. PA operationalisation (frequency vs. duration) moderated the consistency-behaviour relationship, with stronger effects when PA was operationalised as frequency rather than duration. Additionally, PA habit strength was found to be significantly positively correlated with PA behaviour, with a medium-to-large effect size. These findings indicate that cue dimensions differentially relate to PA outcomes, with temporal and routine cues emerging as key targets for behaviour-focused interventions, supporting a shift toward cue-specific PA promotion strategies.
Negative attitudes toward healthy foods and positive attitudes toward unhealthy foods significantly undermine healthier choices, and evaluative conditioning (EC) has the potential to reverse such attitudes. EC is a learning procedure in which a neutral stimulus acquires emotional value through repeated pairings with an affectively charged stimulus. This research combined multi-channel physiological measurement instrument and virtual reality in two studies, incorporating actual food tasting into the intervention procedure, to explore whether multisensory EC is a more effective attitude change strategy than unisensory EC to nudge healthy eating. Study 1 (N = 48) compared the effectiveness of single-sensory EC (visual or auditory) versus multisensory EC (using both visual and auditory stimuli) and found that multisensory EC produced a stronger health-nudging effect. Physiological data, including heart rate and skin conductance responses, further supported this finding. To further enhance the efficacy of multisensory EC paradigms, Study 2 (N = 96) also explored the influence of media (2D vs. VR) and food type (healthy vs. unhealthy) on intervention outcomes. Results revealed an asymmetric effect: VR amplified the effects of multisensory EC on attitude-related and consumption-related outcomes for healthy foods, but not for unhealthy foods. Taken together, this research demonstrates the advantages of multisensory EC in nudging healthy eating and provides a low-cost, easy-to-operate strategy with the potential to shift people's negative attitudes toward healthy foods.
Antimicrobial resistance is partly driven by overprescribing antibiotics in primary care. Delayed antibiotic prescriptions, which allow patients to monitor their symptoms before deciding to use antibiotics, are a promising intervention. However, this strategy is undermined when patients initiate antibiotic use immediately. Using a behavioural game measure with behaviour-contingent financial incentives that models delayed prescriptions, we examined whether a decision support leaflet issued by the World Health Organization can, alone or in combination with other evidence-based interventions, reduce inappropriate antibiotic use for viral infections. In a pre-registered online experiment (N = 663 UK adults), participants were randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions: (i) control condition, (ii) leaflet only, (iii) leaflet with value integration task, (iv) leaflet with active symptom monitoring and (v) leaflet with value integration and active monitoring. Inappropriate antibiotic use was lower in all decision support conditions than in the control condition (p < .001, ηG 2 = .02). Decision support tools also reduced decisional conflict (p < .001, ηG 2 = .02), particularly by improving value clarity and perceived decisional support. Integrating decision support tools into delayed prescription procedures can contribute to a more informed and responsible approach to antibiotic use by providing relevant information and tools.
Despite the availability of student well-being services, university students remain highly susceptible to mental health challenges. Recent research highlights the potential of mindfulness-based interventions and attachment security priming in enhancing psychological well-being. This study compared the immediate and sustained effects of digitally delivered attachment priming and mindfulness-based practices on student mental health over one week. Using a randomized controlled design, 122 UK undergraduate students were assigned to one of three groups: repeated attachment security priming, mindfulness practice, or a waitlist control. Participants completed baseline assessments of stress, insomnia, attachment anxiety, emotion regulation, and mindfulness. The intervention groups engaged in five consecutive days of digital practice, and all participants completed follow-up assessments immediately after (T2), one week later (T3), and four weeks later (T4). Compared with the control group, both intervention groups showed significant long-term improvements in stress, insomnia, emotion regulation, and academic dropout intention. Attachment priming produced the most consistent and substantial benefits across time points. Each intervention also resulted in specific gains in mindfulness and attachment-related outcomes. These findings support the integration of digital attachment priming and mindfulness-based programs as promising supplements or alternatives to traditional university mental health services, especially when timely, accessible support is lacking.
Time poverty, the chronic subjective perception of having too little time, may undermine meaning in life (MIL). Integrating scarcity theory with goal content theory, we propose that it does so in part by reducing the importance people place on intrinsic goals. Study 1 provided initial archival evidence linking perceived time poverty to a proxy for meaninglessness-related experience (N = 54,568), and Study 2 provided converging evidence from natural-language analyses of social media posts (N = 126,424). Study 3 examined the proposed mediation in a survey sample using validated scales (N = 383): Reduced intrinsic goal aspirations mediated the time poverty-MIL association, whereas extrinsic goal aspirations-though themselves associated with time poverty-were unrelated to MIL. Study 4 showed that participants assigned to a time-poor context reported lower intrinsic goal aspirations and lower MIL (N = 160). Study 5 showed that enhancing intrinsic goal aspirations through a brief reflection task attenuated this negative effect (N = 396). These findings identify reduced intrinsic goal aspirations as one pathway linking time poverty to lower MIL and suggest a practical route for protecting meaning under time scarcity.
Despite enthusiasm for mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for preventing adolescent mental health problems, effects tend to be small. One potential explanation is that some adolescents are not engaging with MBI in ways that maximize benefits. In this study, we sought to understand the time-ordered and interconnected changes in engagement and target intervention processes of emotion regulation difficulties, mindfulness, and self-compassion. In a single-arm trial, n = 73 community adolescents participating in a 6-week, group MBI completed self-report measures of engagement, emotion regulation difficulties, mindfulness, and self-compassion at each weekly session. Caregivers reported weekly on their child's emotion regulation difficulties. Using structural equation models, we tested longitudinal and time-ordered change associations for engagement and target processes, at both the between- and within-person levels. Between-person, increases in engagement were associated with decreases in adolescent-reported emotion regulation difficulties and increases in self-compassion. Within-person, higher levels of engagement at any given session, relative to one's own average, were associated with decreased adolescent-reported emotion regulation difficulties and increased self-compassion at the subsequent session. Findings provide initial evidence that engagement is an important underlying process in adolescent MBI. Person-centered, adaptive approaches to optimizing engagement in adolescent MBI warrant investigation to assess their potential to enhance MBI effects on health outcomes.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) negatively impacts women's metabolic health, reproductive hormones, and psychological well-being. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), such as yoga and mindfulness meditation, on anthropometric indices, metabolic profiles, reproductive hormones, and quality of life in women with PCOS. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted with 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 356 participants, selected from databases including PubMed and Cochrane Library up to January 2025. Data were synthesized using Review Manager 5.3 to calculate mean differences (MDs) and standardized mean differences (SMDs). Women in the MBI groups showed significant reductions in BMI, body weight, abdominal circumference, and preliminary improvements in insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; based on two studies), alongside improvements in total testosterone levels and clinical hirsutism. Although generic depression and anxiety scores did not show significant differences, disease-specific quality of life improved significantly. MBIs show potential as metabolic and endocrine modulators and may offer benefits in insulin sensitivity, weight management, and hyperandrogenism beyond mere stress reduction for women with PCOS.
Police work can be stressful, negatively affecting well-being and familial relationships. But, the influence of family-based interventions on such outcomes is unknown. Using co-creation, we employed the 'Double Diamond' framework in four British police forces to develop, deliver and evaluate '1TeamActive' - a physical activity intervention for police workers and their families. Multiple stakeholders (Team Police UK, Sport England, four UK police forces, police workers and families) participated in four longitudinal research phases. In Phase 1, literature reviews 'Discovered' the stress impacts of policing (workers and families) and explored physical activity as a potential mitigator. In Phase 2, stakeholders 'Defined' an initial intervention plan, which was 'Developed' in Phase 3 to produce context-specific delivery. In Phase 4, a 12-week instructor-led physical activity intervention was 'Delivered' and evaluated. One hundred and two police workers and their families completed the intervention. Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance (RM-MANOVA) indicated that physical activity, well-being and work-related variables improved significantly from pre- to post-intervention, Pillai's trace = .65, F(8, 59) = 13.71, p < .001. Evaluation interviews indicated participants' perceived positive individual and familial benefits from completing '1TeamActive'. Our findings provide novelty and rigour with respect to intervention development, and the feasibility and acceptability findings support the intervention's potential to improve selected outcomes. Controlled trials are needed to determine efficacy.
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global framework for addressing interconnected social, economic, and environmental challenges by 2030. This review examines how the SDGs have been incorporated into interdisciplinary degree and professional training programs for the mental health workforce, broadly defined. The review systematically searched and analyzed the literature, resulting in 47 papers eligible for full-text assessment. Studies were examined for pedagogical frameworks, teaching strategies, and programmatic interventions explicitly linking SDGs to mental health workforce education. Pedagogical practices were categorized thematically, and the review identified both the educational philosophies underpinning integration efforts and the practical teaching interventions applied. Data were synthesized to describe trends, highlight gaps, and provide insights into approaches for embedding sustainability content in mental health education. Three overarching pedagogical approaches emerged from the reviewed studies: (1) active and critical learning, emphasizing reflective engagement with SDG-related issues; (2) collaborative learning, fostering interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing and teamwork; and (3) experiential and service learning, enabling applied practice in community and global contexts. While evidence showed innovative integration of SDGs into curricula, significant gaps remained in consistency and scalability. Challenges included limited programmatic coordination, insufficient training for educators, and a lack of frameworks guiding mental health-specific integration. Overall, findings indicate growing but uneven incorporation of SDGs into education for the global mental health workforce. The review shows how the SDGs can be embedded into mental health workforce education through deliberate and structured pedagogical strategies.
This research provides the first quasi-experimental and longitudinal examination of the Social Identity Model of Traumatic Identity Change among individuals affected by the September 2024 flood in Poland. Advancing the state of the art, we analyzed the emergence of identification with flood-affected people and extended the model by incorporating the sense of shared experience (SSE) within this group. Surveys were completed 3 months (N = 630) and 7 months after the flood (N = 315). The results indicated that the severity of flood exposure was linked with higher post-traumatic stress (PTS) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). Repeated trauma strengthened both identification and SSE with those affected by the flood. Over time, SSE remained stable, whereas identification decreased, suggesting that SSE serves as a more enduring psychosocial resource than group identification. SSE predicted the subsequent PTG but not the PTS, highlighting its positive role in adaptive coping, while PTS contributed to later increases in SSE. Multi-group analyses comparing participants from flood-prone areas who were at risk but had not experienced flooding, those with less recent flood exposure, those with recent flood exposure, and those experiencing re-traumatization from both past and recent floods revealed that the pathways linking identification, SSE, and post-traumatic outcomes differed across these groups. These findings demonstrate the differential function of social processes under varying trauma contexts. Overall, this research underscores the importance of considering exposure history in post-disaster interventions and highlights how social identity and shared experience can both support resilience and shape recovery trajectories.
Sedentary behavior poses significant risks to older adults yet remains an understudied health risk behavior. Studies typically overlook the importance of subject-level variability in psychological constructs as predictors of sedentary behavior, instead focusing on the role that typical or mean levels of these constructs play in predicting behavior. This study uses ecological momentary assessment and device-based sedentary behavior to determine the role of subject-level variability in psychological constructs as predictors of sedentary behavior in older adults. Findings reveal that subject-level variability in positive affect, but not motivational or self-regulatory constructs, is associated with sedentary behavior (total sedentary behavior: β = -18.136, SE = 8.284, p = .029; bouted sedentary behavior: β = -16.534, SE = 7.814, p = .034). The association between subject-level variability and total sedentary behavior tended to be positive but marginally significant among participants with lower mean levels of positive affect but was negative and significantly different from zero among participants with higher mean levels of positive affect. These findings highlight the importance of considering not only mean levels but also within-person fluctuations in psychological constructs as key predictors of sedentary behavior. Studies of this kind can inform the development of personalized interventions, tailored to patterns of determinants in key constructs.
In recent years, stress mindset-how individuals perceive and respond to stress-has drawn increasing attention from researchers. Studies have begun to explore its mechanisms of influence on students' mental health and academic achievement. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a middle school in China. Two classes were randomly assigned to the intervention group and received a specially designed "Stress Mindset" course based on the B.E.S.T. principle, whereas the remaining two classes served as the control group. A total of 155 students participated, including 78 in the intervention group. The average age of participants was 12.25 years, with 49.70% females. Bayesian Causal Forest (BCF) analysis showed that, compared to the control group, the intervention group exhibited a 0.46 standard deviation increase in stress-is-enhancing mindset (95% confidence interval [CI] = [.18, .71]). No significant improvements were observed for other variables. A mediation model supported the intervention mechanism: Group assignment (independent variable) predicted changes in academic motivation through the change in stress-is-enhancing mindset (B = .12, SE = .05, and 95% CI [.03, .25]). Process evaluation and qualitative feedback from researchers indicated high satisfaction and acceptability of the intervention. The stress mindset intervention effectively promoted a shift in students' perception of stress as enhancing, offering a novel paradigm for future intervention research. The findings offer a novel paradigm for future intervention research.
Savoring has been identified as a promising strategy to foster emotional and psychological well-being and to reduce depression in elders. However, research on online savoring interventions for this population remains limited. This registered RCT aimed to examine the effectiveness of a 3-week online intervention (six activities), Savor-Aging, in promoting subjective and psychological well-being and reducing depressive symptoms. Seventy-six healthy older adults (M = 69.9, SD = 4.8) were randomly assigned to a savoring group or a positive emotion (PE) group. Life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, flourishing, and depression were assessed at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1), and 1-month follow-up (T2) to test psychological changes. Longitudinal quantitative data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models, whereas qualitative feedback was thematically analyzed. Significant overall time effects emerged for negative affect and depressive symptoms. Although most time × group interactions were not significant, the savoring condition showed more consistent improvements over time, including reductions in negative affect and depressive symptoms that were maintained at follow-up. Significant time effects emerged for flourishing only in the savoring group immediately after the intervention. Participants described the savoring intervention as pleasant, engaging, and meaningful. Overall, Savor-Aging appears to be a feasible and effective self-help intervention to support emotional well-being and reduce depression in older adults, offering an accessible approach to positive aging.
