High-profile corporate scandals have shown that organizations rely on employees to report wrongdoing internally before misconduct escalates, yet employees may hesitate to do so when reporting threatens relationships or challenges authority. Although prior research has examined several leadership antecedents of whistle-blowing, less is known about how employees respond to leadership styles that convey multiple and potentially competing signals. This study examines how leader benevolence, morality, and authoritarianism, the three components of paternalistic leadership, independently and jointly affect employees' whistle-blowing behaviors. Specifically, we employed a two-wave time-lagged design and collected survey data from 313 full-time employees working in various industries in China. The findings revealed that benevolent leadership and moral leadership were positively related to employee whistle-blowing behavior, whereas authoritarian leadership was negatively related to it. Moreover, benevolent and moral leadership have a positive interaction effect, whereas authoritarian leadership weakens the positive effects of both benevolent and moral leadership. The three-way interaction further indicates that internal whistle-blowing is most likely when benevolent and moral leadership are both high and authoritarian leadership is low. These findings extend whistle-blowing and paternalistic leadership research by showing how the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership jointly shape internal whistle-blowing.
The quality of parent-child contact is key to understanding the process of family resilience development, given the influence of adverse experiences on family dynamics. The resilience of family members can be significantly impacted by psychological maltreatment, which has an impact on the victim's own mental health. Therefore, the current study looked at the association between adult children (children) and one of their parents' psychological maltreatment and family resilience, both in an interpersonal setting and across time. To achieve this, the Longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (L-APIM) and a dyadic longitudinal approach were used to evaluate the relationships. 252 matched adult child-parent dyads (N = 504) make up the study's final data set. Psychological maltreatment had a negative and significant impact on family resilience in both adult children and parents, according to the analysis's findings, which fell under the actor effects framework. The psychological maltreatment levels of adult children and one of their parents were found to have a significant and unfavorable impact on each other's family resilience at the partner effects level. These results would suggest that psychological maltreatment is a risk factor that endures over time and is passed on within the family. It also shows that relational and individual dynamics are impacted by family resilience.
Self-hate is one of the internal processes that can lead to desperation in people. On the other hand, viewing life as meaningful might be seen as a protective mechanism for overcoming the unfavorable relationships people form with themselves. The current study's objective is to investigate, from a longitudinal standpoint, the mediating function of meaningful living in the relationship between desperation and self-hate. Therefore, this study, which has the advantage of circumventing the drawbacks of cross-sectional studies, involved 344 university students and used data gathered at two different times (Mage = 21.33; sd = 1.83). In a half-longitudinal design, the autoregressive analysis of the cross-lagged panel model was used to investigate time-based correlations between ideas. The results showed that meaningful living considerably and negatively predicted desperation levels, while self-hate negatively predicted meaningful living levels with time. Furthermore, the observed pattern of associations was consistent with the proposed mediating role of meaningful living in the longitudinal relationship between self-hate and desperation. As a result, those with higher levels of self-hate may be more likely to experience reductions in meaningful living over time, which may subsequently be associated with higher levels of desperation. Given its significance in this process, meaningful living may be a focus of protective and interventional mental health interventions, especially those that address desperation or self-hate.
Modern work challenges highlight the necessity for proactive strategies to maintain engagement and performance. As one such proactive strategy, playful work design (PWD) enables employees to build fun and competition into their tasks to stay engaged in monotonous or demanding conditions. Although diary and longitudinal research link PWD to positive outcomes, experimental evidence isolating its core functionality is scarce. Grounded in the Job Demands-Resources model and Self-Determination Theory, this preregistered study provides one of the first experimental assessments of PWD, using a between-subjects 2 (fun: yes vs. no) x 2 (competition: yes vs. no) factorial design. A total of 195 participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignette conditions. Participants in PWD conditions anticipated higher work engagement, task performance, positive affect, and flow at work than the control group. However, when fun and competition were both present, the positive associations of each strategy were mutually attenuated, offering new insight into how we should apply PWD. An additional analysis examined whether psychological need satisfaction mediated the effect of PWD on anticipated flow at work. These findings offer a foundation for understanding how playful strategies can be designed to enhance motivation at work.
Personality traits are key factors influencing both internal and external aggression. Based on the General Aggression Model, this study used a 10-day diary method to track 190 college students and examine how the Big Five personality traits affect daily internal and external aggression, while clarifying the dual-path mechanism of benign and malicious envy from the perspective of Social Comparison Theory. The results showed that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness significantly and negatively predicted daily aggression. Meanwhile, malicious envy played a significant mediating role between conscientiousness, openness, and internal/external aggression, whereas benign envy showed no significant mediation. Integrating aggression and social comparison theories, this study proposed a "Dual-Drive Model of Personality, Aggression, and Social Comparison," revealing how social comparison influences the effects of personality on aggression.
The present study aimed to empirically assess how regular piano instruction over a six-month period could influence working memory capacity and subjective psychological well-being among students with no prior musical training. A total of 120 first- and second-year students from Peking University participated in the experiment. Outcomes were assessed using the Working Memory Index from the WAIS-IV and the short form of Carol Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale. Students in the piano training group exhibited significant improvements in both cognitive and emotional indicators. In the experimental group, mean working memory scores increased from 98.46 to 108.92 (p < 0.001, r = 0.61); concurrently, subjective well-being scores rose from 71.86 to 80.37 (p < 0.001, r = 0.61). The comparable magnitude of these changes suggests a parallel pattern of improvement, which warrants separate consideration and discussion. The results of the 2 × (2) mixed-design ANOVA revealed a significant Group × Time interaction: for working memory, F(1, 118) = 58.74, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.33; for psychological well-being, F(1, 118) = 71.26, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.38, with both effect sizes classified as large. These findings indicate an association between piano instruction and improvements in cognitive and emotional outcomes; however, this interpretation should be considered with caution given the limitations of the study design. Whether the observed effects are specific to piano training rather than to structured activity in general remains an open question and requires replication using an active control group.
Higher education students face unique stressors, including academic pressure, social challenges, and life transitions. These stressors can affect their mental health, academic performance, and overall well-being. Research has shown that high levels of stress can lead to anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality, and decreased academic motivation. This study investigates the effectiveness of an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) among students at the University of Hyderabad, India. Using an experimental research design, 50 students were randomly assigned to either an experimental group, which participated in weekly MBSR sessions supplemented with daily at-home practices, or a control group that received no intervention. Stress levels and mindfulness were assessed pre- and post-test-intervention using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). The findings revealed a significant reduction in stress levels (p = 0.038) and substantial improvements in mindfulness dimensions, including observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity, among the experimental group compared to the control group (p < 0.001). Large effect sizes highlighted the intervention's effectiveness in promoting mindfulness, self-awareness, and stress management. This research highlights the potential of mindfulness-based programs as accessible, noninvasive strategies to enhance students' mental health and academic performance. The study suggested that for integrating mindfulness practices into student support services and curricula, it is helpful to emphasiz cultural adaptations such as yoga to increase engagement and acceptance. Future research should explore the long-term effects of mindfulness interventions on academic outcomes and overall life satisfaction, contributing to sustainable mental health solutions in higher education.
Cognitive development during adolescence is arguably unmatched by any other period of life. Enhanced brain maturation, increased memory capacity, and the acquisition of new cognitive skills help prepare adolescents for adult social roles. Among these skills is cognitive monitoring, or the ability to reflect on one's own thinking-traditionally referred to as "metacognition." Using cross-sectional data from the first wave of a longitudinal panel cohort, we examined three facets of cognitive monitoring: decision-making (e.g., gathering information, evaluating alternatives), self-reinforcement (e.g., praise and encouragement), and affective self-regulation (e.g., emotional control) in four age groups of Czech high school students. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis tested primary, higher-order, age and gender-based models. Overall, model fit was acceptable, with only trivial differences in item intercepts, factor correlations, variances, and latent factor means. Primary factor models revealed gender differences favoring girls' use of decision-making strategies and older youth employing more decision-making skills. A higher-order metacognitive factor to account for correlations among the monitoring skills was supported across both age and gender groups. Results are discussed in terms of promoting cognitive monitoring as a key 21st-century skill and advancing higher-order reflective skills as a critical learning task during adolescence.
This study draws on the Conservation of Resources Theory to examine two objectives: (1) whether consideration of future consequences (CFC) moderates the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and innovative work behavior (IWB), and (2) the effects of a psychological capital intervention (PCI) on PsyCap and IWB, considering the role of CFC. Study 1 confirmed that higher CFC strengthens the relationship between PsyCap and IWB. Study 2 showed that the intervention increased PsyCap levels, but did not lead to significant changes in IWB. However, CFC remained a relevant factor, as it was associated with the effectiveness of the intervention. Additionally, the intervention led to significant improvements in autonomous work motivation and work engagement, with these effects being sustained over time. These findings suggest that PCI interventions are useful for enhancing PsyCap and fostering workplace motivation and engagement, although behavioral outcomes such as IWB may require longer time frames and appropriate organizational conditions to emerge. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Loneliness is a subjective feeling of discontent caused by the apparent mismatch between one's desired social relationships and one's existing relationships. Conversely, ingratitude is a negative attitude that erodes interpersonal relationships by disparaging or disregarding favors offered to the individual. Both occurrences represent different facets of social and emotional deprivation. According to this concept, existential gratitude is a particularly useful psychological tool that promotes pleasant feelings, fosters social relationships, and involves understanding and appreciating one's values. This study semi-longitudinal design how existential gratitude affects the link between loneliness and ingratitude. 394 adult individuals, including 302 women and 92 males, participated in the study. The average age of the participants was 22.03 (SD = 6.08) years. The results show that existential gratitude plays a key and longitudinal mediating role in this relationship and helps explain how people behave in social situations. Mental health professionals can recommend gratitude exercises to individuals. They can use existential interventions in their counseling sessions.
Mental-health-oriented interventions increasingly require structured, scalable, and nonpharmacological formats that can strengthen psychological functioning without reducing clinician oversight. This study examined whether a therapist-led, AI-assisted classical piano intervention could produce stronger process-level psychological gains than matched therapist-led piano instruction without adaptive AI feedback among young adults diagnosed with mild-to-moderate anxiety or depression. A randomized controlled mixed-methods design was used with 120 Mandarin-speaking participants aged 18-30 years assigned to either an AI-assisted condition or a non-AI control condition. Over a 10-week program, both groups completed weekly 90-min supervised sessions, and pretest/post-test changes were assessed in resilience, mindfulness, and music-related emotional processing. Quantitative data were analyzed using 2 × 2 mixed repeated-measures ANOVA and follow-up tests, while post-intervention interviews from a stratified experimental subsample were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings showed significant improvement in both groups; however, the AI-assisted condition demonstrated larger gains across all three primary outcomes, together with a steeper trajectory of weekly musical performance development. Engagement indicators within the AI-assisted group were positively associated with psychological improvement. Qualitative findings reinforced this pattern, with emotional release, increased self-awareness, and stronger motivation to continue practice emerging as the most frequent themes. The study suggests that AI can contribute meaningfully to music-based intervention in supervised contexts, not as an autonomous agent but as an adaptive feedback layer. From a practical viewpoint, the model provides a viable framework for structured mental health-focused practice in various contexts.
The research purpose is to use empirical evidence to evaluate the impact of parental involvement on student academic achievements in rural schools in China. The sample consisted of 200 schoolchildren from three secondary schools and 194 parents (father or mother of a child). The research uses the intervention Rural Roots: Empowering Parental Involvement in Education and the assessment scale, the Parents' Role in the Education of Schoolchildren (PRESC), to collect the data and evaluate the results. The scholars used the data on children's academic achievements collected at the end of the academic year. The research identified significant increases in PRESC subscales in the intervention group. In this group, the results of the indicator Homework support and guidance increased by 9.39, Communication with teachers by 8.62, Encouragement and motivation by 8.72, Participation in home learning by 8.10, and Support for extracurricular activities by 7.12. These findings confirm that parental involvement plays an important role in education, especially in secondary school. Moreover, the intervention group revealed an increase in academic success in all subjects, including an increase in Chinese language knowledge by 7.44 points, mathematics by 8.31, English language by 7.13, geography by 7.61, and chemistry by 8.23. These findings suggest that parental involvement has a direct and positive impact on academic achievements. The research is a basis for further investigations evaluating the impact of different forms of parental involvement on the learning experiences and academic achievement of students.
Integrating the person-environment fit theory with the regulatory focus theory, this research examined why and when perceived overqualification related to knowledge behaviors. Recruiting 791 employees as participants, a scenario experiment with a 2 (overqualified vs. not overqualified) × 2 (promotion focus vs. prevention focus) between-subjects design was carried out in Study 1. Study 2 was a time-lagged survey, and data were collected from 622 employees. The results showed that perceived overqualification increased negative and decreased positive emotions, thereby leading to less knowledge sharing and more knowledge hiding behaviors. Emotions caused by perceived overqualification were contingent on employees' regulatory focus and Mianzi. A prevention focus attenuated the relationship between perceived overqualification and negative emotions, as well as the mediating role of negative emotions in the associations between perceived overqualification and knowledge behaviors. Similarly, when exhibiting a promotion focus, perceived overqualification was less likely to influence positive emotions and weaken its mediating effect in the relationships between perceived overqualification and knowledge behaviors. Furthermore, Mianzi, a cultural value orientation, contributed to mitigating the decline in positive emotions associated with perceived overqualification. The obtained findings emphasize individual differences and protective mechanisms that shape emotional responses to perceived overqualification.
Judgments of Learning (JOLs) are prospective metamemory judgments critical for intentional learning, and have been theorized to be, in part, supported by implicit memory processes. This study tested the boundaries of subliminal implicit memory's influence on JOLs by presenting masked primes, antiprimes, and neutral stimuli either before encoding (Pre-Study) or before JOL elicitation (Pre-JOL) in 96 neurotypical undergraduates across the two presentation conditions (n = 48 each). We assessed JOL calibration, resolution, recall accuracy, and reaction times. Subliminal stimuli showed no effects (equivalence testing, p < .01, with an equivalence bound of ηp2 = .03), regardless of delay condition, though delayed JOLs showed higher resolution and recall (the delayed JOL effect). These null findings suggest JOLs are not significantly influenced by subliminal stimuli under the tested conditions (50 ms exposure, younger adults), highlighting potential limits to implicit memory's role in metamemory.
As a pervasive social behavior, deception evokes a blend of shared moral consensus and individual variation in its evaluation. This research investigated two judgmental tendencies in the LYin Deception Dilemmas, Deception Endorsement (instrumental permissiveness toward deception) and Normative Alignment (adherence to social norms) across both self-regarding and other-regarding contexts, examining their relationships with personality traits, perceived social norms, and social interaction. Study 1 revealed that self-regarding Deception Endorsement correlated negatively with Honesty-Humility and positively with Machiavellianism, whereas Normative Alignment showed a negative association with psychopathy. Individuals scoring higher on Deception Endorsement reported greater perceived similarity to self-benefiting liars and less similarity to honest characters depicted in video clips. Study 2, assessing judgments from both personal and majority perspectives, showed that Normative Alignment, but not Deception Endorsement, correlated with higher consistency between personal judgments and estimates of majority judgments. Study 3 introduced an interpersonal discussion and found that although Normative Alignment increased during discussion, it exhibited an upward trend over repeated judgments, whereas Deception Endorsement showed a decrease over time. Overall, these findings suggest that Deception Endorsement and Normative Alignment in the LYin Deception Dilemmas reflect distinct psychological characteristics, with the former relating to honesty-associated traits and the latter to social norm adherence.
Previous research on adults has indicated that social collaboration can have both detrimental and beneficial effects on episodic memory. These effects include collaborative inhibition, error pruning, and post-collaborative memory benefit. However, most studies have focused on adults using the collaborative recall method, with limited research specifically examining children. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of social collaboration on episodic memory in 9-10-year-old children through the collaborative recognition method. The experiment included three main phases: encoding, collaborative recognition, and post-collaborative recognition. Age-stereotypical actions were used as the experimental materials. During the collaborative-recognition phase, participants were divided into collaborative and nominal groups, while they worked independently in other phases. Both test phases included tasks that focused on item memory for recognizing actions and source memory for identifying the protagonists performing the actions. Significant collaborative facilitation was recorded during the collaborative recognition phase, before and after the influence of guessing was removed. Furthermore, the post-collaborative recognition phase displayed a post-collaborative memory benefit. The error pruning was observed across both recognition phases. These effects were regulated by stereotype consistency. In summary, unlike previous studies that found both detrimental and beneficial effects in adults, this study revealed the significant beneficial impact of collaborative recognition on children's episodic memory. We discussed the results from various perspectives and theories, and introduced a new theory called the retrieval strategy tradeoff hypothesis to consider additional possibilities. Moving forward, we suggest several directions for future research.
The primary objective of the present article is to identify the socio-demographic factors that increase the risk of developing gambling addiction in Kazakhstan and to analyze the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions through the application of both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The research included two samples of individuals aged 18 to 65: 782 participants for the assessment of the severity of gambling addiction across different social groups, and 148 participants for the empirical evaluation of a rehabilitation program. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) was used as the assessment tool. Research methods included quantitative analysis (descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, multiple regression) and qualitative analysis (thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews in NVivo). The results highlighted the importance of considering social and demographic factors when studying gambling addiction. Men and middle-aged individuals (45-59 years) were found to be most vulnerable to gambling addiction, while women and elderly participants showed lower levels of addiction. Low income and below-average education were associated with higher levels of dependency. The rehabilitation program demonstrated high effectiveness.
This study evaluates the impact of a comprehensive remedial program within the "Literary Reading" curriculum on the spoken language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in grades 2-4, aligned with Kazakhstan's communicative paradigm of primary education. A total of 150 students aged 7-10 participated. The six-month intervention included interdisciplinary integration, auditory training, and spoken language reading strategies. The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (adapted into Russian) was used for assessment. Linear mixed-effects models revealed significant Group × Time interactions across all CELF-5 indices, indicating substantially greater pre-to-post language gains in the experimental group compared to the control group. Significant effects were observed for the Core Language Score (β = -6.30, SE = 0.43, z = -14.72, p < 0.001), Receptive Language Index (β = -5.17, SE = 0.36, z = -14.53, p < 0.001), Expressive Language Index (β = -5.42, SE = 0.41, z = -13.22, p < 0.001), Language Content Index (β = -5.03, SE = 0.40, z = -12.58, p < 0.001), and Language Memory Index (β = -4.79, SE = 0.42, z = -11.41, p < 0.001). While the control group showed only minimal developmental changes, the experimental group demonstrated pronounced improvements across all language domains. The findings support the effectiveness of the program in improving spoken language skills among children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Its success in Kazakhstan suggests potential for adaptation in other Russian-speaking educational contexts focused on corrective learning for children with special needs.
Ego depletion is a decrease in the capacity or willingness for self-control caused by a deficiency in self-control resources. Prior studies have shown that depletion of self-control resources can impair subsequent cognitive task performance. However, there is still disagreement regarding the effect of ego depletion on event-based prospective memory. The present study explored the effects of ego depletion on subsequent prospective memory performance under different cue focality conditions and further investigated the mechanisms underlying this effect. Ego depletion was induced using a Stroop task. 179 college students were randomly assigned to the focal depletion group (N = 44), focal control group (N = 45), non-focal depletion group (N = 45), and non-focal control group (N = 45). The results showed that both the accuracy of the ongoing task and prospective memory performance were lower in the ego depletion group compared to the control group. Furthermore, analysis based on the multinomial processing tree (MPT) model indicated that the prospective component in the depletion group was inferior to that of the control group. In addition, the detrimental effect of ego depletion on prospective memory did not differ between the focal and non-focal cue conditions. The results showed that ego depletion reduces prospective memory performance regardless of cue focality, and the effect operates primarily through reduced cue monitoring.
The existing literature has yet to thoroughly explore how employees process leader negative feedback in the context of organizational climate. Drawing on social information processing theory, this study proposes and tests a model that clarifies how and when leader negative feedback enhances employee task proficiency. Based on two experiments and a multi-wave field study (Ntotal = 530), our findings show that leader negative feedback increases employees' mental preoccupation with work, which in turn enhances task proficiency. Furthermore, the perceived rule climate strengthens the mediating role of mental preoccupation with work in the relationship between leader negative feedback and task proficiency. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms and boundary conditions that shape employees' responses to leader negative feedback. This work offers practical insights for leaders on how to deliver negative feedback effectively, providing a robust theoretical foundation to inform organizational practices.
