Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can support explanation and feedback while also producing fluent claims that are incomplete, unsupported, or false. Higher-education research increasingly examines how students judge, check, and use such outputs, yet adjacent measures can represent different kinds of critical engagement. This Mini Review distinguishes seven analytically ordered measurement targets: epistemic evaluation, verification initiation, process quality, success, reliance decisions, immediate task performance, and independent learning. Reliance calibration is treated separately as an output-contingent classification of reliance decisions. Targeted Web of Science Core Collection searches (2022–2026) yielded 493 unique records; 10 related reviews and 14 priority empirical studies were examined. The searches were targeted rather than systematic. Among the 14 priority studies, none jointly measured verification success and subsequent reliance calibration against an independently adjudicated reference standard; delayed retention or transfer was also uncommon. We identify boundary conditions including prior knowledge, learner characteristics, task stakes, task verifiability, verification costs, accountability, AI system/configuration, and multidimensional AI literacy. The map is an analytic ordering rather than a validated causal model. Educational interventions should therefore be evaluated for the specific process they target, from verification quality to reliance decisions and learning that persists without AI support.
Generative artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in children’s and adolescents’ learning, yet guidance often oscillates between uncritical adoption and restrictive control. This mini review applies self-determination theory to ask how autonomy-supportive guidance from families and schools might foster responsible use, and it audits how far the available evidence can carry that account. Of the 46 primary-data studies reviewed, 35 sampled university students and 8 included participants under 18; 26 were cross-sectional, and none measured family and school inputs in the same participants. Within those limits, current evidence suggests that educational outcomes depend less on frequency of use than on whether learners retain cognitive agency, engage reflectively, and regulate when and why they delegate tasks to artificial intelligence. Autonomy support may strengthen learning engagement by satisfying needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and by supporting intrinsic motivation, hope, self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning. It may also protect academic integrity by facilitating moral internalization, authentic self-attribution, and reasoned decision-making within clear institutional boundaries. Conversely, controlling or weakly structured environments may promote dependent cognitive offloading, unreflective use, and overreliance. Because direct evidence in minors is scarce, we treat the developmental claim as an agenda rather than a finding: we present family-side and school-side evidence separately, state their synergy as three competing and falsifiable hypotheses, and grade each proposed link by the strength of evidence behind it. We identify priorities for longitudinal, behavioral, cross-cultural, and participatory research.
IntroductionThis study investigates the relationships among supervisor-subordinate relationship (SSR), internal employability and emotional labor strategies of front-line supermarket employees in China. Drawing on attachment theory and sociometer theory, it examines the indirect role of internal employability and compares the patterns of association across two branch samples.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted using convenience sampling among 287 front-line supermarket employees in China. Participants comprised 121 front-line employees from one branch of a local privately owned supermarket chain in Shenzhen (Branch A) and 166 front-line employees from one branch of a Western multinational supermarket chain in Beijing (Branch B). Confirmatory factor analyses and measurement-invariance tests were conducted in Mplus. Total, direct and indirect associations were estimated separately for each sample using PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Monte Carlo analyses with 20,000 replications were conducted to assess the robustness of the indirect association estimates. An exploratory PROCESS Model 59 analysis was also conducted to examine differences in the estimated associations by sample membership.ResultsIn both samples, SSR was positively associated with internal employability (β = 0.21 to 0.52, p < 0.05) and deep acting (β = 0.21 to 0.42, p < 0.05) and negatively associated with surface acting (β = −0.43 to −0.36, p < 0.001). In the Branch B sample, the indirect associations between SSR and both surface acting and deep acting through internal employability were supported. In the Branch A sample, the indirect association with surface acting was not supported, whereas the result for deep acting was supported. The conditional indirect associations for both outcomes were larger in the Branch B sample, although the contextual basis of these differences remains unclear.DiscussionSSR and internal employability are related but distinct resources in front-line retail work. The indirect association linking SSR to deep acting through internal employability was more consistently supported than the corresponding indirect association involving surface acting. Although the observed patterns varied between the two samples, the present design does not establish that these differences were caused by organizational or institutional conditions. Future research should examine potential contextual influences using longitudinal, multi-source, and multi-site designs.
BackgroundAdolescent mental wellbeing is a pressing global concern. Physical literacy (PL) — the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value physical activity for life — has emerged as a potentially protective factor for mental wellbeing. However, the mechanisms linking PL to mental wellbeing remain poorly understood. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory and emotion regulation theory, this study examined whether basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS) and emotion regulation serve as sequential mediators in the PL–mental wellbeing relationship among adolescents.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in November 2024 with 687 Chinese middle school students from Hubei Province (48.3% female; aged 12–16 years), recruited using stratified cluster sampling from three public schools. Participants completed validated Chinese measures of physical literacy (PPLI), basic psychological needs (BPNSFS), emotion regulation (ERQ), and mental wellbeing (WEMWBS). Covariance-based structural equation modeling (robust maximum likelihood) with bias-corrected bootstrapping (5,000 resamples) tested the chain mediation model.ResultsThe final analytical sample comprised 687 adolescents (48.3% female), who reported moderate levels of PL (M = 3.42, SD = 0.68), BPNS (M = 3.56, SD = 0.62), cognitive reappraisal (M = 4.52, SD = 1.08), and mental wellbeing (M = 3.51, SD = 0.71). PL was positively associated with mental wellbeing (β = 0.38, p < 0.001), the standardized total effect estimated in the structural equation model. The direct effect remained significant (β = 0.14, p = 0.006). The chain mediation pathway — PL → BPNS → emotion regulation → mental wellbeing — was significant (indirect effect = 0.12, 95% CI [0.08, 0.17]), accounting for 31.6% of the total effect. Individual mediation paths through BPNS (indirect effect = 0.05, 95% CI [0.01, 0.09]) and emotion regulation (indirect effect = 0.07, 95% CI [0.04, 0.11]) were also significant. The model explained 42% of the variance in mental wellbeing.ConclusionThese findings suggest that PL is associated with adolescent mental wellbeing through a sequential pathway involving BPNS and emotion regulation. The results highlight the potential value of PL development and need-supportive environments in educational settings. Future longitudinal research is needed to examine temporal dynamics.
