Basic psychological needs as a predictor of positive affects: a look at peace of mind and vitality in Chinese and American college students

The relative importance of peace of mind, grit, and classroom environment in predicting willingness to communicate among learners in multi-ethnic regions: a latent dominance analysis

From a holistic perspective of positive psychology, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding how its three underlying factors (i.e., positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive collective institutions) co-shape learners' willingness to communicate (WTC), a critical facilitator of foreign language learning achievement. This research gap is particularly evident for learners in multi-ethnic regions who have been underrepresented in foreign language education in China. This issue may constrain our understanding of the contributions of positive psychology to the field of applied linguistics, since the role of positive psychological factors in influencing WTC may be distinct across diverse ethnic populations. Besides, the relative importance of these three factors in predicting WTC has yet to be investigated in latent models. Given that different pedagogical approaches may engender disparate perceptions and attitudes among learners, it is of the utmost importance to ascertain which factor should be prioritized in classroom psychological interventions, as well as in teacher training programs. To address these gaps, this study addressed the joint effect of positive subjective experience (foreign language peace of mind, FLPOM), positive individual trait (language-specific grit), and positive collective institution (classroom environment) on WTC using structural modeling analysis. Furthermore, the study employed latent dominance analysis to ascertain the relative importance of these three factors in promoting WTC. The sample consisted of 643 multi-ethnic foreign language students from five provinces in Western China. The findings suggested that FLPOM, grit, and classroom environment collectively stimulate learners' WTC. Notably, FLPOM, a factor that has not previously been examined in relation to in-class or face-to-face WTC, emerged as the most statistically significant predictor of WTC. Therefore, it is imperative that foreign language practitioners and learners recognize the significance of FLPOM in language learning and teaching in Chinese multi-ethnic regions.

The Influence of Perceived Autonomy Support on Physical Activity Among High School Students: The Mediating Roles of Basic Psychological Needs

Parental and peer support has been documented as an important factor in physical activities among high school students. Likewise, coach support has an important impact on physical activity among high school students. Meanwhile, many studies show that basic psychological needs have an essential effect on perceived autonomy and physical activity. As such, this study, using self-determination theory, aimed to explore the mediating role of basic psychological needs on physical activity among high school students in China. The Sport Climate Questionnaire, Psychological Need Satisfaction in Exercise Scale-Physical Activity, and the three-item Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 were employed to gauge responses from 736 high school students (15-18 years old). A structural equation model was employed to test the mediating effect. The researchers found a significant positive effect of perceived coach support on basic psychological need satisfaction. Basic psychological need satisfaction was also found to be a significant predictor of physical activity. Surprisingly, the results showed that perceived coach support negatively influences physical activity. As such, an indirect mediating effect is established. Basic psychological needs had an indirect mediating effect and could reduce the negative effect of coach support on physical activity engagement.

The relationship between pregnancy stress and mental health of the pregnant women: the bidirectional chain mediation roles of mindfulness and peace of mind

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between pregnancy stress and mental health of the pregnant women, employing a positive psychology perspective. Specifically, the study sought to explore how the two positive psychological qualities of mindfulness and peace of mind may serve as potential mediators in the association between pregnancy stress and mental health of the pregnant women.

Methods

Seven hundreds and thirteen pregnant women seeking care at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University were included in this study. The participants completed a self-report demographic questionnaire, as well as several validated scales including the Pregnancy Pressure Scale (PPS), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Peace of Mind Scale (PoMS), and Chinese Health Questionnaire (CHQ). The Amos 23.0 system was utilized to construct structural equation models.

Results

A total of 713 participants had an average age of 29.46 ± 4.81 years and an average gestational age of 24.26 ± 22.66 weeks. Out of the pregnant women, 163 (22.9%) experienced moderate or higher levels of pregnancy stress (PPS > 1), while 212 (29.7%) exhibited mental distress (CHQ > 3). Pregnancy stress exhibited a positive association with mental distress, while displaying negative associations with mindfulness and peace of mind. Mindfulness and peace of mind were negatively associated with mental distress. By employing structural equation modeling, the analysis revealed that mindfulness and peace of mind acted as partial mediators in the relationship between pregnancy stress and mental health. Furthermore, the identified models exhibited bidirectional sequential mediating pathways, suggesting that the pathways of mindfulness ↔ peace of mind mitigated the harmful influence of pregnancy stress on the mental health of pregnant women.

Conclusion

This study adds to the current body of knowledge by investigating the relationships among mindfulness, peace of mind, pregnancy stress, and mental health in pregnant women. From a positive psychology framework, it provides valuable understanding of the intricate dynamics between pregnancy stress and protective factors of mental health. Consequently, interventions aimed at bolstering positive psychological qualities in pregnant women should prioritize the cultivation of mindfulness to foster peace of mind, or alternatively, the cultivation of peace of mind to enhance mindfulness, ultimately leading to improved mental health outcomes.

Mediating role of resilience in the relationships of physical activity and mindful self-awareness with peace of mind among college students

Peace of mind (PoM) is an index of mental health in Asian culture and emphasizes low arousal, happiness, harmony, and an internal state of peacefulness. While previous studies have found that mindful self-awareness can contribute to PoM, regular physical activity (PA) is also an important factor contributing to one's PoM due to its function in promoting one's resilience. The study aims to investigate a hypothetical model that assumes PA is associated with resilience while controlling for mindful self-awareness, contributing to PoM. The PoM scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Chinese translation of Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and PA self-report questionnaire were used. A path analysis was applied to test the association between these variables and the mediating role of resilience. A total of 436 students from a university in Taiwan were recruited; the mean age was 20.87, with 46.3% female and 73.6% engaging in over 150 min/week of moderate PA. Gender and age negatively correlated with PA. After controlling for age and gender, there was no direct effect of physical activity on PoM; both mindful self-awareness and PA predict resilience, which in turn predicts PoM, suggesting that both cognitive (i.e., mindful self-awareness) and PA are important to cultivate resilience and thus PoM.

Development and validation of the caregiver needs and resources assessment

Introduction

Existing caregiver assessment tools were long criticized for focusing on the needs and burden while neglecting the importance of the resources. The current study aimed to develop a multidimensional and time-effective assessment tool that measures both needs and resources of non-paid family caregivers of older adults for screening and service-matching purposes.

Methods

Items of the Caregiver Needs and Resources Assessment (CNRA) were developed from extensive literature reviews and focus group interviews of family caregivers and social workers in the field. In addition, we collected 317 valid responses from family caregivers of older adults from local non-government organizations in examining the psychometric properties of the CNRA.

Results

The results revealed a 12-factor structure that fitted nicely into the conceptual frame of needs and resources domains. Need factors were positively associated with mental health symptoms, while resource factors were positively associated with peace in mind, meaning-making, and personal gain measures. The 36-item CNRA revealed good internal reliability and convergent validity.

Discussion

The CNRA has the potential to be used as a compact yet balanced assessment tool for understanding both the needs and resources of caregivers for human service professionals.

The power of calmness in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: The different roles of peace of mind and career calling in enhancing work engagement—A mediation analysis based on social support

Introduction

The prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on a “New Normal” form, which necessitates a calm and peaceful social mentality. This study delves into the Chinese socioculturally oriented emotion construct of peace of mind (PoM) with regard to how it may affect employees’ work engagement in times of the pandemic. Based on the conversation of resource (COR) theory, we develop a model in which the relationship between PoM (i.e., a low-arousal positive affective state) and work engagement and the relationship between career calling (i.e., a high-arousal positive state) and work engagement are both mediated by social support.

Methods

A total of 292 employees from 18 companies in Wuxi and Dalian, China, were surveyed at two different time points during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results

The results show that both relationships were mediated by social support; furthermore, after the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between PoM and work engagement was controlled for, the relationship between career calling and social support failed to reach significance.

Discussion

The findings attest to the unique advantages of PoM in boosting employees’ resource conservation and interpersonal communication in public crises. Possible implications on applying the incentive mechanism of PoM in the workplace are discussed.

Clarifying the link between psychological need satisfaction and positive affect: Longitudinal within-person tests for bi-directional influence in two cultures

Positive affect is often considered the “hallmark of well-being,” associated with better health, longevity, and success. Self-determination theory (SDT) proposes that satisfying three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness (BNS) fosters optimal functioning, thriving, and positive affect. Meanwhile, broaden-and-build theory suggests that positive emotions predict future psychosocial resources such as need satisfaction. Previous research on the BNS–positive affect link has not sufficiently established to what extent changes in BNS precede changes in positive affect or vice versa. We tested this in two 3-wave longitudinal studies, conducted over 2 years in the UK (Study 1: N = 958) and over 2 months in Latin America (Study 2: N = 1200). Bivariate latent trait-state-occasion models revealed that within-person fluctuations in BNS significantly predicted subsequent fluctuations in positive affect in both studies, but fluctuations in positive affect predicted subsequent fluctuations in BNS only in Study 2. These findings consistently support SDT predictions, whereas they only partially support broaden-and-build theory predictions, helping to clarify the likely causal relations between BNS and positive affect.

Do Active Commuters Feel More Competent and Vital? A Self-Organizing Maps Analysis in University Students

University students represent a population that faces high risks regarding physical inactivity. Research suggests that a regular engagement in physical activity (PA) may be more likely established when it leads to the experience of subjective vitality. Subjective vitality, in turn, is more likely achieved through physical activities that individuals feel competent in, and that take place in natural outdoor environments. An activity that may fulfill these conditions is active commuting to and from university (ACU). To examine whether and in which form ACU can combine this promising pattern of aspects, a person-oriented analysis was conducted. The sample contained 484 university students (59.3% females). Leisure-time PA, ACU by walking, ACU by cycling, subjective vitality, PA-related competence and body mass index were included as input variables in a self-organizing maps analysis. For both female and male university students, the identified clusters indicated that students who intensively engaged in ACU did not exhibit subjective vitality levels above average. Consistently, they did not show elevated levels of PA-related competence, which suggests that ACU does not support the perception of their physical abilities. Considerations regarding urban university environments lacking sufficient natural elements finally add to the conclusion that engaging in ACU does not suffice to establish a vitality-supportive and thus sustainable PA behavior. Additionally, the identified clusters illustrate a large heterogeneity regarding the interaction between leisure-time PA, body mass index and subjective vitality.

The Construction of Positive Social Psychology During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Relationship Between Social Support and Peace of Mind Through a Three-Wave Longitudinal Cross-Lag Study

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a major global crisis that has infected public social mentality. Drawing on the concept of peace of mind (PoM), a culture-specific positive emotion construct developed in the Chinese cultural context, this study explored the ways to build a positive public social mentality in the time of the pandemic. PoM is indicative of a calm and stable emotional state marked by self-control and spiritual cultivation and is believed to align with the perceptions of subjective well-being in Chinese or eastern cultures. A three-wave cross-lag study using an online questionnaire survey was conducted on 107 employees in Chinese enterprises during the pandemic. The research findings suggest that social support had a significant positive time-cross effect on later PoM, i.e., social support-T1 had a significant predictive effect on PoM-T2 (β = 0.16, SE = 0.09, p < 0.05) and social support-T2 had a significant predictive effect on PoM-T3 (β = 0.38, SE = 0.19, p < 0.05), whereas PoM failed to show a positive time-cross effect on later social support, i.e., the predictive effects of PoM-T1 on social support-T2 (β = 0.04, SE = 0.07, p > 0.05) and of PoM-T2 on social support-T3 (β = 0.13, SE = 0.09, p > 0.05) were not significant. This study provided a dynamic picture of the construction of public social mentality in the time of public health emergencies and also contributed to the research on PoM antecedents.