Testing the Associations among Social Axioms, School Belonging, and Flourishing in University Students: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study

The psychometric property of a short-form of the Social Axioms Survey (SAS II)

BACKGROUND

Social Axioms are generalized beliefs and broad assumptions about the world, guiding behaviors across various social situations. Social Axioms are usually assessed by Social Axioms Survey II (SAS II). Nevertheless, the length of the scale may limit its usefulness in studies with strict time constraint. The present study aimed at developing a shorter version.

METHODS

A survey was conducted among 455 college students. First, we performed psychometric evaluation on the full item version of SAS II to identify items with superior psychometric properties for a brief version of SAS II. Second, we validated the psychometric properties of the brief version of SAS II.

RESULTS

A 20-item version of SAS II (SAS II-20) was developed, and it demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. The correlations between SAS II-20 and personality variables, cognitive flexibility, interpersonal trust, locus of control, and paranormal beliefs were consistent with past studies.

CONCLUSIONS

SAS II-20 is psychometrically acceptable and provides a time-efficient measurement tool for investigating social beliefs.

Exploring college students' flourishing: The interplay of demographic characteristics, time allocation in daily activities and responsibilities, and sense of belonging

The purpose of this study is to investigate how college students' flourishing relates to their demographic characteristics, students allocating time in daily activities and responsibilities, and sense of belonging to the university. The total sample for this study includes 553 undergraduate students, of which 69% identified as female, 24% as male, 7% as non-binary, 29% as underrepresented minority (URM) students, and 38% as first-generation students. Method. The study utilized the ACHA-NCHA III survey data from a large public 4-year university. The researchers conducted an exploratory factor analysis to identify prominent components, resulting in seven constructed variables to measure students' level of involvement in managing roles related to their academic, extracurricular, and personal life. The researchers then used multiple regression models to examine the relationship between student flourishing outcomes and students' time allocation in fixed roles (as a student, caretaker, and employee) and other activities, and their sense of belonging to the university. The results showed that college students who assume additional roles besides being a student, who spend more time engaging in prosocial activities while balancing socializing, and have a strong sense of belonging, also have a higher level of flourishing. Conversely, media consumption was negatively associated with students' flourishing.

Self-Support and Loneliness Among Chinese Primary School Students: A Moderated Mediation Model

This study examined the effect of self-support on loneliness, the mediation effect of school belonging, and the moderation effect of self-esteem using a sample comprising 1,126 Chinese mainland primary school students, 621 are boys and 505 are girls, and their mean age was 10.51 years (SD = 1.63, range 8–13). Participants completed questionnaires regarding self-support, loneliness, school belonging and self-esteem. In the model hypothesis, self-support is an independent variable, loneliness is an outcome variable, school belonging is a mediating variable, and self-esteem is a regulatory variable. After controlling the demographic variables, the data were analyzed, and the results showed that: (1) self-support had a significantly negative predictive effect on loneliness; (2) the relation between self-support and loneliness was mediated by school belonging; and (3) the relation between school belonging and loneliness was moderated by self-esteem, supporting the moderated mediation model. Moderated mediation analysis further indicated that the mediated path make loneliness weaker for pupils with higher levels of self-esteem. These results revealed the formation mechanism of loneliness in primary school students and have certain enlightenment significance for the intervention of loneliness in primary school students. These results revealed the formation mechanism of loneliness among primary school students and have significant implications for interventions against loneliness in the primary school context.

Social Axioms Mediate Gender Differences in Gender Ideologies Among Guatemalan University Students

Gender role ideologies are embedded in cultural values and assumptions about life. Women’s greater endorsement of egalitarian beliefs may stem from gender differences in world views as indexed by social axioms. The purpose of this study was to examine potential mediators of gender differences in gender ideologies among university students in Guatemala, a country where traditional views are prevalent. Participants, 2,134 university students from nine campuses in different regions of Guatemala (43% male, 85% emerging adults), completed a Social Axioms Scale, along with three culturally relevant measures of gender ideology: the Historic-Sociocultural Premises Scale (HSCP) and the Machismo Measure that taps both traditional machismo and caballerismo (gentlemanliness). Consistent with previous research in other countries, men held more traditional attitudes about gender and the family than did women on all measures. Gender differences on all scales were mediated by cynicism and religiosity. Fate control mediated the gender differences in traditional machismo and the HSCP. These findings suggest that Guatemalan women and men through socialization, cultural demands, and life experiences develop gender-specific ways of viewing the world, and their attitudes about gender roles are shaped by those worldviews. The achievement of gender equality, a U.N. sustainable development goal, may require attention to the underlying world views of women and men.

Problematic Smartphone Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Association with Pandemic-Related and Generalized Beliefs

Smartphone technologies have played a crucial role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the increased use of smartphones during the pandemic period may expose the general public to a higher risk of problematic smartphone use (PSU). This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of PSU among Chinese community adults and adopted a social-cognitive theory and social axiom framework to evaluate the effects of beliefs on PSU. A Chinese adult sample (N = 616) was obtained through probability sampling via a telephone survey from Macao, China and included 591 smartphone users' data (39.4% men) for formal analysis. The prevalence of PSU was 43.3% in the overall sample, with 41.9% in women, and 45.5% in men. Two types of beliefs derived from the social-cognitive theory, pandemic-related self-efficacy and government efficacy, both showed significant and negative correlations with PSU (r = -0.13 and -0.10, p < 0.05). As for the two beliefs from the social axiom framework, reward for application was negatively correlated with PSU (r = -0.10, p < 0.05), whereas social cynicism was positively associated with PSU (r = 0.25, p < 0.001). Among those four beliefs, social cynicism exerted the most substantial effect on PSU when controlling for demographics. Our findings enriched the understanding of PSU during the pandemic and provided empirical direction regarding cognition-based intervention strategies for reducing PSU.