The Influence of Overparenting on College Students' Career Indecision: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

Purpose

Avoiding difficulties in career decision-making has long been recognized as an important lifelong pursuit for individuals. Parental influence is an important environmental factor in college students' career decision-making. In recent years it has been shown that overparenting can be a risk factor that hinders college students' career development.

Participants and Method

This study was conducted with third-year students from four universities in Northeast China, and 743 valid questionnaires were received. With SPSS 24.0 and PROCESS plug-in, we built a moderated mediation model to examine the mediation effects of career expectation pressure and career decision self-efficacy between overparenting and career indecision and parent-adolescent expectation congruence's moderating role in this relationship.

Results

The results of this study indicate that overparenting is positively associated with college students' career indecision. Career expectation pressure and career decision self-efficacy mediate the relationship between overparenting and career indecision. In addition, parent-adolescent expectation congruence moderated the adverse relationship of overparenting on career expectation pressure and career indecision.

Conclusion

This study builds on previous research to explore the potential mechanisms of overparenting on adolescent career indecision. The results of this study may have implications for interventions in adolescent career decision-making to reduce the negative impact of overparenting on adolescent career development by providing feasible and effective interventions for overparenting families.

Limitation

Other factors (eg, proactive personality) may also have played a positive role in this relationship in this study. We hope future studies will explore the moderating effects of different personality traits.

Toward a Comprehensive, Data-Driven Model of American Political Goals: Recognizing the "Values" and "Vices" Within Both Liberalism and Conservativism

When a person indicates they are "liberal" or "conservative," an important part of what they are communicating is their goals for how they would like society to be structured. However, past theories have described these goals in dramatically different fashions, suggesting that either conservativism or liberalism reflects a divisive or unifying goal. To help overcome this impasse, we systematically compared a broad, representative sample of all possible higher-order goals (drawn a previous lexical investigation of more than 1,000 goals) to the political ideology of American adults (total n = 1,588). The results of five studies suggested that proposals from competing theories are all partially correct. Conservativism simultaneously reflects the unifying "value" of Tradition, as well as the divisive "vice" of Elitism; while Liberalism simultaneously reflects the unifying "value" of Inclusiveness, and the divisive "vice" of Rebellion. These results help to integrate proposals from previous competing theories into a single framework.

Fostering Collective Intelligence in Human-AI Collaboration: Laying the Groundwork for COHUMAIN

Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered machines are increasingly mediating our work and many of our managerial, economic, and cultural interactions. While technology enhances individual capability in many ways, how do we know that the sociotechnical system as a whole, consisting of a complex web of hundreds of human-machine interactions, is exhibiting collective intelligence? Research on human-machine interactions has been conducted within different disciplinary silos, resulting in social science models that underestimate technology and vice versa. Bringing together these different perspectives and methods at this juncture is critical. To truly advance our understanding of this important and quickly evolving area, we need vehicles to help research connect across disciplinary boundaries. This paper advocates for establishing an interdisciplinary research domain-Collective Human-Machine Intelligence (COHUMAIN). It outlines a research agenda for a holistic approach to designing and developing the dynamics of sociotechnical systems. In illustrating the kind of approach, we envision in this domain, we describe recent work on a sociocognitive architecture, the transactive systems model of collective intelligence, that articulates the critical processes underlying the emergence and maintenance of collective intelligence and extend it to human-AI systems. We connect this with synergistic work on a compatible cognitive architecture, instance-based learning theory and apply it to the design of AI agents that collaborate with humans. We present this work as a call to researchers working on related questions to not only engage with our proposal but also develop their own sociocognitive architectures and unlock the real potential of human-machine intelligence.

Flourishing Together: The Longitudinal Effect of Goal Coordination on Goal Progress and Life Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships

Goal pursuit shapes people' everyday experiences and is deeply embedded within close relationships. Several studies have shown that goal support from romantic partners facilitates goal progress, and individual goal progress contributes to wellbeing. However, few pieces of research have examined the whole process, how efficient goal coordination in a romantic relationship contributes to life satisfaction through goal progress. In these studies, short time frames were used and only one aspect of goal coordination was examined. To generate more complex, long-term understanding we collected data from 148 married or cohabitating Hungarian heterosexual couples (mean age 39.71 ± 10.40 and 38.57 ± 10.00 years for men and women, respectively) in a two-wave longitudinal study with a year-long time window. Both partners individually completed an adapted version of the Personal Project Assessment and evaluated four chosen projects associated with project coordination (emotional support, communication, and cooperation) at baseline, and project attainment (progress, success, satisfaction) in the follow up. Life satisfaction was assessed during both waves. Results from the actor-partner interdependence mediation modeling revealed complete mediation, where project coordination increased project attainment one year later, and consequently associated with higher life satisfaction for both partners. The direct effect between project coordination and life satisfaction remained nonsignificant. This association indicates that for long-term life satisfaction, it is crucial to experience better goal outcomes as the result of the couple's collaborative effort.

WeWalk: walking with a buddy after stroke-a pilot study evaluating feasibility and acceptability of a person-centred dyadic behaviour change intervention

BACKGROUND

Evidence for benefits of physical activity after stroke is unequivocal. However, many people with stroke are inactive, spending > 80% of waking hours sedentary even when they have physical capacity for activity, indicating barriers to physical activity participation that are not physical. WeWalk is a 12-week person-centred dyadic behaviour change intervention in which a person with stroke (PWS) and a walking buddy form a dyad to work together to support the PWS to increase their physical activity by walking outdoors. This pilot study examined the feasibility of recruiting dyads, explored their perceptions of acceptability and their experiences using WeWalk, to identify required refinements before progression to a clinical trial.

METHODS

Design: A single-arm observational pilot study with qualitative evaluation.

INTERVENTION

WeWalk involved facilitated face-to-face and telephone sessions with a researcher who was also a behaviour change practitioner, supported by intervention handbooks and diaries, in which dyads agreed walking goals and plans, monitored progress, and developed strategies for maintaining walking.

EVALUATION

Descriptive data on recruitment and retention were collected. Interview data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis, guided by a theoretical framework of acceptability.

RESULTS

We recruited 21 dyads comprising community dwelling PWS and their walking buddies. Ten dyads fully completed WeWalk before government-imposed COVID-19 lockdown. Despite lockdown, 18 dyads completed exit interviews. We identified three themes: acceptability evolves with experience, mutuality, and person-centredness with personally relevant tailoring. As dyads recognised how WeWalk components supported walking, perceptions of acceptability grew. Effort receded as goals and enjoyment of walking together were realised. The dyadic structure provided accountability, and participants' confidence developed as they experienced physical and psychological benefits of walking. WeWalk worked best when dyads exhibited relational connectivity and mutuality in setting and achieving goals. Tailoring intervention components to individual circumstances and values supported dyads in participation and achieving meaningful goals.

CONCLUSION

Recruiting dyads was feasible and most engaged with WeWalk. Participants viewed the dyadic structure and intervention components as acceptable for promoting outdoor walking and valued the personally tailored nature of WeWalk. Developing buddy support skills and community delivery pathways are required refinements. ISCTRN number: 34488928.

You have to let go sometimes: advances in understanding goal disengagement

While research on tenacious goal pursuit and persistence has evoked a myriad of research efforts, research on goal disengagement has rather been neglected and has been focusing mainly on positive consequences of individual differences in goal disengagement capacities. In recent years, however, research on goal disengagement has seen an upsurge in studies, specifically addressing the conceptualization of goal disengagement, the processes involved, and factors facilitating or undermining it. However, many questions remain unanswered or only partly answered providing numerous opportunities for further investigation. With this special issue of Motivation and Emotion, we aim to stimulate such progress in research on goal disengagement. To this end, this special issue includes empirical studies with cross-sectional, prospective, longitudinal, and experimental designs with a wide range of personal and experimentally induced goals as well as invited commentaries from scholars across different psychological sub disciplines. In this introductory essay, we provide a brief review of the current state of goal disengagement research. We also provide an overview about the contributions to this special issue with reflections related to the current state of research and areas where further advancement in conceptualization and empirical studies is needed.

Association between perceived partner support and lifestyle in mother-father dyads expecting a first child

Background

A healthy lifestyle during pregnancy is important for the health of mother and child. However, unfavorable physical activity (PA) and dietary changes are observed in pregnant women and their partner. Partner's influence on lifestyle has been reported by expectant women and men. The first aim was to analyze associations between perceived partner support on expectant parents own as well as their partner's moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) levels and dietary intake. Secondly, this study aimed to investigate intra-couple associations of MVPA, dietary intake and perceived support.

Methods

A total of 152 heterosexual couples were recruited between week 8 and 10 of gestation by means of convenience sampling. Objective anthropometric and 7-day MVPA measurements were performed at 12 weeks of gestation. An online questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake, perceived partner support and socio-demographic characteristics. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model for distinguishable dyads was constructed to examine the relationship between perceived partner support and both own's (i.e., actor-effect) and the partner's (i.e., partner-effect) MVPA levels, intake of fruits and vegetables, and an "avoidance food group."

Results

For pregnant women, perceived support from their partner was significantly associated with women's own MVPA levels (i.e., actor-effect; estimate = 0.344, SE = 0.168, p = 0.040) as well as the MVPA levels of the men (i.e., partner-effect; estimate = 0.717, SE = 0.255, p = 0.005). No significant actor- nor partner-effects were found for the expectant fathers. For none of the sexes significant actor-effects were found for fruit/vegetables and "avoidance food group" intake. For pregnant women, there was a positive partner-effect for fruit and vegetable intake (estimate = 7.822, SE = 1.842, p < 0.001) and a negative partner-effect for the "avoidance food group" intake (estimate = -16.115, SE = 3.629, p < 0.001). Positive correlations were found for perceived MVPA support (r = 0.40, p < 0.001), MVPA levels (r = 0.24, p = 0.007) and food intake from the "avoidance food group" (r = 0.28, p = 0.005) between partners.

Conclusion

This study shows that male partners can act as significant facilitators for women. Partners may be an important target when promoting MVPA during pregnancy. Additionally, supportive couples seem to strengthen each other in keeping a healthy lifestyle in early pregnancy. These results justify couple-based interventions in the promotion of a healthy lifestyle during the transition to parenthood.

Clinical trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT03454958.

A Machine Learning Approach to Predicting Perceived Partner Support From Relational and Individual Variables

Perceiving one’s partner as supportive is considered essential for relationships, but we know little about which factors are central to predicting perceived partner support. Traditional statistical techniques are ill-equipped to compare a large number of potential predictor variables and cannot answer this question. This research used machine learning analysis (random forest with Shapley values) to identify the most salient self-report predictors of perceived partner support cross-sectionally and 6 months later. We analyzed data from five dyadic data sets ( N = 550 couples) enabling us to have greater confidence in the findings and ensure generalizability. Our novel results advance the literature by showing that relationship variables and attachment avoidance are central to perceived partner support, whereas partner similarity, other individual differences, individual well-being, and demographics explain little variance in perceiving partners as supportive. The findings are crucial in constraining and further developing our theories on perceived partner support.

The impact of non-harmonious goals on partner support and taking on opportunities

Romantic partners often support each other to progress toward goals. However, at times partners’ goals are not in harmony and conflict with partner or relationship needs, leading to negative consequences for couple members. The present study examined whether non-harmonious opportunities were associated with support provider’s and recipient’s behavior, perceived partner support, and goal outcomes. We further examined whether these effects were moderated by attachment styles. Findings from two experimental (n1= 296, n2= 117) and one dyadic daily diary (n3= 267) showed how having non-harmonious goals lead to problematic goal pursuit. Partners are less likely to behave positively toward the support provider, provide partner support, view their partners as supportive, and report less commitment to partners, and make less goal progress when goal non-harmony is present. Importantly, we did not find moderation effects of attachment styles for these processes. The findings highlight the importance of managing goal non-harmony in couples.

Collective Attention and Collective Intelligence: The Role of Hierarchy and Team Gender Composition

Collective intelligence (CI) captures a team’s ability to work together across a wide range of tasks and can vary significantly between teams. Extant work demonstrates that the level of collective attention a team develops has an important influence on its level of CI. An important question, then, is what enhances collective attention? Prior work demonstrates an association with team composition; here, we additionally examine the influence of team hierarchy and its interaction with team gender composition. To do so, we conduct an experiment with 584 individuals working in 146 teams in which we randomly assign each team to work in a stable, unstable, or unspecified hierarchical team structure and vary team gender composition. We examine how team structure leads to different behavioral manifestations of collective attention as evidenced in team speaking patterns. We find that a stable hierarchical structure increases more cooperative, synchronous speaking patterns but that unstable hierarchical structure and a lack of specified hierarchical structure both increase competitive, interruptive speaking patterns. Moreover, the effect of cooperative versus competitive speaking patterns on collective intelligence is moderated by the teams’ gender composition; majority female teams exhibit higher CI when their speaking patterns are more cooperative and synchronous, whereas all male teams exhibit higher CI when their speaking involves more competitive interruptions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for enhancing collective intelligence in organizational teams.

The Conversational Circumplex: Identifying, prioritizing, and pursuing informational and relational motives in conversation

The meaning of success in conversation depends on people's goals. Often, individuals pursue multiple goals simultaneously, such as establishing shared understanding, making a favorable impression, having fun, or persuading a conversation partner. In this article, we introduce a novel theoretical framework, the Conversational Circumplex, to classify conversational motives along two key dimensions: 1) informational: the extent to which a speaker's motive focuses on giving and/or receiving accurate information; and 2) relational: the extent to which a speaker's motive focuses on building the relationship. We use the Conversational Circumplex to underscore the multiplicity of conversational goals that people hold and highlight the potential for individuals to have conflicting conversational goals (both intrapersonally and interpersonally) that make successful conversation a difficult challenge.

Lifting the Bar: A Relationship-Orienting Intervention Reduces Recidivism Among Children Reentering School From Juvenile Detention

When children return to school from juvenile detention, they face a severe stigma. We developed a procedure to orient educators and students toward each other as positive relationship partners during this period. In Study 1, through a structured exercise, students reentering school powerfully articulated to an educator of their choosing their prosocial hopes for school as well as challenges they faced. In a preliminary field trial (N = 47), presenting this self-introduction to this educator in a one-page letter via a third-party requesting the educator's help reduced recidivism to juvenile detention through the next semester from 69% to 29%. In Study 2 (preregistered), the letter led experienced teachers (N = 349) to express greater commitment to, anticipate more success for, and feel more love and respect for a student beginning their reentry into school, potentially initiating a better trajectory. The results suggest how relationship-orienting procedures may sideline bias and make school more supportive for students facing stigma.

Psychological Science in the Wake of COVID-19: Social, Methodological, and Metascientific Considerations

The COVID-19 pandemic has extensively changed the state of psychological science from what research questions psychologists can ask to which methodologies psychologists can use to investigate them. In this article, we offer a perspective on how to optimize new research in the pandemic's wake. Because this pandemic is inherently a social phenomenon-an event that hinges on human-to-human contact-we focus on socially relevant subfields of psychology. We highlight specific psychological phenomena that have likely shifted as a result of the pandemic and discuss theoretical, methodological, and practical considerations of conducting research on these phenomena. After this discussion, we evaluate metascientific issues that have been amplified by the pandemic. We aim to demonstrate how theoretically grounded views on the COVID-19 pandemic can help make psychological science stronger-not weaker-in its wake.

Healthy Aging-Relevant Goals: The Role of Person-Context Co-construction

OBJECTIVES

This article considers how individuals' motivation for healthy aging manifests within the myriad of different contexts that older adults are embedded in as they move through later life.

METHODS

Drawing on the concept of co-construction, we argue that persons and contexts both contribute to the emergence, maintenance, and disengagement from healthy aging relevant goals in adulthood and old age.

RESULTS

To promote the understanding of such co-constructive dynamics, we propose four conceptual refinements of previous healthy aging models. First, we outline various different, often multidirectional, ways in which persons and contexts conjointly contribute to how people set, pursue, and disengage from health goals. Second, we promote consideration of context as involving unique, shared, and interactive effects of socio-economic, social, physical, care/service, and technology dimensions. Third, we highlight how the relevance, utility, and nature of these context dimensions and their role in co-constructing health goals change as individuals move through the Third Age, the Fourth Age, and a terminal stages of life. Finally, we suggest that these conceptual refinements be linked to established (motivational) theories of lifespan development and aging.

DISCUSSIONS

In closing, we outline a set of research questions that promise to advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which contexts and aging persons co-construct healthy aging relevant goals and elaborate on the applied significance of this approach for common public health practices.

Interdependent transformations: Integrating insights from relationship science to advance post-traumatic growth and personality change research

People have a tremendous ability to grow and change for the better following adverse life events. This capacity for growth has captured the attention of psychologists interested in understanding the mechanisms underpinning both personality and well-being. This paper advocates for a greater integration of relationship science into this area of study as a means of advancing post-traumatic growth and personality change research. Relationships, both as an impetus for change and as evidence of growth, have featured consistently in the post-traumatic growth and adversity literatures. Drawing from interdependence theory in particular, this paper highlights how the unique structure of close relationships and relationship dynamics can be applied to address outstanding theoretical questions related to the advancement of post-traumatic growth research as well as offers a critique of the practice of using relationship outcomes (e.g., connection) as evidence of post-traumatic growth. Finally, this paper encourages psychologists across subdisciplines to share their unique skills and insights to help generate more robust psychological theories and methods.

Joint Goals in Older Couples: Associations With Goal Progress, Allostatic Load, and Relationship Satisfaction

Older adults often have long-term relationships, and many of their goals are intertwined with their respective partners. Joint goals can help or hinder goal progress. Little is known about how accurately older adults assess if a goal is joint, the role of over-reporting in these perceptions, and how joint goals and over-reporting may relate to older partners' relationship satisfaction and physical health (operationally defined as allostatic load). Two-hundred-thirty-six older adults from 118 couples (50% female; M _age = 71 years) listed their three most important goals and whether they thought of them as goals they had in common with and wanted to achieve together with their partner (self-reported joint goals). Two independent raters classified goals as "joint" if both partners independently listed open-ended goals of the same content. Goal progress and relationship satisfaction were assessed 1 week later. Allostatic load was calculated using nine different biomarkers. Results show that 85% self-reported at least one goal as joint. Over-reporting- the perception that a goal was joint when in fact it was not mentioned among the three most salient goals of the spouse - occurred in one-third of all goals. Multilevel models indicate that the number of externally-rated joint goals was related to greater goal progress and lower allostatic load, but only for adults with little over-reporting. More joint goals and higher over-reporting were each linked with more relationship satisfaction. In conclusion, joint goals are associated with goal progress, relationship satisfaction, and health, but the association is dependent on the domain of functioning.

Groups as organisms: Implications for therapy and training

The intellectual tradition of individualism treats the individual person as the fundamental unit of analysis and reduces all things social to the motives and actions of individuals. Most methods in clinical psychology are influenced by individualism and therefore treat the individual as the primary object of therapy/training, even when recognizing the importance of nurturing social relationships for individual wellbeing. Multilevel selection theory offers an alternative to individualism in which individuals become part of something larger than themselves that qualifies as an organism in its own right. Seeing individuals as parts of social organisms provides a new perspective with numerous implications for improving wellbeing at all scales, from individuals to the planet.

Autonomous motivation and support flourishes for individuals higher in collaborative personality factors: Agreeableness, assisted autonomy striving, and secure attachment

INTRODUCTION

Individuals who strive autonomously for their goals, and who perceive autonomy supportive environments are more successful during goal pursuit. What dispositional factors predict autonomy flourishing during goal pursuit?

METHODS

Four longitudinal studies were conducted over an 8-month academic year, and university students (N_total  = 1,544) completed surveys on motivation, support, and personality. Structural equation models were created using Mplus software to test whether collaborative personality factors were related to growth in autonomous motivation and autonomy support.

RESULTS

All three distinct collaborative personality factors, trait Agreeableness, assisted autonomy striving, and secure parental attachment, were related to increases in autonomous motivation over the academic year. Conscientiousness, assisted autonomy, and secure attachment were related to increases in perceived autonomy support. A higher order latent collaborative traits factor, composed of Agreeableness, assisted autonomy, and secure attachment was found to be related to increased autonomous motivation and support over the academic year and resulted in increased goal progress.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that individuals higher in collaborative personality factors experience growth in personal autonomy during goal pursuit. Future research is needed to determine how to promote collaboration in goal pursuit to further help individuals successfully strive for their goals.

Who Comes to Mind? Dynamic Construction of Social Networks

Much remains unknown about moment-to-moment social-network cognition—that is, who comes to mind as we go about our day-to-day lives. Responding to this void, we describe the real-time construction of cognitive social networks. First, we outline the types of relational structures that comprise momentary networks, distinguishing the roles of personal relationships, social groups, and mental sets. Second, we discuss the cognitive mechanisms that determine which individuals are activated—and which are neglected—through a dynamic process. Looking forward, we contend that these overlooked mechanisms need to be considered in light of emerging network technologies. Finally, we chart the next steps for understanding social-network cognition across real-world contexts, along with the built-in implications for social resources and intergroup disparities.

Healthy together: A systematic review of theory and techniques used in health interventions for persons with chronic neurological conditions and their caregivers

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the level of theory application and use of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) in dyadic health interventions for persons with chronic neurological conditions (CNCs) and their caregivers.

METHODS

A systematic review of five databases was conducted to locate articles published before January 2019. Methodological quality was assessed, study characteristics, theory application and BCTs were narratively summarized.

RESULTS

More than half of the studies identified (59% [16/27]) did not mention theory, and only 22% (6/27) were explicitly theory-based. Across the 27 studies, two to 17 BCTs (mean = 6.8 ± 4.02) were used. Common BCTs were related to intervention implementation (e.g., credible source), knowledge (e.g., instruction on how to perform behaviour) and skill development (e.g., behavioural practice/rehearsal).

CONCLUSIONS

Researchers need to incorporate theory-based dyadic techniques that target both people with CNCs and their caregivers into the design and implementation of future health interventions.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Health professionals require explicitly theory-based interventions to provide dyads with CNCs techniques that they can apply in their daily life to the benefit of each individual and the partnership.

Dyadic interventions to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour: systematic review and meta-analysis

Several interventions have targeted dyads to promote physical activity (PA) or reduce sedentary behaviour (SB), but the evidence has not been synthesised. Sixty-nine studies were identified from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science, and 59 were included in the main meta-analyses (providing 72 independent tests). Intervention details, type of dyadic goal, participant characteristics, and methodological quality were extracted and their impact on the overall effect size was examined. Sensitivity analyses tested effect robustness to (a) the effects of other statistically significant moderators; (b) outliers; (c) data included for participants who were not the main target of the intervention. Dyadic interventions had a small positive, highly heterogeneous, effect on PA g = .203, 95% CI [0.123-0.282], compared to comparison conditions including equivalent interventions targeting individuals. Shared target-oriented goals (where both dyad members hold the same PA goal for the main target of the intervention) and peer/friend dyads were associated with larger effect sizes across most analyses. Dyadic interventions produced a small homogeneous reduction in SB. Given dyadic interventions promote PA over-and-above equivalent interventions targeting individuals, these interventions should be more widespread. However, moderating factors such as the types of PA goal and dyad need to be considered to maximise effects.