Differential Effects of Optimism and Pessimism on Adolescents' Subjective Well-Being: Mediating Roles of Reappraisal and Acceptance

Psychological Distress Among Malaysian University Students: The Protective Roles of Hope, Optimism, Resilience, and Self-Efficacy

Psychological distress is a growing concern among university students, yet the role of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) components in mitigating distress remains unclear. This study examines the protective roles of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience on psychological distress among Malaysian university students. A total of 547 students aged 18 to 24 years (M = 21.23, SD = 1.82) participated in this cross-sectional correlational study. Using SmartPLS software, the regression analysis showed that self-efficacy and optimism were significant negative predictors of psychological distress, whereas pessimism and succumbing were significant positive predictors. However, hope and resilience did not exhibit significant predictive effects. These findings highlight the protective roles of self-efficacy and optimism in reducing distress, while acknowledging the detrimental impact of pessimism and succumbing. Outcomes of the study support Psychological Distress Theory and partially validate PsyCap, highlighting the distinct contributions of its components on psychological distress. Addressing these negative psychological constructs through targeted interventions such as self-efficacy enhancement workshops and cognitive-behavioural programs may help reduce pessimistic thoughts and psychological distress among university students.

Emotion regulation and mental health across cultures: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Emotion regulation (ER) plays a central role in mental health, but the effect differs across cultures. Here, expanding from extant literature's focus on Western-Eastern dichotomy or individualism-collectivism, this meta-analysis synthesized evidence on the associations between the two most-studied ER strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and two mental health outcomes (psychopathology and positive functioning) and investigated the moderating roles of several cultural dimensions: Hofstede's national cultures dimensions, education, industrialization, richness and democracy (EIRDness), and sample demographics. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using electronic databases (CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO and MEDLINE) to identify eligible studies reporting relationships between ER and mental health outcomes (PROSPERO: CRD42021258190, 249 articles, n = 150,474, 861 effect sizes, 37 countries/regions). For Hofstede's national cultures and EIRDness, multimodel inference revealed that greater reappraisal propensity was more adaptive in more short-term-oriented, uncertainty-tolerant and competition-driven cultures, whereas greater suppression propensity was more maladaptive in more indulgent and competition-driven cultures. For demographics, greater reappraisal propensity was more adaptive for samples with more female (B = -0.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.29 to -0.09) and more racial minority participants (B = -0.32, 95% CI -0.51 to -0.13), whereas greater suppression propensity was more maladaptive in younger samples (B = -0.004, 95% CI -0.005 to -0.002). These findings elucidate how cultures are associated with the function of ER and suggests ways in which future studies can integrate cultural characteristics when examining ER and psychological adjustment.

Positive well-being and dampened emotional reactivity to daily family conflict and family cohesion

Conflict and a lack of cohesive daily family relationships can negatively affect adolescent adjustment, although adolescents differ in how they respond (i.e., their emotional reactivity) to these daily experiences. The present study assessed whether adolescents' well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, purpose) was associated with dampened emotional reactivity to daily variability in family conflict and cohesion. Adolescents (N = 150; MAge = 14.60, SD = 0.83; 61.3% female; 83.4% white) completed a questionnaire regarding well-being and reported family conflict, cohesion, and negative emotion for 21 days between August 2015 and November 2016. Greater life satisfaction was related to dampened negative emotional reactivity to daily conflict, whereas greater purpose was related to dampened negative emotional reactivity to changes in daily family cohesion. Well-being may foster resilience in adolescents' day-to-day emotional processes.

The relationship of future anxiety with a multidimensional framework of well-being among undergraduate students: optimism and pessimism as mediators

BACKGROUND

Enhancing and maintaining well-being is of great importance for university students to improve their future lives. Therefore, determining the factors that promote well-being is essential. This study aimed to examine the mediating roles of optimism and pessimism in the association between future anxiety and well-being after controlling gender, age, faculty, and department.

METHODS

1024 undergraduate students participated in the study. The mean age of students was 20.27 years (SD = 2.02). Preliminary analyses were conducted to determine descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha coefficients, normality, and correlation coefficients between study variables. Mediation analyses were performed to investigate the mediating roles of optimism and pessimism in the association between future anxiety and well-being.

RESULTS

The results of the study showed that future anxiety was positively associated with pessimism, and negatively associated with optimism, positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning and accomplishment. Optimism had a positive relationship with the constructs of well-being model, and pessimism had a negative relationship with the pillars of well-being. Optimism and pessimism served as mediators in the link between future anxiety and well-being.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study indicate that students who are anxious about the future are less optimistic and more pessimistic, which in turn leads to lower well-being. The current study suggests that future-oriented thinking and individual strengths, including optimism, should be incorporated into the mental health management of university administrations to promote the well-being of university students.

The mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between social support and affective experiences among undergraduate students in Turkey

BACKGROUND

While many studies have explored the direct impact of psychosocial factors on affective experiences, there remains a gap in understanding the specific factors that mediate the relationships between social support and affective outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-esteem in the association between social support and affective experiences among a sample of Turkish undergraduate students.

METHOD

The study utilized an online survey to recruit 300 participants, with a majority of female participants (59.33 %). The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 28 years (Mage = 21.15; SD = 1.86). Participants completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and the Scales of Positive and Negative Experiences (Diener et al., 2010).

RESULTS

The mediation model with bootstrapping technique analysis revealed that social support was significantly associated with self-esteem and positive affective experiences. Self-esteem was also significantly associated with both positive and negative affective experiences. Additionally, self-esteem was found to partially mediate the relationship between social support and both positive and negative affective experiences, indicating that self-esteem acted as a mediator in these associations.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings contribute to our understanding of the association between social support, self-esteem, and affective experiences and have implications for the development and implementation of interventions aimed at enhancing the positive effects of social support and self-esteem on affective experiences among young adults.

The potential of Future Event Specificity Training (FEST) to decrease anhedonia and dampening of positive emotions: A randomised controlled trial

Impaired episodic future thinking (EFT), as reflected in reduced specificity, low levels of detail and less use of mental imagery, has been associated with depressive symptomatology. The beneficial impact of Future Event Specificity Training (FEST) on impaired EFT has recently been demonstrated, as well as on anhedonia, the core symptom of depression reflecting low positive affect. The current study aimed to replicate these previous findings. In addition, this study is the first to examine the potential of FEST to reduce engagement in dampening, a maladaptive response style characterised by reducing the intensity and/or frequency of positive emotional states, which is linked to depressive symptoms and anhedonia. An RCT (FEST vs. waitlist control) was conducted in a large sample of Dutch-speaking undergraduate students (N = 155). In line with prior research, FEST resulted in significant improvements in EFT features. However, likely related to limited room for change detection, no significant changes were found in anhedonia and dampening. In the light of the positive impact of FEST on several EFT features, future studies should address methodological issues to create optimal conditions for potential change detection. Finally, further examination of the proposed theoretical change mechanisms aimed to reduce anhedonia and dampening is warranted.

A systematic review of parental burnout and related factors among parents

BACKGROUND

Parenting is both a complex and stressful endeavor, so parents sometimes experience parenting burnout. The main objective of this study was to provide an overview of factors related to general parental burnout (PB) among parents with at least one child based on the Ecological Systems Theory (EST).

METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, CNKI and WanFang were systematically searched for studies published from 2010 to July 2023 for peer-reviewed articles using keywords extracted from Medical Subject Headings such as "parenting", "parental", "burnout", "psychological burnout", "burn-out syndrome". Studies were included if they described associations between factors and PB among parents of children aged 0-18 years old in the general population, and published in an English or Chinese language peer-reviewed journal. The Quality Assessment Tool for Studies with Diverse Designs (QATSDD) was employed to assess the risk of bias of included studies.

RESULTS

Of 2037 articles, 26 articles met the inclusion criteria. Based on the Ecological Systems Theory (EST), we found that microsystem-individual factors such as gender, educational level, income, parental personality, internalization of maternal parental motivation, unmitigated communion, self-compassion and concern for others, alexithymia, anxiety and depressive symptoms, parental perfectionism, resilience, low self-esteem and high need for control, mother's attachment style were identified as being associated with parenting burnout. Mesosystem-interpersonal factors involve parent-child relationship and marital satisfaction. The exosystem-organizational or community factors include the number of children in the household, neighborhood and the number of hours spent with children, child's illness, child's behavior problems and social support. The macrosystem-society/policy or culture factors are mainly personal values and cultural values.

CONCLUSIONS

This systematic review found several factors that have been investigated in relation to PB. However, the majority of the factors were reported by one or two studies often implementing a cross-sectional design. Nevertheless, we still recommend that health policymakers and administrators relieve parenting burnout among parents with children by adjusting these modifiable factors.

Social media use as a coping mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multidimensional perspective on adolescents' well-being

Introduction

Social media use was previously characterized as both a maladaptive coping mechanism, and a source of engagement with peers, suggesting an ambivalent effect. The present study explored how adolescents might use social media as a coping mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a multidimensional perspective on well-being.

Methods

Our sample consisted of 259 Romanian teenagers aged 11-16 (M = 13.38, SD = 0.93, 57% males). We investigated the potential indirect effect of social media use, i.e., its cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions on the relationship between depressive symptoms and adolescents' well-being.

Results

Across all mediation analyses, our results suggested that social media use positively predicted adolescents' well-being. Given the multidimensional approach to both social media use and well-being, our findings suggested that adolescents' well-being was predicted not only by actual social media use behaviors but also by cognitions related to the expectation of receiving gratification on social media and the intense affective states related to the desire to use social media. Also, our data suggested that adolescents with high levels of depressive symptoms might be more likely to capitalize on social media use and have expectations related to receiving approval from others in the context of social media use.

Discussion

Depressive symptoms might be more relevant when explaining the cognitive and affective involvement during social media use. However, their ability to predict the actual social media use behaviors may be limited. Furthermore, adolescents that present depressive symptoms might be more prone to use social media, in order to improve their well-being.

Role of emotion regulation capacities in affective state among Chinese high school students in the post-pandemic era of COVID-19

Objective

Psychological wellbeing and emotion regulation skills of vulnerable adolescents have been severely threatened by the long-term impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to seek out the potentially effective emotion regulation strategies to minimize the mental health risk of adolescents during the COVID-19 post-pandemic era.

Methods

A total of 436 high school students aged 16.07 ± 1.08 years were included in this cross-sectional study to complete questionnaires to self-report socio-demographic information, positive and negative affect state, and emotional regulation abilities. Student's t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for intergroup comparisons among socio-demographic variables. Pearson's correlation analysis was used for evaluating the association between each emotion regulation strategy and positivity or negativity. Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis was used for the determination of the predictors for adolescents' positivity and negativity.

Results

Adolescents' affect was influenced by multiple emotion regulation strategies, including cognitive reappraisal, acceptance and engagement, difficulty in awareness, acceptance, and modification of emotions after adjusting for a range of socio-demographic variables.

Conclusion

Overall, our findings highlight the importance of emotional regulation strategies in the modulation of the mental health of the vulnerable youth population in China during the COVID-19 crisis. In view of the continuous, multifaceted influence on adolescents' mental health of the ongoing pandemic, more effort should be made to leverage emotion regulation strategies to benefit their coping abilities.