Your Pain Pleases Others: The Influence of Social Interaction Patterns and Group Identity on Schadenfreude.

Schadenfreude is a joyful emotional response to the misfortune of others. Individuals' schadenfreude over the misfortunes of ingroup and outgroup members may vary depending on how groups interact. Accordingly, this study examines the effects of different social interaction patterns and group identity on schadenfreude and their mechanisms. The study participants were Chinese college students. Study 1 (n = 83) investigated whether there are differences in individuals' schadenfreude towards ingroup and outgroup members under two different patterns of social interaction: cooperation and competition. On the basis of this study, Study 2 (n = 73) focused on the mechanisms underlying the influence of individuals' Schadenfreude on ingroup and outgroup members in competitive situations, and the mediating role of disgust. It was found that there was an interaction between group identity and social interaction patterns, with people showing more schadenfreude over the misfortunes of outgroup members than ingroup members, and competitive situations increasing disgust and schadenfreude over outgroup members. However, no differences were found in individuals' schadenfreude towards ingroup and outgroup members in cooperative situations. This is instructive in terms of real-life intergroup relations as well as patterns of social interaction. This proves that cooperation and group contact is a way to reduce schadenfreude.

Lack of Interaction Motivation in Older Adults Automatically Reduces Cognitive Empathy.

Empathy, the ability to understand and respond to the experiences of others, is an important skill for maintaining good relationships throughout one's life. Previous research indicated that emotional empathy remained stable or even increased in older adults compared to younger adults, while cognitive empathy showed age-related deficits. Based on the selective engagement hypothesis, this deficit was not caused by a decline in cognitive functioning, but by a lack of willingness to judge the target person's emotions more precisely, that is, by a lack of interaction motivation. In order to provide more evidence on the causes of empathic aging in older adults, the current study investigated the influence of interaction motivation on empathy in older adults in an Eastern cultural context (China) based on the selective engagement hypothesis. This study used older adults and younger adults as subjects. Through two experiments, empathy was measured by the multiple empathy test (Experiment 1) and film tasks (Experiment 2); at the same time, use accountability instructions (Experiment 1), the age-related events (Experiment 2) to manipulate interaction motivation. The results showed that emotional empathy was significantly higher in older adults than in younger adults, regardless of whether interaction motivation was elicited. In terms of cognitive empathy, when there is no motivation, the cognitive empathy of older adults is significantly lower than that of younger adults. When the interaction motivation is stimulated, the cognitive empathy of older adults is no less than that of younger adults. This suggested that empathic aging in older adults was not a permanent decline in cognitive empathy, but rather a decline in interaction motivation, supporting the selective engagement hypothesis.

The Symptom Network Structure of Teachers' Burnout and Its Connection to Psychological Capital.

Background: Teacher burnout is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion resulting from excessive work-related stress. Previous research based on traditional latent variable theory has revealed a significant negative relationship between TB and psychological capital (PsyCap). This study explored the complex symptoms of TB and the contact points of PsyCap in reducing TB using psychometric network analysis. Methods: A total of 3991 teachers completed the burnout subscale of the Professional Quality of Life and Psychological Capital Scale. Results: The results showed that: (a) In the TB network, the core symptoms displayed by teachers due to burnout are difficulty feeling "I am a very caring person", "I am happy", and "I am the person I always wanted to be"; (b) The TB-PsyCap network was closely connected, and the symptoms affected each other. PsyCap affected the TB network through "I feel optimistic and happy almost every day" and "I often feel that there is a future as a teacher"; (c) PsyCap's bridge symptoms had a negative impact on TB, and PsyCap may reduce TB primarily through optimistic, hopeful dimensions. Conclusion and Implications: Psychometric network analysis helps us understand the complex symptoms of TB and the contact points of PsyCap in reducing TB. This study offers valuable insights into the prevention of, and intervention in, burnout within the teaching community.

Professional Identity Makes More Work Well-Being Among In-Service Teachers: Mediating Roles of Job Crafting and Work Engagement.

Though the positive association between well-being and professional identity among employees is well-document, the internal mechanism underlying this association is known little. Guided by self-determination theory (SDT) and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study examined the roles of job crafting and work engagement in mediating the association between professional identity and workplace well-being. We surveyed 2090 teachers (including Primary, Middle, and High School teachers) (M age = 39.42 years; SD = 8.72). Teachers completed a series of questionnaires, such as the Teachers' Professional Identity Scale, Employee's Workplace Well-being Scale, Job Crafting Scale, and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. We controlled age, teaching age, and gender covariates to get conservative predictions. Multiple mediation analyses were utilized in this study to prove that: (a) professional identity was positively linked to workplace well-being; (b) both job crafting and work engagement take mediator roles in associating the relationships between professional identity and workplace well-being; and (c) a serial indirect pathway (professional identity → job crafting → work engagement → workplace well-being) emerged. These findings explore the factors that affect well-being and point to potential ways in enhancing teachers' workplace well-being even when the task is severe.

Parental abusiveness experienced in childhood and premarital sexual permissiveness during adolescence.

Objective: This study compared the experiences of parental abusiveness in childhood and sexual permissiveness in adolescence between adolescents raised by dual parents and those raised by single parents. Method: The sampling process involved obtaining the sample size (N = 1037) based on statistical power calculations and the resources available, resulting in representativeness. The sampling frame consisted of students from different backgrounds (single-parent and two-parent families). A stratified random sampling helped to enhance the reliability and validity of the findings while minimizing potential biases. An online survey was used to collect data from the sampled students. An independent sample t-test analysis was done by using SPSS software and PROCESS macro of the SPSS to test the hypotheses. Results: A significant and positive correlation was found between parental abusiveness and sexual permissiveness. There was also a significant mean difference in parental abusiveness experience and sexual permissiveness between adolescents from different family types. In addition, the average sexual permissiveness for males was higher than that of female adolescents from the same type of families. Conclusion: Childhood life significantly influences adolescents' characters throughout their entire life.

Associations of Empathy with Teacher-Student Interactions: A Potential Ternary Model.

Empathy has garnered increasing recognition as a pivotal component of teacher-student interactions and a notable determinant of student achievement. Nevertheless, the exact impact of empathy on teacher-student interactions remains elusive, despite research endeavors into the neural mechanisms of teacher empathy. Our article examines the cognitive neural processes of teacher empathy during various forms of teacher-student interactions. To this end, we first present a concise review of theoretical considerations related to empathy and interactions, followed by an extensive discussion of teacher-student interactions and teacher empathy through both "single-brain" and "dual-brain" perspectives. Drawing on these discussions, we propose a potential model of empathy that integrates the affective contagion, cognitive evaluation, and behavior prediction aspects of teacher-student interactions. Finally, future research directions are discussed.

Increased Interpersonal Brain Synchronization in Romantic Couples Is Associated with Higher Honesty: An fNIRS Hyperscanning Study.

Previous studies on the brain-brain interaction of deception have shown different patterns of interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) between different genders. However, the brain-brain mechanisms in the cross-sex composition need to be better understood. Furthermore, there needs to be more discussion about how relationships (e.g., romantic couples vs. strangers) affect the brain-brain mechanism under interactive deception. To elaborate on these issues, we used the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning approach to simultaneously measure interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) in romantic couples (heterosexual) and cross-sex stranger dyads during the sender-receiver game. The behavioral results found that the deception rate of males was lower than that of females, and romantic couples were deceived less than strangers. Significantly increased IBS was observed in the frontopolar cortex (FPC) and right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) of the romantic couple group. Moreover, the IBS is negatively correlated with the deception rate. No significantly increased IBS was observed in cross-sex stranger dyads. The result corroborated the lower deception of males and romantic couples in cross-sex interactions. Furthermore, IBS in the PFC and rTPJ was the underlying dual-brain neural basis for supporting honesty in romantic couples.

General Self-Esteem as the Mechanism Through Which Early-Childhood Parental Trust and Support Affect Adolescents' Learning Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Parental trust and support are machineries for children's cognitive growth and behaviors exhibited at a later age. Their influence on students' learning engagement at school has been reported, but little is known about the mechanisms through which such a proposed causal effect occurs. This study tested 2 major proposed hypotheses; (1) general self-esteem (GSE) mediates the causal relationship between parents' trust and support (PTS) and Learning engagement (LE). (2) The mediation effect is further moderated by students' college grade level. Data was collected from 1139 college students in Tanzania (Mage = 22.5, SDage = 0.681) who filled out an online-designed questionnaire. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science), PROCESS macro of SPSS, and JASP (Jeffrey's Amazing Statistical Program) were used for analyzing data. The results indicated that GSE had a mediating effect (ß = .0912, SE = 0.0134, P < .001) on the causal relationship between PTS and LE. The unmediated (direct) effect of PTS on LE (ß = .2125, SE = 0.0419, P < .001) was lower than the total effect (ß = .3037, SE = 0.0553, P < .001) after the mediation. The interaction effects of PTS (ß = .0463, P < .001) and GSE (ß = .0495, P < .001) on students' college grades were statistically significant, indicating that the mediation effect of GSE on the causal relationship between PTS and LE was moderated by college grades. Parental trust and support enhance students' behavioral learning at school through their general self-esteem, built from the family level (parenting).

The validation of a Mandarin version of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ-Chinese) in Chinese samples.

Empathy involves both empathic ability and empathic motivation. An important topic has been how to measure empathic ability and motivation simultaneously in both clinical and non-clinical samples and across different cultures. The Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) is a self-report questionnaire that measures empathic ability and motivation in a questionnaire. The current study aimed to validate the Mandarin Chinese version of the ECQ (ECQ-Chinese) in three Chinese samples. In study 1, a total of 538 Chinese participants (Sample 1) completed the ECQ-Chinese via an online survey, and existing measures of empathy and related constructs which were used for criterion validity. In study 2, a total of 104 participants (Sample 2) were recruited again from sample 1 and completed the ECQ-Chinese three weeks later to investigate test-retest reliability. In study 3, a further 324 participants (Sample 3) completed the ECQ-Chinese for confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that the ECQ-Chinese has a good internal consistency reliability, split-half reliability, and criterion validity (Study 1), and a good test-retest reliability (Study 2). Further, Study 3 found that a 22-item ECQ-Chinese consisting of five subscales had a good construct validity, convergence validity and discriminate validity, demonstrating it to be a suitable tool for the measurement of empathic ability and motivation in Chinese samples and to carry out cross-cultural studies of empathy and its components.

How Does Teachers' Psychological Capital Influence Workplace Well-Being? A Moderated Mediation Model of Ego-Resiliency and Work-Meaning Cognition.

Previous studies found that teachers' psychological capital positively affects their workplace well-being. However, the underlying internal mechanism behind this relationship remains ambiguous. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of ego-resiliency and work-meaning cognition on this relationship among Chinese teachers. The questionnaire, including the psychology capital scale (PCS), workplace well-being subscale (WWBS), Psychological Empowerment Scale (PESS), and Ego-Resiliency Scale (ERS), was used to collect data points from 1388 primary and secondary school teachers. The results reveal that: (1) teachers' psychological capital positively predicts workplace well-being; (2) work-meaning cognition mediates the relationship between teachers' psychological capital and workplace well-being; (3) the influence of work-meaning cognition on the relationship between teachers' psychological capital and workplace well-being is moderated by ego-resiliency. These findings explore the factors that affect well-being and point to potential ways to enhance teachers' workplace well-being.

Teacher career calling reduces burnout: The mediation effects of work engagement and psychological capital.

Burnout is a serious problem in the teaching profession. Research suggests that career calling could be regarded as a protective factor against burnout; however, the mediating mechanism underlying this relationship remains to be explored. The purpose of this study was to test the mediating roles of work engagement and teachers' psychological capital. A total of 3,300 teachers completed a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that the relationship between career calling and burnout was mediated by work engagement and teacher psychological capital. These findings provide insights for preventing burnout among teacher groups.

Early pregnancies among middle school students: Attribution of blame and the feelings of responsibility among teachers and parents.

Introduction: Globally, 15% of adolescents give birth before turning 18, leading to considerable personal, social, and medical impacts on adolescents and to the general society. Objective: This study aimed at exploring and comparing three psychological attributes (i.e., empathetic concern, feelings of responsibility, and attribution of blame) between parents and teachers for the phenomena. Method: 672 teachers (54% females) and 690 parents (53% female) participated in the study. Results: The results indicated a significant mean difference between parents and teachers on empathy (t = 5.735, p < 0.001), attribution of blame (t = 6.902, p < 0.001), and feelings of responsibility (t = 1.727, p < 0.001). Except for attribution of blame, parents' mean scores of other variables were higher than that of teachers. Discussion: Teachers' higher attribution of blame to pregnant adolescents and lower empathetic concern raises a prominent concern over students' healthy environment at school. Conclusion: Understanding social feelings about responsibilities over adolescents' general health is very essential, especially for fighting against the problem of early pregnancy.

Teachers' Professional Identity and Burnout among Chinese Female School Teachers: Mediating Roles of Work Engagement and Psychological Capital.

Burnout is a serious phenomenon among female kindergarten, primary, and secondary school teachers in China. Previous research has shown that professional identity negatively predicts burnout. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study examined the relationship between professional identity and burnout and the mediating roles of work engagement and psychology using a sample of Chinese teachers. A total of 2220 female teachers participated (kindergarten: 16.9%; primary school: 56.7%; secondary school: 26.4%). They answered four questionnaires measuring their professional identity, work engagement, psychological capital, and burnout. PROCESS macro (SPSS 21.0) was used to conduct mediation analyses of work engagement and psychological capital in the relationship between professional identity and burnout. Working simultaneously, work engagement, and psychological capital partially mediated the aforementioned relationship, which could reduce burnout. Working sequentially completely mediated the relationship between professional identity and burnout, and hence, the latter was the lowest. Specific implications are discussed, such as the improvement of professional identity and psychological capital.

Assessing Teaching Compassion, Work Engagement and Compassion Fatigue Among Teachers During the Pandemic.

Introduction: Teachers' mental health is an imperative aspect in ensuring their appropriate cognition, behaviors and perception. Studies have reported mixed results on work engagement and compassion fatigue among employees in different time and cultures. This study assesses and examines the correlation between Chinese teachers' work engagement and compassion fatigue during the pandemic. Methods: An online questionnaire was designed through a Chinese data collection platform (Credamo), and the sample of 3147 teachers in Zhejiang province (China) completed the survey online. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was used to measure teachers' work engagement (WE), while the Professional Quality of Life Scale version 5 (ProQoL-5) was used to measure teachers' compassion fatigue (CF). SPSS 25, PROCESS Macro of SPSS, and JASP were used to analyze the data. Results: The results indicated a negative correlation between teachers' work engagement and compassion fatigue in general, while particularly, vigor, dedication, and absorption negatively correlated with burnout (r = -0.370, r = -0.243, and r = -0.220 respectively), but positively correlating with secondary traumatic stress (r = 0.489, r = 0.343, and r = 0.319). Discussion: Teachers' working experience positively correlates with their work engagement but negatively correlates with their compassion fatigue. Conclusion: Teachers' work engagement (ie, dedication) is important in reducing compassion fatigue and maintaining compassion satisfaction.

How Is Professional Identity Associated with Teacher Career Satisfaction? A Cross-Sectional Design to Test the Multiple Mediating Roles of Psychological Empowerment and Work Engagement.

(1) Purpose: Previous studies investigated the positive relationship between professional identity and career satisfaction in teachers, but the underlying reasons were not explored. Therefore, the present study explores the mediating effects of two variables, namely, psychological empowerment and work engagement on the relationship between professional identity and career satisfaction. (2) Method: The present study used the professional identity scale, psychological empowerment scale, Utrecht Work Engagement scale and career satisfaction scale to investigate 2104 teachers (Mage = 39.50 years, SD = 8.74) in a province in China. The demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, teaching age) were controlled as covariates to conduct conservative predictions. (3) Result: (a) professional identity is positively related to career satisfaction; (b) psychological empowerment and career satisfaction play parallel mediator roles between professional identity and career satisfaction; (c) psychological empowerment and career satisfaction play serial mediator roles between professional identity and career satisfaction. (4) Limitations: Data were collected by participant self-report. This method may lead to recall bias. Further, we adopted a cross-sectional rather than experimental or longitudinal design, thus precluding causal conclusions. Lastly, it would be useful to validate our findings with a national sample. (5) Conclusions: The present study indicates that the relationship between professional identity is positively associated with teacher career satisfaction. More importantly, professional identity can indirectly make an impact on teacher career satisfaction through the single mediating effects of psychological empowerment and work engagement, and the chain mediating effect, by improving the level of psychological empowerment, and thereby increasing work engagement.

Problematic Mobile Phone Use Increases with the Fear of Missing Out Among College Students: The Effects of Self-Control, Perceived Social Support and Future Orientation.

INTRODUCTION: Mobile phones bring much convenience to college students' lives, but they also cause problems. Few studies have explored the effect of the fear of missing out (FoMO) on problematic mobile phone use among college students. This study tested the mediating effect of self-control in the relationship between FoMO and problematic mobile phone use. It also explored the moderating roles of perceived social support and future orientation in the relationship between these variables. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used in this study. Materials include the Fear of Missing Out Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale, Self-control Scale (Chinese version), Mobile Phone Addiction Index, and Consideration of Future Consequences Scale. Of 3606 participants, 3189 completed the questionnaire. SPSS 21 was used to analyze the mediation and moderation effects. RESULTS: The results showed that problematic mobile phone use was positively predicted by FoMO. The relationship between FoMO and problematic mobile phone use was partially mediated by self-control. When the scores of perceived social support and future orientation were high, the negative effect of FoMO on problematic mobile phone use was reduced. CONCLUSION: The negative effect of FoMO on problematic mobile phone use through self-control was moderated by perceived social support and future orientation.

Bidirectional Longitudinal Relationships between Maternal Psychological Control and Bullying/Victimization among Father-Absent Left-Behind Children in China.

The topic of school bullying has become an important issue over the world. Being in disadvantaged situations of fathers' absence, prior research suggested that left-behind children (LBC) with absent fathers in China are more vulnerable to get involved in school bullying (bullying or being bullied). In addition, fathers' absence brings much pressure to single stay-at-home mothers, leading to more maternal psychologically controlling parenting. Following a three-wave longitudinal design, this study aimed to examine the developmental relationship between maternal psychological control and father-absent LBC's bullying/victimization as well as its mechanism. A total of 348 father-absent LBC aged 7-11 years in China completed a battery of questionnaires at three-time points. The results indicated that there are reciprocal effects between maternal psychological control and father-absent LBC's bullying/victimization. Specifically, maternal psychological control at T1 predicted father-absent LBC's victimization at T2; children's victimization at T2 predicted maternal psychological control at T3; maternal psychological control predicted later children's bullying perpetration stably from T1 to T2 and from T2 to T3; children's bullying at T2 predicted maternal psychological control at T3. Two vicious circles happened in the above relationships. Current findings highlight the stronger effects of mothers' negative parenting on children's school bullying, which bring inspiration for future family education and school intervention.

The relationship between teacher professional identity and burnout amid the pandemic: A moderated mediation model.

Background: Teacher burnout is affected by personal and social factors. COVID-19 has greatly impacted teachers' physical and mental health, which could aggravate teacher burnout. Purpose: Based on the JD-R model, this study aims to investigate the relationship between teacher professional identity (TPI) and job burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, and examine the moderating roles of perceived organizational support (POS) and psychological resilience (PR) in these relationships among primary and secondary school teachers in China. Methods: A total of 3,147 primary and secondary school teachers participated in this study. Findings: Work engagement played a mediating role in the relationship between professional identity and burnout; when the POS and PR scores were high, the predictive coefficient of TPI on burnout was the largest. Originality: This study tested the mechanism underlying the relationship between TPI and burnout, and explored the protective factors of burnout. Implications: This study supports the applicability of the JD-R model during COVID-19 and provides ideas for teachers to reduce burnout.

Moral Threshold Model is Universal? Initial Evidence from China's Collectivist Culture.

PURPOSE: People choose actions that maintain their moral self-regard. This paper explains how one's moral actions influence moral self-regard. The moral threshold model (MTM) has been proposed by scholars and tested using a limited sample. However, whether the MTM is universally applicable among people is still unknown. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Our sample comprised 1761 individuals living in China, a collectivist culture, who were recruited to test the two main hypotheses of the MTM. Participants engaged in a hypothetical investment task. RESULTS: 1) When the beneficiary was a prosocial cause, participants showed stronger preferences for smaller guaranteed positive payouts over larger uncertain ones; 2) as compared to making decisions for charities, when a participant made decisions exclusively for themselves, the maximum potential benefit was more likely to influence participant behavior. CONCLUSION: The current study provides initial evidence for the validity of using the worst outcome avoidance (WOA) hypothesis of MTM among members of China's collectivist culture, indicating that the WOA hypothesis of MTM may have universal application.

Cooperation with partners of differing social experience: An fNIRS-based hyperscanning study.

Previous studies have shown the brain synchronization of all team members while completing a collaborative task. Moreover, this effect is influenced by a team's compositional elements, such as gender (opposite or same) or relationships (i.e., friends, lovers, or strangers) among team members. However, whether interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) is affected by team members' experience, as well as the temporal dynamics of such brain synchronization, remains to be investigated. In the current study, we combined behavioral methods and functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based hyperscanning to examine the effect of member experience on team cooperation by an adopted continuous joint drawing task with 21 student-student dyads (S-S dyads) and 22 teacher-student dyads (T-S dyads). The results revealed that team members with differing experiences (T-S dyads) perform better than those with similar ones (S-S dyads). Moreover, we observed IBS in the left frontopolar region (channel 11). However, we did not observe significant changes of the task-related IBS across time. Besides, IBS was negatively correlated with the participants' behavioral performance. Our findings demonstrate the importance of social experience in teamwork in the real world and suggest a possible mechanism for cooperation from a temporal and spatial perspective.