Social axioms and psychological toll: A study of emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses across 35 cultures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the psychological well-being of individuals worldwide. Previous research has indicated that values and beliefs, particularly social axioms, are associated with psychological responses during crises. However, most of the studies have focused on specific regions; the impact of social axioms on a global scale remains unclear. We conducted a multinational study comprising stratified samples of 18,171 participants from 35 cultures. Using multilevel modeling, we examined the associations between social axioms, personal worry, normative concerns, trust, and individuals' psychological responses to the pandemic. The results showed that greater personal worry and normative concerns predicted more negative psychological responses. Furthermore, the study also identified significant buffering effects at the societal level, as cultures with higher overall levels of fate control, religiosity, or reward for application exhibited weaker associations between personal worry and negative responses. Our findings reveal the influence of social axioms on psychological responses during the pandemic, with varying effects across cultures. The buffering effects of fate control, religiosity, and reward for application underscore the importance of considering cultural differences and individual variability when examining the impact of social axioms on psychological outcomes.

Social media trust predicts lower COVID-19 vaccination rates and higher excess mortality over 2 years.

Trust plays a crucial role in implementing public health interventions against the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the prospective associations of interpersonal, institutional, and media trust with vaccination rates and excess mortality over time in two multinational studies. In study 1, we investigated the country-level relationships between interpersonal trust, vaccination rates, and excess mortality across 54 countries. Interpersonal trust at the country level was calculated by aggregating data of 80,317 participants from the World Values Survey in 2017-20. Data on vaccination rates and excess mortality were obtained from the World Health Organization. Our findings indicated that higher levels of interpersonal trust were linked to higher vaccination rates and lower excess mortality rates in both 2020 and 2021. In study 2, we collected data from 18,171 adults in 35 countries/societies, stratified by age, gender, and region of residence. At the country/society level, interpersonal trust and trust in local healthcare facilities, local healthcare services, and healthcare professionals were associated with higher vaccination rates and lower excess mortality, whereas social media trust was associated with lower vaccination rates and higher excess mortality across three time points over 2 years. Our findings are robust when controlling for country-level covariates of the government stringency index, population density, and medical resources (i.e. critical care beds) in both studies.

Global Consciousness Predicts Behavioral Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence From 35 Cultures.

COVID-19 has drastically changed human behaviors and posed a threat to globalism by spurring a resurgence of nationalism. Promoting prosocial behavior within and across borders is of paramount importance for global cooperation to combat pandemics. To examine both self-report and actual prosocial behavior, we conducted the first empirical test of global consciousness theory in a multinational study of 35 cultures (N = 18,171 community adults stratified by age, gender, and region of residence). Global consciousness encompassed cosmopolitan orientation, identification with all humanity, and multicultural acquisition, whereas national consciousness reflected ethnic protection. Both global consciousness and national consciousness positively predicted perceived risk of coronavirus and concern about coronavirus, after controlling for interdependent self-construal. While global consciousness positively predicted prosocial behavior in response to COVID-19, national consciousness positively predicted defensive behavior. These findings shed light on overcoming national parochialism and provide a theoretical framework for the study of global unity and cooperation.

Intimacy during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey examining the impact of COVID-19 on the sexual practices and dating app usage of people living in Hong Kong.

BACKGROUND: Little attention has been paid to understanding the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on sexual practices and dating app usage among the Chinese population. To fill this gap, we examined the sexual practices and dating app usage of Hong Kong residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: An online survey was developed to collect data, and the participants were recruited via online social media. The respondents were asked to report on their sexual practices and dating app usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: In total, 249 participants met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. We found that more than 70% of the participants began masturbating more. Almost half of the participants reported decreases in various sexual activities with sexual partners, including vaginal, anal and oral sex. The vast majority of the study participants also reported a decline in sexual activities with casual partners, regular non-romantic partners and sex workers. Meanwhile, dating apps were used more frequently for chatting/texting, swapping photos, sexting and virtual dating. More than 50% of the participants reported less use of dating apps for face-to-face dates and sexual encounters. CONCLUSION: It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding public health measures impacted the sexual practices and dating app usage of Hong Kong residents.

Using the Revised Health Care System Distrust Scale to evaluate healthcare distrust among Chinese men in Hong Kong: An analysis from a prostate cancer screening behaviours survey.

Information about the level of distrust in healthcare systems is very limited in Chinese populations, and no validated instrument has been developed to measure this distrust. Therefore, to begin addressing this research gap, this study evaluated the psychometric properties of a traditional Chinese version of the Revised Health Care System Distrust Scale and used it to assess the level of distrust in a healthcare system. The study involved a community-based personal interview survey of individuals in Hong Kong. A total of 340 men were randomly recruited. In addition to the distrust instrument, the two-item Trust in Physician Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used. The two-factor structure of the distrust scale was confirmed. The item-total correlations corrected for overlap were >0.4 for both the Competence and Values Distrust subscales, confirming the internal construct validity of the scale. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.77 for both subscales. The scores of both the Competence and Values subscales were moderately negatively correlated with the total score of the Trust in Physician Scale, providing support for convergent validity. Regarding known-group validity, the scale could differentiate people according to marital status, monthly personal income and severity of depressive symptoms. Moreover, we found that men who had previously undergone prostate cancer screening had higher Values Distrust scores than those who had not. The descriptive analysis showed that only about half of the participants reported that they received high-quality medical care and that the healthcare system provided excellent medical care, suggesting that more effort is needed to improve the quality of care and people's satisfaction with healthcare in Hong Kong. In summary, the translated traditional Chinese version of the Revised Health Care System Distrust Scale used in this study is a valid and reliable scale for assessing the level of distrust in a healthcare system.

Hot Yoga Leads to Greater Well-being: A Six-week Experience-sampling RCT in Healthy Adults

Practicing hot yoga may bring significant psychological benefits, but it is largely unstudied. We examined the effects of hot yoga on multifaceted well-being indicators with 290 healthy yoga-naïve volunteers partaking in a six-week randomized controlled trial. Participants completed questionnaires pre- and post-intervention, and reported their emotional experiences four times per day throughout an experience-sampling study. Results revealed that the hot yoga group (n = 137) improved their well-being from pre- to post-treatment, comparing to the wait-list control group (n = 153). These improvements included life satisfaction, general health, mindfulness, peace of mind, and eudaimonic well-being (ΔR2 ranging from .01 to .08)—but not flourishing, which describes major aspects of social-psychological functioning. Multilevel analyses demonstrated that momentary positive emotional experiences increased significantly throughout the trial in the yoga group only (conditional R2 = .68), particularly when attending a yoga class (conditional R2 = .50). Interestingly, this increase in momentary positive emotion explained the improvement in post-intervention mindfulness, peace of mind, and general health by 21%, 31%, and 11%, respectively. Finally, the benefits of hot yoga were more notable in individuals with lower levels of baseline eudaimonic well-being (conditional R2 = .45), flourishing (conditional R2 = .61), and mental well-being (conditional R2 = .65), even after ruling out any possible ceiling effects. To sum up, this study demonstrated multiple psychological benefits of hot yoga and its potential to be an effective positive psychology intervention. Future research—especially considering an active control group—is warranted. (AU)

La práctica del hot yoga puede aportar importantes ventajas psicológicas, aunque apenas se ha estudiado. Analizamos los efectos del hot yoga sobre una gran variedad de indicadores de bienestar en una muestra de 290 voluntarios sin experiencia en yoga que tomaron parte en un ensayo controlado aleatorio de seis semanas. Los participantes contestaron cuestionarios antes y después de la intervención, dando cuenta de sus experiencias emocionales cuatro veces al día a lo largo de un estudio de muestreo de experiencias. Los resultados mostraron que el bienestar del grupo de hot yoga (n = 137) aumentó del pretratamiento al postratamiento en comparación con el grupo de control de lista de espera (n = 153), mejorando la satisfacción en la vida, la salud en general, la atención plena, la paz mental y el bienestar eudaimónico (ΔR2 entre .01 y .08), aunque no en prosperidad psicosocial, que describe aspectos importantes del funcionamiento social psicológico. Los análisis multinivel desvelaron que se daba un gran aumento de las experiencias emocionales positivas momentáneas a lo largo de todo el ensayo únicamente en el grupo de yoga (R2 condicional = .68), sobre todo al asistir a clase de yoga (R2 condicional = .50). Es interesante ver que este aumento de la emoción positiva momentánea explicaba la mejora de la atención plena, la paz mental y la salud en general en un 21%, 31% y 11% respectivamente tras la intervención. Por último, los beneficios del hot yoga destacaban más en personas con menor bienestar eudaimónico base (R2 condicional = 45), prosperidad psicosocial (R2 condicional = .61) y bienestar mental (R2 condicional = .65), incluso tras descartar los posibles efectos techo. Resumiendo, este estudio ha demostrado los muchos efectos psicológicos del hot yoga y su potencial como eficaz intervención en psicología positiva. La investigación futura (en especial teniendo en cuenta un grupo de control activo) está justificada. (AU)

Hot Yoga Leads to Greater Well-being: A Six-week Experience-sampling RCT in Healthy Adults.

Practicing hot yoga may bring significant psychological benefits, but it is largely unstudied. We examined the effects of hot yoga on multifaceted well-being indicators with 290 healthy yoga-naïve volunteers partaking in a six-week randomized controlled trial. Participants completed questionnaires pre- and post-intervention, and reported their emotional experiences four times per day throughout an experience-sampling study. Results revealed that the hot yoga group (n = 137) improved their well-being from pre- to post-treatment, comparing to the wait-list control group (n = 153). These improvements included life satisfaction, general health, mindfulness, peace of mind, and eudaimonic well-being (ΔR2 ranging from .01 to .08)-but not flourishing, which describes major aspects of social-psychological functioning. Multilevel analyses demonstrated that momentary positive emotional experiences increased significantly throughout the trial in the yoga group only (conditional R2 = .68), particularly when attending a yoga class (conditional R2 = .50). Interestingly, this increase in momentary positive emotion explained the improvement in post-intervention mindfulness, peace of mind, and general health by 21%, 31%, and 11%, respectively. Finally, the benefits of hot yoga were more notable in individuals with lower levels of baseline eudaimonic well-being (conditional R2 = .45), flourishing (conditional R2 = .61), and mental well-being (conditional R2 = .65), even after ruling out any possible ceiling effects. To sum up, this study demonstrated multiple psychological benefits of hot yoga and its potential to be an effective positive psychology intervention. Future research-especially considering an active control group-is warranted.

La práctica del hot yoga puede aportar importantes ventajas psicológicas, aunque apenas se ha estudiado. Analizamos los efectos del hot yoga sobre una gran variedad de indicadores de bienestar en una muestra de 290 voluntarios sin experiencia en yoga que tomaron parte en un ensayo controlado aleatorio de seis semanas. Los participantes contestaron cuestionarios antes y después de la intervención, dando cuenta de sus experiencias emocionales cuatro veces al día a lo largo de un estudio de muestreo de experiencias. Los resultados mostraron que el bienestar del grupo de hot yoga (n = 137) aumentó del pretratamiento al postratamiento en comparación con el grupo de control de lista de espera (n = 153), mejorando la satisfacción en la vida, la salud en general, la atención plena, la paz mental y el bienestar eudaimónico (ΔR2 entre .01 y .08), aunque no en prosperidad psicosocial, que describe aspectos importantes del funcionamiento social psicológico. Los análisis multinivel desvelaron que se daba un gran aumento de las experiencias emocionales positivas momentáneas a lo largo de todo el ensayo únicamente en el grupo de yoga (R2 condicional = .68), sobre todo al asistir a clase de yoga (R2 condicional = .50). Es interesante ver que este aumento de la emoción positiva momentánea explicaba la mejora de la atención plena, la paz mental y la salud en general en un 21%, 31% y 11% respectivamente tras la intervención. Por último, los beneficios del hot yoga destacaban más en personas con menor bienestar eudaimónico base (R2 condicional = 45), prosperidad psicosocial (R2 condicional = .61) y bienestar mental (R2 condicional = .65), incluso tras descartar los posibles efectos techo. Resumiendo, este estudio ha demostrado los muchos efectos psicológicos del hot yoga y su potencial como eficaz intervención en psicología positiva. La investigación futura (en especial teniendo en cuenta un grupo de control activo) está justificada.

From Social Networking Site Use to Subjective Well-Being: The Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Mediating Pathways of Prosocial Behavior among Vocational College Students in China.

In view of the growing importance of social networking sites (SNS) to adolescents and the mixed and inconclusive empirical evidence on the relationships between SNS use and their well-being, the present study aimed to investigate the associations of social function use intensity (SFUI) and entertainment function use intensity (EFUI) with adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem, and examine the mediating roles that general prosocial behavior and school volunteering may play in the links. Drawing from the findings of a self-administered online survey with a valid sample of 3452 adolescents (mean age = 18.21) from 10 vocational colleges across four regions of China, our results demonstrated that there was an indirect positive effect of SFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem via two interpersonal pathways of general prosocial behavior and school volunteering. We also discovered that there was an indirect negative effect of EFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem via an intrapersonal pathway of school volunteering. Our findings provided empirical support for the differential effects of SFUI and EFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem through the interpersonal and intrapersonal pathways, and unpacked the mediating roles of general prosocial behavior and school volunteering in these mechanisms.

Prosocial behavior and well-being: Shifting from the 'chicken and egg' to positive feedback loop.

The extant literature is mostly dichotomized in examining the effect of either prosocial behavior on well-being or well-being on prosocial behavior. After reviewing the emerging line of research on the positive feedback loop between prosocial behavior and well-being, I integrate all up-to-date empirical findings to present a reciprocal model where prosocial behavior begets well-being and well-being begets prosocial behavior. This article provides fresh insights, including the moderating roles of prosocial behavior and well-being and fading (and anti-fading) of the positive feedback loop. I also offer various promising lines of inquiry for future work and highlight powerful and ecologically valid research designs, such as experience-sampling studies and multiple-time point field experiments to capture the dynamic interplay between prosocial behavior and well-being.

Perception and Evaluation of 23 Positive Emotions in Hong Kong and the Netherlands.

Positive emotions are linked to numerous benefits, but not everyone appreciates the same kinds of positive emotional experiences. We examine how distinct positive emotions are perceived and whether individuals' perceptions are linked to how societies evaluate those emotions. Participants from Hong Kong and Netherlands rated 23 positive emotions based on their individual perceptions (positivity, arousal, and socially engaging) and societal evaluations (appropriate, valued, and approved of). We found that (1) there were cultural differences in judgments about all six aspects of positive emotions; (2) positivity, arousal, and social engagement predicted emotions being positively regarded at the societal level in both cultures; and (3) that positivity mattered more for the Dutch participants, although arousal and social engagement mattered more in Hong Kong for societal evaluations. These findings provide a granular map of the perception and evaluation of distinct positive emotions in two cultures and highlight the role of cultures in the understanding how positive emotions are perceived and evaluated.

Dual impacts of coronavirus anxiety on mental health in 35 societies.

The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected both physical health and mental well-being around the world. Stress-related reactions, if prolonged, may result in mental health problems. We examined the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in a multinational study and explored the effects of government responses to the outbreak. We sampled 18,171 community adults from 35 countries/societies, stratified by age, gender, and region of residence. Across the 35 societies, 26.6% of participants reported moderate to extremely severe depression symptoms, 28.2% moderate to extremely severe anxiety symptoms, and 18.3% moderate to extremely severe stress symptoms. Coronavirus anxiety comprises two factors, namely Perceived Vulnerability and Threat Response. After controlling for age, gender, and education level, perceived vulnerability predicted higher levels of negative emotional symptoms and psychological distress, whereas threat response predicted higher levels of self-rated health and subjective well-being. People in societies with more stringent control policies had more threat response and reported better subjective health. Coronavirus anxiety exerts detrimental effects on subjective health and well-being, but also has the adaptive function in mobilizing safety behaviors, providing support for an evolutionary perspective on psychological adaptation.

COVID-19 and Health-Related Quality of Life: A Community-Based Online Survey in Hong Kong.

The COVID-19 pandemic itself and related public health measurements have had substantial impacts on individual social lives and psychological and mental health, all to the detriment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). There have been extensive studies investigating the mental health of people in different populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have explored the impact of COVID-19 and its association with HRQoL. To fill this research gap and provide further empirical evidence, this study examined the impact of COVID-19 on Hong Kong people and evaluated its association with HRQoL. A total of 500 participants were randomly recruited to complete an online questionnaire on their concerns related to COVID-19. This entailed responding to the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF instrument. Data were collected between 24 April and 3 May 2020. Independent t-tests and multiple linear regressions were used to examine the association between the impact of COVID-19 and HRQoL. Overall, 69.6% of participants were worried about contracting COVID-19, and 41.4% frequently suspected themselves of being infected. Furthermore, 29.0% were concerned by the lack of disinfectants. All of these findings were associated with poorer HRQoL in the physical and psychological health, social relationships, and environment domains. On the other hand, 47.4% of participants were concerned that they may lose their job because of the pandemic, while 39.4% were bothered by the insufficient supply of surgical masks. These two factors were associated with poorer HRQoL in the physical and psychological health and environment domains. The adverse impact of COVID-19 on individuals is multifactorial, affecting all aspects of HRQoL. In addition to enhancing anti-epidemic efforts, it is equally important to implement public health and social welfare measures, thereby diminishing the adverse impact of COVID-19 on overall well-being.

Psychometric evaluation of the short form of the Arizona Life History Battery (K-SF-42): A revised Chinese version for emerging adults.

Life history (LH) strategies explain how organisms adapt to the environment and make the best use of their resources to fulfill bodily maintenance, growth, reproduction and other functions. The K-SF-42 is a short version of the 199-item Arizona Life History Battery for assessing seven different domains of LH strategies. This article aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the K-SF-42. We recruited 1,016 Chinese university students, who aged 16 to 28 years old (M age = 19.47, SD = 1.17) to participant in an anonymous questionnaire. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the second-order six-factor model (except romantic partner attachment), and the scale and subscales of such measurement displayed good internal consistencies. With the exception of religiosity, all of the subscales showed significant positive correlations with a brief unidimensional measure of LH strategies (i.e., the Mini-K). The criterion-related validity of the scale was further supported by the association between its higher score (suggesting slower LH strategies) and the lower levels of childhood harshness and unpredictability. This study provided evidence for the satisfactory applicability of the Chinese version of the K-SF-42 to a Chinese population and contributed to the further investigation of the LH strategies' mechanisms underlying human behavior across cultures.

Rewards of kindness? A meta-analysis of the link between prosociality and well-being.

In recent decades, numerous studies have suggested a positive relationship between prosociality and well-being. What remains less clear are (a) what the magnitude of this relationship is, and (b) what the moderators that influence it are. To address these questions, we conducted a meta-analysis to examine the strength of the prosociality to well-being link under different operationalizations, and how a set of theoretical, demographic, and methodological variables moderate the link. While the results revealed a modest overall mean effect size (r = .13, K = 201, N = 198,213) between prosociality and well-being, this masked the substantial variability in the effect as a function of numerous moderators. In particular, the effect of prosociality on eudaimonic well-being was stronger than that on hedonic well-being. Prosociality was most strongly related to psychological functioning-showing a more modest relationship with psychological malfunctioning and physical health. Using prosociality scales was more strongly associated with well-being than using measures of volunteering/helping frequency or status. In addition, informal helping (vs. formal helping) was linked to more well-being benefits. Demographically, younger givers exhibited higher levels of well-being other than physical health, while older and retired givers reported better physical health only. Female givers showed stronger relationships between prosociality and eudaimonic well-being, psychological malfunctioning, and physical health. Methodologically, the magnitude of the link was stronger in studies using primary (vs. secondary) data and with higher methodological rigor (i.e., measurement reliability and validity). We discussed all of these results and implications and suggested directions for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Depression and Anxiety in Hong Kong during COVID-19.

It has been three months since the first confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hong Kong, and people now have a more complete picture of the extent of the pandemic. Therefore, it is time to evaluate the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health. The current population-based study aimed to evaluate the depression and anxiety of people in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents were randomly recruited and asked to complete a structured questionnaire, including the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the generalized anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7), the global rating of change scale and items related to COVID-19. Of the 500 respondents included in the study, 19% had depression (PHQ-9 score ≥ 10) and 14% had anxiety (GAD score ≥ 10). In addition, 25.4% reported that their mental health had deteriorated since the pandemic. Multiple logistic regression analysis found that not experiencing the SARS outbreak in 2003, being worried about being infected by COVID-19, being bothered by having not enough surgical masks and being bothered by not being able to work from home were associated with a poorer mental health status. Psychological support, such as brief, home-based psychological interventions, should be provided to citizens during the pandemic.

The Effects of Need Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction on Flourishing among Young Chinese Gamers: The Mediating Role of Internet Gaming Disorder.

Given the increasing popularity of online game playing, the negative impacts of game addiction on both adolescents and adults attracted our attention. Previous studies based on the self-determination theory have examined the effects of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on problematic video game playing among Chinese young adults. Yet, as more evidence emerged pointing to the possible relation between need dissatisfaction and higher vulnerability for ill-being and psychopathology, the present study aimed to incorporate the impacts of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in explaining Internet gaming disorder (IGD), a condition that may in turn impede eudaimonic well-being as indicated by flourishing. In a self-administered online survey with a valid sample of 1200 Chinese young adults aged 18-24 years (mean age = 19.48 years), the prevalence of probable IGD (for those who reported five or more symptoms in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) symptom list for IGD) was 7.5%. Our results showed that relatedness dissatisfaction positively predicted IGD symptoms after controlling for other need satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Also, flourishing was found to be negatively predicted by IGD. Finally, IGD was found to mediate the effect of relatedness dissatisfaction on flourishing. Our findings suggested a risk factor of relatedness dissatisfaction in predicting IGD, thereby significantly predicting flourishing.

Caring helps: Trait empathy is related to better coping strategies and differs in the poor versus the rich.

Coping has been extensively studied in health psychology; however, factors influencing the usage of different coping strategies have received limited attention. In five studies (N = 3702), we explored the relationship between trait empathy and coping strategies, and how subjective socioeconomic status (SES) moderates this relationship. In Studies 1-4, we found that people with higher level of empathic concern use more adaptive coping strategies, seek more social support, and use fewer maladaptive coping strategies. Moreover, higher trait empathy related to more adaptive coping strategies among the poor, and fewer maladaptive coping strategies among the rich. In Study 5, we tested the potential biological basis of the relationship between trait empathy and coping by examining the effect of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) rs53576 polymorphism on coping. We found that individuals with the GG phenotype-who in previous research have been found to be more empathic-were more likely to seek social support than AG or AA individuals. Furthermore, in line with findings in Studies 1-4, amongst people with low SES, individuals with GG genotype used more adaptive coping strategies than AG or AA individuals. Our results highlight the selective role trait empathy plays in influencing coping strategy deployment, depending on the SES of individuals.

Disentangling the effects of empathy components on Internet gaming disorder: A study of vulnerable youth in China.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Previous research shows that empathy can be one of the potential protective factors for Internet gaming disorder (IGD), yet the complex relationships between multidimensional factors of empathy and IGD remain understudied. Thus, a major question moving forward is to resolve the mixed empirical data by examining the specific contributions of empathy components. In this study, we disentangle the effects of cognitive component (i.e., perspective taking) and affective component (i.e., empathic concern and personal distress) on IGD symptoms and propose affect-oriented mediation pathways between them. METHODS: We surveyed a large sample (N = 3,348) of Chinese vocational school students, one of the most vulnerable groups to online gaming addiction. RESULTS: Our structural equation modeling results revealed that only personal distress, but not empathic concern or perspective taking, positively predicted IGD symptoms. However, empathic concern and personal distress were negatively and positively predicted gaming motive of escape from reality, respectively, which in turn predicted IGD symptoms. Furthermore, we found an indirect effect of perspective taking on IGD through empathic concern and then gaming motive of escape from reality. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The findings underscore the importance of separating the affective and cognitive components to understand the complex relationships between the empathy and IGD, and support our theorizing of the affect-oriented mediation mechanism.

Conceptualizing psychological processes in response to globalization: Components, antecedents, and consequences of global orientations.

The influences of globalization have permeated various aspects of life in contemporary society, from technical innovations, economic development, and lifestyles, to communication patterns. The present research proposed a construct termed global orientation to denote individual differences in the psychological processes of acculturating to the globalizing world. It encompasses multicultural acquisition as a proactive response and ethnic protection as a defensive response to globalization. Ten studies examined the applicability of global orientations among majority and minority groups, including immigrants and sojourners, in multicultural and relatively monocultural contexts, and across Eastern and Western cultures. Multicultural acquisition is positively correlated with both independent and interdependent self-construals, bilingual proficiency and usage, and dual cultural identifications. Multicultural acquisition is promotion-focused, while ethnic protection is prevention-focused and related to acculturative stress. Global orientations affect individuating and modest behavior over and above multicultural ideology, predict overlap with outgroups over and above political orientation, and predict psychological adaptation, sociocultural competence, tolerance, and attitudes toward ethnocultural groups over and above acculturation expectations/strategies. Global orientations also predict English and Chinese oral presentation performance in multilevel analyses and the frequency and pleasantness of intercultural contact in cross-lagged panel models. We discuss how the psychological study of global orientations contributes to theory and research on acculturation, cultural identity, and intergroup relations.

Vagal activity is quadratically related to prosocial traits, prosocial emotions, and observer perceptions of prosociality.

In the present article, we introduce the quadratic vagal activity-prosociality hypothesis, a theoretical framework for understanding the vagus nerve's involvement in prosociality. We argue that vagus nerve activity supports prosocial behavior by regulating physiological systems that enable emotional expression, empathy for others' mental and emotional states, the regulation of one's own distress, and the experience of positive emotions. However, we contend that extremely high levels of vagal activity can be detrimental to prosociality. We present 3 studies providing support for our model, finding consistent evidence of a quadratic relationship between respiratory sinus arrhythmia--the degree to which the vagus nerve modulates the heart rate--and prosociality. Individual differences in vagal activity were quadratically related to prosocial traits (Study 1), prosocial emotions (Study 2), and outside ratings of prosociality by complete strangers (Study 3). Thus, too much or too little vagal activity appears to be detrimental to prosociality. The present article provides the 1st theoretical and empirical account of the nonlinear relationship between vagal activity and prosociality.