Exposure to COVID-19-related media content and mental health during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China.

Exposure to disaster-related media content is closely related to mental health. This study aimed to explore the patterns of COVID-19-related media exposure and examine whether these patterns were associated with mental health. In total, 917 participants in this study completed the Media Exposure Questionnaire (MEQ), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Then latent class analysis and discriminant analysis were conducted to identify the patterns of media exposure. Finally, we tested how mental health was associated with such patterns. Four subtypes of media exposure were identified: the slightly exposed group, the lower-moderately exposed group, the higher-moderately exposed group, and the heavily exposed group. And there were significant differences in individuals' levels of positive and negative affect among different subtypes, but no difference in depression, anxiety, and stress. The results of the current study indicated that more COVID-19-related media exposure was related to increased positive and negative affect. And the current findings would help people to better understand the relationships between media exposure and mental health during a pandemic.

The Relationship Between Media Involvement and Death Anxiety of Self-Quarantined People in the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: The Mediating Roles of Empathy and Sympathy.

The COVID-19 outbreak put health threat to people globally, and self-quarantine was suggested by the Chinese government to contain the outbreak. In self-quarantine, media was the most important way to get information about the outbreak. However, the relationship between media involvement and death anxiety, and the underlying mechanism are poorly understood. We conducted an online survey of 917 participants to assess the media involvement and other potential factors (empathy, sympathy and affect) which might affect death anxiety. Correlation analysis and mediation models were conducted to examine the relationship between media involvement and death anxiety, and the possible mediating roles of empathy, sympathy, and affect. It was found that media involvement was positively associated with death anxiety. Empathy, sympathy, and negative affect played mediating roles between them. However, empathy and sympathy act differently in the association, as empathy could lead to the increase of negative affect, while sympathy did not.

Changes of Solitude Behaviors among College Students: A Latent Transition Analysis.

Solitude behaviors encompass four types: positive solitude, eccentricity, social avoidance, and loneliness. These four types of solitude behaviors are not entirely independent but can co-occur within individuals. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore latent classes of solitude behaviors, their developmental patterns, and relevant influencing factors among college students. The Solitude Behavior Scale-Short Version was administered to a sample of college students. A total of 417 Chinese students completed a three-time longitudinal paper questionnaire. The data analysis was performed using Mplus 8.0 and SPSS 26.0. Harman's single-factor test, latent class analysis (LCA), and latent transition analysis (LTA) were employed for subsequent analysis. The results revealed three classes: low solitude, moderate solitude, and high solitude, which exhibited temporal changes. Social avoidance and loneliness could facilitate transitions between high solitude and moderate solitude. Females and first-grade students exhibited higher transition probabilities than males and students not in the first grade. The incidence of moderate solitude in the not-first-grade group was significantly higher than that in the first-grade group. Finally, this study offers new insights into the dynamics of solitude behaviors and their association with gender and age.

Exploring the structure of college students' adaptability by using cross-lagged path analysis: The role of emotional adaptability.

Adaptability is an important psychological trait for college students. However, the components of adaptability contained significant inconsistencies in previous studies. On the one hand, there were discrepancies among the adaptability dimensions. On the other hand, significant inconsistencies were found in the connections among different aspects of adaptability. Therefore, the current research aimed to investigate the latent relationship among various components of adaptability. To achieve this, 565 volunteers were recruited to complete a 5-min cross-sectional survey. Subsequently, 402 participants were recruited to complete an 8-min longitudinal survey. The current study comprised two sub-studies: Study 1 utilized a structural equation model to examine the relationship between various dimensions of adaptability in a cross-sectional dataset, while Study 2 employed the cross-lagged panel model to validate the latent relationship between emotional adaptability and other types of adaptability using a longitudinal dataset. Results from the cross-sectional study indicated significant associations between emotional adaptability and other types of adaptability, with coefficients ranging from .231 to .588. The longitudinal study revealed that emotional adaptability at Time 2 and 3 could be predicted by learning adaptability, professional adaptability, and economic adaptability at Time 1 and 2. Consequently, the research concluded that individuals' emotional maladjustment could be predicted by maladaptive difficulties in learning, professional settings, homesickness, interpersonal relationships, and economics.

Being a focused employee: Effects of job reattachment on cyberloafing.

Cyberloafing, the use of the Internet for non-work-related activities while at work, has become a growing problem in the workplace. Since cyberloafing is commonly regarded as counterproductive, anticipating and controlling employees' cyberloafing behaviour is becoming increasingly important. Previous research suggests that individuals who engage in cyberloafing may have difficulties regulating their attention to important tasks. Based on self-regulation theory, our study examines the influence of job reattachment on cyberloafing through the mediating role of mindfulness and the moderating role of goal commitment. Data for this study were collected in China through surveys conducted with 275 employees at three different time points. The results showed that: (1) job reattachment was significantly negatively associated with cyberloafing; (2) mindfulness mediated this relationship between job reattachment and cyberloafing; and (3) goal commitment moderated the direct effect of job reattachment on mindfulness as well as the indirect effect of job reattachment on cyberloafing through mindfulness. Overall, our research findings emphasize the importance of the impact of job reattachment on cyberloafing through mindfulness. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

The relationship between nomophobia and latent classes of personality.

The phenomenon of nomophobia, defined as the anxiety experienced when a person is without their mobile phone or is unable to use it, has been identified as having serious negative effects on individuals, particularly students. Previous research has explored the relationship between personality traits and nomophobia, but the findings have been inconclusive. The main objective of this study was to classify personality types through latent class analysis and explore the relationship between these personality types and nomophobia. The Chinese version of the Nomophobia Scale and the Chinese brief version of the Big Five Personality Inventory were used in this study to survey 1906 Chinese college students. The results indicated that (1) a four-class model provided the best fit and categorized the personality traits as the overcontrolled class, resilient class, moderate class, and vulnerable class; (2) significant differences were observed between the four personality types and nomophobia, with overcontrolled and resilient personality types consistently scoring significantly lower than moderate and vulnerable personality types. Our finding highlights the key feature of the study.

The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference.

Recently, the phenomenon of school bullying has gradually become a primary focus of social attention. To reduce the occurrence of bullying, it is important that we explore the psychological mechanisms of students with bullying tendencies. We conducted mediation models through a multi-group analysis to verify the mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship between dark personality traits and bullying, and further explored the differences in this mechanism between male and female groups. The participants were 772 high school students recruited from a middle school in Tianjin, China. They completed a set of self-reported measurements including the Dirty Dozen (DD), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), and Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ). All the measurement instruments have acceptable reliability and validity. The results of the multi-group multiple models indicated that (1) there are significant gender differences in bullying behavior, with males scoring significantly higher than females. Moreover, the gender difference was only reflected in proactive aggression, in which males had higher scores than females; there was no significant gender difference in reactive aggression. (2) In the group of females, both negative and positive coping styles partially moderated the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying. However, in the group of males, only negative coping styles partially mediated the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying. (3) The above results also held for proactive aggression. In conclusion, our study highlights the gender differences in the mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying and proactive aggression. These findings contribute to better shared understanding of gender-related aspects in school bullying.

The effect of fear of missing out on mental health: differences in different solitude behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Depression, anxiety, and stress are the main issues that affect the mental health of individuals. Solitude behavior, fear of missing out, and mental health are all closely related. OBJECTIVE: This study was intended to investigate the relationship between solitude behavior, fear of missing out, and mental health. METHODS: Short Form of Solitude Behavior Scale, Fear of Missing Out scale, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 were employed in this study to investigate 616 college students. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 for basic data organization, and Mplus 8.3 was used to complete the analysis of the mediation model. RESULTS: (1) Positive solitude was positively associated with eccentricity and negatively related to loneliness; social avoidance positively correlated with eccentricity and loneliness. (2) Social avoidance and loneliness affected mental health through the mediating effect of fear of missing out, whereas positive solitude and eccentricity did not affect mental health through fear of missing out. Moreover, the results still held in the model with depression, anxiety, and stress as dependent variables. CONCLUSION: The roles of different solitude behavior in the relationship between fear of missing out and mental health differed. Social avoidance and loneliness as not self-determined solitude could activate the fear of missing out, which could affect mental health.

What Are the Differences in Psychological Outcomes Between People Who Posted COVID-19-Related Content on Social Media and Those Who Did Not?

OBJECTIVE: During the lockdown of cities and home quarantine, media became the only way for people to conveniently get coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)-related information. And media engagement was closely related to psychological outcomes. But fewer researchers took COVID-19-related posting behaviors into consideration. Therefore, the present study aimed at examining the differences in psychological outcomes between people who posted COVID-19-related content on social media and those who did not. METHODS: The present study included 917 participants (304 males, 613 females) who had answered the questionnaires of media engagement, positive affect, negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, satisfaction with life, death anxiety, and meaning in life. RESULTS: Results of t-tests showed that the Post group had lower levels of negative affect, anxiety, stress, and death anxiety than the Not Post (Npost) group. Network comparison tests indicated that the Npost group's network and the Post group's network differed in global strength, two edge-weights, and node centrality indices. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that more attention should be paid to people who did not post any COVID-19-related content, especially when they have higher levels of stress and depression to prevent comorbidities. And for people who posted content, more attention should be paid when they have a higher level of negative affect.

Is Nomophobia Problematic or Functional? A Perspective from Bifactor Structure.

With the extensive use of mobile phones globally, some people engage in excessive or problematic phone use behaviors. However, little is known regarding the latent structure of problematic mobile phone use. The current study employed the Chinese versions of the Nomophobia Questionnaire, Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale, and Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale-21 to explore the latent psychological structure of problematic mobile phone use and nomophobia and their associations with mental health symptoms. Results showed that a bifactor latent model best fit nomophobia, which contained a general factor and four unique factors involving the fear of being unable to access information, losing convenience, losing contact, and losing one's Internet connection. Results also showed significant correlations among latent factors of nomophobia, problematic mobile phone use, and mental health symptoms. Through these findings, we can conclude that two problematic mobile phone use behaviors share a common factor concerning excessive use, and nomophobia has independent unique factors concerning usable function. This study clarifies the structure of problematic mobile phone use, and it implies that we can distinguish problematic mobile phone use from functional use; further investigation of problematic mobile phone use is warranted.

Network Analysis of Media Exposure and Psychological Outcomes During the Initial Outbreak of COVID-19 in China.

During the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China, people spent a lot of time viewing or listening to COVID-19-related media content. And according to the conservation of resources theory, COVID-19-related media exposure would be related to multiple psychological outcomes, and different contents would have different associations with different psychological outcomes. Therefore, the present study aimed to clarify these relationships and find out the most important psychological outcome correlated with COVID-19-related media exposure. An online survey was conducted to collect information about individuals' media use behaviors and mental health status. A total of 917 participants were included in further analyses. The results proved that different kinds of content had different relationships with different psychological outcomes. To be more specific, the content about people being heroic and speeches from experts and the authorities were related to increases of positive affect, while reports from hospitals were correlated with increases of death anxiety. Moreover, positive affect was central nodes of the network. The current findings indicated viewing objective and positive content was associated with positive psychological outcomes while viewing negative one was correlated with negative psychological outcomes. Furthermore, positive affect was the most important psychological outcome related to COVID-19-related media exposure.

The influence of college students' academic stressors on mental health during COVID-19: The mediating effect of social support, social well-being, and self-identity.

COVID-19 caused harmful mental consequences to the public, and mental health problems were very common among college students during the outbreak of COVID-19. Academic stressors were the main stress for college students, and social support, social well-being, and self-identity were widely known as protective factors for mental health. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the influence of academic stressors on mental health and the mediating effect of social support, social well-being, and self-identity among college students during the outbreak of COVID-19. With 900 college students as subjects, using the college students' academic stressors questionnaire, social support questionnaire, social well-being scale, self-identity scale, and depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21), the results showed that: (1) academic stressors had a significantly negative correlation with social support, social well-being, and self-identity while having a significantly positive correlation with mental health; (2) academic stressors could positively predict mental health; (3) this effect was mediated by social support, social well-being, and self-identity; (4) work stressor was an important stressor during COVID-19, and had the same role as academic stressors in the structural equation model. The results of this study suggested that adjusting the academic stressors or work stressors of college students and enhancing social support could improve social well-being and self-identity, and might effectively protect their mental health under the COVID-19 pandemic environment.

Development of a Computerized Adaptive Test for Problematic Mobile Phone Use.

The great number of mobile phone users in the world has increased in recent years. More time spent on a phone, more negative effects such as problematic mobile phone use. Many researchers have devoted themselves to revise tools to measure problematic mobile phone use better and more precisely. Previous studies have shown that these tools have good reliability and validity, but that most of them have some shortcomings because they were traditional paper-and-pencil tests based on Classical Test Theory (CTT). This study, based on Item Response Theory (IRT) in order to solve these shortcomings, developed Computerized Adaptive Test for problematic mobile phone use (CAT-PMPU) and discussed the performance of CAT-PMPU. Then, we used real data to simulate CAT, and the measurement accuracy and reliability between a paper-and-pencil test and CAT-PMPU were compared under the same test length. The results showed that CAT-PMPU was better than the paper-and-pencil test in all aspects, and that it can reduce the number of items and improve measurement efficiency effectively. In conclusion, the CAT-PMPU was developed in this study has good reliability, and it provided novel technical support for the measurement of problematic mobile phone use. It had a good application prospect.

Data on mobile phone use, adaptability and adult attachment among college students in China.

Mobile phone use brings convenience to people's social communication and leisurely experience. While excessive mobile phone use also leads to problematic mobile phone use such as mobile phone addiction and nomophobia which has serious harm. For college students who have just entered college, the adaptability to college life and the level of adult attachment might affect mobile phone use. Therefore, it is necessary to study the relationships among mobile phone use, adaptability and adult attachment among college students in China. The data in this article could help researchers explore the mechanism between the mobile phone use, adaptability and adult attachment and had a deeper comprehension to the impact factor of mobile phone use among college students in China. Dataset provided in this article included 673 college students recruited from different grades in Tianjin Normal University. Among the participants, there were 138 males (20.5%) and 535 females. Fifty participants completed their questionnaires as a paper-pencil version in a classroom, there were 389 participants completed paper-pencil version in total and other 284 participants completed online surveys through the Wen Juan Xing App (https://www.wjx.cn). They took Nomophobia Scale for Chinese (NMP-C), Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale (MPATS), Freshmen Adaptation Inventory (FAI) and Chinese of Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory (ECR-C) to measure college students' mobile phone use, adaptability and adult attachment in China, the missing values of these items were imputed by EM method due to the missing values were missing completely at random(MCAR). All the instruments for data collection were in the Chinese version. In addition, a .csv file consists of major variables we used were included as a supplementary material on the Zenodo Repository [1]. We used SPSS to perform descriptive statistical analysis and MPLUS to carry out lasso regression analysis with the collected data. For a discussion of the findings based on the dataset please see the article: The effect of college students' adaptability on nomophobia based on lasso regression [2].

Nomophobia and relationships with latent classes of solitude.

Recently, nomophobia (separation anxiety from mobile phone) has become a common phenomenon. The authors' main purpose was to explore latent classes of solitude behaviors and how they are related to nomophobia. Chinese versions of the Nomophobia Scale and the Solitude Behaviour Scale were used in a sample of college students (351 female and 327 male). Latent class analysis, analysis of variance, and regression analysis were employed to classify solitude behaviors and explore the relationship between solitude and nomophobia. A six-class model best fit the data (BIC = 60086.49). Significant differences among the classes were found on nomophobia. Loneliness, social avoidance, and eccentricity significantly predicted nomophobia. Solitude behaviors of college students can be divided into six latent classes. The classes with a high response preference for solitude scored higher on nomophobia, especially the fear of losing an Internet connection. Not self-determined solitude and negative-solitude had a positive effect on nomophobia.

The Effect of College Students' Adaptability on Nomophobia: Based on Lasso Regression.

Smartphones can improve our lives, but also consume our lives. It is known that problematic mobile phone use, such as nomophobia, can lead to some mental health problems. So far, psychological factors behind nomophobia were yet to be fully discovered. Previous studies showed that individuals' adaptability was closely related to nomophobia. However, adaptability was a complex construct that contains various components, and it was unclear whether these components contributed equally to nomophobia. This study investigated 678 college students by using Chinese versions of the nomophobia questionnaire, mobile phone addiction tendency scale, and freshmen adaptability scale. Lasso regression was used to further explore the key factors that could affect nomophobia. Model results showed that the value of λ+1se was [0.303, 0.423] at the minimum mean squared error in the training data. Emotional adaptability significantly predicted the fear of being unable to access information (ß = -0.022, p < 0.001), losing convenience (ß = -0.067, p < 0.001), and losing Internet connection (ß = -0.003, p < 0.01) after λ+1se was included in the testing data, and the R 2 were 0.496, 0.483, and 0.493. Homesickness adaptability significantly predicted the fear of losing contact (ß = -0.056, p < 0.05), and R 2 was 0.508. In addition, similar results were obtained by using datasets of mobile phone addiction and adaptability. Therefore, we concluded that the emotional adaptability has an important effect on nomophobia. Additionally, we also found that homesickness adaptability has an important role in predicting fear of losing contact.

Data on media use and mental health during the outbreak of COVID-19 in China.

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread rapidly in China in beginning of 2020. Self-quarantine was suggested by Chinese government to block the spread of the COVID-19. During the self-quarantine, the media played an indispensable role in acquisition of information about the disease. And it could also impact on people's mental health. Therefore, it is necessary to study the psychological outcome resulted from media use during the outbreak of COVID-19. The data in this article could help researchers to explore the mechanism between media use and mental health, and to have a deeper comprehension of the impact of media use on mental health during a public health emergency. The dataset provided in this article included 917 participants recruited from different provinces all over China. Among the participants, there were 304 males and 613 females, with an average age of 28.6 and a standard deviation of 9.5. They took Media Use Questionnaire (MUQ), Empathy-Sympathy Questionnaire (ESQ), Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), Death Anxiety Questionnaire (DAQ), Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), State boredom Questionnaire (SBQ), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) to assess their media use and mental health during the outbreak of COVID-19. All these instruments for data collection were Chinese versions. In addition, a .csv file consists of major variables we used are included as a supplementary material. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression had been conducted with these data. For a discussion of the findings based on the dataset please see the article: Media use and acute psychological outcomes during COVID-19 outbreak in China [1] and Psychological distress and state boredom during the COVID-19 outbreak in China: the role of meaning in life and media use [2].

Sense of Coherence and Mental Health in College Students After Returning to School During COVID-19: The Moderating Role of Media Exposure.

The COVID-19 pandemic not only threatens people's physical health, but also affects their mental health in the long term. Although people had returned to work and school, they are closely monitoring the development of the epidemic and taking preventive measures. This study attempted to examine the relationship between media exposure, sense of coherence (SOC) and mental health, and the moderating effect of media exposure in college students after returning to school. In the present study, we conducted a cross sectional survey on 424 college students returning to school around May 2020. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess media exposure scale, SOC, depression, anxiety and stress. Correlation and moderation analysis was conducted. The results showed that (1) negative epidemic information exposure, rather than positive epidemic information exposure, was significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. (2) SOC was also associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. (3) The effect of SOC on depression was modified by negative epidemic information exposure. With the increase of negative epidemic information exposure, the predictive effect of SOC on depression is increasing gradually. These findings demonstrated that negative epidemic information exposure was associated with an increased psychological distress in the sample. A high SOC played a certain protective role in the adaptation of college students in the post-epidemic period. It is important to find more ways to increase the colleges' SOC level and avoid negative information exposure.

Data for teenagers' stressor, mental health, coping style, social support, parenting style and self-efficacy in South China.

Data provided in this article were collected from 3784 high school students in South China, which measured teenagers' stressor (Stressors Scale for Middle School Students, SSMSS), mental health (Symptom Check-List 90, SCL90), coping style (Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, SCSQ), social support (Social Support Scale, SSS), parenting style (Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppforstran-own memories of parental rearing practice in childhood, EMBU) and self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy Scale, GSES). All the instruments for data collection were in the Chinese version. Participants were 3784 students recruited from 15 high schools in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of South China with random cluster sampling method. Among them, there were 1987 boys and 1797 girls, with an average age of 14.6 and a standard deviation of 1.82. In addition, a.csv file consists of all the variables and questionnaires we used (both in Chinese and in English) are included as a supplementary material. For a discussion of the major finding based on the data please see the article which used a part of questionnaires and participants we supplied in the data set: The relationship between high school students' social support and coping styles: The mediating role of self-efficacy (https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1007-3728.2014.10.016) [1].

Fear of missing out predicts repeated measurements of greater negative affect using experience sampling methodology.

BACKGROUND: Fear of missing out (FOMO) has been increasingly researched recently, especially in relation to negative affectivity constructs. Our aim was to examine relations between FOMO and repeated measurements of negative affect over one week. METHOD: We investigated associations between FOMO and prospectively-measured negative affect over one week in an experience sampling study of 93 undergraduate students. Participants completed an initial web survey assessing depression, anxiety and FOMO. Over the week, participants responded to daily text messages, assessing negative affect from earlier in the day. RESULTS: On a bivariate basis, FOMO, depression and anxiety severity were related to daily negative affect assessments. Using multivariate growth modeling, higher initial negative affect was related to decreasing negative affect over the week. Female sex and higher anxiety related to higher initial negative affect ratings. Higher FOMO levels related to increasing negative affect over the week. LIMITATIONS: Findings were based on self-report methodology, using university students and only one week of measurement. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that women and more anxious individuals had higher initial negative affect, while FOMO predicted increasing negative affect over the week. Results advance understanding of FOMO in relation to psychopathology, and are discussed in the context of Self-Determination Theory.