Ningning Feng

The increasing prevalence of problematic short‐form video use among adolescents has raised concerns regarding its potential impact on academic engagement. This study aimed to investigate the bidirectional relations between them over time. Study 1 involved a three‐wave survey over three semesters, including 1227 Chinese adolescents at baseline (T1), with 1096 and 1077 retained at T2 and T3, respectively ( M _age at baseline = 16.00, SD = 0.61, age range = 14–19; 56.6% girls). Two random intercept cross‐lagged panel models were estimated, showing that problematic short‐form video use and academic engagement negatively predicted each other over time, both in the behavioral and emotional engagement. Moreover, goal focus was found to mediate the effect of problematic short‐form video use on academic engagement. Study 2 involved a two‐wave survey of 898 Chinese adolescents at baseline (T1), with 507 retained at T2, over a 10‐month interval ( M _age at baseline = 15.89, SD = 0.74, age range = 15–18; 50.9% girls). A cross‐lagged network analysis showed that within the academic engagement, “Participation” had the strongest impact on problematic short‐form video use, while “Curiosity” was the most affected by it. Conversely, within the problematic short‐form video use, “Loss of control” was the most affected by academic engagement, whereas “Behavioral salience” most strongly affected academic engagement. These findings elucidate the mechanisms linking problematic short‐form video use and academic engagement, and suggest that focusing interventions on key nodes, including academic participation and the behavioral salience of short‐form video use, may be especially effective in enhancing adolescents' academic engagement.

Introduction: Literature shows that justice beliefs and justice experience (peer victimization) shape adolescent prosociality. However, how adolescents react to the (in)congruence between justice beliefs and justice experiences in peer environments remains unclear. Methods: We utilized response surface analysis to examine how belief‐experience justice (in)congruence affects adolescents' prosocial behaviors. Results: Study 1 with a cross‐sectional design ( N = 2963, M _age = 15.86 ± 0.72, 40.0% girls) showed that, generally, adolescents with stronger justice beliefs and more justice experiences were more likely to engage in global prosocial behaviors, which increased with the belief‐experience justice fit; when adolescents encountered belief‐experience justice conflicts, their beliefs played a more crucial role than experiences in driving prosocial actions. Study 2 with two‐wave data ( N = 3038, M _age = 16.83 ± 0.79, 53.6% girls) essentially replicated the cross‐sectional pattern in Study 1 and further found that adolescents' beliefs no longer dominantly promoted prosociality seven months later under belief‐experience conflicts. Moreover, boys and girls behave differently depending on prosocial contexts, especially according to situational visibility. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that even in unjust peer environments, adolescents' justice beliefs are resilient enough to guide them toward current prosocial actions, which yet would fade over time.

Given the lack of evidence, we cannot definitively determine the relationship between attachment networks and problematic mobile phone use, hindering effective intervention strategies. Therefore, a three‐wave longitudinal study was designed to explore the heterogeneity of parent–child attachment networks using latent profile analysis (LPA) and random intercept latent transition analysis (RI‐LTA). Participants included 2116 adolescents (ages 14–21; 53.8% girls). Results identified five stable parent–child attachment network profiles, each showing moderate but decreasing stability. Notably, adolescents who were grouped into an attachment network characterized by secure maternal attachment but insecure paternal attachment, similar to those in attachment networks with both insecure maternal and paternal attachment, scored higher levels of problematic mobile phone use than those who were grouped into attachment networks with both secure maternal and paternal attachment. Our findings fill empirical gaps and provide strong evidence supporting attachment‐based interventions to reduce problematic mobile phone use.

Parental technoference, which refers to the interference of parent–child interactions by technology, has been demonstrated to be a risk factor for adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use (PMPU). From the perspective of family systems theory, the impact of adolescent PMPU on parental technoference seems also plausible. The present research investigated the bidirectional predictive association between parental technoference and adolescent PMPU through the mediating roles of paternal and maternal attachment using a two‐wave cross‐lagged design. A total of 1664 Chinese adolescents (61.24% female; M _age = 16.86 ± 0.77) were surveyed at Time 1 (January 2023) and Time 2 (August 2023). Results showed that Time 1 parental technoference predicted Time 2 adolescent PMPU and Time 1 adolescent PMPU predicted Time 1 parental technoference. Furthermore, both paternal attachment and maternal attachment had longitudinal mediating effects on the reciprocal association between parental technoference and adolescent PMPU. Finally, there was no difference between boys and girls in the longitudinal relationship among parental technoference, paternal and maternal attachment, and adolescent PMPU. The findings reveal the interdependent connections between parental and child usage of electronic devices, highlighting the roles of paternal and maternal attachment separately. The findings contribute to a family‐based solution for preventing and intervening in adolescent PMPU.

Literature reveals that people who feel happy are more inclined to demonstrate prosocial behaviour. Considering the development of social functioning during adolescence, this study aims to investigate the psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between happiness and prosocial tendencies among adolescents with high‐ and low‐income from a perspective of social functioning (i.e., peer trust and social competence). A sample of 2042 Chinese adolescents (1039 girls, Mage = 15.00, SD = 1.85) were surveyed. Results indicated that peer trust mediated the positive association between happiness and prosocial tendencies, and the second‐stage path was weaker in the low‐income group. The latent moderated structural equation (LMS) modelling revealed that self‐perceived social competence moderated the relation between peer trust and prosocial tendencies among low‐income adolescents, with stronger effects among those who have higher competence. These findings add to the evidence on the contributing factors to adolescents' prosociality and reveal how social functioning acts across high‐ and low‐income groups. As for practical application, this study highlights the importance of happiness and social functioning in the education of prosociality among adolescents, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Objectives: In an increasingly digital modern society, the loneliness of older adults is a pressing public health concern, and social media is considered a potential solution. Despite past reviews that have attempted to synthesize the association between social media usage (SMU) and loneliness in older adults, the precise connection between the 2 remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to quantify the direct relationship between SMU and loneliness in older adults. Methods: As of August 2023, 3 databases (Web of Science, ProQuest, PubMed) were used for the literature search. A study was included if it measured the relationship between loneliness and SMU in older people over 50 years old. In total, the present study identified 29 effect sizes, representing data from 19 distinct research reports and over 24,877 participants. Results: The meta-analysis applying a random model, shows a weak negative correlation between SMU and loneliness (r = −0.06). The region development moderated the relationship, and specifically, the negative correlation between SMU and loneliness increased to a medium size (r = −0.24) when the samples were in developing regions. Discussion: SMU is negatively correlated with loneliness in old age, which suggests that promotion of SMU among older adults should be implemented, with attention to the inequality between regions and the privacy and availability concerns of older adults. Future research needs to make more efforts in terms of terminology consistency and potential moderators to obtain a more robust understanding of the association between SMU and the loneliness of older adults.

Empathy is crucial for social cohesion and prosocial behavior, yet the influence of a target’s materialism on observers’ empathy remains underexplored. This research investigates whether and how a target’s materialistic tendencies influence observers’ empathy, and the mechanisms underlying this effect. We proposed three hypotheses: (H1) observers exhibit less empathy for materialistic individuals compared to nonmaterialistic ones; (H2) perceived low morality mediates the negative effect of target materialism on empathy; and (H3) perceived lack of warmth also serves as a mediator. Across four studies, we tested these hypotheses. Study 1 (n = 190) found a significant difference in observers’ empathy toward high versus low materialistic targets. Study 2 (n = 362) demonstrated that this effect resulted from decreased empathy toward materialistic individuals rather than increased empathy toward nonmaterialistic ones, and together with Study 1, supported H1. Study 3 (n = 375) ruled out perceived social class as an alternative explanation, providing additional evidence for the independent effect of target materialism on empathy. Study 4 (n = 785) tested H2 and H3, and confirmed that perceived morality and perceived warmth both significantly mediated the effect of target materialism on observers’ empathy. These findings enhance our understanding of the negative social consequences of materialism and contribute to the literature on selective empathy and person perception.

Introduction: Extant literature has linked sleep disturbance to depressive symptoms. However, the coexistence of naturally occurring sleep profiles among adolescents and the prospective associations between sleep profiles and depressive symptoms remain poorly understood. This study aims to uncover sleep patterns in Chinese adolescents based on a comprehensive set of sleep features (e.g., latency, daytime dysfunction, etc.) derived from the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and investigate the relationship between these profiles and subsequent depressive symptoms mediated by positive and negative coping styles.Methods: Five thousand five hundred five adolescents from Shandong province, China, enrolled (M_age = 16.83 years; 49.9% girls) in a two‐wave longitudinal study (T1 in August 2023; T2 in February 2024). Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify adolescent sleep patterns. Mediation and sensitivity analyses were used to examine prospective associations between sleep patterns, coping styles, and depressive symptoms.Results: Four qualitatively distinct sleep profiles emerged: Healthy Sleepers (18.9%), Latency but Functioning Sleepers (13.6%), Efficient but Dysfunctional Sleepers (57.5%), and Medicated Maladaptive Sleepers (10.0%). Using the Healthy Sleepers as a reference group, Latency but Functional Sleepers, Efficient but Dysfunctional Sleepers, and Medicated Maladaptive Sleepers all predicted subsequent depressive symptoms through positive coping styles rather than negative coping styles. The relative indirect effects were 0.19, 0.19, and 0.32, respectively.Conclusions: The study underscored that adolescents exhibit distinct sleep patterns, and specific sleep profiles may be prospectively associated with depressive symptoms mediated by positive coping styles.