Cognitions About Problematic Internet Use: the Importance of Negative Cognitive Stress Appraisals and Maladaptive Coping Strategies

The effects of cognitive appraisals of stress and coping strategies on cognitions about problematic Internet use have not been studied together in the literature. The Lazarus’s cognitive-relational theory is selected as the theoretical framework to further our understanding of problematic Internet use. The aim of the present study is to examine the mediator roles of uncontrollability appraisals of stress and maladaptive coping strategies on threat appraisals of stress and cognitions about problematic Internet use. The roles of negative stress appraisals and maladaptive coping strategies on the cognitions about problematic Internet Use are determined by using structural equation modeling (SEM) in a sample of 549 Turkish university students. The results reveal that by playing a mediator role, both escape-avoidance and accepting responsibility maladaptive coping strategies were found to be related with uncontrollability and hence indirectly influenced the relationship between threat appraisal and cognitions about problematic Internet use. Examining the role of the negative stress appraisals and maladaptive coping strategies will provide a new starting point for further research.     

Control Appraisals as Moderators of the Relationship Between Intrusive Thoughts and Coping1

This study examined the relationship between intrusive thinking, control appraisals, and coping strategies within the context of stressful negative events using a short-term longitudinal design. Although intrusive thoughts were not related to problem-focused coping at Time 1, these cognitions were positively associated with problem-focused coping at subsequent reporting periods. Intrusive thoughts were positively associated with behavioral engagement. Perceived control was positively associated with problem-focused coping across all reporting periods, whereas perceptions of other's culpability were positively related to behavioral disengagement for all time periods except Time 1. There was limited support for the hypothesis that appraisals of control would moderate the relationship between intrusive thinking and coping behaviors.     

Parental Support for Autonomy and Child Depressive Symptoms in Middle Childhood: The Mediating Role of Parent–Child Attachment

To facilitate understanding of the factors associated with child depressive symptoms in middle childhood, we examined the roles of parental support for autonomy and parent–child attachment in child depressive symptoms among 150 Chinese parent–child dyads. The participating children’s ages ranged from 6 to 12 years old. Parental support for autonomy was coded from a conflict resolution and a cooperation task. Children reported their depressive symptoms and their attachment relationships with the participating parents. After controlling for parent depressive symptoms, parental support for autonomy was associated with fewer child depressive symptoms. The association between parental support for autonomy and child depressive symptoms was mediated by parent–child attachment quality, suggesting that parental support for autonomy was negatively associated with child depressive symptoms through its positive association with parent–child attachment quality. Moreover, the positive association between parental support for autonomy and parent–child attachment quality was stronger for older children. The current study expanded the knowledge on parental support for autonomy in middle-childhood and its association with parent–child relationships and child mental health. Future research is encouraged to pay more attention to the role of parental support for autonomy in various aspects of child development for children in middle-childhood and pre-adolescence.     

Mechanisms Mediating Children’s Perceived Maternal Nonsupportive Reactions to Sadness and Children’s Social and Emotional Functioning

This study examined whether children’s perceptions of maternal nonsupportive reactions to sadness (active discouragement and non-response) influenced children’s loneliness and classroom popularity indirectly through their effects on children’s sadness inhibition and self-perception of social competence. Participants were children in grades 3–6 from a university affiliated public elementary school (N = 175; 53 % females; 37 % racial/ethnic minority). Children reported on the frequency of their mother’s active discouragement and non-response of their sadness, as well their own sadness inhibition, self-perceived social competence, and loneliness. Classroom peers reported on children’s popularity. Results indicated that perceived maternal non-response to sadness was indirectly related to classroom popularity and loneliness through the effect on children’s self-perception of social competence. In contrast, perceived maternal active discouragement of sadness was indirectly related to children’s classroom popularity through the effect on children’s sadness inhibition. These results support the consideration of active discouragement and non-response as distinct constructs and indicate the likelihood of different pathways of influence in predicting emotional and social outcomes such as loneliness and classroom popularity.     

中职生家长投入与子女学业投入的关系：教养风格的调节作用

中职生的家庭资源是影响其学业发展的重要因素。本研究调查了国内8个省市1185名中职生和高中生,探讨了中职生家长投入的现状特点及其与教养风格、学业投入的关系。结果发现：中职生家长投入水平显著低于高中生家长;家长教养风格（自主支持/控制）调节了家长投入对中职生学业投入的预测作用。在自主支持的教养风格条件下,家长的在家辅导、参与决策能显著预测学生学业投入的水平,而在控制的教养风格条件下则不成立。     

The Impact of Child Symptom Severity on Stress Among Parents of Children with ASD: The Moderating Role of Coping Styles

We examined the impact of autism severity and parental coping strategies on stress in parents of children with ASD. Children’s autism symptoms and parental coping strategies (task-oriented, emotion-oriented, social diversion, and distraction) were evaluated as predictors of four types of parental stress (parent and family problems, pessimism, child characteristics, and physical incapacity). In order to examine potential buffering effects of coping strategies on stress associated with the child’s symptom severity, the interactive effects of autism symptoms with coping strategies were also examined. Participants included 77 primary caregivers of a child with ASD. Using multiple regression analyses, emotion-oriented coping scores were associated with more parent and family problems, and task-oriented coping was associated with lower physical incapacity scores. The child’s autism severity was the strongest and most consistent predictor of stress. Further, emotion-oriented coping moderated the relationship between pessimism stress and autism symptomatology, and distraction coping was a moderator between parent and family stress and autism symptoms. Results indicate that increasing our knowledge of the coping strategies that are more or less effective and under what conditions some coping strategies may be either beneficial or harmful for this population of parents has direct implications for treatment and parent education efforts.     

Employee adjustment to stress: The role of coping resources, situational factors, and coping responses

Abstract The present study was designed to examine further the stress-adjustment relationship in employees. Specifically, the relations among employees' coping resources (self-esteem, generalized control beliefs, neuroticism, and social support), their appraisals of a recent stressful event experienced at work (appraised stress, self-efficacy, and situational control beliefs), the coping strategies (problem- and emotion-focused coping) used to deal with the event, and levels of employee adjustment (psychological well-being and job satisfaction) were examined. Data were collected from 153 male and female employees in a public sector department, employed in a range of middle-management administrative activities. The data provided support for a modified version of a model that proposed that both situational appraisals and coping strategies are mediating processes in the stress-adjustment relationship. There was evidence that employees' coping responses to the recent stressful event experienced at work were related to concurrent levels of adjustment. As predicted, the use of problem-focused coping, in general, had positive relationships with the measures of adjustment, whereas the effects of emotion-focused coping were generally negative (there was, however, some evidence that the effects of coping were dependent on event controllability). There was also evidence that coping resources had both direct and indirect effects (via coping and via situational appraisals) on employee adjustment. The latter effects were most marked for generalized control beliefs and self-esteem. Situational appraisals (in particular, efficacy expectancies) also had indirect effects on employee adjustment, through their effects on coping responses.     

Correlates of parental control and autonomy support in an interdependent culture: A look at Ghana

It is unclear whether, similar to research findings in Western societies, autonomy support is associated with positive child outcomes, and forceful control with negative outcomes in collectivist societies. A two-part study (N = 190 Ghanaian sixth graders) examined the relations of parental structure, control, and autonomy support in Ghana with child outcomes, and whether autonomy support was at odds with Ghanaian children’s values of interdependence and respect for elders. Results showed that structure was related to cognitive perceived competence, parental control was related to controlled regulation around school work and decreased academic engagement, and autonomy support was negatively related to depression and positively related to autonomous forms of motivation, engagement in school, and interestingly, children’s endorsement of collectivist cultural values. The importance of distinguishing between parental control and provision of structure, and the implication of the findings for understanding the role of parental autonomy support in diverse cultures, are discussed.     

Optimism,appraisals, and coping in the adjustment of mothers and their children with spina bifida

Families of children with physical disabilities show substantial differences in the levels of adjustment of both the children and their parents. These differences result, in part, from the complex interplay of family and child adaptation resources, such as coping and social support. In order to identify factors which may differentiate levels of adjustment among families with children with physical disabilities, this study examined relationships among optimism, primary and secondary appraisals of and coping with child-related stressors, maternal psychological adjustment, and child adjustment in 29 families with a child with spina bifida without mental retardation and 28 comparison families with a nondisabled child. For the spina bifida group, primary appraisals were related to the use of avoidant coping strategies, and these coping strategies were related to maternal psychological adjustment and child internalizing behavior problems. No significant differences between the groups in terms of the nature of the relationships or in the levels of the variables were found with the exception that mothers of children with spina bifida were less optimistic than comparison mothers. These data support the importance of coping in understanding the psychological adjustment of mothers faced with a chronic stressor in the family.     

Use of an analogue method to examine children’s appraisals of threat and emotion in response to stressful events

An analogue methodology was used to present a set of realistic, salient stressors to children in grades 3, 5, and 7. Children (N = 146) viewed eight videotaped vignettes depicting interpersonal and non-interpersonal stressors; these were expected to differentially threaten psychological needs for relatedness, competence and autonomy and provoke different emotional reactions. Analyses showed that scenarios portrayed stressors that were commonly experienced by children and evoked a differentiated profile of appraisals and emotions. When tenets of the motivational theory of stress and coping were tested, scenarios more threatening to needs were more distressing, sadness was linked to relatedness and competence threat appraisals, and fear was a more common reaction to parent stressors that involved dyadic conflict. After accounting for threat appraisals and previous experience of stressors, younger children and girls appraised events as more distressing than older children and boys. Future research could use the analogue procedure to focus on children’s development of regulation and coping with stress.     

Perceptions of Stress,Coping, and Intervention Preferences among Caregivers of Disadvantaged Children with Asthma

Asthma remains the most prevalent chronic illness among children. Despite the substantial body of literature examining children with asthma, few studies have examined parents’ perspectives of the condition and experiences of caregiver stress. Parents of children with chronic illnesses experience elevated stress and may have limited opportunities to cope with complex emotions while caring for children with asthma. Drawing from focus groups and interviews with African American and Hispanic parents of children with asthma, this qualitative study was conducted as part of a patient-centered engagement process to inform the refinement of an intervention aimed at reducing stress among parents of children with asthma. All data were transcribed and underwent three waves of inductive analysis. The content analysis indicated that the unpredictable nature of asthma and the caregiving burden associated with managing children’s asthma contributed to parents’ stress, and external contexts compounded the impact of these stressors. Parents also reported having difficulty identifying how they coped with stress and employed approaches to coping with stress that they applied intermittently but encountered several barriers to enacting known or available coping strategies. Analyses also revealed that parents desired a multimodal stress reduction intervention that emphasized building relationships, allowed for flexibility, and encouraged staff-parent communication. Whereas African American and Hispanic parents’ experiences of stress and coping strategies were similar, their preferences differed in regards to incorporating technology into the intervention, the credentials of facilitators, and the salience of language preferences. Understanding the complexities of stressors facing caregivers is important for developing interventions to support parents and children coping with asthma, and in particular when working with families from diverse backgrounds.     

Coping Effectiveness: A Path Analysis of Self-Efficacy,Control, Coping,and Performance in Sport Competitions1

We examined a model of coping effectiveness based on Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress and coping theory and Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. Female athletes (n= 178) aged 16 to 28 were studied over two rounds of a sport event. Path analysis (LISREL VI) revealed that higher levels of self-efficacy and control appraisals were associated with better performance. As expected, performance and performance satisfaction in Round 1 influenced appraisals and coping during the second performance. In addition, control appraisal was associated with disengagement coping, and both engagement and disengagement coping were related to performance and performance satisfaction. Self-efficacy mediated the performance/control relationship for Round 1, but not the performance satisfaction relationship.     

Children’s Coping Strategies to Inter-Parental Conflict: The Moderating Role of Attachment

In the literature on inter-parental conflict, little attention has been paid to the relationships among children’s attachment, coping strategies, and coping efficacy. The present study aims to explore whether and how children’s Internal Working Models of attachment moderate the associations among children’s perceived distress during the conflict, coping strategies, and coping efficacy. One hundred eighty-two school-aged children (87 secure, 46 anxious-ambivalent and 49 avoidant) and their parents completed measures of inter-parental conflict, attachment, coping strategies, and coping efficacy. The results indicate that children with different IWMs varied in the relations between coping strategies and coping efficacy. More precisely, the data show that secure children, when distressed, use the all of the coping strategies investigated, but the only ones that mediate the associations between their distress reactions and perceived coping efficacy were the positive cognitive restructuring strategies and the seeking support for feelings strategies. Avoidant children, when distressed, use higher levels of distraction and avoidance strategies and avoidance strategies mediated the effects of the children’s distress reactions on their coping inefficacy. Finally, anxious-ambivalent children, when distressed, activate all the coping strategies, with the exception of distraction and support for feelings. However, none of the strategies are correlated to their perceived coping efficacy.     

Whose Life Task Is It Anyway? Social Appraisal and Life Task Pursuit

The study uses a social contextual framework to examine how others are represented in individuals' life task appraisals and how such appraisals are related to strategies to pursue those life tasks. The extent to which life tasks nominated by 81 college students (45 females) were appraised as shared with others and pursued collaboratively was examined through a questionnaire. Participants listed five life tasks, indicated if each life task was theirs alone, indirectly shared (others were impacted by their life task pursuit), or directly shared (another person might also nominate the life task as theirs) with others in their lives, described three activities used to pursue their life tasks, and coded how others were involved inthese activities. Results indicated that the majority of college students' life tasks were appraised as involving others, that directly shared appraisals were found more frequently in the relationship domain, and that directly shared appraisals were associated with collaborative life task pursuit strategies. In addition, appraising life tasks as directly shared did not appear to reflect aspects of anxiety or compensation. A content analysis of the strategies coded as involving other individuals revealed diverse ways in which others are involved in life task pursuit ranging from active engagement of others to cognitive strategies where others are implied. The findings have implications for research on life tasks and other goal structures in that the structures may involve the social context in adaptive ways.     

教师自主支持与学生学业成就关系的元分析:心理需要满足、动机及投入的中介作用

在教育实践中,教师作为教学活动的主要引导者,他们的教学风格对学生的学业成就具有重要影响。根据自我决定理论,自主支持型教师能够满足学生的基本心理需要,促进学习动机内化,进而提高学业投入及学业成就。本研究通过对37篇教师自主支持与学生学业成就的实证研究(53个独立样本,18278名学生)进行元分析,结果发现:(1)教师自主支持显著正向预测需要满足、动机、投入及学业成就;同时自主支持对需要满足、动机及投入的效应量高于对学业成就的效应量;(2)学生的需要满足及动机在教师自主支持对学业成就影响中起中介作用,但学业投入的中介作用不显著;(3)教师自主支持对学业成就的影响在不同年龄、经济与文化背景下没有显著差异。综上,在未来的教育活动中,教师应给予学生更多的自主支持,以满足学生基本心理需要,激发学生的学习动机,促进学业投入,提升学业成就。     

Drawings,Diagnoses, and the Clinician's Learning Curve

In order to understand better the experience of becoming a lone parent after marital breakdown a taxonomy of positive as well as negative appraisals and possible coping strategies was constructed. Experiential structures elicited through multidimensional scaling were used to form the basis of the Lone Parenthood Scales. The Scales, with demonstrated reliabilities and construct validity, were then administered to a sample of lone parents who were found to experience concern over their children's limited family life but relief at their separation and hope of becoming closer to their children. They saw themselves as coping with problems by direct, positive action. Further uses for the Scales were discussed.     

教师自主支持与初中生的学习投入:家庭社会阶层与学生自主动机的影响

采用学习氛围量表、主观社会阶层量表、学业调节问卷和修订的课堂投入问卷对1211名初中生进行调查,根据主观社会阶层得分在3分以下、6分以上的标准,筛选出491名典型低阶层(374人)与高阶层(117人)被试,考察教师自主支持与初中生学习投入的关系,以及学生自主动机在其中的中介作用和家庭社会阶层的调节作用.结果表明:(1)教师自主支持与初中生的学习投入之间存在显著正相关;(2)自主动机在教师自主支持与初中生的学习投入之间起部分中介作用;(3)家庭社会阶层在教师自主支持影响初中生自主动机进而影响其学习投入的过程中起到有中介的调节作用.     

Parent’s physical literacy enhances children’s values towards physical activity: A serial mediation model

PurposePhysical literacy is a multidimensional concept that concerns the affective, physical, cognitive, and behavioural aspects of physical activity (PA). It plays a vital role in enhancing PA engagement. However, current research on physical literacy’s function in the family setting is scarce. Its potential effect in elevating values towards PA among parents and children is also understudied. In this study, we examined the predicting role of parents’ physical literacy on children’s values towards PA. We also explored the potential mediating roles of parents’ values towards PA and children’s perceived parental autonomy support for PA through a serial mediation model.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2020 and January 2021, a total of 946 primary school-age children (6–13 years) and their parents from 30 Hong Kong primary schools were recruited by cluster sampling method. Structural equation modelling analysis was conducted using Mplus 7.3.ResultsParents’ values towards PA and children’s perceived parental autonomy support for PA serially mediated between parents’ physical literacy and children’s values towards PA. Specifically, the indirect effects from parents’ physical literacy to children’s values towards PA via parents’ values towards PA (β = 0.12, 95% CI [0.06, 0.17]), and via parents’ values towards PA to children’s perceived parental autonomy support for PA (β = 0.05, 95% CI [0.02, 0.08]) were significant.ConclusionsParents’ physical literacy is a predictor of children’s values towards PA. Parental autonomy support may facilitate the intergenerational transmission of values towards PA between parents and children. Concurrent interventions that target enhancing parents’ physical literacy and parental autonomy support for PA in the family context may be more effective in raising children’s PA values.     

Emotion,controllability and orientation towards stress as correlates of children’s coping with interpersonal stress

Guided by the motivational theory of coping (Skinner and Zimmer-Gembeck in Ann Rev Psychol 58:119–144. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085705, 2007), we investigated children’s anticipated coping with three different stressful events (bullying, parental argument, parent–child verbal conflict), and examined whether their reliance on challenge coping responses versus threat coping responses could be accounted for by emotional reactions (including feelings of sadness, anger and fear), perceived controllability, and orientation or interest in the stressor. In addition, we examined parents’ reports of their children’s temperamental traits as correlates of coping. In random order followed by a positive stimulus, children (N = 206, age 8–12 years) watched each of the three stressful events, and reported their emotions, perceived control, orientation and coping after each one. As anticipated, results indicated that controllability was associated with more challenge coping (a composite of adaptive/approach coping responses such as problem solving and support seeking) and less threat coping (a composite of maladaptive/withdrawal coping responses such as helplessness and escape). In general, feelings of sadness were more strongly associated with challenge coping, whereas fear and anger especially related to more threat coping. Greater orientation towards the stressor was particularly predictive of more challenge coping, but also was associated with more threat coping in response to parent stressors. These associations were significant, even after controlling for temperament (negative reactivity, task persistence, withdrawal, and activity), which was generally unrelated to children’s coping. Other combinations of coping responses were also examined.     

Unidirectional cycles of boredom,boredom coping strategies,and engagement among prospective teachers

This study examined the mediating roles of prospective teachers’ boredom coping strategies in the relationships between their levels of boredom and four aspects of engagement, and explored the unidirectional cycles of their levels of boredom, boredom coping strategies, and engagement. A total of 467 prospective teachers, majoring in primary school teaching, computer education and instructional technology teaching, mathematics teaching, English language teaching, special education teaching, and preschool teaching, voluntarily participated in the study. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to examine the reciprocal relationships between prospective teachers’ boredom, boredom coping strategies, and engagement. Results showed that the relationships between prospective teachers’ levels of boredom and cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and behavioral engagement were significantly mediated by cognitive-approach strategies. Results also showed that the prospective teachers’ levels of boredom were reciprocally related to their emotional engagement through cognitive-approach strategies. Results suggest that the negative effects of boredom on cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and behavioral engagement in the lessons can be significantly decreased by encouraging prospective teachers to adopt cognitive-approach strategies when they experience boredom. Results also suggest that prospective teachers may significantly decrease their levels of boredom not only by adopting cognitive-approach strategies, but also by increasing their emotional engagement during the lessons.