The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of online and offline social sensitivity in the association between online vigilance and mental health outcomes—specifically depression, anxiety, and stress—among Algerian female university students. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 438 Algerian female university students. Validated scales were utilized to measure online vigilance, social sensitivity (both online and offline), and psychological distress. Data was analyzed using correlation and mediation analyses to explore the relationships among these variables and to assess the mediating effect of social sensitivity. The findings indicate a significant positive relationship between online vigilance, social sensitivity, and mental health problems. Online and offline social sensitivity fully mediated the influence of online vigilance on stress, anxiety, and depression. This suggests that higher engagement in online vigilance increases social sensitivity, which in turn heightens vulnerability to psychological distress. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex interplay between digital behaviors, social perceptions, and mental health among Algerian female university students. By highlighting the mediating role of social sensitivity, the research underscores the necessity for interventions that address online habits and enhance social coping skills to improve mental well-being in this population.

Originating from the self-determination theory, the authentic inner compass (AIC) enlightens people about their authentic values, interests, and life aspirations, functioning as an action-guiding schema. Previous studies have examined AIC among adolescents, but its significance for emerging adults is underexplored, especially in less autonomy-oriented cultures (e.g., Chinese cultures). Informed by the self-determination theory, the present study aimed to investigate the association between AIC and subjective well-being among Chinese emerging adults and examine further the mediating role of resilience and the moderating role of anxious attachment. A total of 155 Chinese emerging adults completed measures on AIC, resilience, anxious attachment, and subjective well-being. The results showed that AIC was positively associated with subjective well-being, and resilience fully mediated the association. Moreover, anxious attachment strengthened the positive link between AIC and resilience. The findings highlight the importance of AIC and resilience in boosting subjective well-being, emphasizing the significance of AIC for anxiously attached individuals. The moderated mediation model enriches the self-determination theory and resilience literature. Future practices aiming to promote the well-being of Chinese emerging adults may focus on fostering AIC and resilience and consider individual differences in attachment styles.

Previous studies have implied that stress is a risk factor for depression, but relatively little is known about how healthy individuals' stress dynamically affects depression as a mood in daily life. Therefore, an ecological momentary assessment study was conducted among 141 college students to test the temporal dynamic effect of daily perceived stress on depression and the underlying mediating and moderating role of rumination. Perceived stress, state rumination, and depression were measured using self-compiled questionnaire three times a day over 12 days. Trait rumination was measured with the Nolen-Hoeksema Ruminative Response Scale. Hierarchical linear models with HLM 7.0 were adopted to examine the mediation and moderation effects. In the mediation model, the greater the daily perceived stress at time t, the higher the state rumination at time t + 1, and state rumination at t + 1 positively predicted college students' depression at t + 2. In the moderation model, trait rumination significantly facilitated perceived stress-induced depression. These results verified that daily perceived stress could affect college students' depression directly or indirectly through the critical mediating mechanism of state rumination, and this effect would be exacerbated with a higher level of trait rumination.

This study explores the mental health implications of people-pleasing behaviors by validating the 24-item Chinese People-Pleasing (CPP) questionnaire with a sample of 2203 Chinese university students. A three-factor structure—comprising thought, behavior, and feeling dimensions—was confirmed after the removal of 11 items. The revised 13-item CPP demonstrated good model fit, strong internal consistency, and satisfactory construct validity. Measurement invariance analysis revealed consistent results across gender, academic disciplines, and birthplace, as well as strong longitudinal invariance. These findings provide support for the validity and reliability of the 13-item CPP as an assessment tool within the Chinese cultural context. Furthermore, latent profile analysis revealed four distinct profiles of people-pleasing tendencies, which varied from mild to severe. Notably, higher people-pleasing tendencies were significantly associated with lower levels of mental well-being, highlighting its potential impact on students' psychological health. These insights emphasize the potential clinical utility of CPP in addressing mental health concerns associated with people-pleasing behaviors, particularly in the Chinese cultural context.

Olfaction, often regarded as a unique chemical sensation, plays a pivotal role in shaping our quality of life and mental well-being. Numerous studies have highlighted the significant relationship between olfactory function and depressive symptoms. However, the complex mechanisms underlying how olfactory function affects the development of depressive symptoms remain largely unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of hedonic capacity in the link between olfactory function and depressive symptoms. We recruited 1661 young adults, along with an additional 381 participants who had experienced COVID-19-related olfactory dysfunction, to complete a series of self-report questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, olfactory dysfunction, and hedonic capacity. A subset of 327 participants completed a follow-up survey 3 months later. Our sequential mediation analyses revealed that olfactory function indirectly influenced depressive symptoms through chemosensory pleasure. Moreover, it impacted pleasure derived from social activities by modulating chemosensory pleasure. Notably, this mediating effect persisted over the 3-month period and was evident even in participants with hyposmia, highlighting the lasting importance of chemosensory hedonic capacity. These findings suggest that both chemosensory and social hedonic capacities are crucial in the complex relationship between olfactory function and depressive symptoms. This insight not only deepens our understanding of the developmental psychopathology of depression but also offers a new perspective for its prevention.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, college students experienced changed campus life during the evolving pandemic restrictions. Anxiety and depression have become increasingly prevalent, leading to the necessity for further examining their relationship and comorbidity. This study used the network analysis to investigate the interaction and causal relationship in the anxiety-depression network among Chinese college students during the pandemic. A longitudinal survey with two specific points among 705 college students were conducted from 12 December to 30 December 2022 (lockdown period, T1), and from 8 February to 13 March 2023 (lockdown lift period, T2). Contemporaneous network and cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) analysis were conducted to examine the issue from both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives. Both contemporaneous networks exhibited extensive links between anxiety and depression symptoms. The key central symptom was “STAI16: [Not] content” at T1, and was “STAI15: [Not] relaxed” at T2. CLPN analysis suggested that “STAI15: [Not] relaxed” had the highest in-prediction, while “STAI13: Jittery” had the highest out-prediction. The strongest transdiagnostic prediction was from “BDI6: Punishment” to “STAI9: Frightened”, and the bridge symptoms in both contemporaneous networks and CLPN included overlaps like “STAI11: [Not] self-confident” and “STAI14: Indecisive”, which served as important symptoms contributing to anxiety-depression comorbidity. These findings provide new insights into the causal relationships between depression and anxiety before and after lockdown lift, shed light on the comorbidity factors, and provide support for targeted interventions to address mental health challenges faced by college students in public crisis.

Evidence suggests that the motivation and pleasure deficit of negative symptoms determines the social functioning in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Alexithymia is defined as the diminished ability to identify and describe emotion feelings, and influences patients' social functioning. However, little is known regarding the relationship between motivation and pleasure, alexithymia, and social functioning in nonclinical populations. This network analysis study aimed to investigate the interactions between motivation and pleasure, alexithymia and social functioning in a sample of 2889 college students. The flow network and item-level regularized partial correlation network were constructed. Centrality estimation and relative importance metrics were also estimated. The network structures between subgroups with high and low social anhedonia were compared. Our resultant networks showed that the motivation factor was closely connected with social functioning. The relative importance analysis found that, among other nodes, the motivation factor accounted for the highest proportion of variance of social functioning in the nonclinical sample. Although the two subgroups with high and low social anhedonia differed significantly in network structures, they generally shared a similar edge structure. The two subgroups only exhibited significant difference in the connection between the social pleasure factor and recreation/work pleasure factor of the motivation and pleasure. Our findings supported the important role of the motivation factor in determining social functioning in nonclinical population.

Diminished social pleasure has been reported in people with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies suggested that emotional expressivity is closely correlated with social pleasure. However, the underlying psychological mechanisms between traits related to schizophrenia and ASD, emotional expressivity, and social pleasure remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between subclinical schizotypal and autistic traits, facial expressions, and social pleasure. Eighty-six healthy participants (mean age = 20.35 ± 0.26 years, 44 males) were recruited to complete an emotion elicitation task and an autobiographical recalling task, while their facial expressions were videotaped for computerized analysis using the FaceReader. The intensity of different facial expressions (happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, and disgusted), valence, and arousal were extracted. The self-report Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS), Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS) were administered to measure subclinical traits and social pleasure. Partial correlation analysis and moderation analysis were performed. Both schizotypal and autistic traits were negatively correlated with social pleasure. The moderation effects of angry facial expression for both schizotypal and autistic traits on their associations with social pleasure were significant. In addition, scared and surprised facial expressions moderated the associations between positive and negative dimensions of schizotypy and social pleasure, while arousal moderated the associations between autistic traits and social pleasure. Our study identified different moderating effects of facial emotion expressions on schizotypal and social anhedonia and autistic traits and social anhedonia, thereby revealing possible different psychopathological mechanisms underlying similar social anhedonia in subclinical populations.

Deficits in schizophrenia are linked to abnormalities in the glutamate (Glu) system, which are believed to result in neurological soft signs (NSS) and negative symptoms. This study investigated the relationship between Glu levels of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and NSS, particularly sensory integration, in individuals with high and low levels of social anhedonia using 3 Tesla (T) and 7T Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS). We recruited 16 participants with high social anhedonia and 18 with low social anhedonia and correlated their NSS scores with ACC Glu levels. While spectral quality metrics differed between field strengths, with 7T showing better spectral resolution and metabolite quantification reliability, both 3T and 7T data showed consistent correlation patterns. Our findings demonstrated that higher ACC Glu levels were associated with poorer sensory integration in high levels of social anhedonia across both field strengths, supported by both Pearson and Spearman rank correlations. Notably, the opposite pattern of association was found in people with low levels of social anhedonia at 7T. The Glu systems may be the common mechanisms for negative symptoms and NSS, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target.

Facial attractiveness can be automatically perceived in implicit tasks when the faces are visible. Nonetheless, to date, it is poorly understood to what extent facial attractiveness can be processed when faces are invisible. It is also worth exploring the differences between visible and invisible processing of facial attractiveness. To address these issues, the event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded when participants were presented with attractive and unattractive faces under invisible condition (continuous flash suppression paradigm; CFS) and visible condition (gender judgment task). The results indicated that attractive faces elicited a larger P1 amplitude (110–150 ms) compared to unattractive faces, regardless of whether the faces were visible. Attractive faces also elicited a larger N170 amplitude (150–190 ms) compared to unattractive faces under the visible condition. Furthermore, visible faces elicited larger P1 and N250/early posterior negativity (EPN) amplitudes as compared to invisible faces. But only under the attractive condition, the visible faces elicited a larger N170 than the invisible faces. The present study suggested that facial attractiveness can be automatically perceived in the early stage regardless of visibility, although attractiveness processing was somewhat reduced in the absence of visual awareness.

Emotion regulation choice (ERC) requires cognitive control resources. However, it remains unknown whether and how individuals' internal resource levels may influence their ERC. To address this question, 51 participants first performed a depletion or non-depletion cognitive task. Then, they were presented with negative pictures of high and low intensity and were required to choose distraction or reappraisal, to regulate their emotion, or watch (no regulation) the negative stimulus. The results indicated that individuals showed a greater usage preference for distraction in high-intensity emotional situations. Besides, individuals' choice of reappraisal was not affected by emotional intensity. More importantly, the depletion effects led to a significant increase in the choice of watch and reduced the choice of distraction (but not reappraisal). These results suggest that cognitive depletion weakens emotion regulation willingness and has different effects on distraction and reappraisal.

The Affect Regulation-based Resilience Scale (ARRS) was developed as an integrative tool to assess adults' psychological resilience. Utilizing a two-phase approach, the process consisted of item generation followed by rigorous psychometric evaluation. Initial interviews informed item selection, which subsequent analyses including confirmatory factor analysis and validity and reliability analysis using two adult samples (n = 424 and n = 425). Criterion-related validity was established by examination relationships between the ARRS, and key constructs: psychological resilience, stress-related growth, emotion regulation, coping, depression, anxiety, stress, and subjective well-being. The scale was developed through theoretical and empirical validation, identifying four dimensions (inner resources and goal orientation, positive stress mindset, self and life evaluation, and sensitivity) and comprising 34 validated items. Results indicated satisfactory item performance and good fit for the four-factor model. The ARRS demonstrated significant positive correlations with psychological resilience, stress-related growth, cognitive reappraisal, and subjective well-being, while showing negative correlation with depression, anxiety, expressive suppression and stressr. By integrating coping and emotion-regulation approaches, the ARRS represents a psychometrically robust measure for assessing adults' psychological resilience.

The psychological distress among manufacturing workers is an increasingly important issue and has attracted extensive attention. However, the mental health of this subgroup of the Chinese population is underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of psychological distress in Chinese manufacturing employees and identify central symptoms, important bridge symptoms, and associations between symptoms using network analysis. The participants were 4934 employees recruited from a Chinese manufacturing company. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) were used to assess job burnout, anxiety, depression, compulsive symptom, somatization, psychoticism, paranoid, phobic, hostility, and interpersonal sensitivity, respectively. In total, 29.77%, 21.14%, and 26.53% of all participants experienced burnout, anxiety, and depression, respectively. Compared to normative data of the Chinese population, the seven symptoms of the SCL-90 among participants were significantly higher. The network analysis revealed that interpersonal sensitivity had the greatest strength and somatization had the greatest betweenness and closeness. Anxiety had the highest bridge expected influence. These results demonstrate that the mental health of Chinese manufacturing employees is a cause for concern. Interpersonal sensitivity and somatization emerged as the core symptoms, and anxiety was an important bridge symptom. Interventions aimed at these conditions may promote and enhance the overall mental health of Chinese manufacturing employees.

Confined spaces, characterized by limited natural ventilation, the absence of windows, and restricted access to natural light, present distinct challenges. While most studies focus on lighting's effect on sleep, confined spaces are now more often used for short-term work-rest cycles, especially in office settings. This study explores how lighting conditions affect alertness, cognitive performance, and physiological metrics such as heart rate variability (HRV) during work-rest cycles in confined spaces. Participants performed 2-back tasks, psychomotor vigilance tasks (PVT), and completed subjective scales under six lighting conditions, combining two levels of illuminance (300, 500 lx) and three color temperatures (2800, 5000, 6500 K). Results show higher subjective alertness during work with 300 lx and 5000 K. However, lighting conditions did not significantly affect subjective alertness during rest. Objective alertness was better at 300 lx, with 2800 outperforming 5000 K. Working memory accuracy was higher at 5000 compared with 6500 K, and reaction times were faster under 300 lx. Physiological data remained consistent across lighting conditions. These findings can inform future lighting design and management in confined spaces to improve comfort and efficiency.