Psychology Research Digest
Frontiers in Psychology
Frontiers in Psychology is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes original research and reviews on various topics in psychology. It covers clinical, cognitive, social, and animal psychology, as well as interdisciplinary fields such as neuroscience, education, and media.
Shaping early childhood in the age of AI: holistic competencies, pedagogical practices, and ecological support
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the learning and developmental contexts in which young children grow, learn, and interact. Guided by an ecological perspective, this systematic conceptual mapping review examines 86 resources to explore what young children should learn and how they should be taught. Four themes were identified through thematic analysis: (1) holistic competencies for young children, encompassing foundational cognitive and social–emotional skills, physical and mental well-being, executive functions, learning dispositions, and AI literacy; (2) governance for AI integration in early childhood education; (3) professional development and systemic support for educators; and (4) play-based learning and human-centered approaches in AI-enhanced contexts. The findings suggest that thriving in the AI age requires moving beyond isolated digital skills toward holistic development, supported by a cohesive infrastructure that links classroom practice with structural governance. These findings highlight the necessity of cultivating holistic competencies beyond basic AI literacy in curriculum design, preparing children to navigate an ever-changing digital world. Furthermore, they underscore the imperative for robust institutional support, particularly through participatory research to support age-appropriate pedagogy and educators’ digital confidence, while highlighting the value of playful early learning. Concurrently, these insights establish a theoretical framework for future empirical research, offer actionable strategies for ethical child-centred AI implementation, and provide strategic directions for policy and practice to address the critical demand for transformative knowledge in early childhood education.
Publication date: Access the article >>Photorealistic avatars can help to improve treatment outcome expectations
IntroductionBecause negative treatment outcome expectations predict unfavorable treatment effects, violating these negative outcome expectations is one central goal of psychotherapy. One mediator of outcome expectations and therapy outcome is the therapeutic alliance.MethodsThis experimental online study investigated whether human vs. photorealistic avatar therapists can establish a therapeutic alliance through a first empathy video followed by an expectation violation video, challenging negative treatment expectations. Healthy participants (N = 484) were assigned to one out of four experimental groups where either a human therapist or their photorealistic avatar expressed empathy (video 1) and gave expectation-violating information (video 2).ResultsIn line with our hypothesis (two human therapists > human, then avatar therapist > avatar, then human therapist > two avatar therapists), outcome expectation improvements and alliance ratings were highest after the two videos for the sequence with two human therapists, and still considerably positive in the groups with the avatar in the first video.DiscussionContrary to our hypothesis, outcome expectations and alliance ratings declined after the second video for the group that first saw a human and then an avatar therapist: rather than potentiating the expectation violation after a human alliance, a negative contrast effect could have occurred when seeing an avatar after an initial human therapist, besides a modest, general effect of avatar-delivered content. When combining human and avatar therapist modalities in a single session, it seems important to consider the sequence of avatar and human therapist display: targeted expectation violation effects may be stronger when the human therapist follows the avatar.
Publication date: Access the article >>Audiovisual characteristics, patterns, and facial-expression responses in an under-viaduct green space
IntroductionUnder-viaduct green spaces (UVGSs) combine natural landscape elements with persistent transport-related visual and acoustic cues, yet their audiovisual characteristics and experiential implications remain insufficiently understood.MethodsThis exploratory study examined a UVGS in Shanghai using three recorded audiovisual scenarios representing different landscape and traffic conditions. Forty-nine participants viewed the stimuli in a controlled laboratory setting. Visual features were quantified through semantic segmentation, acoustic conditions through field sound-level measurements and 1-s sound-source prominence coding, and facial-expression responses through DeepFace-derived scores sampled at 1-s intervals. Hierarchical clustering was used to identify recurring audiovisual patterns.ResultsThe three scenarios differed clearly in visual composition, overall sound level, and sound-source composition, but exploratory component-wise Friedman tests showed no significant scenario-level differences in any of the seven relative DeepFace output components after Holm adjustment. Six audiovisual patterns were identified, with descriptive variation in facial-expression scores across the patterns. Because pattern occurrence was strongly associated with scenario and temporal position, these differences were interpreted descriptively rather than as independent pattern effects.DiscussionThese scores represent relative facial-expression outputs rather than direct measures of subjective emotional states. Overall, the findings show that audiovisual experience in UVGSs is better understood by considering visual context, sound-source composition, and their co-occurrence rather than isolated environmental indicators.
Publication date: Access the article >>Early wounds, minds in training: childhood adversity and the mediating effect of psychological distress in suicidal risk among medical students
BackgroundChildhood adversity is a well-established distal determinant of suicide risk, yet the proximal psychological mechanisms linking it to suicidal vulnerability during medical training remain poorly understood.ObjectiveTo examine whether depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and perceived academic stress mediate the association between childhood emotional and physical maltreatment with suicide risk among medical students.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 670 second year medical students from a large public university in Mexico, assessed with validated measures of childhood maltreatment (CTQ-SF), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), academic stress (SISCO Inventory), and suicide risk (Plutchik Suicide Risk Scale). Group comparisons used chi-square and independent-samples t tests; parallel multiple mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS (Model 4) with 5,000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples.ResultsOverall, 26.0% of students were classified at high suicide risk (Plutchik score ≥ 6). Compared with low-risk students, those at high risk reported greater childhood emotional and physical maltreatment, more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms, and higher academic stress. Parallel mediation analyses showed significant indirect effects of both emotional and physical maltreatment on suicide risk through psychological distress, with bootstrap 95% confidence intervals excluding zero. All three specific indirect pathways through depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and academic stress were statistically significant in both models, with depressive symptoms showing the largest specific indirect effects [emotional: B = 0.08, 95% CI (0.06, 0.10); physical: B = 0.12, 95% CI (0.08, 0.16)].ConclusionsDepressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and academic stress partially mediate the association between childhood maltreatment and suicide risk among medical students. These findings identify psychological distress as a clinically relevant and potentially modifiable pathway linking early adversity to suicide risk and support trauma-informed prevention strategies that integrate early detection and management of psychological distress within medical education.
Publication date: Access the article >>Understanding classroom silence in Chinese vocational EFL education: a multi-stakeholder qualitative study
IntroductionThis study examines limited oral participation during speaking opportunities as a situated form of willingness to communicate (WTC) in one specialist Chinese vocational EFL context. It investigates how students experience limited participation, how teachers interpret and respond to it, and how the three stakeholder groups perceive the relevance of classroom oral participation to future English-mediated communication.MethodsA qualitative, multi-stakeholder design was adopted within an interpretivist framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants: eight students, four teachers, and three employer-side stakeholders. Employer-side data were used only to contextualize perceived future communication needs. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, with WTC as the conceptual lens.ResultsLimited oral participation was shaped by linguistic insecurity, fear of peer evaluation, classroom atmosphere, and immediate response pressure. Teachers occupied a dual role, reducing communicative risk through scaffolding and group work while also at times reproducing reluctance through sudden nomination and pressure-based routines. Across stakeholder groups, classroom oral participation was perceived as relevant to communicative confidence, practical workplace communication, interpersonal engagement, and intercultural communication.DiscussionLimited oral participation is better understood as a socially, culturally, and pedagogically shaped response to perceived risk than as simple unwillingness to speak. The study contributes a qualitative account of situated WTC in a specialist vocational setting and identifies implications for lower-risk participation design and vocationally relevant speaking tasks, without claiming competence gains or workplace outcomes.
Publication date: Access the article >>The relationship between social support and physical activity among college students: the chain mediation of peer relationships and exercise self-efficacy
ObjectiveDrawing on social cognitive theory, this study examines the relationship between social support and physical activity among university students, as well as the independent and chained mediating effects of peer relationships and exercise self-efficacy, with a view to providing a theoretical basis and evidence-based support for physical education and health promotion initiatives in higher education institutions.MethodsUsing a stratified sampling method, a survey was conducted among 749 university students, employing the Social Support Scale, the Physical Activity Scale, the Peer Relationship Scale and the Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale. After controlling for gender and academic year, analyses were performed using the heterogeneous-homogeneous correlation ratio, multiple linear regression and Model 6 of the Hayes PROCESS macro; mediating effects were tested via 5,000 Bootstrap repetitions.Results(1) Social support and peer relationships demonstrated good discriminant validity, and social support was found to be a significant positive predictor of physical activity among university students (β = 0.301, p
Publication date: Access the article >>Engagement or disengagement: understanding the emotional dynamics of EFL learners in GenAI-assisted writing from the sociocultural perspective
IntroductionGenerative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has reshaped EFL writing education, yet the emotional dimensions of student engagement in GenAI-assisted writing remain underexplored. This longitudinal multiple-case study investigates how Chinese EFL learners' emotional engagement evolves during a GenAI-assisted college writing course and what factors drive this evolution.MethodsDrawing on the sociocultural framework of L2 student engagement with written feedback, we traced the emotional trajectories of three focal students across three writing tasks (exposition, group feature article, and argumentation) within a 14-week course. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with stimulated recall, reflective reports, GenAI-student chatlogs, drafts, informal chats, and course syllabus, and analyzed via thematic analysis.ResultsOur findings reveal three qualitatively distinct trajectories: positive-resilient, characterized by sustained positive affect with temporary fluctuations; pragmatic-transformative, marked by a gradual shift from practical disengagement to critical engagement; and vulnerable-contingent, moving from moderate disengagement, through tentative peer-mediated improvement, to eventual breakdown and intensified disengagement. These trajectories were shaped by the dialectical interplay between individual factors (e.g., English proficiency, GenAI literacy, mindsets, beliefs, and emotion regulation) and environmental factors (GenAI-relevant task design, peer and teacher mediation, and institutional policies).DiscussionThe study extends the sociocultural framework by identifying English proficiency and GenAI literacy as critical developmental competencies, embedding GenAI-related factors across multiple environmental levels, and foregrounding emotional engagement as a dynamic, fluid state that interacts with behavioral and cognitive engagement over time. The findings challenge universalist claims about GenAI's uniform affective benefits and underscore the need for differentiated pedagogical approaches that attend to learners' diverse emotional needs in GenAI-mediated writing contexts.
Publication date: Access the article >>Beyond integration: a coherence and transparency framework for mixed methods research in the era of generative AI
Mixed methods research (MMR) has developed sophisticated approaches for combining qualitative and quantitative inquiry through design, integration, joint displays, and meta-inference. However, integration alone does not ensure methodological quality. A mixed methods study may demonstrate identifiable points of integration while retaining inconsistencies between its philosophical assumptions, theoretical framework, research questions, design, methods, analyses, and resulting meta-inferences. At the same time, the expanding use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) introduces new analytical intermediaries and potentially new points of integration, making methodological transparency, provenance, and human epistemic accountability increasingly consequential. In this conceptual analysis, we examine the relationships among methodological pluralism, integration, fit, alignment, coherence, ecological validity, and transparency and propose the Mixed Methods Coherence and Transparency Framework (MMCTF). The framework conceptualizes mixed methods quality across five interconnected domains: epistemic coherence, theoretical and design coherence, integrative coherence, inferential and ecological coherence, and methodological transparency. We distinguish coherence from both alignment and convergence, arguing that methodologically productive mixed methods inquiry may generate confirmation, expansion, or theoretically informative discordance. We further conceptualize GenAI not merely as an analytical tool but as a potential mediator of mixed methods integration whose influence must remain traceable and subject to human validation. The MMCTF is proposed as a conceptual architecture for supporting researchers, reviewers, and editors in designing and evaluating methodologically coherent and transparent mixed methods research, particularly as human and AI-supported analytical processes become increasingly intertwined in psychological research.
Publication date: Access the article >>Associations of occupational stress and occupational injury with job esteem among nurses in Beijing: a cross-sectional study
IntroductionJob esteem is an important aspect of occupational mental health in nurses and has been associated with multiple factors. This study aimed to explore the associations of occupational stress and occupational injury with the dimensions of job esteem among nurses in Beijing.MethodsAn anonymous online survey was completed by 3,654 registered nurses in Beijing. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, occupational stress, occupational injury and job esteem. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine factors associated with job esteem.ResultsThe mean item scores for the five job esteem subscales ranged from 2.83 ± 0.69 to 3.36 ± 0.50, with professional self-awareness having the highest mean item score. The mean item score of occupational stress was 1.83 ± 0.61, with the highest mean item score observed in the nursing profession and work dimension (2.18 ± 0.70). Most participants reported at least one occupational injury or exposure during their professional career, with exposure to infectious agents being the most frequently reported category. 87.7% of participants expressed a need for occupational safety training. Occupational stress dimensions showed varying patterns of association with job esteem. Notably, higher patient nursing care scores were associated with lower scores across five job esteem dimensions, with B values ranging from −0.054 to −0.145 (all p ********** 0.05). Psychological harm was associated with a broader range of job esteem dimensions than physical injury. Nurses’ subjective risk perception, rather than self-reported exposure frequency in the previous year, was more closely associated with their job esteem. Perceived hospital emphasis on occupational safety was positively associated with all five job esteem subscales.ConclusionNurses’ job esteem was associated with occupational stress and factors related to occupational injury or exposure related factors. These findings suggest that strategies aimed at addressing occupational stress, strengthening institutional safety support, and implementing targeted psychological and physical protection measures may be promising for supporting job esteem.
Publication date: Access the article >>Beyond the workplace: abusive supervision and employees’ compulsive consumption behaviors
IntroductionAlthough abusive supervision has been widely examined in relation to workplace outcomes, less is known about how it may spill over into employees’ off-job consumption behaviors. Drawing on the process perspective of ego depletion theory, this study examines how and when abusive supervision is associated with two forms of compulsive consumption: compulsive buying and compulsive eating. We propose that abusive supervision contributes to ego depletion, conceptualized as a state of impaired self-regulatory functioning, characterized by reduced motivation to maintain restraint and heightened responsiveness to rewarding cues. Accordingly, we propose that abusive supervision increases employees’ tendencies toward compulsive buying and compulsive eating by impairing their self-regulatory capacity through ego depletion. Furthermore, we examine pay satisfaction as a boundary condition influencing the extent to which ego depletion translates into compulsive consumption behaviors.MethodsUsing a three-wave survey design, we collected data from 445 full-time employees in China.ResultsThe results showed that abusive supervision was positively related to employees’ compulsive buying and compulsive eating via ego depletion. Moreover, pay satisfaction positively moderated the relationship between ego depletion and compulsive buying, as well as the indirect effect of abusive supervision on compulsive buying via ego depletion. In contrast, the moderating effect of pay satisfaction on compulsive eating and the corresponding moderated mediation effect were not significant.DiscussionThese findings offer an incremental extension of the abusive supervision literature by linking workplace mistreatment to employees’ consumption-related self-regulatory failures, clarify the role of process-based ego depletion in explaining off-job spillover, and suggest that pay satisfaction may function as a behavior-specific boundary condition shaping employees’ behavioral responses under conditions of impaired self-regulation.
Publication date: Access the article >>Prompt specificity and iterative behaviour in text-to-music co-creation: a secondary analysis of interaction logs and a framework for perceived creative control
IntroductionGenerative artificial intelligence can lower barriers to musical creation while also shifting consequential decisions away from the user.MethodsThis study examines that tension through a secondary analysis of the published PAGURI interaction-log prompt corpus and develops a tentative framework for perceived creative control. The analysable corpus contained 304 text-to-music prompts from 24 participants. Musical specificity was operationalised as explicit instrument and technical-parameter markers; iterative continuity was measured with Jaccard similarity between consecutive prompts and checked against TF-IDF cosine similarity. To avoid pseudoreplication, group comparisons were conducted on participant-level summaries rather than treating 304 prompts as independent cases.ResultsRole-derived experience groups differed substantially in mean prompt specificity, H(2) = 10.25, p = 0.006, ε2 = 0.39, and specificity density, H(2) = 11.52, p = 0.003, ε2 = 0.45, but not in refinement rate, H(2) = 0.24, p = 0.888. At a descriptive Jaccard threshold of 0.20, 46.8% of consecutive pairs were refinements and 53.2% were restarts; because this classification was threshold-sensitive, continuous similarity remained the primary continuity measure. Prompt specificity did not increase systematically across the session: the mean within-person Spearman correlation was ρ = −0.06, and the distribution of participant-level correlations did not differ significantly from zero, W = 89.0, p = 0.374.DiscussionThese findings distinguish the explicit technical-musical information users encode in prompts from the sequential continuity of their prompting behaviour. The paper integrates task structure, system autonomy, model coverage, prior experience, self-efficacy, and psychological ownership into a testable framework for future music-education research. Given the small participant-level sample and role-derived grouping, the empirical findings are exploratory and require confirmation in larger, controlled studies.
Publication date: Access the article >>Associations of job-related emotional exhaustion and career decision regret with quiet quitting among private sports facility employees: a cross-sectional mediation study
AimThis study examined the associations of job-related emotional exhaustion and career decision regret with quiet quitting among private sports facility employees and tested whether career decision regret statistically mediates the association between job-related emotional exhaustion and quiet quitting.MethodIn this cross-sectional survey, administrative staff, fitness trainers, personal trainers, Pilates instructors, and yoga instructors aged 19 and over working in private sports facilities in four districts of Sakarya and Kocaeli, Türkiye, were recruited by convenience sampling. Of 700 questionnaires obtained face-to-face on a voluntary basis, 646 valid questionnaires were analyzed. The data collection instruments were a demographic information form, the Job-Related Emotional Exhaustion Scale, the Quiet Quitting Scale, and the Career Decision Regret Scale. Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis, Spearman correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses were applied, and statistical mediation was tested using PROCESS Macro (Model 4) with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval.ResultsIn secondary comparisons, men reported higher career decision regret than women (p
Publication date: Access the article >>The association between physical activity and mobile phone dependence in college students: serial indirect associations through psychological capital and self-control
BackgroundMobile phone dependence is receiving increasing attention in university populations. Existing evidence suggests that physical activity is related to psychological wellbeing and self-regulatory processes; however, the pathways that may account for its association with mobile phone dependence remain unclear. The present study explored the relationship between physical activity and mobile phone dependence by examining psychological capital and self-control as sequential indirect factors in the proposed model.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional design, we surveyed a convenience sample of 567 students from four universities in China. Participants completed self-report measures of physical activity, psychological capital, self-control, and mobile phone dependence. We computed Pearson correlations and applied PROCESS model 6 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples, adjusting the model for gender, age, and grade.ResultsPhysical activity showed an inverse correlation with mobile phone dependence (r = −0.246, p
Publication date: Access the article >>Body dimension perception: a study among students of the military police officer training course
IntroductionAnalyzing body size perception among Military Police Officers is important for their work. Thus, the aim of the study was to analyze body dimension perception among students of the Military Police Officer Training Course (MPOC).MethodsMPOC students were evaluated for body dimension perception and variables such as anthropometric measures and body composition, mood state, and physical activity time.ResultsIn this study, we found that 66% of MPOC students had adequate body size perception, 26% underestimated body size and 8% overestimated. No correlations were observed between body perception index indicators and anthropometric parameters, physical activity time, or mood.ConclusionIn summary, body dimension perception among future officers is not merely an evaluation of one’s own body but reflects the complex interaction between physical reality and the pressures of the military context.
Publication date: Access the article >>Relative deprivation and physical activity participation among university students: the mediating role of psychological capital
BackgroundPhysical activity participation is an important component of health promotion among university students. However, students’ engagement in physical activity may be shaped not only by exercise-related conditions but also by social comparison experiences and individual psychological resources. Relative deprivation, as a negative social comparison experience, may be associated with lower physical activity participation, whereas psychological capital may represent an important psychological resource involved in this association.ObjectiveThis study examined the relationships among relative deprivation, psychological capital, and physical activity participation among university students and examined whether psychological capital statistically mediated the association between relative deprivation and physical activity participation.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among university students at a university in Jiangsu Province, China, in February 2026. A total of 419 valid questionnaires were included in the analysis. Physical activity participation, personal relative deprivation, and psychological capital were measured using the Physical Activity Participation Scale, the Personal Relative Deprivation Scale, and the short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, respectively. Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, Pearson correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrap mediation analysis were performed.ResultsThe structural model showed good fit to the data (χ2/df = 1.343, GFI = 0.941, CFI = 0.983, TLI = 0.981, RMSEA = 0.029, SRMR = 0.040). Relative deprivation was negatively associated with physical activity participation (β = −0.391, p
Publication date: Access the article >>Sustainable aging at work: a process framework for capability, choice and work–retirement transitions in the Nordic–Baltic region
Population aging has intensified interest in extending working lives, yet employment at older ages is not in itself evidence of sustainable aging at work. This article develops a Sustainable Aging-at-Work Alignment Framework that conceptualizes later-life work and retirement as a dynamic process shaped by the interaction of individual capabilities and preferences, workplace demands and resources, and institutional opportunities and constraints. Alignment or misalignment among these conditions influences transition mechanisms through which people may be pushed or pulled toward retirement, choose to stay, remain because alternatives are constrained, or move toward valued non-work goals. These mechanisms give rise to different work–retirement trajectories whose sustainability is evaluated over time in relation to health, psychological wellbeing, autonomy and meaningful choice. The framework draws on successful aging at work, person–environment fit, job demands–resources, work ability, sustainable employability, capability and retirement-transition perspectives, while linking them to the substantive availability of retirement alternatives. Ageism operates across individual, workplace and institutional levels and can shape both perceived capabilities and objective opportunities. The Nordic–Baltic region provides a theoretically informative setting because common demographic pressures coexist with substantial differences in pension adequacy, retirement flexibility, labor-market institutions and late-career opportunities. Five propositions address cross-level alignment, work ability and job demands, digital adaptation, unequal access to flexibility, and the translation of retirement intentions into voluntary or constrained transitions. The framework shifts attention from employment duration alone to the processes, degree of choice and longer-term consequences that characterize later-life work and retirement trajectories.
Publication date: Access the article >>The Interpersonal ELIZA Effect: a dyadic account of persistent over-attribution of understanding
Weizenbaum’s ELIZA returned users’ own words as questions and was credited with an understanding it did not have. I develop the Interpersonal ELIZA Effect (IEE) as a dyadic configuration in close relationships and with conversational agents. The responder side rests on demonstrated understanding, what a responder puts on record about the perceiver’s states in a form that can be checked against the perceiver’s own account; self-disclosure enters as a covariate of discoverability. The responder condition is one criterion with two ways of failing it: the responder produces determinate content elsewhere, on matters as intimate as the perceiver’s own reports, while setting determinate attributions about the perceiver below a specified threshold, or an attribution explicitly and literally disconfirmed is re-asserted in its uncorrected form on later, independent occasions. Uptake is persistence across occasions, not echo in the next turn; ELIZA replayed transformed inputs without modeling the user. The account joins two conditions of different kinds. The responder condition is decided: it is coded from recorded interaction and a dyad meets it, fails to meet it, or is not classified. Perceiver readiness is graded, elevated where attachment insecurity or complex post-traumatic stress lowers the threshold for counting a contribution as understanding, and is never cut into groups. A standing surplus of felt over demonstrated understanding is predicted rather than definitional: dyads can meet the responder condition at high readiness and fail to show the surplus, and, once the probe has met its evidential standard, the account is then wrong. Both are scored in vivo on one correspondence metric through an adaptation of the empathic accuracy paradigm. The proposed self-report instrument measures readiness and records current appraisal; it does not measure the discrepancy, which the configuration conceals from the perceiver. Five predictions follow, specified across short-term analog designs and dyadic longitudinal data. The claim is about maintenance: the surplus does not decline across the waves that follow a dyad’s meeting the responder condition; the growing share of recycled material is a secondary prediction. Path dependence, divergence by the order in which accuracy was first demanded, is a further conjecture.
Publication date: Access the article >>The Arabic Leary Impostorism Scale: initial psychometric evaluation in a university student population
BackgroundThe Leary Impostorism Scale (LIS) is a brief established instrument designed to assess impostorism; however, no validated Arabic version is currently available. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic LIS among university students.MethodsA cross-sectional validation study was conducted among Arabic-speaking university students in Saudi Arabia. Participants completed the Arabic LIS and comparator measures of impostorism, self-efficacy, and perfectionism. Psychometric evaluation included internal consistency, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, construct and concurrent validity, and test–retest reliability.ResultsA total of 185 participants with complete LIS data were included in the psychometric analyses. The Arabic LIS demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.93; McDonald’s ω = 0.93). Factorability indices supported factor analysis [KMO = 0.90; Bartlett’s χ2(21) = 1536.59, p < 0.001]. Exploratory factor analysis based on polychoric correlations supported a single-factor structure, with factor loadings ranging from 0.81 to 0.94 and an eigenvalue of 5.45. Confirmatory factor analysis showed statistically significant freely estimated loadings (p < 0.001), with standardized loadings ranging from 0.78 to 1.00; global fit indices were χ2(14) = 105.39, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.87, RMSEA = 0.19 (90% CI [0.16, 0.22]), and SRMR = 0.06. Strong positive correlations were observed with the CIPS-20 (r = 0.76), CIPS-10 (r = 0.77), and IPSS-3 (r = 0.66), whereas weaker correlations were found with general self-efficacy (r = 0.20) and perfectionism (r = 0.16–0.18). Test–retest reliability was moderate among 14 participants retested after 1–4 weeks (Pearson r = 0.65; ICC = 0.65).ConclusionThe Arabic LIS demonstrated high internal consistency and promising initial evidence of validity as a brief measure of impostorism among Arabic-speaking university students. Further evaluation of its factor structure and temporal stability in a broader population is warranted.
Publication date: Access the article >>Development and validation of the AI-empowered visualization teaching competency scale
This study took primary and secondary school teachers in western China as participants. Grounded in the AI-TPACK framework and integrating visual literacy, data literacy, and relevant learning and development theories, it constructed a five-dimensional theoretical framework for teacher visualization teaching competency under AI empowerment. Drawing on item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability testing, measurement invariance testing, and criterion-related validity testing, the study developed and validated the AI-Empowered Teacher Visualization Teaching Competency Scale (AI-VTCS). The results show that AI-VTCS comprises five dimensions—Design and Creation, Awareness and Interpretation, Decision-Making and Collaboration, Ethics and Safety, and Professional Development—with a total of 31 items. The Cronbach’s α coefficients of the five subscales ranged from 0.911 to 0.934, and that of the overall scale was 0.967. Both the first-order and second-order five-factor models achieved good fit, and the moderate-to-high correlations among the five dimensions support the hierarchical nature of the construct. Measurement invariance from configural to strict invariance was established across gender, school type (public/private), and teaching stage (primary, middle, and high school). Convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity all met psychometric standards. This study not only fills the theoretical gap in existing teacher competency frameworks regarding AI-empowered visualization teaching, but also provides a reliable and valid standardized measurement instrument for teacher education institutions to assess and precisely enhance teachers’ AI visualization teaching competency.
Publication date: Access the article >>Park exposure levels in older adults: the more significant influence of objective environment
BackgroundPark exposure has been linked to multiple physical and mental benefits for older adults, and their actual exposure may be influenced by both objective and perceived environmental factors. However, it remains unclear which factors cause older adults’ perceived environment to diverge from the objective one, how such perceptions vary within this population, and, especially at the park scale, what the independent effects of these two types of environmental factors are and how much they relatively contribute.ObjectiveThis study aimed to describe older adults’ perceptions of community park environments, compare the effects of objective versus perceived environmental factors on park exposure levels, and provide evidence for improving environmental perceptions and promoting park exposure among older adults.MethodsTaking 83 sites in Xiamen’s community parks as examples, this study measured 12 objective environmental factors and collected 404 questionnaires assessing older adults’ perceived environment and park exposure. Data were analyzed using Spearman’s correlation, nonparametric tests, and multiple linear regression.ResultsOlder adults perceive objective environmental factors in two distinct ways: a relatively accurate cognitive mapping and a biased cognitive translation. Blue view index and seating density are positive, effective factors that enhance perceived satisfaction, while sky view factor and travel distance are negative factors that lower satisfaction ratings. Perceived environmental factors did not show a significant predictive effect on the park exposure level among older adults. In contrast, objective environmental factors, including travel distance (p = 0.00), size of sub-area (p = 0.05), fitness facilities (p = 0.01), seating (p = 0.01), and amenity density (p = 0.04), were found to significantly influence the park exposure level.ConclusionThe findings of this study reveal key objective environmental factors associated with older adults’ perceived environment and park exposure. These findings can inform targeted and feasible interventions to improve older adults’ satisfaction with and engagement in community parks.
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