Based on the ecological system, the present study investigated the relationship among positive parenting (T1), prosocial peers (T2), risk propensity (T2), and prosocial risky behavior (T1/T2), by surveying 1000 middle school students from 3 schools in Guangzhou. This longitudinal study consisted of 2-time points, each 6 months apart. The results indicated that: (1) After controlling the baseline of prosocial risky behavior, positive parenting significantly predicted adolescents’ prosocial risky behavior; (2) Prosocial peers played a mediating role between positive parenting and prosocial risky behavior in adolescents; (3) Compared with the adolescents in low-risk propensity, the mediating effect of prosocial peers between positive parenting and prosocial risky behavior was significantly enhanced in high-risk propensity adolescents. The results revealed that prosocial peers were the mediating mechanism of positive parenting to promote prosocial risky behavior for high-risk propensity adolescents.

Based on the general strain theory and developmental contextualism, this study explored the relations between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation and its internal mechanism. A total of 1003 adolescents were investigated with questionnaires regarding traditional victimization, cyber victimization, depression, suicidal ideation, and friendship quality. Results showed that: (1) Both traditional victimization and cyber victimization were positively correlated with suicidal ideation; (2) The positive relationships between suicidal ideation and traditional victimization as well as cyber victimization were completely mediated by depression; (3) Friendship quality moderated the mediating effect of depression when the independent variable was cyber victimization, with a stronger relation between cyber victimization and depression at a higher level of friendship quality. However, this moderating effect didn’t exist when the independent variable was traditional victimization. These results suggested that bullying victimization is a risk factor for adolescents’ depression and suicidal ideation. To some extent, friendship quality serves as a protective factor, but it may also be associated with higher depressive symptoms. These results are meaningful for the prevention and intervention of depression and suicide in adolescents.

To explore the relationship between social exclusion and malevolent creativity, and the role of coping styles and aggressiveness in it, we adopted the Social Exclusion Scale, Simple Coping Style Questionnaire, Buss-Perry Attack Scale(Chinese Version), and Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale to investigate 863 college students from three universities located in Guangdong province. The results show that:(1) Social exclusion positively predicts malevolent creativity; (2) Negative coping style and aggressiveness play a significant chain role in social exclusion and malevolent creativity; (3) Positive coping style and aggressiveness have no significant chain mediating effect between social exclusion and malevolent creativity. The results of this study reveal the mechanism of social exclusion on college student’s malevolent creativity.

To investigate the relationship between inhibitory control ability and the continued influence effect of misinformation and the variables of information relevance that influence this relationship, 135 participants in the age range of 18～25 years were recruited voluntarily to participate in the experiment through advertising on university campuses. This study grouped participants using an experimental task that directly measured the inhibitory ability of individuals, and further distinguished the relevance of the experimental materials in the CIEM paradigm. The results found that differences in individual inhibitory ability led to differences in misinformation retraction, with the high inhibitory ability group being able to retract the previous misinformation better, while the retraction effect of the low inhibitory ability group varied with the degree of information relevance. The results suggest that the failure of the inhibitory process is also based on the differences in the information relevance. The findings provide more direct experimental evidence for the theory of retrieval failure of the CIEM and further refine it. It provides a support and reference for the correction process of knowledge in education and teaching.

Based on the perspective of implicit social cognition, the present study examined the spontaneous inferences of children with long-term exposure to parental corporal punishment by using a probe recognition paradigm. In experiment 1, when children were presented with behavior sentences that imply both trait and situation, children with long-term exposure to corporal punishment (CP-exposed group), as well as children with low exposure to corporal punishment (control group) were inclined to spontaneously infer traits rather than situation. Experiment 2 was designed to further examine the interactive effects of parental corporal punishment and emotional cue on the valence effect of spontaneous trait inferences by using behavior sentences that imply positive or negative trait. The results of experiment 2 revealed that CP-exposed group exhibited positive bias in spontaneous trait inferences in anger cue condition, but they did not make spontaneous trait inferences in neutral cue condition. In both anger and neutral cue conditions, control group did not make spontaneous trait inferences. The findings of the present study indicate that long-term experience of parental corporal punishment has significant influences on children’s spontaneous inferences.

This study examined the effects of peer selection and peer influence on bullying behavior among primary school students and the role of popularity and perceived bullying acceptability. We conducted two waves of investigations among 719 primary school students in Sichuan Province at an interval of half a year. The results showed that: (1) The homogeneity of bullying among peers originated from peer influence rather than peer selection; (2) The moderating effect of popularity was not significant in the peer selection process; (3) The moderating effect of popularity was marginally significant in the peer influence process, and the bullying behavior of individuals with high popularity was more likely to be influenced by their peers; (4) In the peer influence process, the mediating effect of perceived bullying acceptability was significant. The results of this study emphasize the important role of peer influence in primary school students’ bullying and the mechanisms of popularity and perceived bullying acceptability in the process of peer influence, which have guiding implications for interventions of primary school students’ bullying behavior.

Focusing on the developmental trajectories and influencing factors of cognitive and affective well-being, a three-wave longitudinal study was conducted among 483 junior high school students. Results revealed that: (1) Both cognitive well-being and positive affect showed linear growth trends, and negative affect showed linear decrease trend; (2) Academic achievement significantly predicted the initial level of cognitive and affective well-being and the growth rate of affective well-being. Subjective socioeconomic status significantly predicted the initial level and growth rate of cognitive well-being and positive affect. Academic achievement significantly predicted the initial level and the growth rate of cognitive and affective well-being; (3) Family support had a significant effect on both cognitive well-being and affective well-being, while friend support mainly acted on cognitive well-being and the role of others’ support mainly affected positive affect and cognitive well-being. These findings not only promote our understanding of the development of well-being among junior students in China but provide an empirical foundation for enhancing their well-being from cognitive and affective perspectives.

To explore the relationship between maternal depression and children’s social adjustment, as well as the serial mediating effect of maternal distress reaction to children’s negative emotions and parent-child conflict, the present study randomly selected 205 preschoolers from two kindergartens in Shanghai. The results were as follows: (1) Maternal depression significantly and positively predicted children’s emotional symptoms, and significantly and negatively predicted prosocial behaviors; (2) Maternal distress reaction played a fully mediating effect on the relationship between maternal depression and children’s conduct problems; parent-child conflict had a fully mediating effect on the relationship between maternal depression and children’s hyperactive distraction and conduct problems, and had a partial mediating effect on the relation between maternal depression and emotional symptoms; (3) Maternal distress reaction and parent-child conflict had a serial mediating effect in the relation between maternal depression and children’s hyperactive distractibility, emotional symptoms, and conduct problems. The results further revealed the internal mechanisms of the links between maternal depression and young children's social adjustment.

Shidu parents refer to those parents who lost their only children. The death of the only child could endanger the mental health. Therefore, social support from the community might play an important role. Study 1 adopted a qualitative design with in-person interviews on the community support received by Shidu parents from 27 participants. Study 2 adopted a quantitative design using questionnaires to examine the associations between community support and Shidu parents’ mental health from 297 participants. The results of Study 1 indicated that:(1) Shidu parents received three types of support from community, namely material support, emotional support, and service; (2) Main sources of the community supports include the government, social workers in community, and support from the government plays a key role. The results of study 2 suggested that:(1) Regard to the objective support, family support but not community support can directly predict Shidu parents’ mental health; (2) Regard to the subjective support, both community support and family support can directly predict Shidu parents’ mental health; and both can play the role of mediator between objective support and mental health. In conclusion, community support plays important role in sustaining Shidu parents’ mental health, which ensures the government’s policy and practice for helping this vulnerable population. Meanwhile, more concerns need to be focused on Shidu parents’ true needs and subjective feelings of the government supports.

Research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is a trending topic in the field of cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychology. Prior literature has demonstrated the wide-ranging, long-lasting impact of ACEs on human development. Disentangling the effects of ACEs could improve the understanding of the developmental mechanisms contributing to child and youth development. In recent years, scholars have turned to exploring the neurophysiological mediating-mechanisms between ACEs and developmental outcomes, specifically the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system and brain structure and functions that are saliently pertinent to children and adolescents’ psychological, behavioral, and academic development. To delve into the impact of ACEs on psychopathology, in this review article, we begin with a review of theoretical frameworks on ACEs and child and youth development, including the classic specificity models of adversity, the cumulative risk model, and the recently developed dimensional model of adversity and psychopathology. We also present the current evidence for the links between ACEs and the HPA axis and brain structure and functions, as well as discuss the roles of essential protective factors in these associations. We call attention to addressing the knowledge gaps in research on ACEs and psychopathology, such as proposing more precise definitions and categories of adversity, unpacking the complexity and comprehensiveness of the impact of specific features of adversity (e.g., timing, duration, severity), and focusing more on the multifaceted, long-lasting effects of ACEs on child and youth development. Finally, we propose a conceptual model of the neurophysiological mediating-mechanisms linking ACEs and developmental outcomes, as well as underscore future directions for work continuing to address how ACEs and multiple neurophysiological systems shape human development.

Individuals need to receive a large amount of social information in the process of socialization. Social working memory refers to the memory that temporarily maintain and manipulate social information. Social working memory capacity is not fixed. In addition to the influence of maturity factors, it can also be improved through adaptive training. The effect of training can be transferred to basic cognitive ability and social cognitive ability, thereby improving the individual’s social adaptive behavior. Friend’s name feature words and facial stimuli are commonly used in social working memory training. However, the former requires a relatively high cost of manpower and material resources for customizing materials and is not suitable for large sample research; the latter is difficult to process and is not suitable for children’s research. In contrast, biological motion stimulus not only contains more social information, but also applies to a wider range of age, making it more suitable for training research. Future research can apply training to the field of special education, such as training interventions for children with autism to improve their core symptoms, social working memory deficits, and difficulties in identifying biological motion.

The present study examined whether parent-child relationships interact with the CLOCK rs1801260 polymorphism to contribute to children’s prosocial behaviors. The saliva of 694 preschoolers (M_age = 5.06, SD = 0.87) was extracted to genotype the CLOCK rs1801260 polymorphism, and children’s parents were invited to complete questionnaires to assess parent-child relationships and children’s prosocial behaviors. After controlling for age and family socioeconomic status, the results indicated that parent-child closeness was positively while parent-child conflict was negatively related to preschoolers’ prosocial behaviors, and the significant interaction effect of parent-child conflict and the CLOCK rs1801260 polymorphism was found in boys but not girls. Compared with C allele carriers, boys with TT genotype developed more prosocial behaviors under the condition of lower parent-child conflict while fewer prosocial behaviors under the condition of higher parent-child conflict. The findings of the present study expand our knowledge about the G×E underpinnings of children’s prosocial behaviors.

To explore the relationship between social anxiety, self-control and loneliness of primary school students, a two-wave longitudinal data collection with the time interval of 6 months was conducted. A total of 440 primary school students from Grade 3, 4 and 5 completed a series of questionnaires concerning self-control, loneliness and social anxiety in their classrooms. The results showed that: (1) Self-control T1 had a significant negative effect of predication on loneliness T2; (2) Loneliness T1 had a significant positive effect of predication on social anxiety T2; (3) Loneliness had a longitudinal mediating effect on the relationship between self-control and social anxiety of primary school students. In conclusion, the improvement of self-control ability among primary school students can reduce their loneliness, and the reduction of loneliness can further alleviate their social anxiety.

This study investigated the relationship relatienship between peer rejection and externalizing behaviors one year later, and examining the direct and the moderating effects of school assets and gender on the relationship. A survey research method was adopted in which the peer nomination procedure, school assets questionnaires, teacher’s report form were administered to 1169 adolescents (M_age = 12.59) were followed from Grade 7 to Grade 8. The results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that: (1) After controlling district and T1 externalizing behaviors, peer rejection significantly positively predicted T2 externalizing behaviors; (2) Peer rejection significantly positively predicted T2 externalizing behaviors when adolescents had low levels of school assets; Peer rejection positively predicted boys’ T2 externalizing behaviors; (3) School assets moderated the relationship between peer rejection and T2 externalizing behaviors, and the moderating effect varied according to adolescents’ gender. Specifically, peer rejection predicted boys’ T2 externalizing behaviors when school assets were low. The results reveal the protective effect of school assets on externalizing behaviors of boys who are rejected by peers, and suggest that it is necessary to provide adequate school assets for those boys with disadvantaged peers.

To explore the roles of age and sense of security in the relationship between educational attainment and physical health among rural middle-aged and elderly adults, this study investigated 1080 older adults from 20 county councils in Hunan Province. Participants completed a sense of security and physical fitness questionnaire with the assistance of trained researchers. The results indicated that educational attainment predicted middle-aged and elderly adults’ health in rural areas. In addition, a sense of security mediated the relationship between educational attainment and health and age moderated the mediating path through security. As the age of middle-aged and older people in rural areas increases, a sense of security was a stronger predictor of physical health. Improving rural middle-aged and elderly adults’ sense of security is of great significance for promoting the health of the rural population, especially for the elderly.