Table of Content

15 May 2025, Volume 41 Issue 3

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The Developmental Trajectory of Perceptual Span from Second Graders to Fifth Graders

LI Sainan, WANG Yali, YUAN Xiaoyuan, LIU Nina, ZHAO Shuping, YAN Guoli

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  305-312.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.01

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The area from which readers extract useful information during a single fixation is termed as perceptual span. There have been no studies so for to systematically investigate the developmental perceptual span during Chinese reading. Using moving-window paradigm, the present study mainly investigated the developmental trajectory of perceptual span from second graders to fifth graders. All the participants were asked to read age-appropriate materials, students from third to fifth graders were also required to read common reading materials, that’s Grade 2 materials. The results found that when all the graders read common reading materials, the perceptual span for second graders is 2 characters to the right of fixation, while 3 characters to the right of fixation for third and higher graders. However, when reading age-appropriate materials, the perceptual span is 2 characters to the right of fixation for all the grades, suggesting that the difficulty of reading material modulates perceptual span. The results not only provide data supporting for the construction of eye movement models for Chinese children’s reading, but also have some pedagogical value for guiding Chinese reading teaching.

The Influences of Previous Clues on Children’s Selective Trust: The Role of Positive Information and Noncircular Explanations

ZHANG Jing, LIU Gege, CAO Bihua

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  313-321.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.02

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It is an important issue how children selectively trust information provided by others and acquire knowledge in children’s social cognitive development. A total of 194 children aged 5 to 9 were recruited in this study, and the 'conflicting sources’ paradigm was used to investigate the influence of previous background clues (social clues and epistemic clues) on children’s selective trust in different problem situations. Social clues were defined by evaluative information containing valence (positive/negative), while epistemic clues by explanations containing causal logic (noncircular/circular). The results showed that: (1) Children have a preference for background clues. In social clues, more children choose to believe positive information, and in epistemic clues, more children choose to believe noncircular explanation; (2) When both types of preference clues were presented at the same time, in the problem situations containing causal logic, 5-year-olds were inclined to learn from the informant with the previous clue of noncircular explanations. In the problem situations containing information valence, children only at the age of 9 tended to choose the informant with the previous clue of positive information, and children before the age of 9 selected randomly; (3) In problem situations without previous relevant clues (naming problems and interpersonal problems), children’s choices of the two informants were random. The results indicate that children’s usage of the two kinds of background clues presents different age development characteristics. As children grow older, they become flexible in making trust decisions based on the relevance of previous clues to problem situations.

Elementary School Students’ Social-emotional Competence, Teacher-student Relationship and Peer Relationship: A Cross-lagged Analysis

DENG Yuze, YANG Jiaqi, ZHU Zhiying, WANG Yehui

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  322-331.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.03

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To investigate the predictive relationships among elementary school students’ social-emotional competence, teacher-student relationship and peer relationship, a total of 2776 fourth-grade students were selected. The Chinese version of the Delaware Social-Emotional Competency Scale, the teacher-student relationship scale, and peer nomination were used to conduct the two surveys at a two-year interval. The results showed that: (1) Teacher-student relationship and social-emotional competence had bidirectional prediction; (2) Peer acceptance and social-emotional competence also had bidirectional prediction. Peer rejection in grade 4 negatively predicted social-emotional competence in grade 6; (3) Peer acceptance and peer rejection in grade 4 significantly predicted teacher-student relationship in grade 6. The study revealed complex predictive relationships between social-emotional competence, peer relationship, and teacher-student relationship, which had implications for promoting the development of interpersonal relationships and social-emotional competence among elementary school students.

Within- and Cross-domain Associations between the Quality of Teacher-child Interaction and Child Outcomes: A Meta-analysis Based on 45 Empirical Studies

LI Li, LI Qianqian, NGUYEN Thiphuong, ZHANG Yunyun

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  332-347.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.04

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To verify whether various types of teacher-child interactions are independent or in combination contribute to different domains of child outcomes, a meta-analysis of 45 empirical studies consisting of 570 independent effect sizes that meet the inclusion criteria were conducted. The results showed that: There were significant within-domain positive links between organizational support and executive function as well as instructional support and language development; there were significant cross-domain positive links between emotional and organizational support and language development as well as emotional support and mathematical development. The moderating effect analysis showed that the above five groups of relationships were more correlated in the Chinese sample, the non-low-income family sample, the longitudinal study design and the kindergarten class. These results confirmed that emotional support mainly has a cross-domain influence on academic development, while both organizational support and instructional support have within-domain effects on the aligned developmental domain; most of the above relationships are regulated by sample region, family background and education stage. This stady provides a new perspective and theoretical basis for more targeted research on the influence mechanism of teacher-child interaction on children’s development and the quality intervention of teacher-child interaction or teacher training.

The Relationship among College Students’ Goal Reengagement Capacity, Ego-depletion and Well-being: Moderation Effect of Meaning in Life

HU Xinyi, CHEN Yinghe

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  348-356.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.05

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The present study investigated the effect of goal reengagement capacity on college students’ well-being, as well as the role of ego-depletion and meaning in life. A total of 702 college students completed goal reengagement capacity scale, ego-depletion scale, meaning in life scale and short depression-happiness scale two times with an 8 weeks interval. The results were as follows: (1) Results of cross-lagged analysis indicated college students’ goal reengagement capacity had a promote effect on well-being through reducing ego-depletion. Goal reengagement capacity also buffered the impact of ego-depletion on well- being; (2) Meaning in life moderated the reciprocal relationship between goal reengagement capacity and ego-depletion. Specifically, goal reengagement capacity could only reduce the ego-depletion of college students with high meaning in life; only college students with low ego-depletion and high meaning in life exhibited high goal reengagement capacity. The results revealed the influencing mechanism of goal reengagement capacity on well-being, and provided some enlightenment for cultivating goal adjustment ability for college students.

Longitudinal Associations between Emotional Labor and Job Burnout in Primary and Secondary School Teachers: The Chain Mediating Role of Emotional Resilience and Teacher-student Relationship

HU Yingying, YANG Yiming, WANG Wenjing

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  357-367.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.06

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In order to further explore the longitudinal associations and the internal mechanism between the primary and secondary school teachers’ emotional labor (surface acting, deep acting, and expression of naturally felt emotions), emotional resilience, teacher-student relationship, and job burnout, a total of 829 primary and secondary school teachers were selected in eleven schools in six provinces and cities of China using whole cluster sampling and followed up for six months using a questionnaire research method. Results showed that: (1) Between surface acting and job burnout, emotional resilience played a longitudinal mediating role and a chain mediating role through teacher-student relationship. Between deep acting and job burnout, only teacher-student relationship played a longitudinal mediating role. Between expression of naturally felt emotions and job burnout, emotional resilience and teacher-student relationship played a longitudinal independent mediating role and a chain mediating role, respectively, and there were no significant differences in the independent mediator effect sizes; (2) Teachers at different developmental stages differed significantly in the “T1 deep acting → T2 job burnout” and “T1 expression of naturally felt emotions → T2 job burnout” paths of the longitudinal mediation model. These findings provide strong evidence and important practical insights for effectively alleviating teachers’ job burnout.

Experience in Phonological and Semantic Connections Influences the Effect of Phonics Instruction

JIANG Ying, GAI Xiaosong, JENNY Thomson

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  368-376.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.07

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Phonics instruction from English-speaking countries is increasingly introduced in English lessons in non-native English-speaking countries. However, can non-native English speakers who lack prior experience in phonological and semantic connections of words benefit equally from grapheme-phoneme correspondence training? To examine the influence of non-native English speakers’ prior experience of phonological-semantic connections of words on phonics instruction, we adopted the single factor between-subjects design with triple levels (The pre-phonological and semantic connection training group was the experimental group; the pre-initial sound discrimination training group was the positive control group; the group without pre-training was the negative control group), with 120 grade-four students in a primary school. The results showed that children who had established phonological-semantic connections of words in the pre-training benefited more from the subsequent phonics training. They showed better word reading ability and transfer effects in novel words compared with the trained words. The results indicate the limitations and solutions of phonics instruction in native Chinese speakers.

Bidirectional Relationships between Teacher-student Relationships and Children’s Math Anxiety: A Longitudinal Study

MA Min, LEI Yuan, ZHANG Li

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  377-385.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.08

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To explore the longitudinal relationship between teacher-student relationships and math anxiety in elementary school children and the underlying mechanisms, 221 third- and fourth-grade students were selected for a two time points 1 year apart study. The results showed that math anxiety in the first wave negatively predicted positive teacher-student relationship in the second wave; positive teacher-student relationship in the first wave negatively predicted children's math anxiety in the second wave through the positive coping styles. There was no significant correlation between the negative teacher-student relationship in the first wave and children’s math anxiety in the second wave. These results suggest that there is a longitudinal relationship between positive teacher-student relationship and children's math anxiety, which provides a theoretical basis for intervening in children's math anxiety from the perspective of teacher-student relationships and coping styles.

The Influence of Endogenous Power for Poverty Elimination on Impoverished College Students’ Learning Engagement: The Mediating Effect of Self-control and the Moderating Effect of Social Support

XIE Li, JIN Hui, WANG Zhiying, HU Yufei, YANG Xilan, XI Juan

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  386-397.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.09

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To explore the mediation effect of self-control in the relationship between endogenous power for poverty elimination and impoverished college students’ learning engagement, as well as the moderating role of social support. With the Endogenous Power for Poverty Elimination Scale, Learning Engagement Scale, Self-control Scale and Social Support Scale, 548 impoverished students from two universities in Jiangsu province were investigated. The results showed that: (1) Endogenous power for poverty elimination could positively predict impoverished college students’ learning engagement; (2) Self-control played a mediating role between endogenous power for poverty elimination and learning engagement; (3) Social support moderated the path from endogenous power for poverty elimination to self-control, and the path from self-control to learning engagement. This study reveals the influence and mechanism of endogenous power for poverty elimination on learning engagement of impoverished college students, and provides reference value for improving their learning engagement level.

Adolescent Fast Life History Strategy and Its Behavioral Outcomes under COVID-19-related Stressors

LUO Yuhan, XU Zijing, ZHOU Qing, YANG Zhengqian, KE Li, WANG Yun, CHEN Fumei

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  398-409.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.10

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Life history theory offers an evolutionary perspective to understand the different trade-offs of adolescents’ behaviors under COVID-19 pandemic. In this two-wave longitudinal study, a total of 1125 (male: 51.2%, age at T1: 14.30 ± 0.73) students in grades 8 and 9 from 3 middle schools were included using a convenience sampling method. The results showed: (1) Adolescent fast life history strategies in T2 were significantly higher than that in T1, and COVID-19-related stressors had a positive effect on fast life history strategies; (2) The level of fast life history strategies partially mediated the effect of COVID-19-related stressors on the level of internalizing problem behaviors and fully mediated the effect of COVID-19-related stressors on the level of externalizing problem behaviors and pro-social behaviors; changes in fast life history strategies fully mediated the effect of COVID-19-related stressors on all three types of behavioral changes. The study preliminarily revealed the mechanism of the fast life history strategy in the impact of COVID-19-related stressors on the social adaptation of adolescents.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Violence—The Influence of Parental Abuse on Bullying Perpetration: An Analysis Based on Latent Growth Model

TAN Deqin, DING Wan, SONG Shengcheng, WU Wei, LIN Xiuyun

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  410-419.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.11

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This study examined the effects of parental abuse on children’s bullying perpetration. By a cluster sampling method, 897 children aged 8~11 years from Anhui Province, China completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Olweus Bully Questionnaire at three time points. The main findings are as follows: (1) T1 parental physical abuse significantly predicted T2 three types of children’s bullying perpetration; T2 parental psychological abuse significantly predicted T3 three types of children’s bullying perpetration; (2) Three types of children’s bullying perpetration declined along with the growth of children. Boys were significantly higher than girls in the initial levels of the bullying perpetration, but no gender difference was found in the development speed of the bullying perpetration; (3) Higher levels of physical and psychological parental abuse hindered the reduction of three types of bullying perpetration in primary school children at the same moment. The current study supports and deepens the connotation of the cycle of violence theory and enriches relevant research on the relationship between parental abuse and children’s bullying perpetration in Chinese culture. In addition, this study provides an important reference for school and family education practice.

The Relationship between Perception of Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Aggressive Behavior: The Effects of Positive Psychological Capital and Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction

ZHOU Ziyan, ZHAO Zhirui, XU Min, LIU Yujia, CHANG Song, XIN Sufei

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  420-426.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.12

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In order to explore the relationship mechanism between perception of interparental conflict and aggressive behavior of middle school students, this study used Perception Marital Conflict Scale, Positive Psychological Capital Scale, Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale and Aggression Behavior Questionnaire to investigate 1918 middle school students. The results showed that: (1) Perception of interparental conflict, positive psychological capital, basic psychological need satisfaction and aggressive behavior were significantly correlated; (2) Perception of interparental conflict predicted aggressive behavior of middle school students through the mediating effect of positive psychological capital and basic psychological need satisfaction and the chain mediating effect of positive psychological capital and basic psychological need satisfaction, respectively. Based on the internal working model of attachment, this study reveals the relationship between middle school students’ perception of interparental conflict and aggressive behavior and its internal mechanism.

Longitudinal Relationship between Anxiety Symptoms and Problematic Smartphone Use among Chinese Junior High School Students: The Serial Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out and Intolerance of Uncertainty

LIU Caimeng, YUAN Guangzhe, DING Xu, FUNG Hongwang, HUANG Mingyu, LIN Jinqi

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  427-435.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.13

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The present study investigated the relationships between anxiety symptoms, fear of missing out, intolerance of uncertainty, and problematic smartphone use among junior high school students. Two surveys were conducted with 494 junior high school students. The surveys were conducted 6 months apart. The results of cross-lagged path model showed that anxiety symptoms at T1 could positively predict problematic smartphone use at T2, while problematic smartphone use at T1 could not significantly predict anxiety symptoms at T2. Further serial mediation analyses revealed that fear of missing out and intolerance of uncertainty serially mediated the relationship between anxiety symptoms and problematic smartphone use. The research suggests that anxiety symptoms may increase the incidence of problematic smartphone use, and that interventions to address the fear of missing out and intolerance of uncertainty may effectively reduce the incidence of problematic smartphone use.

School Interpersonal Relationship and Cumulative Polygenic Genetic Risk of Serotonin System on Adolescent Depression

ZENG Zihao, HU Yiqiu, LIU Shuangjin, PENG Liyi, YANG Qin, WANG Hongcai, HE Zhen, YAO Xingxing

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  436-447.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.14

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Based on the interpersonal theory and evolutionary model of depression, a two-year follow-up survey was conducted with 525 adolescents using questionnaire method and DNA typing technique. Key variables (school interpersonal relationship, defeat and serotonin system polygenes) were selected to construct a moderated mediation model to examine the effect of genetic-environmental interactions on depression. The results showed that: (1) School interpersonal relationship predicted adolescent depression; (2) Defeat mediated the effect between school interpersonal relationship and adolescent depression; (3) PRS moderated the effect of peer relationship and defeat on adolescent depression, specifically, as PRS scores increased, the slope of defeat on adolescents increased and the effect enhanced; peer relationship on depression showed a similar picture with an increase in the absolute value of slope and enhanced negative prediction, supporting the differential susceptibility model; (4) The results of sensitivity analysis showed that the TPH2 gene rs4570625 polymorphism was an important candidate gene for adolescent depression. The interaction between multi-gene with the environment have greater explanatory power and stability for depression than single gene.

The Influence of Helicopter Parenting on the Mobile Phone Dependency among College Students: Longitudinal Mediating Effect of Basic Psychological Needs

LING Yu, LI Jiaqi, HU Xiaojin, CHEN Yuling, LI Danyu

Psychological Development and Education. 2025, 41(3):  448-456.  doi:10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.03.15

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The study examined the development trend of the basic psychological needs of college students and cellphone dependency through three follow-up studies of 591 freshmen over a period of one year and examined the longitudinal mechanism of the role of basic psychological needs in the development of helicopter parenting and mobile phone dependency. The results showed that: (1) Basic psychological needs of freshmen are linearly decreasing, and mobile phone dependency is linearly increasing; (2) Parental helicopter parenting significantly and positively predicted the level of college students’ mobile phone dependency; (3) Helicopter parenting plays an indirect role through the initial level of basic psychological needs to the initial level and rate of development of dependency on mobile phone. Conclusion: There is a linear decreasing trend of basic psychological needs and a linear increasing trend of mobile phone dependency among freshmen; Helicopter parenting can directly and positively predict the initial level of college students’ mobile phone dependency and can indirectly impact their development of mobile phone dependency through the initial level of basic psychological needs.