Research indicates a link between social media addiction and eating disorders. However, an ongoing debate persists regarding the mediating and/or moderating factors that may influence this relationship. Therefore, this study explored how body appreciation mediates the connection between social media addiction and eating disorders while also examining the moderating role of gender on this mediation effect. A total of 333 college students (Mage = 22.99; SDage = 2.95) participated in and completed the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, Body Appreciation Scale, and a Demographic Information Form. Results from the moderated mediation analysis using Hayes's PROCESS Version 4.2 (Model 59) revealed that social media addiction was indirectly associated with eating disorder symptoms via body appreciation. Notably, this mediation effect was significant for women but not for men. This indicates that for women, excessive social media usage may contribute to disordered eating by undermining their positive body image. We discussed the implications of the findings for future research, as well as for interventions and prevention strategies aimed at educators and mental health professionals working with emerging adult women.

This study examined the mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship between unfinished business and psychological resilience among university students. A total of 434 undergraduate students (299 females, 134 males, 1 other; Mage = 22.21, SDage = 3.95) participated in the study. Participants completed a demographic information form, the Unfinished Business Scale, the Connor-Davidson Psychological Resilience Scale - Short Form, and the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (assessing self-, other-, and situational forgiveness). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analyses, and multiple mediation analyses with Process Model 4 employing regression-based bootstrapping techniques. The results indicated that the proposed mediation model explained 23% of the variance in psychological resilience. Self-forgiveness emerged as a significant mediator in the relationship between unfinished business and psychological resilience, whereas forgiveness of others and forgiveness of situations did not demonstrate significant mediating effects. Specifically, unfinished business was associated with lower psychological resilience through reduced self-forgiveness. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing psychological resilience among university students experiencing unfinished business may particularly benefit from fostering self-forgiveness.

This three-wave longitudinal study employed separate cross-lagged panel models to examine the temporal associations among hope, self-compassion, and mental health outcomes (anxiety and depression) among Chinese college students (N = 445). Data collected over three time points at six-month intervals revealed reciprocal positive prediction between hope and self-compassion, indicating that these psychological resources may mutually sustain each other over time. Additionally, self-compassion consistently predicted lower subsequent levels of both anxiety and depression, while anxiety demonstrated a negative predictive effect on later self-compassion. Longitudinal mediation analyses suggested that self-compassion served as a significant pathway through which hope was associated with subsequent reductions in both anxiety and depression. These findings highlight the longitudinal link between hope and self-compassion and underscore self-compassion's role as a potential protective factor against emotional distress. The study provides empirical support for integrating hope and self-compassion into targeted interventions aimed at addressing anxiety and depression in college student populations.

Hate, an intense negative emotion, can disrupt and damage interpersonal relationships following transgressions. Despite its destructive potential, the psychological mechanism that fuels hate remains poorly understood. Anger has been identified as a primary component of hate, yet anger and hate differ in their appraisal tendencies and motivational goals. This raises a critical question: how does anger contribute to the emergence of hate? To address this, the present study examined the interplay among anger, anger rumination, grudge, and hate. A total of 740 participants completed self-report measures of these constructs. Using network analysis with regularization methods, followed by serial mediation analysis, we mapped the structural relations among the variables and tested directional pathways. Network analysis revealed grudge as the most central and influential variable showing the highest strength, betweenness, and closeness indices. Further, serial mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between anger and hate is serially mediated by anger rumination and grudge. These findings suggest that when anger is not regulated effectively, it may intensify through ruminative thinking and unresolved grudges, resulting in hate. The findings highlight the importance of targeting the maladaptive anger process, particularly rumination and unresolved grudges, in interventions designed to prevent interpersonal anger from transforming into hate.

Migraine is a chronic neurological condition that significantly impairs daily functioning and quality of life. This study investigated how psychological factors, including anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and pain catastrophizing, influence migraine symptom severity and quality of life among 128 patients attending outpatient clinics in SADAT City, Egypt. Participants completed validated Arabic versions of the Migraine Disability Assessment, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire, and Perceived Stress Scale. Findings revealed high levels of psychological distress, with over two-thirds of participants reporting elevated anxiety and depression symptoms. Correlation and regression analyses demonstrated that depression and perceived stress were strong predictors of migraine severity and diminished quality of life, while anxiety and catastrophizing also contributed significantly. Female participants exhibited higher anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and catastrophizing levels compared to males. These results highlight the central role of psychological distress in exacerbating migraine burden and reducing overall well-being. The findings emphasize the necessity of integrating psychological assessment and interventions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and stress management, into migraine treatment plans. This study contributes to the literature by simultaneously examining multiple psychological predictors of migraine disability and migraine-specific quality of life within an underrepresented clinical population in Egypt, providing further evidence for the biopsychosocial understanding of migraine. Addressing emotional and cognitive factors may enhance clinical outcomes and improve patients' functional and emotional quality of life.

Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, this study examines how psychological capital (PsyCap) translates into employee performance through self-leadership and how this process unfolds under toxic leadership conditions. Extending JD-R theory, we propose that personal resources require behavioral activation mechanisms and function contingently within adverse leadership contexts. Data were collected from 406 employees in the Turkish banking sector. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS 4 was utilized to test the proposed conditional process model. This study extends JD-R theory by demonstrating that personal resources are neither automatically performance-producing nor universally protective. Results indicate that PsyCap enhances employee performance through self-leadership, supporting a complementary mediation path where self-leadership serves as the primary conduit for resource mobilization. While toxic leadership negatively impacts performance, PsyCap acts as a demand-contingent buffer, significantly attenuating these detrimental effects as leadership toxicity increases. Additionally, multi-group analysis reveals that internal agency mechanisms are career-stage contingent: seniors use PsyCap as a protective buffer (moderation), while juniors rely more on the behavioral activation (PsyCap to SL) of their resources. By integrating motivational and buffering mechanisms, the findings contribute to global goals for decent work and employee well-being (SDG 3 & 8).

University students navigate a critical developmental period that can challenge psychological wellbeing. Most research addresses symptoms or single risk factors, but less is known about how internal strengths and contextual supports jointly shape it. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of psychosocial functioning based on indicators of wellbeing, psychological distress, internal and external resources. Italian university students (N = 1077; Mage = 21.78; range = 19-29; 77.6% female) completed self-report measures assessing wellbeing, internalizing symptoms, and personal, social, and academic resources. Four distinct profiles emerged by latent profile analysis: Flourishing-Low Symptoms (21.4%), the most resilient group; Moderate Symptoms-Relational Supported (21.0%), with moderate symptoms but intact supports; Intermediate Symptoms-Relational Strain (36.2%), with moderate symptoms and relational difficulties; Distressed-Low Wellbeing (21.4%), showing highest distress and lowest resources. Profiles also differed significantly in sociodemographic and health-related characteristics and across all psychological, interpersonal, and contextual variables. The distinction between the two intermediate profiles indicates that similar levels of distress may coexist with different configurations of relational support, suggesting the need for differentiated preventive interventions. Findings emphasize the central role of external supports and relational contexts in sustaining students' adjustment and show that differences in internal resources meaningfully separate more resilient from more vulnerable profiles.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by an increased self-perception of one's own appearance and an intense aspiration for beauty, which may elevate the likelihood of being easily suggestible, cause mental suffering, and impair ego functions. This study investigated the direct and indirect impacts of suggestibility and psychic pain on symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) through the mediating role of defense mechanisms. The study encompassed 150 BDD patients chosen through purposive sampling in a cross-sectional design. The data were collected using the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale-Form C (SHSS-C), the Mental Pain Scale (MPS), the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40), and the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD-YBOCS). Suggestibility and psychic pain indicated significant direct effects on BDD. Analysis showed that suggestibility and psychic pain have significant positive indirect roles in BDD through the mediating role of defense mechanisms. Altogether, suggestibility, psychic pain, and defense mechanisms explained 78.2% variations of the variation in symptoms of BDD. The results showed a good conceptual model of the direct and indirect effects of suggestibility and psychic pain on BDD symptoms, mediated by defense mechanisms in this study. These findings have practical implications for the management of suggestibility, psychic pain, and immature and neurotic defensive mechanisms in patients with BDD using community-based programs and psychodynamic psychotherapies.

Previous research examining the relationship between psychological resilience and job performance has provided important insights; however, the psychosocial pathways underlying this relationship remain insufficiently understood in maritime settings. This study aimed to examine the relationship between psychological resilience and job performance, as well as the indirect pathways linking these variables through the serial mediation of perceived stress and loneliness among marine engineers. A sample of 400 marine engineers employed on Turkish-flagged commercial vessels participated in the study. Participants completed validated self-report measures of psychological resilience, perceived stress, loneliness, and job performance. The hypothesized relationships were tested using a serial mediation model with bias-corrected bootstrapping. The results indicated that psychological resilience was positively associated with job performance and negatively associated with perceived stress. Lower perceived stress, in turn, was associated with lower loneliness. Perceived stress independently mediated the relationship between psychological resilience and job performance, whereas loneliness did not emerge as a significant independent mediator. The serial mediation analysis supported an indirect pathway linking psychological resilience to job performance through perceived stress and loneliness. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the psychosocial pathways through which psychological resilience is associated with job performance in isolated and safety-critical maritime work environments. Given the cross-sectional and self-report nature of the study, the findings should be interpreted as associations consistent with the proposed theoretical model rather than evidence of causal or temporal relationships.

Affective touch plays a major role in emotional development, and deficits may be linked to later psychological difficulties. Past research has shown that emotion dysregulation and dissociation are common in both borderline personality traits and psychosis proneness. This study explored the relationship between childhood affective touch, borderline traits, and psychosis proneness, with emotion dysregulation and dissociation as mediators. It also examined whether dissociation would mediate the link between borderline personality features and psychosis proneness. A sample of 206 participants completed online self-report measures assessing childhood affective touch, emotion dysregulation, dissociative experiences, borderline traits, and psychosis proneness. Data were analyzed using bivariate correlations, multiple regression, and PROCESS Model 6. Childhood affective touch was indirectly linked to both borderline traits and psychosis proneness through emotion dysregulation and dissociation. Direct effects were not significant, supporting full mediation. Furthermore, dissociation significantly mediated the relationship between borderline personality features and psychosis proneness. Results suggest that early affective touch problems may contribute to psychological outcomes through effects on emotion regulation and dissociation. Future research should include clinical samples and a longitudinal design to better understand these pathways.

Evaluating novel opportunities under uncertainty is inherently cognitively demanding, yet limited research has examined how perceived mental effort relates to such judgments. Drawing on Cognitive Load Theory, this study investigates how perceived cognitive effort is associated with evaluative judgments when individuals assess technologically novel stimuli. Using a vignette-based experimental survey in which the innovativeness of the technological stimulus was manipulated (high vs. low), data were collected from 404 technology-oriented entrepreneurs, with all focal constructs measured through self-report scales. Perceived cognitive effort was associated with lower opportunity beliefs and expected returns. Risk-taking propensity attenuated the negative association between cognitive effort and expected returns, while informational social influence mitigated its negative association with opportunity beliefs. These findings indicate that perceived cognitive effort functions as a conditional cognitive constraint rather than a uniformly inhibiting factor in judgment under uncertainty.

The role of environmental factors in college students' learning adaptation has been widely examined. However, few studies have adopted a more micro-level perspective by focusing on the dormitory context to investigate the relationship between dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation, and its underlying mechanisms. This study investigates the chain mediating roles of loneliness and psychological distress in the relationship between dormitory exclusion and college students' learning adaptation, as well as the gender differences in these mediating pathways based on the Temporal Need-threat Model of Social Exclusion, Social Support Theory and Gender Role Theory. Using a convenience sampling method, 940 college students were surveyed using the dormitory exclusion scale, the loneliness scale, the depression-anxiety-stress scale, and the learning adaptation scale. The results showed that: (1) Dormitory exclusion significantly negatively predicted learning adaptation; (2) Dormitory exclusion predicted college students' learning adaptation through the single and chain mediation of loneliness and psychological distress; and (3) The chain mediation model exhibits gender differences. Specifically, for males, loneliness mediated the relationship between dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation; for females, loneliness and psychological distress serve as both independent mediators and sequential mediators in the relationship between dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation. The findings revealed the underlying mechanism of college students' dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation, providing valuable insights for interventions.

Self-esteem and locus of control are two psychological constructs closely linked to beliefs in free will and fatalism. Nevertheless, the connection among them remains mostly ignored. This study analyzed the complex interconnections among self-esteem, locus of control, and their collective impact on beliefs in free will and fatalism. This study was conducted in Chinese university communities, utilizing a substantial sample of 338 participants, of whom 128 completed longitudinal measurements after 4 to 8 weeks. We developed models to verify the mediated interactions among the variables utilizing cross-sectional and two-wave half-longitudinal approaches. The study identified that self-esteem influences belief formation through locus of control, and subsequently examined specific belief-formation patterns across varying self-esteem levels, offering a more refined comprehension of these psychological processes. The findings demonstrated that those with higher self-esteem and a conviction in their ability to influence life events (internal locus of control) are more likely to strongly embrace the belief in free will. Individuals exhibiting gradually lower self-esteem and a pronounced sense of external control are more inclined to embrace the belief in fatalism. This discovery deepens our understanding of the relationship between self-perception and perceived control in relation to these beliefs, indicating that self-evaluation, by affecting one's subjective evaluation of circumstances, may shape an individual's conceptualization of belief.

Family caregivers of people with dementia (PwD) face substantial caregiving demands and sustained stress, which increase the risk of adverse health outcomes. This study examined whether resilience and perceived social support (PSS) are associated with health-related quality of life (QoL) in family caregivers of PwD. In addition, mediation effects of main predictors through burden were computed to test directional pathways. A total of 317 family caregivers (mean age = 60.5 ± 14.5 years, 66.9% women) underwent a comprehensive interview measuring sociodemographic factors, burden (Zarit Burden Interview), resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), PSS (Duke-UNC Social Support Questionnaire), and QoL dimensions, physical and psychological, (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief). The adjusted regression models showed that resilience significantly predicted both physical and psychological QoL, whereas PSS only predicted the psychological domain. The mediation analyses revealed a partial mediation effect of resilience through burden on QoL domains, whereas PSS showed a complete mediation effect on both domains. Finally, a moderated mediation analysis indicated that the indirect effect of resilience on QoL (through burden) was conditional on PSS levels. Thus, more substantial benefits of resilience were observed among caregivers reporting low to moderate PSS. These findings demonstrate that resilience operates through dual pathways (direct and via burden reduction), whereas PSS primarily alleviates burden. Both resources should be considered complementary targets for tailored interventions to improve QoL for family caregivers of PwD.

In the digital age, individuals are increasingly exposed to negative online content, contributing to the widespread behavior known as doomscrolling. Doomscrolling may negatively affect cognitive and emotional processes, as well as psychological variables such as rumination, hope, and subjective vitality. The present study examined the serial mediating roles of rumination and hope in the relationship between doomscrolling and subjective vitality among 324 adults (M = 35.24, SD = 10.44) from different regions of Türkiye. Structural equation modeling revealed that doomscrolling indirectly decreased subjective vitality through increased rumination and reduced hope. Specifically, higher levels of doomscrolling were associated with greater rumination, which in turn diminished hope and subjective vitality. These findings suggest that repetitive negative thought patterns and decreased belief in future goals may undermine well-being. Strengthening hope and adopting digital self-regulation strategies-such as limiting news exposure, taking social media breaks, and practicing digital detox-may serve as protective factors against the detrimental effects of doomscrolling.