{"title":"Urban–rural disparities in the prevalence and trends of loneliness among Chinese older adults and their associated factors: Evidence from machine learning analysis","authors":"Boyu Zhu, Lin Wu","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In the context of rapid aging development, exploring the predictive factors of older adults' loneliness and its urban–rural differences is of great significance for promoting the psychological health of older adults. This study selected 30 variables from the three waves of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data in 2016, 2018, and 2020, using a random forest classifier to explore the predictive factors of loneliness. The sense of loneliness among rural older adults is significantly higher than that of urban older adults. Among the top 10 predictors of loneliness, there are seven common factors in urban and rural, including sleep quality, marital status, confidence in the future, weekly family dinners, life satisfaction, physical discomfort in the past 2 weeks, and relationship with children. The other three different predictive factors for urban older adults are weekly movie and TV duration, family size, and family net worth, while self-rated health, health change, and per capita family income set the rural older adults apart. In addition, the urban–rural differences in the predictive factors of older adults' loneliness show different development trends in the time dimension. Paying attention to the predictive factors that contribute to the high ranking of older adults' loneliness and the widening trend of urban–rural differences is highly required.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143438778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xinyan Wang, Qiuhong Liu, Xiang Li, Xixi Zheng, Bernhard Hommel, Ke Ma
{"title":"Sadness is reduced by virtual hugging","authors":"Xinyan Wang, Qiuhong Liu, Xiang Li, Xixi Zheng, Bernhard Hommel, Ke Ma","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study investigated the possible effect of virtual interpersonal hugging on alleviating individual sad emotion. Using emotional self-assessment and skin conductance responses, we recorded subjective and objective indicators before and after sad emotion induction, and after virtual interpersonal hugging, and assessed the role of (1) the characteristics of hugging, (2) participants' familiarity with the virtual hugging target, and (3) participants' face resemblance and perspective toward the virtual me-avatar initiating the hugging. Results showed that (1) hugging a virtual target, but not the mere action of hugging, improves the regulation of sad emotion, (2) visual information dominates haptic information in the virtual hugging process, (3) facial familiarity of virtual targets of hugging and facial resemblance of the me-avatar to participants do not affect the emotion regulation effect, and (4) first-person perspective of the virtual me-avatar influences both perceived ownership of hugging action and emotion regulation. Overall, virtual interpersonal hugging contributes to the regulation of sad emotion.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143389268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ryan E. Rhodes, Colin M. Wierts, Mark R. Beauchamp, Valerie Carson, Sandy Courtnall, Chris M. Blanchard
{"title":"Changes in identity and habit formation during 3 months of sport and physical activity participation among parents with young children","authors":"Ryan E. Rhodes, Colin M. Wierts, Mark R. Beauchamp, Valerie Carson, Sandy Courtnall, Chris M. Blanchard","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding factors that might contribute to sustained moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) after the initial start of participation is important. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in PA habit and identity, two constructs purported to drive behavioral maintenance, among parents of young (< 13 years of age) children participating in a PA intervention across 3 months. Parents (team sport <i>n</i> = 58; individual PA <i>n</i> = 60; control <i>n</i> = 66) completed measures of PA habit, PA identity, and self-reported MVPA at baseline, and post-randomization at 6 weeks and 3 months. Identity and habit showed an increase across time, and these changes interacted with group condition assignment. Identity increased for participants in the team sport condition and was significantly different from a stable profile among those assigned to the control condition. Participants in the individual PA condition increased identity from 6 weeks to 3 months. Habit had a more attenuated change across time, with participants in the team sport condition showing an increase from 6 weeks to 3 months compared with the other conditions. The findings contribute to our understanding of maintenance processes and represent the first exploration of how involvement in team sport might shape subsequent habit and identity development.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aphw.70009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143389335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Positive changes in daily life? A meta-analysis of positive psychological ecological momentary interventions","authors":"Samuel Tomczyk, Christina Ewert","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Positive psychological interventions (PPI) hold promise for boosting well-being and quality of life in diverse populations, but not much is known about their efficacy as ecological momentary interventions (EMIs, e.g. via mobile applications) in daily life. This meta-analysis uses random-effects models to examine the efficacy of PPI-EMIs compared to control groups (active or passive) and exploring study region, age, gender, and risk of bias as moderators. Overall, 16 studies were included (<i>N</i> = 3397, 69.1% female, <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 21.87, <i>SD</i> = 13.02). We observed clinically significant effects in favor of the intervention for positive affect at posttest (<i>k</i> = 6; <i>g</i> = 0.29; <i>p</i> = 0.05) and well-being at follow-up (<i>k</i> = 5; <i>g</i> = 0.21; <i>p</i> = 0.13). No significant moderator effects were found. The number of studies was small for each outcome, risk of bias was mixed, and heterogeneity of effects was moderate to high for most outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aphw.70006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143380442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Context effects on healthy food choice under situational modes of consumer thinking: A case study with poke bowls","authors":"Byung-Joon Choi, Jinwon Kim","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In the context of healthy food consumption, this research aims to explore the moderating role of situational modes of thinking for both 1) the attraction effect (individuals tend to choose options that are similar to others but dominate inferior alternatives) and 2) the compromise effect (individuals prefer intermediate options over those with high- and low-end extremes). With the experimental priming of thinking style (analytic vs. holistic), these context effects were investigated by measuring French participants' purchase intention and willingness to pay for poke bowls—a lower-calorie, nutrient-dense food. The results demonstrate that situational induction of thinking style has a differential impact on the relative increase in consumers' purchase preferences for options offering either a dominant value in a specific attribute or an intermediate value throughout the available attributes. The attraction (compromise) effect was amplified with analytic (holistic) thinking style, leading consumers to have a higher purchase intention and willingness to pay for the dominating (intermediate) option of poke bowls. This research highlights the shifts in purchase preferences depending on consumer thinking in either the analytic or holistic mode and suggests effective global strategies to facilitate target consumers' purchase orientation toward a specific option of lower-calorie packaged foods.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143248468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparing positive versus negative intrinsic rewards for predicting physical activity habit strength and frequency during a period of high stress","authors":"Lindsey Fremling, L. Alison Phillips, Lindsay Bottoms, Terun Desai, Katie Newby","doi":"10.1111/aphw.12650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12650","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The experience of positive intrinsic rewards (enjoyment) from physical activity (PA) is known to promote PA habit formation and maintenance. Negative intrinsic rewards (stress reduction) may also be associated with PA habit, particularly during a major stressor and when individual-level anxiety is higher. Multi-level models tested the following hypotheses using weekly survey data from a convenience sample (snowball sampling) of adults (<i>N</i> = 580; 91% White, 77% Female, mean age = 41 years) over the 8 weeks of the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK: negative intrinsic rewards will be independently and statistically more strongly related to PA habit strength and frequency than positive intrinsic rewards; and, the relationship between negative intrinsic rewards and PA habit strength and frequency will be stronger for those with higher anxiety. Counter to the hypotheses, positive intrinsic rewards were more strongly associated with PA habit strength over time than negative intrinsic rewards (fixed effect = 0.27, <i>p</i> < 0.001 versus fixed effect = −0.05, <i>p</i> = 0.23, respectively), and there was a main effect of anxiety (but no interaction with negative rewards) on PA habit strength (fixed effect = −0.03, <i>p</i> = 0.03). The findings suggest that interventions aimed at increasing and maintaining PA habit strength might best focus on cultivating positive intrinsic rewards (enjoyment) from PA, even in the presence of substantial stressors and individual-level anxiety.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aphw.12650","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143111593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mindful bridge: Brief mindfulness practices alter negative emotion transmission and cooperative performance in parent–adolescent dynamics","authors":"Yangdi Chen, Yanhui Zhao, Xinmei Deng","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70002","DOIUrl":"10.1111/aphw.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Parent–adolescent emotion transmission is crucial for adolescents' psychological development. Parental negative emotions could impair parent–adolescent interaction and relationships. Brief mindfulness practices (BMPs) are effective for improving emotional regulation and reducing negative emotions. However, few studies explored the effects of BMP on parent–adolescent negative emotion transmission. This study used the hyperscanning technique to examine the differences in the change of emotional states, cooperative performance, and interbrain synchrony (IBS) between the BMP group (20 parent–adolescent dyads) and the control rest (CR) group (20 parent–adolescent dyads) under induced parental negative emotions in cooperation interaction tasks. Results showed (1) decreases in negative emotions, hostility, and state anxiety in the BMP group after BMP, but only negative emotions decreased in the CR group after rest; (2) an increase in the success rate in the BMP group after BMP, but no change in the CR group after rest; and (3) decreases in IBS in the delta and theta bands in success feedback and increases in IBS in failure feedback in the BMP group after BMP, but no change in the CR group after rest. These findings suggest that BMP may mitigate parental negative emotion transmission to adolescents and promote their focused attitude toward cooperation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143078441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Happiness depletes me: Seeking happiness impairs limited resources and self-regulation","authors":"Aekyoung Kim, Sam J. Maglio","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70000","DOIUrl":"10.1111/aphw.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p>People seek happiness when they try to experience as much positive emotion (and as little negative emotion) as possible. A growing body of research suggests that seeking happiness, rather than resulting in yet more happiness, often leads to negative consequences, like less happiness and less available time. Adding to this happiness paradox, the current research examines whether seeking happiness leads to the impairment of self-regulation due to the depletion of regulatory resources. We first demonstrate that trait-level happiness-seeking is associated with worse self-regulation both via self-report (Study 1) and actual behavior (Study 2). This result is corroborated in subsequent experiments that manipulate the pursuit of happiness and find that it, versus a control condition, makes people more vulnerable to lapses in self-control behavior (Study 3) and, versus an accuracy-seeking condition, makes people persist less in a challenging task (Study 4). Our findings suggest that continuous acts of happiness-seeking may cause a chronic depletion of resources, which leads to daily self-regulation failures, a critical component in a cycle of reduced personal happiness and well-being.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143063158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kimberly R. More, Curt More, Natasha Harris, L. Alison Phillips
{"title":"Rooted in routine: Fostering higher order vegetable-shopping habits using a randomised simple planning intervention","authors":"Kimberly R. More, Curt More, Natasha Harris, L. Alison Phillips","doi":"10.1111/aphw.12649","DOIUrl":"10.1111/aphw.12649","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A healthy diet is a protective factor against a host of negative health outcomes. To maintain such a diet necessitates the consumption of at least 240 g of vegetables per day. However, most of the population fails to meet this threshold. Utilising a randomised controlled trial, the present study tested the effectiveness of a one-off higher order habit intervention aimed at shopping for a variety of vegetables and the mechanisms that may support such habit development. Specifically, participants (<i>N</i> = 198; 54.5% female; 20 to 74 years of age) were allocated to the intervention or control group to explore (1) how effective an action- and coping-planning intervention is at targeting the formation of vegetable-shopping higher order habits and (2) whether healthy-eater identity, intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy were mechanisms of action. Follow-up measures of habit, the mechanisms of action and behaviour were taken post-intervention, weekly for 4 weeks and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. The intervention led to stronger higher order habit formation after 6 months and that it was particularly effective for those with low baseline higher order habits for vegetable shopping. These findings demonstrate that a simple, one-off, intervention can lead to long-lasting change in higher order habits within the nutrition domain.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11782107/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143063198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is ‘me-time’ selfish?: Daily vitality crossover in dual-earner couples","authors":"Eunae Cho, Tammy D. Allen, Laurenz L. Meier","doi":"10.1111/aphw.70004","DOIUrl":"10.1111/aphw.70004","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This multisource daily diary study examined the recovery outcomes of working mothers' time spent for the self (i.e. me-time) and whether the benefits crossover to their husbands. Drawing on the recovery literature, we hypothesised that working mothers' me-time positively relates to their vitality. In line with the crossover theory, we expected a positive relationship between mothers' and their husbands' vitality, mediated via hostile marital interaction. Because working mothers commonly associate guilt with spending time for themselves, we further examined whether the benefits of me-time are qualified by mothers' guilt-proneness. Data were collected from 79 dyads of heterosexual dual-earner couples with children at bedtime for two work weeks. As expected, working mothers' me-time positively related to their own vitality, controlling for their time spent for others. Moreover, mothers' vitality positively related to their husbands' vitality, which was mediated by mothers' hostile marital interaction reported by husbands. Contrary to our expectation, the well-being benefits of me-time were similar across working mothers regardless of their guilt-proneness. Bridging two streams of research on recovery and crossover, this study represents an important contribution to the literature.</p>","PeriodicalId":8127,"journal":{"name":"Applied psychology. Health and well-being","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143045183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}