Zongkui Zhou’s research while affiliated with Central China Normal University and other places

Adolescents’ academic performance, which has been found to be closely associated with parental factors, is an important part of adolescents’ development. In the current information age, the internet is also profoundly influencing adolescents’ academic performance. This study aimed to examine the association between parental autonomy support and adolescents’ academic performance, as well as the potential roles of active parental internet mediation and parent–child cohesion in this relationship. A sample of 990 adolescents (47.3% boys) volunteered to participate in this study and complete a set of scales. The results revealed that: (a) parental autonomy support was positively associated with adolescents’ academic performance; (b) active parental internet mediation and parent–child cohesion mediated the association between parental autonomy support and academic performance in parallel; and (c) active parental internet mediation and parent–child cohesion were found to play a chain-mediating role in the association between parental autonomy support and adolescents’ academic performance. The study demonstrates that positive parenting (including parental autonomy support and active parental internet mediation) and parent–child cohesion improve adolescents’ academic performance. The results have value for guiding adolescents to use the internet responsibly and improving their academic performance.

This study examined the changing trend of Internet use types during late childhood and its influencing factors (i.e., trait curiosity, friendship quality, and material parenting). Parallel latent growth model was employed for analysis using a three-year longitudinal dataset of 218 primary students. The findings revealed increased information acquisition, social, and entertainment Internet use throughout late childhood. Trait curiosity was positively related to initial levels of information acquisition and social Internet use but negatively related to their growth rates. Friendship quality was negatively associated with an initial level of social Internet use. Material parenting reward was positively related to an initial level of entertainment Internet use and the growth rate of social Internet use. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the changing trends of specific Internet use in late childhood and shed light on the factors that contribute to its changes.

The current study examined the psychological mechanism that underlies the relationship between parents’ response style and children’s subjective well-being and its boundary conditions, the mediating role of the parent–child relationship, and the moderating role of friendship quality. Using the Parents’ Responses to Children’s Performance Scale, the Buchanan Scale of Closeness to Parents, the Friendship Quality Questionnaire, and the Campbell Index of Well-being, our study investigated 686 pupils who were randomly selected from three public schools in central China. Employing Mplus 8.3 for pathway analysis, we found the following results: Failure-oriented responses negatively predict children’s subjective well-being (β = −0.16, p < 0.001), while success-oriented responses positively predict children’s subjective well-being (β = 0.13, p < 0.01). Both failure-oriented (ab = 0.18, SE = 0.03, 95% CI = [0.13, 0.25]) and success-oriented responses (ab = −0.10, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = [−0.14, −0.06]) predict children’s subjective well-being through the mediating effect of the parent–child relationship. Friendship quality has a moderating effect on the mediating path (β = −0.09, p < 0.05), such that when friendship quality is lower, the parent–child relationship has a higher mediating effect between the parents’ responses and children’s subjective well-being. This study offers empirical evidence that parents’ responses to children’s performance significantly contribute to children’s subjective well-being. Moreover, it offers actionable insights for enhancing children’s subjective well-being. The enhancement could be achieved by fostering positive parent–child relationships and enhancing the quality of children’s friendships, thereby positively impacting their well-being.

In contrast to cognitive outcomes, parental success‐oriented responses to children's performance enhanced the emotional well‐being of children. Conversely, parental failure‐oriented responses had the opposite impact. Thus, it remains unclear which response or combination of responses parents should employ to maximize their children's development. This research aimed to examine the combined effect of children's perceptions of parental success‐ and failure‐oriented responses on children's depression, with a focus on the mediating role of resilience. A total of 651 pupils (44.7% female, M age = 10.31, range = 8–12) were investigated in China using polynomial regression and response surface analyses. Our findings suggest that when success‐ and failure‐oriented responses are congruent, failure‐oriented responses counteract the protective effect of success‐oriented responses against children's depression. The two equally matched responses demonstrated a curvilinear main effect on resilience, indicating that higher resilience was associated with the upper–middle range of the two responses. Moreover, children who reported more success‐oriented responses than failure‐oriented responses showed greater resilience and decreased depression. Resilience acted as a mediator for the combined effects of parental success and failure‐oriented responses on children's depression. The study addressed the parenting dilemma, specifically the trade‐off between success‐ and failure‐oriented responses in promoting children's optimal development.

Objective With the development of information and communication technology, cyberbullying among Chinese college students has become more frequent, bringing many negative consequences to both society and students themselves. Childhood psychological maltreatment may be one of the influencing factors of cyberbullying, but its internal mechanism remains poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and cyberbullying among college students and to further explore the mediating effect of negative emotion and the moderating effect of meaning in life. Methods In this study, 656 college students (48.7% males) were recruited to complete anonymous questionnaires assessing their perceptions of child psychological maltreatment, negative affect, meaning in life and cyberbullying. SPSS23.0 and Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS were used to conduct statistical analysis. Results (1) Childhood psychological maltreatment was significantly positively associated with cyberbullying; (2) Negative affect played a partially mediating role between childhood psychological maltreatment and cyberbullying; and (3) Meaning in life moderated the direct association between childhood psychological maltreatment and cyberbullying and moderated the association between negative affect and cyberbullying. Conclusion In this study, a moderated mediation model was constructed and the internal mechanism of childhood psychological maltreatment and cyberbullying among college students was found. The results provided both theoretical contributions and practical suggestions for preventing cyberbullying.