Affect, meaning in life, and life satisfaction among immigrants and non-immigrants: A moderated mediation model

Does childhood psychological maltreatment encourage you to become a cyberbullying perpetrator? The mediating role of negative affect and the moderating role of meaning in life

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.

Uncanny Phenomenon: Existential Experiences Among Iranian International Students

Cross-cultural transitions can evoke reflections about existential concerns. Yet, the literature on international students’ adjustment has neglected this important aspect. To explore existential concerns that may arise during acculturation, we conducted semistructured interviews with six Iranian international graduate students studying in Canada. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, we identified three overarching themes: (a) Migration as a Boundary Situation, (b) Facing Existential Concerns, and (c) Coping with Existential Concerns. Results highlighted a connection between feelings of not-being-at-home or uncanniness in an unfamiliar host culture and existential reflections. Results also revealed that existential inquiries may be masquerading as adjustment problems. Overall, the findings challenge pathologizing views of cross-cultural adjustment difficulties and highlight the lack of attention to geopolitical factors affecting international students’ experiences. We call for practitioners to consider the possible presence of existential concerns during acculturation, and the sociopolitical contexts into which international students acculturate.

Meaning in life, life role importance, life strain, and life satisfaction

This study aimed at examining assumptions from Frankl’s (1946/1998) logotherapy and existential analysis. Using an online questionnaire with N = 891 U.K. residents, meaning in life was associated with higher life satisfaction, even when controlling for positive and negative affect. Furthermore, meaning in life intensified the positive effects of family role importance and work role importance on life satisfaction. Lastly, meaning in life neutralised the combined effect of high family strain and high family role importance on lower life satisfaction, but lack of meaning in life aggravated the combined effect of high work strain and high work role importance on lower life satisfaction. This study provides evidence of meaning in life as a source, a contributing factor, and a protective factor of life satisfaction. Helping people to find meaning through fulfilling creative, experiential, and attitudinal values (Frankl, 1950/1996), in personal and/or professional life, is likely to improve life satisfaction.

Distress and wellbeing among 1.5-generation immigrants 3 decades after immigration to Israel

The aim of the study was to examine psychological adaptation levels (distress and wellbeing) and their association to acculturation strategies among 1.5 generation immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union (FSU), 3 decades after large waves of immigrants from these countries came to Israel. Three-hundred and forty-one participants, 176 from Ethiopia and 165 from FSU, completed survey questionnaires assessing their acculturation attitudes and the levels of their wellbeing and stress. Personal wellbeing and distress were found to be moderate among all participants. In addition, while no ethnic group differences were found for integration, separation and marginalization, FSU immigrants reported higher levels of using assimilation strategies than those who came from Ethiopia. Regression findings show that personal wellbeing was significantly explained by the acculturation strategies of integration and marginalization, such that a greater use of integration and a lower use of marginalization were associated with higher personal wellbeing. The adaptation process in which immigrant groups adapt to a host society is dynamic, takes many years and the acculturation strategies change over time. The change is related to attitudes toward the destination culture and to the culture of origin, both among the immigrants and the host society.

Financial Self-Efficacy and General Life Satisfaction: The Sequential Mediating Role of High Standards Tendency and Investment Satisfaction

Important strides have been made toward understanding the relationship between self-efficacy and life satisfaction. However, existing studies have largely focused on work and academic domains, leaving self-efficacy in the finance domain less frequently investigated. The present study applied the self-efficacy construct to the finance domain, namely “financial self-efficacy” (FSE), and tested the sequential mediating roles of high standards tendency and investment satisfaction in the relationship between FSE and general life satisfaction. A total of 323 employees from finance-related businesses completed anonymous questionnaires regarding FSE, high standards tendency, investment satisfaction, and general life satisfaction. Results indicated that FSE influenced general life satisfaction through investment satisfaction, and sequentially through high standards tendency and investment satisfaction. These results provide contributions to the current literature on life satisfaction, and positive psychology literature by shedding light on the roles of high standards tendency and investment satisfaction in the relation between FSE and general life satisfaction.