Does resilience help sustain relationships in the face of interpersonal transgressions?

Beliefs about the Nature of Forgiveness and Avoidance of an Offender among Chinese College Students

Previous research on beliefs about the nature of forgiveness (unconditional and conditional) has focused on their effects on health and well-being. However, little is known about how they influence victims' responses to interpersonal offenses. Given that avoidance is a common response to offenses during early adulthood, this study investigated the relationships between beliefs in unconditional and conditional forgiveness and avoidance of an offender among Chinese college students, the mediating role of forgiveness, and the moderating role of whether or not the offender explains the offense. Participants were 423 Chinese college students. They were asked to recall an unforgettable incident in which another person had offended them, and then completed the following measures: the offender's explanation, the belief in unconditional/conditional forgiveness, forgiveness, and avoidance of the offender. The study found that: (1) Victims' belief in unconditional forgiveness negatively predicts their avoidance of an offender, whereas their belief in conditional forgiveness positively predicts the avoidance of an offender. (2) Forgiveness mediates the relationships between beliefs in unconditional and conditional forgiveness and avoidance of an offender. (3) The offender's explanation moderates the relationships between the belief in conditional forgiveness and forgiveness, as well as avoidance of an offender.

University freshmen's excessive smartphone use and psychological safety during the COVID-19 pandemic

Although excessive smartphone use has been confirmed as being associated with specific representations of mental health (e. g., anxiety, depression, wellbeing, etc.) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship between excessive smartphone use and cognitive representations of mental health (i.e., psychological safety) is not yet fully understood. This study aimed to identify the association between excessive smartphone use and psychological safety among university freshmen during the COVID-19 pandemic; in addition, we examined the mediation effects of hardiness and interpersonal distress in this relationship. In this study, 1,224 university freshmen were selected at random from several universities in Guizhou Province of China. The Psychological Safety Scale was used to evaluate the mental health of university freshmen; the Mobile Phone Dependence Scale was used to evaluate excessive smartphone use; the Hardiness Questionnaire was used to evaluate hardiness; and the Interpersonal Relation Synthetic Diagnose Test was used to evaluate interpersonal distress. The findings showed that: (1) the greater the degree of excessive smartphone use, the more serious respondents' interpersonal distress and the lower their hardiness; (2) excessive smartphone use was not only directly related to the psychological safety of university freshmen but also indirectly related to their psychological safety through the independent mediation of hardiness and interpersonal distress, as well as through the chain mediation of hardiness and interpersonal distress. In general, excessive smartphone use in university freshmen could lead to a decline in their psychological safety. Also, hardiness and interpersonal distress play a complex role in this relationship. During the COVID-19 pandemic, interventions on the mental health of college freshmen should not only provide guidance on how to use their smartphone responsibly but also to provide them with support and guidance for the enhancement of their hardiness and improvement of their interpersonal relationships.

Resilience Improves the Sleep Quality in Disabled Elders: The Role of Perceived Stress

The current research aims to prove the impact of resilience on sleep quality and to investigate the mediating function of perceived stress in the paths from resilience to sleep quality among disabled Chinese elders. The participants were 196 elders with visual and physical disability who resided in the nursing houses in Shanghai, including 102 males and 94 females whose mean age was 74.5 years old (standard deviation = 6.81). All the elders were measured with the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Perceived Stress Scale. The results showed that all the demographic variables were significantly related to perceived stress and PSQI scores. High levels of resilience could significantly enhance the quality of sleep in disabled Chinese elders. In addition, the two-step mediation models also confirmed the impact of resilience on sleep quality as mediated through perceived stress in this special aged population. Better knowledge on the mechanisms of sleep quality among older adults could benefit the prevention and treatment of some geriatric diseases.