Shyness and academic procrastination among Chinese adolescents: a moderated mediation model of self-regulation and self-focused attention

Academic procrastination is a common concern among adolescents, but the correlation between shyness and academic procrastination and the internal mechanisms have not yet been thoroughly investigated. Based on a questionnaire survey with 1,279 Chinese middle school students, this study examined the effect of shyness on academic procrastination and its underlying mechanism of self-regulation and self-focused attention. Results revealed that: (1) shyness significantly predicted academic procrastination. (2) Self-regulation mediated the relationship between shyness and academic procrastination. (3) Self-focused attention played a moderating role in the first half of this mediation process. Specifically, higher level of self-focused attention strengthened the predictive effect of shyness on self-regulation. These results underscored the latent risks and protective factors associated with shyness, self-regulation, and self-focused attention in adolescent academic procrastination. In future research and interventions, attention may be directed towards improving individual internal factors to assist adolescents in effectively addressing issues related to academic procrastination.

Quality of Feedback in Higher Education: A Review of Literature

In raising the standards for professional educators, higher educators must be prepared to provide the highest quality feedback on student performance and work products toward improved outcomes. This review of the literature examined the major findings of 70 quantitative, mixed methods, or qualitative studies found in higher education journals across a range of disciplines. Multiple recommendations and results for feedback emerged which fall into the categories described by Susan Brookhart. This review found research for each of Brookhart’s categories, with results indicating differences between the perceptions of adherence to sound feedback practices versus the reality of implementation, the potential for innovative tool use, and a disagreement about the effectiveness of peers for providing effective feedback. Indicators for quality within the research confirmed the importance of commonly accepted standards such as positivity, specificity, timeliness, and encouraging active student participation. Additionally, trends and themes indicated a need for the consistent implementation of the feedback exchange process and flexibility to account for student input/preferences. Greater consistency toward the application of these quality indicators should be undertaken when determining the quality of higher education feedback for preservice teachers prior to undertaking summative licensure assessments.

Do depressive symptoms "blunt" effort? An analysis of cardiac engagement and withdrawal for an increasingly difficult task

Research on depression and effort has suggested "depressive blunting"-lower cardiovascular reactivity in response to challenges and stressors. Many studies, however, find null effects or higher reactivity. The present research draws upon motivational intensity theory, a broad model of effort that predicts cases in which depressive symptoms should increase or decrease effort. Because depressive symptoms can influence task-difficulty appraisals-people see tasks as subjectively harder-people high in depressive symptoms should engage higher effort at objectively easier levels of difficulty but also quit sooner. A sample of adults completed a mental effort challenge with four levels of difficulty, from very easy to difficult-but-feasible. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the CESD and DASS; effort-related cardiac activity was assessed via markers of contractility (e.g., the cardiac pre-ejection period [PEP]) obtained with impedance cardiography. The findings supported the theory's predictions. When the task was relatively easier, people high in depressive symptoms showed higher contractility (shorter PEP), consistent with greater effort. When the task was relatively harder, people high in depressive symptoms showed diminished contractility, consistent with quitting. The results suggest that past research has been observing a small part of a larger trajectory of trying and quitting, and they illustrate the value of a theoretically grounded analysis of depressive symptoms and effort-related cardiac activity.