Hua Ming

Abstract: Background Low family socio-economic status (SES) is usually associated with children's poor academic achievement, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship are less understood. Aims The present study examined the mediating role of parental academic involvement and the moderating role of parental subjective social mobility in this relationship with cross-sectional data. Sample and methods A total of 815 fourth- to sixth-grade children were recruited from five elementary schools in China. Family SES (measured by parents' education, parents' occupation and family income) and parental subjective social mobility were obtained directly from parents, parental academic involvement was reported by children, and information on children's academic achievement was collected from their teachers. Results The results showed that (1) both family SES and parental academic involvement were positively correlated with children's Chinese and math achievement, (2) parental academic involvement mediated the relationships between family SES and children's Chinese and math achievement, and (3) parental subjective social mobility moderated the path from family SES to parental academic involvement. The models of children's Chinese and math achievement showed that the association between family SES and parental academic involvement was weak among children's parents who reported high levels of subjective social mobility. Conclusions These findings suggest that there is a pathway from family SES to children's academic achievement through parental academic involvement and that this pathway is dependent on the level of parental subjective social mobility.

Abstract: Adolescents with low family socioeconomic status (SES) often have lower academic achievement than their peers with high family SES. However, less is known about the personal buffering mechanisms on the relationship between low family SES and academic achievement for youth. To address adolescents’ academic achievement gap related to family SES, this study aimed to test whether family SES predicted adolescents’ academic achievement and whether adolescents’ subjective social mobility and attention moderated this relationship with longitudinal data. Valid participants included 827 adolescents (Mage = 12.30 years, range: 11–14 years, SD = 0.87, and 40.99% girls) from five township public schools in China. The results showed that family SES (comprising parents’ education, parents’ occupation, and family income) was positively correlated with adolescents’ academic achievement (i.e., Chinese and math) when controlling for prior academic achievement. The positive associations between family SES and both Chinese and math achievement 9 months later were nonsignificant for adolescents with higher levels of subjective social mobility. In addition, the positive effect of family SES on Chinese achievement 9 months later was nonsignificant among adolescents with higher levels of attention. In conclusion, low family SES impairs adolescents’ Chinese and math achievement, high levels of adolescents’ subjective social mobility can buffer the adverse effects of low family SES on both Chinese and math achievement, and high levels of adolescents’ attention can buffer the adverse effects of family SES on Chinese achievement but not on math achievement. These findings may emphasize the significance of developing differential interventions aimed at specific subject achievement for adolescents with low family SES.

Abstract: Introduction Recent empirical studies have shown that the stress mindset is an implicit belief about stress and that the stress-is-enhancing mindset attenuates the negative effects of stressful life events on psychological and behavioral outcomes. Migrant adolescents experience more adverse life events, which are potential risk factors that can decrease their well-being. This study first explored the relationship between stressful life events and well-being (depression and life satisfaction) among Chinese rural-to-urban migrant adolescents. Furthermore, we examined the protective role of the enhancing stress mindset in this relationship and the moderating effect of gender. Methods In total, 396 Chinese rural-to-urban migrant adolescents aged between 10 and 14 years (M = 11.75 years, SD = 1.16) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires concerning their stressful life events, stress mindsets, depression and life satisfaction. Results The hierarchical multiple regressions showed that stressful life events were positively associated with depression and negatively associated with life satisfaction. Compared to the adolescents with the stress-is-debilitating mindset, the adolescents with the stress-is-enhancing mindset were less prone to depression when faced with more stressful life events. Furthermore, the stress mindset was positively linked to life satisfaction among the girls but not the boys. Conclusions These findings suggest that the stress-is-enhancing mindset is a protective factor that may help migrant adolescents mitigate adversity and improve their well-being.

Abstract: Purpose This study was designed to examine the extent to which parents' allostatic load (AL) and adolescents' perceived discrimination are interrelated in the prediction of adolescents' AL among rural-to-urban migrants in China, as well as the possible buffering role of social support. Methods Multi-informant data were collected in this study. A total of 158 rural-to-urban migrant adolescents (Meanage = 11.62 years) and one of each of their parents (Meanage = 39.84 years) were recruited from the suburbs of Beijing, China. Both adolescents' and parents' AL scores were based on 10 physiological indices. Migrant adolescents were asked to report their perceived discrimination and social support. Results Parents' AL was significantly positively related to adolescents' AL. The relationship between parents' and adolescents' AL was stronger among adolescents reporting higher perceived discrimination than among those reporting lower. Social support moderated the adverse effects of parents' AL and perceived discrimination on adolescents' AL. Specifically, among adolescents reporting higher social support, the relationships between parents' and adolescents' AL were not significant for those with either high or low perceived discrimination. However, among adolescents reporting lower social support, the positive association was significant for those with high perceived discrimination but not for those with low perceived discrimination. Conclusions Parents' AL was a strong predictor of migrant adolescents' AL, and perceived discrimination acted as a catalyst to increase the association. The relationships of parental AL and perceived discrimination with AL were not significant for adolescents who received high social support.

Abstract: Migrant adolescents are exposed to a variety of risk factors that threaten their well-being. However, previous studies have often focused on one or several factors separately, ignoring the cumulative effect of risks. The current study adopted the cumulative risk (CR) model and examined the deleterious effect of CR on the three indices of subjective well-being (SWB) among early migrant adolescents in China. We further explored the moderating role of resilience and stress mindset on the above associations. A sample of 234 early migrant adolescents (45.7% girls) completed self-reported questionnaires in two waves (2016–2017), and the mean age of valid participants was 11.49 years (SD = 1.16) at T1. The multiple regression results indicated that CR negatively predicted adolescents’ life satisfaction one year later. Moreover, high resilience and a more stress-is-enhancing mindset buffered the deleterious effect of CR on the emotional components of SWB. Specifically, the negative effect of CR on positive affect was reduced as resilience increased, whereas the adverse effect of CR on negative affect was attenuated by holding a more stress-is-enhancing mindset. The present findings suggest that CR is a useful predictor for multiple risk factors to which migrant adolescents are exposed and that it has a robust effect on later SWB. These findings also contribute to a better understanding of the moderating roles of resilience and stress mindset to aid future intervention programs.

Abstract: [Background:] A growing body of literature highlights that racial discrimination has negative impacts on child health, although most studies have been limited to an examination of direct forms of racism using cross-sectional data. We aim to provide further insights on the impact of early exposure to racism on child health using longitudinal data among Indigenous children in Australia and multiple indicators of racial discrimination. [Methods:] We used data on 1239 Indigenous children aged 5–10 years from Waves 1–6 (2008–2013) of Footprints in Time, a longitudinal study of Indigenous children across Australia. We examined associations between three dimensions of carer-reported racial discrimination (measuring the direct experiences of children and vicarious exposure by their primary carer and family) and a range of physical and mental health outcomes. Analysis was conducted using multivariate logistic regression within a multilevel framework. [Results:] Two-fifths (40%) of primary carers, 45% of families and 14% of Indigenous children aged 5–10 years were reported to have experienced racial discrimination at some point in time, with 28–40% of these experiencing it persistently (reported at multiple time points). Primary carer and child experiences of racial discrimination were each associated with poor child mental health status (high risk of clinically significant emotional or behavioural difficulties), sleep difficulties, obesity and asthma, but not with child general health or injury. Children exposed to persistent vicarious racial discrimination were more likely to have sleep difficulties and asthma in multivariate models than those with a time-limited exposure. [Conclusions:] The findings indicate that direct and persistent vicarious racial discrimination are detrimental to the physical and mental health of Indigenous children in Australia, and suggest that prolonged and more frequent exposure to racial discrimination that starts in the early lifecourse can impact on multiple domains of health in later life. Tackling and reducing racism should be an integral part of policy and intervention aimed at improving the health of Australian Indigenous children and thereby reducing health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

Abstract: : Heart failure is a major health concern in the U.S., with billions of dollars spent annually on health care. The high number of re-hospitalizations significantly contributes to these rising health care costs. Traits of anger and hostility are psychological variables that have been associated with coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality. The present hypothesized that anger and hostility would show predictive utility for heart failure-related and all-cause hospitalizations in patients diagnosed with heart failure. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that depressive symptoms and cytokines will mediate the relationship between anger/hostility and hospitalizations. 150 heart failure patients were recruited from the Heart Failure Clinic at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, MD, at baseline participants were administered the ST AXI, the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and cytokines levels were collected. Hospitalization data was then collected for every participant for up to 36-months. Results indicated that only the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale significantly predicted all-cause hospitalizations and not heart failure related hospitalizations. Furthermore, analyses did not support the cytokine hypothesis or a mediating role of depression. However, results revealed that perceived heart failure symptoms were a significant mediator in the relationship between hostility and all-cause hospitalizations. These results indicate that hostility may predict hospitalizations, not by impacting heart failure directly, but instead by working to shape negative health behaviors that influence health in a global manner.

Abstract: Background and Objectives: Having a stress-is-enhancing mindset – the extent to which one believes the effects of stress are enhancing rather than debilitating – is associated with greater health a...

Abstract: Migrant children are at high risk for depression, though the exact mechanism is still unclear. This study investigated whether and how different stress mindsets (threat vs. challenge) and coping strategies (avoidant vs. approach) mediated the association between stressful experiences and depression in migrant children, and whether these relationships would be moderated by gender. One hundred and ninety-eight rural-to-urban migrant children (56.0% girls; Mage = 11.8 years) in Beijing, China, completed self-administered measures of stressful experiences, threat and challenge mindsets, coping strategies, and depression. Path analysis was conducted to examine the proposed mediation model. A dual-pathway model of stress coping was discovered: (1) a stress-threat-avoidance-depression pathway, in which threat mindset and avoidant coping mediated the association between stressful experiences and depression, and (2) a challenge-approach-enhancement pathway, in which approach coping mediated the association between challenge mindset and fewer depressive symptoms, without being influenced by stressful experiences. The dual-pathway mechanism did not vary by gender, and it can explain the greater vulnerability of girls to depression. Together, findings suggest that stressful events, threat mindset, and avoidant coping act as risk factors for depression, whereas challenge mindset and approach coping can function as protective factors to counteract the impacts of stressful experiences and promote psychological well-being among migrant children.

Abstract: There is growing interest recently in the outdoor environment surrounding schools where students spent time during breaks, in-school activities, and after-school programs. Several reviews have examined the impact of long-term exposures to nearby nature on students’ academic achievement, but none has focused on the effects of short-term contacts with nature on students’ cognitive performance. The aim of this review is to understand the context in which short-term passive exposures to greenness occur, how cognitive performance is measured, and the conditions under which cognitive benefits emerge at various educational levels. We reviewed 14 studies in the extant literature that report investigations involving students at different educational levels, from elementary school to university, in a short exposure to nature lasting from 10 to 90 min during a study day. The review shows that in 12 out of the 14 studies, across educational levels, cognitive benefits emerge in terms of directed attention restoration from mental fatigue due to contact with nature. A no-cost opportunity to sustain students’ cognition is a break in a green environment after mentally demanding activities.