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Behavioral Sciences
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The Role of Individual Factors in Promoting Adjustment across Development
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The Role of Individual Factors in Promoting Adjustment across Development

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Developmental Psychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 9418

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carolina Lunetti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, Guglielmo Marconi University, 00193 Rome, Italy
Interests: parenting; temperament; personality; adolescence; self-efficacy beliefs; psycho-social (mal)adjustment; emotion (dys)regulation; inclusive teaching; feedback sensitivity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ainzara Favini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Interests: temperamental and personality profiles; internalizing and externalizing problems; adolescence; self-efficacy; online behaviors; cyberbullying and other online risks

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As is well-established nowadays, one of the core aspects of understanding peoples’ functioning is to focus on individual differences, which mostly represent the core dimensions of functioning, such as psychological, cognitive and emotional aspects of individuals’ human nature. Individual differences emerge during the development, and they originate from biological and contextual factors interacting with each other. Individual differences in thinking, behaving and experiencing emotions can lead people to adaptive or maladaptive pathways across the lifespan; thus, the study of individual differences is crucial to better understand the variety of developmental routes that people follow along their lives. Very important topics in this field encompass how core personality and temperamental characteristics can lead to different behavioral tendencies, such as positive social behaviors, aggressive or antisocial behaviors, and compulsive or addictive behaviors. Another crucial point to also consider is the effects of personality on online behavioral tendencies, to better capture actual individual and social contexts.

Considering the above-mentioned premises, we welcome submissions related to these topics, especially those that analyze these associations across the lifespan and cross-culturally. Contributions from various disciplines will be encouraged, such as developmental psychology, clinical psychology, sociology, cognitive neuroscience or educational science.

Dr. Carolina Lunetti
Dr. Ainzara Favini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • personality traits
  • individual differences
  • self-efficacy
  • individuals’ adjustment
  • behavioral tendencies
  • at-risk groups
  • children
  • adolescents

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1122 KiB  
Article
Online and Offline Aggressive Behaviors in Adolescence: The Role of Self-Regulatory Self-Efficacy Beliefs
by Ainzara Favini, Carolina Lunetti, Alessia Teresa Virzì, Loreta Cannito, Flavia Culcasi, Tiziana Quarto and Paola Palladino
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(9), 776; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14090776 - 4 Sep 2024
Viewed by 510
Abstract
Self-regulatory self-efficacy belief (i.e., SRSE) represents a fundamental factor for adjustment in adolescence, as a vehicle to promote positive behaviors and protect youths from transgressions and maladjustment. Research attested that, during adolescence, boys are more vulnerable to externalizing behaviors than girls, especially when [...] Read more.
Self-regulatory self-efficacy belief (i.e., SRSE) represents a fundamental factor for adjustment in adolescence, as a vehicle to promote positive behaviors and protect youths from transgressions and maladjustment. Research attested that, during adolescence, boys are more vulnerable to externalizing behaviors than girls, especially when they perceive themselves as scarcely capable of managing and orienting their behaviors and when they possess impairments in impulsivity. Previous studies firmly supported the crucial role of SRSE, especially in the offline context in adolescence. Still, very few studies investigated its impact in the online context, although nowadays, the Internet represents one of the most significant environments for youths’ daily lives. Thus, we aimed to examine the protective moderating role of SRSE in online and offline aggressive behaviors beyond youths’ temperamental vulnerabilities, such as high impulsivity. A sample of 318 Italian adolescents (Mage = 15.21; SD = 0.51; 57% boys; 40% girls; 3% third gender) were asked to complete the Impulsivity Scale at Wave 1, online and offline aggressive behaviors scales at Wave 2, and SRSE at Wave 2. The multiple-group-by-gender moderation model evidenced that, for what concerns online aggression, beyond the direct effects of impulsivity in boys and girls, SRSE directly affected online aggression and mediated the effect of impulsivity in girls. In contrast, impulsivity significantly affected offline aggressive behaviors only indirectly through the impact of SRSE, and SRSE directly influenced these behaviors in both genders. These results hold for the effects of youth’s age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and years of education completed. This work preliminary evidenced that, contrary to previous studies which focused mainly on the vulnerability of boys to aggressive conduct, impulsivity had direct effects on online aggressive behaviors in girls, and SRSE can protect adolescents of both genders in the online context by predicting low online aggression and represents a protective factor from the indirect effects that impulsivity impairments can also have in the offline context. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Individual Factors in Promoting Adjustment across Development)
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15 pages, 562 KiB  
Article
Bidirectional Relationship between Adolescent Gender Egalitarianism and Prosocial Behavior
by Xinyuan Fu, Ruoran Fu, Yanping Chang and Zhixu Yang
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14010033 - 2 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1460
Abstract
This study investigates the bidirectional associations between gender egalitarianism and prosocial behavior in adolescents, and the moderating effect of gender in the associations, as well as gender differences and longitudinal changes in both. We recruited 543 Chinese adolescents (284 girls, 259 boys; mean [...] Read more.
This study investigates the bidirectional associations between gender egalitarianism and prosocial behavior in adolescents, and the moderating effect of gender in the associations, as well as gender differences and longitudinal changes in both. We recruited 543 Chinese adolescents (284 girls, 259 boys; mean age at Time 1 = 11.27 years) and collected three waves of data measuring gender egalitarianism and prosocial behavior at one-year intervals. According to the results, girls expressed greater gender egalitarianism than boys did; girls reported more prosocial behavior than boys in the sixth grade, but there were no significant gender differences in the seventh and eighth grades. Adolescents’ gender egalitarianism stayed stable from the sixth to the seventh grade then increased from the seventh to the eighth grade, and there was a decrease in prosocial behavior from the sixth to the seventh grade. More importantly, the results of the multi-group cross-lagged panel model revealed that adolescents’ gender egalitarianism in the previous year positively predicted prosocial behavior in the next year, and vice versa; such bidirectional associations equally applied to boys and girls. These findings add to the knowledge of adolescent gender egalitarianism and prosocial behavior, and the dynamic interplay between the two. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Individual Factors in Promoting Adjustment across Development)
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20 pages, 1228 KiB  
Article
The Moderating Role of Cortisol and Negative Emotionality in the Effects of Classroom Size and Window View on Young Children’s Executive Functions
by Kijoo Cha
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14010018 - 25 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1539
Abstract
This study probed how baseline cortisol (BC), negative emotionality (NE), and environmental facets—classroom size and window view—interact to affect executive function (EF) in preschoolers using virtual reality (VR). In a cohort of 144 children aged 61–85 months, BC levels were measured by saliva [...] Read more.
This study probed how baseline cortisol (BC), negative emotionality (NE), and environmental facets—classroom size and window view—interact to affect executive function (EF) in preschoolers using virtual reality (VR). In a cohort of 144 children aged 61–85 months, BC levels were measured by saliva assays and NE by parental surveys. Participants completed computerized EF assessments both pre- and post-exposure to one of four VR conditions, which varied by classroom size (large vs. small) and window view (natural vs. built). Due to missing data and outlier responses, three children were removed from the analyses. Regression analyses, accounting for initial EFs, revealed that higher BC was significantly associated with better Digit-span task scores in the nature view, while lower BC correlated with improved performance in the built view. With regard to classroom size, children with varying levels of NE benefitted from the large classroom environment, as evidenced by marginally significant improvements on the Corsi block task. However, higher NE children outperformed their lower NE peers in the large classroom, while a trend inverted in the small classroom context. The findings illuminate how the physical components of preschool environments may interact with children’s physiological reactivity, potentially influencing the development of working memory. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Individual Factors in Promoting Adjustment across Development)
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11 pages, 482 KiB  
Article
Effects of Materialism on Adolescents’ Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Empathy
by Meijing Lv, Mengyuan Zhang, Nianhui Huang and Xinyuan Fu
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 863; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13100863 - 21 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3065
Abstract
Materialism plays a critical role in adolescent behavioral development, yet whether it affects prosocial and aggressive behaviors and the internal mechanism remains unknown. Therefore, this longitudinal research examined the relationships between adolescent materialism and prosocial and aggressive behaviors, and tested the mediating effect [...] Read more.
Materialism plays a critical role in adolescent behavioral development, yet whether it affects prosocial and aggressive behaviors and the internal mechanism remains unknown. Therefore, this longitudinal research examined the relationships between adolescent materialism and prosocial and aggressive behaviors, and tested the mediating effect of empathy. In 2015, we recruited 543 adolescents from four junior high schools in Beijing, China (284 girls, 259 boys; M = 11.27 years, SD = 0.51). The participants completed the measures of materialism and demographic information at the initial time point, completed the measure of empathy about one year later, and completed the measures of prosocial and aggressive behaviors after about another year. The hypotheses were tested using a structural model using maximum likelihood estimation. The mediating effects were estimated by taking 1000 bias-corrected bootstraps. The results revealed that materialism was associated with aggressive behavior directly and positively, but had no significant correlation with prosocial behavior. Materialism had an indirect and negative correlation with prosocial behavior via empathy, while no indirect effect of materialism on aggressive behavior was found. The findings add to our knowledge of the dehumanizing nature of materialism by revealing its effect on adolescent behavioral development, as well as the underlying mechanism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Individual Factors in Promoting Adjustment across Development)
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13 pages, 1899 KiB  
Article
The Associations between Obsessive Compulsive Personality Traits, Self-Efficacy, and Exercise Addiction
by Catherine So Kum Tang, Kai Qi Gan and Wai Kin Lui
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 857; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13100857 - 19 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1987
Abstract
Exercise addiction refers to maladaptive exercise patterns involving compulsivity and addiction-like behaviors. Exercise addiction has been found to relate to negative physical and mental health outcomes such as heart abnormalities, physical injuries, and interpersonal conflicts. Based on the social cognitive theory, this study [...] Read more.
Exercise addiction refers to maladaptive exercise patterns involving compulsivity and addiction-like behaviors. Exercise addiction has been found to relate to negative physical and mental health outcomes such as heart abnormalities, physical injuries, and interpersonal conflicts. Based on the social cognitive theory, this study investigated the extent to which the interplay of obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) traits and self-efficacy beliefs would influence the development and maintenance of exercise addiction. A total of 1228 college students in the United States responded to an online survey. Based on cut-off scores of the Revised Exercise Addiction Inventory, the prevalence estimates of exercise addiction were 4.0% for males and 1.8% for females. Results showed that males are more prone to exercise addiction than females. Also, OCPD traits and self-efficacy significantly predicted exercise addiction after controlling for age and sex. Self-efficacy acted as a moderator in influencing the relationship between OCPD traits and exercise addiction, especially for females. At high levels of self-efficacy, more OCPD traits were significantly associated with a higher risk of exercise addiction. However, at low levels of self-efficacy, there was no association between OCPD traits and exercise addiction. The findings suggest that public education and intervention for exercise addiction should attend to the interplay between personality factors and sex. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Individual Factors in Promoting Adjustment across Development)
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