Search Results (6,151)

Youth football academies increasingly utilize physical testing, athlete monitoring, anthropometric profiling, and performance analysis to support athlete development and training management. During adolescence, rapid biological maturation, fluctuating neuromuscular coordination, variable recovery capacity, and ongoing psychological development may substantially influence physical and football-specific performance over time. Consequently, athlete-management decisions based exclusively on isolated testing outcomes may inadequately reflect the developmental needs of young players. This narrative review presents a developmentally informed framework for applied athlete management in youth football academies. The review discusses the interaction between football-specific technical and tactical qualities, physical performance characteristics, biological maturation, somatometric profile, psychological and perceptual-cognitive factors, recovery management, and monitoring strategies during adolescent development. Particular emphasis is placed on practical implementation within real-world academy environments, including low-cost monitoring approaches, intra-club bio-banding, multidisciplinary communication, and athlete-specific intervention planning. Overall, the proposed framework positions athlete monitoring as a continuous support process designed to guide training adjustment, recovery management, and sustainable football progression within youth football development pathways. Full article

Age-related microaggressions are short, everyday comments, actions, or environmental cues that—whether intentional or not—send messages of hostility or exclusion. These remarks or behaviors often target people who do not fit dominant social norms. Although each incident may seem minor on its own, together they can cause serious harm to individuals and organizations. Using cross-sectional data from 1702 Italian in-office employees working for the public administration in the Emilia–Romagna region of Italy (Mage = 50.6, SD = 9.35), we explored the prevalence of age-related microaggressions across different public organizations’ employees in Italy and examined how perceptions differ among demographic groups. Findings reveal that younger employees (ages 23–39) reported significantly higher levels of perceived age-related microaggressions. The perception of age-inclusive HR practices was negatively correlated with microaggressions and positively correlated with job satisfaction, psychological safety, and intrinsic motivation. Additionally, the strength of this association was not uniform; it was strongest for the youngest and oldest employees. These results underscore the importance of attending to demographic differences in the strategic management of human resources. As demographic change transforms workforces globally, age-inclusive HR practices emerge as strategic tools that organizations can use to mitigate subtle discrimination and support employees of all ages. Full article

Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, this study investigates how digital technologies shape employees’ work experiences and social life in digitally transforming hotel organizations. Specifically, it examines the role of digital empowering leadership in fostering digital work engagement through the mediating mechanisms of digital self-efficacy and digital thriving at work within five-star hotels in Egypt. As digital technologies increasingly redefine how employees interact, collaborate, and derive meaning from their work, understanding the human and social consequences of digital transformation has become a critical research priority. Data were collected from 394 full-time employees working in five-star hotels in Egypt and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with WarpPLS software. The findings reveal that digital empowering leadership significantly enhances employees’ digital work engagement, digital self-efficacy, and digital thriving at work. Furthermore, digital self-efficacy and digital thriving at work positively influence digital work engagement and partially mediate the relationship between digital empowering leadership and digital work engagement. By highlighting how digitally enabled leadership shapes employees’ psychological capabilities and flourishing in technology-rich workplaces, this study contributes to the growing literature on the social implications of digital technologies in organizational settings. The findings underscore that successful digital transformation extends beyond technological adoption to encompass employees’ empowerment, well-being, and meaningful engagement in digital work environments. Practical implications are provided for hotel managers seeking to cultivate human-centered digital workplaces that support employees’ social and psychological flourishing amid ongoing technological change. Full article

Healthcare systems face increasing pressure from demographic, technological, and organizational changes that intensify psychosocial risks and threaten both healthcare workers’ well-being and patient safety. This study investigates whether burnout mediates the relationship between psychosocial risk factors and patient safety culture in healthcare settings. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 220 Portuguese healthcare workers using three validated instruments: the Psychosocial Risks Scale (INSAT_ERPS), the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT-23), and the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC). Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and mediation analyses were performed using SPSS (version 31.0) and the PROCESS (version 5) macro. Results showed a moderately strong positive association between psychosocial risks and burnout, and a significant negative association between burnout and patient safety culture. Psychosocial risks were not directly associated with patient safety culture. However, burnout indirectly mediated this relationship, indicating that adverse working conditions impair safety perceptions through their impact on psychological strain. These findings highlight burnout as a significant key mediator linking unsustainable working conditions to unsafe care, showing the relevance of the psychosocial environment. Targeted interventions to reduce psychosocial risks are thus fundamental to improving patient safety culture and promoting the sustainable functioning of healthcare systems. Full article

Background: Multimorbidity is a growing global health challenge in aging populations, yet its progression across physical, psychological, and cognitive domains and its contribution to health inequalities remain unclear. We compared longitudinal patterns of multimorbidity in China and the United States (US) and examined the socioeconomic and healthcare-related factors associated with these patterns and their functional consequences. Methods: This longitudinal cohort study included adults aged ≥45 years from China (2011–2020) and the US (2012–2020), matched 1:1 by baseline age and sex. Multimorbidity was classified into eight domains spanning physical, psychological, and cognitive conditions and their combinations. Longitudinal changes across five survey waves were assessed. Multinomial logistic mixed models examined socioeconomic and healthcare-related correlations, and Cox models estimated associations with subsequent limitations in activities of daily living (ADL) limitations and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) limitations. Results: A total of 7064 participants from China (mean age 60.15 ± 7.93 years; 45.4% male) and 7064 matched participants from the US were included. Multimorbidity patterns were more complex in the US at baseline, but progression toward cross-domain multimorbidity occurred in both countries and was more pronounced in China. Psychological conditions occupied a central position in the development of more complex multimorbidity patterns. Higher educational and household wealth were consistently associated with lower odds of cognitive-related and cross-domain multimorbidity in both countries, whereas associations with healthcare-related factors varied across settings. Cross-domain multimorbidity was more strongly associated with functional limitations than within-domain multimorbidity. In particular, physical–psychological–cognitive multimorbidity was associated with substantially higher risks of ADL limitations (hazard ratio (HR)  =  5.70, 95% confidence interval (CI)  =  4.87–6.67 in China; HR  =  7.72, 95% CI  =  5.90–10.11 in the US) and IADL limitations (HR  =  4.14, 95% CI  =  3.64–4.71; HR  =  5.84, 95% CI  =  4.50–7.59, respectively). Conclusions: Multimorbidity increasingly spans physical, psychological, and cognitive domains in both China and the US. Psychological conditions appeared to bridge physical and cognitive conditions in more complex multimorbidity patterns. Integrated care models incorporating psychological health and strategies addressing socioeconomic inequalities may help reduce the burden of multimorbidity and related functional decline. Full article

Background: Population ageing has increased the importance of maintaining the quality of life (QOL) of community-dwelling older adults. Resilience and social participation are considered important determinants of well-being in later life. However, little is known about how social participation involving mutual support relates to subjective QOL in Japanese community settings. This study examined associations between resilience and social participation, including mutual support and subjective QOL, among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in December 2021 among community-dwelling older adults in Japan. The study sample mainly comprised socially active older adults recruited through senior citizen clubs. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 434 individuals aged 65 years and older, and 258 valid responses were analysed. Subjective QOL was assessed using the Subjective QOL Scale, resilience using the Resilience Scale for Older Adults, and social participation, including mutual support, using a composite score based on neighbourhood relationships and participation in community activities. Results: Subjective QOL was positively correlated with resilience (ρ = 0.475, p < 0.001) and social participation including mutual support (r = 0.163, p = 0.009). After adjustment for self-rated health, the number of outpatient visits per month, and the number of daily medications, the association between subjective QOL and social participation including mutual support was no longer significant (pr = 0.104, p = 0.096), while resilience remained significantly associated with subjective QOL (pr = 0.417, p < 0.001). Participants with higher levels of social participation had significantly higher subjective QOL and resilience scores than those with lower levels of participation. Conclusions: In this study sample, resilience was more strongly associated with subjective QOL than social participation including mutual support. These findings highlight the importance of individualised community-based approaches that address both psychological resilience and opportunities for social participation when promoting well-being among older adults. Full article

Urban nighttime lightscapes shape the tourist experience, urban image, and commercial identity, yet existing evaluation methods trade off objective measurement, real-scene coverage, and the interpretation of subjective perception. This study examines the nighttime facades of six representative commercial complexes in Macao and constructs a multisource computational framework for nighttime lightscape perception evaluation. Objective features such as luminance, color, light-element composition, and visual saliency are extracted from 1800 user-generated content (UGC) images; affect, atmosphere, aesthetics, comfort, and behavioral intention are measured through 300 online questionnaires; and affective responses expressed in natural language are characterized using 6208 Chinese and English public reviews. A structural equation model (SEM) shows that all six categories of subjective psychological perception—atmosphere, aesthetics, pleasure, comfort, arousal, and dominance—exert significant positive effects on behavioral intention, with atmosphere, aesthetics, and pleasure being the most prominent. Cross-source ranking comparisons further show that the objective light-element proportion is strongly consistent with predicted visual attention, whereas greater attention capture does not necessarily translate into higher aesthetic, comfort, or behavioral-intention ratings. At the case level, Grand Lisboa and Wynn Palace exemplify two contrasting nightscape configurations based on iconic light elements and holistic illumination, respectively. This study thus provides a reproducible data pipeline for commercial nightscape lighting evaluation and offers an analytical perspective for nighttime destination management that jointly weighs visual evidence and human-centered perception. Full article

This study investigates how behavioral biases influence the investment decisions of retail investors in Kolkata, India, with particular emphasis on the moderating roles of financial literacy and financial awareness. Despite the rapid expansion of India’s financial markets and increased retail participation, investors often exhibit irrational behavior driven by psychological biases. This study seeks to answer the following research question: To what extent do behavioral biases affect the investment decisions of retail investors in Kolkata, India, and how effectively do financial literacy and financial awareness mitigate these effects? Using primary data collected from 444 retail investors in Kolkata, this study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the conceptual framework. The findings reveal that behavioral biases—namely overconfidence, anchoring, herd behavior, and loss aversion—significantly and negatively affect investment decisions. However, financial literacy and financial awareness not only positively influence decision-making but also significantly moderate the relationship between behavioral biases and investment outcomes. This study contributes to behavioral finance literature by distinguishing between financial literacy and financial awareness as separate constructs and demonstrating their dual role as both direct and moderating factors. The findings have important implications for policymakers, financial educators, and investment advisors in designing targeted interventions to improve investor decision-making. Full article

Background/Objectives: Nurses working in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Units (AICUs) face high job demands that may negatively affect their well-being and increase turnover intention. In healthcare systems experiencing workforce shortages, such as Romania, understanding these mechanisms is essential for developing effective retention strategies. This study examined the relationship between job demands and turnover intention among Romanian AICU nurses, focusing on the mediating roles of professional fatigue and depressive symptoms. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1001 nurses from the AICUs of 68 Romanian public hospitals. Job demands were measured using a composite index including night shifts, long working hours, schedule changes, exposure to aggressive patients, calls from home, and alarm-related stress. Professional fatigue was assessed as subjective exhaustion after work, depressive symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and turnover intention as the intention to leave the workplace within 12 months. Mediation analyses were performed using PROCESS macro (Model 4) with logistic regression. Results: Job demands were positively associated with turnover intention. Higher job demands predicted increased professional fatigue and depressive symptoms, both significantly associated with turnover intention. Mediation analyses demonstrated significant indirect associations through both professional fatigue and depressive symptoms, indicating partial mediation. Conclusions: Job demands are related to turnover intention among Romanian AICU nurses both directly and indirectly through professional fatigue and depressive symptoms. Retention strategies should address not only workload reduction, but also prevention and coping interventions targeting fatigue and psychological distress. Full article

Population aging is reshaping public health priorities across Latin America, yet most evidence on late-life psychological distress comes from high-income societies. Brazil’s Northeast combines rapid aging with persistent structural deprivation. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of psychological distress among older adults in this region and to examine its association with food insecurity, sociodemographic position, and health-related behaviors. A convenience sample of 355 adults aged 60 to 94 years was recruited in Paraíba, Piauí, and Bahia. Participants completed a sociodemographic and health questionnaire, the short-form Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale, and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Distress exceeded the validated screening cutoff in 64.5% of the sample, and 40.8% reported food insecurity. Older adults with food insecurity scored higher on the K10 than their food-secure peers (p = 0.001, d = −0.847), an association that persisted under multivariable adjustment. Lower income, lower schooling, and medication use were also associated with greater distress, and physical activity and life satisfaction with less. Because the design was cross-sectional and the sample non-probabilistic, these associations describe co-occurrence rather than chronicity or causal direction. Even so, the findings support addressing food security alongside mental health care in this population. Full article

Background: Positive behavior during dental treatment does not necessarily indicate the absence of anxiety in children. Behavioral assessment scales, such as the Frankl Behavior Rating Scale, evaluate observable behavior but may fail to identify underlying emotional tension that may accompany dental treatment. Objectives: To evaluate indicators of underlying emotional tension in children classified as cooperative based on the Frankl Behavior Rating Scale (scores 3 and 4) undergoing conventional caries removal or chemo-mechanical excavation with Brix 3000. Methods: Sixty children aged 4–6 years with positive (score 3) or definitely positive (score 4) Frankl behavior were assigned to two treatment groups: conventional caries removal using rotary instruments (n = 30) and chemo-mechanical excavation with Brix 3000 (n = 30). Projective indicators potentially associated with emotional tension were indirectly assessed using the Draw-a-Person Test. Drawings were obtained at home (baseline), immediately before treatment, and immediately after treatment. Figure height was used as a projective indicator that may reflect emotional tension. Results: A marked reduction in figure height was observed immediately before treatment in both groups, consistent with increased emotional tension despite cooperative behavior. Baseline comparison revealed no statistically significant difference between the treatment groups (p = 0.842). Following treatment, figure height increased significantly in both groups. Children treated with Brix 3000 demonstrated significantly greater post-treatment figure heights than those treated with rotary instruments (p = 0.002), suggesting more favorable projective indicators that may reflect lower emotional tension and improved psychological comfort. Conclusions: Cooperative behavior classified by the Frankl Behavior Rating Scale does not exclude the presence of underlying emotional tension that may be associated with anxiety in children undergoing dental treatment. The findings suggest that chemo-mechanical excavation with Brix 3000 may provide greater psychological comfort and potential reduction in indicators consistent with projective indicators of emotional tension than conventional rotary instrumentation. Behavioral assessment alone may not fully capture emotional responses to fully evaluate the emotional state of pediatric dental patients. Full article

Background/Objectives: Depressive symptoms are more frequent following pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), prompting postpartum depression screening recommendations in the German S3 guideline. Although GDM is associated with increased postpartum depression risk, the relationships between postpartum metabolic parameters and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores remain unclear. We investigated whether metabolic markers measured during diabetes screening 6–12 weeks postpartum are associated with depressive symptoms. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed EPDS screenings conducted during postpartum testing at our inpatient clinic between 07/2021 and 02/2024. The EPDS is a validated 10-item tool (score range 0–30), with scores ≥10 indicating potential depression. Metabolic parameters included HbA1c, the 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT), insulin, and the Homeostasis Model Assessment index (HOMA index). Group comparisons were performed using non-parametric tests and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses, with the Youden index identifying optimal cutoffs. Results: Among the 102 women presenting for postpartum testing, 43.1% had normal glucose tolerance, 54.9% prediabetes, and 2.0% diabetes. A total of 13.7% (n = 14) screened positive for potential depression, including two who reported suicidal ideations. Women with positive EPDS scores had significantly higher HbA1c [5.7% (38.3 mmol/mol) vs. 5.4% (35.5 mmol/mol), p = 0.013]. An HbA1c cutoff of 5.42% (35.75 mmol/mol) showed discriminatory ability for depressive symptoms with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.708 (CI 0.567–0.849). Other metabolic parameters showed no significant associations. Conclusions: Elevated postpartum HbA1c is associated with depressive symptoms after GDM pregnancies. An HbA1c threshold of 5.42% (35.75 mmol/mol) may help identify women at increased postpartum depression risk and prompt subsequent psychological assessment when depression screening is otherwise omitted. Full article

Background/Objectives: Yoga practice is associated with enhanced wellbeing and reduced psychological distress; however, the conditional interrelations among yoga frequency, perceived health, wellbeing, distress, and spirituality remain insufficiently understood. This study aimed to map these associations and identify variables uniquely relevant to wellbeing among yoga practitioners. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 326 yoga practitioners (94.2% women; Mage = 39.84, SD = 14.81). A Gaussian graphical model with EBIC-graphical LASSO regularization was used to estimate conditional associations among eight variables. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to identify independent predictors of wellbeing. Results: The network retained 20 of 28 possible edges (sparsity = 0.286) and revealed three clusters: health wellbeing (yoga frequency, perceived health, and wellbeing), distress (anxiety and stress), and spirituality. Global experiential spirituality showed the highest strength and expected influence, whereas WHO-5 wellbeing was the most central node in terms of betweenness and closeness. Stability was acceptable to excellent (CS coefficients: strength = 0.70, closeness = 0.60, betweenness = 0.40). The association between yoga frequency and wellbeing persisted independently of distress. The regression model explained 48.1% of the variance in wellbeing (adjusted R² = 0.469, p < 0.001). Higher environmental, but not transcendent, spiritual health (β = 0.136), better perceived health (β = 0.256), and more frequent yoga practice (β = 0.104) uniquely predicted higher wellbeing, whereas depression (β = −0.362) and stress (β = −0.198) uniquely predicted lower wellbeing. The environmental spirituality association was significant in this main model but, in a supplementary model that included all four experiential spirituality domains, was attenuated and depended on model specification. Conclusions: Wellbeing among yoga practitioners is a multidimensional construct uniquely associated with lower levels of depression and distress, as well as self-rated health and environmental spirituality. Depression and stress showed negative associations with wellbeing, whereas perceived health, regular yoga practice, and environmental spirituality showed positive associations. These findings highlight potential correlates of subjective wellbeing among yoga practitioners and underscore the importance of considering both distress-related and positive health-related factors, including perceived health, regular yoga practice, and environmental spirituality (interpreted with caution given its sensitivity to model specification), in future research. Full article

School belonging is an important indicator of students’ school adjustment and psychological well-being, yet it may be particularly vulnerable among students in Chinese secondary vocational education because of early academic tracking and weak vocational identity. This three-wave longitudinal study examined whether perceived teacher support was associated with later school belonging through self-efficacy and learning engagement. Data were collected from first-year secondary vocational students in China. The baseline valid sample included 9116 students, and 1273 students were retained at Time 3, indicating substantial attrition across waves. Structural equation modeling was used to test the serial mediation model, controlling for baseline self-efficacy, learning engagement, and school belonging. The results showed that perceived teacher support at Time 1 was positively associated with self-efficacy at Time 2, which was associated with learning engagement at Time 2. Learning engagement was positively associated with school belonging at Time 3. The direct association between perceived teacher support and school belonging was also significant but modest, and the serial indirect association through self-efficacy and learning engagement was statistically significant but small in magnitude. These findings contribute to the literature by showing that vocational students’ school belonging is linked not only to perceived teacher–student support, but also to a gradual psychological–behavioral process involving competence beliefs and learning participation. Full article

Dispositional greed is often treated as a maladaptive trait, but its links to life satisfaction, presence of meaning, search for meaning, and psychological richness, from a person-centered approach, remain underexplored. We measured these constructs in 586 Chinese university students, then used correlation analysis, latent profile analysis (LPA), and the Bolck–Croon–Hagenaars (BCH) method to test associations and profile differences. Greed correlated positively with all four indicators. LPA yielded three profiles: Low-Greed (6.7%), Average-Greed (84.0%), and High-Greed (9.4%). BCH analyses showed significant differences in psychological richness, presence of meaning, and search for meaning. The effect on life satisfaction was marginal. The Low-Greed profile scored lower than the other two profiles on psychological richness and search for meaning; the High-Greed profile also exceeded the Average-Greed profile on search for meaning. These results suggest that greed is not uniformly detrimental. Its links to well-being are graded: strongest for search for meaning and psychological richness, weakest for life satisfaction. Full article