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Existing studies have explored the relationship between shyness and specific indicators of social adjustment of children or middle school students, indicating that individuals with shyness have social maladjustment. However, few studies have examined the overall social adjustment and underlying mechanisms of college students. Therefore, the present study explored the influence of shyness on the overall social adjustment of college students and its underlying mechanism from the perspective of individuals’ interaction with their environment. 1201 participants (Mage = 19.43, SD = 1.40) from two universities in China were measured using the College Student Shyness Scale, Adolescent Alienation Scale, School Connectedness Scale, and Chinese College Student Adjustment Scale. The results showed that shyness was negatively associated with social adjustment and that alienation partially mediated the relationship between them. Moreover, this mediation effect was moderated by school connectedness. Specifically, school connectedness moderated the second stage of the mediating process, that is, school connectedness could effectively alleviate the social maladjustment caused by alienation, and the protection effect of this moderation on low alienation was more obvious. These findings enrich the research on social adjustment of college students, and show that reducing alienation and strengthening school connectedness can alleviate the maladjustment of shy college students.

This study examined the associations between shyness and generalized pathological Internet use (GPIU) to identify the possible mechanisms underlying how shyness influences GPIU through the mediating effect of interpersonal relationships, loneliness, and maladaptive cognitions. We also determined whether a gender difference exists in these underlying mechanisms. A total of 1621 Chinese undergraduate students, with a mean age of 21.68 (standard deviation [SD] = 2.01 years) years, completed a questionnaire including scales for shyness, interpersonal relationships, loneliness, maladaptive cognitions, and GPIU. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that (i) shyness could positively influence GPIU from maladaptive cognitions; (ii) shyness could positively influence GPIU through loneliness → maladaptive cognitions; (iii) shyness could positively influence GPIU through interpersonal relationships → loneliness → maladaptive cognitions; and (iv) although the association patterns between shyness and GPIU were similar for both groups, the strength of these associations was stronger for male students. Moreover, the interventions for GPIU and the implications for future studies are discussed.

The Internet is an indispensable everyday tool for many students, but it also poses a certain problem to academic careers and may negatively affect students’ mental health, resulting in academic failure. Procrastination is also a common issue amongst college students. This study made use of extended research to explore the correlation between Internet addiction and procrastination and the underlying mechanisms thereof. A cross-sectional design and a questionnaire survey were utilized. Correlation analysis revealed that Internet addiction was positively correlated with procrastination, and core self-evaluations were positively associated with self-control. Both Internet addiction and procrastination were significantly and negatively correlated with core self-evaluations and self-control, respectively. In addition, social adjustment was positively correlated with core self-evaluations, but not significantly correlated with the other variables. In addition, the results supported the moderated mediation model, specifically that a high level of social adjustment could block the direct effect of Internet addiction on procrastination and weaken the indirect effects of Internet addiction on procrastination via core self-evaluations. The results of this study suggest that procrastination among Internet-addicted college students can be reduced by enhancing core self-evaluations, self-control, and social adjustment.

A number indecent photos depicting models whose genital areas have been censored or covered have been widely disseminated on the Internet and proved to be extremely popular. The question is whether these “incomplete nudes” on the Internet can induce sexual cognition. To answer this question, this study presented 25 male college students with 4 types of images. Results found that pictures of females induced larger positive potential (P2) amplitudes and shorter latencies than did pictures of males, and that pictures of nude females induced larger negative potential (N2) amplitudes than did pictures of nude males. Moreover, pictures of covered or nude females evoked larger P300 waves than did pictures of fully-dressed or underwear-wearing females. Pictures of nude models also evoked larger PSW than did other types of pictures. These results suggested that P2 and N2 reflect early gender processing and early sexual cognition, respectively, while P300 reflect inferential sexual cognition which meant that covered models were indeed perceived as nude models. This study revealed that censored (covered) sexual information disseminated through the Internet could still evoke inferential sexual cognition.

Mobile phones are indispensable for many young adults, but such devices may negatively affect their mental health and well-being. Previous studies revealed a significant association between shyness and mobile phone addiction. This study further explored this association, its underlying mechanisms, and the mediating effects of self-control and attachment anxiety of mobile phone addiction. Investigational methods included a cross-sectional design and multiple questionnaires, namely the College Students' Shyness Scale, Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory, College Students' Self-Control Scale, and Mobile Phone Addiction Index. Correlation analysis indicated that shyness, attachment anxiety, and mobile phone addiction have significant, positive correlations with each other, as well as significant, negative correlations with self-control. Hayes's PROCESS macro revealed that self-control and attachment anxiety played multiple mediation roles in the relationship between shyness and mobile phone addiction. In other words, (1) shyness was negatively associated with mobile phone addiction, (2) both attachment anxiety and self-control played partial and parallel mediating roles between shyness and mobile phone addiction, and (3) attachment anxiety and self-control mediated the link between shyness and mobile phone addiction sequentially. The results of this study indicate that mobile phone addiction among shy young adults can be eliminated through the development of self-control and alleviation of attachment anxiety. Shyness emerged as a crucial predictor of mobile phone addiction.Self-control and attachment anxiety play mediating roles in the relationship between shyness and mobile phone addiction.Mobile phone addiction can be eliminated by improving self-control and alleviating attachment anxiety.

This short-term longitudinal study examined the reciprocal associations among preexisting psychosocial variables (shyness, loneliness, and interpersonal relationships), maladaptive cognitions, and generalized pathological Internet use (GPIU) in a Chinese sample. A total of 361 university freshmen (138 males; mean age=18.57 years) participated in the study. Cross-lagged panel analysis indicated that (i) the associations among shyness, maladaptive cognitions, and GPIU were dynamic and bidirectional, and the increased maladaptive cognitions bidirectionally mediated the relation between shyness and GPIU across time; (ii) the association between interpersonal relationships and GPIU was dynamic; and (iii) the association between loneliness and GPIU was dynamic and bidirectional. Additionally, (iv) shyness and GPIU had higher stability than interpersonal relationships, loneliness, and maladaptive cognitions did and (v) gender differences were identified in GPIU (T1 and T2). Interventions for GPIU and implications for future studies were discussed. Associations, shyness, maladaptive cognitions, and GPIU, dynamic and bidirectional.Association, interpersonal relationships and GPIU, dynamic and bidirectional.Association, loneliness and GPIU, dynamic and bidirectional.Male students have a higher GPIU score than female students.

With the latest, rapid developments of the Internet, young people have become the main group in the online world. Congruently, Internet problem behaviors have shown a significant growth trend among adolescents. The present paper explores the factors affecting adolescents' problem network behavior from the perspective of their shyness, gender, and loneliness, and provides suggestions for guiding these young people toward using the network rationally. The study surveyed 5,130 teenagers from Shandong province in China to investigate the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between shyness and problem network behavior, and the mediating effect of loneliness on the moderating effect. The results indicated that the level of shyness among girls was significantly higher than that among boys, whereas the prevalence of cyberbullying, pathological Internet use, and Internet gaming disorder was significantly lower for girls than for boys. The relationship among shyness, cyberbullying, and Internet gaming disorder was found to be moderated by gender, and the problems of cyberbullying and Internet gaming disorder faced by shy boys were greater than those faced by shy girls. In addition, the moderating effect of gender on cyberbullying and Internet gaming disorder was found to occur through the mediating factor of loneliness. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical significance and generalizability of our research results.

The general aggression model (GAM) has suggested that the interaction between person factors (e.g., personality variables) and situation factors (e.g., playing violent video games [VVGs]) can increase individuals' aggressive behaviors through their cognition (e.g., hostile attributions), affect (e.g., negative affect), and/or arousal. The present study employed a modified competitive reaction time task to test the effects of shyness, violent (vs. nonviolent) gameplay, and shyness on individuals' positive-negative affect, hostile attributions, and aggressive behaviors. In addition, the present study also employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the mediation (by cognition and affect) and moderation (by shyness). Results showed that playing a VVG increased aggressive behaviors, negative affect, and hostile attributions primarily among shy participants. In addition, the results of SEM also revealed that this moderating role was mediated by negative affect and hostile attributions. The present study supported GAM and showed that individuals' aggressive behaviors are differentially susceptible to VVGs, depending on their level of shyness in a "for bad and for worse" manner.

To explore the intergenerational transmission of relative deprivation, as well as the mediating role of children’s sense of security and the moderating role of teachers’ emotional support, questionnaires were used in this study. Considering the family as the sampling unit, 271 families of junior high school students were surveyed. The results showed that the relative deprivation of parents significantly predicted that of their children, and there was an intergenerational transmission effect. Moreover, the sense of security partially mediated the intergenerational transmission of relative deprivation. Finally, teachers’ emotional support moderated the path by which relative deprivation of parents affected children’s sense of security. For children with a high level of teachers’ emotional support, relative deprivation of parents had a significant and negative predictive effect on their sense of security; Conversely, for children with a low level of teachers’ emotional support, relative deprivation of parents had no significant effect. The results suggested that the relative deprivation of children was the result of the combined effect of teachers’ emotional support and parents’ relative deprivation, and both factors were indispensable. Only when parents and teachers provided positive guidance and support for the development of adolescents could they truly protect children from relative deprivation and foster their healthy growth.

The present research examined how problem characteristics might influence the online helping behavior of shy individuals. Three hundred undergraduates were recruited and assessed using the College Students Shyness Scale. According to the scores, 68 high-shy students and 68 low-shy students were selected to participate in simulated experiments designed to determine the influence of the shyness level, the presence of a foreseeable reward, the complexity of the problem, and the urgency of the problem influence online helping behavior. The results showed that (a) High-shy individuals tended to exhibit online helping behavior more for low-complexity problems and high-urgency problems than for high-complexity problems and low-urgency problems. (b) Low-shy individuals always exhibited online helping behavior less for high-complexity problems and when no reward was offered than they did for low-complexity problems and when a reward was offered. (c) High-shy individuals showed online helping behavior more than low-shy individuals did for no-reward, high-complexity problems and high-urgency problems. (d) Participants online had higher shyness scores for showing helping behavior than those offline. We study the individual differences of online helping behavior from the perspective of shyness.Individuals who voluntarily filled out the shyness questionnaire online scored higher than those individuals offline.There is a significant difference in the online helping behavior between high-shy and low-shy individuals.The effect of the characteristic of problems on the online helping behavior varies between high-shy and low-shy individuals.

Flow experience is often considered as an important standard of ideal user experience (UX). Till now, flow is mainly measured via self-report questionnaires, which cannot evaluate flow immediately and objectively. In this paper, we constructed a physiological evaluation model to evaluate flow in virtual reality (VR) game. The evaluation model consists of five first-level indicators and their respective second-level indicators. Then, we conducted an empirical experiment to test the effectiveness of partial indicators to predict flow experience. Most results supported the model and revealed that heart rate, interbeat interval, heart rate variability (HRV), low-frequency HRV (LF-HRV), high-frequency HRV (HF-HRV), and respiratory rate are all effective indicators in predicting flow experience. Further research should be conducted to improve the evaluation model and conclude practical implications in UX and VR game design.

Mental health plays an important role in the development of young adults. However, an increasing number of young adults experience depression. The problem of depression in young adults has attracted much attention in educational, medical and psychological circles. As a personality trait, shyness is considered a factor associated with susceptibility to depression. Therefore, this study explored the relationship between shyness and depression and the mechanism of this relationship. A total of 539 undergraduate students were tested using the Shyness Scale, Social Ability Diagnosis Scale, Dormitory Belonging Scale, Inferiority Questionnaire and Self-rating Depression Scale. We found that shyness, depression and inferiority were positively correlated; interpersonal competence was positively correlated with dormitory belonging; and shyness, depression and inferiority were negatively correlated with interpersonal competence and with dormitory belonging. Interpersonal competence, dormitory belonging and inferiority played mediating roles in the relationship between shyness and depression. This study reveals a possible mechanism of the relationship between shyness and depression in young adults and provides insights and suggestions for depression prevention and intervention for shy individuals.

Recent studies found that some personality traits (e.g., impulsivity, sensation seeking) are frequently related to Internet addiction. In line with previous studies, this study aimed to determine whether shy students readily develop Internet addiction and to identify the causes of their developing Internet addiction. Specifically, this study examined the mediating roles of cognitive flexibility, self-regulation, and self-inconsistency in linking shyness and Internet addiction. A total of 1301 middle-school students in Shandong Province, East China, completed the relevant scales. Correlation analysis revealed that shyness was positively correlated with self-inconsistency and Internet addiction and negatively correlated with self-regulation and self-inconsistency. Cognitive flexibility, self-regulation, and self-inconsistency played fully mediating roles in the relationship between shyness and Internet addiction. The results indicate the significance of shyness-sensitivity for Internet addiction and suggest that cognitive and coping abilities as well as social adjustment factors should be considered when designing interventions to help shy students overcome Internet addiction.

The present study aimed to explore the mediating effects of loneliness, depression, and self-esteem on the association between shyness and generalized pathological Internet use (GPIU). A total of 5215 school students completed questionnaires regarding shyness, loneliness, depression, self-esteem, and GPIU (aged 11-23 years old, M = 16.19, SD = 3.10). The self-reported scores for GPIU, shyness, loneliness, depression, and self-esteem were tested in students from elementary schools to universities. The results of a variance analysis indicated that senior high school students had the greatest prevalence of GPIU of all the study stages. With the study stages resolved, the results of a structural equation model revealed that: (a) shyness positively predicted GPIU; (b) shyness/loneliness/depression predicted GPIU through self-esteem; (c) shyness predicted GPIU through loneliness/depression → self-esteem; and (d) shyness predicted GPIU through loneliness → depression → self-esteem. In conclusion, these results provided significant implications for preventing or reducing GPIU in Chinese school students.

The current study examined the associations between specific Internet activities (online shopping, pornography use, social networking site use, and Internet gaming), life satisfaction, and the mediating effects of loneliness and depression for these associations. Participants were 5,215 students (2,303 male participants, Mage = 16.20 years; ranging in age from 10 to 23 years) from various school types (546 elementary school students, 1710 junior high school students, 688 senior high school students, and 2271 university students) who provided self-report data on demographic variables, online shopping, pornography use, social networking site use, loneliness, depression, and life satisfaction. The results indicated that after controlling for demographic variables (gender and age) (a) loneliness and depression had fully positive mediating effects on the association between social networking site use and life satisfaction; (b) loneliness and depression played fully negative mediating effects on life satisfaction associations with online shopping, pornography use, and Internet gaming. Therefore, loneliness and depression were the underlying mechanisms that caused life satisfaction to be affected by online shopping, pornography use, social networking site use, and Internet gaming.

Learning maladjustment is a common phenomenon in the context of examination-oriented education system in china, especially among high school students who experience intense pressure when preparing for the national college entrance examination. Previous literature suggests that shyness may negatively affect ones' cognition, emotion, and behavioral performance and lead to academic and social maladjustment. Therefore, learning adjustment among shy high school students is a critical and practical point of inquiry. With a sample of 677 Chinese senior high school students, this study aims to assess the association between shyness and learning adjustment and related mechanisms of goal orientation (i.e., mastery-approach goals, mastery-avoid goals, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoid goals) and academic help seeking (i.e., instrumental help seeking from teacher, instrumental help seeking from classmate, executive help seeking, and avoidance of help seeking). Self-report measures were adopted to collect information on: demographic characteristics, the level of shyness, goal orientation, academic help seeking, and learning adjustment. Results indicated that shyness was negatively correlated with learning adjustment, and this association was mediated by the dimensions of goal orientation and dimensions of academic help seeking. Specifically, shyness not only predicted learning adjustment through mastery-approach goals, and instrumental help seeking (teachers) but also predicted learning adjustment through the multiple mediating effects of the dimensions of goal orientation and the dimensions of academic help seeking (i.e., mastery-approach goals and instrumental help seeking from teachers, mastery-approach goals and executive help seeking, mastery-avoid goals and instrumental help seeking from classmates, mastery-avoid goals and executive help seeking, and performance-avoid goals and executive help seeking). Identifying these mediators further enables us to work out effective measures to promote shy high school students' learning adjustment.

This study examined the relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement, and tested the possibility of class collective efficacy and class size moderating this relationship. Data were collected from 28 Chinese classrooms (N = 1034 students; grades 7, 8, and 9) with student reports. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to test all hypotheses and results revealed a negative relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement; class collective efficacy was also significantly related to academic engagement. Additionally, class collective efficacy and class size moderated the relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement: For students in a class with high collective efficacy or small size (≤30 students), the relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement was weaker than for those in a class with low collective efficacy or large size (≥43 students). Results are discussed considering self-regulatory mechanisms and social environment theory, with possible implications for teachers of students’ learning provided.

Flow is the experience of effortless attention, reduced self-consciousness, and a deep sense of control that typically occurs during the optimal performance of challenging tasks. On the basis of the person–artifact–task model, we selected computer games (tasks) that have different levels of difficulty (difficult, medium, and easy) and shyness (personality) as flow precursors for studying the physiological activities that occur during the flow state. Cardiac and respiratory activities and the average changes of skin conductance were measured continuously during the participants’ (N = 40) performance. Moreover, the associations between self-reported psychological flow and physiological measures were investigated using a series of repeated-measures analyses. The results showed that flow experience are related to faster respiratory rate, deeper respiratory depth, moderate heart rate, moderate heart rate variability, and moderate skin conductance. The main effect of shyness was not significant, whereas the interaction between shyness and difficulty influenced flow experience. These findings are discussed in relation to current models of arousal and valence. It is proposed that flow is a state of moderate mental effort that arises through the increased parasympathetic modulation of sympathetic activity.

This study explored the reciprocal relationship between Internet addiction (IA) and network-related maladaptive cognition (NMC) in Chinese college freshmen. A short-term longitudinal survey with a sample of 213 college freshmen was conducted in Shandong province, China. The results revealed that IA can significantly predict the generation and development of NMCs, and that when such maladaptive cognitions have been established, they can further adversely affect the extent of the students’ IA. A vicious cycle was observed between these two variables, with IA having predictive priority in its relationship with NMC. This study also determined that the relationship between these two variables was the same for both males and females; therefore, the final model we established can be extensively applied to Chinese college freshmen, regardless of gender. Understanding the reciprocal relationship between these two variables can assist in interventions in IA at the outset of students’ college life.

Prospective memory (PM) is the process associated with the task of realizing delayed intentions in the future. Researchers distinguish two types of PM, namely time-based PM (tbPM) and event-based PM (ebPM). Experiment 1 investigated the developmental trajectory of 3- to 5-year-old preschool children’s PM ability, and the occurrence of delayed retrieval (children execute the PM task in a larger window of opportunity) in both tbPM and ebPM tasks. Results revealed that the 5-year-old children outperformed the 3- and 4-year-old children in PM. Moreover, delayed retrieval was more likely to occur in tbPM task than in ebPM task. In Experiment 2, the influence of ongoing task (OT) difficulty on PM performance was investigated with a sample of 5-year-old children. Results revealed no significant effect of OT difficulty on PM performance. In Experiment 3, we improved children’s motivation level to complete the OT, then explored the influence of OT difficulty on children’s PM performance. Results revealed that the effect of OT difficulty on PM performance became significant after increasing the children’s motivation to complete the OT. These results provide insights into the mechanism of attentional resource allocation in PM tasks and have crucial educational and social implications.