Deciding on a college major: commitment trajectories, career exploration, and academic well-being

"Ziel der vorliegenden Tagebuchstudie war die Erfassung der Mikro-Entwicklungsprozesse von Commitment und Exploration im Übergang von der Schule in die Hochschule. Im Mittelpunkt stand die Untersuchung der Entwicklungsverläufe von 33 Abiturient/-innen im Zeitraum der Studienentscheidung nach dem Ende der Schulzeit. Den Jugendlichen wurde zwischen Abiturprüfung und Einschreibung an einer Hochschule wöchentlich ein standardisierter Fragebogen vorgelegt. Zusätzlich wurde am Ende des ersten Semesters an der Hochschule das akademische Wohlbefinden (Studienzufriedenheit, Passungserleben und Studienabbruchintentionen) mittels eines Follow-Up-Fragebogens erfasst. Die Datenauswertung der Tagebuchstudie zum Commitment ergab eine Zuordnung der Jugendlichen zu einem von drei theoretisch abgeleiteten Entwicklungsverläufen: Entschieden (Jugendliche, die sich bereits früh im Entscheidungsprozess auf nur eine Studienoption festgelegt hatten), Verengend (Jugendliche, die über die Zeit ihre Festlegung auf eine Option verengten) und Suchend (Jugendliche mit geringen und wechselnden Festlegungen). Es zeigten sich zudem Unterschiede zwischen diesen Gruppen im Explorationsverhalten während des Entscheidungsprozesses und hinsichtlich des akademischen Wohlbefindens. Suchende Jugendliche explorierten wenig in die Tiefe und berichteten geringeres akademisches Wohlbefinden als entschiedene und verengende Jugendliche." (Autorenreferat)"In this weekly diary study we followed thirty-three adolescents through the transition from school to college and focused on the micro-level processes of commitment and exploration while adolescents decided on their college major. Between their final exams at school and their enrolment in college they completed standardized diaries once a week. Nine months later at the end of their first semester in college, adolescents reported on their academic well-being (satisfaction with college major, perceived fit regarding interests and expectations, and drop-out intentions). We assigned the participants to one of three theoretically derived commitment trajectories: decided (adolescents who had committed themselves to one option early in the process and implemented their choice), narrowing (adolescents who narrowed down to one favorite option), and searching (adolescents with low and changing commitments), and found meaningful differences in exploration processes and subsequent academic well-being. Searching adolescents explored particularly little in-depth information about their future studies and showed worse academic well-being than decided and narrowing adolescents." (author's abstract

Common practices in detecting psychological early warning signals may lead to incorrect results

The past few years have seen a rapid growth in research on early warning signals (EWSs) in psychological systems. Whereas early studies showed that EWSs are associated with sudden changes in clinical change trajectories, later findings showed that EWSs may not be general and have low predictive power. In this study, we demonstrate that two common practices in psychological EWS studies are not warranted by theories and may lead to false-negative or false-positive results, explaining the mixed findings in the literature. These two practices are (1) using loosely-defined time windows for early warning indicators and (2) using different variables for detecting transitions and calculating early warning indicators. We first review the theoretical background of EWSs and current research practices for EWS studies. Two simulation studies with different types of system changes are used to demonstrate the possible consequences of the two practices. In Study 1, we show that when the time window for early warning indicators is not strictly before the transition, the transition process itself and the system dynamics after the transition may confound the result. In Study 2, we show that when the transition and early warning indicators are measured from different variables in the same system, the predictive relationship may not exist. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions for future EWS studies in terms of theory construction, study design, and data analysis

The Effect of Expectations on Experiences and Engagement with an Applied Game for Mental Health

Objective: Applied games are considered a promising approach to deliver mental health interventions. Nonspecific factors such as expectations and motivation may be crucial to optimize effectiveness yet have not been examined so far. The current study examined the effect of expectations for improvement on (1) experienced fun and positive affect, and (2) in-game play behaviors while playing MindLight, an applied game shown to reduce anxiety. The secondary aim was to examine the moderating role of symptom severity and motivation to change. Materials and Methods: Fifty-seven participants (47 females; 17-21 years old) preselected on anxiety symptoms viewed a trailer in which MindLight was promoted as either a mental health or an entertainment game. These trailers were used to induce different expectations in participants. Participants subsequently played the game for 60 minutes. Before playing, participants filled out questionnaires about their general anxiety symptoms, motivation to change, state anxiety, affect, and arousal. While playing, in-game behaviors and galvanic skin response (GSR) were recorded continuously. After playing, state anxiety, affect, and arousal were measured again as well as experienced fun. Results: Participants in both trailer conditions showed increases in state anxiety, arousal, and GSR. Expectations did not influence experienced fun and positive affect, nor in-game behaviors. In addition, no moderation effects of motivation to change and symptom severity were found. Conclusion: Experiences and engagement with MindLight were not influenced by expectations, motivation to change, and symptom severity. For future research, it is recommended to examine individual differences in these effects, and long-term and more distal outcomes and processes

From Wellbeing to Social Media and Back:A Multi-Method Approach to Assessing the Bi-Directional Relationship Between Wellbeing and Social Media Use

Literature concerning the relationship between social media use and wellbeing is inconsistent in its findings, and most research has focused on time spent on social media rather than on what emerging adults do there, with whom and why. Here, we investigated whether momentary social stress affects emerging adults' social media use, and whether this social media use relates to subsequent changes in wellbeing. We implemented a multi-method paradigm utilising objective and self-report data to investigate how social stress relates to how (much) and why emerging adults use social media. We report on findings based on 114 17-25-year-old emerging adults recruited on university campus. Our findings suggest that social stress does not affect adolescents' subsequent social media use and that there is no relationship between social media use after stress and changes in momentary wellbeing. Our work illustrates the need for detailed approaches in social media and psychological wellbeing research.</p

simlandr:Simulation-Based Landscape Construction for Dynamical Systems

We present the simlandr package for R, which provides a set of tools for constructing potential landscapes for dynamic systems using Monte Carlo simulation. Potential landscapes can be used to quantify the stability of system states. While the canonical form of a potential function is defined for gradient systems, generalized potential functions can also be defined for non-gradient dynamical systems. Our method is based on the potential landscape definition by Wang, Xu, and Wang (2008), and can be used for a large variety of models. Using two multistable dynamical systems as examples, we illustrate how simlandr can be used for model simulation, landscape construction, and barrier height calculation

Patterns of motivating teaching behaviour and student engagement:A microanalytic approach

Positive student engagement is a prerequisite for students' educational success. In this study, a microanalytic approach was used to explore patterns in teachers' use of specific motivating teaching behaviours from the perspective of self-determination theory in relation to indicators of students' positive engagement. The lessons of 52 teachers were observed and event-based coded. Results showed that specifically asking motivating questions and providing positive feedback and support during exercises were associated with subsequent positive student engagement. Unexpectedly, some demotivating teaching behaviours were also found to relate to positive student engagement, although to a lesser extent. Implications and directions for future research are discussed