Abstract Academic pressure in East Asia places students at heightened risk for diminished well-being, pointing to the need for interventions that sustain psychological functioning. This study investigated whether school adjustment moderates the effects of three character strengths interventions (signature, growth, and combined) on basic psychological needs satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness) and subjective well-being. A quasi-experimental field trial was conducted with 549 fifth- and sixth-grade students in South Korea. Classrooms were assigned to one of the three character strengths conditions or an active control condition focused on emotions. Each programme included a classroom workshop and seven days of structured practice. Outcomes were measured pre- and post-intervention and analysed using multiple regression with interaction terms. At the overall level, character strengths interventions did not significantly differ from the active control. However, students with lower school adjustment specifically benefited significantly from the growth strengths intervention, reporting greater gains in autonomy and competence. These findings highlight the promise of growth strengths as a compensatory pathway for students struggling to adapt to school and stress the importance of culturally sensitive designs in high-pressure educational contexts. Trial registration: KCT0010992, retrospectively registered 9 September 2025.

Abstract Academic pressure in East Asia places students at heightened risk for diminished well-being, pointing to the need for interventions that sustain psychological functioning. This study investigated whether school adjustment moderates the effects of three character strengths interventions (signature, growth, and combined) on basic psychological needs satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness) and subjective well-being. A quasi-experimental field trial was conducted with 549 fifth- and sixth-grade students in South Korea. Classrooms were assigned to one of the three character strengths conditions or an active control condition focused on emotions. Each programme included a classroom workshop and seven days of structured practice. Outcomes were measured pre- and post-intervention and analysed using multiple regression with interaction terms. At the overall level, character strengths interventions did not significantly differ from the active control. However, students with lower school adjustment specifically benefited significantly from the growth strengths intervention, reporting greater gains in autonomy and competence. These findings highlight the promise of growth strengths as a compensatory pathway for students struggling to adapt to school and stress the importance of culturally sensitive designs in high-pressure educational contexts. Trial registration: KCT0010992, retrospectively registered 9 September 2025.

This study investigated smartphone dependency trajectories and their associations with predictive variables: gender, family socioeconomic status, and parental smartphone dependency. In addition, we examined both contemporaneous and lagged effects of risk factors (depression, negative peer relationship) and the moderating effects of protective factors (happiness, positive peer relationship). The KCYPS 2018 data for grades 7 to 11 were analyzed using the Latent Growth Modeling method. The findings revealed that smartphone dependency increased during middle school but no significant change in high school. Parental smartphone dependency was the only predictor of initial levels. Depression and negative peer relationships consistently predicted smartphone dependency. Depression showed lagged effects at the beginning of middle and high school, and negative peer relationships exhibited a lagged effect in the third year of middle school. Happiness significantly moderated the impact of depression on smartphone dependency, unlike positive peer relationships, which did not moderate the impact of negative peer relationships. These results highlight the need for tailored intervention strategies that address the complex risk factors influencing adolescents??smartphone dependency.

Students often work on academic tasks in the face of an attractive alternative. In an experimental setting, we examined how students perceive temptation differently across time depending on their self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and autonomy-supportive contexts. Specifically, we focussed on how individual differences in self-efficacy for self-regulated learning interact with different autonomy-supportive contexts (provision of either choice or relevance) to predict students’ perceived temptation, affect, and performance across time. Results indicated that students low in self-efficacy for self-regulated learning perceived an increase in temptation across time, while those high in self-efficacy for self-regulated learning perceived a decrease in temptation across time. Moreover, we found that especially for students with low self-efficacy for self-regulated learning, providing choice opportunities or adding relevance to the task predicted lower temptation, higher positive affect, and lower negative affect.

본 연구의 목적은 학업적 시험 실패상황에서 유발되는 부적 정서를 수치심과 분노로 구분하고, 이 두 개별 정서가 학업적 행동조절에 미치는 영향에 대해 살펴보는 데에 있다. 또한 그 과정에서 학업적 자기효능감과 성취목표지향성의 조절효과에 대하여 확인하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 본 연구에는 초등학교 2개교에서 초등학생 6학년 320명이 참여하였다. 본 실험에서 실패상황은 2개의 시나리오를 통해 조작되었으며, 그 실패 원인이 자신 혹은 타인(교사)에게 있는지 구분하여 각각 수치심 정서와 분노 정서를 유발하도록 하였다. 연구 결과, 첫째, 행동조절에 있어 수치심 정서의 정적 주효과가 나타났으며, 수치심이 행동조절에 미치는 영향을 자기효능감과 숙달회피목표가 조절하였다. 둘째, 수치심 정서와는 달리 행동조절에 있어 분노 정서의 주효과는 유의하지 않았다. 그러나, 분노가 행동조절에 미치는 영향에 있어 수행회피목표의 조절효과가 나타났다.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cognitive appraisal styles (i.e., threat vs. challenge) and feedback types on feedback acceptance and motivation for challenge. We used four feedback types based on valence (positive vs. negative) and orientation (person vs. task). Sixth-graders completed the cognitive appraisal style questionnaire and wrote an essay on their use of smartphones. One week after the writing, they received feedback, and their feedback acceptance and motivation for challenge were measured. Effective feedback types varied depending on students’ appraisal styles. The challenge style demonstrated the highest feedback acceptance for positive task-oriented feedback. Negative task-oriented feedback was the most effective for the threat style. The challenge style showed higher motivation for challenge when receiving positive task-oriented and negative person-oriented feedbacks, whereas the threat style did not. Educators should be encouraged to provide personalized feedback based on students’ cognitive appraisal styles to maximize feedback effects.

본 연구에서는 창의적 자기효능감이 실수에 대한 인식을 매개로 창의적 수행에 영향을 미치는지, 또 실수에 대한 인식의 매개효과가 도전 목표의 제시 여부에 따라 다르게 나타나는지를 검정하고자 하였다. 대학생 134명을 대상으로 창의성 과제를 수행하도록 한 후, 과제 중 실수에 대한 인식을 측정하였다. 이때 참여자들을 두 집단으로 나누어 한 집단에는 도전 목표를 제시하였고 다른 집단에는 단순히 성취 기준만을 제시하였다. 이후 전문가합의법을 활용하여 유창성과 독창성을 평정하였다. 연구 결과 창의적 자기효능감이 높을수록 과제 중 발생하는 실수를 긍정적으로 인식하는 것으로 나타났다. 실수에 대한 인식 중 실수 위험감수는 창의적 자기효능감과 유창성, 독창성 간의 관계를 유의하게 매개하였으며, 도전 목표의 제시 여부가매개효과를 조절하는 것으로 나타났다. 즉, 단순히 성취 기준만 제시한 경우에는 창의적 자기효능감과 실수에 대한 인식, 창의적 수행 간의 매개효과가 유의하지 않았지만, 도전 목표를 제시한 경우에는 실수에 대한 인식의 매개효과가 유의했다. 본 연구 결과는 실수에 대한 긍정적 인식이 대학생의 창의적 수행과 밀접한 관련을 맺으며, 이 과정에서 창의적 자기효능감 증진과 도전 목표의 제시를 중요하게 고려해야 함을 보여준다.The current study investigated that perception of errors mediated the relationship between creative selfefficacy and creative performance. This study also examined whether challenge goal moderated mediating effects of the errors perception. One hundred thirty-four college students performed creative tasks under 1 of 2 groups: Challenge goal group and control group. After performing creative tasks, participants were asked to indicate their perception of errors during creative tasks. Participants creative performance was assessed by using consensual assessment technique. The results showed that creative self-efficacy positively affected the perception of errors. Error risk-taking, especially, mediated the relationship between creative self-efficacy and creative performance (fluency and originality). These mediating effects were only significant when challenge goal was presented. These findings highlight the crucial roles of creative self-efficacy and challenge goal for promoting creative performance.