Mental Constructs Research Articles

Meaning in life of elite athletes: A person-oriented study

Introduction The concept of meaning in life has gained significant attention in psychology research in recent years due to its correlational relationship with physical and mental well-being (i.e., objective and subjective health measures, e.g., Steger, 2012). While recent attention has been directed toward this concept in sport psychology using qualitative research methods (e.g., Ronkainen et al., 2015), quantitative investigations into the specific sources of meaning engaged by athletes are notably scarce. This study (1) compares athletes with the general population and (2) employs a person-oriented approach to identify distinct profiles of athletes’ meaning in life and the sources they predominantly tap into. Methods A sample of 589 elite athletes from Switzerland (50.9% women, 49.1% men; Mage = 24.86 years, SD = 5.09) participated in this study. Utilizing the Meaning and Purpose Scales (MAPS; Schnell & Danbolt, 2023), participants also provided contextual information about their life situations. The athletes were compared with the general population using t-tests. To identify profiles within the athlete population, we employed a latent profile analysis. Results Compared to the general population, athletes exhibit heightened meaningfulness and lower crisis of meaning and prioritise different sources of meaning. Athletes were higher in Growth and Community and lower in Faith, Sustainability and Security. The analysis yielded a three-profile solution based on theoretical considerations and statistical criteria: (1) athletes with below-average meaning in life and sources (n = 127), (2) athletes with above-average meaning in life and faith (n = 109), (3) athletes with above-average meaning in life with balanced sources (n = 353). Athletes in profiles 2 and 3 were characterized by elevated levels of meaningfulness and sources of meaning, and demonstrated greater life satisfaction and self-esteem, relative to the profile with below-average meaning in life and sources. Discussion/Conclusion The identified relationships with key mental health constructs align with qualitative findings emphasizing the centrality of meaningfulness in athletes’ lives. On a nomothetic level, elite athletes indicate a high degree of meaningfulness (compared to the population), however, there is a high degree of heterogeneity within the sample, which is why group-specific analysis (i.e., LPA) could help understanding meaning and its sources in elite athletes. In the future this approach could be useful to tailor programs aimed at cultivating meaning in life of elite athletes.

Short Form of Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire for Adults: Psychometric Properties of Serbian Version.

Mental health literacy (MHL) has been widely explored by researchers who focus on youth mental health. However, there is little data related to the validity and reliability of the tools for the assessment of MHL constructs. The present study aimed to adapt the short version of Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire for young adults in Serbian sample and examine its psychometric properties. Translation and adaptation of items were performed using the following procedures: item are translated from English or Serbian by a bilingual translator and using a think-aloud procedure, back-translation, semantic comparison of the translation, and analysis of the translated version by the original version of the manuscript. The sample consisted of 344 participants aged 17 to 25 years, which is in accordance with the recommended number of participants needed for quantitative instrument validation studies. Confirmatory factor, internal consistency, and external validity analyses were performed. The results supported the validity of a shorter version of the questionnaire (MHLq-SVa), composed of 16 items that fit with four previously defined MHL dimensions (knowledge, beliefs, help-seeking intentions, and self-help strategies). Internal consistency, between-factor correlations, and correlations with other relevant mental health constructs further supported the adequacy of the instrument's psychometric properties. We recommend the MHLq-SVa as valid and reliable measure for assessing MHL in young adults and encourage further exploration at more diverse and representative samples.

Branding in the context of innovative development and sustainable marketing

The article focuses on the aspects of branding in the context of the influence of modern trends in innovation processes and sustainable development goals. The modern transformations of innovation processes under the influence of "closed" (traditional approach) and "open" (new approach) strategies for generating new products and the corresponding process of their branding are studied. The author pays attention to environmental branding as a new and effective method of market positioning through the positioning of the environmental properties of a product, which reduces (softens) the negative impact of production and operation on the environment by promoting products that meet environmental standards. It is established that modern approaches to branding require a comprehensive approach to brand formation as a mental construct and as a social "contract". Today, the effect of marketing brain print ("brain print") is gaining more and more recognition, which requires a focus on branding strategies on the profound sociological, psychological, and cultural impact on the consumer. It has been established that its implementation today is successfully realized thanks to artificial intelligence. Also, its popularization is noted in sustainable marketing approaches, especially as a driving force of modern culture in terms of brand involvement in the target audience of supporters of climate and environmental issues of modern economic development. It is established that the task of emphasizing the environmental properties of products and their corresponding competitive positioning is currently solved by a fundamentally new type of branding called "environmental branding" (eco-branding), which is an activity aimed at creating and introducing an environmentally friendly brand to the market with the help of marketing tools, managing the technology of promotion and advertising support of the brand with an emphasis on the environmental qualities of the product, the basis of which is the formation of a favorable image of the advertised product among consumers. Therefore, the paper describes the aspects of branding related to the process of generating open innovations as the circulation of targeted knowledge flows in the internal and external environment of enterprises, which, on the one hand, allows for more effective socialization of the concept of innovative products and, at the same time, a priori increases the potential level of positive brand perception. At the same time, it is shown (proved) that the increase in the efficiency of economic processes under the influence of consumer activation by such branding is explained by the interaction of triangulation of three determinants: innovation, environmental friendliness, and socialization. It is concluded that a modern innovative environmental brand in the above-mentioned modern conditions is also a conductor of sustainable innovations since, firstly, it popularizes the principles of creating sustainable products through the power of the brand; secondly, the brand ensures that the diffusion and perception of sustainable innovations by consumers is enhanced; thirdly, it ensures the strategic development of the enterprise's mission in new iterations of the future economy and consolidates the company's image as a leading and responsible company. Keywords: innovative development, sustainable marketing, brand, branding, marketing brainprint, brand management

Retracted: The Subject Construction and Role Mental Model Construction of Erotic Movies Based on Lacan's Desire Theory.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1155/2022/7751995.].

Imagining emotions in storyworlds: physiological narrated perception and emotional mental imagery.

Research into narrative experiencing acknowledges the role played by mental imagery in readers' emotional responses and feelings of embodiment. In narratives, mental imagery is frequently evoked through narrated perception, or the textual presentation of sensory perception, as in "The silence in the house was complete". Narrated perception spans the five senses - sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste; however, little attention has been paid to the narrated description of characters' basic physiological processes, that is, those connected to the invisible systems - respiratory, digestive, cardio-vascular, muscular - and their relevance to the mental construction of narrative emotions. This study explores the presentation of fictional characters' physiological processes as a prompt for readers' embodied experience of storyworlds through the metonymic activation of self-relevant emotion schemata. To this purpose, the presentation of characters' internal physiological processes in two fictional samples of similar length - Rosemary Timperley's 1955 ghost story "Harry" and chapter one in Ewan McEwan's 2002 novel Atonement - is analysed. The findings suggests that these descriptions enrich the imagined nature of narrative emotions through underspecification, and increase opportunities for perceived self-relevance and engagement.

The development of the Broaching Assessment Scale: A client-rated measure of therapists’ broaching behaviour in clinical counselling*

Objective: Addressing ethnic-cultural topics during the process of psychotherapy, i.e. broaching, is considered highly important for ethnic minority clients who consult mental health care services. Surprisingly little is known, however, about clients’ perception of a therapist’s broaching qualities, and how clients’ mental construction of broaching translates into behavioural broaching acts a therapist may display. Method: Based on previous work and nine in-depth interviews with ethnic minority clients, a client-rated measure of therapists’ broaching behaviour was developed and psychometrically evaluated in two samples. Sample 1 (N = 252 UK ethnic minority clients) was used to empirically delineate the factor structure of an initial item set. Participants were then resolicited to complete a revised item pool. Results: The empirical structure resulted in a final 25-item broaching instrument with five subscales probing into therapists’ broaching behaviour. This Broaching Assessment Scale (BrAS) was validated in Sample 2 (N = 239 US ethnic minority clients). Strict measurement invariance of the factor structure was observed across the two samples and distinctive correlational patterns with therapeutic process measures were found. Conclusion: The BrAS provides new insights on how sensitivity to ethnic-cultural topics can be targeted along its concrete features, and is a promising tool for conceptualizing culturally sensitive mental healthcare assessment.

Ontology of Plagiarism: the Non Academic Perspectives

Existence of plagiarism is an occupation of education in two dimensions: for learning and a mental process construct of lack of acknowledgement of innovations in learning. Unfortunately, the common concepts of plagiarism has not been clarified in learning process. This paper argues that plagiarism is an inherent natural process of learning. With the objectives; to examine the intrinsic nature of plagiarism and to explore the trans-disciplinary existence of plagiarism in human knowledge as categorised by Dewey Classification scheme 000-999. The study applied positivist paradigm and investigated the existence in relationship between learning processes and plagiarism. The study quantitatively measured opinions of 28 participants in these processes using the Likert scale. Dewey Decimal Classification Systems was used to examine epistemic harnessing of plagiarism in the advancement of different disciplines. The findings were that plagiarism is a natural, intrinsic process of learning through which research, innovations and evolution builds on. The paper concludes by putting a case that acknowledgement and development of referencing and citation technologies are evidence of ontological realities of plagiarism and evidence of the learning process

The "Young Athlete Body Project"-A pilot study evaluating the acceptability of and results from an eating disorder prevention program for adolescent athletes.

The high frequency of eating disorders (EDs) in sports speaks of a need for early-stage preventive measures. This study evaluated the acceptability of an age, sex, and sports adapted version of the "Body Project" and changes in mental health symptoms. This noncontrolled pilot study included a class of athletes from 18 sports (N = 73, 13-14 years) at a sport-specialized junior high school in six small-group workshops. We interviewed 34 athletes on program acceptability, and all athletes responded to questionnaires at pretest, posttest, and 6-month follow-up including the Body Appreciation Scale 2-Children, Social Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 revised, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire Short form-12 modified, and questions about body appearance pressure (BAP). Athletes found the program acceptable and beneficial, but some missed physically oriented activities or did not identify with the focus, particularly boys. There were acceptable levels in mental health constructs before the workshops. There were temporary changes in the percentage of boys experiencing "BAP in society" by -14.8% points (95% CI: -.6 to .0, p = .04), % in total group experiencing "BAP at school" by +11% points (95% CI: .0-.2, p = .05), thinness idealization by girls (g = .6, p = .002) and total group (g = .4, p = .006), and muscularity idealization by boys (g = .3, p = .05) and total group (g = .23, p = .04). Athletes experienced benefits from the Young Athlete Body Project. Seeing stabilization in outcomes may mean a dampening of the otherwise expected worsening in body appreciation and ED symptoms over time. Adolescent athletes are at risk for developing EDs. Due to lack of prevention programs for this group, we adapted and evaluated a well-documented effective program, the Body Project, to fit male and female athletes <15 years. The athletes accepted the program and experienced participation benefits, with stronger acceptance among girls. Our promising findings encourage larger scaled randomized controlled trials to further evaluate a refined version this program among very young athletes.

First-Year Undergraduate Students’ Ways of Thinking in Combinatorics

The fundamental counting principle and counting problems, jointly called combinatorics in this study, commence in the last year of secondary school and proceeds in undergraduate studies and beyond. The South African secondary school situation reflect the same worldwide scenario where counting principles is regarded as difficult and poorly performed in the final national examinations. The purpose of this study was to explore undergraduate students’ mental constructions in solving counting problems against the backdrop of Grade 12 fundamental counting principles. The Action-Process-Object-Schema theory was used to describe undergraduate students’ thinking ways in combinatorics. A single case of a first-year class of 182 students was considered in this study, whereby they all wrote a task on combinatorics and a seven were further interviewed. The findings revealed that students were skilled at solving problems involving the counting principles, which was mainly step-by-step application of the formulae. This conception is at action level according to APOS theory, but the goal of teaching is to guide students to attain the object mental conception. Object conception allows for solving of diverse real-world counting problems and promotes mathematical thinking skills.

The Absolutism of Data: Thinking Artificial Intelligence with Hans Blumenberg

In this article I show how Hans Blumenberg offers a positive but also more nuanced approach to the question of indeterminacy than current algorithmic systems, whilst offering a corrective to its potential metaphysical drifts and dangers. Much of Blumenberg’s work addresses the same question at the heart of the digital namely how to address that which eludes conceptual capture. For Blumenberg theoretico-rational procedures will always be incomplete in addressing a radically contingent, unpredictable world. Born deficient, man also needs “life-worlds” to orient us and shield us from the absolutism of reality. Digital life-worlds are possible to the extent, however, that they remain fictional mental constructs rather than aspire to be “literalized” and compete with reality. Deployed properly, life-worlds ‐ in which such strategies as myth, rhetoric, pensiveness and more generally the art of detour play a crucial role and provide with the constant possibility of interruption and disruption ‐ do not make up for self-reinforcing and enclosed loops but allow for reflexibility, distance and criticality. Instead of seeking to control reality and eliminate contingency ‐ futile tasks to begin with ‐ they offer flexible and resilient constructs that also cultivate the human realm.

Practical Innovation of College Students’ Mental Health Education from the Perspective of Positive Psychology

Abstract This paper first studies the basic characteristics of college student’s mental health and constructs an innovative model of college student’s mental health education based on positive psychology. Then, it explores the basic situation of college student’s mental health and analyzes the differences in the mental health levels of students of different grades and genders. The mental health status and positive psychological quality changes of students before and after teaching were compared. The study showed that more than 30% of the students had mental health problems, and there was a significant difference in the mental health level of students before and after mental health education (t=3.133, p=0.002, p&lt;0.01). This study is of great significance for improving the overall mental health level of students and further enriching research on the cultivation of positive mental qualities.

Exploratory Study on Teacher Team Building of Mental Health Education Programs in Colleges and Universities in the Context of Information Technology

Abstract With the advancement of the information age, the discourse on mental health education is expanding. Building teacher teams for mental health education programs is an essential aspect that has attracted widespread interest. This study investigates the pivotal role of constructing a mental health curriculum focused on cognitive thinking, emotional sensitivity, and willpower. It also establishes the necessary standards for creating a teacher team dedicated to mental health education. Taking College S as a case study, the effectiveness of the mental health education teaching team is evaluated, with suggestions provided for further development in similar educational settings. The overall mean value of mental health education teacher team construction in the sample colleges is 3.47, among which, the mean value of “training management” is 3.14, which is not satisfactory. S colleges and universities have more severe structural imbalance and teacher development problems when it comes to training management, with mean values of 2.02 and 2.65 for the number of training and the training effect, respectively. Through the study, it is found that the optimization of the construction of the teacher team for mental health education courses in colleges and universities needs to be started from the cultivation and management of teachers and that the improvement of the conditions of the school and the environment of the development of human resources is the first link, so as to solve the problem of the construction of the teacher team of mental health education courses in the actual practice. Mental Health Education Program teachers are experiencing team-building issues.

Research on the Integration of Music Curriculum and College Students’ Mental Health Education in Colleges and Universities in the Context of the New Era

Abstract With social progress and technological development, contemporary college students are under increasing pressure in life and study. Music’s role in regulating physical and mental health has been underlined and gradually used in students’ mental health education. Based on the regulating function of music education on students’ psychology, the study proposes the education model of integrating music courses with mental health education and constructs the model of mental health examination (MMHE) that integrates signal characteristics and emotional characteristics of college students to test the mental health level of college students under this education model, so as to explore the effect of integrating music courses on mental health education. In the group of college students, those with good mental health accounted for 63.39% of the total number of students, those with mild mental problems accounted for 31.25%, those with moderate mental problems accounted for 3.87%, and those with more severe mental problems accounted for 1.49%. Among the students with mental health education integrating music, the values of the 10 dimensions of mental health decreased, and the p-value in obsessive-compulsive symptoms, paranoia, hostility, anxiety, maladaptation, emotional instability, and psychological imbalance was less than 0.05, which was a significant effect. Based on this, teachers must base music activities to optimize students’ psychological quality in the teaching of mental health in colleges and universities, and further bring into play the nurturing value of the music discipline.

Space Adventure Game-Based Learning: How Games and Scaffolds Affect Eighth Graders' Physics Learning and Game Immersion

Game-based learning (GBL) has long been recognized as an effective way to engage students in learning through games, but little emphasis has been placed on scaffolding support for students, which hinders their learning. Therefore, our design of Space Adventure GBL ties games closely to scaffolds at every stage and investigates what role games and scaffolds play and whether greater exposure to games and scaffolds can boost learning. Six classes of 152 8th graders were randomly assigned to unlimited gaming and scaffolding group, limited scaffolding group, and limited gaming group. Students' learning outcomes in physics are optimized when they have unlimited access to GBL's gaming and scaffolding. All three groups perceived similar levels of engagement, engrossment and total immersion. According to regression, time spent mastering the scaffolds on their first attempt is the most determinant predictor of physics concept learning and engagement, whereas winning the games for the first-time predicts mental model construction, engrossment and total immersion the most. This study sheds light on future GBL studies that closely tying scaffolds and games challenges could motivate and facilitate students to master scaffolds and win games on their first attempts, resulting in better physics learning performance and more game immersion.

Impact of information on human health: Educational and professional aspects

Currently, the information space has a great influence on all types of human activity, allowing us to form a worldview, habits and skills necessary for life. However, global informatization and digitalization, affecting bodily, mental and social constructs, affects the duration and quality of life. The information a person receives affects his physical, mental and social well-being. The problem of security of information flows, especially in educational and professional activities, is relevant because it has a complex impact on the human body. The article examines the impact of information flows on human health and reveals the impact of the modern digital environment on a person’s physical, mental health and social wellbeing. The purpose of the work was to study the complex impact of modern information flows on individual and public health, as well as systematize measures aimed at reducing the negative effects of this process. There are general approaches to considering the problem of information flows and their impact on humans, which we are trying to present. A set of information hygiene and safety measures is proposed in the context of maintaining health, increasing the effectiveness of training and optimizing professional performance. The development of a culture of safe behavior in the information society involves a transformation of attitudes towards “information security” from the meaning of protecting information to ensuring the “security” of information for individuals and society.

Growing up in transit. Personal development and resistance of migrant adolescents travelling through Mexico unaccompanied

Mexico is a major global migration corridor. The last decade has seen an increase in adolescents travelling unaccompanied from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, mainly due to violence and natural disasters. This group of migrants is exposed to migration risks such as trafficking and exploitation, as well as multiple deportations and long waiting times without appropriate access to health and education services. These conditions have significant documented adverse impacts on health and mental health, but the impact on personal development has been less explored. Thus, this article aims to explore the impact of migration transit on identity and resilience of unaccompanied migrant youth, psychosocial mental health constructs that are important for wellbeing and personal development. Through 47 semi-structured interviews conducted with migrant youth and different migration workers in summer 2021 in two migrant shelters in Mexico City and Guadalajara, we found that possibilities for identity building for migrant youth were restricted in a context of curbed freedom. Violence and poverty led to loss of crucial formative years, pushing many to aspire only to work – regardless of the type of work. Resilience overlapped with resistance but was generally maintained with cultural narratives of goal achievement, faith and hope. Strong responsibility towards sending remittances to family made family one of the main goals of the migration journey. Workers highlighted how regional migration management, underlined by discriminatory policies which place profit and national security ideology before a recognition of common humanity, is a considerable barrier to funding services and advancing access to rights for youth. However, youth showed recognition of their own agency and humanity, which represents an important basis on which to build a counter-discriminatory vision and management of this migration. Results are reported according to COREQ guidelines.

The Perception of Christians on the Doctrine of Trinity in Selected African Initiated Churches in Niger Delta

The question about the reality, nature and function of the Trinity in Christianity has evolved subjective theological and philosophical perspectives and debates among researchers, and more so is the issue of adapting the doctrine into African-initiated churches. The issue as it affects African Christianity in the Niger Delta has not been adequately addressed empirically. Thus, this study investigates and analyses the perceptions of Christians about the Trinity among selected African Initiated Churches. Quantitative research approach was adopted using a purposive sampling technique to explore the perceptions of selected church leaders about the concept of Trinity. Data were collected through the use of questionnaires from 50 selected church leaders from Celestial Church of Christ and the Apostolic Church in Niger Delta. The findings show that while most Christians understand the Trinity in terms of unity in diversity, some believe it is just mere normal church doctrine; whereas they all accept that there is timeless mystery of the Trinity beyond the mental construct of man from both churches. The study concluded that there is no consensus in the theological interpretation and conceptualisation of Trinity among African-initiated churches in the Niger Delta. Hence, the study recommends proper theological education as a means of addressing the problem wrong perception about the Trinity.

Сравнительно-географический анализ студенческих ментальных карт Ставрополя и Пятигорска

The article attempts to identify and analyze students’ mental and geographical representations of urban space. The two largest cities of the Stavropol Territory, which are student centers in the region, are considered. The information base of the study is based on social mapping during a survey of students in Stavropol and Pyatigorsk. The views and ideas of modern geographers on mental mapping of cities are analyzed and used in practice. The research methodology is based on the study of mental maps created directly by students. Using the spatial approach, the mental and geographical structure of the selected cities was identified and investigated. Student mental maps have a linear-node type of structure, in which linear elements correspond to the streets of the city, nodes are represented by different types of points of interest. Generalization of the collected data made it possible to compile and study a mental and geographical model of Stavropol and Pyatigorsk. In these models, mental clusters and the factors of their formation are identified and investigated. Universities have played an important role in the formation of mental constructions about urban areas among students. The quality of student mental maps depends on their location, place in the history of cities, and participation in urban processes. Using the example of urban transport, trade and food networks, a number of cases and practices of forming mental elements in students are considered. In the course of a comparative analysis of cities, their similar and specific features are determined from the point of view of student perception of urban space. Quantitative comparisons of cities are not possible, the potential of similar studies lies in highlighting urban uniqueness and solving local urban problems.

Subject competency and teacher knowledge: An exploration of second-year pre-service mathematics teachers’ difficulties in solving logarithmic problems using basic rules for logarithm

Pre-service mathematics teachers’ (PMTs) subject competency continues to engage scholars and researchers. Understanding level of knowledge of concepts that PMTs bring to their learning in university is crucial to developing their teacher knowledge. This article examines genetic decomposition of schemas PMTs in one university in South Africa build (to know about rules) for solving logarithmic equations. A mixed methods approach, and the action-process-object-schema (APOS) theory were employed to examine mental construction the 19 purposively selected PMTs that responded to a 90-minute simple logarithm research task (LRT) made while solving problems. Analysis of task scripts using percentage score forms the basis of the qualitative phase of the research. Individual interview was useful to elicit PMTs’ views and perceptions of their encountered difficulties in solving LRT problems. One common difficulty was proving the logarithmic equation. This highlights gaps in PMTs’ prior knowledge of logarithmic concepts and basic rules. Implications of the findings for PMT subject competency were discussed.

The Maqashid Sharia Construction on Inheritance in Dayak Ngaju Customs within the Tumbang Anoi Agreement

The customary inheritance settlement of Dayak Ngaju determines the distribution of heirs based on consensus referring to their compliance with the common law in the Tumbang Anoi 1894 agreement. The Dayak Ngaju Muslim community, in the settlement of inheritance disputes, still pays attention to Islamic law, but they do not ignore traditional inheritance. The research aimed to analyze the maqashid sharia construction on inheritance in Dayak Ngaju customs within the Tumbang Anoi agreement. This research was normative legal research with a historical approach. The data was in the form of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The research showed that the construction of maqashid sharia follows the mental construction, the philosophy of the distribution inheritance procedures of the Dayak Ngaju custom in the Tumbang Anoi agreement, which emphasizes the principle of peace. This agreement adopts a philosophy carried out by the diversity of its people, which highly values peace. Generally, the spirit of peace in this context also means that there is no complexity in the distribution of inheritance. The attraction of the Tumbang Anoi agreement is that people who gather in the Dayak community are one of the hundreds of Dayak community groups.