Human trafficking is a violation of human rights and a global public health crisis with many victims sustaining acute and long-term injuries as well as mental health disorders. Victims face multifaceted barriers to recovery, including restricted health care access, intense fear of retribution, and the profound psychological manipulation exerted by traffickers. However, most victims will seek health care services at some point during their captivity making health care professionals pivotal as "frontline" responders. Despite this critical role, a significant gap exists in professional preparedness. Many health care professionals have not received adequate education or specialized training to detect the indicators or to navigate the complexities of intervention. To bridge this gap, developing robust, evidence-based education programs is essential for all health care professionals.This article explores the necessity of targeted human trafficking training, with a specific focus on simulation-based education. Simulation offers a high-fidelity, low-risk environment where health care professionals can practice clinical identification, communication strategies, and interdisciplinary coordination. By mimicking real-world clinical encounters, simulation-based training empowers professionals to address the vast and complex needs survivors effectively. Also discussed are various simulation-based training programs, highlighting their efficacy in improving clinician confidence and patient outcomes in regards to victims of human trafficking.

The relationship between parental psychological control and adolescent social anxiety: A mediation analysis of self-identity and psychological resilience.

Longitudinal relations between parental psychological control and adolescents' problematic smartphone use: intraindividual reaction time variability matters.

Know yourself, be yourself: Self-concept clarity as a mediator between parental psychological control and happiness orientations

The impact of love withdrawal and authority assertion on the conscience of Chinese children: Chain mediating effects of parent-child attachment and psychological resilience.

Latent profiles of parental control and their association with adolescent anxiety: Evidence from latent profile and psychological network analyses.

The Two Facet Model of Parental Psychological Control (PPC) stipulates that both intrusiveness and emotional manipulation are core facets of PPC, and intrusiveness varies by culture. However, established scales neglected to measure intrusiveness and operationalized intrusiveness with results mainly from white/European families. We tested the Two Facet Model of Parental Psychological Control with Korean adolescents (N = 354, 13-16 years old, 207 female-identified adolescents) via an online survey. We assessed what Korean adolescents believed to be intrusive parenting by asking about 25 areas in their lives. We measured emotional manipulation based on its definitions and tactics. As hypothesized, the intrusiveness and emotional manipulation scales were significantly positively correlated with established PPC scales, and intrusiveness functioned differently from emotional manipulation. These results buttress the utility of separately measuring intrusiveness and emotional manipulation. Hence, we provide empirical support for the Two Facet Model of Parental Psychological Control.

ABSTRACT Objectives Agricultural entrepreneurs face significant occupational stressors, including long working hours, and blurred work-life boundaries. These factors contribute to an increased risk of burnout, yet little research has explored how recovery experiences – psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control – impact their mental health. This study examines the role of recovery experiences in reducing burnout and assesses whether satisfaction with work-life balance mediates this relationship. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using survey data from 916 agricultural entrepreneurs in France. Participants completed validated measures assessing recovery experiences, satisfaction with work-life balance, and burnout. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test direct and indirect associations between recovery dimensions and burnout, while accounting for control variables such as age, sex, relationship status, number of children, weekly working hours, and farm type. Results Findings indicate that recovery experiences play a crucial role in maintaining satisfaction with work-life balance and reducing burnout. Psychological detachment (β = 0.190, p < .001), relaxation (β = 0.254, p < .001), and control (β = 0.317, p < .001) were positively associated with satisfaction with work-life balance, supporting H1. Satisfaction with work-life balance was significantly related to lower burnout levels (β = –0.399, p < .001), supporting H2. Direct negative associations between relaxation (β = –0.153, p = .001) and control (β = –0.132, p = .001) with burnout were observed, supporting H3. Psychological detachment (β = –0.076, p < .001), relaxation (β = –0.101, p < .001), and control (β = –0.126, p < .001) had significant indirect effects on burnout through satisfaction with work-life balance, supporting H4. Mastery did not show significant associations with satisfaction with work-life balance or burnout. Conclusion This study highlights the critical role of recovery experiences in mitigating burnout among agricultural entrepreneurs. While relaxation and control directly reduce burnout, psychological detachment primarily influences burnout through improved satisfaction with work-life balance. These findings suggest that targeted interventions, such as promoting structured recovery practices and satisfaction with work-life balance strategies, could enhance mental health in this high-risk population. Future research should explore longitudinal designs and cross-cultural comparisons to further understand recovery experiences among self-employed workers in agriculture.

SYNOPSIS Objective. When parents communicate with their children, their tone of voice plays a vital role in shaping their children’s emotional and motivational reactions. Understanding why some parents use their voice differently from others, whether due to stable individual traits or situational factors, can provide insights into how parenting practices are expressed and how they affect children. This study investigates how individual differences in parents” characteristics, including autonomy support (supporting child choice and volition), psychological control (parenting through pressure, guilt, or coercion), authoritarian attitudes (beliefs that children should be obedient, respect, authority, and follow rules without negotiation), and stress levels, influence parents” vocal behavior during interactions with their children. Design. Using two samples of Dutch- (N = 210) and English-speaking mothers and fathers (N = 169), we analyzed acoustic properties of speech (i.e. pitch, amplitude, speech rate, and voice quality), during simulated parenting scenarios. Results. Mothers who reported higher levels of psychological control consistently articulated harsher-sounding voices. Mothers and fathers high on authoritarianism spoke more slowly than parents low on authoritarianism, whereas stress showed less consistent associations with vocal behavior. Conclusions. These findings highlight the role of differences in parenting practices, personality traits, and stress in the prediction of parental prosody in parent-child interactions.

Fear of negative evaluation as a longitudinal mediator between maternal psychological control and social avoidance in adolescents: A cross-lagged panel model.

Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this study examines the potential mediating role of needs fulfillment between the work-family conflict (WFC-FWC) and the use of psychological control with children and collegues. Self-determination theory views psychological control as dysfunctional interpersonal behaviour determined by stressors and thus associated with a frustration of needs. A sample of 380 Italian dual-earner couples fill-in questionnaires through which it was possible to highlight a partial mediating role of the needs fulfillment, suggesting that conflicts between work and family demands may undermine needs thereby increasing the likelihood of controlling behaviors. These findings underscore the importance of addressing both partners' experiences in dual-career families and highlight psychological needs as a potential target for interventions aimed at reducing the negative spillover of work stress into parenting and viceversa.

Human trafficking involving minors constitutes one of the most serious forms of criminal exploitation, given children’s heightened psychological vulnerability and their limited capacity for autonomous and informed decision-making. This article explores the interplay between psychological control and victim vulnerability in the offence of human trafficking, focusing on how these dimensions shape the legal qualification of acts of transportation, transfer and harbouring. From a legal psychology standpoint, such acts should not be viewed solely as physical or logistical conduct, but as processes that actively contribute to psychological domination, social isolation, and the maintenance of exploitative control. Against this background, the article examines how psychological control exercised over minors influences the interpretation of the objective element of the offence and, consequently, the legal classification of trafficking-related acts. Drawing on concepts from developmental psychology, theories of coercive control, and trauma research, vulnerability is conceptualized as a dynamic and situational condition, rooted in age-related cognitive and emotional immaturity, dependency on adults, and increased susceptibility to manipulation. Acts of transportation and transfer are analysed as mechanisms that sever protective social ties and intensify disorientation, thereby reinforcing the minor’s reliance on the trafficker. Harbouring is examined as a strategy of sustained control, characterized by isolation, surveillance, and the normalization of exploitative conditions. By integrating psychological analysis with criminal law reasoning, the article underscores the risk of misinterpreting the objective element of human trafficking when psychological dimensions are overlooked. It is argued that recognizing psychological control as an integral component of trafficking conduct supports a functional interpretation of trafficking acts and justifies the application of aggravating circumstances in cases involving minors. The article concludes that incorporating legal psychology into the assessment of child trafficking enhances judicial understanding of victim behaviour, strengthens legal qualification, and promotes a more effective and victim-centred application of anti-trafficking legislation.

Adolescence is a crucial transitional phase in identity formation vulnerable to imbalanced power relations and gender exploitation. This study aims to deconstruct the dynamics of exploitation in adolescents through the lens of the Sociology of Education by analyzing Aurélie Moeremans' memoir, Broken Strings (2025). Employing a descriptive qualitative method with a literature review approach, primary data were sourced from the memoir text through comprehensive document studies and analyzed using critical theory-based coding techniques. The analysis integrates Michel Foucault’s concepts of the Panopticon and Power/Knowledge to identify disciplinary mechanisms, alongside Radical Feminist theories from Adrienne Rich, Kate Millett, and Andrea Dworkin to examine bodily control and domestication. The findings reveal that perpetrators construct “regimes of truth” through religious doctrines and psychological manipulation (grooming) to paralyze the victim's autonomy. This study concludes that such phenomena represent the failure of educational and family institutions to foster Paulo Freire’s “conscientization” (critical consciousness), necessitating a transformation toward critical pedagogy as a preventive measure.

Image-guided percutaneous needle puncture is a critical yet challenging clinical procedure, constrained by the high cognitive demand of mental model construction and manipulation of 3D anatomy via scrolling through 2D cross-sectional images. While virtual reality (VR) simulators provide a risk-free training platform, many focus on simulation fidelity but lack structured, self-directed learning frameworks. In this paper, we present PunctVR, a VR system that incorporates the instructional principles of scaffolding. PunctVR features a training mode employing a phased subgoal workflow and instructional guidance scaffolding, and an assessment-only test mode where both the workflow and enhanced 3D visualization are removed. We conducted a between-subject experiment with 16 physicians, comparing training using a baseline multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) view with a combined MPR + 3D visualization across two difficulty levels. Our test mode results indicate that all trainees significantly improved their performance after training. Furthermore, those who trained with the integrated 3D visualization achieved a greater reduction in puncture time in both easy and hard cases. These findings suggest that PunctVR effectively enhances procedural efficiency in simulated needle puncture training and provides important insights into how learning scaffolding can accelerate skill acquisition and retention for image-guided interventions.

Scant research has explored short-term relations between daily parenting lability, which describes day-to-day fluctuations in parenting behaviors, and adolescent maladaptation, including externalizing and internalizing problems. This study used month-long daily diary data, collected between April 2019 to September 2020,from parents (n = 2,364 observations) and adolescents (n = 2,131 observations) in a sample of 93 Canadian adolescents (Mage = 14.5 years, 54.8% female, 45.2% non-White) and one of their parents (Mage = 43.8 years, 72.8% female, 39.8% non-White). Results suggest that daily lability in psychological control and non-harsh discipline was particularly associated with adolescent externalizing problems based on parent reports. These findings unveiled evidence supporting parenting specificity, with significant daily associations between parenting lability and adolescent maladaptation -primarily emerging in parent reports.

Parental psychological control and problematic smartphone use in Chinese early adolescents: shyness as a mediator and teacher-student relationship as a moderator.

Parental psychological control and depression from late childhood to early adolescence: a four-wave longitudinal study of emotional resilience and gender differences.

Cybervictimization has been identified as a predictor of cyberbullying among adolescents, yet the conditions under which this association varies remain underexplored. The Dark Triad traits and parental psychological control have been theorized to influence how victims respond to online aggression, but empirical evidence on their moderating roles is mixed. A two-wave longitudinal sample of 1100 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.77, 57.8% boys) was recruited from three secondary schools in Hubei Province, China. At T1, participants completed measures of traditional bullying victimization, cybervictimization, cyberbullying, Dark Triad traits, and parental psychological control. Six months later (T2), they reported their frequency of cyberbullying. Hierarchical linear regression analyses tested the direct and moderating effects. Given the low base rate and floor effects in cyberbullying scores, we conducted methodological sensitivity analyses using logistic regression as a robustness check. Controlling for gender, traditional bullying victimization, and baseline cyberbullying, T1 cybervictimization predicted higher T2 cyberbullying. This association was stronger among adolescents higher in Dark Triad traits. Parental psychological control showed no reliable main effect or two-way moderation, but a significant three-way interaction indicated the strongest association when both Dark Triad and parental psychological control were high. Logistic regression models replicated the cybervictimization effect and Dark Triad traits moderation, whereas the three-way interaction was marginally significant in Machiavellianism. These findings suggest that cybervictimization predicts subsequent cyberbullying in adolescence, particularly among adolescents with high Dark Triad traits. Parental psychological control appears to exacerbate the link between cybervictimization and later cyberbullying primarily when adolescents also report high Dark Triad traits. This pattern was more evident when predicting differences in the frequency of cyberbullying than when predicting whether adolescents engaged in any cyberbullying at all.

Although Chinese parents' use of psychological control has been linked with adolescent mental health, no studies to our knowledge have considered how the association may differ across gender dyads of parents and adolescents and minimal research has examined the joint influences of Chinese mothers' and fathers' use of psychological control on adolescent depressive symptoms. Participants included 3069 Chinese adolescents who rated their depressive symptoms as well as their mothers' and fathers' use of psychological control. Regression results revealed that the positive association between fathers' psychological control and depressive symptoms was significant at low but not at high levels of mothers' psychological control. Moreover, the positive association between fathers' psychological control and depressive symptoms was significant for daughters but not for sons. Mothers' psychological control was consistently positively associated with adolescent depressive symptoms. Findings from this study provide a more nuanced understanding of how gender dyads within Chinese families may influence the link between parental psychological control and adolescent depressive symptoms and highlight the importance for mental health programs to include fathers in their treatment plans when working with Chinese adolescents and their families.

ABSTRACT Oath-taking ceremonies are common spiritual practices in some African regions. Oath-taking can be exploited as a means of psychological control within human trafficking. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 West African women living in the UK who had experienced oath-taking when being trafficked to the UK. Thematic analysis generated four themes: Exploiting Fear of the Oath, Shifting of Power, Loss, and Living Alongside the Oath’s Impact. Survivors described factors influencing the oath’s ongoing impact on their lives. Findings highlight the need for greater recognition and targeted training regarding oath-taking within trafficking, plus recommendations for holistic, culturally sensitive clinical care.