Identifying which factors influence depressive symptom during the COVID-19 pandemic is highly significant for psychological crisis interventions among adolescents. Social support is likely to be one of the main factors. However, the underlying mechanism is still not well understood in the context of COVID-19. The current study examines whether loneliness and meaning in life mediate the association between social support and depressive symptoms in adolescents. A sample of 1,317 high school students in China were surveyed using the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Chinese Child Loneliness Scale, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. The results showed that social support predicted depressive symptoms directly and indirectly by enhancing loneliness and diminishing the sense of meaning in life. These findings help in providing new entry points in the design of effective depression prevention and intervention for adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and associated infection control measures have introduced significant uncertainty, and the unbearable nature of this uncertainty has heightened the risk of mental health issues among college students. This study aimed to assess the impact of unbearable uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic on college students’ depression and investigate the mediating role of coping strategies between unbearable uncertainty and depression. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 714 Chinese university students using the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS-12), Brief Coping Style Questionnaire, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). SPSS PROCESS was used for the partial correlation analyses and structural equation modeling. (1) Negative coping strategies were significantly positively correlated with intolerable uncertainty and depressive symptoms, while positive coping strategies were negatively correlated with both intolerable uncertainty and depressive symptoms. Intolerable uncertainty was significantly and positively correlated with depressive symptoms. (2) Intolerance to uncertainty significantly predicted depressive symptoms. Both negative and positive coping strategies played parallel mediating roles in the relationship between unbearable uncertainty and depressive symptoms among college students. This study found that coping strategies played a mediating role in the relationship between unbearable uncertainty and depression during the pandemic in 2019. Future research and interventions should focus on enhancing tolerance of uncertainty and promoting positive coping strategies.

This study aimed to investigate the relationships between depression and bedtime procrastination (BP), and the mediating effect of the brooding and perceived stress (PS). Based on the self-regulatory failure theory of procrastination in a temporal context and response styles theory, we constructed a chain mediation model. Total of 1136 participants (389 males and 747 females) completed the online questionnaire. In the present study, the participants were asked to fill The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS). The results showed that high level of depression positively affected brooding, and high level of brooding further positively affected PS, thus leading to BP. However, we did not find the mediating effect of brooding between depression and BP. This indicated that mood plays an important role in the mechanism of depression's effect on BP. The findings revealed pathways between depression and BP and was of great significance for the intervention of BP.

Psychological studies have generally shown that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have particularity in the processing of social information by using static or abstract images. Yet, a recent study showed that there was no difference in their use of social or non-social cues in dynamic interactive situations. To establish the cause of the inconsistent results, we added gaze cues in different directions to the chase detection paradigm to explore whether they would affect the performance of participants with ASD. Meanwhile, eye-tracking methodology was used to investigate whether the processing patterns of gaze cues were different between individuals with ASD and TD. In this study, unlike typical controls, participants with ASD showed no detection advantage when the direction of gaze was consistent with the direction of movement (oriented condition). The results suggested that individuals with ASD may utilize an atypical processing pattern, which makes it difficult for them to use social information contained in oriented gaze cues in dynamic interactive situations.

Fatalistic voluntarism and classic fatalism have opposite effects on depression. This study attempted to measure fatalistic voluntarism with the magnanimity of Taoist values and examined the internal mechanism by which classic fatalism and magnanimity influenced depression. A total of 525 Chinese college students effectively completed self-reported questionnaires. Results showed that classic fatalism is positively correlated with depression, and magnanimity is negatively correlated with depression. Furthermore, classic fatalism and magnanimity can influence depression in Chinese college students through serial mediation by locus of control and positive coping. These findings illuminate the mediating role of locus of control and positive coping, providing specific ways to use two different belief systems, which can help reduce depressive symptoms among college students. In addition, our study may provide some ideas for the development of local culture in the promotion of mental health in different regions.