At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many workplaces transitioned to remote work, which altered lifestyle behaviors. We conducted a meta-analysis to understand if the transition to working from home due to the pandemic affected workers’ physical activity and sedentary behavior worldwide. We reviewed articles published between November 2019 and May 2022. Of an initial 3485 articles, a total of 17 were included, 15 of 17 were included for their physical activity (PA) comparisons (n = 36,650), and 12 of 17 (n = 57,254) were included for their sedentary behavior (SB) comparisons (10 studies have data for both PA and SB). This work is registered through PROSPERO (CRD42022356000). Working from home resulted in a significant decrease in PA (Hedge’s g = −0.29, 95% CI [−0.41, −0.18]) and an increase in SB (Hedge’s g = +0.36, 95% CI [0.20, 0.52]). Working from home impaired preventative activity behaviors, and these results are relevant to worker health as the future of work evolves beyond the pandemic.

Prior research has revealed a link between peer victimization and somatic complaints in healthy youth; however, the peer victimization experiences of youth with clinically significant chronic pain have not been examined. This study aims to determine rates of peer victimization among youth seeking treatment for chronic pain and to compare these rates to a community control group. Relationships between peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and functional disability are also examined. One hundred forty-three adolescents (70 with chronic pain) completed measures assessing their experience of traditional (physical, relational, reputational) and cyber-based peer victimization, as well as measures assessing their depressive symptoms and pain-related functional disability. Peer victimization experiences were common among youth with and without chronic pain. Within the chronic pain group, there were differences in rates of peer victimization as a function of the adolescent's school setting. Adolescents with chronic pain attending traditional schools reported more frequent peer victimization experiences than adolescents with pain not enrolled in school or attending online/home school. Within the chronic pain sample, peer victimization was moderately associated with depressive symptoms and functional disability. Tests of a simple mediation model revealed a significant indirect effect of peer victimization on functional disability, through depression. These results are the first to systematically document the peer victimization experiences of adolescents with chronic pain. Peer victimization is commonly experienced, particularly for those enrolled in traditional school settings. Associations with depressive symptoms and functional disability suggest that peer victimization may be a useful target for intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) is widely used to measure emotional experiences, but not much is known about its cross-cultural utility. The present study evaluated the measurement invariance of the SPANE across adult samples (N = 12,635; age range = 18-85 years; 58.2% female) from 13 countries (China, Colombia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, and the United States). Configural and partial scalar invariance of the SPANE were supported. Three items capturing specific negative emotions (sad, afraid, and angry) were found to be culturally noninvariant. Our findings suggest that the SPANE’s positive emotion terms and general negative emotion terms (e.g., negative and unpleasant) might be more suitable for cross-cultural studies on emotions and well-being, whereas caution is needed when comparing countries using the SPANE’s specific negative emotion items.

Perfectionism research has been recently extending its scope internationally. The short forms of the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001; Rice, Richardson, & Tueller, 2014) and the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS; Cox, Enns, & Clara, 2002; Hewitt & Flett, 1990), originally validated with North American samples, have been translated for use on Italian samples. However, these tests have yet to be evaluated for measurement equivalence between the respective countries. Both scales were administered to undergraduate students in the USA (N = 336) and Italy (N = 201). Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses supported partial scalar invariance for both scales, indicating functional equivalence across cultures. Italian students reported lower levels of perfectionistic strivings. No meaningful differences in perfectionistic concerns were found between countries. Further study is needed to assess why some items and factors may differ between Italia...

This study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of both the Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS) and the Short Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (SMPS), and the academic implications of perfectionism on 414 Italian college students aged between 18 and 58 years. Results revealed some limitations with the SAPS factor structure that, once addressed, yielded scores with good internal consistency and convergent validity. The SMPS had adequate psychometric properties. Higher perfectionistic strivings scores were associated with better academic performance and with higher rates of studying. This study provides support for the usefulness of both the SAPS and the SMPS in understanding relationships between different perfectionism dimensions and academic outcomes for Italian students.