Internet addiction is prevalent among adolescents and is associated with various negative outcomes. Relatively few studies examined the role of emotion dysregulation and social support on Internet ...addiction in this population. The present examined the association between emotion dysregulation, social support, and Internet addiction among junior secondary school students in Hong Kong. The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and Internet use on the relationship between social support and Internet addiction and the gender difference in such association were also tested.
A total of 862 junior secondary school students (grade 7 to 8) from 4 schools completed a cross-sectional survey.
10.9% scored above the cut-off for Internet addiction based on the Chen Internet Addiction Scale. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that social support was negatively related to emotion dysregulation and Internet usage, which in turn, were positively related to Internet addiction. Results from multi-group analysis by gender showed that the relationship between social support and emotion dysregulation, Internet usage, and Internet addiction, and those between emotion dysregulation and Internet addiction and between Internet usage and Internet addiction were stronger among female participants.
Emotion dysregulation is a potential risk factor while social support is a potential protective factor for Internet addiction. The role of social support on emotion dysregulation and Internet addiction were stronger among female students. Gender-sensitive interventions on Internet Addiction for adolescents are warranted, such interventions should increase social support and improve emotion regulation.
Purpose;
– This study aims to investigate generational disparities of Chinese Generation (Gen) X and Y tourists by examining their loyalty determinants in a luxury hotel setting.
...Design/methodology/approach
– A survey of five-star hotel guests in Macau yielded 285 complete responses. Structural equation modeling was used to test the quality-loyalty framework through the mediating roles of perceived value and satisfaction, with a multi-group comparison to examine generational differences.
Findings
– The results indicate that top quality rooms and services are high on the agenda of both generations, while Gen X places more weight on convenience and food and Gen Y on security; satisfaction does not induce loyalty, whereas value fully or partially mediates the quality-loyalty relationship; and Gen X is value-centered in building loyalty, yet Gen Y exhibits both value consciousness and stronger demands for upscale quality features.
Practical implications
– The findings help hotel managers cater to different generations by improving determinant attributes of service quality and enhancing hotel value.
Originality/value
– The study makes noteworthy contributions to the generational differences of Chinese tourists and sheds light on future research in tourism and hospitality to explore the characteristics of young generations.
Growing social media use in young adults may have applications in health promotion. This study aimed to determine the acceptability and feasibility of using Instagram to disseminate nutritional ...information to young Australians and assess the most preferred post style. A cross-sectional web-based pilot survey was conducted in 18−30-year-olds residing in New South Wales. Eight sets of mock Instagram posts were generated comprising three formats: (i) text/icon, (ii) realistic image, or (iii) video. Respondents (n = 108) were asked to review and rank posts from highest to lowest according to likelihood of engagement, visual preference, motivation to change eating behaviors, and relevancy of information. The Friedman test (Wilcoxon signed-rank test post hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction) was conducted to determine differences between the three post styles. Video style posts were more likely to be engaged with (p < 0.001), visually preferred (p < 0.001), more motivating to change eating behaviors (p < 0.001), and presented the most relevant food and nutrition knowledge (p < 0.001) compared with the other post styles. Most participants reported that Instagram was a suitable platform to share food and nutrition information (96%). The findings of this pilot study can be used to inform a large study that investigates the use of Instagram among a more diverse population and with a greater number of video posts tailored for audience segmentation.
Travel is the best education. There has been, however, a paucity of research investigating educational benefits for children that motivate family travelers, in particular for the burgeoning Chinese ...market. This paper develops a conceptual model to test hypothesized relationships leading from motivation for children's experiential learning to educational benefits, through engagement at world heritage site (WHS) locations. In addition, the joint moderating effect of the WHS′ brand awareness and generation of Chinese family travelers is investigated. The results indicate that family travel at a WHS brings positive learning outcomes. Furthermore, children's experiential learning is more effective at a well-known WHS, although this moderating effect is diminishing among Generation Y family travelers. These findings advance the knowledge of Chinese family tourists and their generational differences in educational practices during travel. Managerial and marketing implications are also discussed.
•Children's educational benefits at a WHS are investigated for Chinese family travelers.•The joint moderating effect of brand awareness and generation is examined.•Engagement at WHS locations is motivated by children's experiential learning and brings positive educational outcomes.•WHS brand awareness reinforces the motivation-engagement and engagement-benefits relationships.•The moderating effects of brand awareness are weaker for Generation Y travelers.
•A tripartite customer–manager–coworker multilevel framework has been developed.•An angel manager to employees alleviates customer-induced burnout.•An angel manager to customers aggravates ...customer-induced burnout.•Customer-induced burnout is reduced by cooperative coworkers.•Customer-induced burnout is not exacerbated by intra-team competition.
The customer is not always right, but he or she is always the customer. Building on the cognitive appraisal theory, a multilevel design was adopted to examine how customer incivility arouses burnout of frontline employees in resort retail stores and in turn jeopardizes their brand commitment. The moderating effects of workplace dynamics, including managers’ emotional intelligence and customer orientation as well as coopetitive coworker climates, are also examined. A mixed result implies that an angel manager to employees will alleviate the stress induced by uncivil customers, while an angel manager to customers could unexpectedly add to the pressure on the sales force. In addition, customer-induced burnout is reduced by cooperative coworkers but not exacerbated by intra-team competition. This study advances the research on hospitality frontline employees’ workplace distress by investigating a tripartite customer–manager–coworker dynamic and provides managerial insights for service industries to improve employees’ psychological well-being.
Internet addiction (IA) is a significant public health issue among adolescents. There is considerable evidence that IA is associated with various psychosocial harms. There is a dearth of studies ...exploring the association between IA and academic aspirations. The present study explored the association between time spent on online activities, Internet addiction, self-esteem, and academic aspirations among 859 Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. Gender difference in the association between variables was also examined. Results from structural equation modelling reported that time spent on online activities had a positive association with IA which in turn, had a negative association with self-esteem and academic aspirations. Multi-group analyses further reported that time spent on online activities had significant negative association with academic aspirations only in the female sample; while IA had significant negative association with academic aspiration only in the male sample. The association between time spent on online activities and IA, and between IA and self-esteem were more evident among the male sample. Findings suggest that IA has significant negative consequences on self-esteem and academic aspirations among adolescents. Interventions for IA are highly warranted.
•Internet addiction had an indirect negative association with academic aspirations through decreasing self-esteem.•The association between Internet addiction, self-esteem, and academic aspirations were stronger among male.•Time spent on the Internet had significant association with academic aspirations only among female students.
Based on the common-sense model of self-regulation, this study aimed to explicate the mechanism underlying the effect of illness representations on self-care behaviours and anxiety symptoms among ...patients with type 2 diabetes.
A telephone survey was administered to 473 patients in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was used to test if threat and control perceptions regarding diabetes would be associated with self-reported self-care behaviours and anxiety symptoms through adoption of adaptive/maladaptive coping strategies and diabetes-related self-efficacy.
Control perceptions but not threat perceptions were positively associated with self-care behaviours. Control perceptions had a positive indirect association with self-care behaviours through more problem-focused coping and diabetes-related self-efficacy. Threat perceptions simultaneously had a positive indirect association through more problem-focused coping and a negative indirect association through more avoidant coping and lower diabetes-related self-efficacy. In contrast, threat and control perceptions were positively and negatively, respectively, associated with anxiety symptoms. Problem-focused and avoidant coping consistently mediated the indirect association between threat perceptions and anxiety symptoms.
Threat and control perceptions were associated with diabetes self-care behaviours and anxiety symptoms through different self-regulation pathways.
Our findings inform possible targets for self-management interventions to simultaneously enhance self-care behaviours and alleviate diabetes-associated anxiety.
•Control and threat perceptions of diabetes exhibited different associations with self-care behaviours and anxiety symptoms.•Different self-regulation pathways through adoption of coping strategies and self-care self-efficacy were observed.•The findings might help inform effective psychological interventions for diabetes self-management.
Suboptimal self-care by individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) is a significant public health concern. The common-sense model (CSM) proposes that illness representations are associated with coping ...and health outcomes across various conditions. The present study examined the efficacy of a CSM-based intervention in improving illness representations, self-care, self-care self-efficacy, use of adaptive coping strategies, and glycated hemoglobin among individuals with type 2 DM (T2DM).
A two-arm randomized controlled trial was used. A total of 455 T2DM patients were recruited from an outpatient DM clinic and randomized to an intervention group that consisted of five weekly group-based education sessions or a control group that received five weekly educational booklets. Evaluation was conducted at baseline and at 1- and 6-month follow-up.
The 2 × 3 linear mixed-model analysis using a modified intention to treat revealed a significant time by condition interaction effect on level of self-care (F(2,840) = 7.78, p < .001), self-care self-efficacy (F(1.89,794.57) = 14.40, p < .001), and use of adaptive coping strategies (F(1.94,812.93) = 4.75, p = .010) in which participants in the intervention group reported greater improvement in such aspects compared with those in the control group. A significant time effect was observed in some dimensions of illness representations. No significant effect was found in glycated hemoglobin. Participants reported positive feedback to the intervention and perceived improvement in various domains.
The CSM-based intervention was effective in improving self-care and coping among DM patients. The intervention also demonstrated high feasibility and acceptability. Findings provided important insights in improving health-related outcomes for patients with T2DM using the CSM framework.
Studies have shown that young adults follow less structured eating patterns compared with older cohorts. This may have implications for dietary assessment methods which rely on memory and structured ...meal patterns. Our aim was to describe the intra-individual variation of eating times in young adults aged 18−30 years. Participants (n = 41) wore an Autographer camera that captured first-person perspective images every 30 s for three consecutive days. All images were timestamped and those showing food consumption were used to extract data such as the timing of the first and last eating occasions (EOs), number of EOs per day, and length of eating window. Intra-individual variability was calculated from these data using composite phase deviation (CPD) and coefficient of variation (CV). The number of individuals with high or very high variability was 28 and 18 for timing of first and last EOs, respectively (CPD > 1.70), and 27 and 17 for number of EOs and eating window, respectively (CV > 20%). In this sample of young adults, the lack of regularity in eating patterns should be considered when selecting a dietary assessment method.
It is unknown how well menu labelling schemes that enforce the display of kilojoule (kJ) labelling at point-of-sale have been implemented on online food delivery (OFD) services in Australia. This ...study aimed to examine the prevalence of kJ labelling on the online menus of large food outlets with more than twenty locations in the state or fifty locations nationally. A secondary aim was to evaluate the nutritional quality of menu items on OFD from mid-sized outlets that have fewer locations than what is specified in the current scheme.
Cross-sectional analysis. Prevalence of kJ labelling by large food outlets on OFD from August to September 2022 was examined. Proportion of discretionary ('junk food') items on menus from mid-sized outlets was assessed.
Forty-three unique large food outlets on company (e.g. MyMacca's) and third party OFD (Uber Eats, Menulog, Deliveroo) within Sydney, Australia. Ninety-two mid-sized food outlets were analysed.
N/A.
On company OFD apps, 35 % (7/23) had complete kJ labelling for each menu item. In comparison, only 4·8 % (2/42), 5·3 % (2/38) and 3·6 % (1/28) of large outlets on Uber Eats, Menulog and Deliveroo had complete kJ labelling at all locations, respectively. Over three-quarters, 76·3 % (345/452) of menu items from mid-sized outlets were classified as discretionary.
Kilojoule labelling was absent or incomplete on a high proportion of online menus. Mid-sized outlets have abundant discretionary choices and yet escape criteria for mandatory menu labelling laws. Our findings show the need to further monitor the implementation of nutrition policies on OFD.
