Childhood maltreatment and its influence on mental health are key concerns around the world. Previous studies have found that childhood maltreatment is a positive predictor of mental symptoms, but few studies have been done to explore the specific mediating mechanisms between these two variables. Previous studies have found that there is a negative correlation between childhood maltreatment and emotional intelligence and between childhood maltreatment and social support, both of which are strong indicators of mental symptoms. Therefore, in this study, we took emotional intelligence and social support as mediating variables, exploring their mediating effects between childhood maltreatment and mental symptoms via the structural equation modeling method. We recruited 811 Chinese college students to complete the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Symptom Checklist 90 Scale (SCL-90), the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), and the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS). The results showed a significant and positive correlation between childhood maltreatment and mental symptoms ( β = 0.26, P < 0.001); meanwhile, social support played a significant mediating role in the influence of childhood maltreatment on emotional intelligence [95% confidence intervals, (−0.594 to −0.327)]; and emotional intelligence likewise played a significant mediating role in the effect of social support on mental symptoms [95% confidence intervals, (−0.224 to −0.105)]. These results indicated that childhood maltreatment not only directly increases the likelihood of developing mental symptoms, but also affects emotional intelligence through influencing social support and then indirectly increasing the likelihood of developing mental symptoms. This study provided a theoretical basis for ameliorating adverse effects of childhood maltreatment on mental symptoms by enhancing emotional intelligence and social support.

Objective Envy, as a stable personality trait, can affect individuals’ mental health. Specifically, previous studies have found that envy can lead to depression; however, the mechanism by which envy affects depression is still unclear. Therefore, based on the resilience framework, we used structural equation modeling to explore the mediating roles that social support and psychological resilience play between envy and depression.Methods Chinese college students (n=680) were recruited to complete four scales: the Dispositional Envy Scale (DES), the Symptom Checklist 90-Depression Subscale (SCL-90-DS), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS).Results The results confirmed that both social support and psychological resilience are significant mediators between envy and depression. Furthermore, social support plays a significant mediating role between envy and psychological resilience, and psychological resilience plays a significant mediating role between social support and depression. Specifically, the results indicated that envy not only directly increases the likelihood of developing depression, but also indirectly increases the likelihood of developing depression by affecting psychological resilience through negatively influencing social support.Conclusion This study provides a theoretical basis for enhancing psychological resilience and social support in order to ameliorate adverse effects of envy on depression.

This study explored the mediation role of emotional intelligence, positive affect, and negative affect in the influence of childhood maltreatment on life satisfaction. A total of 811 participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale validly. Results revealed that emotional intelligence, positive affect and negative affect are mediators between childhood maltreatment and life satisfaction. In addition, childhood maltreatment influenced life satisfaction through the sequential intermediary of “emotional intelligence-positive affect” and “emotional intelligence-negative affect”. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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W. (2020). How mindfulness affects benign and malicious envy from the perspective of the mindfulness reperceiving model. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61, 436-442.At present, mindfulness is a hotspot in psychological research. Mindfulness is an effective tool that enables people to effectively inhibit negative emotions. Previous studies have shown that envy is a typical negative emotion; however, envy can be divided into two completely different types: benign envy and malicious envy. The question then arises, how does mindfulness affect both types of envy? Using a mindfulness reperceiving model, we explored the effect of mindfulness on these two different types of envy and on the mediating mechanism of psychological resilience. To accomplish this, we recruited 676 Chinese undergraduates to complete the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BEMAS) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The results we obtained showed that mindfulness and psychological resilience significantly and negatively predicted malicious envy and that psychological resilience played a partially mediating role in the relationship. In addition, the results showed that there was no significant effect between mindfulness and benign envy; however, psychological resilience can significantly and positively predict benign envy and played a completely mediating role between mindfulness and benign envy. These results effectively extend theories based on the mindfulness reperceiving model while also being important for promoting benign envy and inhibiting malicious envy in terms of improving mindfulness and psychological resilience.

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Core self-evaluation is a universal personality trait. Previous studies have shown that there is a negative correlation between core self-evaluations and mental health symptoms. However, core self-evaluation is also a key variable for eliciting different kinds of envy, and envy has a close relationship with mental health symptoms. At present, little is known about how different kinds of envy affect the relationship between core self-evaluation and mental health symptoms. This study used malicious and benign envy as mediating variables and explored their mediating roles between core self-evaluation and mental health symptoms. We recruited 811 Chinese college students to complete the Core Self-Evaluation Scale, Benign and Malicious Envy Scale, and Symptom Checklist 90 Scale. The results showed that there was a negative correlation between core self-evaluation and mental health symptoms, and malicious and benign envy played roles in mediating it. Because malicious envy and benign envy positively predicted mental health symptoms, and core self-evaluations inhibited mental health symptoms by preventing these two kinds of envy. Moreover, the mediating effect of malicious envy was stronger than that of benign envy. [ Psychiatr Ann. 2019;49(6):277–284.]

With the development of positive psychology, gratitude, as a typical positive emotion, has attracted significant attention. Gratitude has a profoundly positive effect on cultivating people's positive traits, and negative emotions affect many aspects of people's daily lives. Many studies have explored the inhibiting effect of gratitude on negative emotions. In this study, based on the coping theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion, we used scenario method to discuss the inhibiting effect of trait gratitude and state gratitude on a common and typical negative emotion: situational envy. We randomly recruited 326 undergraduate students as participants and asked them to complete the Gratitude Questionnaire, Dispositional Envy Scale, state gratitude materials, and situational envy materials.Our results showed that (1) state gratitude inhibits situational envy and (2) state gratitude plays a partial mediating role between trait gratitude and situational envy. This article suggests educational field for future school should devote more attention to gratitude, and lay a good foundation for students' future development in society. Taken together, these results verify the positive role of gratitude, help to expand relevant theories about inhibiting envy, and provide a theoretical reference for cultivating people's positive traits and countering negative emotions.