In response to reports of people experiencing varying levels of anxiety and depression during the outbreak of COVID-19, researchers have argued that exposure to related information on social media is a salient contributing factor. Based on the integrated model of ruminative response style and the diathesis-stress model, it has been suggested that incorporating rumination and mindfulness may elucidate the potential mechanism underlying the aforementioned association. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of mindfulness in the association between social media exposure (SME) to COVID-19 information and psychological distress. The results from online questionnaire responses of 439 college students from two universities in Wuhan, Hubei Province, showed that rumination mediated the association between SME and psychological distress. Furthermore, mindfulness was revealed as a protective factor that buffered the adverse effect of SME on psychological distress through rumination. These findings advance a better understanding of the formation process of psychological symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide insights regarding effective interventions for adverse mental health consequences in college students.

The present study focuses on the fluctuation in work engagement by examining the relationship between daily time pressure and daily work engagement. Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, this study also tests whether psychological capital and sleep moderate the influence of time pressure on work engagement. We conducted a diary study to gather 67 participants' data over 10 consecutive work days (502 daily measurement points), including their daily time pressure, work engagement, and sleep quality. Our results indicate that there is a curvilinear relationship between daily time pressure and work engagement in the form of an inverted U-shape. If it was lower than the optimal level, daily time pressure as a challenging stressor positively predicted daily work engagement. Substantial time pressure impaired daily work engagement. In addition, the curvilinear relationship between daily time pressure and work engagement was attenuated as a function of increasing psychological capital or chronic sleep quality. Specifically, compared with low psychological capital or chronic sleep quality, excessive time pressure could also positively predict daily work engagement if psychological capital or chronic sleep quality was high. In addition, this study provided preliminary evidence that daily sleep quality may not be enough to buffer the curvilinear relation. Implications for research on daily work engagement and intervention programs are discussed.

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BackgroundStudies on risk preferences have long been of great concern and have examined the neural basis underlying risk‐based decision making. However, studies using conventional transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) revealed that bilateral stimulation could change risk propensity with limited evidence of precisely focalized unilateral high‐definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD‐tDCS). The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of HD‐tDCS focalizing the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on risk‐taking behavior during the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART).MethodsThis study was designed as a between‐subject, single‐blind, sham‐controlled experiment. University students were randomly assigned to three groups: the anodal group (F3 anode, AF3, F1, F5, FC3 returned), the cathodal group (F3 cathodal, AF3, F1, F5, FC3 returned) and the sham group. Subsequently, 1.5‐mA 20‐min HD‐tDCS was applied during the BART, and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), the Sensation Seeking Scale‐5 (SSS‐5), and the Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Approach System scale (BIS/BAS) were measured as control variables.ResultsThe cathodal group earned less total money than the sham group, and no significant difference was observed between the anodal group and the sham group.ConclusionsThese results showed that, to some extent, focalized unilateral cathodal HD‐tDCS on left DLPFC could change performance during risky tasks and diminish risky decision making. Further studies are needed to investigate the dose effect and electrode distribution of HD‐tDCS during risky tasks and examine synchronous brain activity to show the neural basis.