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This study aims to synthesize the existing serious games designed to promote mental health in adolescents with chronic illnesses.

This study conducted a review following the guidelines of Joanna Briggs Institute and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Searches were conducted in databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature, PsycINFO, China national knowledge infrastructure Wanfang, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals and SinoMed from inception to February 12, 2023.

A total of 14 studies (describing 14 serious games) for improving the mental health of adolescents with chronic diseases were included. Of all the included games, 12 were not described as adopting any theoretical framework or model. The main diseases applicable to serious games are cancer, type 1 diabetes and autism spectrum disorder. For interventional studies, more than half of the study types were feasibility or pilot trials. Furthermore, the dosage of serious games also differs in each experiment. For the game elements, most game elements were in the category “reward and punishment features” (n = 50) and last was “social features” (n = 4).

Adolescence is a critical period in a person’s physical and mental development throughout life. Diagnosed with chronic diseases during this period will cause great trauma to the adolescents and their families. Serious game interventions have been developed and applied to promote the psychological health field of healthy adolescents. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to scope review the serious game of promoting mental health in the population of adolescents with chronically ill. At the same time, the current study also extracted and qualitatively analyzed the elements of the serious game.

Positive psychology helps us understand the knowledge required to contribute to adolescents' societal development and adjustability. Adolescence is the crucial stage to work on for a balanced personality. The present study concerned adolescents' self-strength, happiness, and help-seeking behaviour. The authors aimed to explore the relationship between adolescents' self-strength and happiness and investigate the mediational effect of adolescents' help-seeking behaviour on their self-strength and happiness.

The research design of the current quantitative study was correlational, and 809 adolescents from China and Pakistan participated in the present study. Data were personally collected from participants through self-developed scales.

We deployed Pearson correlation and simple mediation using SPSS software and found a linear, positive, strong (r = 0.654, n = 809, p = 0.000 < 0.01) and statistically significant correlation between adolescents' self-strength and happiness. The authors also found a significant indirect effect of help-seeking on adolescents' self-strength and happiness at (β = 0.373, t(907) = 7.01).

Using self-reported scales to gather information was one of the study's limitations. Adolescents may have misunderstood the notion or construct narrated in words or responded biasedly despite the bilingual scales.

This study offers social and practical implications for educators, parents, and school administrators to address the development of adolescents' personalities using a positive psychology lens.

The findings are of significant importance for teachers working in the elementary schools. They may work on adolescents' self-strength, happiness, and help-seeking to develop balanced personalities.

This study aims to examine adolescents’ social media environment connected to unhealthy food marketing. As social media have become a ubiquitous part of young people’s everyday lives, marketers have also shifted their focus to these channels. Literature on this phenomenon is still scarce and often takes a quite narrow view of the role of marketing in social media. Furthermore, the experiences of the adolescents are seldom considered.

Using a sociocultural approach and netnographic methodology, this study presents findings from a research project conducted in Finland. The data consist of both social media material and focus group interviews with adolescents.

The findings elaborate on unhealthy food marketing to adolescents in social media from two perspectives: sociocultural representations of unhealthy foods in social media marketing and social media influencers connecting with adolescents.

The study broadens and deepens the current understanding of unhealthy food marketing to adolescents taking place in social media. The study introduces a novel perspective to the topic by looking at it as a sociocultural phenomenon.

This study aims to examine the relationship between muscle strength, eating index and blood pressure in adolescent girls. Growing studies show earlier onset of hypertension in youth. The prevalence may deteriorate during the COVID-19 pandemic due to unhealthy behavioral changes. Muscle mass (MM) is reported to be associated with blood pressure (BP), but there are limited studies that observed the relationship between the functional properties of muscle (muscle strength [MS]), healthy eating index (HEI) and BP.

This cross-sectional study involved 499 girls aged 15–18 years. HEI was generated from a 24-h food recall. MM and body fat (BF) were measured by bioelectrical impendence analysis (BIA), and MS and BP were measured by hand grip and Tensimeter, respectively. Multiple linear tests were performed to obtain an adjusted model.

Almost five out of 100 girls had high BP (4.8%) and a good diet (4%). The majority of them had desirable MM (75.9%) and low MS (50.1%). HEI negatively and MS are positively associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP). The inclusion of MM in the model diminished the association between MS and SBP completely. After adjustment for age and BF, only MM (ß = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.35, 0.95) was associated with SBP. HEI was inversely (ß = −0.16, 95% CI = −0.31, −0.09) whereas MM (ß = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.11, 0.53) was positively associated with diastolic BP.

Studies associating MM or MS with better physical performance and metabolic health are mostly reported in the elderly; current finding contributes to the lack of literature and implies the importance of examining those associations at a younger age.

HEI and MM are associated with young girls’ BP in different directions. Healthy eating and engagement in activities to optimize muscle function should be promoted in adolescent girls to alleviate the risk of getting cardiovascular disease.

In response to growing concerns over the negative consequences of Internet addiction on adolescents’ mental health, coupled with conflicting results in this literature stream, this meta-analysis sought to (1) examine the association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents, (2) examine the moderating role of Internet freedom across countries, and (3) examine the mediating role of excessive daytime sleepiness.

In total, 52 studies were analyzed using robust variance estimation and meta-analytic structural equation modeling.

There was a significant and moderate association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, Internet freedom did not explain heterogeneity in this literature stream before and after controlling for study quality and the percentage of female participants. In support of the displacement hypothesis, this study found that Internet addiction contributes to depressive symptoms through excessive daytime sleepiness (proportion mediated = 17.48%). As the evidence suggests, excessive daytime sleepiness displaces a host of activities beneficial for maintaining mental health. The results were subjected to a battery of robustness checks and the conclusions remain unchanged.

The results underscore the negative consequences of Internet addiction in adolescents. Addressing this issue would involve interventions that promote sleep hygiene and greater offline engagement with peers to alleviate depressive symptoms.

This study utilizes robust meta-analytic techniques to provide the most comprehensive examination of the association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents. The implications intersect with the shared interests of social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers.

This paper aims to determine the effect of a set of factors (attitude toward entrepreneurship, perceived behavioral control or entrepreneurial self-efficacy, previous experience, internal locus of control and entrepreneurial alertness) on the entrepreneurial intentions of Chilean secondary vocational school students.

An online survey was sent to all secondary-level students from four Chilean vocational schools (3,052 students). A total of 1,644 valid questionnaires were received. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results show that attitude toward entrepreneurship and perceived behavioral control positively and significantly impact the students’ entrepreneurial intentions, but not the previous experience.

Since this research was carried out in a specific reality, the results may lack generalizability. Also, the proposed model requires further development through the incorporation of other factors. It is then suggested to replicate this study in other countries as well as to incorporate new variables and test new relationships.

Entrepreneurship education programs at the secondary level should emphasize changing/stimulating adolescents’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship as well as improving their confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities.

This is one of the few studies that provide empirical evidence about the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions in adolescents, particularly in Latin America, and with a large sample.

El propósito de este estudio es determinar el efecto de un conjunto de factores (actitud hacia el emprendimiento, control conductual percibido o autoeficacia emprendedora, experiencia previa, locus de control interno y alerta emprendedora) sobre las intenciones emprendedoras de estudiantes secundarios técnico-profesionales chilenos.

Una encuesta online fue enviada a todos los estudiantes de nivel secundario de cuatro escuelas técnico-profesionales chilenas (3,052 estudiantes). Se recibieron un total de 1,644 cuestionarios válidos. Los datos obtenidos fueron analizados a través de una técnica de modelización de ecuaciones estructurales (PLS-SEM).

Los resultados muestran que la actitud y el control conductual percibido impactan positiva y significativamente sobre las intenciones emprendedoras de los estudiantes, no así la experiencia previa.

Dado que esta investigación se llevó a cabo en una realidad específica, se debe ser cauteloso a la hora de generalizar sus resultados. Asimismo, el modelo propuesto requiere un mayor desarrollo a través de la incorporación de otras variables. Se sugiere entonces replicar este estudio en otros países, así como incorporar nuevas variables y someter a prueba nuevas relaciones.

Los programas de educación emprendedora en el nivel secundario debiesen poner énfasis en cambiar/estimular las actitudes hacia el emprendimiento de los adolescentes, así como en mejorar su confianza en sus propias habilidades emprendedoras.

Este es uno de los pocos estudios que aporta evidencia empírica acerca de los determinantes de las intenciones de emprender en adolescentes, particularmente en América Latina y con una muestra amplia.

Many believe that any social media harms kids because of frequent use. This study aims to examine these assumptions. It proposes and tests a model that considers two alternative pathways – one negative and one positive – through which social media affects teens’ self-reported subjective well-being.

This research used Preacher and Hayes process modeling to conduct path analysis on data collected on 585 teenagers from across the USA.

Results showed that along a negative pathway, frequent social media use leads to greater risky social media engagement that ultimately diminishes adolescent’s sense of well-being. Also, and perhaps simultaneously, frequent social media use leads to socially-connected social media use that enhances adolescent’s sense of well-being.

The research recommends ways parents, policymakers and platforms can encourage teens to use social media to connect with friends while guiding them away from pathways exposing them to risky behaviors.

Findings show more social media use is not necessarily harmful, but more of some types is bad, while more of others is good.

To effectively combat the increasing rates of obesity, it is crucial to explore how environmental factors like sidewalk access impact weight-related outcomes. This study aimed to systematically examine the association between sidewalk accessibility and weight-related outcomes.

Databases were searched by keywords for relevant articles, which were published before March 3, 2024, to report the role of neighborhood sidewalk access on weight-related outcomes. The main findings of the selected articles were extracted from eligible studies by two independent reviewers.

A total of 20 out of 33 studies indicated a significant negative relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes. Three studies demonstrated an indirect relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes by greater access to physical environments. In addition, five studies reported no clear relationship, and three studies reported a significantly positive relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes.

In general, people who live in urban areas with better sidewalk access benefit from better weight-related outcomes. Adults showed this correlation more prominently than adolescents and children. Therefore, sidewalks that have a positive effect on physical activity levels could be considered as a preventive measure against obesity.

One of the weight-related outcomes is obesity. Every community faces numerous challenges due to obesity, which adversely affects the quality of life and health. Environmental factors such as access to sidewalks could be associated with body weight due to lifestyle influences.

This study aims to construct a mental health service system for middle school students in the post-COVID-19 era with the framework of Six Sigma DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control) and analyze the influencing factors of the mental health service system to study the implementation strategies of quality-oriented mental health services in middle schools.

This study was conducted in Tianjin, China, from September to November 2022, and 350 middle school students from Tianjin Public Middle School were selected as subjects. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data. In this study, the Six Sigma DMAIC method, sensitivity analysis method, exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis were used to analyze the mental health services provided to middle school students.

Based on the Six Sigma DMAIC framework, this study indicates that the contribution rate of the mental health service process factor is the largest in the post-COVID-19 era. The mental health cultivation factor ranks second in terms of its contribution. Mental health quality and policy factors are also important in the construction of middle school students’ mental health service system. In addition, the study highlights the importance of parental involvement and social support in student mental health services during the post-COVID-19 era.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, a study on middle school students’ mental health in the post-Covid-19 era has not yet been conducted. This study developed a quality-oriented mental health system and analyzed the influencing factors of mental health for middle school students based on data analysis and the Six Sigma DMAIC method.

This study aims to increase knowledge of the ability of nutrition labels to guide consumer choices in real-life environments.

Food consumption and plate waste data were collected from two self-service restaurants (SSR) with different customer groups over six observation days: three control and three intervention (with nutrition labelling) periods. Study Group 1 consisted of vocational school students, mostly late adolescents (N = 1,710), and Group 2 consisted of spa hotel customers, mostly elderly (N = 1,807). In the experimental restaurants, the same food was served to the buffets during the control and intervention periods.

The nutrition label in the lunch buffet guides customers to eat fewer main foods and salads and to select healthier choices. Increased consumption of taste enhancers (salt and ketchup) was observed in the study restaurants after nutritional labelling. Nutrition labelling was associated with a reduction in plate waste among the elderly, whereas the opposite was observed among adolescents.

The results provide public policymakers and marketers with a better understanding of the effects of nutrition labelling on consumer behaviour. Future studies should further evaluate the effects of nutrition labelling on the overall quality of customer diets and the complex environmental, social, and psychological factors affecting food choices and plate waste accumulation in various study groups.