Emotional labor is characterized by two main regulation strategies: surface acting and deep acting. However, which strategy consumes more energy? To explore this, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure changes in hemoglobin density while participants performed a task requiring them to make the opposite emotional facial expression of that presented in a picture. We found that (1) neither surface nor deep acting led to a significant change in hemoglobin concentration in the prefrontal cortex; (2) making negative and positive facial expressions activated the same left front and middle areas of the prefrontal cortex; and (3) making positive facial expressions activated the rear portion of the prefrontal cortex, but making negative facial expressions did not. Based on these findings and past work, we can infer that deep and surface acting may not significantly differ in terms of the activity in the prefrontal cortex energy consumed. Furthermore, engaging in positive and negative emotional labor appear to utilize some of the same neurological mechanisms, although they differ in others.

Background: Study results regarding attentional bias in depressed individuals are inconsistent. Recent studies have found that attention is a discrete process, alternating between periods of either enhanced or diminished attention sensitivity. Whether a visual target can be detected depends on when it occurs relative to these oscillation rhythms. We infer that the inconsistency of attentional bias may be related to the abnormality of attentional oscillations in depressed individuals. Methods: A pre-cueing attentional task was used. We set 48 levels of stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between cues and targets and measured the response time (RT) of participants, as well as their EEG signals. Results: The RTs showed patterns of behavioral oscillations. Repeated-measure ANOVA indicated that subthreshold depressed participants had significantly higher RTs for negative expressions than for neutral but significantly lower RTs for positive than for neutral. The frequency analysis indicated that the RT oscillational frequency of subthreshold depressed participants to negative/positive expressions was different from that to neutral. The EEG time–frequency analysis showed that when faced with negative expressions, the intensity of the neural alpha oscillatory power of subthreshold depressed participants was significantly lower than that of normal controls. When faced with positive expressions, the intensity of neural alpha oscillatory power was significantly higher than that of normal controls. Conclusion: Compared to normal persons, subthreshold depressed individuals may have biases in both the amplitude and frequency of attentional oscillations. These attentional biases correspond to the intensity of their neural alpha wave rhythms.

To examine the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope in the relationship between parental emotion regulation and migrant children’s resilience, the study investigated 745 migrant children (mean age = 12.9, SD = 1.5, 371 boys) from four schools and their parents in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, China. All children were asked to complete the Adolescent Resilience Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Children’s Hope Scale. Their parents completed the Parental Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling showed that parental emotion regulation could not only directly influence children’s resilience but also indirectly influence it through two paths: the independent mediating role of self-efficacy and the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how parental emotion regulation influences migrant children’s resilience and provide important practical guidance for enhancing migrant children’s resilience.

BackgroundAccording to the theory of emotional contagion, emotions in one person can trigger similar emotions in groups within social networks. In schools, the class just like a small social network, that teachers' emotion, such as depression, might be contagious to their students. However, until now there is few studies reporting this issue. This study aims to explore whether teachers' depression be contagious to students and what mechanics behind the phenomenon.MethodsUsing Children's depression and cognitive scales to assess 2,579 students, meanwhile using teachers' depression and emotional labor scales assess 529 teachers. The nested data from 112 classes were analyzed.ResultsTeachers' depression was positively correlated with emotional labor surface and deep acting, and teachers' depression cross-level predicted students' depression inversely. For teachers with higher levels of depression, the teacher's deep acting affected their students' depression significantly, the more effortful the teachers' deep acting, the lower the degree of the students' depression, however, for teachers with lower levels of depression, the deep acting was not significant.ConclusionThe results maybe state that depression in teachers is not readily transmitted to students, one of reasons is that teachers' emotional labor may alleviate the influence of their depression on students. However, considered that teachers' emotional labor was positively correlated with their depression, the teachers' emotional labor may be like a double-edged sword, while alleviating the influence of teachers' depression on students, it also deteriorated their own depression, making it impossible sustainable. For students' depression interventions based in school, including teachers maybe a better selection.

BackgroundAccording to the theory of emotional contagion, emotions in one person can trigger similar emotions in groups within social networks. In schools, the class just like a small social network, that teachers’ emotion, such as depression, might be contagious to their students. However, until now there is few studies reporting this issue. This study aims to determine whether teachers’ depression be contagious to students and what mechanics behind the phenomenon.MethodsUsing Children’s depression and cognitive scales to assess 2579 students, meanwhile using teachers’ depression and emotional labor scales assess 529 teachers. The nested data from 112 classes were analyzed.ResultsTeachers’ depression was positively correlated with emotional labor surface and deep acting, and teachers’ depression cross-level predicted students’ depression inversely. For teachers with higher levels of depression, the teacher’s deep acting affected their students’ depression significantly, the more effortful the teachers’ deep acting, the lower the degree of the students’ depression, however, for teachers with lower levels of depression, the deep acting was not significant.ConclusionThe results maybe state that depression in teachers is not readily transmitted to students, one of reasons is that teachers’ emotional labor may alleviate the influence of their depression on students. However, considered that teachers' emotional labor was positively correlated with their depression, the teachers’ emotional labor may be like a double-edged sword, while alleviating the influence of teachers' depression on students, it also deteriorated their own depression, making it impossible sustainable. For students’ depression interventions based in school, including teachers maybe a better selection.Trial registrationThis article is not a interventional research, so it was not registered.