Volume 123

College student alcohol consumption is a critical public health issue influenced by multilevel factors. While previous studies have often examined genetic, psychological, social, or cultural determinants in isolation, few have integrated these dimensions within a unified temporal framework. This study employs Markov chain modeling to analyze dynamic behavioral transitions in alcohol use among university students over a 12-week academic semester. Through ecological momentary assessment (EMA), data were collected from 299 undergraduates stratified by academic discipline (Portuguese Language and Mathematics) and gender. Results reveal significant variations in drinking patterns across weekends, weekdays, and exam periods, with male students and those in certain disciplinary cultures showing higher behavioral volatility. Key findings include the mediating role of impulsivity in genetic risk expression, the contextual influence of romantic relationships, and culturally moderated drinking motivations. The study underscores the need for multi-target interventions that combine genetic screening, psychological support, academic integration, and culturally adapted environmental strategies. Our integrative model contributes to the literature by bridging biological and sociocultural perspectives and introducing a temporal dimension to risk assessment, offering new insights for tailored prevention programs in higher education settings.

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The proportion of children with ADHD in school classrooms continues to rise, and there is a serious mismatch between the traditional teaching methods and procedures and the attentional characteristics of students with ADHD. This paper discusses the adaptability of a classroom intervention based on the concept of gamification for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and its sustainability in actual classrooms. The study shows that gamificational interventions can effectively enhance the attention and classroom engagement of children with ADHD through point reward mechanisms, immediate feedback, and tiered incentives. However, practical applications still face difficulties in design, implementation, and evaluation, such as the balance between task difficulty and time, teachers' emotional management, and home-school cooperation. Therefore, it is recommended to develop a simple and easy-to-use gamificational teaching toolkit and establish a lightweight "student-teacher-parent" collaborative assessment cycle to ensure the dynamic adaptability and long-term effectiveness of the interventions, so as to improve the learning outcomes and classroom experiences of children with ADHD.

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Accurate pronunciation plays a vital role in second language (L2) acquisition, yet many Chinese English learners continue to face persistent challenges due to negative transfer from their first language (L1). While prior studies have largely focused on Standard Mandarin, the impact of other Chinese varieties such as Cantonese and Sichuan dialect has received less systematic attention. This review aims to synthesize existing empirical findings on the pronunciation difficulties experienced by ESL learners from these three representative Chinese language varieties. Drawing on over thirty peer-reviewed studies, this review categorizes learners’ challenges into segmental and suprasegmental domains, identifies common and dialect-specific error patterns, and analyzes the phonological features driving these patterns. The paper further highlights research gaps, particularly the lack of cross-dialect comparison, the limited exploration of suprasegmental transfer, and the narrow participant demographics. By adopting a comparative approach, this review intends to enhance theoretical insights into L2 pronunciation acquisition and provide evidence-based guidance for dialect-sensitive pronunciation instruction, ultimately supporting more effective communication for diverse Chinese ESL learners.

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This study discusses the relationship between celebrity worship and adolescents' expectations of romantic relationships. Through a questionnaire survey of 84 participants aged 14 to 35, the research found that there is a significant positive correlation between the degree of celebrity worship and idealized romantic expectations (r = 0.39, p <0.001). Further analysis showed that multiple subdimensions of celebrity worship (such as behavioral frequency, idol knowledge, emotional projection, relationship fantasy, and idol identification) were all related to expectations of romantic relationships. However, due to the high correlation among these dimensions, the independent predictive effect of a single dimension could not be identified. In addition, the results also indicated that females were more active in idol-related behaviors than males. Overall, this study reveals that immersive celebrity worship may reinforce adolescents' idealized expectations of love and have a potential impact on the establishment of their real-life intimate relationships.

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As globalization accelerates, second language teaching has gradually expanded from single-language skill training to comprehensive cultivation of cross-cultural communication skills. Existing research has mostly focused on adults or adolescents, and systematic exploration of cross-cultural oriented teaching for children remains relatively lacking. This article draws on Bayram’s intercultural competence (ICC) model and focuses primarily on its fundamental dimensions of “attitude”, “knowledge” and “interpretation and association skills”. It combines the characteristics of children’s language development and cultural cognition to systematically identify the key factors influencing children’s intercultural language learning and proposes four targeted teaching strategies: story-based teaching methods, scenario simulation and role-playing, cross-cultural comparison activities, and teacher-guided cultural reflection tasks. This study conducted an analysis of textbook content and teaching cases, and found that while children’s cultural comprehension remains at an elementary stage, they exhibit robust imitative capacities and cultural sensitivity. Therefore, in teaching, it is important to focus on designing specific cultural contexts, conducting comparative analyses, and assigning reflective tasks to guide students in transitioning from “being able to use language” to “understanding culture”. This research furnishes practical pathways and theoretical underpinnings for the integration of cultural elements into primary school second language instruction.

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The issue of educational inequality has been at the top of the agenda in education systems around the world, especially in countries where funding structures can lead to resource disparity between low-income and well-to-do communities. In the following paper, the bipolar relationship between school funding schemes and educational equity within the U.S. context will be examined through the prism of two public school districts, which represent opposite, demographically speaking, extremes. The results indicate that the funding schemes that rely on property taxes are reproducing the existing disparities in terms of resource allocation, which means that there is a big difference regarding the quality of the teachers, the infrastructure, and support services to students. Districts with a weighted student funding formula are better at achieving equity. The research results indicate that reduced disparities and greater access to equal educational opportunities can be achieved by shifting to needs-based, state-managed funding models. These results provide evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and governance authorities seeking to reform the school finance system to foster a more equitable, inclusive public education system characterized by quality.

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In recent years, “universityization” of senior secondary education has accelerated: advanced academic content is frontloaded, methods and management mirror higher education, and assessment logic prioritizes credentials. While this enhances rigor and expands choice, it also fuels student stress, crowds out intrinsic motivation, and undermines equity. This article analyzes the drivers, features, and effects of this trend from the perspectives of policy, school operations, and learner experience, and proposes a coherent response anchored in mission alignment, structural redesign, and implementable pathways. We argue that high schools should return to their core mission—building liberal foundations, fostering character formation, and cultivating career awareness—while avoiding goal drift, where harder content is used as a substitute for capability growth. Learning should be organized around key competencies and authentic tasks, emphasizing projects and interdisciplinary inquiry, with leveled electives and flexible pacing to balance diversity and challenge. The establishment of a tiered mental health system, the promotion of collaborative teacher practice, and the adoption of evidence-informed improvement—when paired with workload governance and assessment reform—can enable a sustainable equilibrium between high academic challenge and student well-being. We provide actionable approaches across curriculum design, student support, and teacher development to guide school-level planning and phased evaluation.

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In the algorithm-driven landscape of social media, platform manipulation of user cognition and behavior has become increasingly prominent, shaping public opinion and social perception as a critical influencing factor. Based on psychology and law, the paper defines information manipulation, outlines its primary types and psychological mechanisms, and explores how cognitive bias, emotional drive, and social influence jointly contribute to its systemic influence on individual cognition, public opinion, and information security. By integrating literature review with case analysis, it uncovers key regulatory challenges and puts forward a layered governance model that emphasizes platform accountability, technical oversight, and psychological intervention. The results reveal that information manipulation on social media platforms operates through the interplay of algorithmic filtering, emotional amplification, and social influence, consistently altering user cognition and behavior while posing major challenges to public discourse, emotional autonomy, and information security.

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With the deep integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with education, its role in enhancing educational quality is receiving increasing attention. This paper focuses on the mechanisms through which AI contributes to educational improvement, systematically analyzes the current status and associated challenges, and proposes implementation strategies in combination with domestic and foreign research and practical cases. The research shows that AI technology can effectively enhance educational quality in multiple dimensions, including personalized learning path design, intelligent teaching resource development, teacher role transformation and professional development, intelligent teaching management, and integrated school management. To fully realize the potential of AI in education, efforts should be made in areas such as updating educational concepts, standardizing technical standards, delving into the value of data, and strengthening professional support systems. These strategies can help build an intelligent, efficient educational system and driive comprehensive improvements in teaching and learning quality.

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