Applied Psychology Readings Selected Papers from the

Singapore Conference on Applied Psychology 2022

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SCAP Advisory Board

Conference Chair

Dr. Thomas Hunt, School of Psychology, Centre for Psychological Research,

University of Derby

Committee Members

Dr. Peter Macaulay, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of
Derby
Dr. Carrie Childs, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of
Derby
Dr. Caroline Harvey, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of
Derby
Dr. W. Quin Yow PhD, Director, Language and Social Cognition Lab, Assistant
Professor (Psychology), Singapore University of Technology and Design
Dr. Lim Yong-Kwan (Joanne), Singapore University of Social Sciences
Dr. Fiona Holland, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of
Derby
Dr. Samuel Chng, Head of Urban Psychology Lab, Lee Kuan Yew Centre for
Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Technology and Design
Dr. Tan Jing Hee, Deputy Chairman of the Management Council, Chairman of East
Asia Institute of Management Academic Board
Dr. Jane Montague, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of
Derby
Dr. Sonya Karabeliova, Professor of Health Psychology, Sofia University, Dean of
Faculty of Philosophy, Sofia University; Member of Management Board of BPS,
Head of the Section of Health Psychology to the BPS

v
vi SCAP Advisory Board

Dr. Snezhana Ilieva, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology, Sofia Univer-
sity, Head of Center of Leadership and Organization Development, Sofia Univer-
sity; Member of Management Board of BPS, Head of the Section of Work and
Organizational Psychology to the BPS
Dr. Karel Karsten Himawan, Head of Department, Psychology Faculty, Universitas
Pelita Harapan, Indonesia
Dr. Professor Batsukh Shairii, President of the Mongolian Association of
Psychologists
Dr. Purevsuren Davaadorj, Secretary of Mongolian Association of Psychologists

Supporting Journals

Jurnal Psikologi Ulayat: Indonesian Journal of Indigenous Psychology (JPU)

Jurnal Psikologi
Buletin Psikologi
RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics
Gadjah Mada Journal of Professional Psychology
Gadjah Mada Journal of Psychology
Psihologija Journal

Conference Sponsors

Australian Association of Psychologists Inc

Australian Aviation Psychology Association (AAvPA)
Bulgarian Psychological Society
Colegio Colombiano de Psicólogos
Lithuanian Psychological Association
Mongolian Psychologists Association
Serbian Psychological Society
Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia
Conference Organizer

East Asia Research

East Asia Research (EAR)

Established in Singapore in 2015, East Asia Research (EAR) envisions to be the

gateway to improving lives and enhancing productivity in Asia through promoting
cross-geographical exchange of ideas and knowledge in various faculties. This will
be achieved through the dissemination of knowledge from the Asia-focused research
conferences and publications by EAR.

vii
viii Conference Organizer

EAR academic conferences provide a meaningful platform for researchers, post-

graduates, academicians, and industry practitioners to share unique insights and drive
innovation. This is a great opportunity for expanding contact networks beyond a
singular field and kick-starting a strategic collaboration. Such partnership can bridge
the resources and expertise of multiple disciplines to spearhead pioneer movements,
giving rise to breakthroughs in long-standing issues.
Preface

The 2022 Singapore Conference on Applied Psychology, organized by East Asia

Research and supported by Singapore University of Technology and Design and the
University of Derby, was held on 8–9 December 2022. Researchers and practitioners
from many fields of applied psychological research and practice presented on a
range of recent innovations, trends, practical challenges, and solutions adopted in
the field of Applied Psychology, with a special focus on psychological well-being.
Presentations were given from academics and practitioners in over 10 countries
and keynote presentations were given by Dr. Carrie Childs from the University of
Derby, who presented on ‘Experiences of Relations and Connections in 12 Step
Programmes for “Sex Addiction”’, along with Dr. Yow Wei Quin from Singapore
University of Technology and Design, who presented on ‘A Lifespan Perspective of
Psychological Well-Being—The Moderating Role of Age in Perceived Well-Being’
and Dr. Samuel Chng from Singapore University of Technology and Design, who
presented on ‘Cities, Complexity, Psychology’.
This book includes 8 papers submitted and accepted for special publication
following a peer-review process supported by academics at the University of Derby,
co-ordinated by Dr. Peter Macaulay. The papers selected for publication cover an
exciting and diverse range of empirical studies and discussion in the field of applied
psychology.
The 2023 Singapore Conference on Applied Psychology 2023 will be held on the
7–8 December 2023 in Singapore.

Derby, UK Dr. Peter Macaulay

SCAP 2022

ix
Contents

Risk and Protective Factors of Internalizing and Externalizing

Symptoms Among Mongolian Adolescents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Altantsetseg Badrakh, Mandukhai Ganbat, Byambajargal Shijir,
Togtuunaa Ider, Nandin-Erdene Bayarmagnai, Ganzul Bazarragchaa,
Khosgarig Altantsatsralt, and Mandakhbayar Nemekh
The Effect of Manipulations and Time on Episodic Memory:
Investigation with Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Yunke Chen
Psychological Predictors of Credit Risk in Microcredit:
A Microlending Case Study from Mongolia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Mandukhai Ganbat, Altantsetseg Badrakh, Byambajargal Shijir,
Khosgarig Altantsatsralt, Mandakhbayar Nemekh,
and Nyamdemberel Tseveendorj
Online Learning and University Students’ Anxiety During
the Covid-19 Pandemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Serveh Sharifi Far and Thomas E. Hunt
Psychological Well-Being in Highly Sensitive People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Regina V. Ershova
Impact of a Digital Intervention Tool for Workplace Behavior
and Emotional Wellbeing on Employees’ Stress, Motivation,
and Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Himani Kulkarni, Christopher Chong, and Megan Lam

xi
xii Contents

Men in Dating: Exploring Indonesian Men’s Experience in Dating

Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Karel Karsten Himawan and Pradipta Christy Pratiwi
Perceptions and Understanding of Digital Self-Harm: A Qualitative
Analysis of Mental Health Practitioners and Parents of Adolescents . . . . 119
Emily Hickman and Peter J. R. Macaulay
About the Editors

Dr. Peter Macaulay He is a Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Psychology,

University of Derby, UK. His main research interests lie within the area of social
developmental psychology. In particular, his work focuses on the perceptions and
experiences of cyberbullying, face-to-face bullying, and bystander intervention. Dr
Macaulay’s research explores how teachers and young people perceive and respond
to cyberbullying in the school environment. His research also examines how young
people perceive personal and situational factors in bullying, and how this may impact
on their bystander intervention. Dr Macaulay regularly publishes in peer-reviewed
journals, and conducts some of his work on anti-bullying interventions in schools.

Mr. Lee-Ming Tan He is the founder of East Asia Research and he obtained his
Master of Applied Finance from The University of Adelaide. He is deeply interested
in how humans function and react with each other. An insight into how people’s minds
think and how they work together is invaluable in just about every field. Outside of
work, Anthony Tan enjoys outdoor activities and the occasional computer game.

xiii
Risk and Protective Factors
of Internalizing and Externalizing
Symptoms Among Mongolian
Adolescents

Altantsetseg Badrakh, Mandukhai Ganbat, Byambajargal Shijir,

Togtuunaa Ider, Nandin-Erdene Bayarmagnai, Ganzul Bazarragchaa,
Khosgarig Altantsatsralt, and Mandakhbayar Nemekh

Abstract Although internalizing and externalizing symptoms are common among

Mongolian adolescents, the risk and protective factors of these symptoms are less
investigated in this population. This study explored depression, anxiety, eating-
related difficulty, self-harming, bullying, smoking, and alcohol drinking among
Mongolian adolescents in relation to the individual, family, and peer-school factors.
1667 adolescents participated through an online platform, and the cross-sectional
data analysis was performed on SPSS .25. As hypothesized, parental abuse, peer
pressure, and bullying victimization positively predicted all internalizing and exter-
nalizing symptoms or were the shared risk factors. Parental emotional neglect posi-
tively predicted only self-harming. In contrast, protective factors varied regarding
each symptom. Females exhibited more internalizing symptoms, and males exhib-
ited more externalizing symptoms, except for alcohol drinking. Significant age and
locational differences were found that older adolescents and those from Ulaanbaatar
city were at higher risk to exhibit internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The
implication of these results and the future directions are discussed.

Keywords Internalizing and externalizing symptoms · Risk and protective

factors · Mongolian adolescents

1 Introduction

Healthy development during adolescence is crucial as it largely determines their later

life quality (e.g., Alderman et al., 2019). Yet many adolescents around the world are
experiencing internalizing symptoms such as depression and anxiety (Chi et al., 2018;

A. Badrakh · M. Ganbat (B) · B. Shijir · T. Ider · N.-E. Bayarmagnai · G. Bazarragchaa ·

K. Altantsatsralt · M. Nemekh
Optimal NMAX LLC, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
e-mail: [email protected]
URL: https://www.optimal.mn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 1
P. Macaulay and L. Tan (eds.), Applied Psychology Readings,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2613-8_1
2 A. Badrakh et al.

Grist et al., 2019), self-harming (Asarnow & Mehlum, 2019; Mehlum et al., 2019),
eating-related difficulties (Warschburger & Zitzmann, 2018), and the externalizing
symptoms such as alcohol drinking and smoking (Montgomery et al., 2020) and
bullying (Gaffney et al., 2019). Internalizing symptoms are defined as the emotional
discomfort and harmful behaviors that are directed toward one’s self whereas exter-
nalizing symptoms are the delinquency and harmful behaviors directed toward the
outside, and both are usually signs of emotional disturbance and negative reactions
to stressful life events (Achenbach et al., 2016). As these symptoms adversely affect
the adolescents’ wellbeing (Nash & Bowen, 2002), and even result in the tragedy
of suicide in some cases (Davaasambuu et al., 2017), it is becoming increasingly
important to investigate and understand those symptoms and their risk and protec-
tive factors, in the less studied populations such as Mongolia. Mongolia, located
in central Asia, is a developing country with a population of 3.45 million (Kemp,
2022). Mongolia went through three major social structure changes, from traditional
nomad herders to a socialist society under the influence of the Soviet Union, and
to a capitalist, free market society in the early 1990s (Hurst, 2001). Those radical
changes and the economic and political instability created massive public stress,
and mental and behavioral issues among the population (see Hurst, 2001). Previous
studies (e.g., Davaasambuu et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2019) suggest that Mongolian
adolescents are suffering from internalizing and externalizing symptoms, yet, there
is a lack of research on the associated factors of those symptoms. To develop a
successful preventive intervention, it is crucial to identify which risk and protective
factors predict each problem at the individual, family, and peer-school level (Bron-
fenbrenner, 1979). Therefore, this research intended to fill this gap. Broadly defined,
risk factors are the conditions that increase the likelihood of emotional and behav-
ioral negative outcomes, whereas protective factors are the conditions that promote
successful development and decrease the negative outcomes (Deković, 1999).
Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological theory is one of the most influential theories
in understanding adolescents’ development and argues that the multiple levels of
surrounding environments play an important role in adolescents’ development. The
theory proposes five levels of environment, starting from the most immediate envi-
ronment, with which the adolescents interact directly, including the contexts such
as family, school, and peers, to a larger macrosystem, which indirectly influences
the adolescents’ development. The main argument is that to understand adolescents’
emotional and behavioral outcomes, the environmental effects must be considered,
especially the immediate environment. A similar argument was suggested by the
problem behavior theory, which states that not only the individual characteristics
such as self-concept but also the environmental factors, or the relationship quality
with the significant others, particularly family and peers, predict adolescents’ inter-
nalizing and externalizing symptoms (Jessor, 1987). When adolescents do not have
sufficient psychological skills to deal with adverse life events and do not receive
adequate emotional support from their significant others, they display their frus-
tration through such symptoms. According to the latest report from UNICEF on
adolescents’ mental health and wellbeing (Keeley, 2021), 13% of adolescents around
the world are experiencing at least one type of internalizing symptom and the most
Risk and Protective Factors of Internalizing and Externalizing … 3

common ones are depression, anxiety, and eating-related difficulties. The result was
explained regarding the adolescents’ relationship quality with their significant others
in the family and school settings. Moreover, the report stated that more comprehen-
sive data is needed especially from less studied countries (such as Mongolia) to fully
understand how the environment affects adolescents’ wellbeing.
Mongolia is a country of youth and around one in five Mongolians is aged 10–19
(National Statistics’ Commission, 2021). Unfortunately, adolescents’ internalizing
and externalizing symptoms are relatively common in Mongolia. For example, higher
prevalence of suicidal thoughts and attempts (i.e., one in three adolescents reported
they have seriously considered committing suicide (Badarch et al., 2022)), and a
significantly higher prevalence of alcohol drinking (Dashpuntsag et al., 2021) and
smoking (Sodnom, 2020). Moreover, Mongolian adolescents were the least happy,
but the most anxious and lonely ones compared to the adolescents of other low-
and middle-income Asian countries (Lee et al., 2019). However, previous studies in
Mongolia tended to either exclusively focus on the prevalence of the internalizing and
externalizing symptoms (e.g., Vanchindorj et al., 2017), or target a single symptom
such as smoking (Sodnom, 2020), or suicidal ideation (Davaasambuu et al., 2017).
Therefore, there is a need for a more comprehensive study that includes various
externalizing and internalizing symptoms and their risk and protective factors simul-
taneously. By filling this gap, this study intended to explore whether the same risk
and protective factors would be accountable for different externalizing and internal-
izing symptoms and to provide some baseline data for further research projects and
the relevant prevention and intervention program development in Mongolia.
Although numerous personal and relationship-related factors were found to be
accountable for the adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the
studies from high-income countries, this study decided to target self-concept and
life satisfaction as individual-level protective factors, parental physical and verbal
abuse, and parental emotional neglect as family-level risk factors, family cohesion as
a family-level protective factor, bullying victimization and peer pressure as the peer-
and school-level risk factors, and school satisfaction as the peer- and school-level
protective factor. These eight factors were selected for two reasons. First, the modi-
fiable nature of these factors may make them more likely to receive attention from
the decision-makers, and evolve into prevention and intervention programs. Second,
these selected factors significantly predicted suicidal ideation among Mongolian
adolescents (Altangerel et al., 2014). Given the fact that several internalizing and
externalizing symptoms were predicted by shared risk and protective factors concur-
rently in previous studies from other countries (see Monahan et al., 2014), the
same factors from Altangerel and others’ study might have similar effects on other
internalizing and externalizing symptoms.
Also, demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and location tend to have a
significant effect in exhibiting the internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Partic-
ularly, older adolescence was related to an increased level of internalizing and exter-
nalizing symptoms such as depression and anxiety (Chen et al., 2020), smoking
(Choi et al., 2001), and alcohol drinking (Windle, 2003). Moreover, female adoles-
cents tend to exhibit more internalizing symptoms, while externalizing symptoms
4 A. Badrakh et al.

tend to be higher among male adolescents (e.g., Cotter et al., 2016). The reason
was explained as peer pressure and delinquent peer associations are higher among
boys, therefore resulting in more anti-social behaviors than girls. Whereas the more
connection-oriented relationships among girls may produce more anxiety and depres-
sion over peer rejection and conflict. The effect of Mongolian culture may play role
in the gender differences as well. Traditionally, Mongolians value masculinity and
powerfulness in men and submissiveness and softness in women (Hurst, 2001; Rarick
et al., 2014), and this cultural effect might enlarge the internalizing symptoms among
females and externalizing symptoms among males. However, surprisingly, it was also
found that while alcohol drinking was common among male adolescents in most
countries, no such gender difference was observed among Mongolian adolescents
(Azzopardi et al., 2021). Thus, alcohol drinking can be exceptional from the gender
differences, and if supported, this can be a sign that alcoholism might have become
a normative culture in Mongolia (Dashpuntsag et al., 2021).
Lastly, the impact of locational difference is huge in Mongolia as the lifestyles
of the urban city, Ulaanbaatar, and the countryside have a significant difference.
Compared to living in the urban city, living in the countryside might be less harmful
to mental health and wellbeing as it is closer to nature, sparsely populated, and less
polluted (Tillmann et al., 2018). Indeed, according to Davaasambuu et al. (2017),
the suicide risk was higher among adolescents living in Ulaanbaatar city than those
who live in the countryside. Thus, higher levels of internalizing and externalizing
symptoms could be expected those from Ulaanbaatar city. Based on the arguments
above, the following hypotheses were developed.
H1: Internalizing and externalizing symptoms would have shared risk and
protective factors in the individual, family, and school and peer-related domains.
H2: Age would positively predict both internalizing and externalizing symptoms.
H3: Females would demonstrate higher levels of internalizing symptoms and
males would demonstrate higher levels of externalizing symptoms, except for
alcohol drinking.
H4: Participants from Ulaanbaatar city would demonstrate higher levels of both
internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

2 Methodology

2.1 Participants and Procedure

Adolescents in Mongolia aged 14–19 were invited to participate voluntarily and

anonymously through a popular teen social media platform, Positive DADAL, in
October 2021. Adolescence is the age period between 10 and 19, according to World
Health Organization (2001). However, as this study was carried out during COVID-
19 restrictions, online data collection was the most feasible option. The age range was
determined as adolescents aged above 13 are allowed to use social media platforms,
Risk and Protective Factors of Internalizing and Externalizing … 5

and 96% of those adolescents use social media daily in Mongolia (Communications &
Regulatory Commissions of Mongolia, 2021). Ethical approval was received from
the research committee of the School of Social Science of the National University of
Mongolia. The online questionnaire was distributed along with the information sheet,
informed consent (i.e., parental consent for participants who are below 18 years old),
and the debrief. Participants had to obtain consent from their parents and tick the
parental consent box located at the bottom of the informed consent page, if they were
aged below 18. In the debrief, information was provided on receiving mental health
support if they felt distressed during or after the survey. Participants also provided
a pseudonym for withdrawal requests. The pseudonym nickname creation was also
used to mitigate the threats of bots (Pozzar et al., 2020). As 2105 responses were
received, 1667 were included in the data analyses after excluding the incomplete
responses (i.e., responses with at least one missing data were treated as incomplete
and were removed, therefore, yielding a 79.1% response rate). Among the 1667
participants, 28.9% were 14 years old, 23.9% were 15 years old, 17.7% were 16 years
old, 19.6% were 17 years old, 5.5% were 18 years old, and 4.4% were 19 years old.
In terms of gender 54.3% were females and 45.7% were males, 69.7% were from
Ulaanbaatar city and the remaining 30.3% were from the countryside.

2.2 Measures

The original scales were in English. Therefore, a two-way translation was performed
from English into Mongolian by the third and fifth authors who are native Mongolian
speakers with a proficient level of English, and a back-translation by the first author
who is also a native Mongolian speaker and educated in the UK. Smoking and alcohol
drinking were assessed by one-item dichotomous questions. We conducted a pilot
test with 20 participants to check the cultural adaptation of the translated scales. In
the pilot test, some of the respondents complained that the total questionnaire was
too long. Moreover, due to the language and cultural differences, some items of the
translated scales were repetitive, thus, making the respondents feel confused. Thus,
to shorten the number of items, repetitively translated items were excluded. The
internal consistencies of the final scales were in the acceptable range for short scales
(Streiner, 2003).
Life satisfaction. Diener et al.’s (1985) the Satisfaction with Life Scale assessed
general life satisfaction through five items such as “I am satisfied with my life” and
“Conditions of my life are excellent”. Responses range from 1 (strongly disagree) to
7 (strongly agree), thus higher scores indicate higher life satisfaction. The internal
consistency of the original scale was α = 0.87 and the two-month test–retest coeffi-
cient was 0.82 (Diener et al., 1985). The internal consistency of this translated scale
was α = 0.76, or highly consistent.
Self-concept. Self-concept (i.e., beliefs they hold about themselves) was assessed
through six dimensions: perceived behavior, anxiety, intellectual status, popularity,