LGBTQ+ health education for medical students in the United States: a narrative literature review

INTRODUCTION

People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and other sexual/gender minorities (LGBTQ+) may experience discrimination when seeking healthcare. Medical students should be trained in inclusive and affirming care for LGBTQ+ patients. This narrative literature review explores the landscape of interventions and evaluations related to LGBTQ+ health content taught in medical schools in the USA and suggests strategies for further curriculum development.

METHODS

PubMed, ERIC, and Education Research Complete databases were systematically searched for peer-reviewed articles on LGBTQ+ health in medical student education in the USA published between 1 January 2011-6 February 2023. Articles were screened for eligibility and data was abstracted from all eligible articles. Data abstraction included the type of intervention or evaluation, sample population and size, and key outcomes.

RESULTS

One hundred thirty-four articles met inclusion criteria and were reviewed. This includes 6 (4.5%) that evaluate existing curriculum, 77 (57.5%) study the impact of curriculum components and interventions, 36 (26.9%) evaluate student knowledge and learning experiences, and 15 (11.2%) describe the development of broad learning objectives and curriculum. Eight studies identified student knowledge gaps related to gender identity and affirming care and these topics were covered in 34 curriculum interventions.

CONCLUSION

Medical student education is important to address health disparities faced by the LGBTQ+ community, and has been an increasingly studied topic in the USA. A variety of curriculum interventions at single institutions show promise in enhancing student knowledge and training in LGBTQ+ health. Despite this, multiple studies indicate that students report inadequate education on certain topics with limitations in their knowledge and preparedness to care for LGBTQ+ patients, particularly transgender and gender diverse patients. Additional integration of LGBTQ+ curriculum content in areas of perceived deficits could help better prepare future physicians to care for LGBTQ+ patients and populations.

Cultivating physician empathy: a person-centered study based in self-determination theory

While physician empathy is a vital ingredient in both physician wellness and quality of patient care, consensus on its origins, and how to cultivate it, is still lacking. The present study examines this issue in a new and innovative way, through the lens of self-determination theory. Using survey methodology, we collected data from N = 177 (44%) students at a Canadian medical school. We then used a person-centered approach (cluster analysis) to identify medical student profiles of self-determination (based on trait autonomy and perceived competence in learning) and how the learning environment impacted empathy for those in each profile. When the learning environment was more autonomy-supportive, students experienced higher satisfaction and lower frustration of their basic psychological needs in medical school, as well as greater empathy towards patients. The translation into increased empathy, however, was only evident among the students with higher self-determination at baseline. Results from this study suggest that autonomy-supportive learning environments will generally support medical students' psychological needs for optimal motivation and well-being, but whether or not they lead to empathy towards patients will depend on individual differences in self-determination. Findings and their implications are discussed in terms of developing theory-driven approaches to cultivating empathy in medical education.

Exploring older migrants' meaning-making of 'happiness': "The main thing is health. Young people might say otherwise."

PURPOSE

As our ageing population is growing and diversifying, it is important to gain insight into the well-being of older migrants. However, the meanings of happiness can vary cross-culturally. Therefore, prior to exploring older migrants' happiness, their meaning-making of "happiness" should be explored. This way, cultural or individual variations can be considered when analysing older migrants' happiness. Not only migration background but also age could influence the meaning of well-being. For example, the meaning of well-being can change as people grow older. Therefore, both migration background and age are considered in exploring older migrants' meaning-making of happiness.

METHODS

To do so, in-depth interviews with older migrants (n = 22) from various ethnicities were conducted in which their meaning-making of happiness was questioned via a semi-structured interview guide.

RESULTS

After analysing the results via thematic analysis, three overarching themes are discussed: (1) happiness associations, (2) happiness-pursuing strategies, and (3) happiness obstructions. The analysis then further focuses on the role of migration background and ageing on the meaning-making of happiness.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants' meaning-making of happiness seems strongly imbued with age-related references. On the contrary, the impact of migration background is rather limited. To explain this difference, the value of incorporating participants' life course experiences emerged.

Impact of a patient and family participation education program on hospital nurses' attitudes and competencies: A controlled before-after study

Objective

We designed a Patient and Family Participation Education Program (PFEP) with the aim of fostering a positive attitude and enhancing the competencies of hospital nurses required for effective patient and family participation in care.

Methods

In a Dutch university hospital, we conducted a before-after study. The PFEP comprising three courses: family conversation, supporting shared decision-making, and health literacy. We assessed nursing attitudes using the FINC-NA questionnaire and competencies with a separate questionnaire before and three months after the program. Changes in attitudes and competencies were analyzed using regression analysis.

Results

Twenty-two nurses participated in the education group, and 58 participated as controls.After three months, the change scores for the education group were statistically significantly higher on the total attitude score (FINC-NA) compared to the control group. Moreover, in six out of twelve competencies, the education group demonstrated significantly higher scores than the control group.

Conclusion

The educational program appeared effective in promoting nurses' attitudes and feelings of competencies towards patient and family-centered care.

Innovation

A blended education program focusing on patient and family has potential value for implementation in hospital care settings, especially for hospitals aiming to cultivate a more patient- and family-centered environment.

Exploring scientific misconduct in Morocco based on an analysis of plagiarism perception in a cohort of 1,220 researchers and students

Plagiarism is widely regarded as an issue of low- and middle-income countries because of several factors such as the lack of ethics policy and poor research training. In Morocco, plagiarism and its perception by academics has not been investigated on a large scale. In this study, we evaluated different aspects of plagiarism among scholars based on a 23-question cross-sectional survey. Factors associated with plagiarism were explored using contingency tables and logistic regression. The survey results covered all public universities (n=12) and included 1,220 recorded responses. The academic level was significantly associated with plagiarism (p<0.001). Having publication records was statistically associated with a reduced plagiarism (p=0.002). Notably, the ability of participants to correctly define plagiarism was also significantly associated with a reduced plagiarism misconduct (p<0.001). Unintentional plagiarism (p<0.001), time constraint to write an original text (p<0.001), and inability of participants to paraphrase (p<0.001) were associated factors with plagiarism. Moreover, participants that considered plagiarism as a serious issue in academic research had significantly committed less plagiarism (p<0.001). The current study showed that various actionable factors associated with plagiarism can be targeted by educational interventions, and therefore, it provided the rationale to build training programs on research integrity in Morocco.

"It takes a lot of sisu to get through it"- managerial experiences of facing adversities during pandemic

PURPOSE

Sisu refers to extraordinary internal strength in the face of adversities. Although originally a Finnish concept, it can be a universally useful concept for studying managerial well-being and performance during difficult or even emergency periods. Previous research on sisu categorizes it into beneficial and harmful sisu and suggests that these two dimensions of sisu are useful when studying determination and resoluteness in crisis situations. This study applies the concept of sisu to examine managers' well-being in times of crisis.

METHODOLOGY

Interviews were conducted with 15 managers in the hotel, manufacturing and retail industries in Finland.

RESULTS

The beneficial effects of sisu seem to dissolve when it is used too often. The study also highlighted the paradoxical tension involved in the decision to stop or continue actions in a difficult situation and contributes to sisu research by discussing collective sisu.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study suggest that beneficial sisu helps to overcome adversity, while harmful sisu causes distortions in thinking that are detrimental to managers. Understanding one's own tendency towards beneficial or harmful sisu in difficult situations can help in managerial work. Collective sisu is an excellent resource for overcoming difficult situations in workplaces.

Developing a narrative communication intervention in the context of HPV vaccination

Objective

We outline the development of a narrative intervention guided by the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM) to promote Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in a diverse college population.

Methods

We adapted the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBIT) model to guide the development, evaluation, and refinement of a CSM-guided narrative video. First, content experts developed a video script containing information on HPV, HPV vaccines, and HPV-related cancers. The script and video contents were evaluated and refined, in succession, utilizing the think-aloud method, open-ended questions, and a brief survey during one-on-one interviews with university students.

Results

Script and video content analyses led to significant revisions that enhanced quality, informativeness, and relevance to the participants. We highlight the critical issues that were revealed and revised in the iterative process.

Conclusions

We developed and refined a CSM guided narrative video for diverse university students. This framework serves as a guide for developing health communication interventions for other populations and health behaviors.

Innovation

This project is the first to apply the ORBIT framework to HPV vaccination and describe a process to develop, evaluate, and refine comparable CSM guided narrative interventions that are tailored to specific audiences.

Exploring basic psychological needs within and across domains of physical activity

PURPOSE

This study explored variations in adults' experience of satisfaction, unfulfilment and frustration of basic psychological needs within and across four domains of physical activity: Transport, household, occupation, and recreation.

METHODS

We utilized a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of 42 Danish adults. The participants ranged in age from 16 to 79 years (mean age 49 years, SD 21 years), gender (45% men, 55% women), and physical activity levels (38% low, 33% average, 29% high). Data were analysed using a thematic analysis, applying Self-Determination Theory as the guiding framework.

RESULTS

In the Transport domain, while most activities were seen as utilitarian necessities, autonomy satisfaction emerged for some through control over their means of transport. In Household domain, tasks were generally viewed as obligatory; however, activities with personal significance led to autonomy satisfaction and skill development. Occupation-wise, physical activity satisfaction varied, with the nature of the job impacting feelings of autonomy and competence. For Recreation domain, personal choice dictated autonomy satisfaction, with competence and relatedness varying according to goal achievement and social interactions.

CONCLUSION

The variations in the findings across domains indicate the effectiveness of applying strategies tailored to specific domains for enhancing need satisfaction.

Self-compassion and psychological well-being of radiographers at work

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to assess how self-compassion affects the psychological well-being of radiographers at work.

METHODS

An online survey was sent to radiology and radiotherapy departments in Rhône-Alpes, a region of France (from October 2021 to February 2022). The study is mixed: quantitative data, with closed questions and two validated scales, and qualitative data, with open questions aimed at assessing perceptions among radiologists as regards self-compassion.

RESULTS

A total of 253 radiographers (mean age 32.9 years), took part in this survey. Radiographers reported a poor level of well-being and a moderate level of self-compassion. We found a link between well-being at work and self-compassion. Gender, age, number of years of experience and the desire to receive training on well-being appear to have an impact on the level of self-compassion. The perception of self-compassion by radiologists is essentially positive.

CONCLUSION

Particular attention should be paid to radiologists who are female, young, and with only a few years of experience. Self-compassion is a protective factor for radiologists and may help them take care of themselves to continue caring for others. Training related to self-compassion should be promoted in medical imaging departments.

A brief real-time fNIRS-informed neurofeedback training of the prefrontal cortex changes brain activity and connectivity during subsequent working memory challenge

Working memory (WM) represents a building-block of higher cognitive functions and a wide range of mental disorders are associated with WM impairments. Initial studies have shown that several sessions of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) informed real-time neurofeedback (NF) allow healthy individuals to volitionally increase activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a region critically involved in WM. For the translation to therapeutic or neuroenhancement applications, however, it is critical to assess whether fNIRS-NF success transfers into neural and behavioral WM enhancement in the absence of feedback. We therefore combined single-session fNIRS-NF of the left DLPFC with a randomized sham-controlled design (N = 62 participants) and a subsequent WM challenge with concomitant functional MRI. Over four runs of fNIRS-NF, the left DLPFC NF training group demonstrated enhanced neural activity in this region, reflecting successful acquisition of neural self-regulation. During the subsequent WM challenge, we observed no evidence for performance differences between the training and the sham group. Importantly, however, examination of the fMRI data revealed that - compared to the sham group - the training group exhibited significantly increased regional activity in the bilateral DLPFC and decreased left DLPFC - left anterior insula functional connectivity during the WM challenge. Exploratory analyses revealed a negative association between DLPFC activity and WM reaction times in the NF group. Together, these findings indicate that healthy individuals can learn to volitionally increase left DLPFC activity in a single training session and that the training success translates into WM-related neural activation and connectivity changes in the absence of feedback. This renders fNIRS-NF as a promising and scalable WM intervention approach that could be applied to various mental disorders.

Intergenerational Storytelling as a Developmental Resource in LGBTQ+ Communities

LGBTQ+ people continue to be threatened by systemic censorship and erasure in public spaces and discourses, making community-based resources for positive development crucial. In this study, we examined one such developmental resource-LGBTQ+ intergenerational storytelling about cultural-historical events. LGBTQ+ adults (N = 495) ranging in age from 17 to 80 years (M = 39.22, SD = 19.89) responded to an online survey about LGBTQ+ intergenerational storytelling and relationships. Results showed that although LGBTQ+ intergenerational storytelling was reported to occur infrequently, sharing stories across generations was considered important, and LGBTQ+ people desired even greater intergenerational connection. Intergenerational narratives reported by participants were primarily about cultural-historical events involving adversity and oppression (e.g. AIDS crisis), policy and legislation (e.g. marriage equality), and protest, resistance, and activism (e.g. Stonewall uprising). Stories were mostly told by older friends in private or social settings for the purpose of passing on LGBTQ+ history. Lessons learned through storytelling were diverse but tended to focus on appreciation and affirmation. Valuing intergenerational storytelling was associated with positive psychosocial identity. This study suggests that intergenerational storytelling may be an important developmental resource for LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized communities.

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Research on Social Attitudes Towards LGBT Community (2002-2022)

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to map out trends in publications on attitudes toward the LGBT community based on the 470 documents retrieved from the SCOPUS database for 2002-2022. The results revealed that the United States is the leading country contributing to the publications on attitudes toward the LGBT community and has a strong impact in the field (64.68%). The authorship analysis revealed that Flores, Woodford, and Worthen from the United States are the leading researchers in this field. Analysis of publication sources showed that the Journal of Homosexuality is the top publisher of findings on the LGBT community whereas the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and Sexuality and Culture have gained more traction among researchers in recent years. The analysis of the co-occurrence of author's keywords indicated that transgender is the gender group that is the most researched compared to other sexual identities. Negative attitudes such as homophobia, discrimination and being heterosexist toward one's sexuality or same-sex marriage are the current research foci. Religion and culture are seen as important predictors of attitudes about homosexuality and same-sex marriage policy. The study addresses the gaps in the literature by recommending future researchers to investigate attitudes toward other gender identities as a result of the revolution in sexual identities.

Understanding the link between theory of mind and loneliness among primary school students: A cross-lagged panel model analysis

This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal association between theory of mind (ToM) and loneliness as well as the potential moderating effects of parenting style on this association. A total of 689 Chinese third-grade students (341 girls and 348 boys; Mage = 9.23 years, SD = 0.66) were recruited from eight primary schools and were followed from Grade 3 to Grade 5. These students reported their primary caregivers' parenting style in third grade and completed the same ToM task and loneliness questionnaire at each time point from Grade 3 to Grade 5. The study's results indicated a bidirectional relationship between ToM and loneliness, implying that children with less developed ToM abilities tend to feel lonelier and, conversely, that higher levels of loneliness are associated with lower ToM skills. Moreover, the study demonstrated that parenting style influenced the association between ToM and loneliness. Specifically, the impact of ToM at Grade 3 on reducing loneliness at Grade 4 was greater among children who experienced high levels of rejection from their caregivers compared with those with low levels of rejection. In addition, this study found that loneliness at Grade 3 had a greater influence on ToM at Grade 5 for children experiencing low levels of emotional warmth from their caregivers than for those who experienced high levels of emotional warmth. These findings highlight the significance of ToM as both a precursor and consequence of children's loneliness and emphasize the variation in these longitudinal relationships based on the parenting styles of primary caregivers.

Beyond Gender and Race: The Representation of Concealable Identities Among College Science Instructors at Research Institutions

Concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs) are identities that can be kept hidden and carry negative stereotypes. To understand the potential influence instructors have as role models, we must first explore the identities instructors have and whether they disclose those identities to undergraduates. We surveyed national samples of science instructors (n = 1248) and undergraduates (n = 2428) at research institutions to assess the extent to which instructors hold CSIs, whether they reveal those identities to undergraduates, how the prevalence of CSIs among instructors compares to their prevalence among undergraduates, and the reasons instructors reveal or conceal their CSIs. The most common CSIs instructors reported were having anxiety (35%) and being a first-generation college student (29%). Relatively few instructors revealed CSIs to students. The largest mismatches of CSI prevalence were for struggling academically in college (-30%) and having anxiety (-25%); all mismatches grew when accounting for instructor CSI disclosure, highlighting that students perceive fewer role models of scientists with CSIs than actually exist.

Seeing is misbelieving: Consumers wrongly believe that unhealthy food tastes better when there is more of it

Recent studies have shown that people can believe that unhealthy foods taste better, even if healthy and unhealthy foods are equally as tasty. Specifically, when tasty and unhealthy foods are frequent in one context but rare in another, people perceive unhealthy foods to taste better, even if health and taste are unrelated. Given that people often consume food in one context, the current study investigated whether false beliefs about the health-taste relationship in foods can also occur in just one single context, in which either healthy or unhealthy foods are predominant, when there is no contrasting context where the respective other food is predominant. In two experiments (N = 342), we presented participants with pictures of meals from a single context and varied the frequency of healthy and unhealthy foods between participants. Although healthy and unhealthy foods tasted equally as good, participants believed that (un)healthy foods tasted better when there were more of them. This research demonstrates that health-taste beliefs might be changed by increasing the relative frequency of healthy foods in the environment overall, not by just offering some healthy and tasty foods.

Effectiveness of health education and counseling on stages of change, decisional balance, and smoking cessation self-efficacy: A prospective self-control study

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effectiveness of health education and counseling on the stages of change, decisional balance, and smoking cessations elf-efficacy in smokers with no intention of quitting.

METHODS

A prospective self-controlled design was conducted between December 2020 and December 2022. The research period was divided into a control stage (first to fourth weeks) and an experimental stage (fifth to eighth weeks). Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and habitually smoked were recruited. Pearson correlation and a one-factor repeated-measurement analysis were performed to assess the effectiveness of the intervention.

RESULTS

In total, 108 male CAD patients with a mean age of 58.1 years were recruited. After 4 weeks of the intervention, 55 (51%) exhibited behavior change (X 2 = 18.03, p = .001). The decisional balance and smoking cessation self-efficacy scores significantly improved in the experimental stage. No significant differences were observed in the control stage.

CONCLUSIONS

Four weeks of health education and counseling could effectively improve participants' stage of change, decisional balance, and smoking cessation self-efficacy.

PRACTICE IMPLICATION

Healthcare professionals can play key roles in helping CAD patients successfully quit smoking through individual education and counseling.

Disorder-specific versus transdiagnostic cognitive mechanisms in anxiety and depression: Machine-learning-based prediction of symptom severity

INTRODUCTION

Psychiatric evaluation of anxiety and depression is currently based on self-reported symptoms and their classification into discrete disorders. Yet the substantial overlap between these disorders as well as their within-disorder heterogeneity may contribute to the mediocre success rates of treatments. The proposed research examines a new framework for diagnosis that is based on alterations in underlying cognitive mechanisms. In line with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) approach, the current study directly compares disorder-specific and transdiagnostic cognitive patterns in predicting the severity of anxiety and depression symptoms.

METHODS

The sample included 237 individuals exhibiting differing levels of anxiety and depression symptoms, as measured by the STAI-T and BDI-II. Random Forest regressors were used to analyze their performance on a battery of six computerized cognitive-behavioral tests targeting selective and spatial attention, expectancy, interpretation, memory, and cognitive control biases.

RESULTS

Unique anxiety-specific biases were found, as well as shared anxious-depressed bias patterns. These cognitive biases exhibited relatively high fitting rates when predicting symptom severity (questionnaire scores common range 0-60, MAE = 6.03, RMSE = 7.53). Interpretation and expectancy biases exhibited the highest association with symptoms, above all other individual biases.

LIMITATIONS

Although internal validation methods were applied, models may suffer from potential overfitting due to sample size limitations.

CONCLUSION

In the context of the ongoing dispute regarding symptom-centered versus transdiagnostic approaches, the current study provides a unique comparison of these two views, yielding a novel intermediate approach. The results support the use of mechanism-based dimensional diagnosis for adding precision and objectivity to future psychiatric evaluations.

Network structure of complex interactions of premenstrual syndrome and influencing factors in young adult women

BACKGROUND

In the transition phase from adolescence to adulthood, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) occurs more commonly, with a variety of symptoms. The occurrence of PMS may be the result of a combination of demographic, physiological, psychological and sociological factors. This study aimed to identify the central symptoms of PMS, and explored the complex influencing factors especially the one-to-one inter-relationships factors with specific symptoms.

METHOD

This is a cross-sectional study conducted in mainland China. 3458 young adult women were assessed. Using the Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (PSS) to assess the PMS, and PSS score was over 6 divided into PMS group, and vice versa. Influencing factors were assessed by a set of self-reported questionnaire. Network analysis was used to examined the interplay of PMS, whilst also considering the influencing factors of PMS.

RESULTS

In summary, 1479 participants were in PMS group. Anxiety had the highest strength centrality (1.12/1.09), shown higher centrality in the both network. Swelling of the hands or feet also shown higher strength centrality (0.89) in PMS group. PMS is associated with a higher history of dysmenorrhea, and neurotic personality. Neurotic personality - depressed mood/nervousness (0.27/0.23), history of dysmenorrhea - abdominal distension (0.21), had significantly higher weight than other edges in PMS group.

CONCLUSION

Anxiety was the most central symptom in the network, and was closely associated with other symptoms like depressed mood, which provided additional evidence for the centrality of emotional features in PMS. Moreover, the influencing factors of PMS combined demographic, physiological, psychological, and sociological factors. According to the central symptoms and factors affecting the specific PMS symptoms in young adult women, targeted intervention is helpful to prevent and alleviate PMS.

LIMITATION

Cross-sectional design cannot infer the directionality of the associations between variables. All data is self-reported with recall bias and the edge weights across the constructs of influencing factors and PMS were fairly small.

I help, therefore, I am? - A registered report on longitudinal inter-relations of the three-dimensional moral self-concept and prosocial behaviours in preschool children

Children's moral self-concept (MSC) has been proposed to relate to prosocial behaviour. However, systematic assessments of their inter-relations are scarce. Therefore, this longitudinal study investigated the development, structure and inter-relation of prosocial behaviours and the MSC in childhood, using three measurement points at ages 4, 5 and 6 years. We assessed children's MSC and helping, sharing and comforting behaviours in a laboratory setting. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-dimensional MSC structure at 5 and 6 years, but not at 4 years. There was inconsistent stability across time points regarding prosocial behaviour and MSC. For the comforting domain, but not the other domains, cross-lagged relations between self-concept and behaviour were present. Moreover, helping behaviour and self-concept were inter-related at 6 years. Results provide support for reciprocal associations between MSC and prosocial behaviour, albeit only in the comforting domain. They highlight the importance of distinguishing between types of prosocial behaviour and corresponding dimensions of the self-concept, as different developmental trajectories and associations emerge.

Children's and adults' evaluations of self-enhancement and self-deprecation depend on the usual performance of the self-presenter

This study examined how evaluations of self-presentation vary with age depending on the self-presenter's usual performance. People's usual performance is a key factor because it generally influences the social evaluations and judgments that others make about them. Children aged 7 and 8 years (second graders) and 10 and 11 years (fifth graders), as well as adults, were presented with scenarios in which protagonists responded to praise after a good performance using either self-enhancement or self-deprecation. The other person in scenarios knew that the protagonist's usual performance on the task was either good or poor. After the protagonist responded to praise in a self-enhancing or self-deprecating way, the participants judged how the other person would evaluate the protagonist's ability (good/poor) and character (nice/mean). For ability evaluations specifically concerning protagonists who usually performed poorly, the results showed that by around 10 years of age children no longer tended to give more positive ability evaluations for self-enhancement than for self-deprecation. Adults gave less positive ability evaluations for self-deprecation than for self-enhancement, but only when the protagonists usually performed well. In relation to the character evaluations, by around 10 years of age self-enhancement led to less positive character evaluations than self-deprecation, but only when the protagonists usually performed poorly. Overall, second graders evaluated self-presenters as more competent and nicer. These results indicate that the expected evaluation of self-enhancement and self-deprecation is influenced by the usual level of performance but that there are developmental changes in this aspect of social cognition.

Shyness, emotion processing, and objective quality of life among adults with schizophrenia: an ERP study

Purpose: Although individual differences in temperament have been shown to influence Quality of Life (QoL) among individuals with schizophrenia, there exists considerable heterogeneity in such outcomes suggesting moderating factors. Here we used event-related potential (ERP) methodology to examine whether the processing of facial emotions moderated the association between shyness and objective QoL among adults with schizophrenia.Methods: Forty stable outpatients with schizophrenia completed measures of shyness and QoL. Early visual ERP components (P100, N170) were recorded while participants viewed emotional faces.Results: We observed a significant interaction between shyness and P100 and N170 amplitudes in response to fearful faces in predicting Intrapsychic Foundations QoL. Patients with reduced P100 and N170 amplitudes to fearful compared to neutral faces displayed the lowest QoL, but only if they were also high in shyness. We also found a significant interaction between shyness and ERP latency at the P100 and N170 in response to happy faces. Patients who displayed longer P100 and N170 latencies to happy faces compared to neutral faces and with higher shyness levels scored lower on Intrapsychic Foundations and Interpersonal Relations QoL, respectively.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the neural processing of emotional faces and shyness interact to predict aspects of QoL among outpatients with schizophrenia.

The effectiveness of a masked counterconditioning approach using continuous flash suppression to alleviate body dissatisfaction in women with high body image concerns

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Research that used counterconditioning (CC) to reduce women's negative body image has led to mixed results. One explanation could be that the negative responses elicited by own body pictures hinder the effectiveness of CC procedures in adjusting overly negative attitudes towards the own body. In this study we therefore tried to prevent the impact of negative responses by limiting women's perceptual awareness of the own body pictures during the CC procedure.

METHODS

Women with a negative body image were randomly assigned to an experimental (n = 75) or control (n = 71) condition. In the experimental condition, participants' masked body pictures were systematically followed by visible social approval cues (i.e., smiling faces), whereas neutral body-unrelated control pictures were followed by a blank screen. In the control condition, both own body and control pictures were followed by a blank screen.

RESULTS

Participants in the experimental condition did not report a more positive evaluation of the own body (pictures) after CC than participants in the control condition. Also, the strength of automatic affective body evaluations as indexed by a single-target Implicit Association Test did not differ between conditions.

LIMITATIONS

Many participants did not remain fully unaware of their body pictures during conditioning.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provided no support for the idea that CC with masked own body pictures can be used in women with body dissatisfaction to improve their body image.

Meat and morality: The moral foundation of purity, but not harm, predicts attitudes toward cultured meat

Cultured meat (also referred to as cultivated, cell-based, or cell-cultured meat) is a novel food technology that is presented as a method of meat production without reliance on large-scale industrial farming. The pro-cultured meat narrative rests, in part, on a moral foundation: cultured meat is purported to alleviate the environmental and animal welfare harms associated with farmed meat. Despite this narrative, no research has examined which moral values underpin attitudes towards cultured meat. To examine this, we surveyed 1861 participants from the United States and Germany about their moral foundations and their attitudes towards cultured meat. In line with predictions, people who more strongly endorse moral values about purity (i.e., had higher scores on the purity subscale of the moral foundations scale) held more negative attitudes towards cultured meat. However, this relationship was much more consistent among participants from the United States than participants from Germany. Against predictions, attitudes towards cultured meat were not reliably associated with the extent to which people focus on harm as a moral foundation. The latter finding was particularly surprising in light of harm-reduction narratives around cultured meat. These findings demonstrate the need for a more nuanced discussion about, and understanding of, consumer concerns around cultured meat and the values that underpin them.

Fear of missing out and problematic social media use: A serial mediation model of social comparison and self-esteem

Background and aim

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is consistently associated with problematic social media use (PSMU). Moreover, previous studies have shown a significant association between FoMO, self-esteem, and social comparison. However, there is a lack of studies that have investigated the relationship between, FoMO, social comparison, self-esteem, and PSMU in an integrated model. The present study hypothesized that FoMO may influence PSMU through the serial mediating role of social comparison and self-esteem.

Method

A cross-sectional survey study was conducted comprising 256 Italian university students (74.4% female), aged 18 to 38 years (M = 23.05 years; SD = 3.58). The participants completed an online survey assessing the variables of the study.

Results

Controlling for age and gender, the results showed positive associations between FoMO, social comparison, and PSMU, and a negative association between FoMO and self-esteem. Self-esteem was also negatively associated with PSMU. It was also found that social comparison and self-esteem sequentially mediated the association between FoMO and PSMU.

Conclusions

The present study contributes to understanding the mechanisms that underline the complex effects of FoMO on PSMU.

Factor Analysis With Unusual Sexual Interests: A Replication Study in a Representative Population Sample

A previous study found a variety of unusual sexual interests to cluster in a five-factor structure, namely submission/masochism, forbidden sexual activities, dominance/sadism, mysophilia, and fetishism (Schippers et al., 2021). The current study was an empirical replication to examine whether these findings generalized to a representative population sample. An online, anonymous sample (N = 256) representative of the Dutch adult male population rated 32 unusual sexual interests on a scale from 1 (very unappealing) to 7 (very appealing). An exploratory factor analysis assessed whether similar factors would emerge as in the original study. A subsequent confirmatory factor analysis served to confirm the factor structure. Four slightly different factors of sexual interest were found: extreme, illegal and mysophilic sexual activities; light BDSM without real pain or suffering; heavy BDSM that may include pain or suffering; and illegal but lower-sentenced and fetishistic sexual activities. The model fit was acceptable. The representative replication sample was more sexually conservative and showed less sexual engagement than the original convenience sample. On a fundamental level, sexual interest in light BDSM activities and extreme, forbidden, and mysophilic activities seem to be relatively separate constructs.

Predictors of compulsive cyberporn use: A machine learning analysis

Introduction

Compulsive cyberporn use (CCU) has previously been reported among people who use cyberporn. However, most of the previous studies included convenience samples of students or samples of the general adult population. Research examining the factors that predict or are associated with CCU are still scarce.In this study, we aimed to (a) assess compulsive cyberporn consumption in a broad sample of people who had used cyberporn and (b) determine, among a diverse range of predictor variables, which are most important in CCU scores, as assessed with the eight-item Compulsive Internet Use Scale adapted for cyberporn.

Materials and Methods

Overall, 1584 adult English speakers (age: 18-75 years, M = 33.18; sex: 63.1 % male, 35.2 % female, 1.7 % nonbinary) who used cyberporn during the last 6 months responded to an online questionnaire that assessed sociodemographic, sexual, psychological, and psychosocial variables. Their responses were subjected to correlation analysis, analysis of variance, and machine learning analysis.

Results

Among the participants, 21.96% (in the higher quartile) presented CCU symptoms in accordance with their CCU scores. The five most important predictors of CCU scores were related to the users' strength of craving for pornography experiences, suppression of negative emotions porn use motive, frequency of cyberporn use over the past year, acceptance of rape myths, and anxious attachment style.

Conclusions

From a large and diverse pool of variables, we determined the most important predictors of CCU scores. The findings contribute to a better understanding of problematic pornography use and could enrich compulsive cyberporn treatment and prevention.

Don't be a rat: An investigation of the taboo against reporting other students for cheating

This research examines barriers to reporting academic dishonesty in early adulthood (Study 1; N = 92) and adolescence (Study 2; N = 137). Participants were asked to describe a recent time they observed a peer cheating and to reflect on their decision about whether to report the cheating. They also responded to hypothetical scenarios about observing typical cheating actions, and the presence of social motives (e.g., whether people who report tend to gain reputations for being snitches) was manipulated in each scenario. Even though participants judged reporting to be the morally right thing to do, doing so was rare and approval for it was low, especially in adolescence. Participants also tended to say they would rather be friends with people who do not report cheaters than with those who do. Participants reasoned about a variety of social concerns to support their judgments about reporting (e.g., concern about their relationship with the cheater, concerns for others' welfare), and the manipulated social motives in the hypothetical scenarios significantly influenced judgments about reporting. These findings inform our understanding of the social dynamics that contribute to decisions about policing academic honesty.

Do breaks in online gambling affect neuropsychological arousal? Conceptual approach and lessons learned from the TESSA-pilot trial

Introduction

Mandatory breaks have been discussed as a harm reduction strategy in the context of gambling for several years, but their effectiveness remains unclear. The TESSA pilot study examines the association of physiological arousal (PA) and mandatory breaks during gambling with an aim to conceptualize the framework for a subsequent randomized controlled trial.

Material and methods

In a one-armed experimental pilot study 28 participants engaged in a simulated online slot game with mandatory breaks. PA, disentangled into fear, anger, joy, attraction, balance, and retraction, was continuously monitored via skin conductivity and skin temperature. The occurrence of PA in distinct phases (phase 1: initiation, phase 2: pre-break, phase 3: post-break) was contrasted by multilevel logistic regression.

Results

Fear and attraction did not change. Compared to phase 1, anger (OR = 0.698; p = 0.015) and joy (OR = 0.714; p = 0.032) were less likely in phase 2, with joy also being less likely in phase 3 (OR = 0.690; p = 0.023). Balance was more likely in phase 2 (OR = 5.073; p < 0.0001) than in phase 1 and less likely in phase 3 (OR = 0.348; p < 0.0001) whilst retraction declined from phase to phase.

Discussion

Mandatory breaks appear suited to offset changes in PA response evolving during gambling, but a sustained effect on initial PA levels should not to be expected. However, to sensitively judge the role of breaks additional framework conditions that impact on gambling behavior (e. g. wins/losses) should be considered.

Prevalence, perceptions, and experiences of frailty among older migrants from Low- and Middle-Income Countries to High Income Countries: A mixed method systematic review

BACKGROUND

Frailty is increasingly becoming a public health concern, especially among vulnerable populations. Older migrants from Low- and Middle-Income Countries to High Income Countries present with poorer health and are at increased risk of becoming frail. This review aims to explore the prevalence, perceptions, and experiences of frailty among older migrants from Low- and Middle-Income Countries to High Income Countries.

METHODS

This review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. Five electronic databases were comprehensively searched for relevant literature published from January 1, 2000, to April 30, 2023. Quality appraisal for the quantitative studies was done with the Joanna Brigg's critical appraisal tool for analytic cross-sectional studies, and the qualitative studies were assessed with the Critical Appraisal Skill Program tool for qualitative studies.

RESULT

Seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Frailty was assessed using modified versions of the Frailty Phenotype and Frailty Index. The prevalence of frailty using the Frailty Phenotype was 16.6 %, and 17 % to 61.9 % according to the Frailty Index. The perceptions and experiences of frailty were characterised by chronic ill-health and a review of healthy pre-migration and early migration lives.

CONCLUSION

Despite the variation in frailty assessment methods, the high prevalence of frailty among older migrants was highlighted across the included studies. The perceptions and experiences of frailty reflect a state of resignation which can complicate the state of frailty. There is the need for ongoing research among migrant groups to identify their predisposition to frailty for early intervention.

Implicit beliefs and automatic associations in smoking

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Dual process models of addiction suggest that controlled, goal-directed processes prevent drug-use, whereas impulsive, stimulus-driven processes promote drug-use. The most frequently used measure of automatic smoking-related processes, the implicit association test (IAT), has yielded mixed results. We examine the validity of two alternative implicit measures: 1) the affect misattribution procedure (AMP), a measure of automatic evaluations, and 2) the relational responding task (RRT), a measure of implicit beliefs.

METHODS

Smokers and non-smokers performed smoking-related versions of the AMP and the RRT and filled in questionnaires for smoking dependence. Smokers participated in two sessions: once after they just smoked, and once after being deprived for 10 h. Smokers also kept a smoking diary for a week after the second session.

RESULTS

We found significant differences between smokers and non-smokers on the RRT, t (86) = 2.86, p = .007, d = 0.61, and on the AMP, F (1, 85) = 6.22, p = .015, pƞ2 = 0.07. Neither the AMP nor the RRT were affected by the deprivation manipulation. Smoking dependence predicted smoking behavior in the following week; the AMP and RRT did not explain additional variance.

LIMITATIONS

Possibly, our manipulation was not strong enough to affect the motivational state of participants in a way that it changed their implicit cognitions. Future research should examine the sensitivity of implicit measures to (motivational) context.

CONCLUSIONS

We found limited evidence for the validity of the smoking-AMP and the smoking-RRT, highlighting the need for a critical view on implicit measures.

The role of explicit and implicit self-esteem in the relationship between childhood trauma and adult depression and anxiety

BACKGROUND

Self-esteem is an important psychological concept that can be measured explicitly (reflective processing) and implicitly (associative processing). The current study examined 1) the association between childhood trauma (CT) and both explicit and implicit self-esteem, and 2) whether self-esteem mediated the association between CT and depression/anxiety.

METHODS

In 1479 adult participants of the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety, CT was assessed with a semi-structured interview, depression/anxiety symptoms with self-report questionnaires and explicit and implicit self-esteem with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Implicit Association Test, respectively. ANOVAs and regression analyses determined the association between CT (no/mild/severe CT), its subtypes (abuse/neglect) and self-esteem. Finally, we examined whether self-esteem mediated the relationship between CT and depression/anxiety.

RESULTS

Participants with CT reported lower explicit (but not lower implicit) self-esteem compared to those without CT (p < .001, partial η2 = 0.06). All CT types were associated with lower explicit self-esteem (p = .05 for sexual abuse, p < .001 for other CT types), while only emotional neglect significantly associated with lower implicit self-esteem after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics (p = .03). Explicit self-esteem mediated the relationship between CT and depression/anxiety symptoms (proportion mediated = 48-77 %).

LIMITATIONS

The cross-sectional design precludes from drawing firm conclusions about the direction of the proposed relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggested that the relationship between CT and depression/anxiety symptoms can at least partly be explained by explicit self-esteem. This is of clinical relevance as it points to explicit self-esteem as a potential relevant treatment target for people with CT.

The effect of slow wave sleep deprivation on mood in adolescents with depressive symptoms: A pilot study

BACKGROUND

There is an urgent need for safe, rapid-acting treatment strategies for adolescent depression. In depressed adults, slow wave sleep deprivation (SWSD) improved next-day mood without disrupting sleep duration, but SWSD has not been tested in adolescents. In a pilot study, the aim was to assess the effect of SWSD on sleep physiology and mood outcomes (depression, rumination, anhedonia) among adolescents with depressive symptoms.

METHODS

Sixteen adolescents (17.44 ± 1.46 yr, 12 female) completed three nights of polysomnographic sleep recording: Baseline, SWSD, and Recovery nights. Acoustic stimulation (tones of random pitch, duration, and volume) suppressed slow wave sleep (SWS) in real-time during SWSD. After each night, depression, rumination, and anhedonia severity were assessed.

RESULTS

SWSD successfully suppressed SWS, increased N2, and had minimal impact on Rapid Eye Movement (REM), nocturnal awakenings, and total sleep time. While SWSD did not improve depression or anhedonia severity overall, lower baseline non-REM alpha activity and greater SWS rebound during recovery sleep correlated with SWSD-related reduction in clinician-rated depression severity. Next-day rumination severity decreased after SWSD, with sustained improvements following recovery sleep. However, rumination improvement was not associated with SWS suppression, but rather reduction in total sleep time and REM in exploratory correlation models.

LIMITATIONS

Small sample size and large proportion of females.

CONCLUSION

SWSD did not improve depression in adolescents overall but a subset with low non-REM alpha activity and intact homeostatic sleep regulation may benefit from this approach. Findings from this pilot study also suggest that partial sleep deprivation may be a beneficial therapeutic strategy for rumination in adolescents.

Daily mindfulness homework completion is associated with reduced drinking during a mindfulness-enriched emotion regulation treatment for alcohol use disorder

Homework is widely used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Theoretically, homework helps clients generalize skills acquired during treatment to their daily lives. However, clinical trials methodology has typically employed pre- and post-treatment assessments which has made evaluating the contribution of homework to behavior change a challenge. The current study leveraged daily diary data from a clinical trial of CBT for AUD to parse within- and between-person associations of mindfulness homework practice and alcohol consumption. Adults seeking treatment for AUD (N = 97) completed 12 treatment sessions and 84 consecutive daily smartphone surveys. Each day, participants reported on the frequency of prior day's formal and informal mindfulness homework practice, the duration of prior day's formal mindfulness practice, and prior day's alcohol consumption. Multilevel models tested within- and between-person associations of mindfulness homework practice with the odds of drinking and heavy drinking, accounting for prior day's alcohol use. Results revealed that greater-than-usual frequency and duration of formal daily mindfulness homework practice, but not informal mindfulness practice, were associated with lower odds of a drinking day. Further, greater-than-usual duration of formal daily mindfulness homework practice, but not frequency of mindfulness practice (formal or informal), was associated with lower odds of a heavy drinking day. Results suggest that formal daily mindfulness homework practice may be beneficial and extend the literature by demonstrating that it coincides with reduced drinking and heavy drinking odds within-persons during AUD treatment. Apprising AUD clients of the potential value of homework may help boost its uptake.

Brief online negative affect focused functional imagery training (FIT) improves four-week drinking outcomes in hazardous student drinkers: A pilot randomised controlled trial replication in South Africa

Background

Previous study has shown that functional imagery training (FIT) to utilise positive mental imagery in response to negative affect could improve alcohol-related outcomes. The current study aimed to replicate whether this negative affect focused FIT would improve alcohol-related outcomes in hazardous student drinkers in South Africa at four-week follow-up.

Methods

50 hazardous student drinkers who reported drinking to cope with negative affect were randomised into two groups. The active group (n = 25) was trained online over two weeks to respond to personalised negative drinking triggers by retrieving a personalised adaptive strategy they might use to mitigate negative affect, whereas the control group (n = 25) received standard risk information about binge drinking. Outcome measures including alcohol consumption, drinking motives, anxiety and depression, self-efficacy and use of protective behavioural strategies were obtained at baseline and four-week follow-up.

Results

FIT effects were revealed by three significant group-by-timepoint interactions in a per-protocol analysis: there was a significant decrease in depressive symptoms, drinking to cope and drinking for social reasons from baseline to follow-up in the active group, but not the control group. No effects were observed on alcohol consumption, self-efficacy, protective behaviour strategies and anxiety.

Conclusions

Preliminary evidence supports that online negative affect focused FIT can improve depression as well as coping and social drinking motives in South African hazardous student drinkers who drank to cope, at four-week follow-up, suggesting that the principles of this FIT approach might be adapted and incorporated into a clinical intervention to test for efficacy in mitigating substance use problems.

Academic cheating in early childhood: Role of age, gender, personality, and self-efficacy

The current study investigated the association of children's age, gender, ethnicity, Big Five personality traits, and self-efficacy with their academic cheating behaviors. Academic cheating is a rampant problem that has been documented in adolescents and adults for nearly a century, but our understanding of the early development and factors influencing academic cheating is still weak. Using Zoom, the current study recruited children aged 4 to 12 years (N = 388), measured their cheating behaviors through six tasks simulating academic testing scenarios, and assessed their Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy through a modified Berkeley Puppet Interview paradigm, as well as age and gender. We found that children cheated significantly less with increased age and that boys cheated significantly more than girls. However, neither Big Five personality traits nor self-efficacy were significantly correlated with children's cheating. These findings suggest that academic cheating is a developing issue from early to middle childhood and that factors such as gender socialization may play a role in such development. Personal characteristics such as personality traits and self-efficacy may undergo additional development before their associations with cheating become robust, as reported in the adult literature.

Motives for Sex and Sexual Perpetration in College Men: An Exploratory Study

OBJECTIVE

Prior research has rarely focused on sexual motives (e.g., motives for having sex) when studying sexual violence perpetration prevention. The current study examined the role of sexual motives alongside other risk factors like alcohol expectancies in predicting sexual violence.

METHOD

We analyzed data from 205 male college students; 36% reported sexual perpetration of some type. Participants completed a series of questionnaires in a randomized order, including: measures of prior sexual perpetration, sexual motives, rape myth acceptance, alcohol expectancies, and a measure of social desirability. Data were analyzed using a series of T-tests and logistic regressions.

RESULTS

With one exception (coping motives), all sexual motives (intimacy, enhancement, self-affirmation, peer approval, and partner approval) were endorsed at higher levels by individuals who perpetrated sexual violence than those who did not (p < .05, Cohen's d = .25-.56). The partner approval motive significantly predicted sexual violence perpetration on its own. The enhancement motive, both independently and in interaction with alcohol expectancies for aggression, predicted sexual violence perpetration. Two other motives, intimacy and self-affirmation, were only significant in interaction with alcohol expectancies for aggression.

CONCLUSION

All sexual motives were endorsed more frequently by those who perpetrated sexual violence than those who did not. Sexual motives had a complex interaction with alcohol expectancies in predicting sexual violence perpetration. The results suggest that intervention programs should emphasize healthy, consensual sexual relationships that do not involve alcohol.

Development and classification of autonomous vehicle's ambiguous driving scenario

Human drivers are gradually being replaced by highly automated driving systems, and this trend is expected to persist. The response of autonomous vehicles to Ambiguous Driving Scenarios (ADS) is crucial for legal and safety reasons. Our research focuses on establishing a robust framework for developing ADS in autonomous vehicles and classifying them based on AV user perceptions. To achieve this, we conducted extensive literature reviews, in-depth interviews with industry experts, a comprehensive questionnaire survey, and factor analysis. We created 28 diverse ambiguous driving scenarios and examined 548 AV users' perspectives on moral, ethical, legal, utility, and safety aspects. Based on the results, we grouped ADS, with all of them having the highest user perception of safety. We classified these scenarios where autonomous vehicles yield to others as moral, bottleneck scenarios as ethical, cross-over scenarios as legal, and scenarios where vehicles come to a halt as utility-related. Additionally, this study is expected to make a valuable contribution to the field of self-driving cars by presenting new perspectives on policy and algorithm development, aiming to improve the safety and convenience of autonomous driving.

Associations between screen use while eating and eating disorder symptomatology: Exploring the roles of mindfulness and intuitive eating

Screen use while eating has been recently identified as a highly common and potentially important specific setting of screen use in relation to eating disorder symptomatology. However, given this area of research is still in its infancy, how screen use while eating may be related to eating disorder symptomatology remains largely unexplored. To fill this gap, the present study probed the potential roles of mindfulness and intuitive eating in the association between screen use while eating and eating disorder symptomatology. A large sample of Chinese adults (N = 800, aged 18-67 years old) recruited through a Chinese survey platform, Credamo, completed questionnaires assessing screen use while eating, eating disorder symptomatology, mindfulness, and intuitive eating. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model. Results confirmed our hypotheses that the association between screen use while eating and eating disorder symptomatology was partially explained by mindfulness and intuitive eating, after adjusting for covariates (e.g., gender, age, body mass index, total screen time, and social media use). That said, higher screen use while eating was associated first with lower mindfulness and then with lower intuitive eating, which in turn were related to higher eating disorder symptomatology. The findings underline the importance of including eating-specific screen use for future research on eating disorder symptomatology and also have implications for an integrative intervention of mindfulness-based approaches and intuitive eating for mitigating the adverse effects of excessive screen use on eating behaviors.

Shared and distinct prefrontal cortex alterations of implicit emotion regulation in depression and anxiety: An fNIRS investigation

BACKGROUND

Emotion regulation deficits, particularly in cognitive reappraisal, are crucial in depression and anxiety. However, research on the neural mechanisms of implicit emotion regulation is lacking, and it remains unclear whether these mechanisms are shared or distinct between the two disorders.

METHODS

We investigated the neural mechanisms of implicit cognitive reappraisal in 28 individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD), 25 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and 30 healthy controls (HC) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Participants completed an implicit cognitive reappraisal task and underwent neuropsychological and clinical assessments.

RESULTS

We found that MDD patients reported higher levels of rumination and lower utilization of cognitive reappraisal, while GAD patients reported reduced use of perspective-taking. Notably, both MDD and GAD patients exhibited decreased activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) compared to HC participants during implicit cognitive reappraisal. Specifically, inadequate OFC activation was observed in MDD patients, while GAD patients demonstrated OFC deactivation during the task. Furthermore, DLPFC activation showed a negative correlation with depression severity in MDD patients, while OFC activation was positively correlated with perspective-taking in GAD patients.

LIMITATIONS

fNIRS has limited depth and spatial resolution.

CONCLUSION

Our fNIRS study is the first to reveal shared and distinct neurobiological profiles of depression and anxiety in implicit emotion regulation. These findings underscore the significance of reduced DLPFC/OFC activation in emotion regulation impairment and highlight unique OFC activation patterns in these disorders. These insights have potential implications for developing cognitive-behavioral therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation as treatment approaches.

The bidirectional temporal relationship between parenting stress and child maltreatment: A cross-lagged study based on intervention and cohort data

BACKGROUND

Parenting stress has long been proposed as a major risk factor for child maltreatment. However, there is a lack of evidence from existing studies on the temporal sequence to establish a causal relationship. This study aims to examine bidirectional temporal relationships between parenting stress and child maltreatment.

METHODS

Longitudinal data from two different sources were analysed: a pre-post study of an online parenting programme conducted across six countries - the ePLH Evaluation Study, and a prospective cohort study in the United States - LONGSCAN. Cross-lagged panel model on parenting stress and child maltreatment was used in each dataset.

RESULTS

Based on repeatedly measured data of 484 caregivers in the ePLH study across five time points (every two weeks), we found that parenting stress at an earlier time point predicted later child maltreatment (IRR = 1.14, 95 % CI: 1.10,1.18). In addition, the occurrence of child maltreatment was associated with higher subsequent short-term parenting stress (IRR = 1.04, 95 % CI: 1.01,1.08) and thus could form a vicious circle. In the LONGSCAN analysis with 772 caregivers who were followed up from child age of 6 to child age of 16, we also found parenting stress at an earlier time point predicted later child maltreatment (β = 0.11, 95 % CI: 0.01,0.20), but did not observe an association between child maltreatment and subsequent long-term parenting stress.

LIMITATIONS

Potential information bias on the measurements.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence for a bidirectional temporal relationship between parenting stress and child maltreatment, which should be considered in parenting intervention programmes.

Few LGBTQ+ Science and Engineering Instructors Come Out to Students, Despite Potential Benefits

LGBTQ+ undergraduates have higher attrition from science and engineering (S&E) than straight and cisgender undergraduates and perceive that having LGBTQ+ instructors would benefit them. However, it is unknown how many S&E instructors are LGBTQ+, the extent to which they disclose this information to students, and how disclosure affects all students, both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+. In study I, we surveyed 108 LGBTQ+ S&E instructors across the U.S. to explore the extent to which they reveal their LGBTQ+ identities across professional contexts and why they reveal or conceal their identities to undergraduates. Overall, 75% of instructors came out to at least some colleagues but only 48% came out to any undergraduates. Instructors most commonly chose to conceal LGBTQ+ identities from undergraduates because they perceived their identities to be irrelevant to course content and anticipated negative student reactions. In study II, 666 introductory biology undergraduates were randomly assigned to evaluate one of two identical teaching demonstration videos except the instructor revealed her LGBTQ+ identity in one but not the other. We assessed differences in students' impressions of the instructor across conditions. We found no differences in most ratings of the instructor except participants reported higher rapport with the instructor when she came out.

Psychopathy and gaze cueing

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Psychopathic traits - and especially callous affective features - have been linked to altered processing of others' emotional expressions, and to reduced attention to the eyes. Despite the importance of gaze cueing (i.e., the tendency to orient attention toward where someone else is looking) for social functioning, few studies have investigated relationships between psychopathic traits and gaze cueing, and whether facial emotional expression influence these relationships, obtaining mixed results. To address this gap, the present study aimed to evaluate associations between psychopathic traits and gaze cueing for emotional and neutral expressions.

METHODS

65 non-clinical male participants (Mage = 27.3 years) completed two self-report measures of psychopathy and performed laboratory tasks to assess gaze-cueing for emotional vs. neutral faces and an arrow-cueing task as a comparison.

RESULTS

Linear mixed models showed no significant associations of emotional (versus neutral) expressions, or psychopathy trait dimensions, with either gaze cueing or arrow cueing.

LIMITATIONS

Reliance on a convenience sample of non-clinical men, assessed with self-reports measures of psychopathy, and using static emotional stimuli limit the generalizability of our findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that psychopathic traits are not associated with individual differences in following others' gaze to direct attention, and that there was no advantage for affective relative to neutral expressions.

Improving mental health by improving the mental health literacy? Study protocol for a randomised controlled evaluation of an e-mental health application as a preventive intervention for adolescents and young adults

Background

From the age of 14, many adolescents enter a vulnerable developmental phase, with a sharp increase in mental illness at 16. The COVID19 pandemic has further exacerbated this issue. Hence, universal and easily accessible prevention in the young is needed. E-mental health interventions are on the rise due to numerous benefits such as potential low-costs, low-threshold and high scalability. However, effectiveness and acceptance of mobile health (mHealth) preventive interventions remain unresearched.

Method

In a two-armed, randomised controlled study design adolescents and young adults from 14 years old will be recruited. Following an initial baseline assessment, they will be randomised to a) the intervention group (IG, n = 75), which will receive a mHealth intervention (the application 'Mental Health Guide', co-developed by lived experience experts) or b) the waiting list control group (CG, n = 75). Both groups will be followed up after 3 and 6 months following post assessment. We hypothesize an increase in mental health literacy in the IG compared to the CG for post and follow-up assessment (primary outcome: Mental Health Literacy Scale). In addition, we expect an improvement in mental health and psychological well-being, improved emotion regulation, reduced psychological distress, as well as good quality ratings in usability and acceptance in the use of the 'Mental Health Guide' We performed multiple simulations of possible outcome scenarios, incorporating an array of factors, to generate realistic datasets and obtain accurate estimates of statistical power.

Conclusion

As a first-of-its-kind in this field, this study investigates whether a mHealth intervention based on mental health literacy may improve the mental health literacy and further aspects of psychological functioning of young people in a vulnerable phase. Furthermore, the results promise to provide important knowledge of how universal prevention may be implemented with low costs for diverse populations.

Trial registration

This trial was registered in the DRKS register (DRKS-ID: DRKS00031810) on 23 June 2023.

Growth Mindset Messages from Instructors Improve Academic Performance Among First-Generation College Students

First-generation (FG) college students (i.e., those for whom neither parent/guardian obtained a bachelor's degree) experience more barriers in college, compared with continuing-generation students. These barriers are compounded by subtle messages from instructors that convey the idea that natural talent is necessary for success in scientific fields. In contrast, growth mindset messages communicate that ability can improve with effort, help-seeking, and using productive study strategies. In a large enrollment introductory biology course, students were randomly assigned to receive email messages from their instructor after the first two exams containing either a growth mindset or control message. The intervention improved grades in the course for everyone, on average, compared with control messages, and were especially beneficial for FG students. This increase in performance was partially mediated by increased activity accessing course materials on the course website. This study provides preliminary evidence that instructors communicating growth mindset messages can support FG students' performance.

Age as a Moderator of Health Outcomes and Trust in Physicians

Objectives: Patient trust in physicians is associated with patient satisfaction with healthcare, patients engaging in follow-up care, and positive health-related outcomes. The current study investigated whether age moderated the relation between trust in physicians and four health outcome variables, including patient satisfaction, doctor visits, emergency room visits, and hospital admissions. Methods: 398 English-speaking, community-dwelling adults completed measures of physician trust and important health outcome variables via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results: Age significantly moderated relations between trust in physicians and hospital admissions, and trust in physicians and patient satisfaction, with both positive relations becoming stronger with increasing age. Discussion: The results highlight the need for a lifespan approach to the study of physician trust and related health outcomes. They offer an avenue for increasing physician trust, engagement with the healthcare system prior to the need for hospitalization, and the reduction of healthcare costs.

Please don't throw me in the briar patch! Empirical evidence on the role of instructional cues on eco-label usage in fish consumption decisions

While contributing to the conservation of natural fish stocks, the aquaculture sector imposes environmental repercussions. The growing popularity of colour-graded eco-labels in promoting pro-environmental practices in food production underscores the need for scientific insights into consumer responses to such labels, particularly with the imminent prospect of a harmonized European labelling framework. The existing literature, although limited and divergent, advocates for real-life testing with fresh, perishable food products, emphasizing the inadequacy of standalone labels and the necessity for complementary measures. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying how consumers process multi-coloured Front-of-Pack (FOP) labels remain ambiguous, with uncertainties regarding induced consumption shifts stemming from both deliberate information processing and less deliberate associations. This article presents findings from a randomized control trial conducted in a simulated fishmonger store in Derio, Bizkaia, Spain, involving 200 consumers. Participants selected various sea bass products out of multiple options. This task was subject to a 2 (Enviroscore: with vs without) x 2 (Supporting info on Enviroscore: with vs without) between-subject design, resulting in four treatment groups. A 16% increase in the likelihood of selecting lower-impact products was observed. Notably, this effect was evident only in the absence of supporting information on Enviroscore, and the observed impact could not be attributed to any indirect attention effect. In conclusion, Enviroscore exhibits potential in steering consumer choices toward more environmentally friendly aquaculture fish options, even in physical retail settings. However, these effects may be rooted in unconscious responses rather than deliberate environmental considerations, raising questions about the suitability of envisaged policy orientations encompassing disaggregated environmental, nutritional, animal welfare, and social welfare scores. Generalization of these findings warrants validation through further research encompassing a more comprehensive range of products.

Identity development and adjustment during emerging adulthood from a gender perspective

Identity development is a key task during emerging adulthood. The goals of the present study are to validate the Spanish version of the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS) and to explore the relationship between identity dimensions and adjustment (flourishing and distress), from a gender perspective. The sample comprised 1502 Spanish university students (60.1% women). The results reveal that the DIDS is valid in the Spanish context and that significant gender differences were observed in some dimensions of identity development, with men scoring higher for identification with commitment and women scoring higher for exploration in depth and ruminative exploration. Finally, both dimensions of commitment and ruminative exploration had a stronger effect on men's than on women's adjustment, suggesting that the integration of the self has more impact on men's outcomes than on women's. These findings highlight the need to include the gender perspective in all future research in order to gain deeper insight into the relationship between the identity development process and adjustment during emerging adulthood.

Human movement avoidance decisions during Coronavirus disease 2019 in Japan

Understanding host behavioral change in response to epidemics is important to forecast the disease dynamics. To predict the behavioral change relevant to the epidemic situation (e.g., the number of reported cases), we need to know the epidemic situation at the moment of decision, which is difficult to identify from the records of actually performed human mobility. In this study, the largest travel accommodation reservation data covering half of the existed accommodations in Japan was analyzed to observe decision-making timings and how it responded to the changing epidemic situation during Japan's Coronavirus Disease 2019 until February 2023. To this end, we measured mobility avoidance index proposed in Ito et al., 2022 to indicate people's decision of mobility avoidance and quantified it using the time-series of the accommodation booking/cancellation data. We observed matches of the peak dates of the mobility avoidance and the number of reported cases, and mobility avoidance changed proportional to the logarithmic number of reported cases. We also found that the slope of mobility avoidance against the change of the logarithmic number of reported cases were similar among the epidemic waves, while the intercept of that was much reduced as the first epidemic wave passed by. People measure the intensity of epidemic by logarithm of the number of reported cases. The sensitivity of their response is established during the first wave and the people's response became weakened after the first experience, as if the number of reported cases were multiplied by a constant small factor.

Courtesy Stigma and HIV Professionals: A Brief Review of Implications for Psychosocial and Professional Well-Being

The impact of HIV-related stigma on social workers, clinicians, counselors, and advocates working in organizations serving people living with HIV (PLWH), is rarely considered. Professionals experience "courtesy stigma" when working with or on behalf of PLWH, regardless of their personal HIV status. PubMed, Medline, and PsycInfo databases, along with a review of relevant reference lists and referrals, identified 13 studies addressing this phenomenon. Although limited, this brief review suggests that members of the HIV workforce do indeed face challenges that compromise their personal and professional well-being as a result of courtesy stigma. Addressing stigma among professionals is necessary to support the health of those working in the field, and to avoid undermining the efforts of this important workforce. More research is needed to understand the perceptions and experiences of courtesy stigma and how this stigma may adversely impact the psychological well-being, social functioning, and professional practice of HIV professionals.

Men who have sex with men were more depressed than their counterparts because of lower social support and higher loneliness: A comparative survey among Chinese university students

BACKGROUND

Poor mental health is prevalent among men who have sex with men (MSM), including MSM university students (MSMUS), causing a significant burden on their health and society. The study aimed to compare the difference in levels of depressive symptoms between Chinese MSMUS and non-MSMUS and test the mediating roles of social support and loneliness in the relationship between MSM status and depressive symptoms among male university students.

METHODS

From June to October 2018, a total of 305 MSMUS and 2447 non-MSMUS from two cities in Sichuan province (China) were investigated using questionnaires.

RESULTS

The proportion of depression in the MSMUS and non-MSMUS groups was 54.1 % and 36.4 %, respectively. MSM status, social support, and loneliness were all significantly associated with depressive symptoms among Chinese university students. Structural equation modelling showed that the association between MSM status and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by three indirect paths, including 1) via social support (mediated proportion = 19.4 %), 2) via loneliness (mediated proportion = 19.3 %), and 3) via social support and then loneliness (mediated proportion = 16.1 %).

CONCLUSIONS

Depression was prevalent among university students in China, especially MSMUS. The findings increased our understanding of the mediating roles of social support and loneliness in the link between MSM status and depressive symptoms among Chinese male university students, which have great implications for designing interventions to improve their mental health.

LIMITATION

The cross-sectional study design limited causal inferences.