Differential roles of problematic media use by mothers and toddlers in the relation between parenting stress and toddlers' socioemotional development

The increasing prevalence of digital media devices in families with young children has raised concerns over problematic media use. However, the link between toddlers' problematic media use, their socioemotional development, and the influence of parental factors remains unclear. The current study examined the roles of problematic media use by both mothers and toddlers in the association between maternal parenting stress and toddlers' socioemotional development. Participants comprised 215 mothers and 73 lead child care classroom teachers of toddlers aged 24-36 months enrolled in child care centers in South Korea. Mothers reported parenting stress and problematic media use by themselves and their toddlers, and child care teachers reported toddlers' socioemotional development. The results from structural equation modeling analysis revealed that maternal parenting stress was related to toddlers' socioemotional development both directly and indirectly through toddlers' problematic media use, both alone and in conjunction with mothers' problematic media use. Although maternal parenting stress was related to mothers' problematic media use, mothers' problematic media use was not directly related to toddlers' socioemotional development. These findings underscore the importance of toddlers' problematic media use in their socioemotional development and highlight the need for comprehensive approaches that address family dynamics, such as maternal parenting stress and problematic media use.

Sensitivity to temporal synchrony in audiovisual speech and language development in infants with an elevated likelihood of autism: A developmental review

Detecting temporal synchrony in audiovisual speech in infancy is fundamental for socio-communicative development, especially for language acquisition. Autism is an early-onset and highly heritable neurodevelopmental condition often associated with language difficulties that usually extend to infants with an elevated likelihood of autism. Early susceptibilities in still unclear basic mechanisms may underlie these difficulties. Here, we discuss why sensitivity to temporal synchrony in audiovisual speech should be investigated in infants with an elevated likelihood of autism as a candidate mechanism underlying language difficulties. We then review direct and indirect eye-tracking evidence. Although scarce, some studies suggest that detection of temporal synchrony in audiovisual speech may be reduced in infant siblings (but evidence is mixed); however, this does not seem to account for language difficulties. Instead, a lack of relationship between selective attention to the articulating mouth and language development may be a plausible candidate mechanism. However, longitudinal studies tracking both sensitivity to temporal synchrony and selective attention to talking faces in the first year are needed for further clarification. Our discussion highlights gaps in the literature, future research directions and implications for domain-general approaches to the emergence of autism.

Measuring behavioral responses to a social stressor: Does the Social Performance Rating Scale have utility beyond social anxiety disorder?

The observer-rated Social Performance Rating Scale (SPRS) indexes anxious behaviors exhibited in social contexts. Although the SPRS has been used almost exclusively to study social anxiety disorder (SAD), other emotional disorders are also characterized by heightened responses to social stressors, hinting that the SPRS could serve as a transdiagnostic state measure of behavioral anxiety. To explore this possibility, adults with generalized anxiety disorder or major depressive disorder (n = 105) and adults with no psychopathology (n = 35) delivered a speech to a committee of mock behavioral experts. Behavioral anxiety observed during the speech was rated using the SPRS, then examined in relation to clinical and state measures of anxiety and depression. Contrary to our hypotheses, behavioral anxiety was not associated with clinician- or self-rated anxiety or depression severity. Instead, behavioral anxiety was heightened among individuals who specifically fear and avoid public speaking; who perceived the speech task to be more stressful; and who reported more emotional distress, somatic hyperarousal, and anxious and pessimistic thoughts at the time of the speech. The SPRS is a valid measure of anxious behavior in the many individuals, with and without SAD, who experience acute anxiety in social-evaluative contexts. As behavioral measures are resource-intensive to collect, research is needed to establish whether the SPRS predicts anxious behavior and functional impairment in real-world settings, over and above easier-to-obtain self-report measures.

Just as expected? Older adults' aging expectations are associated with subjective cognition

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated the relationship between older adults' expectations regarding aging and subjective cognition. Specifically, we examined whether the three domains of aging expectations (physical health, mental health, and cognitive function) were associated with two aspects of subjective cognition: current subjective cognition and subjective cognitive decline (SCD).

METHOD

An online survey was conducted among U.S. adults aged 65-90 (N = 581; Mage=71.4, SD ± 4.81; 51% female). Measures included the 12-item Expectations Regarding Aging scale, the 8-item PROMIS Cognitive Abilities scale (current subjective cognition), and the 12-item Everyday Cognition scale (SCD). We used generalized linear models to examine associations between overall aging expectations and its three domains with current subjective cognition ratings and SCD.

RESULTS

We found that more positive expectations regarding physical health, mental health, and cognitive function in aging were associated with higher ratings of current subjective cognition as well as lower SCD. The magnitude of effects across aging expectations domains were similar for both aspects of subjective cognition.

CONCLUSION

Aging expectations are malleable and influence an individual's perceptions of their cognitive functioning. Modifying older adults' aging expectations could support healthier cognitive aging through increased awareness and accurate assumptions about the aging process.

Pupil size as a biomarker of cognitive (dys)functions: Toward a physiologically informed screening of mental states

The objective assessment of cognitive processes is of critical importance to understanding the mechanisms underlying various mental functions and dysfunctions. In recent years, the technological innovations related to the eye-tracking industry made the time right to organically integrate pupillometry in the assessment of cognitive profiles. Here, we review evidence showing that pupillometry offers a uniquely sensitive biomarker of the functioning of several distinct networks, cognitive functions, emotional states, and individual differences in their instantiation. We outline why and how pupillometry can be effectively exploited to enrich current research and behavioral paradigms, including those designed for clinical testing. By making the cases of anxiety disorders (both generalized and specific - e.g., generalized anxiety vs. math anxiety) and substance use disorders, we then exemplify how pupillometry can be leveraged to obtain clinically meaningful variables. We finally conclude by arguing that measuring pupil size has the potential to complement more traditional, but coarse assessment methods, to return a more graded, objective, and physiologically informed picture of cognitive functioning.

Systematic review: REM sleep, dysphoric dreams and nightmares as transdiagnostic features of psychiatric disorders with emotion dysregulation - Clinical implications

BACKGROUND

Fragmented rapid eye movement (REM) sleep disrupts the overnight resolution of emotional distress, a process crucial for emotion regulation. Emotion dysregulation, which is common across psychiatric disorders, is often associated with sleep disturbances. This systematic review explores how REM sleep and nightmares affect emotion processing and regulation in individuals with psychiatric disorders where emotion dysregulation is a key concern, suggesting novel sleep-related treatment pathways.

METHODS

We performed a PRISMA-compliant systematic search of the PUBMED, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases from January 1994-February 2023. This systematic review targeted studies on REM sleep, nightmares, and emotion regulation in a postpubescent clinical population with affective dysregulation. The quality of the studies was assessed via the Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale (NOS), adapted for cross-sectional studies.

RESULTS

From the 714 screened records, 28 articles met the inclusion criteria and focused on REM sleep, dreams, or nightmares in individuals with mood disorders (k = 8), anxiety disorders (k = 1), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (k = 16), non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), personality disorders (k = 2), and autism (k = 1). Fifteen studies used objective sleep measures, seventeen used self-reported assessments, six included treatment components, eight investigated nightmares, and three examined dreams. NOS scores ranged from moderate to high.

CONCLUSIONS

REM sleep disturbances represent a transdiagnostic feature across psychiatric disorders and are crucial for emotion regulation. Nightmares are associated with suicidal behaviour and emotion dysregulation. Targeted sleep interventions may improve emotion regulation and mental health outcomes. Future research should explore the role of REM sleep in disorder prognosis to develop tailored interventions.

Taking an age-period-cohort perspective to assess changes in the incidence of self-perceptions of aging over time

Self-perceptions of aging (SPA) are defined as an evaluation of one's own aging. SPA can be positive (e.g., perceiving no change or improvement with age) or negative (e.g., perceived self-decline with age). We disentangle age, period, and cohort effects (e.g., attributed to a) individual differences associated with the passage of one's chronological age, b) circumstances affecting all in the same way, or c) circumstances differentially affecting groups of people born at a particular time, respectively) associated with changes in SPA over time. We relied on data from the Health and Retirement Survey collected between 2008 and 2020, consisting of 42,346 observations of individuals over the age of 50. We found a decline in the incidence of positive SPA after the age of 65 and an increase in the incidence of negative SPA, starting at 50. The effects of age on the incidence of negative and positive SPA varied somewhat across gender and ethnicity. We identified a strong linear trend suggesting a decline in negative SPA over time for Whites and Latinos. We also found a slight non-linear cohort effect in cohorts of Black men born between 1950 and 1955 and women born after 1955, with a higher relative risk of reporting negative SPA compared to other cohorts. For positive SPA, we did not identify linear or non-linear period or cohort effects. Clinically, the findings point to the susceptibility of older persons to lesser positive SPA and more negative SPA with age, thus highlighting a need for differential interventions.

The relation of verbal and nonverbal skills to basic numerical processing of preterm versus term-born preschoolers

Verbal and nonverbal skills significantly contribute to individual differences in children's numerical development at the group level. However, less is known about whether the nature of the relations between verbal and nonverbal systems and numerical cognition varies depending on the unique characteristics children bring into numerical learning. To better delineate these associations, we examined the association between verbal and nonverbal skills and symbolic numerical development in preterm-born (PTB; n = 93; <37 weeks of gestation) children and term-born children (n = 104). We showed that PTB preschoolers, as a group, were at a higher risk of falling behind on certain numerical tasks (cardinality) but not on others (counting). There was, however, significant individual variability within the groups. Verbal and nonverbal skills contributed to the variability of children's numerical performance but did so differentially across the full spectrum of gestational age. Specifically, verbal skills moderated the association between gestational age and symbolic number performance (cardinality). The relation between verbal and cardinality skills was stronger at higher gestational ages compared with lower gestational ages. In addition, at higher gestational ages, children more frequently used retrieval strategy and less often relied solely on finger counting for the cardinality task. Shifting the focus from group differences to understanding individuals and their unique developmental pathways may enhance our insight into the risk and protective factors underlying the variability observed in all children.

The influence of cyberbullying victimization on adolescents' engagement in non-suicidal self-injurious behavior: A longitudinal multi-mediation analysis

BACKGROUND

Cyberbullying victimization during adolescence may induce an increased risk for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, the longitudinal mediating mechanism underlying the association of cyberbullying victimization with adolescents' NSSI over time has not been studied fully.

OBJECTIVE

The current study aimed to examine the longitudinal mediating mechanism underlying relationship between cyberbullying victimization and NSSI. Based on Nock's (2009) integrated developmental model of NSSI, this study explored the mediating effects of psychological distress and maladaptive beliefs following cyberbullying victimization in this relationship.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

A total of 773 Chinese adolescents (48.4 % males, T3 mean age = 16.37 ± 0.49 years) participated in this study and completed self-report questionnaires.

METHODS

We employed a three-wave (called T1, T2, and T3) longitudinal design. The participants completed all of the questionnaires at T1, completed questionnaires on psychological distress and maladaptive beliefs at T2, and completed the NSSI list at T3. Correlation analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), and a bootstrap procedure were used to test our expectations.

RESULTS

Correlation analysis indicated that cyberbullying victimization, maladaptive beliefs, psychological distress, and NSSI were significantly and positively correlated with each other. The results of mediation analysis revealed that early cyberbullying victimization (T1) had a direct association with adolescents' subsequent NSSI (T3), and early cyberbullying victimization (T1) indirectly predicted adolescents' subsequent NSSI (T3) via the parallel and sequential mediating effects of maladaptive beliefs (T2) and psychological distress (T2).

CONCLUSIONS

Victims of cyberbullying are often prone to engaging in NSSI. Interventions that target students with NSSI should focus on intervening in their maladaptive beliefs and psychological distress following cyberbullying victimization.

How attention and working memory work together in the pursuit of goals: The development of the sampling-remembering trade-off

Most work in the last 50 years on visual working memory and attention has used a classic psychophysical setup: participants are instructed to attend to, or remember, a set of items. This setup sidesteps the role of cognitive control; effort is maximal, tasks are simple, and strategies are limited. While this approach has yielded important insights, it provides no clear path toward an integrative theory (Kristjánsson & Draschkow, 2021) and, like studying a town's walkability by having its college students run the 50-yard dash, it runs the danger of focusing on edge cases. Here, in this theoretical opinion article, we argue for an approach where dynamic relationships between the agent and the environment are understood functionally, in light of an agent's goals. This means a shift in emphasis from the performance of the mechanisms underlying a narrow task ("remember these items!") to their control in pursuit of a naturalistic goal ("make a sandwich!", Land & Hayhoe, 2001). Here, we highlight the sampling-remembering trade-off between exploiting goal-relevant information in the environment versus maintaining it in working memory. We present a dynamic feedback model of this trade-off - where the individual weighs the subjective costs of accessing external information versus those of maintaining it in memory - using insights from existing cognitive control models based on economic principles (Kool & Botvinick, 2018). This trade-off is particularly interesting in children, as the optimal use of internal resources is even more crucial when limited. Our model makes some specific predictions for future research: 1) an individual child strikes a preferred balance between the effort to attend to goal-relevant information in the environment versus the effort to maintain it in working memory, 2) in order to maintain this balance as underlying memory and cognitive control mechanisms improve with age, the child will have to increasingly shift toward remembering, and 3) older children will show greater adaptability to changing task demands.

Translating theoretical insights into an emotion regulation flexibility intervention: assessing effectiveness

ABSTRACTObjective: Traditional research often categorizes emotion regulation strategies as adaptive or maladaptive, overlooking crucial situational and individual differences that dictate their efficacy. The literature highlights the need for a more nuanced approach, like the role of emotion regulation flexibility. Despite its importance, research on developing and testing interventions that promote this flexibility is scarce. Addressing this gap, our study designed and tested an "Emotion Regulation Flexibility Booster Program" (ERFBP). We aimed to assess its efficacy in improving emotion regulation flexibility (ERF) and its impact on various mental health indicators. Method: We recruited 153 participants with low emotion regulation flexibility, randomly assigning them to experimental, control, and no-treatment groups. The experimental group was provided with an intervention based on an ERF model. The control group received sessions on study habits, whereas no-treatment group received no training. Results: The analysis indicated that participants in the ERFBP group exhibited significant changes in ERF, subjective wellbeing, and emotion regulation goals and psychological distress compared to baseline measurements and post-intervention scores of other two groups. Conclusion: These findings support the effectiveness of the ERFBP in enhancing ERF and wellbeing. However, further research must confirm these findings across diverse contexts and populations.

GenomicSEM Modelling of Diverse Executive Function GWAS Improves Gene Discovery

Previous research has supported the use of latent variables as the gold-standard in measuring executive function. However, for logistical reasons genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of executive function have largely eschewed latent variables in favour of singular task measures. As low correlations have traditionally been found between individual executive function (EF) tests, it is unclear whether these GWAS have truly been measuring the same construct. In this study, we addressed this question by performing a factor analysis on summary statistics from eleven GWAS of EF taken from five studies, using GenomicSEM. Models demonstrated a bifactor structure consistent with previous research, with factors capturing common EF and working memory- specific variance. Furthermore, the GWAS performed on this model identified 20 new genomic risk loci for common EF and 4 for working memory reaching genome-wide significance beyond what was found in the constituent GWAS, together resulting in 29 newly mapped EF genes. These results help to clarify the underlying genetic structure of EF and support the idea that EF GWAS are capable of measuring genetic variance related to latent EF constructs even when not using factor scores. Furthermore, they demonstrate that GenomicSEM can combine GWAS with divergent and non-ideal measures of the same phenotype to improve statistical power.

The consequences of climate change and male reproductive health: A review of the possible impact and mechanisms

A global decline in male fertility has been reported, and climate change is considered a major cause of this. Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, and results from greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide and methane that act as a blanket wrapped around the earth, trapping heat and elevating temperatures. Sad to say, the consequences of climatic variation are beyond the dramatic elevated temperature, they include cold stress, increased malnutrition, air pollution, cardiovascular diseases respiratory tract infections, cancer, sexually transmitted infections, mental stress, and heat waves. These negative effects of climate change impair male reproductive function through multiple pathways, like ROS-sensitive signaling, suppression of steroidogenic markers, and direct damage to testicular cells. The present study aimed to describe the impact of the consequences of climate change on male reproductive health with details of the various mechanisms involved. This will provide an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiological and molecular basis of the possible climatic variation-induced decline in male fertility, which will aid in the development of preventive measures to abate the negative effects of climate change on male reproductive function.

A Shared Intentionality Account of Uniquely Human Social Bonding

Many mechanisms of social bonding are common to all primates, but humans seemingly have developed some that are unique to the species. These involve various kinds of interactive experiences-from taking a walk together to having a conversation-whose common feature is the triadic sharing of experience. Current theories of social bonding have no explanation for why humans should have these unique bonding mechanisms. Here we propose a shared intentionality account of uniquely human social bonding. Humans evolved to participate with others in unique forms of cooperative and communicative activities that both depend on and create shared experience. Sharing experience in these activities causes partners to feel closer because it allows them to assess their partner's cooperative competence and motivation toward them and because the shared representations created during such interactions make subsequent cooperative interactions easier and more effective.

The co-development of ethnic identity and future orientation among ethnically/racially minoritized adolescents: A parallel process model

This brief report examined the co-development of ethnic/racial identity (ERI) and future orientation among ethnically/racially minoritized adolescents. The current study used three waves of longitudinal data (N = 619) spanning 8th to 10th grades from a diverse sample (55.9% Latino/a/x, 21.2% biracial/multiethnic/other, 13.2% Asian, 9.7% Black; 54.1% female; 57.4% economically disadvantaged). We investigated the developmental trajectories of future orientation and ethnic identity and determined if these trajectories were interrelated. The results of the single and parallel process latent growth curve models showed that mean levels of ERI increased while future orientation decreased over time. Initial levels of ERI were significantly related to accelerated declines in future orientation. Exploratory analyses, which tested distinct forms of ethnic/racial discrimination as moderators, revealed that the negative association between ERI in 8th grade and the rate of change in future orientation was significant only at average and high levels of educator-perpetrated discrimination. These results point to complex interrelations between ERI formation and experiences of ethnic/racial discrimination and their influence on trajectories of future orientation during early to middle adolescence.

Disentangling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests on implicit anti-Black bias

Terror Management Theory (TMT) holds that mortal threats bolster people's desire to support their worldviews, which may contribute to increased outgroup bias. In 2020, two events likely increased mortality salience and death anxiety: COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that followed George Floyd's murder. We used Project Implicit data to investigate their impact on implicit anti-Black bias, controlling for demographic variables. Study 1 (N = 82,639) found a decrease in anti-Black bias from April 1-May 20, 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, indicating that increased mortality salience amid the pandemic failed to increase anti-Black bias. Study 2 (N = 96,957) examined anti-Black bias and death anxiety across two seven-week periods prior to (April 1-May 20, 2020) and during the BLM protests (May 27-July 15, 2020). Death anxiety increased during the protests, while anti-Black bias decreased. Conservatives showed no link between death anxiety and anti-Black bias, yet showed a decrease in bias once the protests began. Liberals showed the TMT-predicted relation between death anxiety and increased bias, however this relation weakened during the protests. Notably, these attitude changes in the context of a mass social movement differ from predominant conservative shift and worldview defense patterns in prior work on attitude change amid social crisis. Collectively, our results failed to link mortality salience with outgroup bias but suggest a role for other factors including social movements, intergroup empathy, and social solidarity in reducing bias.

Towards an ecological dynamics theory of flow in sport

Flow is an optimal state of absorption that may be experienced in appropriately challenging and intrinsically motivating activities such as sports. Flow may be an important concept for understanding the emergence and role of sport in society, yet theoretical explanations of flow have had limited success explaining, predicting, and facilitating flow in sport. Here, we use the ecological dynamics framework, seeking to resolve foundational issues in an explanation of flow, building towards a theory of flow in sport. To address this challenge, we highlight the utility of ecological conceptualisations of experience, intention, skill, attention, information, and temporality, in explanations of flow experiences in sport, before discussing some novel empirical predictions motivated by the theory. We suggest that a multiscale ecological dynamics approach is well equipped to explore flow in performer-environment systems that display interaction-dominant dynamics and conclude by outlining avenues for future research created by an ecological dynamics theory of flow in sport.

The Moderating Role of Context Processing in the Intergenerational Transmission of Posttraumatic Stress

This pilot study aimed to understand the moderating role of context processing (i.e. encoding and memorizing) when mothers are confronted with threatening stimuli and undergo physiologic monitoring in order to understand a possible mechanism favoring intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress. Thirty-one mothers (M age = 33.87 years, SD = 4.14) and their toddlers (M age = 22.66 months, SD = 7.01) participated in the study. Mothers reported adverse life events (ALE), their current posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), as well as regulatory problems of their toddler. Mothers performed a context-encoding and -memory (CEM) task including emotional facial expressions (especially angry faces considered as threatening stimuli) embedded into photo-backgrounds, after which they were asked to recognize both the faces and contexts. Maternal heart rate variability (HRV) was measured during resting state. Maternal current PTSS, but not ALE, had impact on child dysregulation only for mothers with poor context processing (β = 0.014, p = .017). Baseline HRV was negatively correlated with the recognition of contexts previously associated with angry faces (ρ = -.53, p = .006), and marginally with the recognition of angry faces (ρ = -.37, p = .059). This pilot study identifies psychophysiological markers (i.e. CEM, HRV) that may influence the intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress. This may open new avenues in early identification and intervention with traumatized mothers and their toddlers.

Risky actions: Why and how to estimate variability in motor performance

We describe the difficulties of measuring variability in performance, a critical but largely ignored problem in studies of risk perception. The problem seems intractable if a large number of successful and unsuccessful trials are infeasible. We offer a solution based on estimates of task-specific variability pooled across the sample. Using a dataset of adult performance in throwing and walking tasks, we show that mischaracterizing the slope leads to unacceptably large errors in estimates of performance levels that undermine analyses of risk perception. We introduce a "pooled-slope" solution that approximates estimates of individual variability in performance and outperforms arbitrary assumptions about performance variability within and across tasks. We discuss the advantages of objectively measuring performance based on the rate of successful attempts-modeled via psychometric functions-for improving comparisons of risk across participants, tasks, and studies.

Early-life threat and deprivation: Are children similarly affected by exposure to each?

Extensive evidence documents negative consequences of adversity for children's development. Here, we extend such work by looking beyond average effects to consider variation in susceptibility to both threat and deprivation in terms of cognitive and social-emotional development, using an influence-statistic methodology. Data come from the ongoing Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 14,541, 49.1% female, age range: 6 month to 12 year, race and ethnicity: 97.8% white, 0.4% black, and 0.6% other). With respect to anticipated associations of threat with problem behavior and of deprivation with cognition, results of this pre-registered research revealed that a roughly equal proportion of children proved to be susceptible in a domain-general manner (similarly influenced) and a domain-specific one (dissimilarly influenced). Implications for intervention are considered.

Separating neurocognitive mechanisms of maintenance and compensation to support financial ability in middle-aged and older adults: The role of language and the inferior frontal gyrus

This study investigated the role of brain regions involved in arithmetic processing in explaining individual differences in financial ability in 67 50-74-year-old cognitively normal adults. Structural integrity and resting-state functional connectivity measures were collected in the MRI scanner. Outside the scanner, participants performed financial ability and other cognitive tasks, and answered questionnaires to determine dementia risk, and financial risk and protective factors. Regions of interest involved in arithmetic processing were defined, focusing on language- and quantity-processing areas in temporo-frontal and parieto-frontal cortices, respectively. Our results showed that structural integrity and functional connectivity in brain regions associated with arithmetic retrieval were positively associated with financial ability, with language skill mediating left IFG structural integrity and financial ability. Connectivity patterns suggested that reliance on quantity mechanisms (i.e. calculation) was associated with poorer financial ability. Analyses revealed that reliance on these brain mechanisms did not depend on participants' age or risk of dementia and that protective factors such as household income or financial literacy supported the maintenance of connectivity related to financial abilities.

Examining systemic inflammation as a pathway linking peer victimization to depressive symptoms in adolescence

BACKGROUND

Adolescents exposed to victimization are at an increased risk for a variety of adverse mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms. Yet, the biological pathways underlying these associations remain poorly understood. Focusing on within-person processes, we examined whether low-grade systemic inflammation mediated the longitudinal associations between peer victimization and depressive symptoms in adolescence.

METHODS

207 adolescents (at baseline Mage = 12.69 years; SD = 0.49; 43.5% female) participated in a multi-wave longitudinal study, with assessments repeated every 6 months over 1.5 years. At each assessment wave, participants self-reported their peer victimization experiences and depressive symptoms. Dried blood spots were collected at each wave using a finger prick procedure to assay a key marker of low-grade systemic inflammation, interkeukin-6 (IL-6). Data were analyzed using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models.

RESULTS

The cross-lagged paths from IL-6 to depressive symptoms were significant across all models and waves (β12 = .13; β23 = .12; β34 = .08), indicating that when adolescents' levels of low-grade systemic inflammation were above their person-specific average, they reported increased levels of depressive symptoms in the subsequent months. However, no significant cross-lagged within-person associations emerged between peer victimization and either IL-6 or depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide no evidence for the hypothesized mediating role of inflammation in the within-person associations between peer victimization and depressive symptoms. Nevertheless, they extend prior research by indicating that elevated levels of low-grade systemic inflammation predict the development of depressive symptoms in adolescence.

The contamination effect on recognition memory: adding evidence of an adaptive mnemonic tuning

Previous research has revealed enhanced free recall for neutral items previously associated with disease-causing agents, compared to when they are associated with neutral information; this has been termed the contamination effect. However, it remains unknown whether this effect extends to recognition memory and, if so, on what processes it would rely (i.e., recollection or familiarity). This is a relevant question to establish the generality and enrich our knowledge about the effect on the various processes in which memory operates. We employed a Yes/No recognition task with Remember/Know judgments to assess the recognition experience. Online American (Experiment 1) and in-person Portuguese (Experiment 2) samples were used. Furthermore, in Experiment 2, participants responded to a Health Status questionnaire and the Fear of COVID-19 scale, allowing us to explore the relation of the effect with these individual variables. In both experiments, the results revealed that objects were significantly better recognised after having been previously associated with sick faces than with healthy faces. Moreover, participants assigned a higher proportion of Remember-judgments to contaminated (vs. non-contaminated) objects, suggesting these were retained with more contextual information. Exploratory analyses revealed that participants' illness recency correlated positively with the proportion of Remember-judgments. The robustness of this effect is supported by its replication among participants from two different countries, employing both online and on-site procedures. Notably, the to-be-recognised objects were the same across conditions, preventing possible item-selection concerns. Overall, this study expands our understanding of the impact of contamination on memory, emphasising its role in disease avoidance.

Empathic stress in the family: Does diurnal cortisol covariation between adolescents and their parents influence adolescent empathic stress in the laboratory?

Empathic stress is the reproduction of psychological and physiological stress activation in an observer of a directly stressed target individual. It likely allows us to allocate the energy necessary to jointly alleviate a stressor at hand. The tendency to show such an empathic or "second-hand" stress response depends on the relationship between target and observer. Here, we investigated whether adolescents' empathic stress responses to their parents' acute stress experience were associated with the diurnal cortisol covariation the parent-adolescent dyad shared in everyday life. Fathers and mothers (N = 77) were confronted with a standardized laboratory stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test, while their adolescent children (13-16 years old) were watching. In the laboratory, parents and their adolescent children simultaneously provided multiple samples of salivary cortisol. On the weekend following the testing session, dyads provided diurnal cortisol samples over two days. These were used to gain a measure of the dyads' adrenocortical physiological attunement in everyday life. We found that the degree to which dyads covaried in their diurnal cortisol activity significantly increased adolescents' tendency for empathic stress responding in the laboratory. The amount of time that dyads spent together over the weekend, adolescents' attachment experiences, dyad type (father-daughter, mother-daughter, father-son, mother-son), and adolescents' puberty status did not significantly alter this relationship. Adolescent attachment avoidance, however, was negatively correlated with both adolescents' cortisol stress reactivity in the laboratory and the degree to which they covaried with their parents' diurnal cortisol release. We conclude that diurnal cortisol covariation between parents and adolescents is positively associated with stress resonance in the laboratory.

Dissociable effects of perceived control on reward-related neural dynamics under risk and ambiguity

Perceived control plays a crucial role in risk-taking behavior, but its neural effect on reward dynamics in risky and ambiguous decision making remains unclear. Here, we addressed this issue by measuring participants' (N = 40) EEG activity while they were performing a wheel-of-fortune task. Participants either made choices themselves (a high control condition) or followed the computer's choice (a low control condition) under risky or ambiguous decision contexts. Behavioral and rating data showed a stronger control effect in the risky compared to the ambiguous decision context. In parallel, we found an effect of perceived control on choice evaluation (indexed by the cue-P3) in the risky but not ambiguous context. However, the control effect was more pronounced during feedback anticipation (indexed by the stimulus-preceding negativity) and outcome appraisal (indexed by delta oscillation) in the ambiguous context compared to the risky context. Together, our findings suggest that experiencing control alters reward dynamics in uncertain decision making, with dissociable effects between risk and ambiguity.

Children's evaluations of interracial peer inclusion and exclusion: The role of intimacy

The present study investigated how Black and White American children, ages 6 to 9.5 years and 9.5 to 12 years (N = 219, MAge = 9.18 years, SDAge = 1.90; 51% female) evaluated vignettes in which peers included a same- or cross-race peer in a high-intimacy or low-intimacy context. These data were collected from 2021 to 2022. Children expected characters to be less likely to include cross-race peers in high- than low-intimacy contexts. They also evaluated cross-race exclusion more negatively in high- and low-intimacy contexts. Black participants evaluated cross-race exclusion more negatively than did White participants. Older participants were more likely to personally include a cross-race peer. This study is a first step toward understanding the role of intimacy in cross-race peer relationships.

Exploring the effect of family function on non-suicidal self-injury among Chinese adolescents in different family socioeconomic status

BACKGROUND

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents represents an alarming public health concern worldwide. Both family function and family socioeconomic status (SES) were found to play important roles in adolescent NSSI engagement. However, the effects of family function on NSSI among adolescents in different family SES are not well evidenced.

AIMS

This study aimed to explore how family functions (adaptation, partnership, growth, affection, and resolve) affect NSSI among adolescents in different family SES levels.

METHODS

Data used in this study was derived from the Students' Mental Health Network Project (SMHN), a survey conducted among 8,872 pairs of adolescent-caregivers in a city in central China. Socio-demographic characteristics, family function, NSSI, adverse life events, and depressive symptoms were measured among adolescents. Family SES were generated from caregivers self-reported information using principal component analysis. Chi-square test and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were adopted to analyze the effects of family function on NSSI.

RESULTS

It revealed that 10.2% of adolescents reported engaging in NSSI in the past 12 months. Poor family function and high family SES were positively associated with NSSI. Partnership, both adaptation and affection, resolve were NSSI-protective factors for adolescents in low, middle, high family SES, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Efforts to address NSSI should acknowledge the association between family function and NSSI among adolescents in different family SES levels.

The influence of relationship loss on non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence: The mediating effects of perceived opportunity in adversity and PTSD symptoms

AIM

This study investigated the mediating effects of perceived opportunity in adversity and PTSD symptoms in the relationship between relationship loss and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescence.

BACKGROUND

Adolescent relationship loss can have lasting negative effects on development and later life, and may particularly increase the risk of NSSI. The consequences of relationship loss vary depending on the individual's perception and psychological responses. However, the mechanisms by which adolescent relationship loss leads to NSSI are not yet clear, and research on the role of perceived opportunity in adversity and PTSD symptoms in this context is limited.

METHODS

The convenience sample included 201 college students who had experienced both relationship loss and NSSI during adolescence. Data were collected using four self-report measures (relationship loss, perceived opportunity in adversity, PTSD symptoms, and NSSI) and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).

RESULTS

PTSD symptoms partially mediated the relationship between relationship loss and NSSI. In addition, perceived opportunity in adversity and PTSD symptoms sequentially mediated the relationship between relationship loss and NSSI. On the other hand, perceived opportunity in adversity did not mediate the relationship between relationship loss and NSSI.

CONCLUSION

Reducing PTSD symptoms may mediate the impact of adolescent relationship loss on NSSI, while the bidirectional nature of perceived opportunity in adversity warrants attention. Counselors and educators should implement strategies to alleviate PTSD symptoms and develop programs that leverage the positive aspects of perceived opportunity in adversity to mitigate negative outcomes.

Longitudinally Predicting Behavioral Challenges From Executive Functioning in Youth With Down Syndrome

This study explored how caregiver-reported executive functioning domains, assessed by the BRIEF2 at baseline, predicted behavioral challenges reported by caregivers using the CBCL six months later. The sample included 94 youth with Down syndrome, aged 6 to 18 years. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for the effect of IQ, working memory significantly predicted inattentive behaviors, inhibition significantly predicted rule-breaking behaviors, and both inhibition and emotional control significantly predicted aggressive and externalizing behaviors. After controlling for baseline behaviors, only working memory persisted as a significant predictor of inattentive behaviors measured six months later. The findings are discussed by referring to the relevant theories and research and providing clinical implications and recommendations for further studies.

Beat gestures and prosodic prominence interactively influence language comprehension

Face-to-face communication is not only about 'what' is said but also 'how' it is said, both in speech and bodily signals. Beat gestures are rhythmic hand movements that typically accompany prosodic prominence in conversation. Yet, it is still unclear how beat gestures influence language comprehension. On the one hand, beat gestures may share the same functional role of focus markers as prosodic prominence. Accordingly, they would drive attention towards the concurrent speech and highlight its content. On the other hand, beat gestures may trigger inferences of high speaker confidence, generate the expectation that the sentence content is correct and thereby elicit the commitment to the truth of the statement. This study directly disentangled the two hypotheses by evaluating additive and interactive effects of prosodic prominence and beat gestures on language comprehension. Participants watched videos of a speaker uttering sentences and judged whether each sentence was true or false. Sentences sometimes contained a world knowledge violation that may go unnoticed ('semantic illusion'). Combining beat gestures with prosodic prominence led to a higher degree of semantic illusion, making more world knowledge violations go unnoticed during language comprehension. These results challenge current theories proposing that beat gestures are visual focus markers. To the contrary, they suggest that beat gestures automatically trigger inferences of high speaker confidence and thereby elicit the commitment to the truth of the statement, in line with Grice's cooperative principle in conversation. More broadly, our findings also highlight the influence of metacognition on language comprehension in face-to-face communication.

The everyday speech environments of preschoolers with and without cochlear implants

Children who receive cochlear implants develop spoken language on a protracted timescale. The home environment facilitates speech-language development, yet it is relatively unknown how the environment differs between children with cochlear implants and typical hearing. We matched eighteen preschoolers with implants (31-65 months) to two groups of children with typical hearing: by chronological age and hearing age. Each child completed a long-form, naturalistic audio recording of their home environment (appx. 16 hours/child; >730 hours of observation) to measure adult speech input, child vocal productivity, and caregiver-child interaction. Results showed that children with cochlear implants and typical hearing were exposed to and engaged in similar amounts of spoken language with caregivers. However, the home environment did not reflect developmental stages as closely for children with implants, or predict their speech outcomes as strongly. Home-based speech-language interventions should focus on the unique input-outcome relationships for this group of children with hearing loss.

The Way They See Us: Examining the Content, Accuracy, and Bias of Metaperceptions Held by Syrian Refugees About the Communities That Host Them

Discourse about people seeking refuge from conflict varies considerably. To understand what components of this discourse reach refugees the most, we examined refugees' perceptions of how their host communities perceive them (i.e., intergroup metaperceptions). We sampled refugees who fled Syria to Jordan, Lebanon, Germany, and the Netherlands. Focus groups with 102 Syrian refugees revealed that the most prevalent metaperception discussed by refugees was that they thought their host communities saw them as threatening (Study 1). Surveys with 1,360 Syrian refugees and 1,441 members of the host communities (Study 2) found that refugees' metaperceptions tracked the perceptions held by their host communities (i.e., they were accurate), but there was also a significant mean difference, indicating that they were positively biased. Analyses further tested the roles of evaluative concern and group salience on metaperception accuracy, as well as differences in accuracy and bias across country and perception domain.

Longitudinal associations of spousal support and strain with health and well-being: An outcome-wide study of married older U.S. Adults

In the present study, we examined the prospective associations of both spousal support and spousal strain with a wide range of health and well-being outcomes in married older adults. Applying the analytic template for outcome-wide designs, three waves of longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 7788, Mage = 64.2 years) were analyzed using linear regression, logistic regression, and generalized linear models. A set of models was performed for spousal support and another set of models for spousal strain (2010/2012, t1). Outcomes included 35 different aspects of physical health, health behaviors, psychological well-being, psychological distress, and social factors (2014/2016, t2). All models adjusted for pre-baseline levels of sociodemographic covariates and all outcomes (2006/2008, t0). Spousal support evidenced positive associations with five psychological well-being outcomes, as well as negative associations with five psychological distress outcomes and loneliness. Conversely, spousal strain evidenced negative associations with three psychological well-being outcomes, in addition to positive associations with three psychological distress outcomes and loneliness. The magnitude of these associations was generally small, although some effect estimates were somewhat larger. Associations of both spousal support and strain with other social and health-related outcomes were more negligible. Both support and strain within a marital relationship have the potential to impact various aspects of psychological well-being, psychological distress, and loneliness in the aging population.

The effectiveness of randomized controlled psychosocial interventions on body image among nonclinical women: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Women are vulnerable to body image disturbances, prompting numerous interventions to improve their body image. However, a systematic review and meta-analysis of such interventions is lacking. This study reviewed interventions designed to enhance body image among nonclinical women and quantified their effectiveness. Seven English databases were searched up to 6 September 2024. Studies included were psychosocial, randomized controlled, high-quality according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale, and evaluating nonclinical women's body image as outcomes. Effect sizes on body image components were meta-analyzed; subgroup analyses and sensitivity tests were conducted to determine the sources of heterogeneity. Forty-eight high-quality studies with 7,182 participants (3,669 subjects and 3,513 controls) were included. Most interventions targeted body dissatisfaction (n = 36) and thin-ideal internalization (n = 34). Weight and shape concerns (n = 15), body satisfaction (n = 14), and behavioral avoidance (n = 10) were commonly measured. Interventions produced reductions in body dissatisfaction (d = -0.45), thin-ideal internalization (d = -0.59), weight and shape concerns (d = -1.08), and behavioral avoidance (d = -1.14), and improvements in body satisfaction (d = 0.42). The long-term effects were examined. High heterogeneity among studies was attributed to countries, scales, therapies, and delivery modes. Results supported that existing interventions effectively relieved body image disturbances in nonclinical women. Additionally, face-to-face interventions led by facilitators are needed to achieve greater improvements in body image.

Measuring spontaneous episodic future thinking in children: Challenges and opportunities

The "Spoon task" is a common measure of episodic future thinking (i.e., ability to imagine hypothetical future events) in children. However, by providing items and prompting children to choose one, this task might not require deliberate and goal-driven episodic future thinking. In contrast, "spontaneous" Spoon tasks may better reflect Tulving's original conception as they minimize environmental cues and verbal prompts. We identify challenges in designing such tasks, including removing the scaffolded intention to act and giving children permission and sufficient motivation to act. Drawing on the comparative literature, we propose methods to overcome these obstacles when designing spontaneous Spoon tasks. Furthermore, sampling from the work of Clayton and colleagues, we advocate for a multipronged approach including two or more of the following methods in order to capture spontaneous behavior: naturalistic observation, virtually administered tasks within the child's home, laboratory experiments, and questionnaires. Our review highlights the importance of spontaneous episodic future thinking and establishes a foundation for future methodologies to study this complex cognitive process.

The role of goal constructs in conceptual acquisition

Within a given situation, an individual's goal motivates and structures how they interact with their surroundings. The goal also organizes the available information and specifies the role of a given item or attribute in terms of how it relates to the other aspects of the situation. We propose these ideas should inform the study of concept acquisition. There is abundant evidence that the goal orients an individual to goal-relevant attributes of items during concept acquisition. A more speculative claim is that the goal structures the conceptual knowledge acquired. We introduce a new paradigm for examining goal-directed concept acquisition (Experiment 1) and then assess how both attention to an attribute and its goal-relevance affect its centrality within the acquired concept (Experiment 2). Participants were given items to use as they completed a specified task. In both experiments, we found evidence that task goals oriented participants to goal-relevant attributes of the items. Category-based ratings for items during a transfer task, as well as how the participants sorted the items into groups, indicated that the goal-relevant attributes were more central within the acquired concepts. In Experiment 2, we found that the goal-relevance of the attribute, beyond attentional allocation to the attribute during the task, affected the organization of attribute information within the acquired concept. These results support the thesis that information captured within the conceptual knowledge is structured with respect to the goal.

Associations of Early-Life Deprivation and Threat with Exploratory Behavior: Moderated Mediation Models of Sensation Seeking and Executive Function

Exploratory behavior, as a crucial aspect of decision-making, plays an indispensable role in maximizing long-term benefits and is, therefore, essential in promoting adolescents' psychological well-being and social adaptation. Recent studies have shown that this adaptive behavior is influenced by previous early experiences. However, little was known about the associations between specific types of childhood maltreatment and exploratory behavior and the roles of individual motivational and cognitive factors in these relationships. The present study aimed to examine whether the subtypes of maltreatment, that is, threat and deprivation, would influence adolescents' exploratory behavior, the mediating role of sensation seeking, and the moderating role of executive function. Using a sample of 720 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.29, SDage = 0.82, 54.8% female), we found that sensation seeking fully mediated the relationship between threat and exploratory behavior. That is, adolescents who experienced threat were more likely to increase sensation seeking, which further promote exploratory activities. Moreover, executive function was a second-stage moderator of this full mediation pathway, with the mediating effect of sensation seeking between threat and exploratory behavior increasing with the enhancement of executive function. However, we did not observe the mediating effect of sensation seeking and the second-stage moderating effect of executive function on the relationship between deprivation and exploration. Considering the distinct impact mechanisms of threat and deprivation on exploratory behavior, our study provides empirical support for the Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology, and highlights the critical role of sensation seeking and the necessity of implementing executive function interventions for those experiencing threat experiences.

Real-time impaired control over drinking: The role of contextual influences during naturally occurring drinking episodes

BACKGROUND

Impaired control over drinking is a central feature of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), yet little within-person research on impaired control is available. As a result, there is little research regarding the dynamic impact of social drinking context on impaired control. The current study sought to fill these gaps, testing a sequential mediation model wherein social drinking context predicted episode-specific deviations in perceived impaired control, which indirectly predicted daily negative consequences via drinking more than planned. We also modeled if estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC) moderated associations between social context and perceived impaired control.

METHODS

Emerging adults (N = 131; 51.8 % female) completed 21 days of ecological momentary assessments, including assessments of past-night drinking and planned drinking on a given day, and event-contingent reports during acute drinking episodes.

RESULTS

At the episode-level, social drinking context predicted higher perceived impaired control than an individual's daily average. At the daily-level, social drinking context predicted higher perceived impaired control, which indirectly predicted more negative consequences than a person's average via drinking more than planned. There was a residual effect of social context on drinking more than planned and negative consequences, and of perceived impaired control on negative consequences above and beyond drinking more than planned. Episode-level relations between social context and perceived impaired control were potentiated at higher vs. lower eBACs than an individual's daily average, but the same pattern was not observed at the daily-level.

CONCLUSIONS

Just-in-time interventions may benefit from increasing perceptions of control over drinking behavior, particularly during social drinking episodes.

Post-COVID social engagement and depression among Chinese older adults: exploring rural/urban and gender differences

PURPOSE

This study investigates the impact of post-COVID social engagement on depression levels among Chinese older adults, with a focus on rural/urban and gender differences.

METHODS

Using the year 2018 and year 2020 data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study analyzed pre- and post-COVID depression levels and social engagement indicators, including going-out, activities and networking among Chinese older adults (N = 8,793).

RESULTS

Results showed a significant increase in depression levels across all demographic groups post-COVID, with rural females exhibiting the highest levels of depression. Reduced social engagement was associated with increased depression, particularly among rural males and females. Subgroup analyses highlighted nuanced patterns: rural males suffered from decreased intense activities and online contacts, while urban males experienced heightened depression with reduced visiting and light activities. Rural females reported increased depression with decreased moderate activities and dancing outdoors but decreased levels with reduced online contacts. Conversely, urban females experience decreased depression with reduced social engagements, suggesting areevaluation of priorities amidst pandemic challenges.

CONCLUSION

This study has underscored the importance of considering individual, cultural, and contextual factors in understanding mental health outcomes among Chinese older adults. Findings inform targeted interventions aimed at promoting psychological well-being and resilience among Chinese older adults in the post-COVID era, including community-based programs and mental health screenings, to foster social connection and emotional support.

Equine adult, fetal and ESC-tenocytes have differential migratory, proliferative and gene expression responses to factors upregulated in the injured tendon

Tendon injuries are a common problem in humans and horses. There is a high re-injury rate in both species due to the poor regeneration of adult tendon and the resulting formation of scar tissue. In contrast, fetal tendon injuries undergo scarless regeneration, but the mechanisms which underpin this are poorly defined. It is also unclear if tendon cells derived from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) would aid tendon regeneration. In this study we determined the responses of adult, fetal and ESC-derived equine tenocytes to a range of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors that are upregulated following a tendon injury using both 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) in vitro wound models. We demonstrated that in 2D proliferation assays, the responses of fetal and adult tenocytes to the factors tested are more similar to each other than to ESC-tenocytes. However, in 2D migration assays, fetal tenocytes have similarities to both adult and ESC-tenocytes. In 3D wound closure assays the response of fetal tenocytes also appears to be intermediary between adult and ESC-tenocytes. We further demonstrated that while TGFβ3 increases 3D gel contraction and wound healing by adult and fetal tenocytes, FGF2 results in a significant inhibition by adult cells. In conclusion, our findings suggest that differential cellular responses to the factors upregulated following a tendon injury may be involved in determining if tendon repair or regeneration subsequently occurs. Understanding the mechanisms behind these responses is required to inform the development of cell-based therapies to improve tendon regeneration.

A long-term prospective cross-lagged study of gender-typed play and mental transformation in children

Gender-typed play may contribute to gender disparities in spatial skills, but evidence of this link is limited. Gender-typed play and mental transformation, an important spatial skill, were studied using age-appropriate and comprehensive measures. Chinese children were tested at 5-6 years and at 11-14 years (N = 210), creating a long-term data set considering bidirectional associations. Play and mental transformation showed moderate to large gender differences. Importantly, boy-typical play positively predicted mental transformation, while girl-typical play negatively predicted it. Results were largely consistent across gender and socioeconomic status and when play was coded by spatialness. They suggest that play is an important socialization experience and illuminates the developmental origins of gender disparities in spatial skills.

Measuring self-objectification in cisgender heterosexual women and men: A psychometric validation of the self-objectification beliefs and behaviors scale

Research demonstrates that self-objectification negatively impacts both cisgender heterosexual women and men. However, measures of self-objectification have primarily been designed for and validated in women, raising doubts about their applicability to men and demonstrated gender differences in self-objectification. This research investigated the psychometric properties of the Self-Objectification Beliefs and Behaviors Scale (SOBBS; Lindner & Tantleff-Dunn, 2017) in cisgender heterosexual women, and for the first time, in cisgender heterosexual men. Study 1 (women = 180, men = 163) and 2 (women = 137, men = 138, age-representative samples) used an online longitudinal design. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in Study 1 supported the original 2-factor structure of the SOBBS across genders. Multigroup CFA in Study 2 confirmed measurement invariance across genders. Women showed lower latent SOBBS Factor 1 than men, with no gender difference on latent Factor 2. Across studies, the SOBBS demonstrated good concurrent validity, convergent validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability for both genders, in addition to differentiation by sexual objectification experience. The psychometric properties of the Self-Objectification Questionnaire (Noll & Fredrickson, 1998) and the Objectified Body Consciousness Body Surveillance Scale (McKinley & Hyde, 1996) were also explored. Both scale scores were differentiated by gender after controlling for sexual objectification experience, suggesting that scores on these scales may be subject to gender-based measurement bias. Overall, the current research contributes to the evidence-base for effective measurement of self-objectification in men, indicating that the SOBBS is psychometrically sound for use not only in cisgender heterosexual women, but also in cisgender heterosexual men.

Examining Health Behaviors as Mechanisms Linking Earlier Pubertal Timing with Accelerated Epigenetic Aging in Late Adolescence

Earlier pubertal timing is associated with accelerated epigenetic aging, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. This three-wave longitudinal study examined negative health behaviors, specifically substance use, short sleep duration, and poor diet quality in middle adolescence, as mediators of links between earlier phenotypic and perceived pubertal timing measured in early adolescence and epigenetic aging on three epigenetic clocks in late adolescence (GrimAge, DunedinPACE, and PhenoAge). Phenotypic pubertal timing measured physical pubertal maturation relative to chronological age, whereas perceived pubertal timing was based on adolescents' subjective interpretation of their pubertal timing relative to their peers. Participants included 1213 youth (51% female, 49% male; 62% Black, 34% White) who participated during early adolescence (mean age = 13.10 years), middle adolescence (mean age = 16.1 years) and late adolescence (mean age = 19.7 years). Results from a mediation model revealed a mediation effect of earlier phenotypic pubertal timing on accelerated GrimAge in late adolescence through higher substance use during middle adolescence. There was also a direct effect of earlier phenotypic pubertal timing on accelerated DunedinPACE in males. Sleep duration and diet quality did not emerge as mediators but shorter sleep duration predicted accelerated GrimAge in females. These findings suggest that higher substance use presents a mechanism through which earlier maturing youth experience faster epigenetic aging that puts them at risk for poorer health across the lifespan.

Neural effects of memory training to reduce false memories in older adults: Univariate and multivariate analyses

The growing population of older adults emphasizes the need to develop interventions that prevent or delay some of the cognitive decline that accompanies aging. In particular, as memory impairment is the foremost cognitive deficit affecting older adults, it is vital to develop interventions that improve memory function. This study addressed the problem of false memories in aging by training older adults to use details of past events during memory retrieval to distinguish targets from related lures. We examined the neural basis of a retrieval-based monitoring strategy by assessing changes in univariate BOLD activity and discriminability of targets and lures pre and post training. Results showed training-related decreases in false memory rates with no alterations to hit rates. Both training and practice were associated with altered recruitment of a frontoparietal monitoring network as well as benefits to neural discriminability within network regions. Participants with lower baseline neural discriminability between target and lure items exhibited the largest changes in neural discriminability. Collectively, our results highlight the benefits of training for reductions of false memories in aging. They also provide an understanding of the neural mechanisms that support these reductions.

Cyber Dating Violence Among Youth and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Studies have shown that there are protective and risk factors related to cyber dating violence. However, the effect size of these factors is unclear. This study aims to clarify the effect size of the associations of protective and risk factors, as well as symptoms of mental health conditions, with cyber dating violence perpetration and victimization. Databases, including PubMed, Web of Science (WoS), ProQuest, Scopus, and EBSCOhost were searched to identify relevant studies. Forty-nine studies were included in the current study. Results revealed statistically significant and medium relationships between cyber dating violence perpetration and some risk factors, including offline dating violence perpetration-related factors (i.e., physical, psychological, sexual, relational, verbal/emotional, and threat) and offline dating violence victimization-related factors (i.e., physical and psychological); and small relationships with other risk factors (i.e., sexual offline dating violence victimization, attachment styles, and jealousy), protective factors (i.e., family support and emotional regulation), and mental health symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, and alcohol use). There was also statistically significant and robust relationship between cyber dating violence victimization and verbal/emotional offline dating violence victimization (i.e., risk factor); medium relationships with some risk factors, including offline dating violence perpetration-related factors (i.e., psychological and verbal/emotional) and offline dating violence victimization-related factors (i.e., physical, psychological, sexual, relational, and threat); small relationships with other risk factors (i.e., physical offline dating violence perpetration, attachment styles, childhood sexual abuse), protective factors (i.e., family support, emotional regulation, and self-esteem), and mental health symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol use, and drug use). The study's results highlight risk and protective factors associated with cyber dating violence and demonstrate its association with mental health symptoms.

Interparental violence and children's attentional bias: The mediating effect of parental harsh discipline in China

BACKGROUND

It is a well-established fact that experiences of interparental violence (IPV) affect children's attentional bias. However, existing research has solely investigated the relations between IPV and children's attentional bias toward either negative (ANI) or positive information (API); little research has examined the distinct associations between IPV and such two types of attentional bias simultaneously. Moreover, parental harsh discipline may mediate above associations, but few studies have investigated this issue to date.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the associations between IPV and children's attentional bias (including API and ANI) in the same model and the mediating roles of fathers' and mothers' harsh discipline-specifically, psychological aggression (PA) and corporal punishment (CP) in China.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

A total of 505 Chinese elementary school students (Mage = 9.82 years; 51 % girls) and their parents participated in this study.

METHODS

Participants were asked to complete paper questionnaires measuring IPV, parental harsh discipline and children's attentional bias. Structural equation models were employed to test the mediating roles of parental harsh discipline in the associations between IPV and children's attentional bias.

RESULTS

IPV was positively related to children's ANI, while was negatively related to children's API. Additionally, IPV was related to higher level of ANI through the PA of fathers but lower level of API through that of mothers. Moreover, IPV was related to higher level of API through mothers' CP.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest the linkage between IPV and children's attentional bias varies with the valence of information-positive or negative-and is differentially mediated by the harsh discipline of fathers and mothers within the Chinese cultural context.

Relationships of functional connectivity of motor cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and cerebellum to balance performance in middle-aged and older adults

Connectivity of somatosensory cortex (S1) and cerebellum with the motor cortex (M1) is critical for balance control. While both S1-M1 and cerebellar-M1 connections are affected with aging, the implications of altered connectivity for balance control are not known. We investigated the relationship between S1-M1 and cerebellar-M1 connectivity and standing balance in middle-aged and older adults. Our secondary objective was to investigate how cognition affected the relationship between connectivity and balance. Our results show that greater S1-M1 and cerebellar-M1 connectivity was related to greater postural sway during standing. This may be indicative of an increase in functional recruitment of additional brain networks to maintain upright balance despite differences in network connectivity. Also, cognition moderated the relationship between S1-M1 connectivity and balance, such that those with lower cognition had a stronger relationship between connectivity and balance performance. It may be that individuals with poor cognition need increased recruitment of brain regions (compensation for cognitive declines) and in turn, higher wiring costs, which would be associated with increased functional connectivity.

Reduced connection strength leads to enhancement of working memory capacity in cognitive training

It has been widely observed that cognitive training can enhance the working memory capacity (WMC) of participants, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unexplained. Previous research has confirmed that abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) training can enhance the WMC of subjects and suggested its possible association with changes in functional connectivity. With fMRI data, we construct whole brain resting state connectivity of subjects who underwent long-term AMC training and other subjects from a control group. Their working memory capacity is simulated based on their whole brain resting state connectivity and reservoir computing. It is found that the AMC group has higher WMC than the control group, and especially the WMC involved in the frontoparietal network (FPN), visual network (VIS) and sensorimotor network (SMN) associated with the AMC training is even higher in the AMC group. However, the advantage of the AMC group disappears if the connection strengths between brain regions are neglected. The effects on WMC from the connection strength differences between the AMC and control groups are evaluated. The results show that the WMC of the control group is enhanced and achieved consistency with or even better than that the AMC group if the connection strength of the control group are weakened. And the advantage of FPN, VIS and SMN is reproduced too. In conclusion, our work reveals a correlation between reduction in functional connection strength and enhancements in the WMC of subjects undergoing cognitive training.

Pre-crastination across physical and cognitive tasks

Pre-crastination refers to the tendency to begin a task as soon as possible, even at the cost of additional effort. This phenomenon is consistently observed in tasks in which participants are asked to select one of two buckets to carry to a target. Surprisingly, on a high proportion of trials participants choose the bucket that is closer to them (and further from the target) as opposed to the bucket that is further from them (and closer to the target). In other words, participants tend to complete the task of picking up a bucket as soon as possible, even when this requires additional physical effort. The purpose of the current experiment was to test whether an individual's tendency to pre-crastinate is stable across tasks. Participants performed a physical load task where they selected one of two buckets to carry to a target. The same participants performed a cognitive load task where they picked up number strings at one of the two bucket locations and mentally carried the number string to a target. We found that participants pre-crastinated in both tasks and this tendency was reduced as task difficulty increased. Importantly, we found a significant association between an individual's tendency to pre-crastinate in the physical load task and their tendency to pre-crastinate in the cognitive load task. Thus, an individual's tendency to pre-crastinate is consistent across tasks and suggests that this is a stable characteristic of how individuals choose to order tasks.

Transitions in patterns of family resilience and their associations with parent-child interaction: A longitudinal study using latent transition analysis among families of children with chronic illness

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate transitions in patterns of family resilience among Chinese families of children with chronic illness over a one-year period, as well as their relationship to parent-child interaction.

METHODS

A representative sample of parents of children with chronic illness was drawn from two hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China, using convenience sampling. A total of 214 parents were assessed for family resilience, parent-adolescent communication, and child-parent relationships at three time points with a one-year interval: baseline (T1), 6 months (T2), and 12 months (T3) after the baseline survey.

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis identified three distinct patterns, including (1) low family resilience, (2) moderate family resilience, and (3) high family resilience. The latent transition analysis revealed four transition patterns: stable low (72.4 %), stable moderate-high (22.5 %), improved from low to either high or moderate (4.2 %), and worsened from high to moderate (0.9 %). A one-way ANOVA revealed significant effects of the transition patterns of family resilience on open family communication, intimacy, and conflict within parent-child relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

The high proportion within the "stable low" transition pattern and the enduring stability of family resilience over time underscore the significance of early intervention efforts aimed at enhancing family resilience or mitigating its decline among families of children with chronic illness.