Is life more difficult on mars or venus? A meta-analytic review of sex differences in major and minor life events

Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Cardiovascular Mortality: The Role of Health Care System Interventions

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The world is proliferating rapidly, with science and technology advancing at an incredible rate. These advances have, however, ushered in an age with a rise in social isolation (SI) and loneliness. SI is an objective term that refers to lacking social contact or support. On the other hand, loneliness is subjective and refers to feeling alone or isolated. These concepts are rapidly gaining prominence mainly due to their negative impact on the physical and psychological health of the population, mainly through behavioural modifications that encompass substance abuse, decreased physical activity and unhealthy food habits, and poor sleep hygiene. This review summarizes the pathophysiology, evaluates the evidence behind impact of SI on cardiovascular mortality, and interventions to overcome SI.

RECENT FINDINGS

Through proposed mechanisms, such as activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, both SI and loneliness have strong evidence linking them to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 90 prospective cohort studies including 2,205,199 individuals reported that SI was independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality with a point estimate of 1.34 (95% confidence interval:1.25-1.44). The evidence so far is compelling and necessitates urgent action with the implementation of strict policies to tackle this issue. As healthcare professionals, it becomes even more critical to remain vigilant, recognize this insidious pandemic, and take appropriate action.

Are many sex/gender differences really power differences?

This research addresses the long-standing debate about the determinants of sex/gender differences. Evolutionary theorists trace many sex/gender differences back to natural selection and sex-specific adaptations. Sociocultural and biosocial theorists, in contrast, emphasize how societal roles and social power contribute to sex/gender differences beyond any biological distinctions. By connecting two empirical advances over the past two decades-6-fold increases in sex/gender difference meta-analyses and in experiments conducted on the psychological effects of power-the current research offers a novel empirical examination of whether power differences play an explanatory role in sex/gender differences. Our analyses assessed whether experimental manipulations of power and sex/gender differences produce similar psychological and behavioral effects. We first identified 59 findings from published experiments on power. We then conducted a P-curve of the experimental power literature and established that it contained evidential value. We next subsumed these effects of power into 11 broad categories and compared them to 102 similar meta-analytic sex/gender differences. We found that high-power individuals and men generally display higher agency, lower communion, more positive self-evaluations, and similar cognitive processes. Overall, 71% (72/102) of the sex/gender differences were consistent with the effects of experimental power differences, whereas only 8% (8/102) were opposite, representing a 9:1 ratio of consistent-to-inconsistent effects. We also tested for discriminant validity by analyzing whether power corresponds more strongly to sex/gender differences than extraversion: although extraversion correlates with power, it has different relationships with sex/gender differences. These results offer novel evidence that many sex/gender differences may be explained, in part, by power differences.

A Systematic Review and New Analyses of the Gender-Equality Paradox

Some studies show that living conditions, such as economy, gender equality, and education, are associated with the magnitude of psychological sex differences. We systematically and quantitatively reviewed 54 articles and conducted new analyses on 27 meta-analyses and large-scale studies to investigate the association between living conditions and psychological sex differences. We found that sex differences in personality, verbal abilities, episodic memory, and negative emotions are more pronounced in countries with higher living conditions. In contrast, sex differences in sexual behavior, partner preferences, and math are smaller in countries with higher living conditions. We also observed that economic indicators of living conditions, such as gross domestic product, are most sensitive in predicting the magnitude of sex differences. Taken together, results indicate that more sex differences are larger, rather than smaller, in countries with higher living conditions. It should therefore be expected that the magnitude of most psychological sex differences will remain unchanged or become more pronounced with improvements in living conditions, such as economy, gender equality, and education.

The Prevalence and Correlates of Diabetes Distress among South Asians Living in New York City (NYC): Baseline Results from a Randomized Trial

Background

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) disproportionately affects South Asians in the United States (US). Living with T2D can be challenging due to the distress it can create for an individual. Distress associated with diabetes, commonly known as diabetes distress (DD), may lead to complications and challenges with the management of diabetes. This study aims to describe the prevalence of DD among a sample of South Asians in New York City (NYC) seeking care in community-based primary care settings and its association with sociodemographic characteristics and clinical measures.

Methods

This study utilized baseline data from the Diabetes Research, Education, and Action for Minorities (DREAM) Initiative, an intervention designed to reduce hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) among South Asians with uncontrolled T2D in NYC. DD was measured using the Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS). First, descriptive statistics were used to analyze sociodemographic variables. Chi-square tests assessed categorical variables and Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests assessed continuous variables using a Type I error rate of 0.05. Logistic regression was performed to determine if HbA1c and mental health, along with other covariates, were associated with dichotomized DDS subscales.

Results

Overall, 415 participants completed the DDS at baseline. Median age was 56 years (IQR: 48-62). A total of 25.9% had high emotional burden distress, 6.6% had high physician-related distress, and 22.2% had high regimen-related distress based on subscales. In adjusted analyses, individuals with any days of poor mental health had significantly higher odds of overall distress (OR:3.7, p=0.014), emotional burden distress (OR:4.9, p<0.001), and physician-related distress (OR:5.0, p=0.002) compared to individuals with no days of poor mental health. Individuals with higher HbA1c had significantly higher odds of regimen-related distress (OR:1.31, p=0.007).

Conclusions

Findings suggest that DD is prevalent among this sample of South Asians with diagnosed T2D in NYC. Screening for DD in patients with prediabetes/diabetes should be considered by providers to help provide mental and physical health services during primary care visits. Future research can also benefit from a longitudinal analysis of the impact of DD on diabetes self-management, medication adherence, and mental and physical health.

Trial registration

This study uses baseline data from "Diabetes Management Intervention For South Asians" (NCT03333044), which was registered with clinicaltrials.gov on 6/11/2017.

Disentangling heterogeneity of psychosis expression in the general population: sex-specific moderation effects of environmental risk factors on symptom networks

BACKGROUND

Psychosis expression in the general population may reflect a behavioral manifestation of the risk for psychotic disorder. It can be conceptualized as an interconnected system of psychotic and affective experiences; a so-called 'symptom network'. Differences in demographics, as well as exposure to adversities and risk factors, may produce substantial heterogeneity in symptom networks, highlighting potential etiological divergence in psychosis risk.

METHODS

To explore this idea in a data-driven way, we employed a novel recursive partitioning approach in the 2007 English National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity (N = 7242). We sought to identify 'network phenotypes' by explaining heterogeneity in symptom networks through potential moderators, including age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, childhood abuse, separation from parents, bullying, domestic violence, cannabis use, and alcohol.

RESULTS

Sex was the primary source of heterogeneity in symptom networks. Additional heterogeneity was explained by interpersonal trauma (childhood abuse and domestic violence) in women and domestic violence, cannabis use, ethnicity in men. Among women, especially those exposed to early interpersonal trauma, an affective loading within psychosis may have distinct relevance. Men, particularly those from minority ethnic groups, demonstrated a strong network connection between hallucinatory experiences and persecutory ideation.

CONCLUSION

Symptom networks of psychosis expression in the general population are highly heterogeneous. The structure of symptom networks seems to reflect distinct sex-related adversities, etiologies, and mechanisms of symptom-expression. Disentangling the complex interplay of sex, minority ethnic group status, and other risk factors may help optimize early intervention and prevention strategies in psychosis.

Explaining the Female Preponderance in Adolescent Depression-A Four-Wave Cohort Study

In the transition from childhood into adolescence, a female preponderance in depression emerges. Despite substantial empirical research to test theoretical propositions as to why this happens, our understanding is still limited. One explanation claims that girls become exposed to more stress (stress exposure model) whereas another proposes that girls become more vulnerable to the impact of stress (stress reactivity model) than boys when entering adolescence. Stressful life events (SLEs) and bullying victimization are established risk factors for adolescent depression. However, whether these factors contribute to the gender difference in depression is undetermined and thus investigated herein. Children (49.9% boys; n = 748) and parents from two birth cohorts in Trondheim, Norway, were followed biennially from ages 8 to 14 with clinical interviews about symptoms of depressive disorders and self-reports on SLEs. Teachers reported on bullying victimization. Prospective associations were investigated using an autoregressive latent trajectory model with structured residuals, examining within-person longitudinal associations while accounting for all time-invariant confounding effects. The number of depressive symptoms increased from ages 12 to 14 among girls. In the period before (ages 10 to 12), girls and boys were equally exposed to SLEs and bullying victimization. Increased stress (both SLEs and bullying victimization) at age 12 predicted increased depression at age 14 more strongly among girls than boys. Hence, increased impact-but not exposure-of SLEs and bullying victimization in girls may partly explain the emerging female preponderance in depression, in line with a stress reactivity model.

Stressful Life Events and Chronic Fatigue Among Chinese Government Employees: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Background

Currently, evidence on the role of stressful life events in fatigue among the Chinese working adults is lacking. This study aimed at exploring the prospective associations between stressful life events and chronic fatigue among Chinese government employees.

Methods

From January 2018 to December 2019, a total of 16206 government employees were included at baseline and they were followed-up until May 2021. A digital self-reported questionnaire platform was established to collect information on participants' health and covariates. Life events were assessed by the Life Events Scale (LES), fatigue was assessed by using a single item, measuring the frequency of its occurrence. Binary logistic regression analysis was used for the data analysis.

Results

Of the included 16206 Chinese government employees at baseline, 60.45% reported that they experienced negative stressful life events and 43.87% reported that they experienced positive stressful life events over the past year. Fatigue was reported by 7.74% of the sample at baseline and 8.19% at follow-up. Cumulative number of life events at baseline, and cumulative life events severity score at baseline were positively associated with self-reported fatigue at follow up, respectively. After adjusting sociodemographic factors, occupational factors and health behavior related factors, negative life events at baseline (OR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.69–2.51) were significantly associated with self-reported fatigue at follow-up. Some specific life events including events related to work and events related to economic problems were significantly associated with self-reported fatigue. Specifically, work stress (OR = 1.76, 95%CI: 1.45–2.13), as well as not satisfied with the current job (OR = 1.95, 95%CI: 1.58–2.40), in debt (OR = 1.75, 95%CI: 1.40–2.17) were significantly associated with self-reported fatigue. The economic situation has improved significantly (OR = 0.62, 95%CI: 0.46–0.85) at baseline was significantly associated with lower incidence of self-reported fatigue.

Conclusion

Negative stressful life events were associated with fatigue among Chinese government employees. Effective interventions should be provided to employees who have experienced negative stressful life events.

A methylation study implicates the rewiring of brain neural circuits during puberty in the emergence of sex differences in depression symptoms

BACKGROUND

Women are 1.5-3 times more likely to suffer from depression than men. This sex bias first emerges during puberty and then persists across the reproductive years. As the cause remains largely elusive, we performed a methylation-wide association study (MWAS) to generate novel hypotheses.

METHODS

We assayed nearly all 28 million possible methylation sites in blood in 595 blood samples from 487 participants aged 9-17. MWASs were performed to identify methylation sites associated with increasing sex differences in depression symptoms as a function of pubertal stage. Epigenetic deconvolution was applied to perform analyses on a cell-type specific level.

RESULTS

In monocytes, a substantial number of significant associations were detected after controlling the FDR at 0.05. These results could not be explained by plasma testosterone/estradiol or current/lifetime trauma. Our top results in monocytes were significantly enriched (ratio of 2.48) for genes in the top of a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of depression and neurodevelopment-related Gene Ontology (GO) terms that remained significant after correcting for multiple testing. Focusing on our most robust findings (70 genes overlapping with the GWAS meta-analysis and the significant GO terms), we find genes coding for members of each of the major classes of axon guidance molecules (netrins, slits, semaphorins, ephrins, and cell adhesion molecules). Many of these genes were previously implicated in rodent studies of brain development and depression-like phenotypes, as well as human methylation, gene expression and GWAS studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that the emergence of sex differences in depression may be related to the differential rewiring of brain circuits between boys and girls during puberty.

Monthly Trends in the Life Events Reported in the Prior Year and First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in New Zealand

The current study examines changes in the economic, social, and well-being life events that women and men reported during the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses compared monthly averages in cross-sectional national probability data from two annual waves of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study collected between October 2018–September 2019 (N = 17,924), and October 2019–September 2020 (N = 41,653), which included the first 7 months of the pandemic (Mar–Sep 2020). Results indicated that people (particularly women) reported increased job loss in the months following an initial COVID-19 lockdown relative to the same months the year earlier. Women also experienced an increase in family troubles when restrictions eased and reported increased negative lifestyle changes that persisted throughout the first 7 months of the pandemic. The proportion of people experiencing many other life events (e.g., mental health, financial concerns) in New Zealand did not differ reliably from the pre-pandemic monthly baseline. These results highlight resilience to many potential negative life events within the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic did not affect everyone equally, and the burden of increased negative events appears more heavily borne by women. As the pandemic continues more than 18 months from initial community transmission of COVID-19, our findings provide important insight into the impact of the pandemic on potential negative life events, especially among women, that may have critical consequences for mental health, gender equality, and social well-being over time.

Relationships between childhood trauma and perceived stress in the general population: a network perspective

BACKGROUND

Experiences of childhood trauma (CT) are associated with increased psychological vulnerability. Past research suggests that CT might alter stress processing with a subsequent negative impact on mental health. However, it is currently unclear how different domains of CT exert effects on specific subjective experiences of stress during adulthood.

METHODS

In the present study, we used network analysis to explore the complex interplay between distinct domains of CT and perceived stress in a large, general-population sample of middle-aged adults (N = 1252). We used a data-driven community-detection algorithm to identify strongly connected subgroups of items within the network. To assess the replicability of the findings, we repeated the analyses in a second sample (N = 862). Combining data from both samples, we evaluated network differences between men (n = 955) and women (n = 1159).

RESULTS

Results indicate specific associations between distinct domains of CT and perceived stress. CT domains reflecting a dimension of deprivation, i.e. experiences of neglect, were associated exclusively to a stress network community representing low perceived self-efficacy. By contrast, CT associated with threat, i.e. experiences of abuse, was specifically related to a stress community reflecting perceived helplessness. Our results replicated with high accordance in the second sample. We found no difference in network structure between men and women, but overall a stronger connected network in women.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings emphasize the unique role of distinct domains of CT in psychological stress processes in adulthood, implying opportunities for targeted interventions following distinct domains of CT.

Psychometric Properties of the 34-Item Short-Form Supportive Care Need Survey (SCNS-SF34) Scale in the Malaysian Cancer Healthcare Context

(1) Background: This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Malay version of SCNS-SF34 among Malaysian cancer patients. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 171 cancer patients. Data were collected using the structured five-factor survey via telephone call or face-to-face interviews. The internal reliability and the construct validity of SCNS-34M were analysed using principal component analysis with varimax rotation. (3) Results: The health system and information need (HSI) was the domain with the highest mean score (2.73 ± 0.88), followed by patient care and support needs (2.16 ± 0.90), as well as physical and daily living needs (1.99 ± 0.98). The confirmatory factor analysis indicated a moderate model fit for RMSEA with 0.070, TLI = 0.911 and CFI = 0.924. (4) Conclusions: The SCNS-SF34M was found to be a conceptually applicable and culturally appropriate scale in measuring the supportive care for cancer patients within the Malaysian context.

The anatomy of pain and suffering in the brain and its clinical implications

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Chronic pain, with a prevalence of 20-30 % is the major cause of human suffering worldwide, because effective, specific and safe therapies have yet to be developed. It is unevenly distributed among sexes, with women experiencing more pain and suffering. Chronic pain can be anatomically and phenomenologically dissected into three separable but interacting pathways, a lateral 'painfulness' pathway, a medial 'suffering' pathway and a descending pain inhibitory pathway. One may have pain(fullness) without suffering and suffering without pain(fullness). Pain sensation leads to suffering via a cognitive, emotional and autonomic processing, and is expressed as anger, fear, frustration, anxiety and depression. The medial pathway overlaps with the salience and stress networks, explaining that behavioural relevance or meaning determines the suffering associated with painfulness. Genetic and epigenetic influences trigger chronic neuroinflammatory changes which are involved in transitioning from acute to chronic pain. Based on the concept of the Bayesian brain, pain (and suffering) can be regarded as the consequence of an imbalance between the two ascending and the descending pain inhibitory pathways under control of the reward system. The therapeutic clinical implications of this simple pain model are obvious. After categorizing the working mechanisms of each of the available treatments (pain killers, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, neuromodulation, psychosurgery, spinal cord stimulation) to 1 or more of the 3 pathways, a rational combination can be proposed of activating the descending pain inhibitory pathway in combination with inhibition of the medial and lateral pathway, so as to rebalance the pain (and suffering) pathways.

PTSD, depression and anxiety in Ebola virus disease survivors in Beni town, Democratic Republic of the Congo

BACKGROUND

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a deadly and feared infectious disease, which can be responsible of debilitating physical and psychological sequelae in survivors including depression and anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, there are scarce data on survivor sequelae in Democratic Republic of the Congo. So this study assessed PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms among EVD survivors enrolled in the follow-up program of the psychosocial care team of Beni town's general hospital.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study used consecutive sampling to recruit 144 Ebola virus disease survivors who came for follow up from October 23 to November 13; 2019. Basic socio-demographic data, presence of headache and short-term memory function were assessed. The Post-traumatic Checklist Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were used to assess psychological burden among participants. Descriptive statistics were used to summarized data and Pearson's or likelihood chi-square were used to test association between psychiatric disorders and associated factors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety was 24.3, 24.3 and 33.3% respectively. Being male (OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.95, p = 0.049), suffering from persistent headache (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.12, 6.14, p = 0.014), losing a loved one because of EVD (OR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.11, 6.15, p = 0. 015) and being young - 18-24 years - (OR: 0. 261, 95% CI: 0. 08, 0.82, p = 0,026) were statistically associated with PTSD diagnosis. Having short-term memory impairment and suffering from persistent headache were statistically associated with depression and anxiety diagnoses (OR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.03, 5.82, p = 0.026); (OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.04, 4.85, p = 0.025); (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.12, 6.14, p = 0.014); (OR = 2.31, 95% CI: 1.06, 5.01, p = 0.020).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety is high among EVD survivors. Development of specialized psychiatric services to sustain psychiatric and psychological health amongst survivors in the cultural context of the Eastern part of the DRC should be considered by the teams fighting against EVD in the DRC.

The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Individuals With and Without Mental Health Disorders

OBJECTIVE

To identify people with history of mental health disorders before the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brazilian population and estimate the prevalence of mood swings and the subjective distress of the pandemic among individuals with or without mental health disorders.

METHODS

Through an online survey, participants were asked about presence or absence of mental health disorders. In addition, they answered the Brunel Mood Scale and the Impact of Event Scale. The mean percentile of mood swing indicators and psychological impact scores were estimated, and data were analyzed by logistic regression.

RESULTS

13,248 people participated (70.5% women, mean age 35.4 years, 31.2% with history of mental health disorder). Women and younger people were more likely to be diagnosed with mental health disorder. All participants had significant changes in mood due to the pandemic. Anger, depressed mood, mental confusion, and fatigue were higher among individuals with bipolar disorder or with combined disorders. Individuals with mental health disorders had a greater subjective distress, especially the group with bipolar disorder (OR = 4.89 [3.64-6.56]) and combined disorders (OR = 6.89 [5.21-9.10]).

CONCLUSION

Individuals previously diagnosed with mental health disorders at some point in life are more vulnerable to psychological impact from the pandemic.

Gender Differences in Depression: Biological, Affective, Cognitive, and Sociocultural Factors

The odds ratio (OR) for gender differences in major depression is 1.95, averaged meta-analytically over all ages and nations. The gender difference appears by age 12, OR = 2.37, and peaks at OR = 3.02 for ages 13-15. Using the ABC (affective, biological, cognitive) model as a framework within a vulnerability-stress approach, we consider the evidence for biological vulnerabilities (genes, pubertal hormones, and pubertal timing), affective vulnerabilities (temperament), and cognitive vulnerabilities (negative cognitive style, objectified body consciousness, and rumination). The impact of stress is central to the vulnerability-stress model, and we review evidence on gender differences in stress exposure, emphasizing gender differences in sex-related traumas such as child sexual abuse and rape. Finally, we examine sociocultural factors that may contribute to the gender difference, including the media and gender inequality. An implication for research methods is that single-gender designs should be questioned. Regarding clinical implications, the vulnerabilities and stressors identified in this review should contribute to personalized interventions with depressed individuals, especially depressed women.

Plant-based dietary indices and stress in female college students: a cross-sectional study

Only a few studies have investigated the association between psychological stress and the healthfulness of plant-based diets while accounting for variances in age groups and regions. In light of this, this study aimed to identify the food groups that contribute the most to the relationship between the healthfulness of plant-based diets and psychological stress in female students in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study, which included 401 female college students aged 19-35 years, collected data on blood, anthropometric indices, the perceived stress scale-10 (PSS-10) and diet using the Saudi food frequency questionnaire. An overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthy PDI, and an unhealthy PDI (uPDI) were defined. Multiple linear regression analyses were applied to examine the associations between PSS-10 and PDI and hPDI and uPDI. No associations between the PSS-10 score and the overall PDI or uPDI scores were found; however, a six-point higher hPDI score was associated with a 0·16-point lower PSS-10 score (95 % CI, -0·24, -0·08) after controlling for lifestyle factors. Moreover, adjustments for healthy food groups, including vegetables and fruits, attenuated the association between the hPDI and PSS-10. In conclusion, healthy plant-based diets are associated with lower psychological stress in young Saudi women. This finding highlights the importance, especially for female students, of following diets that are not only plant-based but are also healthy and rich in fruits and vegetables.

Stressful Life Events and Subjective Well-Being in Vocational School Female Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Depression and the Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support

Stressful life events and subjective well-being are negatively related, but there is little research in the current literature exploring the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this association, especially for female adolescents in vocational schools who are subjected to undesirable life events. In the present study, we examined the mediating role of depression in the association between stressful life events and female adolescents' subjective well-being, as well as the moderating role of perceived social support in the direct and indirect relations involved. The participants were 1,096 vocational school female adolescents, who completed the questionnaires regarding stressful life events, subjective well-being, depression, and perceived social support. The results showed that depression partially mediated the relation between stressful life events and subjective well-being. Importantly, perceived social support moderated the direct link between stressful life events and subjective well-being, and the indirect link between stressful life events and depression, but not the indirect link between depression and subjective well-being. Especially, female adolescents high in perceived social support displayed higher levels of subjective well-being and lower levels of depression in facing with stressful life events than those low in perceived social support. These findings highlight the mechanisms underlying the relationship between stressful life events and subjective well-being in vocational school female adolescents.

Effects of Life Events and Social Isolation on Stroke and Coronary Heart Disease

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents a severe, life-changing event for people across the world. Life changes may involve job loss, income reduction due to furlough, death of a beloved one, or social stress due to life habit changes. Many people suffer from social isolation due to lockdown or physical distancing, especially those living alone and without family. This article reviews the association of life events and social isolation with cardiovascular disease, assembling the current state of knowledge for stroke and coronary heart disease. Possible mechanisms underlying the links between life events, social isolation, and cardiovascular disease are outlined. Furthermore, groups with increased vulnerability for cardiovascular disease following life events and social isolation are identified, and clinical implications of results are presented.

Stress perception following childhood adversity: Unique associations with adversity type and sex

Childhood adversity is associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes across the life span. Alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis are considered a key mechanism underlying these associations, although findings have been mixed. These inconsistencies suggest that other aspects of stress processing may underlie variations in this these associations, and that differences in adversity type, sex, and age may be relevant. The current study investigated the relationship between childhood adversity, stress perception, and morning cortisol, and examined whether differences in adversity type (generalized vs. threat and deprivation), sex, and age had distinct effects on these associations. Salivary cortisol samples, daily hassle stress ratings, and retrospective measures of childhood adversity were collected from a large sample of youth at risk for serious mental illness including psychoses (n = 605, mean age = 19.3). Results indicated that childhood adversity was associated with increased stress perception, which subsequently predicted higher morning cortisol levels; however, these associations were specific to threat exposures in females. These findings highlight the role of stress perception in stress vulnerability following childhood adversity and highlight potential sex differences in the impact of threat exposures.

Life events and adolescent depressive symptoms: Protective factors associated with resilience

INTRODUCTION

Depression is a public health concern among youth, and it is pertinent to identify factors that can help prevent development of depressive symptoms in adolescence. This study aimed to investigate the association between negative life events and depressive symptoms among adolescents, and to examine the influence and relative contributions of personal, social and family protective factors related to resilience.

METHODS

Data stem from the cross-sectional youth@hordaland-survey, conducted in Hordaland, Norway. In all, 9,546 adolescents, aged 16-19 years old (52.8% girls) provided self-report information on depressive symptoms, negative life events and protective factors related to resilience.

RESULTS

Experiencing a higher number of negative life events was related to increases in depressive symptoms, while the potential protective factors goal orientation, self-confidence, social competence, social support, and family cohesion individually were associated with fewer symptoms. Although there were small moderating effects of goal orientation and self-confidence, the results mainly supported a compensatory resilience model. When considering the potential protective factors jointly, only self-confidence and family cohesion were significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms for both genders, with the addition of social support for girls. There were significant interactions between all the potential protective factors and gender, indicating a greater reduction of depressive symptoms with higher levels of protective factors among girls.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions aimed at fostering self-confidence and family cohesion could be effective in preventing depressive symptoms for adolescent boys and girls, regardless of their exposure to negative events. Results further indicate that preventive interventions targeting these potential protective factors could be especially beneficial for adolescent girls.

Evaluating Equivalence and Confirming the Null in the Organizational Sciences

Testing and rejecting the null hypothesis is a routine part of quantitative research, but relatively few organizational researchers prepare for confirming the null or, similarly, testing a hypothesis of equivalence (e.g., that two group means are practically identical). Both theory and practice could benefit from greater attention to this capability. Planning ahead for equivalence testing also provides helpful input on assuring sufficient statistical power in a study. This article provides background on these ideas plus guidance on the use of two frequentist and two Bayesian techniques for testing a hypothesis of no nontrivial effect. The guidance highlights some faulty strategies and how to avoid them. An organizationally relevant example illustrates how to put these techniques into practice. A simulation compares the four techniques to support recommendations of when and how to use each one. A nine-step process table describes separate analytical tracks for frequentist and Bayesian equivalence techniques.

Measurement invariance across gender and age groups, validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the short-form supportive care needs survey questionnaire (SCNS-SF34)

Background

Despite the wide use of the Short-Form Supportive Care Needs Survey Questionnaire (SCNS-SF34), the measurement invariance of the SCNS-SF34 across the main groups—gender and age—which might be of interest in the application of the instrument has never been confirmed. To provide an accurate assessment tool to evaluate the unmet needs of Chinese cancer patients, the present study aimed to assess the measurement invariance of the SCNS-SF34 across gender and age groups and to assess the validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the SCNS-SF34.

Methods

The SCNS-SF34 was administrated to 1106 Chinese cancer patients. Other instruments included the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form (MSAS-SF), the Short-Form-12 Health Survey version 2 (SF-12 v2) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Factor structure, internal construct validity, convergent validity, known-group validity and internal consistency were assessed.

Results

Our data fit the original five-factor model. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated measurement invariance across age and gender groups. The domains of the SCNS-SF34 had moderate correlations with the corresponding domains of the MSAS-SF, the SF-12 v2 and the HADS, which supported convergent validity. Of the 34 items, 33 had an item-total correlation that was corrected for an overlap of > 0.4 to support the internal construct validity. The SCNS-SF34 aptly differentiated patients by age and gender. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient ranged from 0.64 to 0.87.

Conclusions

We confirm the measurement invariance of the Chinese version of the SCNS-SF34 across gender and age group. It is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating the needs of Chinese patients with cancer.

Gender and socioeconomic inequalities in the implementation of the Basque programme for multimorbid patients

Background

The aim of our study was to increase awareness of the relevance of the implemented programmes to inequity of access and inequality of health by analyzing the impact of a patient-centred strategy for multimorbid patients.

Methods

This retrospective study compared the 2014 multimorbid patient group (intervention group) with its 2012 analogue (control group), before the Department of Health of the Basque Country launched the strategy for managing disease chronicity. Inequalities in healthcare access were represented by differences in the inclusion of patients in the programme and in contacts with primary care (PC) services by gender and socioeconomic status (measured by deprivation index by census track). Likewise, differences in hospital care represented inequalities in health outcomes. Generalized linear models were used to analyze relationships among variables. A propensity score by a genetic matching approach was used to minimize possible selection bias.

Results

At baseline, women had less probability of being eligible for the programme. No clear patterns were seen in resource consumption in PC. The probability of hospitalization was higher for men and increased according to socioeconomic status. The implementation of the programme yielded more contacts with PC services in all groups and a reduction in hospitalizations, especially among men and the most socioeconomically deprived patients.

Conclusion

The patient-centred, integrated-care intervention launched by the Department of Health of the Basque Country might have reduced some gender and socioeconomic inequalities in health outcomes, as it avoided more hospitalizations in subgroups that presented with more episodes of decompensation in the reference year.

The burden of air pollution and weather condition on daily respiratory deaths among older adults in China, Jinan from 2011 to 2017

The health effects of short-term exposure to air pollutants on respiratory deaths and its modifiers such as meteorological indexes have been widely investigated. However, most of the previous studies are limited to single pollutants or total respiratory deaths, and their findings are inconsistent.To comprehensively examine the short-term effects of air pollutants on daily respiratory mortality.Our analysis included 16,931 nonaccidental respiratory deaths (except lung cancer and tuberculosis) among older adults (>65 years) from 2011 to 2017 in Jinan, China. We used a generalized additive Poisson models adjusted for meteorology and population dynamics to examine the associations between air pollutants (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of b2.5μm [PM2.5], particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of b10μm [PM10], SO2, NO2, O3) and daily mortality for the total patients, males, females, chronic airway diseases, pneumonia patients, and rest patients in Jinan.Outdoor air pollution was significantly related to mortality from all respiratory diseases especially from chronic airway disease in Jinan, China. The effects of air pollutants had lag effects and harvesting effects, and the effects estimates usually reached a peak at lag 1 or 2 day. An increase of 10 μg/m or 10 ppb of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3 corresponds to increments in mortality caused by chronic airway disease of 0.243% (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.172-0.659) at lag 1 day, 0.127% (95% CI: -0.161-0.415) at lag 1 day, 0.603% (95% CI: 0.069-1.139) at lag 3 day, 0.649% (95% CI: -0.808-2.128) at lag 0 day and 0.944% (95% CI: 0.156-0.1598) at lag 1 day, respectively. The effects of air pollutants were usually greater in females and varied by respiratory subgroups. Spearman correlation analysis suggested that there was a significant association between meteorological indexes and air pollutants.Sex, age, temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind speed may modify the short-term effects of outdoor air pollution on mortality in Jinan. Compared with the other pollutants, O3 had a stronger effect on respiratory deaths among the elderly. Moreover, chronic airway diseases were more susceptible to air pollution. Our findings provided new evidence for new local environmental and health policies making.

Ten Surprising Facts About Stressful Life Events and Disease Risk

After over 70 years of research on the association between stressful life events and health, it is generally accepted that we have a good understanding of the role of stressors in disease risk. In this review, we highlight that knowledge but also emphasize misunderstandings and weaknesses in this literature with the hope of triggering further theoretical and empirical development. We organize this review in a somewhat provocative manner, with each section focusing on an important issue in the literature where we feel that there has been some misunderstanding of the evidence and its implications. Issues that we address include the definition of a stressful event, characteristics of diseases that are impacted by events, differences in the effects of chronic and acute events, the cumulative effects of events, differences in events across the life course, differences in events for men and women, resilience to events, and methodological challenges in the literature.

Ambient particulate air pollution (PM2.5) is associated with the ratio of type 2 diabetes to obesity

We used county level data for T2D prevalence across the mainland USA and matched this to county level ambient PM2.5. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the relation between prevalence of T2D with PM2.5 after adjustment for confounding factors. PM2.5 explained 6.3% of the spatial variation in obesity, and 17.9% of the spatial variation in T2D. After correcting the T2D prevalence for obesity, race, poverty, education and temperature, PM2.5 still explained 8.3% of the residual variation in males (P < 0.0001) and 11.5% in females (P < 0.0001). The effect on obesity prevalence corrected for poverty, race education and temperature was much lower and hence the ratio of T2D to obesity prevalence was significantly associated with PM2.5 in males (R2 = 11.1%, P < 0.0001) and females (R2 = 16.8%, P < 0.0001). This association was repeated across non-African countries (R2 = 14.9%, P < 0.0001). High levels of PM2.5 probably contribute to increased T2D prevalence in the USA, but have a more minor effect on the obesity. Exposure to high environmental levels of PM2.5 (relative to the USA) may explain the disproportional risk of T2D in relation to obesity in Asian populations.

Natural course of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis in adolescents

OBJECTIVE

Little is known about persistence of or recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in adolescents. Previous studies have small sample sizes, short follow-up or have focused on fatigue rather than CFS/ME or, equivalently, chronic fatigue, which is disabling. This work aimed to describe the epidemiology and natural course of CFS/ME in adolescents aged 13-18 years.

DESIGN

Longitudinal follow-up of adolescents enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

SETTING

Avon, UK.

PARTICIPANTS

We identified adolescents who had disabling fatigue of >6 months duration without a known cause at ages 13, 16 and 18 years. We use the term 'chronic disabling fatigue' (CDF) because CFS/ME was not verified by clinical diagnosis. We used multiple imputation to obtain unbiased estimates of prevalence and persistence.

RESULTS

The estimated prevalence of CDF was 1.47% (95% CI 1.05% to 1.89%) at age 13, 2.22% (1.67% to 2.78%) at age 16 and 2.99% (2.24% to 3.75%) at age 18. Among adolescents with CDF of 6 months duration at 13 years 75.3% (64.0% to 86.6%) were not classified as such at age 16. Similar change was observed between 16 and 18 years (75.0% (62.8% to 87.2%)). Of those with CDF at age 13, 8.02% (0.61% to 15.4%) presented with CDF throughout the duration of adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of CDF lasting 6 months or longer (a proxy for clinically diagnosed CFS/ME) increases from 13 to 18 years. However, persistent CDF is rare in adolescents, with approximately 75% recovering after 2-3 years.

Attributable risk of ambient PM10 on daily mortality and years of life lost in Chengdu, China

Attributable risk is an important indicator for planning and evaluating public health interventions. However, most current measures of the attributable risk of air pollutants have not considered temporal relationships between exposure and risk. More importantly, limited information is available regarding the attributable risk due to ambient air pollutants in basin regions like the Sichuan Basin, China. To quantify the association between PM₁₀ and deaths in the Basin region, we used a measure proposed recently within the framework of the distributed lag non-linear model to estimate the attributable risk in Chengdu, China. Meanwhile, we examined the association between PM₁₀ and years of life lost (YLL). Our analysis showed that population-attributable fractions for non-accidental, respiratory, and cardiovascular mortality were 0.569% (95% CI: -3.474%, 4.374%), 0.695% (95% CI: -5.260%, 6.457%), and 0.631% (95% CI: -6.973%, 7.390%), respectively. On average, a 1μg/m³ increase in PM₁₀ was associated with cumulative increases of 0.26893, 0.30437, and 0.21924 YLL for non-accidental, respiratory, and cardiovascular mortality, respectively, referring to 20μg/m³. In addition, we found an inverse U-shaped pattern for the cumulative risk with 350μg/m³ as the reverse point. With a 1μg/m³ increase in PM₁₀, YLL changed more significantly than mortality. Moreover, PM₁₀ demonstrated remarkable effects on YLL among men and the elderly.

Sex-specific impact of early-life adversity on chronic pain: a large population-based study in Japan

BACKGROUND

Responses to early-life adversity may differ by sex. We investigated the sex-specific impact of early-life adversity on chronic pain, chronic multisite pain, and somatizing tendency with chronic pain.

METHODS

We examined 4229 respondents aged 20-79 years who participated in the Pain Associated Cross-Sectional Epidemiological Survey in Japan. Outcomes were: 1) chronic pain prevalence, 2) multisite pain (≥3 sites) prevalence, and 3) multiple somatic symptoms (≥3 symptoms) among respondents with chronic pain related to the presence or absence of early-life adversity. Multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were calculated with 95% confidence intervals using a logistic regression model including age, smoking status, exercise routine, sleep time, body mass index, household expenditure, and the full distribution of scores on the Mental Health Inventory-5. We further adjusted for pain intensity when we analyzed the data for respondents with chronic pain.

RESULTS

The prevalence of chronic pain was higher among respondents reporting the presence of early-life adversity compared with those reporting its absence, with multivariable ORs of 1.62 (1.22-2.15, p<0.01) in men and 1.47 (1.13-1.90, p<0.01) in women. Among women with chronic pain, early-life adversity was associated with multisite pain and multiple somatic symptoms; multivariable ORs were 1.78 (1.22-2.60, p<0.01) for multisite pain and 1.89 (1.27-2.83, p<0.01) for ≥3 somatic symptoms. No associations were observed between early-life adversity and chronic multisite pain or multiple somatic symptoms among men with chronic pain.

CONCLUSION

Early-life adversity may be linked to a higher prevalence of chronic pain among both sexes and to multisite pain and somatizing tendency among women with chronic pain.

Life-stress and reactivity by gender in a longitudinal birth cohort at 30 and 35 years

PURPOSE

Previous literature has shown gender differences in reactivity to stressful life events. However, it is unclear whether gender differences in stress reactivity are consistent across a series of life event domains among longitudinal adult sample populations.

METHODS

Data were gathered from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS). The CHDS is a longitudinal birth cohort of 1265 children born in 1977 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Cohort members were questioned on their experience of, and distress from, a series of life event domains (interpersonal problems; victimization; illness/death; pregnancy/parenthood; employment/finance problems) spanning two age-periods 25-30 years (data collected in 2007) and 30-35 years (data collected in 2012). The data were pooled across observations and analyzed using population-averaged repeated-measures regression methods.

RESULTS

Overall, men and women reported experiencing similar numbers of life events for each domain. However, men reported more victimization and more employment/financial problems; women reported more illness/death events. Women reported experiencing more distress per life event for the domains of interpersonal problems, illness/death and pregnancy/parenthood. Men and women reported similar distress per life event for the victimization and employment/finance domains. The results were robust to control for: child and adolescent factors (childhood abuse exposure; adolescent personality; mental health) and adult factors (mental health; self-esteem).

CONCLUSION

These findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence indicating that some life events including interpersonal problems, illness/death and pregnancy/parenthood may be intrinsically more distressing for women. Detection of life event distress is important to aid in the prevention of mental/physical health problems.

Psychological and Physical Health of Nonoffending Parents After Disclosure of Sexual Abuse of Their Child

Disclosure of child sexual abuse can be traumatic for nonoffending parents. Research has shown its impact on mothers' mental health, which includes heightened psychological distress, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Very little is known, however, about its impact on their physical health or on fathers' health. The self-perceived mental and physical health of nonoffending parents after child sexual abuse disclosure was compared to determine gender-related differences in this regard. Interviews were conducted with 109 mothers and 43 fathers of 6- to 13-year-old sexually abused children. Bivariate analyses revealed that a fair proportion of parents reported psychological and physical problems after disclosure. However, proportionally more mothers than fathers reported psychological distress, depression, and use of professional services. Fathers were more likely to resort to health services instead of social services and to use medication for depression. Study findings provide leads for health and social service providers for the development of intervention protocols and referral procedures sensitive to gender issues, and they shed new light on specific needs of nonoffending parents.

Self-Focused Attention and Mood During Everyday Social Interactions

This study examined the association of dispositional self-focused attention to mood rated at the time of a negative social interaction in 100 employed, middle-age adults using experience sampling methodology. Results revealed that a self-focusing style was associated with higher negative mood and lower positive mood at the time of a negative social interaction during 3 days of everyday activities. Women who were chronically self-focused were particularly vulnerable to these negative social interactions in the daily environment; they were more likely than men to report lower positive mood during the interaction. In addition, 30 minutes after the negative social interaction, self-focused individuals with higher preexisting levels of depressive symptoms continued to report higher levels of negative mood and lower levels of positive mood relative to individuals who were not self-focused and did not report higher depressive symptoms. These results provide support for the role of self-focused attention in the etiology and maintenance of negative moods.

Social support coping style predicts women's cortisol in the laboratory and daily life: the moderating role of social attentional biases

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Social stress and associated coping responses can profoundly influence women's stress physiology and health. Implicit social attentional biases can also influence psychological and physiological stress responses. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a coping style characterized by greater use of social support predicts indices of cortisol activity in laboratory and daily life contexts among female university students. We hypothesized that the relation of this coping style to cortisol activity would be moderated by women's attentional biases.

METHODS

Seventy-four women (M_age= 19.44, range: 17.8-27.8, 64% White) completed an interpersonal stress task and an attentional bias task in the lab, along with a self-report coping inventory. Participants provided five saliva samples during the lab protocol, followed by three saliva samples per day for three consecutive weekdays. Outcome measures included cortisol response to lab tasks (AUCg), diurnal cortisol slope, diurnal AUCg, and cortisol awakening response (CARi).

RESULTS

A coping style characterized by greater use of social support predicted lower lab AUCg and lower, flatter average diurnal cortisol slope for women with attentional avoidance compared to women with attentional vigilance (ps < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Responding to stress by using social support is linked to lower cortisol responses to social stress and diurnal cortisol activity for women with implicit avoidance of social threat cues.

The relation of anxiety, depression, and stress to binge eating behavior

This study aimed to extend the literature by examining several psychological factors (i.e. depression, anxiety, and stress) in relation to binge eating. Data were collected via online surveys from a community sample of men and women of diverse backgrounds. The main study hypotheses were supported, indicating a unique relation between anxiety and binge eating, and between stress and binge eating, independent of the impact of depression. Gender differences are discussed. The results of this study suggest a need for a more detailed examination of negative affect in binge eating. Furthermore, the role of anxiety may be important for future research.

Air pollution and fasting blood glucose: A longitudinal study in China

Limited studies have examined the associations between air pollutants [particles with diameters of 10 μm or less (PM10), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)] and fasting blood glucose (FBG). We collected data for 27,685 participants who were followed during 2006 and 2008. Generalized Estimating Equation models were used to examine the effects of air pollutants on FBG while controlling for potential confounders. We found that increased exposure to NO2, SO2 and PM10 was significantly associated with increased FBG levels in single pollutant models (p<0.001). For exposure to 4 days' average of concentrations, a 100 μg/m(3) increase in SO2, NO2, and PM10 was associated with 0.17 mmol/L (95% CI: 0.15-0.19), 0.53 mmol/L (95% CI: 0.42-0.65), and 0.11 mmol/L (95% CI: 0.07-0.15) increase in FBG, respectively. In the multi-pollutant models, the effects of SO2 were enhanced, while the effects of NO2 and PM10 were alleviated. The effects of air pollutants on FBG were stronger in female, elderly, and overweight people than in male, young and underweight people. In conclusion, the findings suggest that air pollution increases the levels of FBG. Vulnerable people should pay more attention on highly polluted days to prevent air pollution-related health issues.

Youth's Perceptions of Parental Support and Parental Knowledge as Moderators of the Association Between Youth-Probation Officer Relationship and Probation Non-compliance

As a community-based sanction, juvenile probation exemplifies the potential of both communities and families to make significant contributions in promoting positive changes among offending youth. Yet, surprisingly little research has explored the nature of these relationships and its association with offending. This study (1) examined the associations between youth-officer relationships, youth perceptions of parental support and knowledge, and probation non-compliance and (2) explored the role of parental support and knowledge as moderators of the association between youth-officer relationships and probation non-compliance among 110 youth supervised on probation (23 % females; 60 % African American). The findings showed that tough or punitive youth-officer relationships were associated with greater counts of technical violations, but fewer counts of delinquent offenses. Parental support was associated with fewer counts of delinquent offenses and parental knowledge was associated with fewer counts of both delinquent offenses and technical violations. These findings provide evidence to the important role of both parents and probation officers and underscore the potential benefits of parent-officer collaboration in facilitating successful interventions among offending youth.

The Curse of Curves: Sex Differences in the Associations Between Body Shape and Pain Expression

This study examines the associations between objective and subjective measurements and impressions of body shape and cold pressor pain reporting in healthy adults. On the basis of sexual selection theory (SST), we hypothesized that body characteristics that are universally preferred by the opposite sex-specifically, lower waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) in women and higher shoulder-to-hip ratios (SHR) in men-and characteristics (e.g., proportion of body fat in women) that infer attractiveness differently across cultures will correspond to higher experimental pain reporting in women and lower pain reporting in males. A convenience sample of young adults (n = 96, 58 females, 18-24 years; mean age = 19.4) was measured for body mass index (BMI), WHR, SHR, and subjective body impressions (SBI), along with cold pressor pain reporting. The findings showed that BMI was positively associated with WHR and less-positive SBI in both sexes. Consistent with SST, however, only BMI and WHR predicted variability in pain expression in women, whereas only SHR predicted variability in men. Subjective body impressions were positively associated with SHR among males and unrelated to WHR among females, yet only females showed a positive association between SBI and higher pain reporting. The findings suggest that sexually selected physical characteristics (WHR and SHR) and culturally influenced somatic (BMI) and psychological (SBI) indicators of attractiveness correspond with variability in pain reporting, potentially reflecting the general tendency for people to express clusters of sexually selected and culturally influenced traits that may include differential pain perception.

[COOP/WONCA: Reliability and validity of the test administered by telephone]

Objetivo

La prueba COOP/WONCA se propuso inicialmente como un autoinforme en el que las respuestas eran apoyadas por dibujos que ilustraban el estado indagado. Estudios posteriores han ratificado su utilidad como mero autoinforme verbal administrado presencialmente. Carecemos de datos sobre su utilidad administrada telefónicamente. El objetivo del presente trabajo es conocer las propiedades psicométricas de la prueba COOP/WONCA para estimar la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud (CVRS), administrada telefónicamente, y compararlas con las obtenidas en otras modalidades de administración previas.

Diseño

Estudio epidemiológico transversal.

Emplazamiento

Ciudad de Madrid.

Participantes

Muestra aleatoria de 802 sujetos adultos, representativa de la población adulta de Madrid, obtenida por estratificación a partir del censo poblacional.

Mediciones principales

Cuestionario COOP/WONCA de 9 ítems, incluido en una batería más amplia, administrada mediante entrevista telefónica.

Resultados

El análisis factorial sin restricciones apunta a la unifactorialidad de la escala, que mide un solo constructo latente (CVRS), mostrando una gran consistencia interna, sin diferir significativamente de los hallados mediante administración presencial, descartándose la existencia de sesgos asociados a la modalidad telefónica.

Conclusiones

La prueba COOP/WONCA aparece como una medida fiable y válida de la CVRS y su administración telefónica no supone alteraciones en los resultados, lo que puede reducir costes en estudios poblacionales, aumentando su eficiencia sin pérdida de calidad en la información recogida.

Sex-dependent dissociation between emotional appraisal and memory: a large-scale behavioral and fMRI study

Extensive evidence indicates that women outperform men in episodic memory tasks. Furthermore, women are known to evaluate emotional stimuli as more arousing than men. Because emotional arousal typically increases episodic memory formation, the females' memory advantage might be more pronounced for emotionally arousing information than for neutral information. Here, we report behavioral data from 3398 subjects, who performed picture rating and memory tasks, and corresponding fMRI data from up to 696 subjects. We were interested in the interaction between sex and valence category on emotional appraisal, memory performances, and fMRI activity. The behavioral results showed that females evaluate in particular negative (p < 10(-16)) and positive (p = 2 × 10(-4)), but not neutral pictures, as emotionally more arousing (pinteraction < 10(-16)) than males. However, in the free recall females outperformed males not only in positive (p < 10(-16)) and negative (p < 5 × 10(-5)), but also in neutral picture recall (p < 3.4 × 10(-8)), with a particular advantage for positive pictures (pinteraction < 4.4 × 10(-10)). Importantly, females' memory advantage during free recall was absent in a recognition setting. We identified activation differences in fMRI, which corresponded to the females' stronger appraisal of especially negative pictures, but no activation differences that reflected the interaction effect in the free recall memory task. In conclusion, females' valence-category-specific memory advantage is only observed in a free recall, but not a recognition setting and does not depend on females' higher emotional appraisal.

Self-rated health status and subjective health complaints associated with health-promoting lifestyles among urban Chinese women: a cross-sectional study

Objective

This study aimed to investigate whether self-rated health status (SRH) and subjective health complaints (SHC) of urban Chinese women are associated with their health-promoting lifestyles (HPL).

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study on 8142 eligible Chinese participants between 2012 and 2013. Demographic and SHC data were collected. Each subject completed the SRH questionnaire and the Chinese version of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II). Correlation and binary regression analyses were performed to examine the associations of SRH and SHC with HPL.

Results

Both SRH and HPL of urban Chinese women were moderate. The most common complaints were fatigue (1972, 24.2%), eye discomfort (1571, 19.3%), and insomnia (1542, 18.9%). Teachers, highly educated subjects and elderly women had lower SRH scores, while college students and married women had better HPL. All items of HPLP-II were positively correlated with SRH (r = 0.127-0.533, P = 0.000) and negatively correlated with SHC to a significant extent (odds ratio [OR] = 1.40-11.37).

Conclusions

Aspects of HPL, particularly stress management and spiritual growth, are associated with higher SRH and lower SHC ratings among urban Chinese women. Physical activity and health responsibility are additionally related to reduced fatigue and nervousness. We believe that these findings will be instrumental in encouraging researchers and urban women to adopt better health-promoting lifestyles with different priorities in their daily lives.

Vegans report less stress and anxiety than omnivores

OBJECTIVE

Studies investigating mood in vegetarian diets have yielded conflicting results, either demonstrating risk for mental disorders or mood protection. Our objective was to investigate mood, as well as factors that potentially impact mood in vegans (VG), vegetarians (VEG), and omnivores (OMN).

METHODS

We surveyed mood, diet, and lifestyle factors in a broad geographic online sample of adult VG (n = 283), VEG (n = 109), and OMN (n = 228) who were recruited via diet-related social networks. Mood was measured with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21).

RESULTS

The sample was mostly female (78.5%), and age was inversely correlated with all DASS scores (p < 0.05). Mean DASS-A (anxiety) and DASS-S (stress) scores differed by group (F(2,616) = 4.73, p = 0.009, η(2) = 0.015, and F(2, 615) = 8.23, p < 0.001, η(2) = 0.026, respectively), with VG scores lower than OMN scores, indicating less mood disturbance. Analyses of covariance were conducted by gender, adjusting for age. Anxiety scores were different in males only (F(2,128) = 5.39, p = 0.006, η(p)(2) = 0.078) and lower anxiety in males was related to a vegan diet and daily fruit and vegetable intake. Mean stress scores were different in females only (F(2,476) = 3.82, p = 0.023, η(p)(2) = 0.016) and lower stress in females was related to a vegan diet and lower daily intake of sweets.

DISCUSSION

A strict plant-based diet does not appear to negatively impact mood, in fact, reduction of animal food intake may have mood benefits. The improved mood domains were not consistent with those found in other studies, which may be due to methodological differences.

Predictors of depression, stress, and anxiety among non-tenure track faculty

Nationwide in the United States, 70% of faculty members in higher education are employed off the tenure-track. Nearly all of these non-tenure-track (NTT) appointments share a quality that may produce stress for those who hold them: contingency. Most NTT appointments are contingent on budget, enrollment, or both, and the majority of contingent faculty members are hired for one quarter or semester at a time. Significant research has investigated the effects of contingency on teaching, students, departments, colleges, and universities; however, little research has focused on the psychological experiences of NTT faculty. The current study examined perceptions of workplace stressors and harm, organizational commitment, common coping mechanisms, and depression, anxiety and stress among NTT faculty using a longitudinal design that spanned 2-4 months. Results indicate that NTT faculty perceive unique stressors at work that are related to their contingent positions. Specific demographic characteristics and coping strategies, inability to find a permanent faculty position, and commitment to one's organization predispose NTT faculty to perceive greater harm and more sources of stress in their workplaces. Demographic characteristics, lower income, inability to find a permanent faculty position, disengagement coping mechanisms (e.g., giving up, denial), and organizational commitment were associated with the potential for negative outcomes, particularly depression, anxiety, and stress. Our findings suggest possibilities for institutional intervention. Overall, we argue that universities would be well-served by attending to the needs of NTT faculty on campus in order to mitigate negative outcomes for institutions, students, and faculty.