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Gründahl M, Weiß M, Stenzel K, Deckert J, Hein G. The effects of everyday-life social interactions on anxiety-related autonomic responses differ between men and women. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9498. [PMID: 37308494 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36118-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Social buffering, a phenomenon where social presence can reduce anxiety and fear-related autonomic responses, has been studied in numerous laboratory settings. The results suggest that the familiarity of the interaction partner influences social buffering while also providing some evidence for gender effects. In the laboratory, however, it is difficult to mimic the complexity of real-life social interactions. Consequently, the social modulation of anxiety and related autonomic responses in everyday life remains poorly understood. We used smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) combined with wearable electrocardiogram sensors to investigate how everyday-life social interactions affect state anxiety and related cardiac changes in women and men. On five consecutive days, 96 healthy young participants (53% women) answered up to six EMA surveys per day, indicating characteristics of their most recent social interaction and the respective interaction partner(s). In women, our results showed lower heart rate in the presence of a male interaction partner. Men showed the same effect with female interaction partners. Moreover, only women showed decreased heart rate and increased heart rate variability with increasing interaction partner familiarity. These findings specify the conditions under which social interactions reduce anxiety-related responses in women and men.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marthe Gründahl
- Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Martin Weiß
- Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Kilian Stenzel
- Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Jürgen Deckert
- Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Grit Hein
- Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany.
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Fight Alone or Together? The Influence of Risk Perception on Helping Behavior. JOURNAL OF RISK AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/jrfm15020078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Will there be a greater sense of solidarity and friendship during public crises? This study aims to determine whether risk perception influences employees’ willingness to assist in times of public crisis, taking COVID-19 as a specific research scenario and based on the theory of “tend and befriend”. This study hypothesized that risk perception will influence employees’ helping behavior via the in-group identity, with the degree of impact dependent on the COVID-19 pandemic’s severity. A questionnaire survey of 925 practitioners from various industries in the pandemic area revealed that: risk perception has a positive influence on employees’ helping behavior; in-group identity plays a certain mediating role in the process of risk perception that influences employees’ helping behavior; and the severity of a local pandemic negatively moderates the relationship between risk perception and helping behavior, but positively moderates the relationship between risk perception and in-group identity. Specifically, employees in high-risk areas are more likely to “align” (higher degree of recognition by the in-group) but demonstrate less helping behavior, compared with those in areas with moderate and low risk from the COVID-19. By contrast, employees in low-risk areas display more helping behavior but have less in-group identity, compared with those in areas with moderate and high risk from the COVID-19. This study expands the research on the relationship between risk perception and helping behavior, enriches the research results on risk management theory, and provides a practical reference for risk governance.
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Waller R, Powell T, Rodriguez Y, Corbett N, Perlstein S, White LK, Barzilay R, Wagner NJ. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children's Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2021; 52:1012-1023. [PMID: 33405026 PMCID: PMC7786862 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-020-01109-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered family life, but whether family exposures to and worries about the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted child conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits is unknown. Thus, we evaluated 303 parents (Mage = 38.04; SD = 5.21; 92.4% biological mothers) and children (Mage = 6.43; SD = 2.13; 51.8% female) during a four-month period early in the pandemic. We examined associations between parental exposures to COVID-19, parental worries about the pandemic, harsh and warm parenting practices, and child CP and CU traits. Although more parental worries were not directly related to parenting practices, more worry about COVID-19 was specifically related to higher levels of child CP, particularly parental worries about themselves or family members contracting the virus. Our findings add to a growing literature demonstrating the burden that the pandemic has placed on families and its implications for children's mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Waller
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Tralucia Powell
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Yuheiry Rodriguez
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Natalie Corbett
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Samantha Perlstein
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Lauren K White
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Ran Barzilay
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Nicholas J Wagner
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
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