Why Does Social Exclusion Hurt? The Relationship Between Social and Physical Pain

Understanding Shame-Driven Aggression: The Roles of Externalization of Blame and Hostility in Chinese Adolescents

Background

Shame-proneness, particularly in adolescence, is a critical psychological construct linked to aggressive behavior. This study addresses the gap in understanding the specific mechanisms of this relationship within the cultural context of Chinese adolescents.

Aim

The study aims to explore the mediating roles of hostility and externalization of blame in the connection between shame-proneness and aggression among Chinese adolescents.

Methods

A comprehensive sample of 1489 Chinese adolescents participated in the study. They completed the Test of Self-Conscious Affect for Adolescents to assess shame-proneness and an aggression questionnaire to measure aggressive behaviors. The study utilized network analysis and mediational analysis, to unravel the complex interactions between shame-proneness, externalization of blame, hostility, anger, and aggression.

Results

The results identified two distinct pathways linking shame-proneness to aggression: one mediated by hostility and the other by externalization of blame. The pathway via hostility was particularly pronounced, marking it as a central node in the shame-aggression relationship. Interestingly, the study also revealed a direct, though less pronounced, inhibitory effect of shame-proneness on aggression, indicating a dualistic role of shame in adolescent behavior. These findings were consistent across different demographic subgroups, suggesting a generalizable pattern in the studied population.

Conclusion

The dual nature of shame-proneness, as both an inhibitor and a facilitator of aggression, underscores the need for culturally sensitive approaches in psychological interventions and future research. The central role of hostility in this relationship points to potential targets for therapeutic interventions aimed at mitigating aggression in adolescents.

Behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion in women: the role of facial attractiveness and friendliness

The behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion were examined in women randomized to four conditions, varying in levels of attractiveness and friendliness. Informed by evolutionary theory, we predicted that being socially excluded by attractive unfriendly women would be more distressing than being excluded by unattractive women, irrespective of their friendliness level. Our results contradicted most of our predictions but provide important insights into women's responses to interpersonal conflict. Accounting for rejection sensitivity, P300 event-related potential amplitudes were largest when women were excluded by unattractive unfriendly women. This may be due to an expectancy violation or an annoyance with being excluded by women low on social desirability. An examination of anger rumination rates by condition suggests the latter. Only attractive women's attractiveness ratings were lowered in the unfriendly condition, indicating they were specifically punished for their exclusionary behavior. Women were more likely to select attractive women to compete against with one exception-they selected the Black attractive opponent less often than the White attractive opponent when presented as unfriendly. Finally, consistent with studies on retaliation in relation to social exclusion, women tended to rate competitors who rejected them as being more rude, more competitive, less attractive, less nice, and less happy than non-competitors. The ubiquity of social exclusion and its pointed emotional and physiological impact on women demands more research on this topic.

The Lived Experiences of Students With Food Allergies During a Usual Weekday

BACKGROUND

Extant literature indicates students living with food allergies (FA) experience biopsychosocial challenges (eg, social isolation, anxiety). The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of students living with FA during a usual weekday in a school setting.

METHODS

Phenomenological study with purposive convenience sample from the US states of Florida and Colorado. Students aged 10-14 years who have been managing an IgE-mediated FA for more than 1 year within a school setting. Data collection was guided by a story path process with semi-structured interview, with Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis used to ascribe meaning to their experiences.

RESULTS

Four themes: (1) Living with Restraints: A Way of Life, (2) Managing Exposure, (3) Experiencing Stigma, and (4) Experiencing Lack of Knowledge.

CONCLUSION

Findings underscore unique biopsychosocial challenges faced by students living with FA, highlighting the need for comprehensive approaches beyond traditional biological management in developing strategies, policies, future research, and recommendations in school settings.

Rejection in romantic relationships: Does rejection sensitivity modulate emotional responses to perceptions of negative interactions?

BACKGROUND

Rejection is a highly stressful experience and individuals tend to avoid it whenever possible. In intimate relationships, experiences of rejection can shape the interaction dynamics between partners. Highly rejection sensitive people fear that their romantic partner will reject them and they overreact to any ambiguous cues that might indicate rejection. Furthermore, because they focus on the threat of rejection, they may have difficulty disengaging from rejection-related emotions, persevere in a rejection-focused state and have a reduced capacity to regulate their emotions. The prolonged experience of strong negative emotions, together with maladaptive attempts to respond to rejection, may undermine key relationship maintenance processes that contribute to relationship functioning and lead to negative reciprocity in interactions. The goal of the present study was to shed light on how individuals experience rejection-related emotions and determine whether, following perceptions of negative interactions, rejection sensitivity was associated with stronger negative responses and less efficient downregulation of negative emotions. In addition, we examined whether dyadic patterns of rejection sensitivity were associated with negative emotion dynamics following perceptions of negative interactions.

METHODS

The participants (N = 298) were couples experiencing the transition to parenthood. A multilevel modelling approach was used to assess the associations between rejection sensitivity, perceptions of negative interactions and emotional states. The analyses included repeated daily reports for both rejection and emotions.

RESULTS

The results suggest that rejection sensitive individuals do not report higher negative emotions when they perceive negative interactions. Moreover, rejection sensitive men and women did not remain longer in a negative emotional state after they perceived negative interactions with their partner. Finally, when both men and women partners reported higher levels of rejection sensitivity, neither reported having higher negative emotions after experiencing negative interaction perceptions.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings provide further insights into emotional dynamics and rejection sensitivity in romantic relationships. Our results do not provide evidence for a link between rejection sensitivity and higher negative emotions or slower recovery after reports of negative interactions. If individuals suppress their emotions, they may not benefit from regulation with their partner and instead may protect themselves over their relationships. However, in this context, rejection sensitivity might also not constitute a strong predictor of daily emotion fluctuations, but other variables- such as relationship satisfaction - might. Future research may investigate emotional responses in a sample with higher levels of rejection sensitivity and use more diverse measures of perceptions of negative interactions.

Social Class and Social Pain: Target SES Biases Judgments of Pain and Support for White Target Individuals

Social pain, defined as distress caused by negative interpersonal experiences (e.g., ostracism, mistreatment), is detrimental to health. Yet, it is unclear how social class might shape judgments of the social pains of low-socioeconomic status (SES) and high-SES individuals. Five studies tested competing toughness and empathy predictions for SES's effect on social pain judgments. Consistent with an empathy account, in all studies (Ncumulative = 1,046), low-SES White targets were judged more sensitive to social pain than high-SES White targets. Further, empathy mediated these effects, such that participants felt greater empathy and expected more social pain for low-SES targets relative to high-SES targets. Social pain judgments also informed judgments of social support needs, as low-SES targets were presumed to need more coping resources to manage hurtful events than high-SES targets. The current findings provide initial evidence that empathic concern for low-SES White individuals sensitizes social pain judgments and increases expected support needs for lower class White individuals.

Associations between over-the-counter analgesics usage and symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescents: a network analysis

BACKGROUND

The use of over-the-counter analgesics (OTCA) is common among adolescents and has been linked with increased symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, little is known about which specific symptoms are most strongly connected to OTCA usage. The current study assessed which anxiety and depression symptoms were most closely associated with OTCA usage in a large sample of adolescents and examined whether this differed across genders.

METHOD

The present study was based on data from 626,581 participants from the Ungdata survey in Norway. Associations between OTCA and anxiety and depression symptoms were examined using network analysis. Non-regularized partial-correlation networks were constructed to estimate the conditional dependent relations between the use of OTCA and symptoms while controlling for pain. Gender-specific networks were created for comparison.

RESULTS

OTCA usage was associated with most symptoms, even after controlling for pain, with the strongest associations with "sleep problems", "stiff or tense", "everything is a struggle" and "suddenly scared". There were some gender differences, showing that "sleep problems" and "hopeless" were more strongly related to OTCA usage in females, whereas "stiff or tense" was more strongly related to OTCA usage in males.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the somatic symptoms of anxiety and depression displayed the strongest associations with OTCA usage. When examining the gender-specific networks, both showed similar trends, although males exhibited slightly stronger associations between OTCA usage and somatic symptoms.

Pain of Threatened Self: Explicit and Implicit Self-Esteem, Cortisol Responses to a Social Threat and Pain Perception

Background: Rejection, injustice, and exclusion from meaningful interpersonal relationships are often extremely painful and stress-generating experiences. This study aimed to define the role of explicit and implicit self-esteem in pain perception as a component of the physiological-psychological system that regulates the body's response to stress associated with the threat of social rejection. Methods: In total, 360 individuals participated in this study. The measurement of cortisol in saliva, the assessment of pain thresholds using thermal stimuli, the IAT to assess implicit self-esteem, and a questionnaire on global self-esteem and social pain were used. The study included three measurements: baseline and 15 and 45 min after the application of a laboratory socially threatening stimulus (the Trier Social Stress Test). Results: People experiencing chronic social pain (CSP) are more likely to have fragile self-esteem, higher pain thresholds, and tend to experience reduced pain tolerance in situations of acute social threat than people without CSP experience. In people with CSP and fragile self-esteem, after the introduction of a social threat, an increase in pain tolerance was observed along with a longer-lasting increase in cortisol levels. Conclusions: Fragile self-esteem, along with feelings of chronic exclusion, injustice, and rejection, may prolong stress reactions and produce a hypoalgesic effect.

The association between physical exercise behavior and psychological resilience of teenagers: an examination of the chain mediating effect

The health of young people is crucial for the future and development of a nation. It is the collective responsibility and imperative mission of society to ensure the holistic well-being, both physically and mentally, of young individuals. Therefore, it is essential to thoroughly comprehend the factors that influence their health in order to expedite the exploration of effective solutions. The objective of this study is to comprehend the mechanisms that underlie the correlation between physical exercise behavior and psychological resilience among teenagers, while also examining the mediating role played by social sensitivity and need to belong. So put forward the hypothesis: (1) physical exercise behavior can positively predict the psychological resilience. (2) Social sensitivity and need to belong plays a mediating role between physical exercise behavior and psychological resilience. (3) Social sensitivity and need to belong plays a chain mediating role between physical exercise behavior and psychological resilience. Using the cluster sampling method, a total of 1106 students (with an average age of 15.7 and a standard deviation of 0.598) who met the requirements were surveyed from Shandong Province in China. Standard scales were utilized to assess Physical Exercise Behavior, Psychological Resilience, Social Sensitivity, and Need to Belong. For data analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis and bias-corrected percentile Bootstrap method were sequentially conducted. (1) The present study did not find any significant methodological bias, and the observed correlations between physical exercise behavior, psychological resilience, social sensitivity, and need to belong were all statistically significant; (2) Based on the self-determination theory, this study elucidates the relationship between physical exercise behavior and psychological resilience among teenagers. The findings indicate that physical exercise behavior positively predicts the need to belong and psychological resilience, while negatively predicting social sensitivity. Similarly, social sensitivity negatively predicts the need to belong and psychological resilience. Moreover, the need to belong directly and positively predicts psychological resilience. Importantly, all hypotheses proposed in this paper were empirically supported. (3) The indirect effect of the path mediated by social sensitivity is 0.009, while the indirect effect of the path mediated by need to belong is 0.033. Additionally, the combined indirect effect of both social sensitivity and need to belong as mediating variables is 0.014. (4) The cumulative sum of all these indirect effects amounts to 0.056. Based on the self-determination theory, we propose a chain mediation model, specially, physical exercise behavior can significantly positively predict psychological resilience, among which, social sensitivity and need to belong play a significant mediating role between Physical exercise behavior and psychological resilience. In addition, the adoption of good physical exercise behavior can enhance the psychological resilience of adolescents by diminishing social sensitivity and augmenting the need to belong.

Psychometric properties and item response theory analysis of the Persian version of the social pain questionnaire

Introduction

Social pain is an emotional reaction which is triggered by social exclusion and has been extensively investigated in the literature. The Social Pain Questionnaire (SPQ) is a self-report instrument which is the only scale for measuring social pain as a dispositional factor. The current study aimed at examining the psychometric properties of the SPQ in an Iranian sample.

Materials and methods

A sample of participants (N = 400) was recruited in a cross-sectional validation study. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) as well as Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were conducted. The Item Response Theory (IRT) model parameters were evaluated and item response category curves were presented. Convergent and divergent validities as well as the reliability (by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient) were also assessed.

Results

The SPQ's unidimensionality was affirmed (RMSEA = 0.078; CFI = 0.915; TLI = 0.99) and its internal consistency was robust (Cronbach's α = 0.94). The correlation between the SPQ and the following measures endorsed its divergent and convergent validity: Self-esteem (r = -0.424), Perceived Social Support (r = -0.161), and Interpersonal Sensitivity (r = 0.636). Finally, Item Response Theory Analysis emphasized the effectiveness of the SPQ items in discerning various levels of social pain. The theta level ranged between -1 and + 1.2 and the IRT-based marginal reliability was 0.92 for the total score.

Discussion

The Persian SPQ stands as a reliable and valid measure for evaluating social pain. This scale has the potential to stimulate further research in the field for both clinical and non-clinical settings.

Conclusion

By employing Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis, we have transcended the theoretical psychometric evaluation of the SPQ scale and demonstrated that SPQ is a unidimensional, valid and reliable measurement tool.

I understand your pain but I do not feel it: lower affective empathy in response to others' social pain in narcissism

Introduction

While the relationship between narcissism and empathy has been well-researched, studies have paid less attention to empathic accuracy, i.e., appreciating the precise strength of another person's emotions, and self-other distinction, in terms of the disparity between affective ratings for self and other in response to emotive stimuli. Furthermore, empathic responses may vary depending on whether the pain is physical or social.

Methods

We investigated empathic accuracy, affective empathy, and the distinction between pain, emotion and intensity ratings for self and other, in high (n = 44) and low (n = 43) narcissism groups (HNG and LNG, respectively) selected from 611 students, in response to both types of pain. Participants watched six videos where targets expressed genuine experiences of physical and social pain, and rated the perceived affect and pain experienced by the person in the video and their own empathic emotional responses.

Results and discussion

The HNG displayed lower affective empathy and empathic accuracy than the LNG for both pain types. Within the HNG there was higher empathic accuracy for social vs. physical pain, despite reduced affective empathy for social pain, in contrast to the LNG. In addition to this paradox, the HNG demonstrated greater differences between ratings for the self and for target others than the LNG, suggesting that narcissism is associated with higher self-other distinction in response to viewing other people describing social pain.

Beyond Parental Acceptance and Rejection: A Commentary on the Findings From Empirical Studies on Forgiveness and Vengeance in the Muslim World

Drawing on the framework of interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory), this special issue edited by Ronald P. Rohner, Sumbleen Ali, and Jennifer E. Lansford explores forgiveness and vengeance within the context of the Muslim world. Examination of the precursors of forgiveness and vengeance holds significance because vengeance typically correlates with adverse physical and psychological health outcomes. We suggest ways to advance research outlined in the special issue, such as assessing cross-cultural invariance and using diverse research designs. Moreover, increasing the diversity of socioeconomic status in studies conducted in the Muslim world and exploring hypotheses in high-income countries are necessary for contextually nuanced research. Overall, this special issue offers valuable insights into the dynamics of forgiveness and vengeance and highlights the role of culture and gender on psychological well-being across diverse contexts.

Social pain sharing boosts interpersonal brain synchronization in female cooperation

Social pain sharing promotes cooperation, but we still don't know its neural basis. The present study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning technology to investigate whether interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) increased between females engaging in cooperative activities after a shared experience of social pain. We utilized the Cyberball paradigm, manipulating social pain by regulating the number of catches for the participants. Dyads in the shared social pain (SP) group received passes only at the beginning of the game, whereas dyads in the control (CT) group had the same number of catches as other players. The results indicate that participants in the SP group showed significant IBS in the right superior frontal cortex (r-SFC, p < 0.05) and left middle frontal cortex (l-MFC, p < 0.05), but no channels in the CT group showed significant IBS (p > 0.05). Further analysis revealed that IBS in r-SFC was significantly higher in the SP group compared to the CT group (p < 0.05). Additionally, IBS in r-SFC was positively correlated with the level of cooperation (r = 0.66, p < 0.001). This study elucidates the neural basis of enhanced cooperation facilitated by shared social pain at the interbrain level. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that this study exclusively enrolled female participants. The generalizability of these findings across genders is yet to be confirmed.

Thwarted Belongingness and Suicide Risk in Primary Care: Perceived Burdensomeness and Psychache as Mediators

Suicide is a significant public health concern, particularly among primary care patients, given that many individuals who die by suicide visit their primary care provider in the months prior to their death. We examined constructs from two prominent theories of suicide, the interpersonal and psychache theories, including thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and psychache. Among our sample (n = 224) of patients, perceived burdensomeness and psychache, individually and in serial, mediated the relation between thwarted belongingness and suicidal behavior. Thwarted belongingness was associated with greater perceived burdensomeness and, in turn, with more psychache and increased suicide risk. Our results elucidate the associations between the interpersonal and psychache theories of suicide. Clinical strategies that may reduce thwarted interpersonal needs and psychache, and which are appropriate for medical settings, are discussed.

The Relationship Between Harsh Parenting and Smartphone Addiction Among Adolescents: Serial Mediating Role of Depression and Social Pain

Purpose

With the increasing prevalence of smart phones, adolescent smartphone addiction has garnered significant attention from researchers. Previous studies have revealed that smartphone addiction is associated with various internalization and externalization problems. Therefore, this present study aims to investigate the risk factors contributing to adolescent smartphone addiction.

Methods

Study 1 recruited a sample of 540, 690, and 470 Chinese students aged between 10-17 years for exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and predictive validity analysis of the social pain scale. Study 2 utilized data from a sample of 718 Chinese students aged between 10-17 years to examine the measurement model used revised social pain scale, smartphone addiction scale, harsh parenting scale, and depression sub-scale.

Results

The present study revealed that (1)The Social Pain Scale had good applicability in Chinese adolescents; (2) There were significant, positive correlations among harsh parenting, smartphone addiction, depression and social pain; (3) Social pain and depression played a partially serial mediating role in the relationship between harsh parenting and smartphone addiction, and similarly the relationship between paternal harsh parenting and smartphone addiction, while a completely serial mediating role in the relationship between maternal harsh parenting and smartphone addiction.

Conclusion

This study provides a direct path (improving parenting style) and an indirect path (reducing social pain to reduce depression) regarding interventions for adolescents with smartphone addiction, and establishes a basis for improving the situation of adolescent smartphone addiction.

Social exclusion and suicide intention in Chinese college students: a moderated mediation model

Given the growing incidence rates of suicide among college students and the potential lifelong consequences of suicide, it is imperative to better understand the factors that reduce the rates at which college students in a clinical sample engage in suicide. This study examines the relationship between social exclusion and suicide intention, the mediating effect of depression, and the moderating effect of meaning in life. Two hundred and ninety-nine Chinese college students, aged from 18 to 22 years (56.86% female, M age = 20.14, SD = 1.27) completed questionnaires assessing their social exclusion, suicide intention, depression, and meaning in life. The result revealed that social exclusion was positively associated with suicide intention, and depression mediated this relationship. In addition, this mediating effect of depression was moderated by meaning in life. That is, the mediation effect was stronger for students with a higher level of meaning in life. These findings provide educational suggestions for preventing and intervening in suicide intention among college students.

Soreness Reminds Me of Grief: Patients With Chronic Pain Show Less Differentiated Representations of Emotional Feelings and Bodily States

People experience similarities between emotional feelings and bodily states on a daily basis, but both the magnitude and pervasiveness of this experiential similarity vary across individuals. Inspired by previous findings that chronic pain (CP) is characterized by strengthened pain-affect coupling and reduced interoceptive accuracy, we conducted 2 cross-sectional studies to examine whether patients with CP would exhibit less differentiated perception and mental representation of emotional feelings and bodily states. In study 1 (N = 500), patients with CP and healthy controls (HCs) completed a self-report questionnaire that asked explicitly about the perceived similarity between 5 basic emotion categories and a series of bodily states. In study 2 (N = 73), a specially designed false memory test was administered to examine whether patients with CP would have reduced differentiation of concepts of negative emotion and somatic distress. We found that patients with CP perceived greater and more pervasive similarities between emotional feelings and bodily states, as indicated by higher questionnaire scores and denser, less specialized bipartite emotion-body networks, both associated with lower subjective interoceptive accuracy. Furthermore, patients with CP formed false memories of negative emotion words (eg, grief) more readily than HCs after memorizing somatic distress words (eg, soreness), as if they represented negative emotion and somatic distress as a single, enmeshed semantic category. Our findings extend previous literature by demonstrating reduced discrimination between emotional and bodily experiences in CP that is not restricted to pain-related emotional and sensory experiences and may be related to a fundamentally less differentiated interoception. PERSPECTIVES: This study shows that patients with chronic pain have a profoundly less differentiated perception and implicit conceptualization of emotional feelings and bodily states, which appears to be associated with altered interoception. These findings may provide new perspectives on why they often experience a stronger pain-affect coupling.

Preexposure to one social threat alters responses to another social threat: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

A recent Cyberball study has indicated that the experience of loss of control can affect how people process subsequent social exclusion. This "preexposure effect" supports the idea of a common cognitive system involved in the processing of different types of social threats. To test the validity of this assumption in the current study, we reversed the sequence of the preexposure setup. We measured the effects of social exclusion on the subsequent processing of loss of control utilizing event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and self-reports. In the control group (CG, n = 26), the transition to loss of control elicited significant increases in both the P3 amplitude and the self-reported negative mood. Replicating the results of the previous preexposure study, these effects were significantly reduced by the preexposure to an independent social threat (here: social exclusion). In contrast to previous findings, these effects were not modulated by the discontinuation (EG1disc, n = 25) or continuation (EG2cont, n = 24) of the preexposure threat. Given that the P3 effect is related to the violation of subjective expectations, these results support the notion that preexposure to a specific social threat has widespread effects on the individuals' expectancy of upcoming social participation and control.

Resting-state neural correlates of individual differences in ignored experience and its deleterious effect

Uncovering the neural mechanisms of ostracism experience (including its subclasses of excluded and ignored experiences) is important. However, the resting-state functional brain substrates responsible for individual differences in ostracism experience and its negative effects remain largely undefined. This study explored these issues in a sample of 198 Chinese college students by assessing the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and functional connectivity. The findings indicated a positive correlation between ignored experience and the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in the right superior frontal gyrus and the functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and left cerebellum posterior lobe. Additionally, a negative correlation was found between ignored experience and the functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and the bilateral insula as well as the bilateral inferior parietal lobule. Moreover, the mediation analysis demonstrated that the effects of the functional connectivities of right superior frontal gyrus-left cerebellum posterior lobe and right superior frontal gyrus-right inferior parietal lobule on revenge intention were mediated by ignored experience. Our study offers novel insights into the neural correlates of both individual variations in ignored experience and its typical deleterious effect. These results could deepen our understanding of individual differences in negative experiences and inspire the development of targeted interventions for social stress from the perspective of the brain.

Antisocial peer exclusion does not eliminate the effectiveness of prosocial peer exclusion in structured populations

While prosocial exclusion has been proposed as a mechanism to maintain cooperation in one-shot social dilemma games, the evolution of prosocial peer exclusion in response to the threat of antisocial peer exclusion, particularly in structured populations, remains insufficiently understood. In this study, we employ an extended spatial public goods game to investigate the evolution of prosocial peer exclusion and its impact on cooperation in the presence of both prosocial and antisocial peer exclusion. Our model encompasses four primary strategies: traditional cooperation and defection, prosocial peer exclusion targeting defectors, and antisocial peer exclusion targeting cooperators. Our findings illuminate that the presence of antisocial peer exclusion significantly disrupts network reciprocity and suppresses cooperation. However, when coexisting with prosocial peer exclusion, it does not undermine the latter's efficacy in upholding cooperation, except in scenarios with low exclusion costs Unlike the cooperation-sustaining cyclic dominance pattern observed in the exclusive presence of prosocial peer exclusion, the co-presence of prosocial and antisocial peer exclusion gives rise to more intricate pathways for maintaining cooperation. These pathways include cyclic dominance involving traditional cooperation, prosocial peer exclusion, and antisocial peer exclusion, or a similar pattern involving traditional defection and the two exclusion strategies, or even cyclic dominance among all four strategies. In essence, our study enhances the theoretical framework concerning the effectiveness of the prosocial exclusion strategy, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of its dynamics.

Everyday discrimination, co-ethnic social support and mood changes in young adult immigrants in Germany-Evidence from an ecological momentary assessment study

Objective

In the context of international migration flows, Germany is the second largest receiving country of migrants in the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the momentary mood effects of discrimination experiences for young adult immigrants and which social resources can buffer negative effects. A distinction is made between the importance of inter and intra-ethnic interaction partners in processing stressors.

Method

Using an ecological momentary assessment design, first-generation migrants in Germany who had recently migrated from Poland, Turkey or Syria were interviewed three times a day over seven days in June 2021 (N individuals = 976; N observations = 11,470). The timing of the short surveys was chosen at random using a signal contingent sampling method. Participants reported their momentary mood and instances of discrimination, along with information on social support perception and interaction partners during the preceding hour in the context of their everyday lives. Hybrid mixed-effects regression models were estimated and the research questions were tested with three-way interactions.

Results

The results indicate that perceived social support only moderately buffers the negative effect of everyday discrimination experiences on mood. A positive main effect on mood is observed for situational variations in perceived social support as well as for support from interaction partners.

Conclusion

The findings illustrate that being embedded in supportive relationships is important in everyday life, regardless of the occurrence of stressors. Furthermore, the study suggests that the level of perceived support is more important for first-generation migrants than the ethnic origin of the support provider.

Longitudinal association of mindfulness with aggression and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence: The mediating role of shame-proneness

The aim of the current study was to investigate the longitudinal association of facets of mindfulness with aggression and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents and to explore whether shame-proneness can mediate the longitudinal association. The present longitudinal study investigated the associations between mindfulness, aggression, and NSSI in a sample of 706 Chinese adolescents (M = 15.33; SD = 1.34; 50.20% girls). Five facet mindfulness questionnaire was completed at baseline and middle school students' shame scale was completed at 6-month follow-up. The Chinese version of Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire and adolescents' self-harm scale were completed at both baseline and 6-month follow-up. Shame-proneness significantly mediated the longitudinal association between (a) describing and aggression (-0.107, 95% CI: [-0.151 to -0.067]), and NSSI (-0.041, 95% CI: [-0.069 to -0.019]). (b) Acting with awareness and aggression (-0.094, 95% CI: [-0.139 to -0.061]), and NSSI (-0.036, 95% CI: [-0.062 to -0.016]). (c) Nonjudging and aggression (-0.062, 95% CI: [-0.107 to -0.024]) and NSSI (-0.024, 95% CI: [-0.047 to -0.008]). Describing, acting with awareness, and nonjudging were predictive factors of aggression and self-injury in adolescents, and shame-proneness played a crucial role in the negative longitudinal association between them. Findings from the current study may offer some implications in the domains of clinical practice and education to improve mental health and further ameliorate the misbehavior among adolescents.

Distinct patterns of activity within columns of the periaqueductal gray are associated with functionally distinct birdsongs

Male songbirds produce female-directed songs in spring that convey a state of sexual motivation. Many songbirds also sing in fall flocks in affiliative/gregarious contexts in which song is linked to an intrinsic positive affective state. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) in mammals, which is organized into functional columns, integrates information from multiple brain regions and relays this information to vocal motor areas so that an animal emits a vocal signal reflective of its affective state. Here, we test the hypothesis that distinct columns in the songbird PAG play roles in the distinct affective states communicated by sexually motivated and gregarious song. We quantified the numbers of immediate early gene ZENK-positive cells in 16 PAG subregions in male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) after singing gregarious or sexually motivated song. Results suggest that distinct PAG columns in songbirds context-specifically regulate song, agonistic, and courtship behaviors. A second exploratory, functional tract-tracing study also demonstrated that inputs to the PAG from specific subregions of the medial preoptic nucleus may contribute to gregarious song and behaviors indicative of social dominance. Together, findings suggest that conserved PAG columns and inputs from the preoptic nucleus may play a role in context-specific vocal and other social behaviors.

The longitudinal contribution of prolonged grief to depression and suicide risk in the aftermath of suicide loss: The moderating role of self-criticism

BACKGROUND

Suicide-loss survivors (SLSs)-individuals who lost family member to suicide, have been recognized as at risk for several mental health complications, including depression and suicide. Recent studies have emphasized the contribution of prolonged grief (PG) symptoms and suicide-related shame as facilitators of depression and suicide risk in the aftermath of suicide loss. In this six-year longitudinal design study, we examined self-criticism as a moderator of the link between PG and depression and suicide risk, with suicide-related shame mediating these links.

METHOD

Participants were 152 SLSs (130 females) aged 18-70 who completed questionnaires assessing prolonged grief, depression, and suicide risk as well as trauma-related shame and self-criticism.

RESULTS

A moderated mediation model shows that high self-criticism intensified the relations between PG and shame and between shame and depression and suicide risk, above and beyond the contribution of the longitudinal PG trajectory. Importantly, the indirect effects of PG on both depression and suicide risk via shame levels were found only among SLSs with high levels of self-criticism.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlight the critical longitudinal role of self-criticism in facilitating depression and suicide risk among SLSs with higher levels of PG. Theoretical implications relating to healing processes and focused clinical recommendations are discussed, including interventions for addressing self-criticism and suicide-related shame in the aftermath of suicide loss.

Pain-Related Stigma and Its Associations With Clinical and Experimental Pain Severity in Youth With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Conditions

OBJECTIVE

Many children with chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions experience stigma which can have negative downstream consequences. This study compares ratings of clinical pain (current pain intensity and pain interference), experimental pain (temporal summation, cold water tolerance, and cold pain intensity), and pain-related stigma among three groups of youth with rheumatic conditions. The relations among ratings of pain-related stigma and pain variables were explored.

METHODS

Eighty-eight youth aged 8-17 years with a diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA = 32), juvenile fibromyalgia (JFM = 31), or non-specific chronic pain (NSCP = 25) completed measures of clinical pain ratings (average 7-day pain intensity, day of assessment pain (DoA), and pain interference), experimental pain (cold pain tolerance, cold pain intensity, and temporal summation of mechanical pain), and pain-related stigma. Data analysis compared pain-related stigma and pain ratings across the three groups and examined the relations among pain-related stigma and pain ratings.

RESULTS

Youth with JFM reported higher ratings of clinical pain and pain-related stigma than their counterparts with NSCP or JIA. However, there were no differences in experimental pain. Pain-related stigma was associated with greater ratings of pain interference, particularly for those with JIA and NSCP. Pain-related stigma was also associated with greater average daily pain intensity but not DoA.

CONCLUSION

Youth with medically unexplained pain report greater stigma and worse pain than their peers; thus, robust assessment of pain in this population is necessary. Future work should longitudinally explore the impact of pain-related stigma on pain outcomes and treatment responses.

Words hurt: common and distinct neural substrates underlying nociceptive and semantic pain

Introduction

Recent studies have shown that processing semantic pain, such as words associated with physical pain, modulates pain perception and enhances activity in regions of the pain matrix. A direct comparison between activations due to noxious stimulation and processing of words conveying physical pain may clarify whether and to what extent the neural substrates of nociceptive pain are shared by semantic pain. Pain is triggered also by experiences of social exclusion, rejection or loss of significant others (the so-called social pain), therefore words expressing social pain may modulate pain perception similarly to what happens with words associated with physical pain. This event-related fMRI study aims to compare the brain activity related to perceiving nociceptive pain and that emerging from processing semantic pain, i.e., words related to either physical or social pain, in order to identify common and distinct neural substrates.

Methods

Thirty-four healthy women underwent two fMRI sessions each. In the Semantic session, participants were presented with positive words, negative pain-unrelated words, physical pain-related words, and social pain-related words. In the Nociceptive session, participants received cutaneous mechanical stimulations that could be either painful or not. During both sessions, participants were asked to rate the unpleasantness of each stimulus. Linguistic stimuli were also rated in terms of valence, arousal, pain relatedness, and pain intensity, immediately after the Semantic session.

Results

In the Nociceptive session, the 'nociceptive stimuli' vs. 'non-nociceptive stimuli' contrast revealed extensive activations in SI, SII, insula, cingulate cortex, thalamus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In the Semantic session, words associated with social pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, showed increased activity in most of the same areas, whereas words associated with physical pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, only activated the left supramarginal gyrus and partly the postcentral gyrus.

Discussion

Our results confirm that semantic pain partly shares the neural substrates of nociceptive pain. Specifically, social pain-related words activate a wide network of regions, mostly overlapping with those pertaining to the affective-motivational aspects of nociception, whereas physical pain-related words overlap with a small cluster including regions related to the sensory-discriminative aspects of nociception. However, most regions of overlap are differentially activated in different conditions.

Mediation effect of anxious attachment on relationship between childhood trauma and suicidal ideation sensitive to psychological pain levels

BACKGROUND

Childhood trauma (CT), depression, and psychological pain are known predictors of suicidal ideation. Recent literature additionally highlights the importance of the attachment system.

METHODS

We aimed to predict suicidal ideation through CT, attachment, and psychological and social pain by using mediation models aiming to predict suicidal ideation through CT (predictor) and attachment (mediator). In the same models, we introduced psychological or social pain as a moderator of the relationship between attachment, CT, and suicidal ideation. We included 161 depressed patients and assessed depression, attachment, CT, suicidal ideation, psychological pain, and social pain.

RESULTS

We found (1) a complete mediating effect of anxious attachment (a2b2 = 0.0035, CI95% = [0.0010; 0.0069]) on the relationship between CT on suicidal ideation, and (2) a significant complete conditional mediating effect of anxious attachment and psychological pain (index of moderated mediation VAS: 0.0014; CI95% = [0.0002; 0.0032]) but not social pain on the relationship between CT and suicidal ideation. Both models were controlled for history of suicidal attempt, depression severity, and sex.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest a developmental profile of suicidal ideation in mood disorder that is characterized by the presence of CT and insecure attachment, especially anxious attachment, that is sensitive to experiences of psychological pain. Nevertheless, we cannot conclude that avoidantly attached individuals do not present the same mechanism, as they may not disclose those ideas.

Effects of an open-label placebo intervention on reactions to social exclusion in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial

Social exclusion, that is being left out by others, can have adverse consequences for individuals' psychological well-being. Even short-term experiences of social exclusion strongly threaten basic psychological needs and cause so-called social pain. Prior research suggests an overlap between the experience of social and physical pain that, amongst others, is reflected by the effectiveness of physical pain treatments in alleviating social pain. Drawing upon these prior findings, we here explore whether open-label placebos, which have previously been found to be effective in reducing physical pain, can alleviate social pain following social exclusion. Seventy-four healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 × 2 between-subjects design: First, they either received an open-label placebo intervention or no treatment. Second, they either experienced inclusion or exclusion by their co-players in the interactive ball-tossing game Cyberball. We find that excluded participants in the open-label placebo condition experienced significantly less hurt feelings compared to those in the control condition (Cohen's d = 0.77). There was no effect of treatment for need threat. The findings suggest new possibilities to alleviate social pain, which is of particular interest in the context of preventing destructive and maladaptive behaviors in situations where functional coping strategies are unavailable.

Belonging Exacerbates the Relations Between Racial Climate Stress and Physiological Dysregulation

OBJECTIVE

Belonging is often considered a buffer against the physical and emotional consequences of discrimination and racial climate stress Youth Soc. 48(5):649-72, 2016. However, recent research suggests that feelings of belonging toward an institution can be detrimental when an individual feels discriminated against by the same institution to which one feels a sense of connection J Behav Med. 44(4):571-8, 2021. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the moderating role of institutional belonging in the relationship between racial climate stress and health, as indexed by allostatic load (AL), a multi-system indicator of physiological dysregulation.

METHODS

In a sample of Black and White college students (N = 150; White = 82; Black = 68), self-reported racial climate stress, institutional belonging, and various demographic variables were collected. An AL composite was also collected, comprised of six biological measures of the SAM system, HPA axis, cardiovascular system, and metabolic system. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationships between these variables.

RESULTS

Results demonstrated no main effect of racial climate stress on AL but did show a significant interaction between racial climate stress and belonging, such that the positive relationship between racial climate stress and AL was significant only for those who also felt high levels of institutional belonging (β int = .05, p = .006, 95% CI = 0.01 - 0.08).

CONCLUSIONS

Feeling a sense of belonging may have negative physiological consequences for those who experience racial climate stress in a college setting.

Unconscious and conscious acceptance downregulate aggressive behavior: Mediating role of anger regulation

Social exclusion can induce negative emotions and aggression. While previous studies have investigated the effect of trait acceptance on emotional experience and aggression during social exclusion, it is still unclear how different forms of acceptance strategy can downregulate negative emotions and whether this potential reduction of negative emotions should mediate the effect of acceptance on aggression. To address these questions, 100 participants were recruited and randomly divided into three groups: control group (CG, N = 33), conscious acceptance group (CAG, N = 33) and unconscious acceptance group (UAG, N = 34). Negative emotions were induced by the cyberball game and measured by the modified PANAS. Aggressive behavior was assessed by the hot sauce allocation task. Results showed that anger, rather than other negative emotions, mediated the effect of acceptance on aggressive behavior. Conscious and unconscious acceptance both effectively regulated anger, hurt feelings and aggressive behavior during social exclusion. Compared to conscious acceptance, unconscious acceptance was associated with less reduction of positive emotion and had a better effect on reducing sadness. These findings highlight the advantage of applying unconscious acceptance strategy to regulating social exclusion-induced emotions for the purpose of reducing aggressive behavior.

The collective impact of childhood abuse, psychache, and interpersonal needs on suicidal ideation among individuals with bipolar disorder: A discriminant analysis

BACKGROUND

Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in the United States. Childhood abuse, psychache (intense emotional pain), and interpersonal needs are widely known to be associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, only a limited number of studies investigate whether these variables, when analyzed collectively, are able to distinguish between a group of individuals who report suicidal ideation and those who deny such thoughts.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Data were collected from individuals (N =177) with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder participating in an intensive outpatient program that provides mental health care to indigent, mostly minority patients in Southeast United States.

METHODS

The dependent variable was item number 9 on the Beck Depression Inventory that asks about any suicidal thoughts in the past two weeks. We utilized discriminant analysis to test whether childhood abuse, interpersonal needs, and psychache were collectively able to accurately identify group membership of the study participants.

RESULTS

The discriminant model included six independent variables: three different types of childhood abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), interpersonal needs (perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness), and psychache. Results revealed that the model was able to correctly classify group membership in 75% of the individuals in the study.

CONCLUSION

In context of bipolar disorder, history of childhood abuse (particularly sexual and emotional abuse), intense psychache, and greater perceived thwarted belongingness and burdensomeness put an individual at a higher risk of suicidal ideation. Gaining insight into the interactions among these variables may lead to formulating early interventions to prevent suicide in patients reporting this constellation of symptoms.

Age-Related Quality of Life and Psychosocial Impact of Chin Asymmetry in Adolescents and Young Adults Undergoing Orthodontic and Orthognathic Correction

Craniofacial asymmetry can have significant psychosocial implications, affecting the quality of life in adolescents and young adults. This study aimed to assess the impact of age and complexity of craniofacial asymmetry on quality of life and psychosocial outcomes in patients undergoing orthodontic and orthognathic correction. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 149 patients aged 13-26 years with moderate or severe craniofacial asymmetry that had a gnathion deviation higher than 2 mm, according to the American Association of Orthodontists. Participants were divided into three groups: teenagers (n = 53), adults (n = 46), and a control group (n = 50) with relative craniofacial asymmetry. Quality of life and psychosocial impacts were evaluated using validated questionnaires that measure health-related quality of life (SF-36), body image satisfaction and self-acceptance (BIQLI), anxiety and depression levels (HADS), and perceived stress (PSS-10). These tools provided an encompassing appraisal of the psychological and social implications associated with craniofacial asymmetry before and six months after orthodontic and orthognathic correction. Before the intervention, adults had higher mental health scores compared to teenagers (p = 0.037). At the 6-month follow-up, no significant differences in mental health scores were observed between the two groups (p = 0.121). BIQLI results showed significant differences in satisfaction with appearance and self-acceptance between teenagers and adults, both before intervention (p = 0.045 and p = 0.051, respectively) and at six months (p = 0.062 and p = 0.031, respectively). HADS results showed significant differences in anxiety levels before intervention (p = 0.039) but not at six months (p = 0.133). PSS-10 results showed no significant differences in perceived stress between the groups. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that craniofacial asymmetry significantly impacts the quality of life and psychosocial well-being of adolescents and young adults. Specifically, teenagers, as compared to young adults, reported lower satisfaction with their appearance and lower self-acceptance before intervention, underscoring the profound psychosocial challenges that adolescents with craniofacial asymmetry may experience. These age-related differences underscore the importance of tailored interventions to address unique psychosocial needs at different developmental stages.

Excitatory Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Increases Social Anxiety

Social exclusion refers to the experience of rejection by one or more people during a social event and can induce pain-related sensations. Cyberball, a computer program, is one of the most common tools for analyzing social exclusion. Regions of the brain that underlie social pain include networks linked to the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Specifically, self-directed negative socially induced exclusion is associated with changes in DLPFC activity. Direct manipulation of this area may provide a better understanding of how the DLPFC can influence the perception of social exclusion and determine a causal role of the DLPFC. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to both the left and right DLPFC to gauge different reactions to the Cyberball experience. It was found that there were elevated exclusion indices following right DLPFC rTMS; participants consistently felt more excluded when the right DLPFC was excited. This may relate to greater feelings of social pain when the right DLPFC is manipulated. These data demonstrate that direct manipulation of the DLPFC results in changes in responses to social exclusion.

How does disgust regulate social rejection? a mini-review

The need to belong is a fundamental aspect of human nature. Over the past two decades, researchers have uncovered many harmful effects of social rejection. However, less work has examined the emotional antecedents to rejection. The purpose of the present article was to explore how disgust--an emotion linked to avoidance and social withdrawal--serves as an important antecedent to social rejection. We argue that disgust affects social rejection through three routes. First, disgust encourages stigmatization, especially of those who exhibit cues of infectious disease. Second, disgust and disease-avoidance give rise to cultural variants (e.g., socially conservative values and assortative sociality), which mitigate social interaction. Third, when the self is perceived as a source of contamination, it promotes shame, which, subsequently, encourages withdrawal from social interaction. Directions for future research are also discussed.

Brain connectivity during social exclusion differs depending on the closeness within a triad among older adults living in a village

Social exclusion occurs in various types of social relationships, from anonymous others to close friends. However, the role that social relationships play in social exclusion is less well known because most paradigms investigating social exclusion have been done in laboratory contexts, without considering the features of individuals' real-world social relationships. Here, we addressed this gap by examining how pre-existing social relationships with rejecters may influence the brain response of individuals experiencing social exclusion. Eighty-eight older adults living in a rural village visited the laboratory with two other participants living in the same village and played Cyberball in an Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner. Utilizing whole-brain connectome-based predictive modeling, we analyzed functional connectivity (FC) data obtained during the social exclusion task. First, we found that the level of self-reported distress during social exclusion was significantly related to sparsity, i.e. lack of closeness, within a triad. Furthermore, the sparsity was significantly predicted by the FC model, demonstrating that a sparse triadic relationship was associated with stronger connectivity patterns in brain regions previously implicated in social pain and mentalizing during Cyberball. These findings extend our understanding of how real-world social intimacy and relationships with excluders affect neural and emotional responses to social exclusion.

Perceptions of children with cancer and their parents regarding illness: A qualitative study

PURPOSE

The current study aims to understand inter-generational differences and similarities in the perception of illness and the available resources employed by children with cancer and their parents.

METHODS

A qualitative descriptive research design was utilized, including face-to-face interviews with 108 parent-child dyads where the children had been diagnosed with cancer, by means of a semi-structured questionnaire. The participants were recruited from two pediatric hematology-oncology wards in two different hospitals in Israel. The data were analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis. Debriefing and inter-rater reliability methods were utilized.

FINDINGS

Similarities were found between the coping of children and parents with the illness. Children with cancer and their parents can find bright sides and support for coping, such as different perspectives on life, faith, positive thoughts, and family assistance. Most of the differences between the perceptions of children and parents relate to the difficulties encountered. While parents are mainly concerned about the long-term impact, children contend with ordeals involving the here-and-now.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents and children demonstrate a dual process in their challenging journey. Positive and facilitating factors are intertwined with the aggravating aspects, which exist side by side.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Nursing staff should advise children and their parents to attain and use external and internal sources of support found in this study to help them deal with cancer.

Social anxiety inhibits needs repair following exclusion in both relational and non-relational reward contexts: The mediating role of positive affect

The pain of social exclusion can motivate people to capitalize on opportunities to reconnect with others and repair their self-esteem and feelings of belongingness. This effect is often diminished for those with high social anxiety (HSA). Prior research suggests this may be due to their diminished capacity for recognizing and emotionally responding to relational reward cues. We investigated whether non-relational success experiences in the aftermath of exclusion may be an alternative means of repairing threatened self-esteem and belongingness in HSA individuals. In a preregistered, online study, we threatened belongingness and self-esteem in 422 participants by excluding them in a Cyberball game and then assigned them to one of three conditions: Relational Repair, Non-Relational Repair, or a No-Repair control condition. Results showed that both repair contexts facilitated needs repair relative to the no-repair control condition, and mediation analyses suggested this effect was driven by increased positive affect (PA). HSA individuals were less likely to restore needs regardless of condition and this effect appeared to be driven by low PA. Findings emphasize the critical role of PA for restoring threatened needs in the aftermath of exclusion and suggest that HSA inhibits needs repair processes across both relational and non-relational reward contexts.

Social Safety Theory: Conceptual foundation, underlying mechanisms, and future directions

Classic theories of stress and health are largely based on assumptions regarding how different psychosocial stressors influence biological processes that, in turn, affect human health and behavior. Although theoretically rich, this work has yielded little consensus and led to numerous conceptual, measurement, and reproducibility issues. Social Safety Theory aims to address these issues by using the primary goal and regulatory logic of the human brain and immune system as the basis for specifying the social-environmental situations to which these systems should respond most strongly to maximize reproductive success and survival. This analysis gave rise to the integrated, multi-level formulation described herein, which transforms thinking about stress biology and provides a biologically based, evolutionary account for how and why experiences of social safety and social threat are strongly related to health, well-being, aging, and longevity. In doing so, the theory advances a testable framework for investigating the biopsychosocial roots of health disparities as well as how health-relevant biopsychosocial processes crystalize over time and how perceptions of the social environment interact with childhood microbial environment, birth cohort, culture, air pollution, genetics, sleep, diet, personality, and self-harm to affect health. The theory also highlights several interventions for reducing social threat and promoting resilience.

Far from the eyes, far from the heart: COVID-19 confinement dampened sensitivity to painful facial features

In the last 2 years, governments of many countries imposed heavy social restrictions to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, with consequent increase of bad mood, distress, or depression for the people involved. Few studies investigated the impact of these restrictive measures on individual social proficiency, and specifically the processing of emotional facial information, leading to mixed results. The present research aimed at investigating systematically whether, and to which extent, social isolation influences the processing of facial expressions. To this end, we manipulated the social exclusion experimentally through the well-known Cyberball game (within-subject factor), and we exploited the occurrence of the lockdown for the Swiss COVID-19 first wave by recruiting participants before and after being restricted at home (grouping factor). We then tested whether either form of social segregation influenced the processing of pain, disgust, or neutral expressions, across multiple tasks probing access to different components of affective facial responses (state-specific, shared across states). We found that the lockdown (but not game-induced exclusion) affected negatively the processing of pain-specific information, without influencing other components of the affective facial response related to disgust or broad unpleasantness. In addition, participants recruited after the confinement reported lower scores in empathy questionnaires. These results suggest that social isolation affected negatively individual sensitivity to other people's affect and, with specific reference to the processing of facial expressions, the processing of pain-diagnostic information.

Mechanisms Linking Perfectionism and Social Anxiety: The Role of Hostility and Disqualification of Positive Social Outcomes

While considerable research has focused on maladaptive perfectionism as a risk factor for social anxiety, little attention has been given to the mechanisms that mediate the effects. We integrated perfectionism with the bivalent fear of evaluation model of social anxiety to investigate 2 hypothesized mechanisms: hostile attribution bias and disqualification of positive social outcomes (DPSO). Specifically, we hypothesized that individuals with maladaptive perfectionism develop hostile attribution biases which then lead to DPSO, which in turn predisposes them to social anxiety. Participants were 242 individuals from the general population who completed measures of perfectionism, hostile attribution bias, DPSO, and social anxiety. A test of multiple mediators using bootstrapping supported the hypothesized multiple mediator models. The results suggested that maladaptive perfectionism predisposes an individual to social anxiety through hostile attribution bias and DPSO. The results further suggested that DPSO but not hostile attribution bias operates as an individual mediator in the perfectionism-social anxiety relationship. The findings from this study provide support for the bivalent fear of evaluation model of social anxiety; however, the use of a cross-sectional design limited our ability to find true cause-and-effect relationships.

An Examination of the Relationships between Psychological Resilience, Organizational Ostracism, and Burnout in K-12 Teachers through Structural Equation Modelling

Psychological resilience, burnout, and ostracism are significant variables that may affect teachers' performance and well-being. While psychological resilience is the ability of individuals to cope with the challenges of life/work and could support teachers in performing their profession, burnout (i.e., high levels of emotional exhaustion and desensitization) and ostracism (i.e., being ignored by others in the workplace) could lead to serious negative outcomes for both teachers and the educational system. Despite their significance, studies addressing the relationships between these variables are rare. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationships between teachers' psychological resilience, burnout, and organizational ostracism. The study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothetical relationships between these variables. The participants were selected using a simple random sampling method among K-12 teachers working in Elazig, Turkey. The data were collected using Psychological Resilience Scale-Short Form, Organizational Ostracism Scale, and Burnout Syndrome Inventory-Short Form. Data obtained from 309 K-12 teachers were analyzed using path analysis. The findings showed that teachers' psychological resilience was quite low, whilst they experienced high levels of burnout and organizational ostracism. The results also showed a negative relationship between their psychological resilience and organizational ostracism and burnout while determining a positive relationship between ostracism and burnout. Psychological resilience was determined to have a moderating role in the relationship between organizational ostracism and burnout. Implications were suggested for both research and practice.

Social Anhedonia and Intergroup Processes: A Multi-Study Investigation of Known and Novel Group Memberships

Introduction: Group memberships play an important role in promoting psychological well-being and supporting social functioning. However, studies suggest that individuals with social anhedonia, a characteristic defined by limited pleasure from social bonds, may show abnormalities in their desire to cultivate positive feelings, such as belongingness, from social groups. Still, these abnormalities have not been studied in the context of intergroup processes, leaving the relation between social anhedonia and subjective evaluations of group memberships unclear. Methods: Across three studies (Ns = 124-659), we examined associations between social anhedonia and affective and cognitive attitudes about different types of ingroups and outgroups using self-report and behavioral measures. Results: Taken together, results indicate that social anhedonia is associated with less positive and more negative feelings and beliefs about most ingroups and outgroups from everyday life, as well as negatively biased stereotyping of many prominent social groups. At the same time, individuals with either extremely high or low levels of social anhedonia did not report significantly different intergroup attitudes when group memberships were experimentally manipulated in a minimal group setting. Discussion: Overall, these findings suggest that social anhedonia is associated with less positive and more negative subjective evaluations of long-established, real-world ingroups, but not of a newly formed ingroup that requires little motivation or social engagement to maintain group membership. Aberrant feelings and attitudes toward one's ingroups are consistent with the theory that social anhedonia is related to anomalies in the need to belong within social groups from everyday life and could inform psychosocial interventions for related psychopathologies.

Distinguishing the Need to Belong and Sense of Belongingness: The Relation between Need to Belong and Personal Appraisals under Two Different Belongingness-Conditions

People are frequently caught in the hold between the need to belong and the fear of exclusion. However, these needs might be expressed differently under different belongingness conditions, where other powerful social processes are accentuated. Thus, the need to belong and social exclusion are concepts that are subjectively appraised based on one's social relations. The present study aims to examine the relationship between the need to belong and five personal appraisals under two different belongingness conditions: (1) social-emotion support and (2) social-value representation. A total of 201 participants from two different groups were presented with 69 different items measuring five personal appraisals (exclusion, shame, social-worthiness, emotional self-expression, and prosocial-relating behaviour). Condition 2, social-value representation with social worthiness being appraised, offered the strongest connection as a significant predictor amongst all appraisals in both conditions, despite both exclusion and shame being indicated as significant predictors, to begin with. Thus, highlighting the appraisal of social worthiness in support of one's need to socially represent oneself by not being compared to others while being valued as an alternative motive for realising a sense of belongingness. The empirical and theoretical limitations and implications are also discussed.

Physical and social trauma: Towards an integrative transdiagnostic perspective on psychological trauma that involves threats to status and belonging

Current theories of psychological trauma assume that posttraumatic symptoms originate from stress reactions caused by extremely adverse life experiences. Since the diagnosis of PTSD is restricted to events that involve threats to the physical or sexual integrity of a person, such as accidents and physical and sexual violence, these theories are not well suited to explain the psychopathological consequences of severe violations of one's social integrity, such as emotional abuse and bullying. However, it is evident that social threats contribute to a broad range of mental disorders and increase symptom severity in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. The aim of the Physical and Social Trauma (PAST) framework is to extend current memory theories of psychological trauma to incorporate threats to a person's social integrity. Within this perspective, the harmful effects of events that involve social threats result from violations of core social motives such as the need for status and belonging that bring about intense affective reactions, including despair and defeat. Within associative threat structures, these emotions are tied to the stimulus characteristics of the experiences and can be re-activated in social situations. The resulting psychopathology transcends PTSD criteria and other current classifications and suggests a transdiagnostic perspective of psychological trauma. Implications for treatment and further directions for research are discussed.

An ethologically based view into human fear

The quality of the defensive response to a threat depends on the elements that trigger the fear response. The current classification system of phobias does not account for this. Here, we analyze the fear-eliciting elements and discern the different types of fears that originate from them. We propose Pain, Disgust, Vasovagal response, Visual-vestibular and postural interactions, Movement and Speed, Distance and Size, Low and mid-level visual features, Smell, and Territory and social status. We subdivide phobias according to the fear-eliciting elements most frequently triggered by them and their impact on behavior. We discuss the implications of a clinical conceptualization of phobias in humans by reconsidering the current nosology. This conceptualization will facilitate finding etiological factors in defensive behavior expression, fine-tuning exposure techniques, and challenging preconceived notions of preparedness. This approach to phobias leads to surprising discoveries and shows how specific responses bear little relation to the interpretation we might later give to them. Dividing fears into their potentially fear-eliciting elements can also help in applying the research principles formulated by the Research Domain Criteria initiative.

Measurement Invariance of the Resistance to Peer Influence Scale Across Culture and Gender

Abstract. The current study aimed to test for measurement invariance of the Resistance to Peer Influence scale across samples of Chinese, Canadian, and Tanzanian. Participants included N = 3,771 students from four public schools in China ( N = 2,073, Mage = 16.36 years, SD = 1.14 years; 925 boys), from sixteen public schools in Canada ( N = 642, Mage = 12.13 years, SD = 0.78 years; 321 boys), and from four public schools in Tanzanian ( N = 1,056, Mage = 15.87 years, SD = 2.02 years; 558 boys). Students provided self-reports of resistance to peer influence. The results from multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and the alignment optimization method demonstrated that configural, metric, and partial scalar invariances of resistance to peer influence held across gender and all three countries. Chinese boys had the highest factor mean levels and Canadian boys had the lowest. The findings help us understand peer influence resistance across cultures and genders.

The association between childhood trauma and pain symptoms in depressed adults: The moderating role of anxious attachment

Studies have previously demonstrated that anxious attachment shapes the association between childhood traumatic experiences and somatic pain; however, it remains unclear how this relationship is influenced by anxious attachment in patients with depression. This study investigated how anxious attachment influences the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and pain symptoms in depressed patients from a social psychological perspective. A total of 139 adult patients with depression participated in this study; the level of depression was assessed by a psychiatric professional. Childhood trauma, pain symptoms, and attachment dimensions were tested by various questionnaires. The moderating role of anxious attachment in the trauma-pain association was examined using the PROCESS Model 1. Our findings showed that in depressed patients, childhood maltreatment had a significant positive impact on the severity of pain ratings. Moreover, anxious attachment influenced the relationship between childhood trauma and pain symptoms. Our study indicated that anxious attachment is not necessarily a negative outcome for depressed patients; moderate levels of anxious attachment alleviate childhood trauma-related pain symptoms in individuals with highly traumatic experiences. Understanding the traumatic experiences and attachment styles of depressed patients with pain complaints can help to develop intervention strategies.

COVID-19 symptoms and compliance: The mediating role of fundamental social motives

Background

Understanding the compliance of infected individuals and the psychological process underlying compliance during pandemics is important for preventing and controlling the spread of pathogens. Our study investigated whether fundamental social motives mediate the relationship between having infectious disease and compliance.

Methods

An online survey was conducted in March 2020, during the severe phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China to collect data from 15,758 participants. The survey comprised self-report questionnaires with items pertaining to current symptoms (COVID-19 symptoms, other symptoms or no symptoms), the Fundamental Social Motive Inventory, and measures of compliance. Correlation analysis, linear regression analysis, and structural equation model were used for data analysis.

Results

The participants with COVID-19 symptoms had lower levels of compliance than those without symptoms, and their lower compliance was caused by a decrease in disease avoidance (indirect effect = -0.058, 95% CI = [-0.061, -0.056]) and familial motives (indirect effect = -0.113, 95% CI = [-0.116, -0.062]). Whereas exclusion concern (indirect effect = 0.014, 95% CI = [0.011, 0.017]) suppressed the effects of COVID-19 symptoms on compliance, the effect disappeared in the multiple mediation model, while those of disease avoidance and familial motives remained.

Conclusion

Our findings emphasize the critical role of disease avoidance and familial motives in promoting compliance with public health norms during pandemics and suggest that enhancing these motives may serve as an effective intervention strategy to mitigate noncompliance among potentially infected individuals.

Breaking the cycles of violence with narrative exposure: Development and feasibility of NETfacts, a community-based intervention for populations living under continuous threat

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal violence damages mental health and frequently leads to aggressive defence strategies. If survivors are subsequently blamed for the events, both consequences worsen. Stigma flourishes, especially when survivors are silenced so that details of the trauma remain unknown. Breaking the secrecy both at the individual and collective level is key to enable the healing and reconciliation of individuals and communities living under continuous threat.

METHOD

The NETfacts health system is a stepped care model with three components: (1) Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based trauma therapy that includes survivor testimony (2) NET for Forensic Offender Rehabilitation (FORNET) acknowledges that perpetrators are frequently also victims and assists in reducing aggression and the attraction to violence, and (3) a community intervention disseminating and discussing Facts derived from NET treatment (NETfacts) to challenge the collective avoidance of atrocities and other traumatic material. The intervention was piloted in a community with 497 adult residents in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The willingness of clients to consent to sharing their anonymised testimonies (with a focus on sexual violence survivors and ex-combatants) was investigated, together with other components of feasibility including security and clinical safety, extent of support of respected local authorities and participation rates. As secondary outcomes, clinical and social measures were assessed before and post NETfacts among 200 village residents of whom 160 self-enrolled and 40 had not participated in any form of treatment.

RESULTS

Implementation was feasible with 248 clients from a partner project giving consent to use their testimonies and high support of respected local authorities and participation rates (56% of residents self-enrolled in NETfacts). Immediate beneficial effects were shown for posttraumatic stress and rejection of rape myths among NETfacts participants who experienced multiple traumatic events in their own past. Attitudes towards ex-combatants improved and the perceived lack of social acknowledgement after trauma increased independent from participation. No significant change was observed for depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION

NETfacts is a feasible and promising approach to challenge the culture of secrecy surrounding trauma, suppression and social exclusion. Long term effectiveness requires further evaluation.

Workplace ostracism and service performance: The mediating role of job tension, organizational identification, and work engagement

Given the empirical evidence indicating the relationship between workplace ostracism and counterproductive work behavior, this study aims to tackle, in a collectivistic culture, the impact of workplace ostracism on service performance. EFA and CFA were run on the quantitative data collected, online, from 242 respondents. Reliability and validity were assessed. The findings reveal that the relationship between workplace ostracism and service performance is partially mediated by job tension, organizational identification, and work engagement. Organizational identification, in such a collectivistic context, is shown to buffer the negative impact of workplace ostracism on service performance, supporting the results of earlier studies. Different implications are highlighted and recommendations for future research are communicated too.