Gender and Emotion Expression: A Developmental Contextual Perspective

Mental health conditions of Colombian adolescent population: An approach to risk

OBJECTIVE

To determine the mental health conditions of adolescents in the city of Manizales, Colombia, and explore risk regarding gender-based differences.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Quantitative, nonexperimental, descriptive research with associative scope. A total of 316 adolescents were assessed using five scales to evaluate mental health conditions: the Perceived Stress Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Penn Alcohol Craving Scale and The Substance Dependence Severity Scale. Univariate and bivariate analysis was performed, Chi square and Odds Ratio were tested.

RESULTS

The findings indicated that being female is a risk factor for high levels of perceived stress, depressive episodes and anxiety. Additionally, adolescents who are not attending school are at higher risk for dependence and abuse of psychoactive substances. Conversely, being female acts as a protective factor against dependence on psychoactive substances.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest a higher tendency among the participants towards experiencing depressive episodes. Regarding perceived stress, 71.5% of the participants fell into the low category, while 70.6% experienced a current episode of generalized anxiety.

Adolescents' mental health is associated with food parenting practices among British Columbian families

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by significant changes related to the body and food parenting practices. However, few studies have explored child-level psychological correlates of these practices during adolescence. Our study examined whether adolescents' weight status, weight concerns, self-esteem, and anxiety were associated with food parenting practices, and whether these associations significantly differed by adolescents' gender among 297 families in British Columbia, Canada.

METHODS

Parents (47 years, 76% mothers) completed a food parenting practice item bank. Adolescents (14 years, 52% girls) self-reported their height and weight, weight concerns, self-esteem, and anxiety. Covariate-adjusted regression models evaluated the association of adolescents' weight and mental health with nine practices (main effects). Interactions were used to evaluate the moderating role of gender, and further decomposed in all models to examine simple effects within each gender group.

RESULTS

Main-effect models showed positive associations between: (1) weight concerns and child involvement, (2) weight concerns and accommodating practices, (3) self-esteem and healthy eating opportunities, and (4) self-esteem with meal routines, as well as negative associations between: (5) self-esteem and accommodating practices, (6) self-esteem and coercive control, and (7) anxiety and rules and limits. In these 7 models interactions with gender were not significant; however, in all cases (except in model 5) the decomposed effects showed only significant associations among girls. A significant gender interaction emerged in (8) the association between anxiety and coercive control, but the decomposed effects were not significant for either gender. Adolescents' weight status was not associated with food parenting practices in any model.

CONCLUSIONS

Food parenting practices are associated with mental health indicators among British Columbian families; however, future studies should examine multidirectional relationships between these practices, adolescents' mental health, and eating habits.

Emotion regulation motives in adolescence shape regulatory strategy use

INTRODUCTION

Emotion regulation (ER) motives (i.e., the reasons individuals regulate their emotions) are key factors influencing the development of adolescents' ER abilities. However, age- and gender-related trends in adolescents' ER motives, as well as their impact on the use of ER strategies, remain unclear.

METHODS

We recruited 5629 participants from two schools in Southwest China (M = 15.18, SD = 1.73; 45.11% male) to complete the Emotion Regulation Goals Scale and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Linear and polynomial regression analyses were conducted to examine age- and gender-related differences in ER motive patterns. We then tested whether different patterns of ER motives were also associated with participants' habitual use of two common ER strategies.

RESULTS

This study revealed nonlinear and diverse age-related differences in adolescents' contra-hedonic and pro-social motives, with notable fluctuations in contra-hedonic motives. Boys exhibited higher levels of contra-hedonic motives, while girls showed higher levels of performance motives. Moreover, ER motives were significantly and broadly associated with individuals' habitual use of reappraisal and suppression. More specifically, pro-hedonic motives were associated with greater use of reappraisal, while contra-hedonic motives were linked to higher levels of suppression. Furthermore, instrumental motives (i.e., performance, pro-social, and impression management) were positively related to both reappraisal and suppression.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings enhance our understanding of how adolescents' ER motives vary by age and gender, as well as the crucial role different ER motives play in shaping patterns of ER strategy use.

Longitudinal Pathways from Parent Internalizing Symptoms to Parent and Youth Emotion Functioning

The current study utilized mediation analyses to examine how parental symptoms of depression and anxiety impact child emotion regulation (ER) and emotion stability (ES) through parent emotion functioning, parenting, and the coparent relationship. 564 parents of children between 3 and 17 years (Mage = 9.47; 54.4% male) were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk across three time points: baseline (Wave 1), 4 months (Wave 2), 8 months (Wave 3). Mediation results demonstrated that symptoms of parent depression at Wave 1 predicted worse coparent relationships and decreases in parents' ability to identify their own emotions at Wave 2. Symptoms of parental anxiety at Wave 1 predicted decreases in positive parenting and an increased tendency to have negative secondary emotional responses, impulse-control difficulties, and difficulty accessing emotion-regulation strategies at Wave 2. Additionally, symptoms of parental anxiety at Wave 1 directly predicted lower child ER and ES at Wave 3. However, no significant indirect pathways were identified between parent symptoms and child ER and ES. Sensitivity analyses examined the effects of three youth developmental stages (i.e., early and middle childhood and adolescence), as well as parent gender (i.e., mother and father), and found no significant differences across groups. Thus, even at non-clinical levels, parental symptoms of anxiety and depression may negatively impact parenting, parent regulation, and the coparent relationship, while parental anxiety symptoms may contribute to lower child ER and ES.

Oral Oxytocin Blurs Sex Differences in Amygdala Responses to Emotional Scenes

BACKGROUND

Sex differences are shaped both by innate biological differences and the social environment and are frequently observed in human emotional neural responses. Oral administration of oxytocin (OXT), as an alternative and noninvasive intake method, has been shown to produce sex-dependent effects on emotional face processing. However, it is unclear whether oral OXT produces similar sex-dependent effects on processing continuous emotional scenes.

METHODS

The current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuropsychopharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (OXT = 74, men/women = 37/37; placebo = 73, men/women = 36/37) to examine the oral OXT effect on plasma OXT concentrations and neural response to emotional scenes in both sexes.

RESULTS

At the neuroendocrine level, women showed lower endogenous OXT concentrations than men, but oral OXT increased OXT concentrations equally in both sexes. Regarding neural activity, emotional scenes evoked opposite valence-independent effects on right amygdala activation (women > men) and its functional connectivity with the insula (men > women) in men and women in the placebo group. This sex difference was either attenuated (amygdala response) or even completely eliminated (amygdala-insula functional connectivity) in the OXT group. Multivariate pattern analysis confirmed these findings by developing an accurate sex-predictive neural pattern that included the amygdala and the insula under the placebo but not the OXT condition.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the current study suggest a pronounced sex difference in neural responses to emotional scenes that was eliminated by oral OXT, with OXT having opposite modulatory effects in men and women. This may reflect oral OXT enhancing emotional regulation to continuous emotional stimuli in both sexes by facilitating appropriate changes in sex-specific amygdala-insula circuitry.

Post traumatic stress disorder and co-morbid psychological disorders after Palestinians' home demolition: a comparative study

Background

Home demolition is one of the issues that the Palestinian community faces as a result of Israeli procedures that can impact Palestinian mental health. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and stress among Palestinian citizens whose homes were demolished.

Materials and methods

A comparative cross-sectional design was adopted using a purposive sample of home demolished versus not home demolished Palestinian people. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Depression and Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) were used to assess the participants' levels of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Version 25, was applied to the statistical analysis.

Results

This study showed that PTSD levels among people whose homes were demolished are significantly high, with a mean of 3.2, which could be indicative of a clinical concern. However, the PTSD level in the comparison group had no significance, with a mean of 1.48. Stress, depression, and anxiety levels were represented as 32.71, in their means, 32.61, and 32.08, respectively, among home-demolished people, compared to stress 18.46, depression 15.87, and anxiety 13.06 among the non home demolished group.

Conclusions

This study is one of the few that sheds light on one of the disadvantaged groups who suffer from home demolition and the severe mental problems that affect them, including PTSD, stress, depression, and anxiety). Furthermore, many related risk factors were studied in this research. As a future recommendation, further research is needed in this field, especially among disadvantaged groups. Stakeholders need to take action to improve the health system in Palestine.

Linking Parent-Adolescent Congruence in Perceived Parental Emotional Support to Adolescent Developmental Outcomes: The More, the Better?

Parents and their children can have congruent or incongruent perceptions of parenting, which has been shown to have downstream effects on certain adolescent outcomes. However, little is known about whether such effect holds for various domains of developmental outcomes or across adolescent boys and girls. Investigating 2268 parent-girl (Mage = 15.73, SDage = 0.29, 75.5% were mothers) and 2090 parent-boy (Mage = 15.75, SDage = 0.29, 71.8% were mothers) dyads from Hong Kong, this study examined the associations between parent-adolescent (in)congruence and adolescent emotional symptoms, positive emotions, and academic performance. Polynomial regression and response surface analyses revealed that both congruence and incongruence were linked to emotional symptoms and positive emotions in varying patterns, but only congruence was tied to academic performance. Associations between (in)congruence and developmental outcomes generally were similar between boys and girls. These findings underscore the importance of decomposing (in)congruence effects in family processes and emphasizing the complexity of adolescent development.

Childhood trauma distribution and behavioural problems among Pakistani adolescents

BACKGROUND

Childhood trauma adversely impacts adolescents, and consequently, they develop behavioural problems. Understanding the distribution of childhood traumas and their association with behavioural problems among adolescents is paramount for the preventive efforts.

AIM/OBJECTIVE

The present research aimed to investigate this association among adolescents.

METHODS

This association was investigated among adolescents (N = 200) between 12 and 18 years. Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire was used to assess the distribution of trauma and internalizing and externalizing behavioural problems among adolescents through purposive and convenience sampling technique.

RESULTS

The findings across trauma distribution indicated higher distribution of childhood abuse and neglect across males as compared to females. Males further significantly scored higher on sexual abuse and emotional neglect. Apparently, a large number of adolescents experienced all five sub types of childhood traumas (sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, emotional and physical neglect). Additionally, across the severity continuum of childhood traumas, male scored higher on the severe to extreme continuum for all subtypes except physical abuse, where females scored higher. Lastly, logistic regression analysis indicated higher peer problems among those adolescents who have experienced all types of childhood traumas.

CONCLUSION

These findings could be beneficial for intervention-based programs and policies to help trauma-exposed adolescents cope with their lives.

A Comparison of Psychological Distress and Coping Styles among Physicians and Nurses in a COVID-19 Referral Hospital in Manila: A Cross-sectional Study

Objectives

This study aimed to compare the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, and the coping styles among physicians and nurses in a COVID-19 referral hospital in Manila from June to July 2020.

Methods

A cross-sectional study among medical residents and nurses selected via convenience sampling was employed. Data were obtained through COVID Stressors and Stress Reduction Questionnaire, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21, and Filipino Coping Strategies Scale. Descriptive and inferential analysis of data was done.

Results

Five hundred seventy-one (571) healthcare workers (total population: 1,650 nurses and physicians) participated in the study, representing 81.6% of the computed sample size of 700 respondents. Among the participants, 60.6 %, 69.0%, 48.9% reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. Nineteen percent (19%) of nurses reported severe to extremely severe depression, and 42.0% reported severe to extremely severe anxiety. In contrast, 30.8% of residents reported severe to extremely severe depression, and 28.4% conveyed severe to extremely severe anxiety. There was no association observed between perceived levels of stress between the two healthcare professions.There were more mildly to extremely severe anxious healthcare workers in the COVID areas (74.6%) compared to the non-COVID areas (61.2%). Differences in coping styles were observed among the participants' clinico-demographic characteristics. Top healthcare worker stressors include being negligent and endangering co-workers (88.6%), frequent modification of infection control procedures (87.0%), and discomfort from protective equipment (81.4%). Top stress-reducing factors include provision of food and vitamins (86.7%), sufficient rest (84.2%), and support from higher-ranking colleagues (73.7%).

Conclusion

This study has shown that more than half of the healthcare workers reported mild to extreme levels of depression and anxiety, while a little less than half reported mild to extreme levels of stress. The development and implementation of hospital interventions and programs based on the sources of distress and stress-reducing factors is recommended to mitigate the impact of sustained psychological distress on mental health and physical wellbeing of hospital healthcare workers.

Mapping gender role stress scales utilities: a scoping review approach

Introduction

Gender role stress emerges as a concept to try to explain the health difficulties presented by men and women due to gender socialization. Thus, gender role stress arises when individuals feel stressed due to their perceived inability to fulfill the demands of their gender role, or when they believe that a particular situation necessitates behavior traditionally attributed to the opposite gender. To evaluate the presence of gender role stress in individuals, two scales were developed: the masculine gender role stress scale and the feminine gender role scale.

Objective

To identify the main thematic areas studied in the behavioral sciences with the feminine gender role stress scale (FGRSS) and the masculine gender role stress scale (MGRSS) as main variables, specifically examining their contributions to the understanding of the attitudes and behaviors of individuals who are affected by gender role stress. We also aimed to analyze the difference, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in terms of scientific literature produced between the scales.

Method

We followed the preferred items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) checklist. A scoping review of the literature was conducted using systematic techniques, resulting in the inclusion of 87 articles utilizing either of the two scales.

Results

80% (n = 72) of the articles employed the MGRSS, while 20% (n = 18) utilized the FGRSS. The MGRSS articles were also the most frequently cited in the literature. The FGRSS has been predominantly used to examine the implications for women's well-being, whereas the MGRSS has primarily been employed to predict disruptive behaviors in men.

Conclusion

This scoping review highlights disparities in the scientific literature concerning the examination of feminine and masculine gender role stress and its consequences for people. Specifically, it points out the limited investigation into feminine gender role stress and its ramifications compared to masculine gender role stress. These findings indicates the lack of a gender perspective even in research intended to study it, and outline the importance of more research with a gender perspective where women are the aim of study.

Perceived Emotional Invalidation, Psychological Distress and Relationship Satisfaction in Couples: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Analysis

Research has demonstrated a clear link between perceived emotional invalidation and increased psychological distress. However, available studies have predominantly focused on individual data, and leave the impact on relationship satisfaction largely unexplored. Considering the systemic-transactional model, our study aimed to examine the association between perceived emotional invalidation, psychological distress, and couple relationship satisfaction from a dyadic perspective. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 240 mixed-gender couples from Portugal employing the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediational Model to analyse the data to examine actor and partner direct and indirect effects. Results showed that, for both women and men, own perceived emotional invalidation was associated with own psychological distress but not with own relationship satisfaction. Also, own psychological distress was associated with own relationship satisfaction but only for women. Finally, one actor and one partner indirect effects were found. Women perceived emotional invalidation was associated with their own psychological distress which in turn contributed to lower levels of relationship satisfaction for both them and their partners. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the dyadic effects of perceived emotional invalidation on psychological distress and relationship satisfaction within romantic relationships identifying interpersonal emotional dynamics as an important target of interventions.

Differences in social support, emotion invalidation, psychological needs, cognitive emotion regulation in maritally adjusted and maladjusted women in Pakistan: A matched pairs design

The present study aimed to find out differences of social support, perceived emotion invalidation, psychological needs, and use of adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in maritally adjusted and maladjusted after controlling for age, education, employment status, and depressive symptomatology. The cross-sectional study uses a matched pairs design. The sample was divided into two groups; maritally adjusted and maladjusted women (n = 40 pairs) on basis of scores obtained on revised-dyadic adjustment scale. Forty maritally adjusted women were matched with 40 maritally maladjusted women according to age, education, and employment status. Social support questionnaire, perceived invalidation of emotion scale, basic psychological need satisfaction frustration scale, cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, and center for epidemiologic studies depression scale were administered. One-way ANCOVA revealed that maritally maladjusted women had lower level of social support [mean difference; -5.65(-9.97, -1.33), p < 0.05, partial η2 = 0.08] and more emotional invalidation [mean difference; 15.36(13.08, 17.65), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.71] compared to maritally adjusted women after controlling for the effect of depressive symptomatology. Maritally maladjusted women had more need frustration [mean difference; 10.75(7.59, 13.92), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.38] compared to maritally adjusted women. However, maritally adjusted women had more need satisfaction [mean difference; 13.36(9.67, 17.05), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.41] compared to maritally maladjusted women. Maritally adjusted women used more adaptive CER strategies (acceptance, refocus on planning and putting into perspective) [mean difference; 4.66(2.36, 6.95), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.18] compared to maritally maladjusted women whereas, maritally maladjusted women used more maladaptive strategies (self-blame, catastrophizing and blaming others) [mean difference; 4.66(2.77, 6.54), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.25] compared to maritally adjusted women. Maladjusted women had less social support and more emotional invalidation of emotions and psychological needs frustration. They used more maladaptive strategies to manage their negative emotions in comparison to maritally adjusted women. Identification of these cognitive emotion regulation strategies will help clinicians and counselors to devise psychological intervention targeting the use of adaptive strategies to minimize the negative mental health consequences.

Gender Difference in the Onset of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analysis

Depressive symptoms are prevalent in adolescents, especially girls, underscoring the need for early detection and targeted interventions. Identifying initial symptoms and their temporal associations is vital for such interventions. This study used cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) analysis to examine the central depressive symptoms and their interconnections within a national cohort derived from the China Family Panel Study (CFPS). The participants included 2524 adolescents (45.8% girls), with depressive symptoms assessed using the Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-8) in 2016 (Mage = 12.30) and 2018 (Mage = 14.25). The CLPN model showed that "loneliness" and "not getting going (fatigue)" at T1 were the strongest predictors of subsequent depressive symptoms at T2, after controlling for demographic variables and depressive symptoms at T1. Conversely, depressed mood and anhedonia at T2 were most likely to be influenced by other symptoms at T1. Gender-stratified analyses identified "loneliness" as the initial symptom in girls and "fatigue" for boys. Additionally, girls exhibited stronger reciprocal associations among depressive symptoms than boys. The findings suggest that addressing interpersonal loneliness is crucial for adolescent girls, whereas somatic fatigue should be a focus for adolescent boys, highlighting the need for gender-specific approaches in early intervention strategies. This research provides insights into the distinct gendered networks of depressive symptomatology in adolescents, informing tailored prevention and intervention efforts.

Parental Hesitancy toward Seasonal Influenza Vaccination for Children under the Age of 18 Years and Its Determinants in the Post-Pandemic Era: A Cross-Sectional Survey among 1175 Parents in China

Children's susceptibility to influenza increased after COVID-19 control measures were lifted. This study investigated parental hesitancy toward seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV) for children and its determinants in the post-pandemic era. An online survey of full-time adult factory workers was conducted in Shenzhen, China in December 2023. This analysis was based on 1175 parents who had at least one child under the age of 18 years. Among all parents, 37.1% were hesitant to have their index child receive SIV. Mothers exhibited lower parental hesitancy toward SIV compared to fathers (31.9% versus 41.3%, p < 0.001). After adjusting for significant background characteristics, mothers and fathers who were more satisfied with the SIV health promotion materials, perceived more severe consequences of seasonal influenza for their children, and perceived more benefits, cues to action, and self-efficacy related to their children's SIV were less likely to exhibit hesitancy toward SIV. Higher frequency of exposure to information about the increasing number of patients or severe cases due to seasonal influenza and other upper respiratory infections on social media was associated with lower parental hesitancy toward SIV among fathers but not mothers. There is a strong need to address parental hesitancy toward SIV for children in the post-pandemic era.

Infant emotion regulation in the context of stress: Effects of heart rate variability and temperament

Stressful events are inherently emotional. As a result, the ability to regulate emotions is critical in responding effectively to stressors. Differential abilities in the management of stress appear very early in life, compelling a need to better understand factors that may shape the capacity for emotion regulation (ER). Variations in both biologic and behavioural characteristics are thought to influence individual differences in ER development. We sought to determine the differential contributions of temperament and heart rate variability (HRV; an indicator of autonomic nervous system function) to infant resting state emotionality and emotional reactivity in response to a stressor at 6 months of age. Participants included 108 mother-infant dyads. Mothers completed a measure of infant temperament at 6 months postnatal. Mother and infant also participated in a standardized stressor (the Repeated Still Face Paradigm) at that time. Electrocardiographic data were acquired from the infant during a baseline resting state and throughout the stressor. Fast Fourier Transformation was used to analyse the high frequency (HF) domain of HRV, a measure of parasympathetic nervous system activity. Infant ER was measured via standardized coding of emotional distress behaviours from video-records at baseline and throughout the stressor. Severity of mothers' depressive symptoms was included as a covariate in analyses. Results of linear regression indicate that neither temperament nor HRV were associated significantly with an infant's emotional resting state, although a small effect size was found for the relationship between infant negative affectivity and greater emotional distress (β = 0.23, p = 0.08) prior to the stressor. Higher HF-HRV (suggesting parasympathetic dominance) was related to greater emotional distress in response to the stressor (β = 0.34, p = 0.009). This greater emotional reactivity may reflect a more robust capacity to mount an emotional response to the stressor when infants encounter it from a bedrock of parasympathetic activation. Findings may inform eventual markers for assessment of ER in infancy and areas for intervention to enhance infant management of emotions, especially during stressful events.

You're Beautiful When You Smile: Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP) Evidence of Early Opposite-Gender Bias in Happy Faces

Studies of social cognition have shown gender differences regarding human face processing. One interesting finding is the enhanced processing of opposite-gender faces at different time stages, as revealed by event-related brain potentials. Crucially, from an evolutionary perspective, such a bias might interact with the emotional expression of the face. To investigate this, 100 participants (50 female, 50 male) completed an expression-detection task while their EEG was recorded. In three blocks, fearful, happy and neutral faces (female and male) were randomly presented, with participants instructed to respond to only one predefined target expression level in each block. Using linear mixed models, we observed both faster reaction times as well as larger P1 and late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes for women compared to men, supporting a generally greater female interest in faces. Highly interestingly, the analysis revealed an opposite-gender bias at P1 for happy target faces. This suggests that participants' attentional templates may include more opposite-gender facial features when selectively attending to happy faces. While N170 was influenced by neither the face nor the participant gender, LPP was modulated by the face gender and specific combinations of the target status, face gender and expression, which is interpreted in the context of gender-emotion stereotypes. Future research should further investigate this expression and attention dependency of early opposite-gender biases.

An investigation into the influence of context effects on crowd exit selection under gender difference in indoor evacuation

Introduction

Exit selection is crucial in indoor emergency evacuation. Domestic and foreign scholars have found that exit choice behavior is influenced by three factors: environmental factors, social interactions, and individual internal factors. Previous studies have shown that in addition to a single environmental factor affecting exit decisions, the influence of other available exit options in the context can ultimately lead to a reversal of exit decisions -The context effect. However, the impact of context effects on exit decisions in emergency situations has not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, this article identifies three basic independent variables: context effects, crowd flows, and gender differences, to study the exit decisions of different gender groups facing different crowd flows, as well as how context effects affect existing exit decisions.

Methods

In this paper, we used virtual reality technology to construct an indoor fire scene and designed a total of 15 virtual experiments with different crowd distribution or context effects. 131 participants were divided into two groups, male and female, and their exit decisions were observed under different crowd flows and contextual effects.

Results

The research results show that: 1) Both men and women have an innate preference to avoid crowded exits, and the proportion of following crowd evacuation significantly decreases when there are crowded crowds in the scene; 2) The exit decisions of female participants are more influenced by the crowd, while men tend to be more influenced by context effects when evacuating independently; 3) The context effects on exit decisions in emergency situations is statistically significant, and this performance is more significant in the male population. Further analysis reveals that similarity effects have a more significant impact on exit decisions than attraction effects.

Discussions

These findings provide deeper insights into the exit choice behavior of the population and may contribute to the design of safe exits in indoor buildings. In addition, this article emphasizes the importance of context effects and provides a foundation for future research.

Loneliness and social isolation: exploring the experiences of older women during the pandemic in terms of social connection, feeling of loneliness, and the impact on mental health and wellbeing

Objectives

To investigate the unique challenges faced by older women during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding social connection, feelings of loneliness, and their subsequent impact on mental health and well-being.

Method

A qualitative research methodology is used to examine how older women experienced loneliness, social relationships, and mental health consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results

The results are discussed in terms of two main themes each with their sub-themes; 1. Social Connection amidst Physical Distancing Measures, 2. Impact on Mental Health and Well-being.

Conclusion

The study highlights the significant impact of loneliness and social isolation on the mental health of older women during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions and support systems.

Facial mimicry interference reduces working memory accuracy for facial emotion expressions

Facial mimicry, the tendency to imitate facial expressions of other individuals, has been shown to play a critical role in the processing of emotion expressions. At the same time, there is evidence suggesting that its role might change when the cognitive demands of the situation increase. In such situations, understanding another person is dependent on working memory. However, whether facial mimicry influences working memory representations for facial emotion expressions is not fully understood. In the present study, we experimentally interfered with facial mimicry by using established behavioral procedures, and investigated how this interference influenced working memory recall for facial emotion expressions. Healthy, young adults (N = 36) performed an emotion expression n-back paradigm with two levels of working memory load, low (1-back) and high (2-back), and three levels of mimicry interference: high, low, and no interference. Results showed that, after controlling for block order and individual differences in the perceived valence and arousal of the stimuli, the high level of mimicry interference impaired accuracy when working memory load was low (1-back) but, unexpectedly, not when load was high (2-back). Working memory load had a detrimental effect on performance in all three mimicry conditions. We conclude that facial mimicry might support working memory for emotion expressions when task load is low, but that the supporting effect possibly is reduced when the task becomes more cognitively challenging.

Effects of physical activity on depression, anxiety, and stress in college students: the chain-based mediating role of psychological resilience and coping styles

Background

Physical activity can alleviate negative emotions in college students by enhancing mood and cognitive functions. Yet, the mechanisms underlying these benefits remain unclear.

Purpose

This study examines the association between physical activity and negative emotions-specifically, depression, anxiety, and stress-in college students. Additionally, we explore the mediating effects of psychological resilience and coping styles to offer theoretical and practical insights for mitigating students' negative emotions.

Methods

Using a stratified random sampling approach, a total of 1,380 college students, from five universities in Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Wenzhou, were included in the analysis. The survey instruments included the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Simple Coping Style Scale, and Depression-Anxiety Stress Scale. The data were statistically analyzed using multivariate methods with IBM SPSS 25.0 and the PROCESS V3.3 plug-in.

Results

(1) College students engage in a low level of physical activity, with male students participating significantly more than female students (p < 0.001). (2) Physical activity was significantly positively correlated with psychological resilience and positive coping styles (t = 9.126, p < 0.001; t = 23.087, p < 0.001) and overall negative correlated with negative emotions in college students (t = -3.601, p < 0.001). (3) Psychological resilience and positive coping styles were found to play a chain mediating role between physical activity and negative emotions. The mediation effect consists of two paths: physical activity → psychological resilience → negative emotions (effect value: -0.0324), and physical activity → psychological resilience → positive coping → negative emotions (effect value: -0.0099). (4) Female students demonstrated higher levels of positive coping (p < 0.001), while male students exhibited more negative emotions (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our study identifies a significant indirect link, mediated by psychological resilience and positive coping styles, between physical activity and the reduction of negative emotions. Targeted interventions addressing gender differences, such as offering special courses and providing specialized exercise programs and emotional management strategies, can enhance psychological resilience and positive coping mechanisms. Consequently, these measures can alleviate the adverse effects of negative emotions. Our findings have broader implications for both research and practical interventions in promoting mental health among college students.

Emotion regulation strategies and perceived stress during pregnancy in expectant mothers and fathers

BACKGROUND

Stress during pregnancy can increase physical and mental health risks in parents and offspring. Emotion regulation (ER) may protect against prenatal stress; however, ER is understudied in expectant parents, particularly expectant fathers. This study aimed to evaluate associations between ER strategies (reappraisal, suppression, ratio of suppression-to-reappraisal) and perceived stress among expectant parents, and also test whether expectant mothers and fathers differed in ER strategy use and perceived stress levels.

METHODS

N = 83 expectant parents (62.7% mothers) in the third trimester completed measures assessing perceived stress,reappraisal, and suppression. ANCOVA, hierarchical regression, and multilevel models were used to evaluate associations between ER strategies and perceived stress, and test for sex differences.

RESULTS

Controlling for age and education, lower reappraisal and higher suppression were associated with higher perceived stress; in addition, higher suppression-to-reappraisal ratios were associated with greater perceived stress. Mothers and fathers did not differ in perceived stress, reappraisal, or suppression; however, suppression-to-reappraisal ratios significantly differed.

CONCLUSION

Increasing ER skills such as reappraisal while reducing suppression may be beneficial for decreasing stress in expectant parents. Expectant fathers report similar levels of perceived stress to mothers and would benefit from prenatal mental health screening and intervention.

The psychological distress of gastrointestinal cancer patients and its association with quality of life among different genders

BACKGROUND

Psychological distress is a prevalent unpleasant experience faced by many cancer patients. However, the psychological distress among gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients is scarcely explored. Moreover, the association between psychological distress and quality of life in different genders has yet to be explored.

AIMS

To explore the psychological distress among GI cancer patients and examine its association with quality of life among different genders.

METHODS

This study was a cross-sectional study. A total of 237 gastrointestinal cancer patients completed the distress thermometer and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-General.

RESULTS

The mean score of psychological distress of the participants was 3.04 (SD = 2.90). A greater proportion of female gastrointestinal cancer patients (52.8%) had clinically relevant psychological distress compared to males (35.9%). The quality of life was negatively associated with their psychological distress (B =  - 1.502, 95%CI: - 2.759 to - 0.245, p = 0.019) among gastrointestinal cancer patients. Such association was stronger among males compared to females in gastrointestinal cancer patients (Interaction term, B =  - 1.713, 95%CI: - 3.123 to - 0.303, p = 0.017).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that healthcare providers should attach their attention to gastrointestinal cancer patients' psychological distress, especially females. Longitudinal studies could adopted to track the changes in psychological distress and its association with quality of life over time among different genders. In future intervention studies, the focus of psychological interventions needs to be gender-specific.

Measurement of neuropsychiatric symptoms in the older adults with mild cognitive impairment based on speech and facial expressions: a cross-sectional observational study

OBJECTIVES

To examine the association between speech and facial features with depression, anxiety, and apathy in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

METHODS

Speech and facial expressions of 319 MCI patients were digitally recorded via audio and video recording software. Three of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) were evaluated by the Public Health Questionnaire, General Anxiety Disorder, and Apathy Evaluation Scale, respectively. Speech and facial features were extracted using the open-source data analysis toolkits. Machine learning techniques were used to validate the diagnostic power of extracted features.

RESULTS

Different speech and facial features were associated with specific NPS. Depression was associated with spectral and temporal features, anxiety and apathy with frequency, energy, spectral, and temporal features. Additionally, depression was associated with facial features (action unit, AU) 10, 12, 15, 17, 25, anxiety with AU 10, 15, 17, 25, 26, 45, and apathy with AU 5, 26, 45. Significant differences in speech and facial features were observed between males and females. Based on machine learning models, the highest accuracy for detecting depression, anxiety, and apathy reached 95.8%, 96.1%, and 83.3% for males, and 87.8%, 88.2%, and 88.6% for females, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Depression, anxiety, and apathy were characterized by distinct speech and facial features. The machine learning model developed in this study demonstrated good classification in detecting depression, anxiety, and apathy. A combination of audio and video may provide objective methods for the precise classification of these symptoms.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and spousal relationships in natural disaster victims: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after natural disaster can have a detrimental effect on marital relationships, which may be through parenting-related factor.

AIMS

The study aimed to examine the mechanism underlying the long-term effects of PTSD symptoms on marital satisfaction via coparenting, and its differences between men and women following the Super Typhoon Lekima.

METHODS

Participants were 465 married victims with children. They reported their PTSD, coparenting, and marital satisfaction at three and fifteen months after the tropical cyclone.

RESULTS

The results showed that for women, only higher negative cognitive and emotional alterations (NCEA) symptoms were associated with lower marital satisfaction through conflict coparenting. For men, higher intrusion, NCEA, and hyperarousal symptoms were associated with marital satisfaction through different coparenting. To be specific, for men, higher intrusion symptoms were associated with lower marital satisfaction via less reprimand coparenting; higher NCEA symptoms were associated with lower marital satisfaction via less integrity coparenting, and associated with higher marital satisfaction via less conflict coparenting; higher hyperarousal symptoms were associated with lower marital satisfaction via more conflict coparenting.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggested that the long-term effect of PTSD symptoms on marital satisfaction via coparenting mainly showed for men.

Effect of sex on psychological distress and fatigue over time in a prospective cohort of cancer survivors

BACKGROUND

Studies indicate a higher level of distress in women than men with cancer, but whether this difference is retained over time is unknown. We studied the frequency and level of distress and fatigue during time according to gender in a cohort of cancer survivors.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In this prospective study, cancer survivors were invited to undergo a psychological session immediately before the medical visit. Distress was assessed by the distress thermometer, and fatigue was assessed by the ESAS-r scale. Patients underwent follow-up visits to assess changes over time.

RESULTS

A total of 305 patients and 568 visits were performed with a median follow-up of 15.8 months. At baseline, females, young age, and breast cancer patients had significantly higher distress. However, there was an increase in distress of 0.29 points every 6 months in males (95% CI, 0.09-0.50) versus no change in females (0.03 points, 95% CI, - 0.09-0.15; p-interaction = 0.01). The different behavior of cancer distress during time according to gender was more evident in subjects aged 68 or older due to increasing physical problems in men (p-interaction = 0.005). There was no change in fatigue with time according to sex.

CONCLUSIONS

Women, younger age, and breast cancer patients had increased cancer distress at the initial visit. However, women tend to stabilize during follow-up, whereas men tend to worsen their distress, especially because of physical and emotional problems, suggesting different coping capabilities.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05122052.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

Interventions aimed at improving recognition of emotions related to disease experience in male cancer survivors appear necessary.

Coping strategies in response to peer victimization: Comparing adolescents in the United States and Korea

We examined cultural specificity in how adolescents' coping strategies in response to peer victimization are associated with adjustment with a sample of 7th-8th graders from the United States (n = 292, 60% female, Mage  = 13.6, SD = 0.65) and South Korea (n = 462, 50.2% female, Mage  = 13.7, SD = 0.58). Participants read scenarios describing victimization and rated the likelihood of utilizing different coping strategies. US adolescents rated conflict resolution, cognitive distancing, and revenge higher than Korean adolescents, while Korean adolescents endorsed social support seeking more than US adolescents. Social support seeking was positively associated with global self-worth in both countries; however, social support seeking was negatively related to depression and social anxiety only for Korean youth.

Sex related differences in the perception and production of emotional prosody in adults

This study aimed to investigate the features of sex-related emotional prosody production patterns and perception abilities in adult speakers. The study involved 42 native Turkish speakers (27 females and 15 males). Sex-related perception and production of the emotions "anger," "joy," "sadness," and "neutral" were examined. Participants were first asked to indicate the actor's emotional state by selecting one of the given emotion alternatives provided. They were then instructed to produce the same stimuli with varying emotions. We analyzed the change in voice characteristics employed in different emotions in terms of F0 (Hz), speaking rate (seconds), and intensity (dB) using pairwise emotion comparison. The findings showed no sex differences in emotional prosody perceptions (p = 0.725). However, differences in the production of emotional prosody between sex have been documented in pitch variation of speech. Within-group analyses revealed that women tended to use a higher pitch when expressing joy versus sadness and a neutral state of feeling. Both men and women exhibited varying loudness levels for different emotional states in the speech loudness analysis. When expressing sadness, both men and women speak slower than when expressing as contrasted to anger, joy, or neutral states of feeling. Although Turkish speakers' ability to perceive emotional prosody is similar to that of other languages, they favor speech loudness fluctuation in the production of emotional prosody.

Racial, Ethnic, and Sex Disparities in Mental Health Among US Service Members and Veterans: Findings From the Millennium Cohort Study

Although disparities in mental health occur within racially, ethnically, and sex-diverse civilian populations, it is unclear whether these disparities persist within US military populations. Using cross-sectional data from the Millennium Cohort Study (2014-2016; n = 103,184; 70.3% male; 75.7% non-Hispanic White), a series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether racial, ethnic, and/or sex disparities were found in mental health outcomes (posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and problematic anger), hierarchically adjusting for sociodemographic, military, health-related, and social support factors. Compared with non-Hispanic White individuals, those who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic/Latino, or multiracial showed greater risk of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and problematic anger in unadjusted models. Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health were partially explained by health-related and social support factors. Women showed greater risk of depression and anxiety and lower risk of PTSD than men. Evidence of intersectionality emerged for problematic anger among Hispanic/Latino and Asian or Pacific Islander women. Overall, racial, ethnic, and sex disparities in mental health persisted among service members and veterans. Future research and interventions are recommended to reduce these disparities and improve the health and well-being of diverse service members and veterans.

Not all negative emotions are equal - Sadness and anger develop differently and their adaptivity is age-graded

We argue that a comprehensive understanding of emotional development across adulthood must go beyond broad dimensions of affect and consider discrete emotions. Current evidence focuses on sadness and anger, two negative emotions that exert contrasting age trajectories because anger has high adaptive value in young adulthood, when people have abundant resources and need to carve out a niche in society, whereas sadness has high adaptive value in old age, a time of declining resources that requires adaptation to increasingly unattainable goals. We conclude that our position about the age-graded experience and adaptive value of emotions should hold for a variety of negative and positive emotions.

Emotional dysregulation predicts problematic gaming in children and youths: a cross-sectional and longitudinal approach

Adolescents show a high vulnerability for addictive gaming patterns on the one hand and immature emotion regulation (ER) abilities as a risk factor for mental disorders on the other hand. We investigated the predictive value of ER difficulties on problematic gaming (PG) considering age groups (children vs. youths) and gender cross-sectionally and prospectively in a representative sample of German adolescents via online survey with two measurement points 14 months apart. General Poisson, logistic, and multinomial regression models were estimated to predict gaming patterns by ER difficulties controlling for age group and gender. Results revealed ER difficulties to be significantly associated with PG. Moreover, subgroup analyses indicated differing ER patterns for children vs. youths and boys vs. girls: for children, higher PG values were associated with emotional awareness and emotional clarity whereas for youths it was the acceptance of emotional responses. Moreover, gender differences implicated that boys with PG had more deficits in goal-oriented behavior as well as emotional awareness while affected girls were lacking emotional clarity and had problems with the acceptance of their emotional responses. Interestingly, procrastination was a significant predictor for PG irrespective of subgroups. Furthermore, longitudinal analyses indicated that difficulties in ER promoted PG while stronger procrastination tendencies maintained it. With the inclusion of procrastination, which can be understood as a maladaptive ER strategy, a broader picture of ER difficulties as a risk factor for PG could be drawn. The findings support a better understanding of PG etiology and the development of targeted prevention and intervention measures.

The impact of coronavirus crisis on human interpersonal relationships among AlAhsa population

Background

Home quarantine during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic was a clear cause of loss of communication and a lot of conflicts between individuals, which had adverse consequences on people's relationships.

Objective

This study aims to assess the effect of lockdown on interpersonal relationships in AlAhsa community.

Methods

A.

cross-sectional study was conducted during 2020-2021 with 306 participants in AlAhsa, the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The data were collected using an online survey to explore the effect of lockdown on interpersonal relationships.

Results

The study demonstrates that (61.8%) of the participants reported that their relationships were affected during lockdown, (61.4%) of them were affected negatively, with a higher rate among the unemployed and students (73.1%) and (64.8%), respectively. About 38.6% of the individuals were positively affected.

Conclusion

Most of the participants identified that quarantine affected their interpersonal relationships negatively, which were impacted variably by different demographical statuses.

Trends in coping reasons for marijuana use among U.S. adolescents from 2016 to 2022

OBJECTIVE

This study examines historical trends in coping reasons for marijuana use among adolescents (1976-2022) and explores sociodemographic variations in recent years (2016-2022).

METHOD

Data from U.S. national samples of 12th grade adolescents in the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study were used to examine long-term trends (1976-2022, N = 43,237) and recent differences by sociodemographic characteristics (2016-2022, N = 3,816). Measures included marijuana use, coping reasons for use, and sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

The most prevalent coping reason across time was "relax," endorsed by 52.9% of past 12-month users. Coping reasons mostly exhibited significant increases over time. Sociodemographic factors were associated with coping reasons. Females had higher odds of using marijuana to escape problems and get through the day (vs. males). Black respondents were more likely to use marijuana to get through the day, and Hispanic respondents were more likely to use to relax (vs. White respondents). Those with lower (vs. higher) parental education were more likely to use due to anger/frustration and to escape problems. Adolescents who used marijuana frequently (vs. less often) had higher odds of endorsing all coping reasons. There was no robust evidence of interactions between sociodemographic characteristics and year.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate a consistent increase in coping reasons for adolescent marijuana use over time, with variations based on sociodemographic characteristics. The findings highlight the importance of understanding subpopulations of adolescents who have higher risk of coping-related marijuana use.

A longitudinal examination of school-related and mental health mediators linking emotion regulation to academic achievement

Emotion regulation is assumed to underlie academic achievement through different mechanisms (e.g., a positive orientation toward school and schoolwork, better mental health). However, few studies have contrasted these mediating mechanisms within a longitudinal analytic framework, which is necessary to determine which mechanism(s) are most likely to translate emotion regulation into academic success over time. The present study addressed this gap by examining whether children's emotion regulation capacities were associated with later academic achievement through school-related (i.e., school bonding and academic motivation) and mental health mediators (i.e., internalizing and externalizing symptoms). Participants included 300 4- and 8-year-old children (n = 150 in each age cohort; 50% female) and their caregivers from Canada. Measures were collected over 4 years. Path analyses indicated that higher emotion regulation (T1; age 4/8 years) was associated with better academic achievement 3 years later (T4; age 7/11 years) through stronger school bonding and lower internalizing symptoms in the interim (T2; age 5/9 years; the indirect effect through internalizing symptoms held after controlling for initial levels of internalizing symptoms). Significant effects were derived from both caregiver and child informants when applicable and indirect effects held across age cohorts and genders. Findings highlight the interplay of social-emotional, academic, and mental health development across childhood, as well as the potential benefits of extending academic interventions to the social-emotional and mental health domains.

Gender-aware Parkinson's care: a design-based study of patient perspectives on gender norms and gender-sensitive care

Background

Gender dimensions are progressively recognised as a relevant social determinant of health in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, little is known about the impact of gender norms and stereotypes on illness experiences of men and women with PD and what they consider important focal points for gender-sensitive PD care.

Methods

We conducted two equity-centred design (ECD) sessions on December 7, 2022 and December 8, 2022, at the Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. This participatory multi-method approach includes patients in the research and design process and was used to explore the impact of gender norms and stereotypes in illness experiences and generate patient-driven recommendations for gender-aware Parkinson's care. Quantitative survey data and design-based data were descriptively analysed, and qualitative focus group discussions were thematically analysed.

Findings

This study included thirteen men and fifteen women with PD in the Netherlands. All participants were of Dutch descent, with a median age of 65.5 years and a median clinical disease duration of 4.2 years. The gendered stereotype that "people with PD are old men" affected both men's and women's perception of living with the disease and the perceptions of their social environment. Men described masculine stereotypes related to physical strength and provider roles, while women expressed those related to feminine physical appearance and caregiver roles, influencing their illness experiences. For some, these norms influenced personal behaviours, while for others, they affected experiences through societal attitudes.

Interpretation

Our findings suggested that several gender norms and stereotypes influence the illness experiences of men and women with PD, manifesting at ideological, interpersonal, and internalised levels. Some participants internalised these norms, affecting their coping behaviours, while others encountered them in broader ideological contexts that shaped societal attitudes and interpersonal relationships. To advance gender sensitive PD care, it's essential to explore the impact of gender roles and norms, especially regarding how they might impede coping strategies, care access and utilisation for individuals of diverse gender identities.

Funding

The Gatsby Foundation and co-funded by the PPP Allowance by Health∼Holland. Travel reimbursements for participants were made available through a Parkinson's Foundation grant (PF-FBS-2026).

21st Century Neo-Androgyny: What Is Androgyny Anymore and Why We Should Still Care

The notion of psychological androgyny as a research tool loiters on in an incapacitated state. The lack of a general theory and the belief that the biological gender differences are insignificant to non-existent has been the seeds for its de-construction. Over the decades, the testing of ideas associated with androgyny has declined. Indeed, the debates over its usefulness as a construct ended long ago. The judgment nowadays is that debating the constructs of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny as behavioral traits has been long settled, and a contemporary revisiting of androgyny is not warranted. However, from another contemporary viewpoint, if androgyny is to have any future, it needs a new theory devoid of masculinity and femininity. We present a novel theory with the potential to do just that. This article details a new de-gendered theory of psychological androgyny, neo-androgyny, as a candidate to replace traditional models that are now considered outdated and irrelevant. We present five potential factors for inclusion in a de-gendered model: social efficacy, creativity, capability, eminence, and determination. We review these factors concerning the future of androgyny theory.

Unlocking the Emotional World of Visual Media: An Overview of the Science, Research, and Impact of Understanding Emotion: Drawing Insights From Psychology, Engineering, and the Arts, This Article Provides a Comprehensive Overview of the Field of Emotion Analysis in Visual Media and Discusses the Latest Research, Systems, Challenges, Ethical Implications, and Potential Impact of Artificial Emotional Intelligence on Society

The emergence of artificial emotional intelligence technology is revolutionizing the fields of computers and robotics, allowing for a new level of communication and understanding of human behavior that was once thought impossible. While recent advancements in deep learning have transformed the field of computer vision, automated understanding of evoked or expressed emotions in visual media remains in its infancy. This foundering stems from the absence of a universally accepted definition of "emotion," coupled with the inherently subjective nature of emotions and their intricate nuances. In this article, we provide a comprehensive, multidisciplinary overview of the field of emotion analysis in visual media, drawing on insights from psychology, engineering, and the arts. We begin by exploring the psychological foundations of emotion and the computational principles that underpin the understanding of emotions from images and videos. We then review the latest research and systems within the field, accentuating the most promising approaches. We also discuss the current technological challenges and limitations of emotion analysis, underscoring the necessity for continued investigation and innovation. We contend that this represents a "Holy Grail" research problem in computing and delineate pivotal directions for future inquiry. Finally, we examine the ethical ramifications of emotion-understanding technologies and contemplate their potential societal impacts. Overall, this article endeavors to equip readers with a deeper understanding of the domain of emotion analysis in visual media and to inspire further research and development in this captivating and rapidly evolving field.

Moral injury appraisals and dissociation: Associations in a sample of trauma-exposed community members

Appraisal of trauma is a critical factor in the development of impairing post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as dissociation. Individuals may appraise trauma as morally injurious (i.e., moral injury exposure [MIE]) and experience subsequent moral distress related to this exposure (i.e., moral injury distress [MID]). To date, however, investigation into the relations between moral injury appraisals and dissociation has been limited, particularly within community populations. This study investigated MIE and MID in relation to six facets of dissociation (disengagement, depersonalization, derealization, memory disturbances, emotional constriction, identity dissociation) in a sample of trauma-exposed community members (n = 177, 58.2% Black, 89.3% female) recruited from a public hospital and/or community advertisements. Participants completed measures assessing trauma exposure, MIE, MID, dissociation, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Partial correlation analyses revealed that after controlling for PTSD symptoms, MIE was correlated with disengagement, r = .23, p ≤ .025, and depersonalization, r = .25, p ≤ .001, and MID was correlated with depersonalization, r = .19, p ≤ .025. Sex moderated each association, with stronger associations observed for female participants. Findings suggest that moral injury appraisals are linked to more severe dissociative symptoms among female civilians, and as such, may need to be specifically targeted in empirically supported treatments.

Effects of age, gender, and education on task performance and prefrontal cortex processing during emotional and non-emotional verbal fluency tests

The emotional semantic fluency test (SFT) is an emerging verbal fluency test that requires controlled access to emotional lexical information. Currently, how demographic variables influence neurocognitive processing during this test remains elusive. The present study compared the effects of age, gender, and education on task performance and prefrontal cortex (PFC) processing during the non-emotional and emotional SFTs. One-hundred and thirty-three Cantonese-speaking adults aged 18-79 performed the non-emotional and emotional SFTs while their PFC activation was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that more education predicted better non-emotional SFT performance, whereas younger age, being female, and more education predicted better emotional SFT performance. Only age significantly affected PFC activation during the SFTs, and the effect was comparable between the two SFTs. Thus, compared with its non-emotional analog, the emotional SFT is influenced by overlapping yet distinct demographic variables. There is a similar age-related reorganization of PFC function across SFT performances.

Living with chronic headaches: A qualitative study from an outpatient pain clinic in Norway

BACKGROUND

Although headache is considered a frequently experienced type of pain, the challenges, experiences, and perceptions of people suffering from chronic headaches are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to gain subjective information regarding these aspects in daily life, in order to answer the research question "What is life like with a chronic headache?"

METHODOLOGY

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 patients who suffered from chronic headaches. Five main domains were explored: emotions related to headaches; trauma/stressful events; behavioural changes, relationships, and coping mechanisms.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Participants reported that pain restricted their lives in many ways, including not being able to work, loss of status, identity, freedom, intimate relationships and friends. The majority believed that psychological and/or physiological trauma was the reason for their headaches. New information that emerged from this study was how common life events not usually considered major traumas, initiated and maintained symptoms. Shame and feelings of stigmatization appeared to be strongly associated with chronic pain, leading to a scenario where thriving, contentment and enjoyment were often lacking.

MAIN RESULTS

This study provided an in-depth understanding of how chronic headache adversely affects the lives of sufferers. Chronic headaches restrict sufferers' lives, resulting in emotional and behavioural changes and a high level of disability. The complexity of chronic headaches in clinical practice is hugely underestimated, and poorly understood by society in general.

A, Srivastava P. Empathic Accuracy Task: Indian Adaptation and Validation

Background

The Empathic Accuracy Task (EAT) is an objective measure to assess empathic accuracy. Due to the variability in the number and linked emotions of the narrated events, we adapted EAT for the Indian sociocultural setting as Indian EAT (I-EAT).

Methods

Eight videos were adapted in three languages (English, Hindi, and Kannada), narrating emotional events with a uniform representation of age groups, different emotions, and sex. The adapted I-EAT was then validated by cross-sectional comparison with different tests similar to EAT and those that assessed concepts different from or similar to empathy, in 29 healthy young adults, 23 healthy older adults (aged ≥60 years) along with clinical groups of 15 young people with depression, 15 older people with depression, and 15 young people with schizophrenia.

Results

We selected eight videos with good content validity and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73. We obtained satisfactory concurrent validity of the EAT scores with the self-reported empathic assessments using the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (Cognitive empathy score = 0.29, p = .034; Total score = 0.29, p = .035) and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Empathic concern score = 0.45, p = .001). Good divergent validity was revealed in the high inverse correlation recorded with the Apathy Evaluation Scale ( = -0.67, p < .001). I-EAT did not correlate significantly with measures of social cognition. Known-groups validity was adequate in young adults with the significantly lower EAT scores (Cohen's d: 0.77 to 1.15) in the Schizophrenia group and higher EAT-N scores (Cohen's d: 0.51) in the Depression group, compared to the Healthy group. The Healthy group of the geriatric population also achieved significantly higher EAT scores (Cohen's d: 0.71 to 0.85) than the Depression group.

Conclusion

With a good validity and internal consistency, I-EAT can be used in the Indian population to assess empathic accuracy without compromising performance of the original EAT.

Exploring the emotional impact of axial Spondyloarthritis: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies and a review of social media

BACKGROUND

The psychological burden in people with inflammatory arthritis is substantial, yet little is known about the disease-related affect experienced by individuals with axial Spondyloarthritis (axial SpA). The aim of this study was to conduct a qualitative evidence synthesis and a review of social media to explore the emotional impact of living with axial SpA.

METHODS

We searched nine databases for studies reporting qualitative data about participants' emotional experience of living with axial SpA. In addition, we searched social media platforms for posts from people with axial SpA based in the UK that offered insights into emotional responses to living with the condition. We employed a thematic approach to synthesise the data.

RESULTS

We included 27 studies (1314 participants; 72% men) in our qualitative evidence synthesis and developed seven descriptive themes from the data: 1) delayed diagnosis: a barrier to emotional wellbeing; 2) disruptive symptoms: a source of mood swings; 3) work disability: a loss of self-esteem; 4) obstacles in interpersonal relationships: a trigger of distress; 5) taking up exercise: personal pride or unwelcomed reminders; 6) anti-TNF therapy: hope reignited despite concerns and 7) a journey of acceptance: worry mixed with hope. Posts extracted from social media fora (537; 48% from women) for the most part supported the seven themes. One additional theme-COVID-19, uncertainty and anxiety during the pandemic, was developed, reflecting common emotions expressed during the UK's first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

CONCLUSION

This study highlights a preponderance of negative affect experienced by people living with axial SpA, conditioned through existing and anticipated symptoms, failed expectations, and lost sense of self. Given the bidirectional relationships between negative emotions and inflammation, negative emotions and perceptions of pain, and the influence of affect in self-care behaviours, this finding has important implications for treatment and management of people with axial SpA.

Mediation effect of emotional self-regulation in the relationship between physical activity and subjective well-being in Chilean adolescents

Adolescents' subjective well-being and physical activity have been found to be correlated in previous studies. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship, especially the potential contribution of emotional self-regulation, have received little attention. This study aims to investigate the extent to which emotional self-regulation mediates the association between adolescent physical activity habits and their subjective well-being. The study involved 9585 adolescents who completed a cross-sectional survey. Participants were aged between 10 and 19 years old and attended primary and secondary schools in all 16 regions of Chile. The survey utilized a self-report questionnaire to measure physical activity habits, subjective well-being, and emotional self-regulation. Sociodemographic variables, such as age, gender, and socioeconomic level, were also considered in the analysis. The results showed that physical activity habits, emotional regulation, and subjective well-being were positively correlated. Among these factors, the strongest association was found between subjective well-being and emotional self-regulation. The mediation analysis revealed a partial mediation effect of emotional self-regulation between physical activity habits and subjective well-being. In other words, physical activity habits affect subjective well-being to the extent that these habits affect emotional self-regulation. These findings provide valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying the link between physical activity habits and subjective well-being among adolescents. They also offer useful information for the development of public programs and policies aimed at promoting physical activity habits and subjective well-being in young people.

Social isolation in COVID-19: a comparative study between Korea and Vietnam

Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation has become a pressing issue worldwide, deeply affecting individuals' mental and physical well-being. This study introduces a theoretical model to understand the factors influencing social isolation in the context of this global health crisis. We employed a survey methodology, collecting data from Korean and Vietnamese university students through a Google survey form. The theoretical model was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM), and multi-group analysis (MGA) was used to assess differences between the Korean and Vietnamese student groups. The investigation centered on affective risk perception, cognitive risk perception, social distancing attitude, social distancing intention, and demographic factors like age and gender. Our findings revealed that affective and cognitive risk perceptions have significant positive impacts on attitudes toward social distancing. Furthermore, attitudes towards social distancing were found to significantly influence social distancing intentions. Interestingly, social distancing intention was found to have a significant positive correlation with social isolation. Lastly, demographic factors such as gender and age were found to be significant factors influencing social isolation. Specifically, gender had a positive association, while age showed a negative correlation with social isolation. Moreover, our MGA results showed that the relationship between social distancing intention and social isolation significantly differed between the Korean and Vietnamese student groups, indicating potential cultural or societal influences on this relationship. Such understanding could inform policies and strategies aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of social isolation in the wake of global health crises.

Thai and American mothers socialize preschoolers' emotional development differently

Cultures vary in beliefs about appropriate display of emotion. Children rely on adults to help them understand emotional experiences and display emotions in a culturally appropriate manner. The present study compared how emotion display differs between Thai and American mother-child interactions during preschool. Language samples from 21 Thai and 21 American mother-child dyads were elicited using prompted reminiscing, book reading, toy play, and child personal narrative tasks. Results revealed group differences in emotion talk and behavior. American dyads expressed more intense emotions during interactions compared to Thai dyads. American dyads also displayed more emotion behaviors than Thai dyads, whereas Thai dyads used more emotion words compared to American dyads. Additionally, there were gender differences in the expression of emotion, with boy dyads more emotionally intense than girl dyads in both groups. Boys displayed more negative emotion behaviors compared to girls during prompted reminiscing, whereas girls used more negative emotion words than boys during the personal narrative task. These findings demonstrate cultural and gender differences in socialization goals and practices regarding emotion display and underscore the influence of mothers' scaffolding on children's emotional development. This research reveals the variability in beliefs and values that underlie emotional development across sociocultural contexts.

Associations between parental dispositional attributions, dismissing and coaching reactions to children's emotions, and children's problem behaviour moderated by child gender

This study examined whether parents' attribution of their child's emotions (internalizing, externalizing) to dispositional causes is associated with children's problem behaviour (internalizing, externalizing). The mediating roles of parents' emotion-dismissing and -coaching reactions and the moderating role of child's gender was also examined. Participants were 241 US parents with a child (43% girls) between the ages of 5 and 7. Parents were presented with vignettes in which a gender-neutral child displayed internalizing and externalizing emotions and were asked to imagine their own child in the vignettes. Subsequently, parents indicated whether they attributed the child's emotion to dispositional causes and the likelihood of reacting in an emotion-dismissing and -coaching way in each situation. Child problem behaviour was measured using the CBCL. Results show that parental dispositional attributions were associated with child internalizing and externalizing problems, and this association was consistently mediated by emotion-dismissing reactions. The association between parental dispositional attributions and emotion-dismissing, as well as its indirect effect on child internalizing problems, was stronger for boys than for girls, whereas the indirect effect via emotion-coaching was stronger for girls than for boys. Thus, the parental attribution process seems to be different for boys and girls.

Building Bridges between Pharmacy and Psychosocial Care: Supporting and Referring Patients with Psychosocial Needs in a Pilot Study with Community Pharmacists

Introduction

Community pharmacists are accessible primary care providers and therefore in a good position to detect unmet psychosocial needs of their patients and pharmacy visitors.

Description

A collaboration between pharmacists and psychosocial work was set up in Flanders, Belgium. Community pharmacists were trained to discuss psychosocial needs, to inform patients about possible help and refer them to a Center for General Wellbeing if needed. During the pilot of the project between October 2021 and January 2022, the feasibility and potential of this collaboration were examined.

Discussion

A total of 79 patient contacts about psychosocial wellbeing were reported using an online registration form, the majority of which concerned women. Family problems and mental health problems were most often reported. Focus group discussions with 28 participating pharmacists showed that they experience their role in psychosocial care as fulfilling and of valuable. Patient satisfaction was mentioned to be a major motivating factor, while time and privacy are barriers. Adequate training in psychosocial wellbeing and care was considered crucial.

Conclusion

Pharmacists can be valuable partners in the recognition and referral of patients with unmet psychosocial needs. Structural collaborations between community pharmacy and psychosocial care should be further supported.

Greater resting frontal alpha asymmetry associated with higher emotional expressive flexibility

Emotional expressive flexibility (EEF) is an important social ability that has prompted scholars to examine its benefits to human mental health. However, the neural underpinnings of individual differences in the EEF remain unclear. In neuroscience, frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) is regarded as a sensitive indicator of certain emotional modalities and affective styles. To the best of our knowledge, no study has linked FAA with EEF to examine whether FAA could be a potential neural indicator of EEF. In the present study, 47 participants (Mage = 22.38 years, 55.3% women) underwent a resting electroencephalogram and completed the flexible regulation of emotional expression scale (FREE). The results revealed that after controlling for gender, resting FAA scores positively predicted EEF, with relative left frontal activity associated with higher EEF. Additionally, this prediction was reflected in both the enhancement and suppression dimensions of EEF. Furthermore, individuals with relative left frontal activity reported greater enhancement and EEF than individuals with relative right frontal activity. The present study indicated that FAA may be a neural marker of EEF. In the future, more empirical studies are needed to provide causal evidence that the improvement in FAA can enhance EEF.

COVID-19 responses and coping in young Malaysians from low-income families

Introduction

This study aimed to shed light on how young people from low-income families were responding to COVID-19.

Methods

This cross-sectional study recruited young people aged between 18 and 24 years from the low-income-group communities. A convenience sampling approach was used. Google Surveys were used to gather data from the survey. The questionnaire consisted of an assessment of demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, parent-youth conflict (Parental Environment Questionnaire, PEQ), resilient coping (Brief Resilient Coping Scale, BRCS), and psychological distress (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-short form, DASS-21).

Results

A total of 561 complete responses were received. The results showed a low level of parent-child conflict in the overall study population, with a median PEQ of 48.0 [interquartile range (IQR) 36-48]. Higher parent-child conflicts were found in females than in males (OR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.19-2.57) and in youth from households with an income below MYR 2000 than those earning MYR 3,001-5,000 (OR = 4.39, 95% CI 2.40-8.03). A low prevalence of depression (12.5%), anxiety (15.2%), and stress (6.4%) was found. Parent-child conflict remains the strongest significant predictor for higher levels of depression (OR = 10.90, 95% CI 4.31-27.57), anxiety (OR = 11.92, 95% CI 5.05-28.14), and stress (OR = 4.79, 95% CI 1.41-16.33) symptoms. Poor resilient coping was the second strongest predictor for depression and anxiety symptoms. Regarding lifestyle factors, a lower level of physical exercise was associated with higher symptoms of depression. By demographics, females reported more severe symptoms of depression and anxiety than males. Young people from low-income households reported greater severity in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress than those from high-income households. Young people who are employed also reported greater severity of anxiety symptoms than those who are unemployed.

Discussion

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an unpredictable impact on the lives of vulnerable youth in low-income families that warrants attention in future advocacy efforts.