Best of times, worst of times
Jean Twenge, Ryne Sherman & Sonja Lyubomirsky
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Are Americans happier, or less happy, than they used to be? The answer may depend on life stage. We examined indicators of subjective well-being (SWB) in four nationally representative samples of U.S. adolescents (aged 13-18 years, n = 1.27 million) and adults (aged 18-96 years, n = 54,172). Recent adolescents reported greater happiness and life satisfaction than their predecessors, and adults over age 30 were less happy in recent years. Among adults, the previously established positive correlation between age and happiness has dwindled, disappearing by the early 2010s. Mixed-effects analyses primarily demonstrated time period rather than generational effects. The effect of time period on SWB is about d = |.13| in most age groups, about the size of reported links between SWB and objective health, marital status, being a parent, and volunteering.
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Entering adulthood in a recession tempers later narcissism - But only in men
Marius Leckelt et al.
Journal of Research in Personality, February 2016, Pages 8-11
Abstract:
In a recent study, Bianchi (2014) showed that macroeconomic conditions (i.e. average unemployment rate) during the years of emerging adulthood (ages 18-25) are inversely related to adult narcissism. Fletcher (2015) called into question the robustness of the results and Grijalva et al. (2015) presented meta-analytic support for real gender differences in narcissism. Here we report combined results from five studies (N = 11,394) showing that the average unemployment rate during emerging adulthood indeed tempers later narcissism - but only in men.
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Kristen Syme, Zachary Garfield & Edward Hagen
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Suicide causes more deaths than all wars and homicides combined. Despite over a century of research on this puzzling and tragic behavior, and a recent increase in the number of treatments and intervention programs, it remains a global scourge. There is abundant research on suicidality in Western populations, but research on suicide among non-Western peoples is limited. Most notably, few studies analyze suicidality within small scale, non-industrial societies. Using ethnographic data from 53 cultures, this study tests two evolutionary theories of suicidal behavior: (1) deCatanzaro's inclusive fitness model, which proposes that successful suicide would increase the inclusive fitness of individuals with low reproductive potential who are a burden on kin, and (2) the bargaining model, which proposes that suicide attempts are a costly signal of need, with completed suicides an unfortunate byproduct. These models were operationalized into two sets of variables, which were used to code 474 textual accounts of suicide extracted from the Probability Sample of the Human Relations Area Files. Results indicate limited support for the inclusive fitness model, which might apply primarily to older adults in harsh environments, and widespread support for most elements of the bargaining model, especially among younger healthy adolescents and adults.
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The (In)visibility of Psychodiagnosticians' Expertise
Michael Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Nanon Spaanjaars & Cilia Witteman
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study investigates decision making in mental health care. Specifically, it compares the diagnostic decision outcomes (i.e., the quality of diagnoses) and the diagnostic decision process (i.e., pre-decisional information acquisition patterns) of novice and experienced clinical psychologists. Participants' eye movements were recorded while they completed diagnostic tasks, classifying mental disorders. In line with previous research, our findings indicate that diagnosticians' performance is not related to their clinical experience. Eye-tracking data provide corroborative evidence for this result from the process perspective: experience does not predict changes in cue inspection patterns. For future research into expertise in this domain, it is advisable to track individual differences between clinicians rather than study differences on the group level.
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Catherine Raymond et al.
Neural Plasticity, 2015
Abstract:
The self-help industry generates billions of dollars yearly in North America. Despite the popularity of this movement, there has been surprisingly little research assessing the characteristics of self-help books consumers, and whether this consumption is associated with physiological and/or psychological markers of stress. The goal of this pilot study was to perform the first psychoneuroendocrine analysis of consumers of self-help books in comparison to nonconsumers. We tested diurnal and reactive salivary cortisol levels, personality, and depressive symptoms in 32 consumers and nonconsumers of self-help books. In an explorative secondary analysis, we also split consumers of self-help books as a function of their preference for problem-focused versus growth-oriented self-help books. The results showed that while consumers of growth-oriented self-help books presented increased cortisol reactivity to a psychosocial stressor compared to other groups, consumers of problem-focused self-help books presented higher depressive symptomatology. The results of this pilot study show that consumers with preference for either problem-focused or growth-oriented self-help books present different physiological and psychological markers of stress when compared to nonconsumers of self-help books. This preliminary study underlines the need for additional research on this issue in order to determine the impact the self-help book industry may have on consumers' stress.
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Martin Picard et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
The experience of psychological stress triggers neuroendocrine, inflammatory, metabolic, and transcriptional perturbations that ultimately predispose to disease. However, the subcellular determinants of this integrated, multisystemic stress response have not been defined. Central to stress adaptation is cellular energetics, involving mitochondrial energy production and oxidative stress. We therefore hypothesized that abnormal mitochondrial functions would differentially modulate the organism's multisystemic response to psychological stress. By mutating or deleting mitochondrial genes encoded in the mtDNA [NADH dehydrogenase 6 (ND6) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI)] or nuclear DNA [adenine nucleotide translocator 1 (ANT1) and nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (NNT)], we selectively impaired mitochondrial respiratory chain function, energy exchange, and mitochondrial redox balance in mice. The resulting impact on physiological reactivity and recovery from restraint stress were then characterized. We show that mitochondrial dysfunctions altered the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, sympathetic adrenal-medullary activation and catecholamine levels, the inflammatory cytokine IL-6, circulating metabolites, and hippocampal gene expression responses to stress. Each mitochondrial defect generated a distinct whole-body stress-response signature. These results demonstrate the role of mitochondrial energetics and redox balance as modulators of key pathophysiological perturbations previously linked to disease. This work establishes mitochondria as stress-response modulators, with implications for understanding the mechanisms of stress pathophysiology and mitochondrial diseases.
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Age of Trauma Onset and HPA Axis Dysregulation Among Trauma-Exposed Youth
Kate Ryan Kuhlman et al.
Journal of Traumatic Stress, forthcoming
Abstract:
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) is a pathway through which childhood trauma may increase risk for negative health outcomes. The HPA axis is sensitive to stress throughout development; however, few studies have examined whether timing of exposure to childhood trauma is related to differences in later HPA axis functioning. Therefore, we examined the association between age of first trauma and HPA axis functioning among adolescents, and whether these associations varied by sex. Parents of 97 youth (aged 9-16 years) completed the Early Trauma Inventory (ETI), and youth completed the Socially-Evaluated Cold-Pressor Task (SECPT). We measured salivary cortisol response to the SECPT, the cortisol awakening response, and diurnal regulation at home across 2 consecutive weekdays. Exposure to trauma during infancy related to delayed cortisol recovery from peak responses to acute stress, d = 0.23 to 0.42. Timing of trauma exposure related to diverging patterns of diurnal cortisol regulation for males, d = 0.55, and females, d = 0.57. Therefore, the HPA axis may be susceptible to developing acute stress dysregulation when exposed to trauma during infancy, whereas the consequences within circadian cortisol regulation may occur in the context of later trauma exposure and vary by sex. Further investigations are warranted to characterize HPA axis sensitivity to exposure to childhood trauma across child development.