Short report: correlates of functional disability with disease activity in elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) prevalence increases with age and old people are special patient population. The recognition of functional disability related to RA could be challenging in elderly patients because aging itself and potential co-morbid disease may also cause functional disability. In this study, we aimed to look at the correlation between disease activity and functional disability in elderly RA patients. Elderly RA patients, ≥65 years old at their routine visits were included in the study. The composite ‘disease activity score’ in 28 joints (DAS-28) was used to determine disease activity groups. Health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) scores were calculated to describe the functional disability and compared across the disease activity groups. Two hundred and fifty-eight RA patients with the mean age of 71 ± 5 (65–90) and a total disease duration of 8.4 ± 8.5 (.5–50) years were recruited. The proportion of patients with high and moderate disease activity was 70%. HAQ scores were significantly correlated with disease activity (p < .05). Functional disability estimated by HAQ was correlated with disease activity in elderly patients with RA     

To be a Fan is to be Happier: Using the Eudaimonic Spectator Questionnaire to Measure Eudaimonic Motivations in Spanish Fans

Many studies have linked audiovisual entertainment to hedonia. Recently, also to eudaimonic happiness. The Eudaimonic Spectator Questionnaire is proposed as a new tool to explore eudaimonic motivations that are linked to the consumption of audiovisual entertainment. The new questionnaire groups these eudaimonic motivations into two factors: the cultivation of cognitive–intellectual growth and social–emotional growth. Once the consistency and reliability of the questionnaire was tested, we observed statistically significant differences between fans and non-fan spectators; these differences were observed in both factors. The results indicated that being a fan is associated with the cultivation of human virtues and character strengths.     

Mediating and Moderating Effects of Social Support in the Relationship Between Social Anxiety and Hope Levels in Children

This study aims to examine whether hope levels are predicted by social anxiety and social support and to investigate if the relationship between social anxiety and children’s hope levels is mediated and moderated by the social support of children. The Social Anxiety Scale for Children, Children’s Hope Scale, and Social Support Appraisals Scale for Children were administrated to a sample of 289 children (148 males and 141 females) enrolled in public school. To determine the relationships between variables, a Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized. Regression-based mediation and moderation analyses assessed whether social support mediates and moderates the relationship between social anxiety and children’s hope levels. Social anxiety and social support both correlated significantly with children’s hope levels; social anxiety had a negative correlation with children’s hope levels, while social support was positively correlated. Regression-based mediation and moderation analyses showed that social support mediates and moderates the relationship between social anxiety and children’s hope levels. The results of the present study emphasized the effects of social support on children; it had a positive effect on hope levels and a negative effect on social anxiety. Based on these results, it is recommended that the social support of children is increased via psycho-education programs for parents, caregivers, and teachers. It is further recommended that social-support-seeking behavior programs are developed in educational and mental health settings.     

Interspecies transmission of emotional information via chemosignals: from humans to dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis lupus familiaris</Emphasis>)

We report a study examining interspecies emotion transfer via body odors (chemosignals). Do human body odors (chemosignals) produced under emotional conditions of happiness and fear provide information that is detectable by pet dogs (Labrador and Golden retrievers)? The odor samples were collected from the axilla of male donors not involved in the main experiment. The experimental setup involved the co-presence of the dog’s owner, a stranger and the odor dispenser in a space where the dogs could move freely. There were three odor conditions [fear, happiness, and control (no sweat)] to which the dogs were assigned randomly. The dependent variables were the relevant behaviors of the dogs (e.g., approaching, interacting and gazing) directed to the three targets (owner, stranger, sweat dispenser) aside from the dogs’ stress and heart rate indicators. The results indicated with high accuracy that the dogs manifested the predicted behaviors in the three conditions. There were fewer and shorter owner directed behaviors and more stranger directed behaviors when they were in the “happy odor condition” compared to the fear odor and control conditions. In the fear odor condition, they displayed more stressful behaviors. The heart rate data in the control and happy conditions were significantly lower than in the fear condition. Our findings suggest that interspecies emotional communication is facilitated by chemosignals.     

Neural response to prosocial scenes relates to subsequent giving behavior in adolescents: A pilot study

Adolescence is characterized by extensive neural development and sensitivity to social context, both of which contribute to engaging in prosocial behaviors. Although it is established that prosocial behaviors are linked to positive outcomes in adulthood, little is known about the neural correlates of adolescents’ prosociality. Identifying whether the brain is differentially responsive to varying types of social input may be important for fostering prosocial behavior. We report pilot results using new stimuli and an ecologically valid donation paradigm indicating (1) brain regions typically recruited during socioemotional processing evinced differential activation when adolescents evaluated prosocial compared with social or noninteractive scenes (N = 20, ages 13–17 years, M_Age = 15.30 years), and (2) individual differences in temporoparietal junction recruitment when viewing others’ prosocial behaviors were related to adolescents’ own charitable giving. These novel findings have significant implications for understanding how the adolescent brain processes prosocial acts and for informing ways to support adolescents to engage in prosocial behaviors in their daily lives.     

Emotional Separation,Autonomy in Decision-Making,and Psychosocial Adjustment in Adolescence: A Proposed Typology

Adolescence is critical for learning autonomous behavior; however, little research is available on the most appropriate balance of the emotional and behavioral dimensions of autonomy for psychosocial adjustment during this period. In this study we present a novel autonomy typology that combines both these aspects, which can be implemented as autonomy in decision-making and emotional separation. Specifically, examined age differences in emotional separation and autonomy in decision-making during adolescence. We also assessed differences in psychosocial adjustment associated with profiles of autonomy typology, sex, and age. The participants were 567 adolescents (296 males and 271 females), aged between 12 and 18 years (M?=?14.48; SD?=?1.69), recruited in Spanish high schools. Each participant filled out questionnaires on identity commitment, self-esteem, emotional separation and autonomy in decision-making. The results showed that the most advantageous autonomy profile is ‘autonomous in decisions’ (those showing low emotional separation combined with autonomous behavior in decisions) which was associated with higher levels of self-esteem and occupational and ideological identity commitment. In addition, we also concluded that the balance of autonomy affects adjustment throughout adolescence, although early adolescence may be an especially critical period.     

The flourishing–happiness concordance thesis: Some troubling counterexamples

The aim of this article is to explore and critique recent aspirations to bridge the traditional divide between subjective and objective accounts of wellbeing through a psychological concordance thesis, according to which flourishing and happiness will, for psychological reasons, go hand in hand. Two varieties of the concordance thesis are explored, one psychological in origin and the other philosophical, with a special focus on the latter (derived from Aristotle) as it makes more radical psychological claims. Counterexamples are provided and discussed of unhappy and not-happy-enough flourishers, and of happy and not-unhappy-enough non-flourishers. The implications of those counterexamples are elicited, with the conclusion being that normative claims about the relative priority of flourishing over happiness (or vice versa) for wellbeing cannot be avoided with impunity. The concordance thesis does not seem to bear scrutiny, at least not as a thesis about ‘psychological necessity’; however, this leaves both a less demanding ‘rule-of-thumb’ concordance thesis, and a host of complementary theses about flourishing and happiness, intact.     

Validation of the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised and school refusal across anxiety profiles

Background/Objectives

This paper aimed to validate the Spanish version of scores of the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised (VAA-R) in child population, and to verify the existence of anxiety profiles and to relate them to school refusal.