Social interactions and physical symptoms in daily life: quality matters for older adults,quantity matters for younger adults

Objective: The present study examined how the different attributes of daily social interactions (quality and quantity) were associated with physical health, and how these associations vary with age.

Method: Using an ecological momentary assessment approach, participants from an adulthood lifespan sample (n = 172; aged 20–79 years) reported their social interactions five times daily, and physical symptoms and symptom severity at the end of each day, for one week.

Main outcome measures: Number of physical symptoms and physical symptom severity.

Results: There was a within-person main effect of the quality (positivity), but not the quantity (frequency), of social interactions on the number of reported physical symptoms and their severity. Moderation analyses further revealed that the quality of daily social interactions predicted fewer physical symptoms for older adults, but not for younger adults; in contrast, the frequency of social interactions predicted less severe physical symptoms for younger adults, but not for older adults. Finally, the reported severity of physical symptoms predicted less frequent but more positive social interactions the next day.

Conclusions: Our findings point to the bidirectional associations between social interactions and health and highlight the importance of considering individuals' developmental context in future research and interventions.     

THE SURVIVING SIBLING: THE EFFECTS OF SIBLING DEATH IN CHILDHOOD

This paper considers the case of childhood mourning in which there is an increased possibility of a pathological grief reaction, due to an incapacity to sustain mourning and an inability to comprehend death. The death of a sibling in childhood is a complex loss to manage, the outcome of which is inextricably linked with parental grief. Maladaptive parental mourning processes, including the phenomenon of the ‘replacement child’, are explored. The effects of this loss on the surviving sibling can give rise to a variety of symptoms that may impair emotional development. Amongst the main responses experienced by the surviving sibling is that of a guilt reaction, not only for having survived when the sibling did not, but also a fear that harboured death wishes may have caused the tragedy. Premature death anxiety and distorted concepts of illness are further possible outcomes of this event. It is suggested that the primary deprivation a child may experience when their sibling dies is the emotional absence of their parents who are preoccupied with their own grief.     

Serial position memory in the visual—spatial domain: Reconstructing sequences of unfamiliar faces

In two studies we presented pictures of unfamiliar faces one at a time, then presented the complete set at test and asked for serial reconstruction of the order of presentation. Serial position functions were similar to those found with verbal materials, with considerable primacy and one item recency, position errors that were mainly to the adjacent serial position, a visual similarity effect, and effects of articulatory suppression that did not interact with the serial position effect or with the similarity effect. Serial position effects were found when faces had been seen for as little as 300 ms and after a 6-s retention interval filled with articulatory suppression. Serial position effects found with unfamiliar faces are not based on verbal encoding strategies, and important elements of serial memory may be general across modalities.     

Four Weeks of Neuromuscular Training Improve Static and Dynamic Postural Control in Overweight and Obese Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Thirty-two children with overweight or obesity were randomly divided into a neuromuscular training group (NTG) (n = 16) and a control group (CG) (n = 16). All individuals participated in the measurement of static postural control under two conditions: the double-leg stance with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC). The center of pressure variables was obtained. mSEBT was used for dynamic postural control. Neuromuscular training was performed twice per week and lasted 4 weeks. The results of this study indicate that 4 weeks of neuromuscular training improve static and dynamic postural control in children with excess body weight.