Identification of emotional expressiveness in facial photographs over 36 h of extended vigilance in healthy young men—a preliminary study

Changes in sleep patterns negatively influence some emotional responses, but their effects on facial expressiveness identification are unclear. To investigate these effects, 21 young, healthy, male volunteers of intermediate chronotype evaluated emotional expressiveness of faces depicting 6 basic emotions in 5 emotional gradients every 4?h over 36?h of continuous wakefulness. To measure attention and mood we used the Psychomotor Vigilance test and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Expanded, respectively. We found effects of emotional gradient for all types of emotions (100%?>?80%?>?60%?>?40%?>?20%) during all tested periods, with no indications of circadian effects. The only emotional rating to be affected was disgust, which was progressively blunted throughout the experiment. This effect did not parallel homeostatic and circadian changes in mood, alertness or attention. We conclude that identifying disgust on facial photographs is particularly sensitive to lack of sleep irrespective of sleep-induced changes in mood and attention in males.     

An emotional processing writing intervention and heart rate variability: the role of emotional approach

Expressing and understanding one's own emotional responses to negative events, particularly those that challenge the attainment of important life goals, is thought to confer physiological benefit. Individual preferences and/or abilities in approaching emotions might condition the efficacy of interventions designed to encourage written emotional processing (EP). This study examines the physiological impact (as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV)) of an emotional processing writing (EPW) task as well as the moderating influence of a dispositional preference for coping through emotional approach (EP and emotional expression (EE)), in response to a laboratory stress task designed to challenge an important life goal. Participants (n?=?98) were randomly assigned to either EPW or fact control writing (FCW) following the stress task. Regression analyses revealed a significant dispositional EP by condition interaction, such that high EP participants in the EPW condition demonstrated higher HRV after writing compared to low EP participants. No significant main effects of condition or EE coping were observed. These findings suggest that EPW interventions may be best suited for those with preference or ability to process emotions related to a stressor or might require adaptation for those who less often cope through emotional approach.     

Effects of alcohol,rumination, and gender on the time course of negative affect

This study modelled associations between gender, ruminative cognitive style, alcohol use, and the time course of negative affect over the course of 43,111 random assessments in the natural environment. Participants (N?=?263) completed 49 days of experience sampling over 1.3 years. The data indicated that rumination at baseline was positively associated with alcohol dependence symptoms at baseline as well as higher negative affect over the course of the study. Consistent with negative reinforcement models, drinking served to decrease the persistence of negative affect from moment to moment. However, this ameliorative effect of drinking was evident only among women, suggesting an increased risk for negative reinforcement driven drinking behaviour. In addition, rumination appeared to counteract the desired effects of alcohol on mood among women. This suggests that women who ruminate more may be motivated to consume larger amounts of alcohol to achieve the desired effects. Overall, the results indicate that ruminative cognitive style and the persistence of negative affect from moment to moment may reflect an individual vulnerability for the development of alcohol use disorder especially among women.     

Selective attention to emotional prosody in social anxiety: a dichotic listening study

The majority of evidence on social anxiety (SA)-linked attentional biases to threat comes from research using facial expressions. Emotions are, however, communicated through other channels, such as voice. Despite its importance in the interpretation of social cues, emotional prosody processing in SA has been barely explored. This study investigated whether SA is associated with enhanced processing of task-irrelevant angry prosody. Fifty-three participants with high and low SA performed a dichotic listening task in which pairs of male/female voices were presented, one to each ear, with either the same or different prosody (neutral or angry). Participants were instructed to focus on either the left or right ear and to identify the speaker’s gender in the attended side. Our main results show that, once attended, task-irrelevant angry prosody elicits greater interference than does neutral prosody. Surprisingly, high socially anxious participants were less prone to distraction from attended-angry (compared to attended-neutral) prosody than were low socially anxious individuals. These findings emphasise the importance of examining SA-related biases across modalities.     

Psychological adjustment to craniofacial conditions (excluding oral clefts): A review of the literature

Objective: A congenital craniofacial anomaly (CFA) is expected to impact upon several domains of psychological, emotional and social functioning, yet no recent reviews have comprehensively summarised the available literature. Further, existing reviews tend to draw upon literature in the field of cleft lip and palate, and do not give substantive attention to other types of CFAs.

Design: A review of 41 papers published between January 2000 and March 2016 pertaining to psychological adjustment to CFAs.

Main outcome measures: Findings are presented according to key psychological domains: General Psychological Well-being, Quality of Life, Behaviour, Emotional Well-being, Social Experiences, Appearance, and Treatment-Related Experiences.

Results: Current literature offers a contradictory picture of adjustment to CFAs. Psychological adjustment appeared to be comparable to norms and reference groups in approximately half of the papers related to non-syndromic CFAs, while more variation was found across domains among samples with syndromic CFAs. Associations were found between adjustment, physical health and cognitive function in several papers. The review identified a number of gaps in the literature, such as the inclusion of a wide range of diagnoses within research samples.

Conclusions: This review demonstrates the complexity of findings, both within and across domains, and highlights a number of methodological challenges.     

情绪调节困难对大学生手机成瘾的影响:相貌负面身体自我和社交回避与苦恼的链式中介作用

为考察相貌负面身体自我、社交回避与苦恼在情绪调节困难和手机成瘾关系中的链式中介效应,使用情绪调节困难量表、相貌负面身体自我量表、社交回避与苦恼量表和大学生手机成瘾倾向量表对734名大学生进行问卷调查。研究显示：（1）情绪调节困难会正向预测大学生手机成瘾;（2）相貌负面身体自我是情绪调节困难与大学生手机成瘾之间关系的中介变量;（3）社交回避与苦恼是相貌负面身体自我与大学生手机成瘾之间关系的中介变量;（4）社交回避与苦恼是情绪调节困难与大学生手机成瘾之间关系的中介变量。因此,相貌负面身体自我和社交回避与苦恼在情绪调节困难与大学生手机成瘾之间起链式中介作用,这些结果对于大学生手机成瘾的预防与干预具有重要的价值。     

No Ordinary Life: Complex Narratives of Trauma and Resilience in Under-Resourced Communities

This investigation examines the occurrence and impact of chronic adversity for young adults who grew up amidst poverty and community violence. Young adults in such contexts, particularly those who have been involved with the courts, are not commonly conceptualized through the developmental lens of complex trauma but rather described by maladaptive behaviors and risk to society. This grounded theory analysis explored how participants perceive and make meaning of their experiences. Interview data revealed consistent narratives of childhood neglect and psychological maltreatment, chronic loss, intergenerational trauma exposure, and the resulting survival-based adaptation. We identified 3 primary themes across the participant narratives: (a) lack of need fulfillment; paradoxical experience of self, others, and the world; and persistent sense of purpose and meaning. Findings illuminated the complexity of ongoing struggle, adaptation, and resilience in adult survivors. The need for an increased focus in trauma-informed treatment of adults in underresourced communities is discussed.     

The enduring impact of violence against children

More than one billion children – half of all children in the world – are exposed to violence every year. The violence children are exposed to includes both direct experiences of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, as well as indirectly witnessing violence in their homes, schools, and communities. What these various forms of violence share, based on a review of the literature, is their enduring potential for life-long consequences. These consequences include increases in the risks of injury, HIV, sexually transmitted infections, mental health problems, reproductive health problems, and non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, and diabetes. Studies addressing biologic underpinnings of such consequences demonstrate that violence-associated toxic stress may cause damage to the nervous, endocrine, circulatory, musculo-skeletal, reproductive, respiratory, and immune systems. Furthermore, rigorous economic evaluations suggest that costs associated with the consequences of violence against children exceed $120 billion in the U.S. and account for up to 3.5% of the GDP in sub-regions of East Asia. The expanding literature confirming the mechanisms of consequences and the associated costs of violence against children has been accompanied by growing evidence on effective approaches to prevention. Moreover, the expanding evidence on prevention has been accompanied by a growing determination on the part of global leaders to accelerate action. Thus, as part of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development agenda, the UN has issued a call-to-action: to eliminate violence against children. This unprecedented UN call may foster new investments, to fuel new progress for protecting children around the world from violence and its preventable consequences.     

Burnout among healthcare workers at L’Aquila: its prevalence and associated factors

Burnout, which is now recognized as a real problem in terms of its negative outcome on healthcare efficiency, is a stress condition that can be increased by exposure to natural disasters, such as the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. This study aims to evaluate burnout syndrome, its associated risk factors and stress levels, and the individual coping strategies among healthcare professionals at L’Aquila General Hospital. A cross-sectional study of 190 healthcare workers was conducted. There was a questionnaire for the collection of the socio-demographic, occupational and anamnestic data, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the General Health Questionnaire-12 items (GHQ-12) and the Brief COPE were used. The burnout dimensions showed high scores in Emotional Exhaustion (38.95%), in Depersonalization (23.68%) and in lack of Personal Accomplishment (23.16%), along with the presence of moderate to high levels of distress (54.21%). In addition to factors already known to be associated with burnout (job perception and high levels of distress) exposure to an earthquake emerged as a factor independently associated with the syndrome. Adaptive coping strategies such as religiosity showed a significant and negative relationship with burnout. Our research highlights the need for interventions directed at a reduction in workload and work-stressors and an improvement of adaptive coping strategies, especially in a post-disaster workplace.