Safety behaviors were associated with greater anxious symptoms during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Research shows that people who use safety behaviors are at greater risk factor for anxiety than people who do not use safety behaviors. However, the perception of some safety behaviors changed during the COVID-19 pandemic; behaviors that were once considered unnecessary or excessive were now commonplace (e.g., monitoring bodily symptoms, avoiding crowds). The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which the pandemic changed the status of health-related safety behaviors as a risk factor for symptoms of anxiety. To this end, we tested the effect of safety behavior use on anxious symptoms during the first year of the pandemic using a longitudinal design with 8 time points and participants (n = 233) from over 20 countries. Despite possible changes in their perception, those engaging in high levels of safety behaviors reported the greatest levels of anxious symptoms throughout the pandemic year. However, the outcomes for safety behavior users were not all negative. Safety behavior use at baseline was the only predictor of participants' willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (measured one year later).     

Motion as motivation: using repetitive flexion movements to stimulate the approach system

Research suggests that having a healthy approach system is critical for adaptive emotional functioning. The goal of the current study (n=186 undergraduates) was to determine the efficacy of an easy-to-disseminate and cost-efficient strategy for stimulating this system. The experiment tested the effects of repeated flexion movements (rFM) on approach system activation as measured by both self-report (BAS scales) and behavior. The results showed that rFM increased approach system motivation in men but not women. Men who completed the rFM task reported significantly greater levels of fun-seeking motivation than men in the control task. Moreover, the rFM task led to changes in actual behavior. Men who completed the rFM task exhibited significantly greater persistence on a difficult laboratory task than men in the control task. In contrast, women who completed the rFM task reported significantly lower levels of fun seeking and tended to exhibit less persistence on a difficult laboratory task than women in the control task. These results provide support for embodied theories of emotion as well as additional evidence for a gender difference in approach-avoidance tendencies.     

Aggressive behavior,related conduct problems,and variation in genes affecting dopamine turnover

A number of dopamine‐related genes have been implicated in the etiology of violent behavior and conduct problems. Of these genes, the ones that code for the enzymes that influence the turnover of dopamine (DA) have received the most attention. In this study, we investigated 12 genetic polymorphisms in four genes involved with DA functioning (COMT, MAOA and MAOB, and DβH) in 179 incarcerated male Russian adolescents and two groups of matched controls: boys without criminal records referred to by their teachers as (a) “troubled‐behavior‐free” boys, n=182; and (b) “troubled‐behavior” boys, n=60. The participants were classified as (1) being incarcerated or not, (2) having the DSM‐IV diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD) or not, and (3) having committed violent or nonviolent crimes (for the incarcerated individuals only). The findings indicate that, although no single genetic variant in any of the four genes differentiated individuals in the investigated groups, various linear combinations (i.e., haplotypes) and nonlinear combinations (i.e., interactions between variants within and across genes) of genetic variants resulted in informative and robust classifications for two of the three groupings. These combinations of genetic variants differentiated individuals in incarceration vs. nonincarcerated and CD vs. no‐CD groups; no informative combinations were established consistently for the grouping by crime within the incarcerated individuals. This study underscores the importance of considering multiple rather than single markers within candidate genes and their additive and interactive combinations, both with themselves and with nongenetic indicators, while attempting to understand the genetic background of such complex behaviors as serious conduct problems. Aggr. Behav. 36:158–176, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Explicit and implicit cognition: a preliminary test of a dual-process theory of cognitive vulnerability to depression

Two studies were conducted to test a dual-process theory of cognitive vulnerability to depression. According to this theory, implicit and explicit cognitive processes have differential effects on depressive reactions to stressful life events. Implicit processes are hypothesized to be critical in determining an individual's immediate affective reaction to stress whereas explicit cognitions are thought to be more involved in long-term depressive reactions. Consistent with hypotheses, the results of study 1 (cross-sectional; N=237) showed that implicit, but not explicit, cognitions predicted immediate affective reactions to a lab stressor. Study 2 (longitudinal; N=251) also supported the dual-process model of cognitive vulnerability to depression. Results showed that both the implicit and explicit measures interacted with life stress to predict prospective changes in depressive symptoms, respectively. However, when both implicit and explicit predictors were entered into a regression equation simultaneously, only the explicit measure interacted with stress to remain a unique predictor of depressive symptoms over the five-week prospective interval.     

Changes in Behaviour and Body Weight Following a Single or Double Social Defeat in Rats

In a series of experiments, the consequences of a single and double social conflict on various behaviours and body weight in rats were studied. Animals were subjected to social defeat by placing them into the territory of an aggressive male conspecific for one hour, either once, or twice at the same time on two consecutive days. To assess the consequences of social defeat, three experiments were performed with independent groups of rats. In the first experiment, an open field test was performed two days after the last conflict. Locomotor activity was strongly reduced after social defeat. There were no differences between the single and double defeat group. To assess the effects of social defeat on subsequent social behaviour, a second experiment was performed in which experimental animals were confronted with an unfamiliar non-aggressive rat two days after a single or double conflict. Social defeat resulted in a reduction of social contact with the unfamiliar conspecific. There was no difference between the single and double conflict group. In the third experiment, the effects of social conflict on food intake, body weight and saccharine preference were measured. Food intake was not affected after a single conflict, but in the double conflict group food intake was decreased for several days. Body weight gain was decreased after both single and double social defeat. The decrease was stronger in the double conflict group. Water intake and saccharine preference were not significantly affected. This study revealed that social defeat in rats causes pronounced changes in various behaviours and body weight. Different aspects of behaviour are differentially affected by defeat with respect to the magnitude and time course of the changes induced. Moreover, different behavioural parameters are differentially sensitive to repetition of the stressor.     

Association between polymorphisms in the dopamine transporter gene and depression: evidence for a gene-environment interaction in a sample of juvenile detainees

Previous research has generated examples of how genetic and environmental factors can interact to create risk for psychopathology. Using a gene-by-environment (G x E) interaction design, we tested whether three polymorphisms in the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1, also referred to as SLC6A3, located at 5p15.33) interacted with maternal parenting style to predict first-onset episodes of depression. Participants were male adolescents (N= 176) recruited from a juvenile detention center in northern Russia. As hypothesized, one of the polymorphisms (rs40184) moderated the effect of perceived maternal rejection on the onset of major depressive disorder, as well as on suicidal ideation. Further, this G x E interaction was specific to depression; it did not predict clinically significant anxiety. These results highlight the need for further research investigating the moderating effects of dopaminergic genes on depression.     

Reducing hopelessness: the interation of enhancing and depressogenic attributional styles for positive and negative life events among youth psychiatric inpatients

A recovery model of depression (Needles & Abramson, 1990 Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 156-165) proposes that depressed individuals who exhibit an enhancing attributional style for positive events (i.e. make stable, global attributions) will be more likely to regain hopefulness and, thereby, recover from depression when positive events occur. While only a few studies have directly tested this model among clinical and nonclinical adult samples, none have tested a clinical sample of children and adolescents. Furthermore, prior studies testing this model have failed to examine the interactive role of an 'enhancing attributional style' for positive events with a 'depressogenic attributional style' for negative events, as prescribed by the hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989 Psychological Review, 96, 358-372). The current study presents data demonstrating that depressogenic and enhancing attributional styles interact to predict differential decreases in hopelessness. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research also are presented.     

When self-help is no help: Traditional cognitive skills training does not prevent depressive symptoms in people who ruminate

A randomized trial was conducted to test the efficacy of three self-directed prevention intervention workbooks for depression. Cognitively at-risk college freshmen were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: traditional cognitive, non-traditional cognitive, and academic skills. Consistent with hypotheses, participants who were high in rumination and experienced stress exhibited significantly greater levels of depressive symptoms after completing the traditional cognitive skills workbook than after completing the other two workbooks. This pattern of results held post-intervention and 4 months later. These findings indicate that rumination may hinder ones ability to identify and dispute negative thoughts (at least without the help of a trained professional). The results underscore the importance of identifying individual difference variables that moderate intervention efficacy. They also raise concerns about the potential benefits of self-help books, an industry that generates billions of dollars each year.