People tend to gain weight when they relocate to poorer neighborhoods, finds a study led by investigators at the National Institutes of Health. Researchers examined data collected over seven years from more than 1,800 Dallas County, Texas, residents ages 18 to 65. Among participants who relocated during the study, 263 moved to a more disadvantaged neighborhood, 586 to a more advantaged neighborhood, 47 moved but had no change in their neighborhood's socioeconomic status, and 939 people remained in the same neighborhood. Results showed that those who moved to more disadvantaged areas gained more weight compared with those who moved to more or equally advantaged areas (American Journal of Preventive Medicineopens in new window, online May 7).
More sex doesn't always lead to increased happiness, finds research by Carnegie Mellon University scientists. They randomly assigned half of the study's 64 couples to two groups: One was asked to double their frequency of weekly sexual intercourse over three months and the other was given no instructions on sexual frequency. The couples who were instructed to increase intercourse did have more sex, but also experienced a small decrease in happiness over the three months. The researchers also found that couples instructed to have more sex reported lower sexual desire and a decrease in sexual enjoyment (Journal of Economic Behavior & Organizationopens in new window, online May 4).
Online training is just as effective as in-person coursework in encouraging clinicians to use an evidence-based treatment, according to a study led by scientists at the RAND Corporation. Researchers worked with five community outpatient mental health centers and trained 36 clinicians in an evidence-based psychosocial treatment for bipolar disorder. Clinicians at three centers received 12 hours of online training and were supported with monthly hourlong telephone conferences for six months after the training. Clinicians at the other two centers received traditional two-day, 12-hour-a-day in-person training and weekly on-site supervision. Researchers then asked 136 patients with bipolar disorder about their treatment from the newly trained clinicians and found that clinicians trained either way used the new techniques with equal frequency. In addition, both groups gradually increased their use of the evidence-based technique at six months and at a year after completing training (Psychiatric Services, online May 1).
Squirming helps boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder learn, finds a study by University of Central Florida researchers. Participants were 52 8- to-12-year-old boys, about half of whom had been diagnosed with ADHD. The boys watched a series of jumbled numbers and a letter flash on a computer screen, and were asked to put the numbers in order followed by the letter. A high-speed camera recorded the children, and observers recorded their movements and gauged their attention to the task. The researchers found the boys with ADHD squirmed more and had lower rates of attentive behavior relative to the other children, but when the boys with ADHD squirmed, they performed better on the task. Among boys without ADHD, those who moved the most performed the worst (Journal of Abnormal Child Psychologyopens in new window, April).
Some areas of the brain don't get the same "food high" in the evening, finds a study by Brigham Young University researchers. They used fMRI to measure how the brains of 15 women responded to 360 high- and low-calorie food images during morning and evening sessions. The results showed that six areas of the brain — including structures in reward pathways — showed lower activation in the evening to both high- and low-calorie food images. Participants reported no difference in hunger by time of day, but said they could eat more and were more preoccupied with thoughts of food in the evening compared with the morning (Brain Imaging and Behavioropens in new window, March).
When given the option, the majority of retirees choose smaller, earlier pension payments, according to a study led by Michigan State University researchers. They surveyed more than 2,600 Croatian retirees who were offered two options by the government in its attempt to rectify its pension shortfall — more immediate payments that totaled 50 percent of their pension value or deferred payments for the full value. About 70 percent of the retirees chose the more immediate payments. They were especially likely to choose this option if they were poor, distrusted the government or were concerned with currency devaluation. Factors that increased the likelihood that retirees would choose the deferred payments were having higher incomes, less debt and better health, as well as having children who could inherit the account (Journal of Financial Economicsopens in new window, online April 9).
The Mediterranean diet with added protein and fats boosts brain power, finds a study led by University of Barcelona scientists. The study's 447 cognitively healthy older adult participants were divided into three groups, with two following the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, olive oil and lean sources of protein. In one of these groups, the Mediterranean diet was supplemented with 30 grams of mixed nuts per day, and in the other it was supplemented with about five tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil per day — as a way to ensure participants followed the diet strictly. The third group was advised to follow a low-fat diet. Participants were followed for an average of four years. Results showed that, compared with the low-fat group, memory function remained stronger in the Mediterranean diet plus nuts group, while attention, executive function and global cognition benefited in the Mediterranean diet plus olive oil group (JAMA Internal Medicineopens in new window, online May 11).
Parents often don't recognize when their preschool children are overweight, finds research led by New York University scientists. They analyzed physical examination and parent survey data for children ages 3 to 5 collected over two time periods: a sample of 3,839 children between 1988 and 1994 and a sample of 3,151 children from 2007 to 2012. Nearly all parents of overweight boys — 97 percent — from the earlier sample perceived their sons as "about the right weight," with a very similar result from the later sample (95 percent). About 88 percent of parents with overweight girls in the earlier sample perceived their daughters as "about the right weight," and 93 percent did so in the later sample. Most concerning, however, was that the children in the later sample were significantly more overweight than those in the earlier one, yet parents' perceptions of their children remained relatively unchanged (Childhood Obesity, April).
Motivational interviewing can increase smokers' desire to quit, according to research led by scientists at the University of Granada. The study's 53 participants all had been smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day for at least a year and had no intention of quitting. They were randomly assigned to one of two interventions: a 20-minute motivational interview designed to express empathy and point out to the participants discrepancies between their behavior and future goals, or a 20-minute prescriptive counseling session with a health professional. A third group received no intervention. Researchers found that participants who received the motivational interview reported increased motivation to change compared with the other two groups. Participants also began viewing tobacco-related pictures with more disgust compared with the other two groups, indicating that the intervention reverses the underlying motivational system activated by tobacco-related cues (Behaviour Research and Therapyopens in new window, March).
People in low-power positions perform worse under pressure relative to those in higher-power positions, but self-affirmation can help reduce the differences, finds research conducted at the University of Toronto. In one experiment, 60 MBA students were paired as buyers or sellers of a biotechnology plant. Those assigned the high-power role, the seller, tended to succeed under pressure compared with their low-power counterpart, the buyer. A second experiment used the same exercise with 88 MBA students, but before the negotiation, half of the participants wrote for five minutes about their most important negotiating skill, while the others wrote about their least important negotiating skill. Buyers who affirmed their most important skill went on to negotiate more effectively, obtaining a lower sale price for the biotechnology plant (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletinopens in new window, April).
Depression intensifies anger in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a study by University of California, Irvine, psychologists. The researchers studied behavioral health data from 2,077 U.S. soldiers who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and subsequently sought behavioral health services at a large military installation. The researchers screened participants for PTSD and major depressive disorder (MDD), placing them in one of four groups: PTSD-only, MDD-only, PTSD and MDD combined, or neither. They also measured the veterans' anger and whether they said they were considering harming others. Findings showed that anger and self-rated risk of harming others were both significantly higher in the group with PTSD and MDD compared with the other three groups. In addition, 72 percent of those who screened positive for PTSD also screened positive for MDD (Psychological Trauma: Theory Research, Practice and Policy, online May 11).
Heavy snoring and sleep apnea may be linked to earlier cognitive decline in older adults, finds research out of New York University. Scientists reviewed the medical histories of 2,470 people ages 55 to 90 who were enrolled in an Alzheimer's disease study and evaluated every six months. They found that among participants who went on to develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease, those with untreated obstructed sleep breathing began to experience mental loss at an average age of 77 compared to age 90 for those without sleep breathing problems. Participants who treated the condition with a continuous positive airway pressure machine were diagnosed with MCI about 10 years later than those whose problems were not treated (Neurologyopens in new window, online April 15).
Parent training can reduce serious behavioral problems in young children with autism, according to research led by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine. In the multisite study, 180 parents of 3- to- 7-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder and serious behavioral problems were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first received 24 weeks of parent training, which taught them specific strategies for managing their children's tantrums, aggression, self-injury and noncompliance. The second group had 24 weeks of parent education, which offered useful information on autism but no guidance on managing behavioral problems. At the end of the treatment, children in the parent-training group showed a 48 percent improvement on parent ratings of disruptive behavior compared with a 32 percent improvement among those in the parent-education group. Overall progress was rated by a clinician who was blind to treatment assignment. At week 24, the clinicians rated 70 percent of children in the parent-training group as better behaved, compared with 40 percent in the parent-education group (Journal of the American Medical Associationopens in new window, April 21).
Challenging work tasks may help protect the brain against cognitive decline in old age, according to research conducted at the University of Leipzig in Germany. More than 1,000 participants over age 75 completed memory and thinking tests every 18 months for eight years. Researchers also asked participants about their work histories and categorized the tasks they completed into three groups: executive, such as scheduling work and activities; verbal, including evaluating and interpreting information; and fluid, which included tasks that involved selective attention and analyzing data. The researchers found that people whose careers included the highest level of all three types of tasks scored highest on the memory and thinking tests and had the slowest rate of cognitive decline: Over eight years, their rate of decline was half the rate of participants with a low level of mentally demanding work tasks (Neurology, online April 29).
The patient-therapist alliance can make or break psychosis treatment, finds a study by researchers at the University of Manchester and the University of Liverpool. The 308-patient study examined the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy and supportive counseling as components of treatment for psychosis, comparing each to a no-therapy condition. They found that with either type of therapy, a healthy therapeutic alliance built on mutual trust had a beneficial impact on the patients' well-being. However, when the relationship was poor, the therapy could actually be damaging (Psychological Medicineopens in new window, online March 25).
Transgender students are at greater risk for eating disorders, according to research out of Washington University in St. Louis. The study looked at survey data from more than 289,000 students from 223 U.S. universities in which students self-reported their mental health, substance use, sexual behavior and nutrition history. Results showed that transgender students were more likely to report a diagnosis of an eating disorder, such as bulimia or anorexia, in the past year. They were also more likely to report using vomiting, laxatives or diet pills for weight control in the past 30 days than non-transgender men and women, regardless of their sexual orientation (Journal of Adolescent Healthopens in new window, online April 28).
Long-term depression — even when treated — may double the risk of stroke for middle-aged adults, finds a study by Harvard University scientists. Researchers used data from 16,178 participants age 50 or older who had been interviewed about depressive symptoms, history of stroke and stroke risk factors every two years from 1998 to 2010. Compared with people without depression, participants who had depression at two consecutive interviews were subsequently more than twice as likely to have a stroke. Those who had depressive symptoms at the first interview but not the second had a 66 percent higher stroke risk than those without symptoms of depression (Journal of the American Heart Associationopens in new window, May 13).
— Amy Novotney
