Therapists are less likely to offer appointments to black and working-class patients than to white, middle-class ones, according to research published in June in the Journal of Health and Social Behavioropens in new window. The researcher left voice mail messages for 320 psychotherapists in New York City, requesting a weekday evening appointment. The messages were left by actors who used varied vocabulary, grammar, accents and names to suggest the callers' race and social class. Among the middle-class callers, 28 percent of whites were offered appointments, but only 17 percent of blacks. Of the working-class callers, only 8 percent of both black and white appointment-seekers were offered a spot.
You can tell whether people are friends or strangers by listening to them laughing together, according to a study led by a University of California, Los Angeles, psychologist. The researchers played 48 short audio clips of two people laughing together for 966 listeners from 24 different societies around the world. The laughter was recorded during conversations between pairs of U.S. undergraduate students — some who were friends and some who were strangers who had just met. Overall, listeners from every society could correctly identify whether the people they were hearing were friends or strangers 61 percent of the time. However, when the pair was two women friends laughing together, listeners were accurate more than 80 percent of the time (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online April 11).
Chronic fatigue syndrome patients say they are more anxious and distressed than people who don't have the condition, and they are also more likely to suppress those emotions, according to research conducted at King's College London. Researchers asked half of the study's 160 participants — half of whom had chronic fatigue syndrome — to suppress their emotions while watching a distressing film clip and the other half to express their feelings as they wished. Regardless of the instruction they received, the chronic fatigue syndrome participants reported higher anxiety and sadness, and their skin responses indicated they were more distressed than the healthy control group, both before and after the film. In addition, observers rated chronic fatigues symptom participants as showing less emotional expression than their healthy peers (Health Psychology, online May 16).
People's skepticism about climate change may be linked to their economic concerns, according to a set of studies by Purdue University psychologists. In one experiment, one group listened to a podcast that reported the U.S. economy had recovered from the recession, another heard the recession was continuing, and a control group didn't hear any podcast. All of the participants then watched a NASA documentary about scientific evidence of climate change. Responses to a follow-up questionnaire indicated that participants who believed in the legitimacy of the U.S. economic system were more likely to believe in the severity of climate change only when they thought the economy was strong and stable. The findings may help explain why many Americans haven't been swayed by public education and advocacy efforts to believe that climate change is being caused by humans, according to the authors (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, online April 28).
Only about half of preschoolers with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder receive psychological services, according to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Investigators looked at health-care claims data from more than 5 million children ages 2 to 5 who were insured by Medicaid between 2008 and 2011, and about 1 million young children insured through employer-sponsored insurance. In both groups, more than 75 percent of young children diagnosed with ADHD received medication to treat the condition. Only 54 percent of young children with Medicaid and 45 percent of young children with employer-sponsored insurance received any form of psychological services, despite the fact that behavioral therapy is the recommended first-line treatment (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 6).
Spanking is linked with kids becoming aggressive and less successful, according to a meta-analysis of more than 50 years of research. Scientists at the University of Texas and the University of Michigan examined data from more than 160,000 children and found that the more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents and to show increased anti-social behavior, aggression, mental health problems and cognitive difficulties (Journal of Family Psychology, online April 7).
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have less healthy lifestyles than non-ADHD kids, finds a study conducted at American University. Parents of children with ADHD and those of children without ADHD completed a questionnaire about their child's nutrition and activities. Results showed that children with ADHD were more likely to consume artificially sweetened juice, less likely to read for more than one hour per day, more likely to have more than two hours of screen time per day, and less likely to be physically active during the week. Parents of children with ADHD were also much more likely to report that their children have sleep problems (Journal of Attention Disorders, online April 28).
Proper nutrition during childhood can positively affect a child's social behaviors, according to a study conducted by University of Pennsylvania researchers. The scientists analyzed the health and social behavior of 1,795 3-year-old children from Mauritius, an island nation off the eastern coast of Africa. The researchers found that compared with children who received adequate nutrition, those with signs of malnutrition had more impaired social behavior. Additional results suggest that cognitive abilities mediate the relation between nutrition and social behavior (Maternal & Child Nutrition, online May 1).
Cognitive-behavioral therapy via videoconference may help prevent long-term memory dysfunction caused by chemotherapy, according to research by University of Pittsburgh scientists. In the study, breast cancer survivors who'd received chemotherapy were randomly assigned to eight sessions of either supportive talk therapy or CBT designed to develop skills to prevent memory failure. Both treatments were delivered via videoconference. All participants completed follow-up questionnaires that assessed their memory difficulty and anxiety about memory problems, and all completed tests of verbal memory and processing speed. Compared with participants who received supportive therapy, CBT participants reported significantly fewer memory problems and showed improved processing speed post-treatment. They also reported less anxiety about cognitive problems compared with supportive therapy participants (CANCER, online May 2).
The brain's frontal cortex is organized for higher level perception, finds research conducted by psychologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley. The researchers used fMRI scans of participants engaged in visual tasks that involved identifying or categorizing stimuli, as well as transcranial magnetic stimulation to inhibit particular cortical regions. Their findings indicate that sequential stages of higher perception are associated with specific cortical areas that occupy sequential positions from back to front of the frontal cortex (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online May 9).
Caregivers whose eyes wander during playtime — due to distractions such as smartphones or other technology, for example — may raise children with shorter attention spans, finds a study by Indiana University psychologists. Thirty-six parent-infant pairs wore head-mounted cameras while playing with three toys. The researchers found that babies whose parents followed their lead during play focused on objects about four times longer than did infants whose caregivers were quickly distracted. In addition, babies whose parents made little effort to focus on what their kids were playing with had even shorter attention spans than the children whose parents focused briefly before looking away (Current Biology, May 9).
Frailty and depression are linked among older adults, and can even affect spouses, according to a study by Yale University scientists. They examined data from 1,260 married couples age 65 and older, and found that the frailer an older adult, the more likely he or she will become depressed. Similarly, the more depressed an older person is, the more likely he or she is to become frail. In addition, participants married to a frail spouse were more likely to become frail themselves, while those married to a spouse who was depressed were more likely to become depressed, too (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, April).
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy may help prevent the recurrence of depression, according to a meta-analysis that included data from more than 1,200 people with a history of recurrent depression who were in full or partial remission from depression. Led by University of Oxford scientists, the study examined outcome data from nine trials comparing eight weeks of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to usual care, often including the use of maintenance antidepressant medication. They found that the mindfulness therapy participants, who in many cases tapered or discontinued antidepressants, were 23 percent less likely to relapse than participants who continued on antidepressants and did not take part in the intervention (JAMA Psychiatry, online April 27).
Kids who join gangs are more likely to be depressed and suicidal, and these mental health problems only worsen after joining, according to research by Bowling Green State University and Michigan State University scientists. The investigators examined national survey data from more than 11,000 middle- and high-school students and found that gang membership was associated with greater levels of depression, as well as a 67 percent increase in suicidal thoughts and a 104 percent increase in suicide attempts (Criminal Justice and Behavior, online April 13).
Children raised by female same-sex parents are just as healthy emotionally and physically as children of different-sex parents, according to a study by University of Amsterdam scientists. The researchers examined data from 95 female same-sex parent households and 95 different-sex parent households, all with no history of family instability, discontinuity or transitions. There were no differences between the two groups in terms of spouse or partner relationships, parent-child relationships, or in the children's general health, emotional difficulties, coping behaviors and their learning behaviors. Findings did show that lesbian parents seemed to exhibit higher levels of parenting stress, which the authors suggested may be related to perceived homophobia (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, April).
Parental depression contributes to greater brain activity in areas linked to risk-taking in adolescents, according to research by psychologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and UCLA. Twenty-three adolescents took part in interviews, cognitive testing and brain imaging at the beginning and end of an 18-month period. Adolescents whose parents had greater depressive symptoms increased their risk-taking and externalizing behaviors over the course of the study. They also showed higher levels of activation in the ventral striatum and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in response to rewards during risk-taking tasks (Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, online March 24).
People feel less guilty about the violence in video games the more they play them, according to a study led by a University of Buffalo researcher. A total of 145 undergraduate participants played alternative versions of the same violent video game for four days, varying each day between playing a moral character — a United Nations soldier — or an immoral character — a terrorist solider. On the fifth day, all participants played a new game as a terrorist soldier. Findings showed that repeated exposure decreased the ability of the original game to elicit guilt among participants when playing the terrorist soldier. In addition, players experienced less guilt when playing the immoral character in the new game than they did playing the moral character in the first game (Media Psychology, online March 30).
Early treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder accelerates recovery, finds a study conducted at New York University. Over a 12-week period, researchers followed 232 non-military individuals with PTSD. All participants received either prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, drug treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or a placebo one month after the traumatic event. The researchers also followed the individuals who declined treatment and reassessed all groups at five months and 36 months post-treatment. The groups that received prolonged exposure and cognitive therapy showed a significant reduction of symptoms at five months and their symptoms remained low for three years. Only some participants showed complete elimination of symptoms. The other groups, including the people who declined treatment, reached the same level of recovery by three years (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, online April 12).
Drink spiking appears to be more than a myth, finds research out of the University of South Carolina. The researchers looked at survey data from 6,064 students at three universities. They found that 7.8 percent of students reported 539 incidents in which they said they had been drugged; 1.4 percent said either they had drugged someone or they knew someone who had drugged another person. Women were more likely to be the victims of spiking and reported more negative consequences than men. Women were also more likely to report sexual assault as a motive while men more often said the purpose was "to have fun." Other, less common reported motives included to calm someone down or make someone go to sleep (Psychology of Violenceopens in new window,opens in new window May 23).
Older adults with hearing loss who use hearing aids perform significantly better on cognitive tests than those who do not use hearing aids, according to research conducted at Columbia University. The study involved 100 adults with hearing loss, ages 80 to 99, including 34 participants who regularly used hearing aids. Researchers conducted audiometric tests to measure the degree of each participant's hearing loss, and performed cognitive and executive function assessments. Hearing aid users, who when not aided had worse hearing than non-users, performed significantly better on the cognitive function tests compared with those who did not use the aids (American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, online April 12).
