Breathe in
A smartphone app that guides people through a meditation-based intervention can help reduce blood pressure and lower the risk of developing heart disease, finds a study in Health Psychology. Researchers assigned 64 adults with prehypertension to three groups, who completed either 5-, 10- or 15-minute breathing-awareness meditation sessions twice daily for six months, as guided by the app called Tension Tamer. Overall, patients in all three groups saw reductions in their systolic blood pressure at three and six months, with greater reductions for patients in the high-dose (15-minute) group. Patients in the high-dose group were less likely to adhere to the program, but they still saw the largest average reduction in blood pressure. DOI: 10.1037/hea0000584opens in new window
Classroom quality matters
Children who experience high-quality child care environments as toddlers and preschoolers later perform better on tests of math, language and literacy skills—but only if they also go on to attend high-quality elementary schools, finds a study in Developmental Psychology. Researchers analyzed data from more than 1,300 participants in the national Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. As part of the study, trained observers rated the quality of the children’s child care at 6, 15, 24, 36 and 54 months old, and they also rated the children’s classroom quality in the first, third and fifth grades. The researchers found that the math, language and literacy benefits of high-quality early child care lasted through age 15 only for children who also experienced high-quality classroom environments during elementary school. Students who attended lower-quality classrooms in elementary school saw those benefits disappear. DOI: 10.1037/dev0000513opens in new window
Plastic chemicals
Rats exposed in utero to phthalates—chemicals common in plastics—later showed differences in brain structure and some cognitive deficits compared to rats without the chemical exposure, finds research in JNeurosci. Researchers exposed pregnant rats to an amount of phthalates proportionally similar to that found in studies with pregnant women. When the babies born to these rats were tested as adults, they had fewer neurons and synapses in their medial prefrontal cortex and performed more poorly on an attention-switching task compared with rats that were not exposed to the phthalates in utero. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0607-18.2018opens in new window
Lying in a second language
In general, it’s harder to lie than to tell the truth because lying is more cognitively demanding, and so it takes people slightly longer to come up with a lie. But when speaking in a non-native language, the difference in difficulty between the two is much smaller, making it harder to use reaction time to distinguish truth from lie, suggests a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Researchers asked 135 native German speakers who were also proficient in English to answer questions with either a lie or the truth. They found that when speaking German, the participants answered more quickly with the truth than with a lie. When speaking English, however, they took just as long to tell the truth as to lie, perhaps because speaking in a non-native tongue is a more cognitively demanding task no matter the content. DOI: 10.1037/xge0000437opens in new window
Happiness, religion and life satisfaction
People in more secular countries give more weight to their daily happiness when considering their life satisfaction compared with people in countries with more religious populations, finds a study in Emotion. Researchers examined data from nearly 300,000 participants from 147 countries who took part in the Gallup World Poll, which asks participants about life satisfaction as well as the positive and negative feelings they’d experienced the previous day. Overall, the researchers found that the association between daily emotion and life satisfaction was weaker in religious than in secular countries. They suggest the reason is that people in secular cultures are more likely to focus on maximizing positive emotions to achieve well-being, while in religious cultures people are more likely to use religious standards to evaluate their lives. DOI: 10.1037/emo0000469opens in new window
Changing doctors' prescribing habits
Reminding physicians about the risks of opioid use can help curb their prescribing of the drugs, suggests a study in Science. In a randomized controlled trial with 861 physicians in the San Diego area, researchers arranged for the county coroner’s office to send letters to physicians who had a patient die of an opioid overdose within a year of receiving a prescription. The letters informed the physicians of the death and reminded them of safe prescribing guidelines. Compared with a control group that received no letters, the intervention group reduced their opioid prescriptions by 9.7 percent over a three-month period. DOI: 10.1126/science.aat4595opens in new window
Cancer screening
Many people choose to take a cancer screening test even when they are told that the test does not save lives, finds a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. Researchers asked a nationally representative sample of 1,745 U.S. adults to read a description of a new screening test. Half read that research found that the test did not extend life or reduce the chances of death from the cancer. The other half read that statement as well as a description of the harm the screening could cause by leading to unnecessary treatment. Overall, 51 percent of participants wanted the screening when the harms were not described, and 34 percent wanted the test when the harms were described. The researchers also found that people who worried more about cancer and those who desired more health information were more likely to want the screening. DOI: 10.1037/xap0000177opens in new window
Parents in prison
When parents spend time in prison, their children’s health and health behaviors are affected for decades, suggests research in Pediatrics. Researchers examined data on about 13,000 young adults (ages 24 to 32) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health. About 10 percent had had a parent incarcerated during their childhoods. These participants were more likely to forego needed health care, smoke, abuse alcohol and prescription and illicit drugs, and engage in risky sexual behaviors. These results held after controlling for factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, age, family structure and parental education. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2017-4314opens in new window
Drug risk for LGBQ teens
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) teenagers are more likely than their heterosexual peers to have used illicit drugs, finds a study in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers analyzed data from more than 15,000 U.S. teenagers who participated in the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2015. LGBQ teenagers were more likely to report having used 14 of the 15 drugs that the survey asked about, including cocaine (11 versus 4.2 percent), ecstasy (10.8 versus 4.1 percent), hallucinogens (12.3 versus 5.5 percent), heroin (6.6 versus 1.3 percent), methamphetamines (8.6 versus 2.1 percent) and misused prescription drugs (26.2 versus 15.5 percent). DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304446opens in new window
Thinking versus doing
People enjoy thinking for pleasure less than reading, watching TV or doing other solitary activities, but the magnitude of the difference varies by country, finds a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Researchers asked 2,557 college students in 11 countries to either sit quietly for 10 to 15 minutes while thinking pleasant thoughts or to spend that same time doing a solitary activity, such as reading or watching TV. In every country, most participants reported that thinking was less enjoyable than engaging in an activity. Students in Japan reported enjoying thinking the least, those in Costa Rica reported enjoying it the most and those in the United States were in the middle. Researchers suggest the differences can be explained by student characteristics in each of the countries, including their need for cognition (their general tendency to engage in thinking), reported phone usage, openness to experience, meditation experience and positive affect at the beginning of the study. DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000198opens in new window
Benefits of belief
Children of religious parents are less likely to consider or attempt suicide, regardless of the children’s own self-reported religiosity, finds a study in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers analyzed data from 214 children (ages 6 to 18) from 112 families that were participating in a long-term study of familial risk factors for depression. Children of religious parents were about 80 percent less likely to experience suicidal thoughts or behaviors than children of nonreligious parents. The finding held independent of other parental risk factors, including parental depression, divorce and history of suicidal behavior. DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.2060opens in new window
Developing empathy
When teenagers play a video game designed by researchers to teach empathy, the game affects areas of their brains related to empathy and emotional regulation, finds research in npj Science of Learning. In the game, players interact with humanlike aliens and must gauge the intensity of emotions on the aliens’ faces. Researchers asked 34 middle school students to play the game daily for two weeks and took fMRI brain scans before and after the assigned period. They found that after the two weeks, the teenagers had stronger activation and connectivity across areas of the brain related to empathy and emotion regulation (such as the right temporoparietal junction and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex). A control group of 40 students who played a commercially available game that did not target empathy showed no such strengthening. DOI: 10.1038/s41539-018-0029-6opens in new window
Get moving for mental health
Exercising for just two hours a week can improve one’s mental health, suggests a study in The Lancet Psychiatry. Researchers examined data from more than 1.2 million participants in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System survey. Overall, they found that participants who exercised reported experiencing 1.49 fewer days of bad mental health per month, on average, compared with those who didn’t exercise. All types of exercise were associated with better mental health. Also, people who exercised a moderate amount—three to five times per week for 30 to 60 minutes each time—had the fewest bad mental health days. Exercising more than 90 minutes per day was actually associated with worse mental health. DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30227-Xopens in new window
Political influence
When lawmakers look for information to help them craft behavioral health policy, few of them turn to universities for the latest research, finds a study in Psychiatric Services. Researchers surveyed 475 state legislators from across the United States. They found that the legislators were most likely to turn to advocacy organizations (53 percent), legislative staff (51 percent) and state agencies (48 percent) as sources of behavioral health research. In contrast, just 27 percent sought research from universities. Democrats were more likely to look to universities than were Republicans (34 versus 19 percent). DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.201800153opens in new window
Complex genetics
Research in Nature Genetics suggests that psychological traits and diseases could be influenced by tens of thousands of DNA variations (known as single-nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs)—many more variations than affect physical traits and characteristics. Researchers used a new statistical method to analyze results from 32 previous genome-wide association studies to estimate the number of SNPs that contribute to various traits and diseases, including height, BMI, childhood IQ, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, heart disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Overall, the researchers found that traits and diseases related to mental health and ability, such as IQ and schizophrenia, were linked with the largest number of SNPs. DOI: 10.1038/s41588-018-0193-xopens in new window
Schools, bullying and suicide
Students who go to schools with more bullying are more likely to consider suicide, finds a study in The Journal of Pediatrics. Researchers analyzed survey data from more than 750,000 students at public high schools in California from 2009 to 2013. Overall, rates of suicidal ideation among students at each school ranged from 4 percent to 67 percent, with a median of 19.3 percent. School size and average level of academic achievement were not associated with rates of suicidal ideation. However, schools with higher levels of victimization and bullying—as well as schools with more girls—had higher rates of suicidal ideation. According to the researchers, the study suggests that suicide-prevention efforts should emphasize prevention of violence and bullying. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.12.070opens in new window
Filial loyalty
When money is on the line, young adults show greater loyalty to parents than to friends, finds a study in Psychological Science. Researchers asked 174 young adults in California, ages 18 to 30, to play a card game in which their monetary gains would go to a parent and their losses would go to a close friend, or vice versa. The researchers had also asked the participants beforehand to complete a questionnaire that measured their relationship quality with the parent and the friend th ey chose. Overall, the participants indicated that they had positive feelings toward both but felt their relationship with their friend was stronger. However, when playing the card game, the participants were more likely to make decisions that benefited the parent. The strength of the effect did not differ by participants’ age. DOI: 10.1177/0956797618778497opens in new window
Language acquisition
Young children learn new words more easily when they are presented in more predictable ways, suggests a study in Current Biology. Researchers tested more than 100 2-year-olds. First, they showed the toddlers a video screen with four closed boxes. Then, one by one, the boxes opened to reveal unfamiliar objects. That sequence repeated five times, with the boxes opening in the same order. On the sixth round, the toddlers heard the novel names of the objects as each box opened (bosa, tulver, sarn and pisk). In some trials, the boxes opened in the same order that they had during the first five repetitions, while in other trials the boxes opened in an unexpected sequence. When tested later, the children were, on average, more likely to remember the correct names for objects they had learned when the boxes opened in the predictable order than in the unexpected one. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.01opens in new window7
Literary expectations
Readers of science fiction and fantasy may have more realistic notions about romantic relationships than people who read other literary genres, such as classic fiction, mystery and romance, suggests a study in the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Researchers surveyed 404 men and women online to assess their beliefs in five common misconceptions about relationships: that disagreement is destructive, mind reading is expected, romantic partners cannot change, the sexes are different and the expectation of sexual perfection from a partner. After controlling for personality, gender, age and exposure to other genres, the researchers found that science fiction/fantasy readers were less likely to support four of the five false beliefs—all except for the belief in sexual perfection. The only other significant correlations were that readers of classics were less likely to believe that disagreement is destructive and that romance readers were more likely to believe that the sexes are different. DOI: 10.1037/aca0000189opens in new window
Pregnancy stress and daughters
Mothers who are stressed during pregnancy have daughters with more anxious behaviors as toddlers, finds a study in Biological Psychiatry. Researchers measured cortisol levels in 70 pregnant women at three points during their pregnancies. Then, the researchers used fMRI to examine connectivity in the newborns’ brains at one month old. Two years later, the mothers filled out an assessment of their now-toddler children’s behavior. Overall, daughters of women who had higher cortisol levels during pregnancy showed more connectivity among sensory and emotion-related brain regions as newborns, and they had higher levels of anxious and depressive-like symptoms as toddlers. The association did not hold true for the women’s sons, however. The researchers suggest that the study could point to one possible explanation for why women are more likely than men to develop mood disorders. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.06.023opens in new window
Digital distractions
Teens who spend more time using digital media devices are more likely to show symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), finds a study in JAMA. Researchers surveyed about 2,600 15- and 16-year-olds in Los Angeles about their use of digital media, including social media, streaming video and text messaging. None had a previous diagnosis of ADHD. Then, every six months for two years, the researchers asked the students to report how often they experienced 18 symptoms of ADHD. The teenagers who were heavy social media users were almost twice as likely as infrequent social media users to report experiencing symptoms of ADHD during the study. The researchers caution that further work is needed to determine whether or not that association is causal. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2018.8931opens in new window
Personality over the life span
Do our personalities change over the course of our lives, or are we likely to be the same person at 66 that we were at 16? It turns out that a bit of each is true, finds a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Researchers analyzed data from almost 1,800 U.S. participants who took a personality test while in high school and then took the same test again 50 years later. Their responses were analyzed according to the Big Five personality traits. The researchers found that people do change as they age: On average, the participants became more conscientious, more emotionally stable and more agreeable over time. However, most people do not change relative to their peers—for example, those who were more conscientious than their peers at 16 remained relatively more conscientious 50 years later. DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000210opens in new window
