1. Living for the likes: Social media use, fear of missing out, and body and life satisfaction in women
Bissell, K., & Chou, S.
Women who use social media more than others experience more fear of missing out (FOMO), social comparison, and appearance anxiety, all of which were associated with unhealthy attitudes about eating and body dissatisfaction, suggests this study in the Psychology of Popular Media (Vol. 13, No. 3)opens in new window. Researchers surveyed 560 women ages 19 to 63 in the United States about social media use, attitudes about social media, body and life satisfaction, family pressure related to body image, and attitudes about eating. Participants represented a diverse sample of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomics. Those who reported feeling pressure to adhere to societal norms on social media were more likely to have negative eating attitudes. Moreover, media FOMO, social comparison, and appearance anxiety played a role in moderating the relationship between participants’ disordered eating attitudes and body dissatisfaction. Family pressure was associated with increased disordered eating attitudes, but that increase did not impact body satisfaction.
DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000507opens in new window
2. Self-esteem, but not age, moderates the influence of viewing social media on body image in women
Price, M., et al.
Viewing images of “thin-ideal” body shapes lowers personal body image ratings for women of all ages and self-esteem levels suggests this study in Psychology of Popular Media (Vol. 13, No. 3)opens in new window. Researchers used social media to recruit 690 adult women ages 18 to 60 with wide-ranging body mass indices, then randomly assigned the women to view one of four Instagram-like images (“thin-ideal” body image, “average” body image, holiday scene, or stationary). They measured the women’s body image ratings before and after viewing the images, followed by a measure of self-esteem. The women’s body image rating decreased after viewing the “thin-ideal” versus “average” and control images. Self-esteem (but not age) moderated this effect but did not factor into the negative impact of viewing “thin-ideal” images. However, women with lower self-esteem showed a greater increase in body image rating after viewing “average” images than women with higher self-esteem.
DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000493opens in new window
3. Limiting social media use decreases depression, anxiety, and fear of missing out in youth with emotional distress: A randomized controlled trial
Davis, C. G., & Goldfield, G. S.
Limiting social media use can reduce mental health issues in emotionally distressed youth, indicates this study in Psychology of Popular Media (advanced online publication)opens in new window. Researchers recruited 220 undergraduate students in Canada ages 17 to 25 who used social media at least 2 hours per day and were experiencing depression or anxiety symptoms. After 1 week of normal social media use, half of the participants limited social media to no more than 1 hour per day for 3 weeks, while the other half continued regular use. The researchers found that participants who limited social media use showed greater preintervention versus postintervention improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms than those who used social media as usual. The limited-use group also reported that their FOMO had decreased while their sleep had increased by 30 minutes per night.
DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000536opens in new window
4. Doing the work: The role of inclusive leadership in promoting psychological safety and openness to diversity through diversity, equity, and inclusion practices
Woods, A., et al.
Inclusive leadership is essential for fostering psychological safety and employee openness to diversity, suggests this study in Psychology of Leaders and Leadership (Vol. 27, No. 1)opens in new window. Researchers surveyed 400 employees of a large health care institution in the United States about perceptions of leader inclusiveness, frequency of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices, and perceptions of psychological safety and openness to diversity. The researchers found that employees with inclusive leaders were more likely to have the opportunity to participate in DEI actions and to actively engage in these actions. Furthermore, the researchers used social identity theory, the relationship between people’s self-perception and their behavior and attitudes in and toward groups, to examine team engagement in DEI practices. The researchers also made recommendations for strengthening DEI in the workplace with practical guidance for implementation at the organizational, leader, and individual levels.
DOI: 10.1037/mgr0000158opens in new window
5. Associations between intentions for affective social media content choices and depressive symptoms in adolescence: A cross-sectional investigation of media response styles as moderators
Brimmel, N., et al.
Adolescents who seek out sad messages on social media when they feel unhappy experience more depressive symptoms, suggests this study in Psychology of Popular Media (Vol. 13, No. 4)opens in new window. Researchers surveyed 157 adolescents ages 14 to 18 in Belgium about their depressive symptoms, intentions to consume sad or happy social media, degree of ruminating on consumed media, and response to happy media (i.e., whether the media dampened or enhanced their mood). They found that intending to choose sad social media content while in a sad mood was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, but intentions to consume happy social media content, regardless of mood, were not associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. However, adolescents who intended to select happy social media content when they felt happy and were more prone to mood-enhancing responses did report more depressive symptoms.
DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000510opens in new window
6. Treatment credibility as a mechanism of change in cognitive behavioral therapy: Effects on depression and anxiety
Wester, R. A., et al.
Patients who perceive their cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as credible may experience reduced symptom severity, according to this study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (Vol. 92, No. 3)opens in new window. Researchers recruited 1,423 patients in Germany undergoing 25 sessions of CBT for a wide variety of diagnoses—mostly affective and anxiety disorders. Every five sessions, the researchers assessed patients’ perceptions of their treatment’s credibility, as well as depression and anxiety symptoms. They found that perceived treatment credibility increased throughout the sessions but leveled off over time. They also found that higher perception of treatment credibility was associated with lower symptom severity between sessions. Finally, the researchers tracked treatment credibility ratings and symptom severity for individual patients across sessions to predict the ratings and symptom severity reported at future sessions. They found that sessions after which patients perceived their treatments as more credible than predicted were followed by sessions before which patients reported lower-than-predicted symptom severity.
DOI: 10.1037/ccp0000866opens in new window
7. Adverse childhood experiences, cognitive functioning, depression, and anxiety in adulthood
Bing-Canar, H., et al.
An individual’s exposure to adverse childhood events affects their psychological health, but this impact is not observed in neurocognitive tests, suggests this study in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (Vol. 16, No. 7)opens in new window. Researchers measured depression and anxiety symptoms in 211 adult participants in the United States, then divided them into two groups based on level of exposure to adverse childhood experiences: one group with high exposure and the other group with low exposure. Participants in both groups submitted to a series of neurocognitive tests of attention and working memory, processing speed, executive functioning, and verbal learning and memory. The researchers found greater depression and anxiety symptoms in the high adverse childhood experience group relative to the low adverse childhood experience group. However, these groups did not significantly differ on any neurocognitive measures.
DOI: 10.1037/tra0001637opens in new window
8. Working memory and math skills in children with and without ADHD
Gaye, F., et al.
The reason some children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggle with math has more to do with their neurocognitive vulnerabilities in working memory and short-term memory than with overt ADHD symptoms, suggests this study in Neuropsychology (Vol. 38, No. 1)opens in new window. Researchers tested three working and short-term memory subcomponents (central executive, phonological short-term memory, and visuospatial short-term memory), ADHD symptoms, and math skills in 186 children ages 8 to 13 in the United States. One hundred and twenty of the children met the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis. The researchers found that all three components of working memory predicted math performance approximately equally. They also found that the three components accounted for 56% of the individual differences in children’s math test scores, even when controlling for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and ADHD symptoms.
DOI: 10.1037/neu0000920opens in new window
9. A qualitative examination of play therapy and mindfulness interventions with youth with autism spectrum disorder
Bui, L., et al.
This qualitative research article, based on interviews with play therapists and published in the International Journal of Play Therapy (Vol. 33, No. 1)opens in new window, investigated play therapy and mindfulness interventions developed for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In semistructured interviews, seven registered play therapists described the play and mindfulness practices they use to help children with ASD explore and learn strategies for coping with the difficulties they encounter in their lives. Common themes across the interview responses included similar descriptions of play therapy and mindfulness, use of an integrative treatment approach, deployment of multiple treatment targets, and acknowledgment of various benefits of play therapy and mindfulness. They also expressed the need for training and research, used mindfulness techniques to address developmental concerns, and emphasized play as being essential.
DOI: 10.1037/pla0000170opens in new window
10. The mental health climate and mental health-related academic help seeking on U.S. college campuses
Gannon, K. R., et al.
About 60% of college students in the United States say they would reach out to tell professors if mental health conditions began to interfere with their studies, reports this study in Stigma and Health (advance online publication)opens in new window. Researchers analyzed previously collected data from 37,206 students across 87 colleges and universities in the United States about students’ knowledge and attitudes regarding mental health services and their campus mental health climate. They found that about 60% of students said they would reach out to university faculty or staff if mental distress impeded their academic work. For students who said they would not reach out, their primary reasons were personal mental health stigma, and, to a greater extent, negative perceptions of social norms related to mental health on their campus (i.e., their campus mental health climate). Students of color were less likely than White students to say they would seek help. When students did seek academic-related help, those with low perceptions of their campus mental health climate were less likely to perceive such help as supportive. Campus climate had a more significant impact than personal stigma against seeking help.
DOI: 10.1037/sah0000502opens in new window
