Psychological Sciences

Family members and friends can play an important role in adolescents prosocial behavior. To better understand the relation between support and prosocial behavior in adolescence, its important to conduct longitudinal studies that distinguish between within-dyad variance and between-dyad variance. The current study investigated longitudinal associations between adolescents prosocial behavior, autonomy support, and emotional support from family and friends across adolescence. Across six annual years, 497 Dutch adolescents (284 boys; mean age T1 = 13.03 years, SDage = 0.46), fathers, mothers, siblings, and friends reported on their prosocial behavior. Adolescents also reported on perceived autonomy and emotional support. Between-dyads almost all associations of support and prosocial behavior of family members and friends with adolescents prosocial behavior were significant, with higher levels of adolescents prosocial behavior being associated with higher levels of prosocial behavior and support from fathers, mothers and friends. Within-dyads, several concurrent associations were significant, but within-dyads links between prosocial behavior and autonomy support are particularly driven by adolescent-mother or adolescent-sibling effects. This study highlights processes that occurred either at the between-dyad level or at the within-dyad level, but that varied per relationship type and that adolescents are the main catalysts in within-dyads changes in prosocial behavior and support. Preregistration: This study was preregistered on 20 January 2020 at https://osf.io/vxkm3/?view_only=dca87fd1585c444ba5cd5a00c22280ae .

Relational savoring (RS) is a brief, strengths-based approach to heightening attentional focus to moments of positive connectedness within relationships. RS can be administered preventatively or within an intervention context when a therapist aspires to foster more optimal relational functioning. Typically administered within a one-on-one therapy setting, RS has demonstrated efficacy in enhancing intra- and interpersonal outcomes. To increase access to mental health services, the developers of RS are committed to engaging in an iterative approach of enhancing the cultural congruence and accessibility of this intervention within various cultural contexts, beginning with Latine groups in Southern California. In this article, we describe relational savoring and its theoretical and empirical support, including the process of culturally adapting the intervention within the context of three major studies, each with a distinct focus on Latine groups, a community that is underserved in mental health care settings. We then provide a vision for future research to improve upon the intervention's compatibility for Latine families and other populations.

BACKGROUND: In healthy people, the fight-or-flight sympathetic system is counterbalanced by the rest-and-digest parasympathetic system. As we grow older, the parasympathetic system declines as the sympathetic system becomes hyperactive. In our prior heart rate variability biofeedback and emotion regulation (HRV-ER) clinical trial, we found that increasing parasympathetic activity through daily practice of slow-paced breathing significantly decreased plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) in healthy younger and older adults. In healthy adults, higher plasma Aβ is associated with greater risk of Alzheimers disease (AD). Our primary goal of this trial is to reproduce and extend our initial findings regarding effects of slow-paced breathing on Aβ. Our secondary objectives are to examine the effects of daily slow-paced breathing on brain structure and the rate of learning. METHODS: Adults aged 50-70 have been randomized to practice one of two breathing protocols twice daily for 9 weeks: (1) slow-paced breathing condition involving daily cognitive training followed by slow-paced breathing designed to maximize heart rate oscillations or (2) random-paced breathing condition involving daily cognitive training followed by random-paced breathing to avoid increasing heart rate oscillations. The primary outcomes are plasma Aβ40 and Aβ42 levels and plasma Aβ42/40 ratio. The secondary outcomes are brain perivascular space volume, hippocampal volume, and learning rates measured by cognitive training performance. Other pre-registered outcomes include plasma pTau-181/tTau ratio and urine Aβ42. Recruitment began in January 2023. Interventions are ongoing and will be completed by the end of 2023. DISCUSSION: Our HRV-ER trial was groundbreaking in demonstrating that a behavioral intervention can reduce plasma Aβ levels relative to a randomized control group. We aim to reproduce these findings while testing effects on brain clearance pathways and cognition. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05602220. Registered on January 12, 2023.

Parietal alpha activity shows a specific pattern of phasic changes during working memory. It decreases during the encoding and recall phases but increases during the maintenance phase. This study tested whether online rTMS delivered to the parietal cortex during the maintenance phase of a working memory task would increase alpha activity and hence improve working memory. Then, 46 healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to two groups to receive 3-day parietal 10 Hz online rTMS (either real or sham, 3600 pulses in total) that were time-locked to the maintenance phase of a spatial span task (180 trials in total). Behavioral performance on another spatial span task and EEG signals during a change detection task were recorded on the day before the first rTMS (pretest) and the day after the last rTMS (posttest). We found that rTMS improved performance on both online and offline spatial span tasks. For the offline change detection task, rTMS enhanced alpha activity within the maintenance phase and improved interference control of working memory at both behavioral (K score) and neural (contralateral delay activity) levels. These results suggested that rTMS with alpha frequency time-locked to the maintenance phase is a promising way to boost working memory.

Childhood maltreatment has been repeatedly linked to a higher incidence of health conditions with an underlying proinflammatory component, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. Childhood maltreatment has also been linked to elevated systemic inflammation prior to the onset of disease. However, childhood maltreatment is highly comorbid with other risk factors which have also been linked to inflammation, namely major depression. The present analysis addresses this issue by assessing the association of maltreatment with genome-wide transcriptional profiling of immune cells collected from four orthogonal groups of adolescents (aged 13-17): maltreated and not maltreated in childhood, with and without major depressive disorder. Maltreatment and psychiatric history were determined using semi-structured clinical interviews and cross-validated using self-report questionnaires. Dried whole blood spots were collected from each participant (n = 133) and assayed to determine the extent to which maltreatment in childhood was associated with a higher prevalence of transcriptional activity among differentially expressed genes, specific immune cell subtypes, and up- or down-regulation of genes involved in immune function after accounting for current major depression. Maltreatment was associated with increased interferon regulatory factor (IRF) transcriptional activity (p = 0.03), as well as nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 1 (NRF1; p = 0.002) and MAF (p = 0.01) among up-regulated genes, and increased activity of nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-κB) among down-regulated genes (p = 0.01). Non-classical CD16+ monocytes were implicated in both the up- and down-regulated genes among maltreated adolescents. These data provide convergent evidence supporting the role of maltreatment in altering intracellular and molecular markers of immune function, as well as implicate monocyte/macrophage functions as mechanisms through which childhood maltreatment may shape lifelong immune development and function.

BACKGROUND: There is currently a deficit of knowledge about how to define, quantify, and measure different aspects of daily routine disruptions amid large-scale disasters like COVID-19, and which psychiatric symptoms were more related to the disruptions. This study aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the probable positive associations between daily routine disruptions and mental disorders amid the COVID-19 pandemic and factors that moderated the associations. METHODS: PsycINFO, Web of Science, PubMed, and MEDLINE were systematically searched up to April 2023 (PROSPERO: CRD42023356846). Independent variables included regularity, change in frequency, and change in capability of different daily routines (i.e., physical activity, diet, sleep, social activities, leisure activities, work and studies, home activities, smoking, alcohol, combined multiple routines, unspecified generic routines). Dependent variables included symptoms and/or diagnoses of mental disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and general psychological distress). RESULTS: Fifty-three eligible studies (51 independent samples, 910,503 respondents) were conducted in five continents. Daily routine disruptions were positively associated with depressive symptoms (r = 0.13, 95% CI = [0.06; 0.20], p < 0.001), anxiety symptoms (r = 0.12, 95% CI = [0.06; 0.17], p < 0.001), and general psychological distress (r = 0.09, 95% CI = [0.02; 0.16], p = 0.02). The routine-symptom associations were significant for physical activity, eating, sleep, and smoking (i.e., type), routines that were defined and assessed on regularity and change in capability (i.e., definition and assessment), and routines that were not internet-based. While the positive associations remained consistent across different sociodemographics, they were stronger in geo-temporal contexts with greater pandemic severity, lower governmental economic support, and when the routine-symptom link was examined prospectively. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the first meta-analytic evidence to show the positive association between daily routine disruptions and symptoms of mental disorders among large populations as COVID-19 dynamically unfolded across different geo-temporal contexts. Our findings highlight the priority of behavioral adjustment for enhancing population mental health in future large-scale disasters like COVID-19.

Exposure to early life stress (ELS) has been linked to at least double the risk of psychopathology as well as higher morbidity and earlier mortality across the lifespan. For this reason, the field of developmental psychopathology has spent decades identifying factors that explain which individuals are at risk for negative health outcomes. Preclinical experiments in this field commonly test the two-hit hypothesis, which explores how ELS potentiates vulnerability to pathogenic physiological and behavioral outcomes when an individual is exposed to a stressor later in development. Yet, translation of the two-hit hypothesis to humans is conceptually and practically challenging, thus impeding progress in the field. This review summarizes the two-hit hypothesis used in preclinical experiments as it pertains to two putative pathways linking ELS to psychopathology: the innate immune and neuroendocrine systems. This review also identifies important considerations when translating this model to humans and provides several recommendations. Specifically, attention to the biological salience of different forms of ELA and the concordance of that salience with later probes of the system are needed. Further, the consequences of ELS may be context-specific rather than ubiquitous, at least among young people. Within this conceptualization, second hits may be best operationalized using standardized acute challenges to the innate immune and neuroendocrine systems (e.g., psychosocial stress). Third, more explicit reporting of sex differences in the human literature is needed. Finally, preclinical experimental designs that more accurately reflect the natural occurrence of ELS in community samples will more effectively advance the understanding of developmental mechanisms that occur as a consequence of ELS.

BACKGROUND: Fetal exposure to maternal mood dysregulation influences child cognitive and emotional development, which may have long-lasting implications for mental health. However, the neurobiological alterations associated with this dimension of adversity have yet to be explored. Here, we tested the hypothesis that fetal exposure to entropy, a novel index of dysregulated maternal mood, would predict the integrity of the salience network, which is involved in emotional processing. METHODS: A sample of 138 child-mother pairs (70 females) participated in this prospective longitudinal study. Maternal negative mood level and entropy (an index of variable and unpredictable mood) were assessed 5 times during pregnancy. Adolescents engaged in a functional magnetic resonance imaging task that was acquired between 2 resting-state scans. Changes in network integrity were analyzed using mixed-effect and latent growth curve models. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuations was analyzed to corroborate findings. RESULTS: Prenatal maternal mood entropy, but not mood level, was associated with salience network integrity. Both prenatal negative mood level and entropy were associated with the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations of the salience network. Latent class analysis yielded 2 profiles based on changes in network integrity across all functional magnetic resonance imaging sequences. The profile that exhibited little variation in network connectivity (i.e., inflexibility) consisted of adolescents who were exposed to higher negative maternal mood levels and more entropy. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that fetal exposure to maternal mood dysregulation is associated with a weakened and inflexible salience network. More broadly, they identify maternal mood entropy as a novel marker of early adversity that exhibits long-lasting associations with offspring brain development.

This study examined whether a 3-month mild-exercise intervention could improve executive function in healthy middle-aged and older adults in a randomized control trial. Ultimately, a total of 81 middle-aged and older adults were randomly assigned to either an exercise group or a control group. The exercise group received 3 months of mild cycle exercise intervention (3 sessions/week, 30-50 min/session). The control group was asked to behave as usual for the intervention period. Before and after the intervention, participants did color-word matching Stroop tasks (CWST), and Stroop interference (SI)-related reaction time (RT) was assessed as an indicator of executive function. During the CWST, prefrontal activation was monitored using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). SI-related oxy-Hb changes and SI-related neural efficiency (NE) scores were assessed to examine the underlying neural mechanism of the exercise intervention. Although the mild-exercise intervention significantly decreased SI-related RT, there were no significant effects of exercise intervention on SI-related oxy-Hb changes or SI-related NE scores in prefrontal subregions. Lastly, changes in the effects of mild exercise on NE with advancing age were examined. The 81 participants were divided into two subgroups (younger-aged subgroup [YA], older-aged subgroup [OA], based on median age [68 years.]). Interestingly, SI-related RT significantly decreased, and SI-related NE scores in all ROIs of the prefrontal cortex significantly increased only in the OA subgroup. These results reveal that a long-term intervention of very light-intensity exercise has a positive effect on executive function especially in older adults, possibly by increasing neural efficiency in the prefrontal cortex.

Recent literature suggests that service dogs may be a valuable complementary intervention option for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among military veterans due to the potential influence on stress response dysregulation. The aim of this short-term longitudinal study was to quantify the impact of service dogs in US military veterans with PTSD with particular attention to the cortisol awakening response. A sub aim of the study was to empirically evaluate the physiological effects of PTSD service dogs on veteran partners. We conducted a clinical trial (ID: NCT03245814) that assessed the cortisol awakening response for 245 participants at baseline and 3 months follow-up across an intervention group (service dog: veterans n = 88, partners n = 46) and control group (usual care: n = 73, partners n = 38). A total of N = 161 veterans and N = 84 partners collected whole saliva samples via a passive drool collection immediately upon waking, 30 min after waking, and 45 min after waking on three consecutive weekdays at baseline and again at follow-up. Mixed model repeated measures (MMRM) with a fixed effect of the intervention group (service dog or control) were utilized. Covariates considered for the model included time of awakening, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, prior day experiences (measured via ecological momentary assessment), traumatic brain injury, age, gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, smoking status, alcohol use, physical health, and body mass index. A total of 3951 salivary samples were collected (veterans: 2613, partners: 1338). MMRM results demonstrated that veterans with a service dog had a statistically significant higher cortisol awakening response, including the area under the curve with respect to both increase (AUCi, β = 1.46, p = 0.046) and absolute increase (AINC, β = 0.05, p = 0.035). Results were not statistically significant for partners. Findings suggest that veterans with service dogs have a higher, less blunted CAR in comparison to veterans receiving usual care alone. In veterans with a blunted morning cortisol response, service dog placement could help boost their morning cortisol response.