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Actively open‐minded thinking (AOT) is a thinking style in which people engaged in judgment and decision‐making actively seek out and then evaluate information in a manner that is intentionally disconnected from their prior beliefs and motivations and in line with self‐perceptions of autonomy. Actively open‐minded thinkers have been observed to make both more accurate judgments about the magnitude of risks and more evidence‐based decisions under uncertainty in a wide range of situations such as climate change and politics. In addition, actively open‐minded thinkers functioning in domains where they lack a desired level of knowledge are open to "outsourcing" the job of critical reasoning thinking to credible experts; in other words, they are better able to gauge who is trustworthy and then rely on the insights of these trustworthy others to help them reach a conclusion. We report results from a follow‐up to research previously published in Risk Analysis that confirms these tenets in the context of COVID‐19. We then extend these results to offer a series of recommendations for strengthening the process and outcomes of risk analysis: leveraging the latent norm of autonomy and personal agency that underpins AOT, activating or engaging with approaches to reasoning—such as decision structuring—that are in line with AOT, and working upstream and downstream of risk analysis to establish AOT as a norm of its own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Virtual Hope Box (VHB) is a smartphone application designed to support emotion regulation when one is distressed, in a crisis, or experiencing suicidal ideation (SI). Initial proof of concept studies indicate that individuals are more likely to use the VHB than traditional hope boxes, and find it both easy to setup and helpful. To our knowledge, no studies have harnessed ambulatory assessment methodology to assess VHB use as it relates to incidence of suicidal thinking. Methods: As such, we recruited N = 50 undergraduates who endorsed SI either the past year or past 2 weeks to complete a 10‐day investigation. At baseline, participants were oriented to the VHB and instructed on how to use the application. Over the next 10 days, participants responded to prompts five times per day on their personal smartphones regarding their current experiences of SI and stress as well as VHB usage. Results: Results found that most participants used the VHB at least once, rated its usefulness as high, and rated their perceived likelihood of future use as high. In addition, increases in state SI severity were related to subsequent VHB use. Conclusion: The VHB may be a useful tool for managing crises in undergraduates experiencing suicidal thoughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extensive evidence indicates that rates of psychotic disorder are elevated in more urban compared with less urban areas, but this evidence largely originates from Northern Europe. It is unclear whether the same association holds globally. This study examined the association between urban residence and rates of psychotic disorder in catchment areas in India (Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu), Nigeria (Ibadan, Oyo), and Northern Trinidad. Methods: Comprehensive case detection systems were developed based on extensive pilot work to identify individuals aged 18–64 with previously untreated psychotic disorders residing in each catchment area (May 2018–April/May/July 2020). Area of residence and basic demographic details were collected for eligible cases. We compared rates of psychotic disorder in the more v. less urban administrative areas within each catchment area, based on all cases detected, and repeated these analyses while restricting to recent onset cases (<2 years/<5 years). Results: We found evidence of higher overall rates of psychosis in more urban areas within the Trinidadian catchment area (IRR: 3.24, 95% CI 2.68–3.91), an inverse association in the Nigerian catchment area (IRR: 0.68, 95% CI 0.51–0.91) and no association in the Indian catchment area (IRR: 1.18, 95% CI 0.93–1.52). When restricting to recent onset cases, we found a modest positive association in the Indian catchment area. Conclusions: This study suggests that urbanicity is associated with higher rates of psychotic disorder in some but not all contexts outside of Northern Europe. Future studies should test candidate mechanisms that may underlie the associations observed, such as exposure to violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several protective factors for mitigating suicidal ideation (SI) such as positive affect, reasons for living, purpose in life, meaning in life, gratitude, grit, optimism, social support, and hope have been identified and received empirical support. However, few studies have examined the interrelationships of these protective factors and the identification of protective factors most closely linked to lower levels of SI may be useful for both theory-building initiatives and improvement of suicide-specific interventions. Network analysis offers an approach for testing the relation among these constructs, SI, and suicide risk factors. A sample N = 557 undergraduate students oversampled for lifetime SI completed a cross-sectional, online survey. The data was used to estimate an undirected, cross-sectional network of the aforementioned protective factors. The resulting inferred network implicates strong negative influence of suicide cognitions, but not recent SI, and the strong positive influence of presence of meaning in life, trait hope, and low negative affect. Implications for dimensionality of SI versus suicide cognitions, targeting presence of meaning in life, trait hope, and negative affect in treatment, and cross-cultural variations in reasons for living are discussed. The study is limited by the cross-sectional and convenience sampling methodology. Protective factors may have less direct influence on suicidal ideation Suicide cognitions and the suicidal mode may be of phenomenological importance Presence of meaning and trait hope may be primary targets for suicide interventions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]