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Background: People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) face disease-related stress throughout their lives, often resulting in depressive mood and fear of progression (FoP). People with a pronounced sense of humor demonstrate greater resilience to stress and tend to perceive threats as challenges. This research investigates whether humor can be identified as a relevant coping factor in pwMS regarding depressive mood and FoP., Methods: Participants were 77 German inpatients aged 25-64 years with predominantly relapsing-remitting MS. Blockwise regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between humor skills (Sense of Humor Scale, SHS), depressive mood (Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, CES-D), and fear of progression (Fear of Progression-Questionnaire, FoP-Q), adjusting for demographic, disease-specific, and self-management variables. Correlational and moderator analyses were conducted to evaluate the impact of humor styles (Comic Style Markers, CSM) and self-observation (as a self-distancing measure, Questionnaire to Assess Resources and Self-Management Skills) on these relationships., Results: The summed SHS score was found to be a significant unique determinant for less depressive mood (CES-D, RΔ = 0.05, p = .005), low FoP (FoP-Q sum score, RΔ = 0.06, p = .004), and greater anxiety coping (FoP-Q anxiety coping, RΔ = 0.06, p = .007). Only light humor style was associated with specific FoP-Q scales; the variable dark humor style was not correlated with any study variable. The subscale self-observation failed to moderate between SHS and emotional disorders., Conclusion: Data indicate that humor skills in pwMS are associated with less depression and FoP, which argues for incorporating adaptive humor as a coping resource into psychosocial interventions for pwMS. However, further validation is needed through larger and longitudinal trials., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Ann-Kristin Folkerts reports a relationship with Parkinson Foundation, Berlin, Germany that includes: funding grants. Joern Nielsen reports a relationship with PHAROS Foundation, Dortmund, Germany that includes: funding grants. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: In this study, we investigated the fear of disease progression in Chinese PBT patients and examined the correlation between sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological variables of patients with the fear of progression (FoP). Additionally, the study also evaluated the subjective experience of FoP in patients with primary brain tumors (PBT)., Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted between March 2022 and December 2023, consisting of two phases: a quantitative approach in phase I, and a qualitative approach in phase II. In phase I, 305 patients with PBT filled in several questionnaires. An analysis was performed to identify potential predictors associated with FoP. In phase II, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants whose FoP scores were ≥ 34 in phase I to obtain information on their personal experiences with FoP., Results: The results of the quantitative study showed that 192 (63 %) patients experienced high levels of FoP. The mean score of fear of progression was (34.02±6.78). Young age, high disease uncertainty, low social support, high negative coping and low positive coping are important factors affecting FoP in PBT patients. Qualitative research focused on three themes: triggers, coping styles, and the help needed., Conclusion: Enhanced screening and assessment of FoP is essential to identify dysfunctionin PBT. Meanwhile, the implications of these predictors for enhanced healthcare professional education and patient self-management may help healthcare providers implement relevant interventions promptly and help patients reduce their FoP. However, due to limitations such as sample, reporting bias, and specific mechanisms between predictors and FOPs that have not yet been explored in depth, further exploration is needed in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Poor maternal diet and psychosocial stress represent two environmental factors that can significantly impact maternal health during pregnancy. While various mouse models have been developed to study the relationship between maternal and offspring health and behaviour, few incorporate multiple sources of stress that mirror the complexity of human experiences. Maternal high-fat diet (HF) models in rodents are well-established, whereas use of psychosocial stress interventions in female mice are still emerging. The social instability stress (SIS) paradigm, serves as a chronic and unpredictable form of social stress. To evaluate the combined effects of a poor maternal diet and intermittent social stress on maternal health and behaviour, we developed a novel maternal stress model using adult female C57Bl/6 mice. We observed that all HF+ mice demonstrated rapid weight gain, elevated fasting blood glucose levels and impaired glucose tolerance independent of the presence (+) or absence (-) of SIS. Behavioural testing output revealed anxiety-like behaviours remained similar across all groups prior to pregnancy. However, integrated anxiety z-scores revealed a mixed anxious profile amongst HF+/SIS+ females prior to pregnancy. HF+/SIS+ females also did not show reduced plasma ACTH and corticosterone levels that were observed in our other HF+ and HF- stress groups after SIS exposure. Further, HF+/SIS+ females demonstrated significant postpartum maternal neglect, resulting in fewer numbers of live offspring. These findings suggest that prolonged maternal HF diet consumption, coupled with previous exposure to SIS, places a significant burden on the maternal stress response system, resulting in reduced parental investment and negative postpartum behaviour towards offspring., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Adaptive behaviour refers to the practical skills necessary for independence and is considered a high-priority intervention target for children with neurogenetic conditions associated with intellectual disability, like Down syndrome (DS). Daily living skills (DLS) are a critical aspect of adaptive behaviour, but they have received little intervention attention, possibly because they involve a wide variety of skills across many settings. The present study aimed to advance DLS intervention science by examining the concurrent and longitudinal association between DLS performances and a cognitive skillset hypothesised to support DLS skill acquisition, executive function (EF)., Methods: Participants were 71 children with DS between the ages of 2.5 and 8.7 years (M = 5.23 years; standard deviation = 1.65) who completed a battery of adapted EF tasks and a primary caregiver who completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales 3rd Edition Parent/Caregiver Comprehensive Report Form. A subset of caregivers also provided 6- and 12-month follow-up adaptive behaviour information., Results: Results demonstrated a positive association between EF task performance and DLS standard scores and v-scores both concurrently and longitudinally., Conclusions: The findings have implications for potential future intervention approaches that aim to strengthen DLS performances by advancing EF skills in this population., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Intellectual Disability Research published by John Wiley & Sons and MENCAP.)

Stress is a major risk factor for several neuropsychiatric disorders in women, including postpartum depression. During the postpartum period, diminished ovarian hormone secretion increases susceptibility to developing depressive symptoms. Pleiotropic peptide hormones, like prolactin, are markedly released during lactation and suppress hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses in women and acute stress-induced behavioral responses in female rodents. However, the effects of prolactin on chronic stress-induced maladaptive behaviors remain unclear. Here, we used chronic variable stress to induce maladaptive physiology in ovariectomized female rats and concurrently administered prolactin to assess its effects on several depression-relevant behavioral, endocrine, and neural characteristics. We found that chronic stress increased sucrose anhedonia and passive coping in saline-treated, but not prolactin-treated rats. Prolactin treatment did not alter stress-induced thigmotaxis, corticosterone (CORT) concentrations, hippocampal cell activation or survival. However, prolactin treatment reduced basal CORT concentrations and increased dopaminergic cells in the ventral tegmental area. Further, prolactin-treated rats had reduced microglial activation in the ventral hippocampus following chronic stress exposure. Together, these data suggest prolactin mitigates chronic stress-induced maladaptive behaviors and physiology in hypogonadal females. Moreover, these findings imply neuroendocrine-immune mechanisms by which peptide hormones confer stress resilience during periods of low ovarian hormone secretion., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Restricted and repetitive behaviours are a core feature of autism diagnoses but have not been widely studied in adulthood. This study examined the rates of and associations between repetitive behaviours and sensory sensitivity in autistic and non-autistic adults; and whether repetitive behaviours described as "stimming" impacted coping with difficulties (self-efficacy)., Methods: Diagnosed autistic (n = 182), undiagnosed autistic (n = 163) and non-autistic (n = 146) adults completed online measures of repetitive behaviours, sensory sensitivity, and self-efficacy for when able and not able to stim., Results: Repetitive behaviours and sensory sensitivity correlated significantly in each group, although ratings were higher in autistic compared to non-autistic groups. When people were able to stim, no differences between the groups were observed on self-efficacy ratings. However when unable to stim, autistic people reported lower self-efficacy than non-autistic people., Conclusions: Results suggest that repetitive behaviours are significantly associate with sensory sensitivities. Rather than repetitive behaviours being viewed as negative, stimming was associated with increased self-efficacy. Results suggest that stimming may have beneficial effects. Further work is needed to better understand how repetitive behaviours and stimming manifest in adulthood, how they change over time and their effects for autistic adults., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objective: Emerging work suggests that affect regulation strategies (e.g., active coping, anger expression) predict disease and mortality risk, with sometimes divergent estimates by sex or education levels. However, few studies have examined potential underlying biological mechanisms. This study assessed the longitudinal association of affect regulation with future allostatic load., Method: In 2004-2006, 574 participants from the Midlife in the United States study completed validated scales assessing use of nine general and emotion-specific regulatory strategies (e.g., denial, anger expression). As a proxy for how flexibly participants regulate their affect, variability in the use of regulatory strategies was operationalized using a standard deviation-based algorithm and considered categorically (i.e., lower, moderate, greater variability) to assess non-linear effects. Participants also provided data on relevant covariates and 24 allostatic load biomarkers (e.g., cortisol, blood pressure). In 2017-2021, these biomarkers were again collected. Linear regressions modeled betas (β) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) examining associations of affect regulatory constructs with future allostatic load., Results: In fully-adjusted models including initial allostatic load, general regulatory strategies were unrelated to future allostatic load. Yet, greater versus moderate affect regulation variability levels predicted lower allostatic load (β=-0.14; 95 %CI: -0.27, -0.01). Only among more educated participants, greater use of anger expression predicted lower allostatic load, while the reverse was noted with anger control (β expression =-0.12; 95 %CI: -0.20, -0.05; β control =0.14; 95 %CI: 0.05, 0.24)., Conclusions: While general regulatory strategies appeared unrelated to allostatic load, greater variability in their use and anger-related strategies showed predictive value. Subsequent studies should examine these associations in larger, more diverse samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors do not have any declarations of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder in the DSM-5-TR features the option to designate levels of support for social communication (SC) and restricted, repetitive behaviors (RRB). These levels are conceptual in nature, but research indicates standardized assessment outcomes correspond with clinician-assigned levels of support. The purpose of the present study was to identify factors that influence designated levels of support for SC and RRBs when diagnosing autism. Standardized assessment scores across intellectual functioning, adaptive skills, and ASD symptomology were analyzed to determine corresponding levels of support in SC and RRBs assigned by clinicians for 136 autistic children following a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation. At diagnosis, approximately 46% of participants were described as needing substantial support (Level 2) for SC and 49% were described as needing substantial support (Level 2) for RRB. There was a consistent pattern of higher to lower intellectual and adaptive functioning needing Level 1-Level 3 support. Autism assessment results followed a gradient of fewer to greater autism symptoms from Level 1 to Level 3 support. Findings indicated clinician-assigned levels of support for SC and RRB were associated with intellectual functioning, adaptive functioning, autism symptomology, and age, but not sex., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Physiological synchrony is an important biological process during which parent-child interaction plays a significant role in shaping child socioemotional adjustment. The present study held a context-dependent perspective to examine the conditional association between parent-child physiological synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment (i.e., relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation) under different (i.e., from highly unsupportive to highly supportive) emotional contexts. One hundred and fifty school-age Chinese children (M age  = 8.64 years, 63 girls) and their primary caregivers participated in this study. After attaching electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes, parent-child dyads were instructed to complete a 4-minute conflict discussion task. Parent-child physiological synchrony was calculated based on the within-dyad association between parents' and children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) levels across eight 30-second epochs. Parental emotional support, child relationship quality with parents, and child emotion regulation during the discussion task were coded by trained research assistants. Supporting our hypotheses, parental emotional support moderated the relations of parent-child RSA synchrony with both child relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation. Furthermore, the Johnson-Neyman technique of moderation indicated that the associations between parent and child RSA synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment indicators shifted from negative to positive as the parental emotional support became increasingly high. Our findings suggest that parent-child physiological synchrony may not be inherently adaptive or maladaptive, highlighting the importance of understanding the function of parent-child physiological synchrony under specific contexts. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Physiological synchrony may not be inherently adaptive or maladaptive, and the meanings of parent-child physiological synchrony might be contingent on contextual factors. Parental emotional support moderated the relations between parent-child respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment indicators (i.e., child relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation). More positive/less negative parent-child RSA synchrony was associated with better child socioemotional adjustment under a supportive emotional context, whereas with poorer child socioemotional adjustment under an unsupportive emotional context. These findings highlight the significance of considering the emotional context in physiological synchrony studies., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Synchronous positive affect (SPA) is a key element of parent-child interaction quality which is related to favorable developmental outcomes. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents tend to show less SPA compared to other populations. The current study explored changes in SPA made by parents and their children with ASD following the Preschool-Based Early Start Denver Model (PB-ESDM) intervention. Thirty children receiving PB-ESDM and 23 receiving treatment-as-usual (TAU) were assessed pre- and post- intervention using microanalysis of video-recorded parent-child interactions, in which SPA was quantified. Results showed a significant increase in SPA among children receiving PB-ESDM who had lower pre-treatment adaptive functioning. These findings suggest that SPA may serve as a sensitive treatment outcome measure for children with poorer adaptive functioning, who often struggle to show significant changes on standardized measures. The study's modest sample and non-randomized design are noted as limitations., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: Stroke negatively impacts both patients and their families, who must face multiple changes after the onset of the disease. Family caregivers must face new problems with a possible sense of inadequacy, stress and burden. Our retrospective study aimed to assess the burden of caregivers during the rehabilitation process of patients with Stroke., Material and Method: This study included patients with a diagnosis of stroke and their caregiver, who attended the Day Hospital of the IRCCS Neurolesi Center "Bonino-Pulejo", Messina, Italy, between January 2018 and October 2019, using electronic recovery system data. The final sample consisted of 30 patients and their caregivers., Results: Significant improvements were observed in patients' cognitive and mood scores, reflecting the efficacy of rehabilitation therapies. Additionally, a correlation emerged between patients' reported anxiety levels and caregivers' reported depression levels, highlighting a dynamic interaction between the emotional states of the two groups., Conclusion: The study highlights the intricate interplay between caregiver characteristics, patient outcomes, and family dynamics in the context of caregiving. Targeted interventions aimed at improving family resilience and coping mechanisms are crucial to optimizing the well-being of both caregivers and patients., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The mindfulness level of hospitalized elderly is influenced by factors such as physical health, emotional resilience, and social support. However, little is known regarding the relationship between medical coping styles and mindfulness levels of hospitalized elderly. The aims of this study were to explore the association between medical coping styles and mindfulness levels in hospitalized elderly patients, with a focus on identifying actionable strategies to enhance patient well-being., Methods: A survey of 253 elderly patients was conducted in the Department of Geriatrics of a 3 A hospital in Tangshan from September to November 2022 using the General Questionnaire, Medical Coping Style Scale (MCMQ), and Mindfulness-Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)., Results: The average mindfulness level score of the hospitalized elderly was (59.71 ± 13.90), with a scoring rate of 66.34%, at a moderate mindfulness level. This study revealed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.725, P < 0.05) between confrontation coping and mindfulness, highlighting the importance of promoting active coping strategies to improve mindfulness levels in elderly patients., Conclusion: The mindfulness level of the hospitalized elderly shows potential for improvement, their coping styles are closely related to their mindfulness level, and positive coping styles can help improve the mindfulness level of the hospitalized elderly. This study suggested that medical staff can consider formulating targeted interventions, contingent upon available resources and training, guide patients to establish positive coping styles, and improve the mindfulness level of hospitalized elderly people., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

CACNA1C, coding for the α1 subunit of L-type voltage-gated calcium channel (LTCC) Ca v 1.2, has been associated with multiple psychiatric disorders. Clinical studies have revealed alterations in behavior as well as in brain structure and function in CACNA1C risk allele carriers. These findings are supported by rodent models of Ca v 1.2 deficiency, which showed increased anxiety, cognitive and social impairments as well as a shift towards active stress-coping strategies. These behavioral alterations were accompanied by functional deficits, such as reduced long-term potentiation (LTP) and an excitation/inhibition (E/I) imbalance. However, these preclinical studies are largely limited to male rodents, with few studies exploring sex-specific effects. Here, we investigated the effects of Ca v 1.2 deficiency in forebrain glutamatergic neurons in female conditional knockout (CKO) mice. CKO mice exhibited hyperlocomotion in a novel environment, increased anxiety-related behavior, cognitive deficits, and increased active stress-coping behavior. These behavioral alterations were neither influenced by the stage of the estrous cycle nor by the Nex/Neurod6 haploinsufficiency or Cre expression, which are intrinsically tied to the utilization of the Nex-Cre driver line for conditional inactivation of Cacna1c. In the hippocampus, Ca v 1.2 inactivation enhanced presynaptic paired-pulse facilitation without altering postsynaptic LTP at CA3-CA1 synapses. In addition, CA1 pyramidal neurons of female CKO mice displayed a reduction in dendritic complexity and spine density. Taken together, our findings extend the existing knowledge suggesting Ca v 1.2-dependent structural and functional alterations as possible mechanisms for the behavioral alterations observed in female Ca v 1.2-Nex mice., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Effective regulation of emotions is essential in coping with everyday stressors. Although cognitive reappraisal and acceptance are both commonly employed to downregulate negative emotions, they differ in many aspects. Their effectiveness in real-life situations can also be influenced by prior stress or a person's trait preferences for certain emotion regulation (ER) strategies. In the present study, we compared the effectiveness of both ER strategies in a laboratory setting, while focussing on the effect of stress and trait moderators. Ninety-eight healthy participants aged 18-40 were randomly divided into three groups with instructions to use reappraisal, acceptance, or nothing while viewing distressing pictures from the IAPS database. Half of the participants in each group underwent a laboratory stressor (socially evaluated cold pressor test) 20-30 min before the ER task. The effectiveness of ER was measured subjectively on the visual analog scale, and by measuring heart rate, skin conductance, and pupil responses. The data show that cognitive reappraisal lowered subjectively experienced negative emotion, while acceptance did not. These group differences were however not supported by psychophysiological indicators. Secondly, although the laboratory stressor elicited cortisol stress responses in our participants, we did not find any effect on ER. Furthermore, the data has not supported the moderation effect by trait reappraisal and acceptance. The present findings show that deliberate usage of ER strategies when viewing emotionally charged pictures leads to a decrease in experienced emotion. On the other hand, the effects of stress and trait moderators were not supported, therefore they may be smaller and more variable than expected., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Safety behaviors, both positive (maladaptive coping behavior) and negative (avoidance behavior), are used by people with paranoid delusions to avoid perceived threats. Safety behaviors contribute to the persistence of paranoid delusions by preventing disconfirmation of threat beliefs and may influence other psychiatric symptoms. This study investigated how changes in safety behaviors are related to changes in paranoid ideation, social anxiety, depression, cognitive biases and self-esteem over time., Methods: This study included 116 patients diagnosed with a psychotic disorder (DSM-IV) and at least moderate levels of paranoid ideations (GTPS >40).The data were collected as part of a multi-center randomized controlled trial where patients were randomized to VR-CBT (n = 58) or treatment as usual (TAU; n = 58). Assessments were completed at baseline (T0), after three months (T3) and after six months (T6). For all variables, change scores between T0 and T3 and T3 and T6 were calculated and Pearson correlations between change scores were computed., Results: A decrease in total safety behavior was related to diminished paranoid ideation, social anxiety, and depression. No significant temporal associations were found between changes in safety behavior and changes in cognitive biases and self-esteem. Similar but less robust results were found for respectively negative safety behavior and positive safety behavior., Conclusion: Dropping safety behavior can be specifically targeted in behavioral interventions. Whereas there appears to be a relation with reduction in anxiety, paranoia, and depressive symptoms, changes in safety behavior do not seem to align with changes in cognitive thinking processes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to the subject of the study., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Disability is a key factor related to self-concept change following a Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnosis. Psychosocial factors (e.g., social integration, marital support) are also associated with changing self-concept in people with MS (pwMS). What remains unclear however, is whether psychosocial factors account for the relationship between disability and self-concept change. The current study aimed to investigate the potential mediation effect of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) on the relationship between disability and self-concept change in pwMS, and whether relationship satisfaction is a moderator of the mediated relationship., Method: Nine hundred and ninety-five pwMS (79.5 % female; Age M = 59.72 years, SD = 11.15) completed measures of disability, HRQoL, and self-concept change. Of these participants, seven hundred and twenty-six pwMS who indicated they were currently in a relationship also completed a measure of relationship satisfaction., Results: A moderated mediation (conditional process) analysis indicated that the relationship between disability and self-concept change was partially mediated by HRQoL. A further parallel mediation found that across the eight subdomains of HRQoL, only participants' reported levels of 'relationships' and 'coping' significantly mediated the relationship between disability and self-concept change. However, for those participants in a relationship, relationship satisfaction did not moderate any mediation effects., Conclusion: The findings highlight the role that perceptions of HRQoL in some domains may have in explaining the relationship between disability and self-concept change. Further research is needed to explicate the causal direction of these relationships through longitudinal studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, associated with a reduction in life expectancy of 15-20 years. Available treatments are at least partially effective in most affected individuals, and personal resources such as resilience (successful adaptation despite adversity) and coping abilities (strategies used to deal with stressful or threatening situations), are important determinants of disease outcomes and long-term sustained recovery. Published findings support the existence of a genetic background underlying resilience and coping, with variable heritability estimates. However, genome-wide analyses concerning the genetic determinants of these personal resources, especially in the context of schizophrenia, are lacking. Here, we performed a genome-wide association study coupled with accessory analyses to investigate potential genetic determinants of resilience, coping and self-esteem in 490 schizophrenia patients. Results revealed a complex genetic background partly overlapping with that of neuroticism, worry and schizophrenia itself and support the importance of social aspects in shapingthese psychological constructs. Hippocampal neurogenesis and lipid metabolism appear to be potentially relevant biological underpinnings, and specific miRNAs such as miR-124 and miR-137 may warrant further studies as potential biomarkers. In conclusion, this study represents an important first step in the identification of genetic and biological correlates shaping resilience, coping resources and self-esteem in schizophrenia., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The rapid development of social reform and the economy has brought great challenges to the mental health of college students. However, there are few studies on the impact of these psychological problems on college students' English learning. As a special group about to enter society, studying the mental health of college students in foreign language learning is of great significance. This paper discusses the principle of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and the interactive mechanism to support college students' foreign language learning. Additionally, the adaptability supporting college students' foreign language learning is analyzed according to the current situation of AI supporting foreign language learning. Then, the mental health of college students in the AI environment is investigated and analyzed. This paper takes foreign and non-foreign language majors of Changchun University of Technology as the object and uses questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observation to obtain basic data. The results show that college students' adaptability to foreign language learning is higher than that of non-foreign. Students' intelligent operation and knowledge storage level impact their adaptability to foreign language learning. Psychological health problems include learning anxiety, loneliness, depression, and inferiority in college students' foreign language learning. These negative emotions, to a certain extent, affect the learning effect of college students' foreign language learning. This paper is of great significance to the adaptability of college students' foreign language learning to the intelligent environment and the analysis of their mental health problems. This paper hopes to provide data reference for the research on improving college students' foreign language learning effects., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objectives: Deteriorating interactive ability of people with dementia challenges formal caregivers. In Finland, Deaf people with advanced dementia may live in a nursing home designed for their care where the staff use Finnish Sign Language (FiSL). This study describes the perceptions of formal caregivers, focusing on the challenges, how they solve the challenges, and what support they need to improve interaction with Deaf residents., Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 13 formal caregivers who work with Deaf people with dementia were conducted and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. A purposive sampling was used., Results: Three key themes were challenges in interaction, strategies in supporting interaction, and support for coping. Caregivers perceived challenges in interaction caused by linguistic changes, deteriorating physical mobility and memory, and Deaf residents' behavioral challenges. Caregivers supported Deaf residents by learning to know them and using personal and linguistic strategies. Support for coping comprised supporting family members and other caregivers., Conclusions: Efficient skills in sign language (SL) and knowledge of dementia are essential in interacting with Deaf residents and to build interpersonal relationships for care., Clinical Implications: Supporting Deaf residents requires learning the way they interact which can be achieved over time.

Use of religious coping in response to life stress is associated with improved mental and physical health outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of religious coping on conscious self-reported and non-conscious physiological stress responses to an acute, real-world stressor to better understand how this benefit may be conferred. This study examined the trajectory of subjective distress and cortisol patterns leading up to and following a stressful college exam using daily diary and ambulatory saliva samples, respectively ( N students = 246). Religious coping was not significantly associated with subjective reports of distress. However, prior to the exam, greater use of religious coping was associated with an ostensibly more adaptive accelerated return to a cortisol baseline. This protective effect was no longer significant when the exam was over, suggesting that religious coping acts as a protective buffer against physiological stress responses rather than aiding in subjective recovery from stress.

The oxytocin system plays a role in social stress adaptation, and this role is likely to be particularly important in adolescence. One method of regulating the oxytocin system is through DNA methylation in the promoter of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTRm), which reduces the gene's expression. This multi-method, longitudinal study, using a diverse community sample of 184 adolescents followed from age 13-28, examined the links between OXTRm and exposure to over-controlling parenting in adolescence and conflict with romantic partners and internalizing symptoms in adulthood. Female, but not male, adolescents who were exposed to psychologically controlling parenting at age 13 had lower levels of OXTRm at site -924 at age 28. Reduced OXTRm at site -924 was associated with greater romantic partner-reported relationship conflict at age 27, and reduced OXTRm at site -934 was marginally associated with greater participant-reported conflict for males. Reduced OXTRm at site -924 was also associated with fewer internalizing symptoms at ages 24-25. These results in adulthood are consistent with an upregulated oxytocin system reducing the salience of negative socioemotional stimuli. Overall, findings are consistent with oxytocin playing a role in the stress response system, and more specifically, by helping us to adapt to social environments like parenting and romantic relationships, reducing the salience of negativity, and reducing risk for common emotional problems., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Foster parents have been shown to report higher levels of parenting stress but also more dyadic coping (DC) behaviors in their partnership than biological parents, which might be an important protective factor that helps them cope with daily stressors. Here, we examined how parenting stress and DC are related in foster and biological parents and whether these are reflected in long-term alterations of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity. A total of 79 foster mothers and 131 biological mothers participated in a longitudinal study. At the initial assessment, children were aged 2-7 years and lived for an average of 18 months in their current foster family. Mothers' cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) concentrations and their cortisol/DHEA ratios were assessed in scalp hair twice with approximately 11 months in between, while their perceived parenting stress and DC were measured by self-report questionnaires. Results showed no significant differences between foster mothers and biological mothers in cortisol, DHEA and cortisol/DHEA concentrations. While more DC was longitudinally related to lower levels of parenting stress across both study groups, no significant associations were found to endocrine markers. Thus, these findings indicate that increased parenting stress levels were not, or not strongly, reflected in HPA axis alterations as assessed in hair. Our findings thus add evidence for non-significant associations between self-reported perceived stress and chronic HPA axis markers. Future studies may explore whether early interventions, including those aimed at promoting and maintaining positive DC, are beneficial in preventing the development of stress-related illnesses in foster parents., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Reindl et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Abstract: Stress is an adaptive response crucial for survival. However, chronic stress can lead to maladaptive behaviors and health issues. Prolonged stress reduces the flexibility of defensive coping behaviors. Previous studies have shown that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc) play critical roles in maintaining active avoidance instead of freezing behaviors in face of threats. This study aimed to investigate whether chronic stress altered the prelimbic cortex, infralimbic cortex, NAc core and the NAc shell neuronal activation levels and the defensive coping in male rats in face of danger, and we hypothesized that the activation levels of these two brain regions would decrease and the animals would spend more time in freezing. The animals underwent a chronic restraint stress procedure (2 h/day) for consecutive 14 days. Using a cued lever-pressing shock avoidance task, we assessed the avoidance coping and the neuronal activities in the mPFC and the NAc. Our results showed that compared to nonstressed controls, animals that underwent chronic restraint stress were slower in gaining body weight and developed despair-like behaviors in the forced swim test. However, contrary to our hypothesis, chronic restraint stress did not alter active avoidance coping or neuronal activation levels of the mPFC and the NAc., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Physiological Investigation.)

Introduction: In this study we examine the issue of employee burnout, caused by long-term exposure to workplace stressors, considering its complex phenomenology in the context of contemporary psychological and psychiatric views. Towards the development of innovative technologies to correct burnout in the context of psychosocial rehabilitation, we present our study protocol involving the ReViSide virtual reality (VR) and biofeedback intervention, including monitoring of respiratory rates and EEG rhythms., Methods: The randomized controlled trial protocol includes adult participants aged 18 to 65 years (n=140) who exhibit emotional burnout in the workplace. The intervention group will undergo a course of VR correction (ReViSide), while the control group receives a standard psychocorrection. The primary endpoint will be level of emotional burnout to the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). We shall also assess anxiety, depression, asthenia and subjective improvement in condition using validated scales (HADS, HARS, HDRS, VAS-A, PGI-C)., Results: We shall test our hypothesis that the VR-correction group will show significant improvements in MBI scores, particularly in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment, compared to the control group. Secondary outcome measures are likewise expected to demonstrate more prominent improvements in the VR group, correlating with the magnitude of burnout reduction to MBI. Analysis of EEG data may reveal changes in alpha rhythm patterns during VR sessions, potentially correlating with reduced distress levels., Conclusions: We designed this study to test the integration of an interdisciplinary approach for treating burnout, highlighting the ReViSide technology. Confirming the efficacy of this approach for psychosocial rehabilitation targeting burnout states among employees should improve their stress resilience, daily motivation, and work productivity in the context of the modern high working pressure environment and demanding corporate culture.

Abstract: Under threats, individuals exhibit freezing behavior and prepare for active coping. The ability to flexibly shift between freezing and active coping increases survival chances in animals and decreases susceptibility to mental disorders among human beings. For example, patients with psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder, often show maladaptive coping behaviors. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a critical hub to process higher cognitive functions, sensory inputs, reward learning, and decision-making. It also regulates negative emotions and its aberrant activation level often correlates with numerous mental disorders. The rodent OFC comprises different subdivisions with varying connections to cortical and subcortical regions. Among these subdivisions, the medial orbital area (MO) and the lateral orbital area (LO) have distinct functions in the regulation of fear. Here, we updated the existing rodent literature studying the function of the OFC, with a particular focus on the MO and the LO in different coping strategies of animals. By examining the role of the OFC in the mediation of defensive coping strategies, we aim to deepen the understanding of its functional importance on mental health., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Physiological Investigation.)

Anatomical connectivity and lesion-deficit studies have shown that the dorsal and ventral hippocampi contribute to cognitive and emotional processes, respectively. However, the role of the dorsal hippocampus (dHP) in emotional or stress-related behaviors remains unclear. Here, we showed that neuronal activity in the dHP affects stress-coping behaviors in mice via excitatory projections to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The antidepressant ketamine rapidly induced c-Fos expression in both the dorsal and ventral hippocampi. The suppression of GABAergic transmission in the dHP-induced molecular changes similar to those induced by ketamine administration, including eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) dephosphorylation, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) elevation, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation. These synaptic and molecular changes in the dHP induced a reduction in the immobility time of the mice in the tail-suspension and forced swim tests without affecting anxiety-related behavior. Conversely, pharmacological and chemogenetic potentiation of inhibitory neurotransmission in the dHP CA1 region induced passive coping behaviors during the tests. Transneuronal tracing and electrophysiology revealed monosynaptic excitatory connections between dHP CA1 neurons and mPFC neurons. Optogenetic stimulation of dHP CA1 neurons in freely behaving mice produced c-Fos induction and spike firing in the mPFC neurons. Chemogenetic activation of the dHP-recipient mPFC neurons reversed the passive coping behaviors induced by suppression of dHP CA1 neuronal activity. Collectively, these results indicate that neuronal activity in the dHP modulates stress-coping strategies to inescapable stress and contributes to the antidepressant effects of ketamine via the dHP-mPFC circuit., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The conflict monitoring theory posits that the simultaneous activation of incompatible responses in the current trial leads to response conflict. Conflict occurrence signals to enhance attention to the target stimulus, reduce attention to distracting stimuli, and ultimately lead to conflict adaptation (i.e., reduced interference effect after conflict trials compared to nonconflict trials). However, this theory does not explicitly assume whether the involvement of response execution is necessary in the process of conflict occurrence. Research on the negative emotion theory suggests that even in the absence of response execution, incompatible response representations can induce conflict. Our present study aimed to provide direct behavioural evidence regarding whether conflict activated without response execution is sufficient to trigger conflict adaptation. In a word-colour Stroop task, this study employed the LOOK-to-DO transition design, in which participants refrained from responding in half of the trials (LOOK trials) and responded with key presses in the other half (DO trials). Across three experiments, we controlled for feature integration and contingency learning and manipulated the stimulus presentation duration in the previous trial. The results indicated a significant conflict adaptation effect in reaction time when the stimulus presentation duration was shorter in the previous trial. This finding suggested that in a confounding-minimal design with no response execution in the previous trial, conflict triggers control adjustments and leads to conflict adaptation. This finding aligns with and further elaborates on the original conflict monitoring theory by demonstrating that response execution is not a necessary condition for the generation of response conflict. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

How adolescents and their parents cope with adolescent stress is relevant for child well-being. (In)congruencies between parent and child perceptions of child stress may be important sources of information for understanding family functioning. However, research assessing the occurrence of stressful events in adolescents' daily lives from the perspective of both adolescents and their parents is lacking, likely because this type of research comes with numerous challenges. Therefore, this pilot study examined the feasibility of two different paradigms, daily diary and the experience sampling method (ESM), for triadic (child-mother-father) assessment of adolescent stress in daily life. Twenty family triads participated either in the diary paradigm (receiving one survey per day) or the ESM paradigm (receiving multiple surveys per day). Results indicated that both paradigms seemed doable to participants in terms of experienced burden, and individual compliance to the paradigms was sufficient. The absolute number of reported stressors was similar across paradigms. In addition, both paradigms captured convergence and divergence in the family members' reports of adolescent stress and between- and within-family differences therein. However, diary participants experienced lower burden and missed relatively less assessments (higher individual and triadic compliance) than ESM participants, suggesting higher data quality. In all, these findings suggest that although both paradigms may be feasible, a diary paradigm may be preferred to capture triadic family reports of adolescent stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Social support from family and friends, albeit associated with beneficial health effects, does not always help to cope with pain. This may be because humans elicit mixed expectations of social support and evaluative judgment. The present studies aimed to test whether pet dogs are a more beneficial source of support in a painful situation than human companions because they are not evaluative. For this, 74 (Study 1) and 50 (Study 2) women completed a cold-pressor task in the presence of either their own (S1) or an unfamiliar (S2) dog, a friend (S1), or an unknown human companion (S2), or alone. In both studies, participants reported less pain and exhibited less pain behavior in the presence of dogs compared to human companions. Reactions to pain were moderated by attitudes towards dogs in S2. This suggests that pet dogs may help individuals to cope with painful situations, especially if the individual in pain generally feels affectionate towards dogs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

When it comes to coping with stress, positive emotion upregulation is of utmost importance. Positive emotions have been suggested to be an important resource during stressful times since people try to create and upregulate pleasant emotional states when feeling stressed. Accordingly, individual differences in the ability to generate and savor positive emotional states could also affect one's skills in dealing with stress. In this regard, an important factor might be depression, which is associated with impaired positive emotion regulation. To disentangle the reciprocal influence between perceived stress and positive emotion upregulation, we conducted an Ecological Momentary Assessment study ( n = 92) in which we assessed participants' stress levels and use of positive upregulating strategies (attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation) three times a day over 2 weeks. Results from linear mixed-effects models showed that higher levels of perceived stress at one point predicted increased use of positive upregulating strategies from this point to the next which, in turn, resulted in subsequent diminished stress levels. Interaction analyses indicated that participants with higher depressive symptoms implemented upregulating strategies to a lower extent when experiencing intense stress. Furthermore, attentional deployment was less effective in decreasing stress in individuals higher in depression, whereas the other strategies showed comparable or even higher efficacy. Overall, positive emotion upregulation might be regarded as an adaptive tool that helps cope with stress. This mechanism might be altered in people higher in depression, who specifically struggle to implement positive upregulating strategies during times of stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: In daily life, we must dynamically and flexibly deploy strategies to regulate our emotions, which depends on awareness of emotions and internal bodily signals. Variability in emotion-regulation strategy use may predict fewer negative emotions, especially when people pay more attention to their bodily states-or have greater "interoceptive attention" (IA). Using experience sampling, this study aimed to test whether IA predicts variability in strategy use and whether this variability and IA together predict negative affect., Methods: University student participants ( n = 203; 165 females; Mage = 20.68, SD age = 1.84) completed trait questionnaires and reported state levels of IA, emotional awareness, negative affect, and emotion-regulation strategies, seven times daily for 1 week., Results: State IA significantly predicted between-strategy variability, which was mediated by emotional awareness (indirect effect = 0.002, 95% confidence interval = <0.001-0.003). Between-strategy variability was associated with lower negative affect, particularly when individuals had higher state IA (simple slope = -0.83, t = -5.87, p < .001) versus lower IA (simple slope = -0.31, t = -2.62, p = .009)., Conclusions: IA appears to facilitate adaptative emotion regulation and help alleviate negative affect. Findings underscore the key roles of IA and emotion-regulation flexibility in mental health., (Copyright © 2024 by the American Psychosomatic Society.)

We aimed to assess the mental health of adults living in Ukraine one year after onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war, along with quality of life and coping strategies. Quota sampling was used to collect online survey data from 2364 adults aged 18-79 years living in Ukraine from April 5, 2023 to May 15, 2023. Among adults living in Ukraine, 14.4 % had probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), another 8.9 % had complex PTSD (CPTSD), 44.2 % had probable depressive disorder, 23.1 % had anxiety disorder and 38.6 % showed significant loneliness. In adjusted models, the number of trauma events experienced during the war showed a dose-response association with PTSD/CPTSD and was associated with depressive disorder and anxiety disorder. Quality of life domains, particularly physical quality of life, were negatively associated with PTSD/CPTSD, depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and number of trauma events. Maladaptive coping was positively associated with depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, PTSD/CPTSD and loneliness. All quality of life domains were positively associated with using adaptive coping strategies. Mental health disorders are highly prevalent in adults living in Ukraine one year into the war. Policy and services can promote adaptive coping strategies to improve mental health and quality of life for increased resilience during war., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Conflict leads to the displacement of people, making it more difficult for them to cope with increasing stress. In war-affected regions, people use different strategies to cope with their stress. This study examines the coping strategies of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and those in host communities in war zones., Methods: People living in the IDP camp and host communities in Maiduguri, Nigeria were recruited using a convenient sampling strategy. A 28-item Hausa version of the Brief COPE Scale wasused for data collection. Data were analyzed using linear regression and presented as unstandardized beta (B) and standard error (SE)., Results: A total of 562 participants were recruited (IDPs, n = 281; and the host communities, n = 281). Problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies were identified as the most common approaches used in host communities; however, dysfunctional strategies were morecommon among the IDPs. Age (younger or older adulthood) was identified as a predictor forthe use of emotion-, problem-, and dysfunctional-focused coping strategies., Conclusion: Host communities were more likely to use a problem-and emotion-focused approach to coping, while IDPs were more likely to use dysfunctional strategies. Location and demographic factors (being single, aged 18-29years, >50 years and older) also influenced coping., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors declare that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Coping strategies used in response to stress have the potential to influence the development of mental health disorders, including alcohol use disorders. The current study investigated whether coping strategies placed an individual at greater likelihood for developing a future alcohol use disorder., Methods: This study used data from the Canadian Armed Forces Members and Veterans Mental Health Follow-up Survey; a nationally representative 16-year follow-up survey, with initial data collected in the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey - Canadian Forces Supplement. The total sample from the two datasets included 2941 individuals who were Regular Force members in 2002. Coping styles included problem-focused, avoidant, and self-medication. Adjusted logistic regression analyses examined relationships between coping style (in 2002) and alcohol use disorders (developed between 2002 and 2018)., Results: Self-medication coping in 2002 was associated with any alcohol disorder since last interview (i.e., 2002-2018) (AOR 1.26; 95 % CI, 1.02-1.57) and during the past year (adjusted odds ratios [AOR 1.26; 95 % CI, 1.08-1.47]), as well as past-year binge drinking (AOR 1.19; 95 % CI, 1.09-1.29). Problem-focused coping was protective against past-year alcohol abuse (AOR 0.84; 95 % CI, 0.71-1.00) and any alcohol use disorder (AOR 0.87; 95 % CI 0.76-1.00)., Conclusion: Coping styles were strongly associated with future alcohol use disorders. Notably, results show the risk extended over a 16-year period. Findings suggest the use of self-medicating coping strategies places an individual at increased risk of developing alcohol use disorders, while problem-focused coping may decrease future risk of alcohol use disorders., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Emotional dysregulation (ED) impacts functional outcomes among individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Self-awareness and strategies may enhance coping with ED yet are rarely studied in ADHD., Objectives: To explore ED-related self-awareness and strategies in daily life of adults with ADHD, and to examine the interrelations between them and their association with symptoms., Methods: Sixty young adults with ADHD participated in a mixed-method study. At baseline, self-awareness and strategies were assessed using the Self-Regulation Skills Interview (SRSI); ADHD symptoms were self-rated using the ASRS symptom checklist. Then, symptoms were rated over 5-days using ecological momentary assessment (EMA)., Results: Significant challenges in self-awareness and strategies were demonstrated quantitatively and qualitatively. Awareness of ED was associated with variability of ADHD symptoms on EMA yet not with symptom severity. Qualitative content analysis revealed a range of self-awareness levels, which were related to noticing ED-related cues and understanding contextual factors predictive of ED. Self-awareness and strategies were significantly associated. Strategies varied regarding effort, individual preference and temporality., Conclusions: Variability of ADHD symptoms was negatively associated with self-awareness of ED. Strategy selection in daily-life among adults with ADHD may be affected by self-awareness and by a possible trade-off between short-term effort and long-term effectiveness.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms affect 40-60% of autistic children and have been linked to differences in adaptive behavior. It is unclear whether adaptive behavior in autistic youth is directly impacted by co-occurring ADHD symptoms or by another associated feature of both autism and ADHD, such as increased irritability. The current study examined relationships between irritability, ADHD symptoms, and adaptive behavior in 3- to 7-year-old autistic children. Results suggest that, after adjusting for co-occurring ADHD symptoms, higher levels of irritability are associated with differences in social adaptive behavior specifically. Understanding relationships between irritability, ADHD, and adaptive behavior in autistic children is critical because measures of adaptive behavior, such as the Vineland Scales of Adaptive Functioning, are often used as a proxy for global functioning, as well as for developing intervention plans and measuring outcomes as primary endpoints in clinical trials., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) stands out as a prominent cause of inherited intellectual disability and a prevalent disorder closely linked to autism. FXS is characterized by substantial alterations in social behavior, encompassing social withdrawal, avoidance of eye contact, heightened social anxiety, increased arousal levels, language deficits, and challenges in regulating emotions. Conventional behavioral assessments primarily focus on short-term interactions within controlled settings. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive examination of the adaptive group behavior of Fmr1 KO male mice over a three-day period, without introducing experimental interventions or task-based evaluations. The data unveiled intricate behavioral anomalies, with the most significant changes manifesting during the initial adaptation to unfamiliar environments. Notably, certain behaviors exhibited a gradual return to typical patterns over time. This dynamic Fmr1 KO phenotype exhibited heightened activity, featuring increased exploration, amplified social interest, and an unconventional approach to social interactions characterized by a higher frequency of shorter engagements. These findings contribute to the growing understanding of social behavior in individuals with FXS and underscore the significance of comprehending their adaptive responses in various environmental contexts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Stress-related disorders are commonly associated with abnormalities in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Preliminary studies with cortisol administration in the aftermath of trauma suggest that this HPA axis hormone can potentially prevent maladaptive behavioral and biological stress responses. However, the efficacy of glucocorticoid administration during the peripuberty period has not been tested yet, although this lifetime is a critical time window in brain development and is highly sensitive to the harmful effects of stress. To further examine the short and long-lasting impact of glucocorticoids treatment given during the post-peripubertal stress period, the present study utilized a rat model of peripubertal stress-induced psychopathology and animals were subjected to a battery of tests to assess anxiety-like behaviors, exploratory behavior and reactivity to novelty at late adolescence and sociability, anhedonia and stress coping behaviors at adulthood. All the experiments were performed in males and females to evaluate the potential behavioral sex differences. Overall, our results demonstrated that rats exposed to peripubertal stress show decreased sociability in adulthood without differences in anxiety and depression-like behaviors. Moreover, this study shows that the administration of corticosterone after stress exposure at peripuberty does not prevent stress-induced behavioral alterations. However, we observed that some stress-induced behavioural alterations and corticosterone responses are sex-specific. Thus, the data obtained highlight that delineating sex differences in stress-related studies may ultimately contribute to the development of effective therapeutic interventions for each sex., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None, (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Mastery may shape the way individuals cope with life challenges and influence cognitive function in later life. Mastery grows out of traumatic experience and could change over the life course. This study examined the within-person and between-person associations of mastery and cognitive function, and if these associations were moderated by age in the United States., Method: Data were derived from three time points (2006-2008, 2010-2012, and 2014-2016) of the Health and Retirement Study, with 14,461 adults (aged 51 or above). Cognitive function was measured through a 27-point Telephone Interview Cognitive Screen (TICS). Mastery was measured by a modified Pearlin Mastery Scale. Multilevel modeling was employed to analyze the data., Results: Both within-person ( β =0.124, SE = 0.023, p < 0.001) and between-person ( β =0.089, SE = 0.029, p = 0.002) mastery were significantly associated with cognitive function. Older adults with higher between-person mastery tended to have slower cognitive decline ( β =0.063, SE = 0.021, p < 0.001). Moreover, age moderated the within-person ( β =0.013, SE = 0.003, p < 0.001) associations between mastery and cognition with a stronger association observed among individuals with older age., Conclusions: The current study provides evidence for within-person and between-person associations between mastery and global cognition in the United States as well as the moderating role of age. The design of the current study did not directly assess the causal direction between mastery and cognitive function. Future studies could test the directionality of associations between mastery and cognitive function., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Primates must adapt to changing environments by optimizing their behavior to make beneficial choices. At the core of adaptive behavior is the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of the brain, which updates choice value through direct experience or knowledge-based inference. Here, we identify distinct neural circuitry underlying these two separate abilities. We designed two behavioral tasks in which two male macaque monkeys updated the values of certain items, either by directly experiencing changes in stimulus-reward associations, or by inferring the value of unexperienced items based on the task's rules. Chemogenetic silencing of bilateral OFC combined with mathematical model-fitting analysis revealed that monkey OFC is involved in updating item value based on both experience and inference. In vivo imaging of chemogenetic receptors by positron emission tomography allowed us to map projections from the OFC to the rostromedial caudate nucleus (rmCD) and the medial part of the mediodorsal thalamus (MDm). Chemogenetic silencing of the OFC-rmCD pathway impaired experience-based value updating, while silencing the OFC-MDm pathway impaired inference-based value updating. Our results thus demonstrate dissociable contributions of distinct OFC projections to different behavioral strategies, and provide new insights into the neural basis of value-based adaptive decision-making in primates., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Early life stress may lead to lifelong impairments in psychophysiological functions, including emotional and reward systems. Unpredicted decrease in reward magnitude generates a negative emotional state (frustration) that may be involved with susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. We evaluated, in adolescents and adult rats of both sexes, whether maternal separation (MS) alters the ability to cope with an unexpected reduction of reward later in life. Litters of Wistar rats were divided into controls (non handled - NH) or subjected to MS. Animals were trained to find sugary cereal pellets; later the amount was reduced. Increased latency to reach the reward-associated area indicates higher inability to regulate frustration. The dorsal hippocampus (dHC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) were evaluated for protein levels of NMDA receptor subunits (GluN2A/GluN2B), synaptophysin, PSD95, SNAP-25 and CRF1. We found that adult MS males had greater vulnerability to reward reduction, together with decreased GluN2A and increased GluN2B immunocontent in the dHC. MS females and adolescents did not differ from controls. We concluded that MS enhances the response to frustration in adult males. The change in the ratio of GluN2A and GluN2B subunits in dHC could be related to a stronger, more difficult to update memory of the aversive experience., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Many adolescents with type 1 diabetes experience diabetes distress which is associated with suboptimal glycemic and psychosocial outcomes. The ways in which adolescents respond to diabetes distress may serve as a risk or protective factor for these outcomes, but few studies have examined the coping strategies adolescents use to manage diabetes distress., Purpose: To examine the association of coping strategies with glycemic and psychosocial outcomes among adolescents experiencing diabetes distress., Methods: Participants included 198 adolescents with elevated diabetes distress who completed baseline data for a randomized controlled trial (Mage = 15.3 ± 1.4, 58% female, 58% non-Hispanic White, MA1c = 9.1 ± 2.1%). Adolescents reported on their use of coping strategies related to diabetes stressors, including primary control engagement coping (e.g., problem-solving), secondary control engagement coping (e.g., positive thinking), and disengagement coping (e.g., avoidance). Adolescents also completed measures of diabetes distress, quality of life, and resilience. HbA1c data were extracted from electronic medical records and at-home kits., Results: Higher use of primary control engagement coping was associated with better glycemic and psychosocial outcomes. Secondary control engagement coping was associated with better psychosocial outcomes but not glycemic outcomes. Greater use of disengagement coping strategies was associated with poorer glycemic and psychosocial outcomes. All associations were significant after adjusting for adolescent sex, age, race/ethnicity, and continuous glucose monitor use., Conclusions: These results build on prior findings by including a more diverse sample of adolescents and highlight the value of promoting engagement coping strategies and discouraging the use of disengagement coping strategies among adolescents experiencing diabetes distress., Clinical Trial Information: NCT03845465., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.)

Objectives: Patients with Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders (SSRD) report subjective cognitive concerns, and research indicates that they show objective cognitive impairment. This study explored the value of subjective concerns flagging objective impairment. Furthermore, we investigated whether coping moderated this relationship, and the role of depressive symptomatology., Method: In a cross-sectional design, objective impairment was measured with an extensive neuropsychological assessment; subjective concerns with the Cognitive Failure Questionnaire; coping styles with the Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations; and symptoms of depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire- 9., Results: The results show that subjective concerns are of limited value in signaling objective impairment in patients with SSRD. Regression analyses performed on data from 225 patients showed that symptoms of depression (β = .32) were the main predictor of subjective concerns, which were unrelated to objective impairment. Coping was not a moderator, but patients with emotion-oriented coping styles had more subjective concerns (β=.40), and conversely, patients with avoidance- and/or task-oriented coping styles had less (respectively, β=-.27 and β=-.24)., Conclusions: These results align with the Somatosensory Amplification Theory; patients with SSRD may amplify benign cognitive failures and experience them as intrusive, noxious, and more intense. In patients with SSRD, subjective cognitive concerns are more related to psychological constructs (symptoms of depression and coping styles) than to objective impairment.

Purpose: Diffuse low-grade gliomas (dLGG) often have a frontal location, which may negatively affect patients' executive functions (EF). Being diagnosed with dLGG and having to undergo intensive treatment can be emotionally stressful. The ability to cope with this stress in an adaptive, active and flexible way may be hampered by impaired EF. Consequently, patients may suffer from increased mental distress. The aim of the present study was to explore profiles of EF, coping and mental distress and identify characteristics of each profile., Methods: 151 patients with dLGG were included. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to explore profiles. Additional demographical, tumor and radiological characteristics were included., Results: Four clusters were found: 1) overall good functioning (25% of patients); 2) poor executive functioning, good psychosocial functioning (32%); 3) good executive functioning, poor psychosocial functioning (18%) and; 4) overall poor functioning (25%). Characteristics of the different clusters were lower educational level and more (micro)vascular brain damage (cluster 2), a younger age (cluster 3), and a larger tumor volume (cluster 4). EF was not a distinctive factor for coping, nor was it for mental distress. Maladaptive coping, however, did distinguish clusters with higher mental distress (cluster 3 and 4) from clusters with lower levels of mental distress (cluster 1 and 2)., Conclusion: Four distinctive clusters with different levels of functioning and characteristics were identified. EF impairments did not hinder the use of active coping strategies. Moreover, maladaptive coping, but not EF impairment, was related to increased mental distress in patients with dLGG., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a well-known risk factor of schizophrenia. Moreover, individuals with schizophrenia are likely to use maladaptive stress coping strategies. Although it has been reported that a history of ACEs might be associated with a pro-inflammatory phenotype in patients with schizophrenia, the interacting effect of coping styles on this association has not been tested so far. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the levels of immune-inflammatory markers in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls (HCs), taking into consideration a history of ACEs and coping strategies. Participants included 119 patients with schizophrenia and 120 HCs. Serum levels of 26 immune-inflammatory markers were determined. A history of any categories of ACEs was significantly more frequent in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, patients with schizophrenia were significantly more likely to use emotion-focused coping and less likely to use active coping strategies compared to HCs. The levels of interleukin(IL)-6, RANTES, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), appeared to be elevated in patients with schizophrenia after adjustment for potential confounding factors in all tested models. Participants reporting a history of any ACEs had significantly higher levels of TNF-α and IL-6. No significant main and interactive effects of active strategies as the predominant coping on immune-inflammatory markers with altered levels in patients with schizophrenia were found. Findings from the present study indicate that ACEs are associated with elevated TNF-α and IL-6 levels regardless of schizophrenia diagnosis and predominant coping styles., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

It is often assumed that adaptation - a temporary change in sensitivity to a perceptual dimension following exposure to that dimension - is a litmus test for what is and is not a "primary visual attribute". Thus, papers purporting to find evidence of number adaptation motivate a claim of great significance: That number is something that can be seen in much the way that canonical visual features, like color, contrast, size, and speed, can. Fifteen years after its reported discovery, number adaptation's existence seems to be nearly undisputed, with dozens of papers documenting support for the phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to offer a counterweight - to critically assess the evidence for and against number adaptation. After surveying the many reasons for thinking that number adaptation exists, we introduce several lesser-known reasons to be skeptical. We then advance an alternative account - the old news hypothesis - which can accommodate previously published findings while explaining various (otherwise unexplained) anomalies in the existing literature. Next, we describe the results of eight pre-registered experiments which pit our novel old news hypothesis against the received number adaptation hypothesis. Collectively, the results of these experiments undermine the number adaptation hypothesis on several fronts, whilst consistently supporting the old news hypothesis. More broadly our work raises questions about the status of adaptation itself as a means of discerning what is and is not a visual attribute., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Prior research has established that parents who are in a relationship, yet unmarried at the time of their child's birth, are at an increased risk of relationship instability. However, the processes that may lead to the dissolution of these unmarried parents' couple relationships are less clear. Guided by the vulnerability-stress-adaptation model, the present study examined data from a sample of 1,575 mother and father dyads who participated in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study over a 9-year period. A mixed effects Cox regression model was used to investigate how unmarried parents' reports of enduring vulnerability (depressive symptoms) over time influenced the onset of relationship dissolution between the time their focal child was 1- and 9-years old. Further, the potential mediating effect of mothers' and fathers' reports of stressful events (parenting stress) and adaptive processes (couple relationship interactions and coparenting behaviors) on the association between depressive symptoms and relationship dissolution by the 9-year follow-up were also examined. Results indicated that mothers' and fathers' reports of experiencing depressive symptoms over time were associated with relationship dissolution. Further, perceptions of couple interactions emerged as a significant mediator at the 3- (mothers) and 5- (mothers and fathers) year follow-up. Coparenting behaviors were a significant mediator for mothers and fathers at the 3- and 5-year follow-up. These results highlight how experiencing depressive symptoms over time, as well as perceptions of couple interactions and coparenting behaviors throughout the early years of parenting, are salient factors in the instability of unmarried parents' relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) exhibit higher risk for celiac disease (CD) than general population. Although literature suggests CD could be associated with behavioural problems in both paediatric and adult age, such association has been poorly explored in children and adolescents DS. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate differences in emotional/behavioural difficulties, adaptive skills and sleep problems between children with DS with and without CD., Methods: Data were retrospectively collected from a database including data from 381 individuals with DS (3-18 years). The final sample included 65 participants, 27 with co-occurring CD and 38 age, IQ, sex and body mass index-matched controls without CD. Emotional/behavioural difficulties, adaptive skills and sleep problems were assessed through parent report questionnaires., Results: No group differences emerged in emotional/behavioural difficulties, whereas participants in the CD group showed better adaptive skills in the practical domain than control group. Weak differences emerged in sleep problems., Conclusions: Youth with DS and co-occurring CD do not exhibit more emotional and behavioural problems than youth with DS without co-occurring CD but exhibit better adaptive skills in the practical domain., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research published by John Wiley & Sons and MENCAP.)

Background: Multiple sclerosis and its related stressors significantly affect the mental health of people with MS. Considering the progressive and relapsing-remitting nature of the disease and somatic complaint, the Pain experience for MS patients is challenging. We examined the direct effects of Attachment and the negative affect on mental health and pain experience and the indirect effects of Attachment, negative affect, loneliness, and coping strategies on the mental health and pain experience of people with multiple sclerosis., Methods: Three hundred forty-five patients with MS were selected through the Iranian MS Association. Measures included the negative affect (PANAS), Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28), short-form McGill pain questionnaire (SF-mpq-2), Social and emotional loneliness scale for adults (SELSA-S), Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations(CISS-21). The present study has employed the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to investigate the direct and indirect effects of coping strategies, attachment, loneliness, and negative affect on mental health and pain experienced by individuals with MS. The fit of the model to the data was examined using the Discrepancy Function Divided by Degrees of Freedom (CMIN/DF), Normed Fit Index (NFI), TuckerLewis Index (TLI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA)., Results: The fit indices results showed that the model's fit was good. Furthermore, findings indicate that 13 % (R 2 =13) of the pain experience Changes and 47 % (R 2 =47) of the mental health Changes are explained via study predictors. Negative affect directly affects mental health and pain experience, and Attachment directly affects mental health. Negative affect indirectly affects coping strategies. Attachment and Negative affect indirectly affect loneliness. Loneliness and coping strategies indirectly affect mental health and pain experience., Conclusion: Study findings contribute to our understanding of the crucial structures that play a role in the mental health and pain experience of individuals with MS. Loneliness and coping strategies as mediating variables play essential roles in these people's mental health and pain experience. In the times ahead, it would be beneficial to prioritize addressing negative affect, attachment, coping strategies, and loneliness in the patients with MS' medical and psychological intervention., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that the investigation presented herein was conducted without any commercial or financial affiliation that could be interpreted as a potential source of conflicting interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: PTEN is primarily known as a tumour suppressor gene. However, research describes higher rates of difficulties including intellectual disability and difficulties relating to autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) in people with germline PTEN mutations. Other psychological characteristics/experiences are less often reported and are explored in this study., Methods: The parents of 20 children with PTEN mutations completed an online survey exploring adaptive behaviour, ASC-associated behaviours, anxiety, mood, hypermobility, behaviours that challenge, sensory experiences, quality of life and parental wellbeing. Published normative data and data from groups of individuals with other genetic neurodevelopmental conditions were used to contextualise findings., Results: Overall levels of adaptive behaviour were below the 'typical' range, and no marked relative differences were noted between domains. Higher levels of ASC-related difficulties, including sensory experiences, were found in comparison with 'typically developing' children, with a possible peak in restrictive/repetitive behaviour; ASC and sensory processing atypicality also strongly correlated with reported joint hypermobility. A relative preservation of social motivation was noted. Anxiety levels were found to be elevated overall (and to relate to sensory processing and joint hypermobility), with the exception of social anxiety, which was comparable with normative data. Self-injurious behaviour was common., Conclusions: Results suggest a wide range of possible difficulties in children with PTEN mutations, including elevated anxiety. Despite elevated ASC phenomenology, social motivation may remain relatively strong. Firm conclusions are restricted by a small sample size and potential recruitment bias, and future research is required to further explore the relationships between such characteristics., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research published by John Wiley & Sons and MENCAP.)