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Using data from 15 countries, this article investigates whether descriptive and prescriptive gender norms concerning housework and child care (domestic work) changed after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a total of 8,343 participants ( M = 19.95, SD = 1.68) from two comparable student samples suggest that descriptive norms about unpaid domestic work have been affected by the pandemic, with individuals seeing mothers' relative to fathers' share of housework and child care as even larger. Moderation analyses revealed that the effect of the pandemic on descriptive norms about child care decreased with countries' increasing levels of gender equality; countries with stronger gender inequality showed a larger difference between pre- and post-pandemic. This study documents a shift in descriptive norms and discusses implications for gender equality-emphasizing the importance of addressing the additional challenges that mothers face during health-related crises., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Knowledge of the genetic basis of health conditions can influence how the public perceives their own and others' health. When there are known genetic associations for such conditions, genetic essentialist biases facilitate deterministic thinking and an over-emphasis of genetic causality. This study investigates the role that genetic essentialist biases play in medical decision-making., Methods: Senior postgraduate medical students (N = 102) read a scenario in which a patient presents with gastroenterological symptoms. Half of the students were told that the patient tested positive for HLADQ2 - a gene implicated in, but not deterministic of, coeliac disease. The other half received no genetic information. Students were assessed on their recommendations for investigation and management using a multiple-choice questionnaire. Twenty-two of these students participated in a qualitative follow-up which used focus groups and semi-structured interviews to explore the reasoning behind students' responses., Results: Management recommendations differed between the two groups, with those receiving genetic information more likely to recommend a gluten free diet. Recommendations for further investigation did not differ significantly between groups. Interviews suggested that these findings arose despite the students' good understanding of the common non-deterministic nature of genes, such as HLADQ2., Conclusion: Differences in management recommendations suggest that the inclusion of genetic information unduly biased students towards a premature diagnosis of a serious health condition, coeliac disease. Follow-up interviews introduced the possibility that observed manipulation-based differences may have been based on anticipated expectations of examiners, rather than perceived future clinical practice. Based on the present results it is unclear whether intentional exam-taking strategies fully account for medical students' decisions, or if they contribute in addition to the activation of genetic essentialist biases. Further research in clinical settings may ascertain whether genetic essentialist biases would truly influence medical student and doctors within their clinical practice environment., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

A body of research has shown that violent protests reduce support for social movements. However, few studies have examined whether the same is true for protests which are peaceful, yet disruptive (e.g., blocking traffic). Across two pre-registered experimental studies, we explored whether pro-vegan protests that are depicted as causing social disruption lead to more negative attitudes towards veganism, compared to non-disruptive protests or a control condition. Study 1 utilised a combined sample of Australian and United Kingdom residents (N = 449; M age  = 24.7 years). Study 2 employed a larger sample of undergraduate Australian students (N = 934; M age  = 19.8 years). In Study 1, disruptive protests were associated with more negative attitudes towards vegans, but only among women. In Study 2, no such effect was found. Instead, a significant main effect was found for the protest's cause (vegan vs. fast fashion), but not protest type (disruptive vs. non-disruptive). That is, reading about a vegan protest, irrespective of how disruptive it was, led to worse attitudes towards vegans, and greater defense of meat consumption (i.e., endorsement of meat eating as natural, necessary, and normal), than reading about a control protest. This effect was mediated by the perceived immorality of the protestors, and, in turn, reduced identification with them. Taking together both studies, the purported location of the protest (i.e., domestic vs. overseas) did not significantly impact attitudes toward the protestors. The current findings suggest that depictions of vegan protests elicit worse attitudes toward this movement, regardless of how peaceful that protest may be. Future research is needed to examine whether other forms of advocacy can ameliorate negative reactions to vegan activism., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None to declare., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Growing research indicates that death anxiety is implicated in many mental health conditions. This increasing evidence highlights a need for scalable, accessible and cost-effective psychological interventions to reduce death anxiety., Aims: The present study outlines the results of a phase I trial for one such treatment: Overcome Death Anxiety (ODA). ODA is the first CBT-based online intervention for fears of death, and is an individualised program requiring no therapist guidance., Method: A sample of 20 individuals with various mental health diagnoses commenced the ODA program. Death anxiety was assessed at baseline and at post-intervention. Depression, anxiety and stress were also measured., Results: In total, 50% (10/20) reached the end of the program and completed post-treatment questionnaires. Of these, 60% (6/10) showed a clinically reliable reduction in their overall death anxiety, and 90% (9/10) showed a reduction on at least one facet of death anxiety. There were no adverse events noted., Conclusions: ODA appears to be a safe and potentially effective treatment for death anxiety. The findings have provided initial evidence to support a randomised controlled trial using a larger sample, to further examine the efficacy of ODA.

Previous research has identified a range of perceptual voice and speech features that differ between gay and straight men, enabling listeners to determine if a man is gay or straight at a rate better than chance from his voice alone. To date, no published studies have examined if bisexual men's voices differ from gay and straight men's voices with regard to perceived masculinity-femininity - nor whether listeners can identify a bisexual man based only on his voice. In the present study, we examined if listeners could identify bisexual men's sexual identities from voice recordings. Seventy participants ( N = 70) rated 60 voice recordings of a sample of 20 gay, 20 bisexual, and 20 straight Australian men on perceived sexual orientation and degree of masculinity-femininity. Participants could correctly categorize the sexual orientations of the gay and straight speakers at rates greater than chance, but bisexual men were only identified at chance. Bisexual voices were consistently misperceived as being the most exclusively female attracted, and, contrary to expectations, were perceived as the most masculine sounding of all the speakers. Together, these findings suggest that while the voices of bisexual men in our sample were perceived as more masculine and female attracted, listeners do not associate this impression with bisexuality, and thus cannot identify bisexual men from their voices. Consequently, while bisexual men appear to be at lower risk of facing voice-based identification and discrimination than gay men, they may be often misperceived as being straight.

Research has found that sexual orientation beliefs predict heterosexuals' attitudes toward sexual minorities, and important sexual identity outcomes in sexual minority populations. To this point, no studies have systematically examined how sexual orientation beliefs may be associated with sexual identity self-labeling among sexual minority individuals. The present study examined this question in a sample of 1840 same-gender attracted individuals recruited for a cross-sectional online survey. Beliefs in the naturalness and discreteness of sexual orientation categories were highest in gay/lesbian individuals, intermediate in bisexual people, and lower in queer and pansexual individuals. Beliefs in the importance of sexual orientation were highest in gay/lesbian and queer identified individuals and lower in bisexual people. Within-group analysis demonstrated that gay/lesbian individuals who reported more exclusive same-gender attraction reported higher naturalness, discreteness, and importance beliefs than those with less-exclusive same-gender attraction. However, naturalness, discreteness, and importance beliefs were not associated with sexual attraction patterns in bisexual individuals. Finally, among predominately same-gender attracted populations, the adoption of a queer identity (over a gay/lesbian identity) was predicted by lower naturalness and discreteness beliefs, and increased perceived importance in females. Among non-monosexual populations, adoption of a pansexual identity over a bisexual identity was predicted by lower naturalness beliefs in females, but not predicted by sexual orientation beliefs in males. Collectively, these findings suggest that sexual orientation beliefs differ between sexual identity groups and may partly explain the adoption of particular sexual identity labels among contemporary sexual minority populations., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Abortion stigma is a barrier to accessing and delivering comprehensive, sustainable healthcare. This study aimed to systematically identify measures of abortion stigma, and assess their psychometric properties and uses., Materials and Methods: The systematic review was preregistered with PROSPERO (ID#127339) and adhered to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Eight databases were screened for articles measuring abortion stigma. Data were extracted by four researchers and checked for accuracy by two reviewers. Psychometric properties were assessed with COSMIN guidelines., Results: Of 102 articles reviewed, 21 reported original measures of abortion stigma. Instruments assessed individual and community level stigma for people who have had an abortion ( n  = 8), healthcare professionals ( n  = 4), and the public ( n  = 9), and predominantly originated from the United States (U.S.). Measures varied in structure, use, and comprehensiveness of psychometric properties. On psychometric properties, the Individual Level Abortion Stigma scale and Abortion Provider Stigma Scale - Revised performed best for individual-level stigma and the Stigmatising Attitudes, Beliefs and Actions Scale for community-level stigma., Conclusion: Gaps in abortion stigma measurement include geography, conceptualisation, and structural-level stigma. Continued development and testing of tools and methods for measuring abortion stigma is needed.

Social gender transition is an increasingly accepted intervention for gender variant children and adolescents. To date, there is scant literature comparing the mental health of children and adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria who have socially transitioned versus those who are still living in their birth-assigned gender. We examined the mental health of children and adolescents referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), a specialist clinic in London, UK, who had socially transitioned (i.e., were living in their affirmed gender and/or had changed their name) versus those who had not socially transitioned. Referrals to the GIDS were aged 4-17 years. We assessed mental health correlates of living in one's affirmed gender among 288 children and adolescents (208 birth-assigned female; 210 socially transitioned) and of name change in 357 children and adolescents (253 birth-assigned female; 214 name change). The presence or absence of mood and anxiety difficulties and past suicide attempts were clinician rated. Living in role and name change were more prevalent in birth-assigned females versus birth-assigned males. Overall, there were no significant effects of social transition or name change on mental health status. These findings identify the need for more research to understand how social transition influences mental health, including longitudinal studies that allow for more confident inferences to be made regarding the relationship between social transition and mental health in young people with gender dysphoria., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objectives: Research spanning the fields of clinical, social and health psychology suggests that death anxiety is an important construct. However, no comprehensive, psychometrically adequate measure of the construct exists. The current studies outline the development of a new measure of death anxiety, the Death Anxiety Beliefs and Behaviours Scale (DABBS), which is the first measure to specifically assess unhelpful beliefs and behaviours that may underlie fears of death., Methods: In Study 1, items were piloted in a large community sample (N = 505). In Studies 2A and 2B, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed using a treatment-seeking (N = 200) and non-treatment-seeking sample (N = 200). These analyses resulted in the final 18-item scale., Results: The DABBS demonstrated good construct validity, criterion validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In Study 3, the DABBS effectively distinguished participants with clinically significant death anxiety and distress from those without, demonstrating excellent discriminant validity., Conclusions: The present data indicate that the DABBS is a valid and reliable measure of affect, beliefs and behaviours relating to death anxiety, in a community sample of adults and among those seeking mental health treatment. Given the increasing recognition of the importance of death anxiety, the DABBS offers a useful research and clinical tool., (© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Uchiyama et al. question heritability estimates in a convincing manner. We offer additional arguments to further bolster their claims, highlighting methodological issues in heritability coefficients' derivation, their misuse in various contexts, and their potential contributions to exacerbating common erroneous intuitions that have been shown to lead to deleterious social phenomena. We conclude that science should move away from using them.

Past research has identified shifts in the demographics and co-occurring mental health issues of youth referred to certain gender dysphoria services. The present study examined shifts in demographics (age, sex and social transition status), social adversity (bullying experiences and abuse) and psychological functioning (mood, anxiety, suicidality and autism spectrum disorder) at time of referral (of both children and adolescents) to the Gender Identity Development Service, London between the years of 2012 and 2015. Patients were 782 children and adolescents (M = 13.94, SD = 2.94, range 4-17; 63.8% assigned female at birth). Little change in sex ratio or age was observed between these two time points. However, we observed greater rates of depression and anxiety of birth-assigned females (but not birth-assigned males) in the more recent cohort, at the same time that reported social adversity (bullying and abuse) was falling. Also, of interest, the proportion of young people who had partially or fully socially transitioned prior to contact with the service had increased overtime. We discuss potential factors driving these shifts and their implications for supporting recent cohorts of gender diverse young people.

We examined whether heterosexual individuals' self-reported sexual orientation could be influenced experimentally by manipulating their knowledge of the nature of sexual orientation. In Study 1 (180 university students, 66% female) participants read summaries describing evidence for sexual orientation existing on a continuum versus discrete categories or a control manipulation, and in Study 2 (460 participants in a nationally representative Qualtrics panel, 50% female) additionally read summaries describing sexual orientation as fluid versus stable across the life-course. After reading summaries, participants answered various questions about their sexual orientation. In Study 1, political moderates and progressives (but not conservatives) who read the continuous manipulation subsequently reported being less exclusively heterosexual, and regardless of political alignment, participants reported less certainty about their sexual orientation, relative to controls. In Study 2, after exposure to fluid or continuous manipulations heterosexual participants were up to five times more likely than controls to rate themselves as non-exclusively heterosexual. Additionally, those in the continuous condition reported less certainty about their sexual orientation and were more willing to engage in future same-sex sexual experiences, than those in the control condition. These results suggest that non-traditional theories of sexual orientation can lead heterosexuals to embrace less exclusive heterosexual orientations., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objectives: A body of research has demonstrated high rates of comorbidity among individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Further, recent empirical evidence has demonstrated the relevance of death anxiety in OCD. Given that the trajectory towards OCD remains unclear, the current study aimed to examine which disorders individuals typically experience prior to the onset of this disorder. Further, the study aimed to explore the role of death anxiety in the developmental pathways to the disorder., Methods: The present study involved administering a measure of death anxiety and conducting structured diagnostic interviews among a treatment-seeking sample of 98 individuals with OCD., Results: First, the findings revealed a number of anxiety-related disorders commonly experienced prior to the development of OCD, the most frequent of which were separation anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and generalised anxiety disorder. Second, consistent with hypotheses, individuals with higher death anxiety experienced more disorders prior to the onset of OCD. Conversely, those with lower fears of death were significantly more likely to develop OCD as their first disorder., Conclusions: These findings support the argument that death anxiety may influence the trajectory towards OCD, and the comorbidity among anxiety-related disorders. However, further research is needed to clarify whether death anxiety plays a causal role in this trajectory.

The "viral" nature of information transmission has the potential to transmit both accurate and inaccurate information. The present experiment examines the social transmission of health information, focusing on disorder etiology. Participants were placed in one of three generations of social transmission chains. The first generation read information concerning one of four fictitious disorders, pairing one disorder (Physiological or Psychological) with one etiology (Genetic or Environmental). Then, to ensure minimal loss of information (which is common in open-ended recollections), participants recalled key aspects of the disorders through multiple-choice questions. Their selections were used to modify the vignettes for the second generation and the third generation read the second's recollections. All participants also evaluated diagnosed patients on social distance and disgust. Findings suggest that genetic etiology was better recalled when paired with a psychological disorder than a physiological one. Participants desired more social distance from psychological disorders' patients (regardless of etiology) and showed higher disgust for environmental etiological patients (regardless of disorder). Implications focus on the role of content biases in the transmission of health information and misinformation.

Accumulated empirical evidence suggests that death anxiety is strongly associated with multiple mental health conditions. Despite this, few studies have experimentally explored whether manipulating reminders of death could influence the symptoms of mental illnesses. The present, preregistered study used a mortality salience design to assess whether death reminders could increase anxious behavior (i.e., time spent scanning one's body, identification with images consistent with poorer health, and intention to visit a medical practitioner) among individuals with relevant disorders. A total of 128 treatment-seeking participants with either a body scanning disorder (i.e., panic disorder, illness anxiety, or somatic symptom disorder) or a nonscanning disorder (i.e., depression) were randomly allocated to either a mortality salience or control condition. Following this, participants were presented with a series of images of various body parts, which purportedly predicted particular life outcomes, and asked to check their own body and select the image that most closely matched their own. As hypothesized, the results revealed that mortality salience produced an overall increase in all three anxiety-related behaviors. Further, mortality salience selectively increased scanning duration and identification with images indicating poorer health for individuals with a scanning disorder. This effect only occurred when participants were told the body part predicted a health-relevant outcome. In contrast, mortality salience increased intention to visit a medical specialist regardless of one's disorder. The findings support theoretical predictions that death anxiety may have a causal role in multiple mental disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose: Genetic research, via the mainstream media, presents the public with novel, profound findings almost on a daily basis. However, it is not clear how much laypeople understand these presentations and how they integrate such new findings into their knowledge base. Genetic knowledge (GK), existing causal beliefs, and genetic essentialist tendencies (GET) have been implicated in such processes; the current study assesses the relationships between these elements and how brief presentations of media releases of scientific findings about genetics are consumed and affect the readers., Methods: An Australian national survey of GK, GET, and existing causal beliefs about health phenomena (heart disease and obesity) was conducted. Participants were also exposed to news headlines that offered genetic and non-genetic partial explanations of the same health phenomena and reported their evaluations of these headlines, as well as the effects of the headlines on their personal understanding of the health phenomena., Results: GK was negatively-associated with GET. Whereas GK did not directly predict the evaluation and effects of the genetic headlines, GET did. GK predicted the effects of the headlines indirectly via GET and via GET and existing causal beliefs., Conclusion: GET seem to predict unwarranted effects of exposure to news headlines about genetic science, whereas GK seems to indirectly mitigate the same unwarranted effects., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Recent literature has described the phenomenon of "straight-acting" gay men: gay men who identify with traditional heteronormative masculinity. The current study examined predictors of "straight-acting" identification in gay men and how identifying as straight-acting relates to well-being. A sample of Australian gay men (N = 966) provided self-report data on two potential predictors of straight-acting identity: self-perceived masculinity and internalized homophobia. A path analysis assessed how these variables related to straight-acting identification. While masculine self-presentation positively predicted well-being and internalized homophobia negatively predicted well-being, straight-acting identification, which positively correlated with both, did not independently predict either psychological distress or physical well-being. Analyses further suggested that internalized homophobia had particularly deleterious effects among gay men who were more feminine. Implications for clinical and public health interventions among gay men are discussed.

Past visual attention research appears to show that bisexual men and women view erotic images differently compared to heterosexual and gay/lesbian men and women. However, none of these studies have employed analytic approaches required to determine whether these apparent bisexual viewing patterns are due to averaging together heterosexual and gay/lesbian type viewing patterns, or rather are because bisexual-identified individuals possess unique viewing patterns which are distinct from heterosexual and gay/lesbian individuals. In the current eye-tracking study, we aimed to address this question. Visual attention of 60 men (24 heterosexual, 19 gay, 17 bisexual) and 54 women (21 heterosexual, 10 lesbian, 23 bisexual) was tracked, while they viewed erotic images of nude men and women. Applying analytic approaches capable of detecting bisexual responding revealed that bisexual men, but not bisexual women, had a unique bisexual controlled attention pattern, and that neither bisexual men nor women demonstrated a unique bisexual pattern of initial attention. Our findings provide mixed evidence for a unique bisexual attentional profile in men and women.

Objectives: Death anxiety has been implicated theoretically and empirically in mental health and has been proposed to be a transdiagnostic construct. However, it has largely been investigated in relation to specific disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Few studies have assessed the relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology using heterogeneous treatment-seeking clinical samples., Methods: In the present study, the relationships between death anxiety and broad markers of psychopathology were explored in 200 treatment-seeking participants with various diagnosed mental disorders., Results: Across the sample, death anxiety was a strong predictor of psychopathology, including the number of lifetime diagnoses, medications, hospitalizations, distress/impairment, depression, anxiety, and stress. This relationship was not accounted for by neuroticism. Large to very large correlations were also consistently found between a measure of death anxiety and the symptom severity of 12 disorders. Neither meaning in life nor attachment style moderated the associations between death fears and psychopathology., Conclusions: The findings reveal a strong relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology across numerous disorders, further supporting the transdiagnostic role of fears of death. As such, clinical implications revolve around the potential need for innovative treatments which address death fears directly, in order to produce long-term improvements in mental health. However, experimental research is needed to ascertain causal relationships., Practitioner Points: Across a large treatment-seeking sample, death anxiety was a significant predictor of broad psychopathology, including distress and number of lifetime diagnoses. Across 12 different disorders, death anxiety significantly predicted symptom severity. Results may suggest the need for novel treatments which specifically target fears of death. Due to the correlational design, future experimental research is needed to establish causal relationships with increased confidence., (© 2019 The British Psychological Society.)

Research into the causes and outcomes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been extensive, yet little is known about the perception of ADHD as a disorder and its related outcomes among diagnosed youth. The present study applied the Common-Sense Model of Illness Representations (CSM) to examine the perception of ADHD and its association with quality of life (QoL), coping strategies, and treatment adherence among 63 diagnosed adolescents (10-18 years). Adolescents recruited from clinics, parent support groups, and an educational service completed self-report measures of the key constructs. Results indicated that adolescents generally perceive their ADHD as mildly threatening; four illness beliefs (perceived impact, personal control, timeline, and coherence) are significant predictors of coping and four (perceived impact, causes, personal control, and treatment control) are that of QoL. Adolescents who perceived minimal impact, expected longer duration, had strong sense of coherence, and believed in personal control of ADHD coped with the disorder more actively. Those who made weaker attribution to psychological and environmental causes, believed in personal control and the effectiveness of behavioral treatment enjoyed better QoL. In addition, female adolescents seem to experience more difficulties in the management of ADHD than male counterparts. These findings have potentially important clinical implications, suggesting that perceptions of ADHD related to the disorder's impact, duration, coherence, and personal control, may be important for clinicians to address when caring for adolescents with the disorder., (© 2019 The Author(s).)

Individuals who report mostly heterosexual orientations (i.e., mostly sexually attracted to the opposite sex, but occasionally attracted to the same sex) outnumber all other non-heterosexual individuals combined. The present study examined whether mostly heterosexual men and women view same- and other-sex sexual stimuli differently than exclusively heterosexual men and women. A novel eye-tracking paradigm was used with 162 mostly and exclusively heterosexual men and women. Compared to exclusively heterosexual men, mostly heterosexual men demonstrated greater attention to sexually explicit features (i.e., genital regions and genital contact regions) of solo male and male-male erotic stimuli, while demonstrating equivalent attention to sexually explicit features of solo female and female-female erotic stimuli. Mediation analyses suggested that differences between mostly and exclusively heterosexual profiles in men could be explained by mostly heterosexual men's increased sexual attraction to solo male erotica, and their increased sexual attraction and reduced disgust to the male-male erotica. No comparable differences in attention were observed between mostly and exclusively heterosexual women-although mostly heterosexual women did demonstrate greater fixation on visual erotica overall-a pattern of response that was found to be mediated by reduced disgust.

Biased transmission of health knowledge has far-reaching effects on information reproduction and health-related cognitions. We examined whether transmissions of different types of disorder and etiological information influence recollections of health knowledge and evaluations of patients, by simulating the digital transmission of information. Transmission chains of four non-interacting persons (i.e., four generations) were formed. The first generation read three vignettes describing fictitious patients with one of three disorders (physiological, psychological, culture-bound) uniquely paired with one of three etiologies (genetic, environmental, unknown etiology). Next, they evaluated patients' well-being, rated desired social distance, and recalled the vignettes. These written recollections replaced the original vignettes for a second-generation of participants, whose recollections were used for the third generation and so on. The framing of disorders affected recollections of etiology, in which culture-bound framings resulted in the poorest recall of etiologies. Participants also perceived the culture-bound disorder as the least serious but desired the most social distance from patients diagnosed with it, when compared to other disorders. The study showed that health information is selectively attended to and reproduced, possibly affected by perceived self-relevance. Faulty recollections and framing of disorders affect health cognitions, potentially instigating biased transmission of disorder- and patient-related narratives., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

When explaining the causes of human behavior, genes are often given a special status. They are thought to relate to an intrinsic human 'essence', and essentialist biases have been shown to skew the way in which causation is assessed. Causal reasoning in general is subject to other pre-existing biases, including beliefs about normativity and morality. In this synthesis we show how factors which influence causal reasoning can be mapped to a framework of genetic essentialism, which reveals both the shared and unique factors underpinning biases in causal reasoning and genetic essentialism. This comparison identifies overlooked areas of research which could provide fruitful investigation, such as whether normative assessments of behaviors influence the way that genetic causes are ascribed or endorsed. We also outline the importance of distinguishing reasoning processes regarding genetic causal influences on one's self versus others, as different cognitive processes and biases are likely to be at play.

Death anxiety has been proposed as a transdiagnostic construct, underlying numerous mental disorders. Although it has been argued that treatments, which reduce death anxiety, are needed, research investigating the impact of interventions on death fears has produced mixed results. As such, the current meta-analysis aimed to examine the effect of psychosocial interventions on death anxiety. Overall, results from 15 randomised controlled trials suggested that psychosocial treatments produced significant reductions in death anxiety, with a small to medium effect size (g = .45). Intervention type (death education vs. therapy) did not significantly moderate the effect of intervention on death anxiety (g = -.47). However, therapy type was a significant moderator of treatment efficacy (g = -1.39). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy was found to be particularly efficacious, producing significant reductions in death anxiety relative to control (g = 1.7), whereas other therapies did not (g = .20). The number of treatment sessions and baseline death anxiety significantly moderated intervention efficacy, whereas the duration of the intervention, training of the interventionist, and clinical nature of the sample did not. Given the small number and generally low quality of the included studies, future research using more rigorous methodology, as well as clinical samples, is needed., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Research on children and parents' experiences of ADHD has grown in recent years, attracting attention to their subjective perception of ADHD as a disorder. Theoretical accounts of illness perception suggest that it is multi-dimensional, consisting of at least five core constructs (see the common-sense model of illness representations or CSM: Leventhal et al., in: Rachman (ed) Medical psychology, Pergamon, New York, vol 2, pp 7-30, 1980, in: Baum, Taylor, Singer (eds) Handbook of psychology and health: social psychological aspects of health, Earlbaum, Hillsdale, vol 4, pp 219-252, 1984). We suggest that the application of CSM in children/adolescents with ADHD and their parents may play an important role in understanding their coping behavior, treatment adherence, and emotional well-being. A systematic search identified 101 eligible studies that investigated the perception of ADHD among diagnosed children/adolescents and their parents. In general, these studies support the existence of the multiple facets of illness representations proposed by the CSM in both diagnosed youngsters and parents indicating substantial variability among both parents and youngsters on each of these facets. The comprehensive assessment of the representations of ADHD indicates imbalance attention to the different representations of ADHD in the literature; disproportional research attention has been paid to the perceived effectiveness of treatment (i.e., treatment control dimension) compared to other illness representations (e.g., timeline, consequence, and coherence), despite research showing their relevance to treatment adherence among other implications. The review identifies the limitation of existing relevant research, needed foci for future studies, specific testable hypotheses, and potential clinical implications of the multifaceted representations of ADHD among youngsters and carers alike.

Background: Genetic knowledge, which plays important functions in our understanding of science, health, social groupings, and even behaviour, has been evaluated in past studies with various populations. This wide reach of genetics means that different types of items are used to assess genetic knowledge, which restricts meaningful comparisons across time- and locale-based studies., Aim: The present study addresses this limitation by recruiting an Australia-wide sample and evaluating their genetic knowledge using items sourced from four diverse samples., Method: Seven hundred and eighty Australians completed a variety of items assessing their genetic knowledge as well as several demographic indicators., Results: The results show superior overall genetic knowledge in the current sample compared with previous samples. Additionally, the study finds that genetic knowledge about health and illness seems to be the most accurate, whereas such knowledge about social categorisations and behaviours seems to be the most error-prone. In the current sample, being a female and having interest in genetics were positive predictors of genetic knowledge; surprisingly educational attainment was not a significant predictor., Conclusion: Compared with previous surveys, the current sample showed significantly better genetic knowledge. However, certain areas that relate to public understating still indicate rampant misperceptions., (© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

In this study, we examined how beliefs about the nature and origin of sexual orientation were associated with sexual identity outcomes, namely internalized sexual stigma and sexual orientation uncertainty, and in turn, psychological well-being in sexual minority women. A community sample of 393 lesbian and 205 bisexual women were recruited for a cross-sectional online survey. Using multigroup structural equation modeling, we examined whether believing sexual orientation to be inborn/immutable (i.e., natural) and/or as existing in discrete categories (i.e., discrete) was indirectly associated with psychological well-being via internalized stigma and sexual orientation uncertainty and whether some of these relationships were moderated by nonprototypical attractions (nonexclusive same-sex attractions in lesbian women and straight- or lesbian-leaning attractions in bisexual women) and age. Overall, similar patterns of direct effects were observed in lesbian and bisexual women. In both groups, naturalness beliefs were associated with lower internalized-stigma, whereas discreteness beliefs were associated with greater internalized stigma. In bisexual women, nonprototypical sexual attraction patterns moderated the relationship between discreteness beliefs and sexual orientation uncertainty. Younger age was associated with increased sexual orientation uncertainty in both lesbian and bisexual women. Specific to lesbian women, nonprototypical attraction predicted less endorsement of immutability and binary/discrete beliefs about sexual orientation, and unexpectedly, greater internalized stigma. The present study identifies potential implications of common lay theories of sexual orientation for lesbian versus bisexual women. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Some nonheterosexual individuals are eschewing lesbian/gay and bisexual identities for queer and pansexual identities. The present study aimed to examine the sexual and demographic characteristics of nonheterosexual individuals who adopt these labels. A convenience sample of 2,220 nonheterosexual (1,459 lesbian/gay, 413 bisexual, 168 queer, 146 pansexual, and 34 other "write-in") individuals were recruited for a cross-sectional online survey. In support of our hypotheses, those adopting pansexual identities were younger than those adopting lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities, and those adopting queer and pansexual identities were more likely to be noncisgender than cisgender, and more likely to be cisgender women than men. The majority of pansexual individuals demonstrated sexual orientation indices within the bisexual range, and showed equivalent patterns of sexual attraction, romantic attraction, sexual behavior, and partner gender as bisexual-identified men and women. In contrast, three-quarters of queer men, and more than half of queer women, reported sexual attraction in the homosexual range. This study found that rather than a general movement toward nontraditional sexual identities, queer and pansexual identities appear most appealing to nonheterosexual women and noncisgender individuals. These findings contribute important information regarding who adopts queer and pansexual identities in contemporary sexual minority populations.

This study sought to test the effect of genetic information and information about the caffeine content of a beverage on caffeine withdrawal, specifically if: (1) being informed that one has tested positive for a gene related to caffeine withdrawal can produce an exaggerated caffeine withdrawal response during abstinence; (2) belief that one has consumed caffeine leads to a reduction in withdrawal symptoms when no caffeine is consumed. Regular coffee drinkers were given a bogus genetic test and were told either that they had tested positive or negative for a gene related to withdrawal. After 24-hour caffeine abstinence withdrawal symptoms were measured using a self-report caffeine withdrawal scale, and then again after a cup of decaffeinated coffee. Half the participants were told their coffee was caffeinated and half were told truthfully that it was decaffeinated. Participants told the coffee was caffeinated reported a greater reduction in withdrawal symptoms than those told it was decaffeinated. Differing genetic test result information produced no difference in reported withdrawal symptoms. These results indicate that information about the dose of caffeine administered can influence withdrawal symptoms, but that genetic information does not have a universal ability to produce nocebo effects across all sensory and cognitive domains.

The studies presented in this article explored the relevance of death fears to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In Study 1, the relationships between death anxiety and a variety of markers of psychopathology were examined in 171 treatment-seeking participants with OCD. Moderate to large correlations between Collett-Lester Fear of Death scale scores, taken at initial assessment, and clinical ratings of OCD severity, number of hospitalizations, number of medications, and total number of lifetime anxiety-related diagnoses identified in structured diagnostic interviews were obtained. Study 2 used the mortality salience (MS) paradigm to examine whether experimentally manipulated death cognitions exacerbate compulsive cleaning behaviors among OCD washers. Treatment-seeking participants with OCD (66 washers and 66 nonwashers) were randomly allocated to either a MS or dental pain priming condition. Following priming, participants completed a series of distraction tasks involving skin conductance recording, before being offered an opportunity to wash conductive gel off their hands. As hypothesized, washers went to greater efforts in cleaning (as measured by washing duration and soap and paper towel use) than nonwashers. Similarly, participants in the MS condition showed greater cleaning than those in the dental pain salience condition. However, these main effects were qualified by significant interactions for both washing duration and soap use. As expected, simple effect contrasts revealed that the effect of MS on cleaning behaviors was significant for washers but not for nonwashers. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

The idea that differentiated selves almost always improve group outcomes is overly simplistic. We argue that it is essential to distinguish between two distinct elements of differentiated selves - identifiability and specialization - and to identify conditions under which they influence group outcomes. Adopting a group-by-situation perspective, in which group and situation variables are considered jointly, is recommended to generate novel hypotheses.

The present study examined essentialist beliefs about sexual orientation and their implications for sexual identity uncertainty, internalized homonegativity and psychological wellbeing in a sample of gay men. A combination of targeted sampling and snowball strategies were used to recruit 639 gay identifying men for a cross-sectional online survey. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing sexual orientation beliefs, sexual identity uncertainty, internalized homonegativity, and psychological wellbeing outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether essentialist beliefs were associated with psychological wellbeing indirectly via their effect on sexual identity uncertainty and internalized homonegativity. A unique pattern of direct and indirect effects was observed in which facets of essentialism predicted sexual identity uncertainty, internalized homonegativity and psychological wellbeing. Of note, viewing sexual orientation as immutable/biologically based and as existing in discrete categories, were associated with less sexual identity uncertainty. On the other hand, these beliefs had divergent relationships with internalized homonegativity, with immutability/biological beliefs associated with lower, and discreteness beliefs associated with greater internalized homonegativity. Of interest, although sexual identity uncertainty was associated with poorer psychological wellbeing via its contribution to internalized homophobia, there was no direct relationship between identity uncertainty and psychological wellbeing. Findings indicate that essentializing sexual orientation has mixed implications for sexual identity uncertainty and internalized homonegativity and wellbeing in gay men. Those undertaking educational and clinical interventions with gay men should be aware of the benefits and of caveats of essentialist theories of homosexuality for this population., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

Objective: To determine whether lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) Australians residing in rural-remote and other non-inner metropolitan localities experience increased levels of minority stress and reduced social support relative to their inner metropolitan counterparts., Methods: A convenience sample of (n=1306) LGB Australians completed an online survey that assessed minority stressors, level of connection with other LGB individuals and social isolation. Postcodes provided were coded into three metropolitan and two rural zones. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were undertaken to examine the effect of locality on minority stress and social support independent of sex, age, ethnicity, education and income., Results: Those residing in rural-remote localities reported significantly increased concealment of sexuality from friends, more concern regarding disclosure of sexuality, less LGB community involvement, fewer friendships with other LGB people and, among men, higher levels of internalised homophobia than those residing in inner metropolitan areas. Unexpectedly, those residing in outer metropolitan areas of major cities experienced comparable levels of minority stress and LGB disconnection to those in rural and remote Australia., Conclusions: LGB individuals in rural-remote and outer metropolitan areas of major cities face increased exposure to a number of minority stressors and less LGB community connectedness. These are risk factors associated with psychiatric morbidity in LGB populations., Implications: Health promotion targeted at reducing homophobia and discrimination in rural-remote and outer metropolitan communities and additional services to assist LGB Australians struggling with stigma and isolation in non-inner city areas may help mitigate the disadvantages faced by these LGB populations., (© 2015 Public Health Association of Australia.)

Public discourse on genetic predispositions for obesity has flourished in recent decades. In three studies, we investigated behaviorally-relevant correlates and consequences of a perceived genetic etiology for obesity. In Study 1, beliefs about etiological explanations for obesity were assessed. Stronger endorsement of genetic etiology was predictive of a belief that obese people have no control over their weight. In Study 2, beliefs about weight and its causes were assessed following a manipulation of the perceived underlying cause. Compared with a genetic attribution, a non-genetic physiological attribution led to increased perception of control over one's weight. In Study 3, participants read a fictional media report presenting either a genetic explanation, a psychosocial explanation, or no explanation (control) for obesity. Results indicated that participants who read the genetic explanation ate significantly more on a follow-up task. Taken together, these studies demonstrate potential effects of genetic attributions for obesity., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

People hold diverse beliefs regarding the etiologies of individual and group differences in behaviors which, in turn, might affect their attitudes and behaviors. It is important to establish how perceived etiologies for smoking might affect the effectiveness of policy initiatives and prevention efforts. The present study assessed whether exposure to genetic vs. environmental accounts for smoking affects attitudes towards a) workplace-related smoking policies and b) smokers at the workplace. Results indicate that exposure to a genetic explanation led to stronger objections to a smoking restrictive policy compared with a non-genetic explanation. Additionally, participants in the genetic condition were more accepting of a smoker in the workplace than in the environmental condition. Evidently, beliefs about the etiology of smoking influence a range of attitudes related to smokers and smoking related policies.

Purpose: Increased accessibility of direct-to-consumer personalized genetic reports raises the question: how are people affected by information about their own genetic predispositions?, Methods: Participants were led to believe that they had entered a study on the genetics of alcoholism and sleep disorders. Participants provided a saliva sample purportedly to be tested for the presence of relevant genes. While awaiting the results, they completed a questionnaire assessing their emotional state. They subsequently received a bogus report about their genetic susceptibility and completed a questionnaire about their emotional state and items assessing perceived control over drinking, relevant future drinking-related intentions, and intervention-related motivation and behavior., Results: Participants who were led to believe that they had a gene associated with alcoholism showed an increase in negative affect, decrease in positive affect, and reduced perceived personal control over drinking. Reported intentions for alcohol consumption in the near future were not affected; however, individuals were more likely to enroll in a "responsible drinking" workshop after learning of their alleged genetic susceptibility., Conclusion: The first complete randomized experiment to examine the psychological and behavioral effects of receiving personalized genetic susceptibility information indicates some potential perils and benefits of direct-to-consumer genetic tests.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that neuroticism moderates the association between APOE (apolipoprotein E) genotype and two major outcomes, cognitive function and Alzheimer disease. We also explored whether other personality dimensions (extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) moderate the associations of APOE with these outcomes., Design: Primary analyses of existing randomized clinical trial data., Sample: Six-hundred two older adults (mean age of 78 years at baseline)., Measurements: APOE genotype, the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive: measured every 6 months for 6.5 years) and relevant covariates., Results: Fully adjusted multivariate analyses showed that the association between the presence of APOE [Latin Small Letter Open E]-4 allele(s) and both outcomes was evident among individuals with high levels of neuroticism and extraversion but not among persons with low levels of these traits., Conclusions: Phenotypic personality dimensions, primarily neuroticism and extraversion, moderate the relationship between APOE [Latin Small Letter Open E]-4 genotype and cognitive outcomes among older adults. Future research is needed to elucidate the physiological processes involved in these particular phenotype-genotype interactions.

Objectives: Both apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε-4 allele(s) and elevated trait neuroticism, the tendency to experience distress, are associated with cognitive function among older adults. We predicted that neuroticism moderates the association between ApoE and cognitive function and also explored whether other personality dimensions (openness to experience, agreeableness, extraversion, and conscientiousness) affect the association between ApoE status and cognitive function., Method: Five-hundred and ninety-seven older adults (mean age of 78 years) enrolled in the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory study completed the NEO five-factor inventory of personality. Cognitive function was assessed via the cognitive portion of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale, and a blood sample for ApoE genotyping was drawn., Results: As hypothesized, regression analysis indicated that neuroticism moderated the relationship between the presence of ApoE ε-4 and cognitive function. Individuals with high neuroticism scores had significantly lower scores on the cognitive portion of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale compared with individuals with low neuroticism scores, but this was true only among carriers of ApoE ε-4 (interaction effect β = 0.124, p = 0.028). There was scant evidence that other personality dimensions moderate the association between ApoE ε-4 and cognitive function., Conclusions: Cognitive function may be affected by ApoE and neuroticism acting in tandem. Research on the underlying physiological mechanisms by which neuroticism amplifies the effect of ApoE ε-4 is warranted. The study of genotype by phenotype interactions provides an important and useful direction for the study of cognitive function among older adults and for the development of novel prevention programs., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Traditional lay perceptions of genetics are plagued with essentialist biases leading to some unfortunate consequences. Changes in the scientific understanding of heredity in general, and in genotype-phenotype relationships more specifically, provide a vital basis for shifting public understanding of genetics. Facilitating postgenomic literacy among the public has the potential to have translational implications in diminishing deleterious attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

References to death abound in many television programs accessible to most people. Terror Management Theory postulates that existential anxiety, which death reminders activate, may reinforce materialistic tendencies. The current article explores the effect of a death reminder in television shows on the desirability of advertised products. Consistent with Terror Management Theory's predictions, in two studies participants show greater desire for products, which were advertised immediately following clips from programs that featured a death scene, compared with programs that did not. Cognitive accessibility of death predicted the appeal difference while changes in affect or interest in the show did not. The findings are discussed in light on affective and existential theories which make opposite predictions. Implications and future directions are considered.

In the target article (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011), we provided a social-cognitive framework which identified genetic essentialist biases and their implications. In their commentaries, Haslam (2011) and Turkheimer (2011) indicated their general agreement with this framework but highlighted some important points for consideration. Haslam suggested that neuroessentialism is a comparable kind of essentialist bias and identified similarities with the genetic essentialism framework. In response, we acknowledge similarities but also identify qualitative and quantitative differences between genetic essentialism and other kinds of essentialist biases. Turkheimer challenged us to extend our discussion to address the question of how should people respond to genetic etiological information, critiqued the use of heritability coefficients, and identified a new construct (1 - rMZ), which may be termed a free-will coefficient. In response, we emphasize the need to transform interactionist explanations from being empty platitudes to becoming the default conceptual framework; we wholeheartedly accept his critical view of heritability coefficient estimates (but acknowledge a more limited utility for them); and we are intrigued by his conceptual interest in identifying free-will coefficients yet warn against falling into pitfalls similar to those that were stumbled into in the past., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).)

Evolutionary psychology accounts of gender differences in sexual behaviors in general and men's sexual aggression, in particular, has been criticized for legitimizing males' sexual misconduct. To empirically assess such critiques, two studies examined how men's judgments of male sex crimes (solicitation of sex from a prostitute; rape) are influenced by exposure to (a) evolutionary psychological theories and (b) social-constructivist theories. Across two studies, a consistent pattern emerged compared with a control condition (a) exposure to evolutionary psychology theories had no observable impact on male judgments of men's criminal sexual behavior, whereas (b) exposure to social-constructivist theories did affect judgments, leading men to evaluate sex crimes more harshly. Additional results (from Study 2) indicate that this effect is mediated by perceptions of male control over sexual urges. These results have implications for journalists, educators, and scientists. Aggr. Behav. 37:440-449, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc., (© 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

This article introduces the notion of genetic essentialist biases: cognitive biases associated with essentialist thinking that are elicited when people encounter arguments that genes are relevant for a behavior, condition, or social group. Learning about genetic attributions for various human conditions leads to a particular set of thoughts regarding those conditions: they are more likely to be perceived as (a) immutable and determined, (b) having a specific etiology, (c) homogeneous and discrete, and (d) natural, which can lead to the naturalistic fallacy. There are rare cases of "strong genetic explanation" when such responses to genetic attributions may be appropriate; however, people tend to overweigh genetic attributions compared with competing attributions even in cases of "weak genetic explanation," which are far more common. The authors reviewed research on people's understanding of race, gender, sexual orientation, criminality, mental illness, and obesity through a genetic essentialism lens, highlighting attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral changes that stem from consideration of genetic attributions as bases of these categories. Scientific and media portrayals of genetic discoveries are discussed with respect to genetic essentialism, as is the role that genetic essentialism has played (and continues to play) in various public policies, legislation, scientific endeavors, and ideological movements in recent history. Last, moderating factors and interventions to reduce the magnitude of genetic essentialism, which identify promising directions to explore in order to reduce these biases, are discussed., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).)

Stereotype threat occurs when stereotyped groups perform worse as their group membership is highlighted. We investigated whether stereotype threat is affected by accounts for the origins of stereotypes. In two studies, women who read of genetic causes of sex differences performed worse on math tests than those who read of experiential causes.