An empirical review of the neural underpinnings of receiving and giving social support: implications for health

When giving social support is beneficial for well-being?

This study investigates the conditions under which the provision of social support enhances subjective well-being, focusing specifically on the autonomy and effectiveness of social support among a sample of 206 university students. Utilizing a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, the findings reveal that the autonomy of social support provision significantly influences subjective well-being, with participants in the voluntary group reporting markedly higher levels of subjective well-being than those in the non-voluntary. Additionally, the perceived effectiveness of social support is shown to significantly affect subjective well-being; individuals who regarded the support as effective exhibited substantially higher levels of subjective well-being compared to those who deemed it ineffective. The interaction between autonomy and effectiveness is also significant; participants who provided support autonomously and perceived it as effective experienced elevated positive affect and life satisfaction while diminished negative emotions. These results substantiate the hypothesis that the provision of social support can enhance subjective well-being, indicating that the autonomy and effectiveness serve as critical moderators in facilitating positive outcomes. The findings further support the theoretical frameworks posited by Inagaki and Orehek, as well as the theory of basic psychological needs.

Ambiguity potentiates effects of loneliness on feelings of rejection

For social species, having strong and high-quality social relationships is an important safety cue. Loneliness occurs when an individual perceives they have insufficient relationships resulting in feelings of lack of safety. States of perceived unsafety are linked to an increased tendency to construe ambiguous information - information lacking a unique clear interpretation - as threatening. Here, we explore whether the ambiguity of social cues of interpersonal rejection moderates effects of loneliness on feelings of rejection while undergoing social exclusion. Data were collected in 2021; 144 adults completed a progressive social exclusion paradigm where they were randomly assigned to be equally included, excluded, or over-included. Social exclusion/inclusion cues became more pronounced over the course of multiple rounds of a ball-tossing game (Cyberball) resulting in a scenario where ambiguity was highest in earlier rounds and decreased over time. Participants reported feelings of loneliness prior to the task and feelings of rejection throughout the task. Results demonstrated that higher loneliness predicted increased feelings of rejection regardless of exclusion condition. Notably, this positive relationship was strongest during earlier rounds when social cues were most ambiguous. These findings contribute to our understanding of how loneliness modulates social perception to enable organisms to adequately adapt to changing circumstances.

Am I safe around you? Attachment figure activation increases perceived security but does not reduce negative interpretations of neutral expressions

Child maltreatment (CM) is associated with social problems, such as loneliness and isolation. One factor that might contribute to these problems is the tendency for individuals who have experienced CM to interpret neutral facial expressions as negative (i.e., negativity bias). Previous research has shown that mental representations of an attachment figure (AF) can lead to positive evaluations of neutral stimuli. We assessed whether such representations can also counteract negativity bias among individuals who experienced CM. Adults (N = 159) with and without a CM history completed a facial emotion recognition task. Prior to that, 53 participants with a CM history imagined an AF, and the rest (n = 49), as well as controls with no CM history (n = 57), imagined a neutral person. Participants in the AF group, d = 0.36, p < .001, but not the two other groups, demonstrated increased self-reported security in response to the imagination task. However, imagining an AF did not lead to stronger vagal responses to the imagination task than imagining a neutral person nor did it counteract negativity bias; compared to controls, individuals who experienced CM interpreted neutral expressions more often as contempt, βs .46-.48; ps = .016-.019, regardless of whether they imagined an AF or a neutral person. Thus, imagining an AF may be a helpful intervention to increase momentary feelings of security in individuals with a CM history. However, alternative-possibly body-oriented-interventions and their potential to reduce socially relevant alterations (e.g., negativity bias) on a behavioral level should be explored.

Fecal glucocorticoid metabolite and T3 profiles of orphaned elephants differ from non-orphaned elephants in Zambia

Background

Elephants provide valuable insight into how early-life adverse events (ELAEs) associate with animal health and welfare because they can live to advanced ages, display extensive cognitive and memory capabilities, and rely heavily on social bonds. Although it is known that African savanna elephants that experienced ELAEs, such as being orphaned due to human activities, have altered behavioral outcomes, little is known regarding the physiological consequences associated with those stressors.

Methods

We compared fecal glucocorticoid (fGCM) and thyroid (fT3) metabolites as well as body condition scores (BCS) in rescued and rehabilitated orphaned (early-dry season: n = 20; late-dry season: n = 21 elephants) African savanna elephants in Kafue National Park, Zambia to age- and sex-matched wild non-orphaned controls groups (early-dry season: n = 57; late-dry season: n = 22 elephants) during the early- (May/June) and late- (September/October) dry seasons, respectively. Age and sex were known for orphans. For non-orphan controls, age was estimated based on dung diameter, and sex was determined based on external genitalia. Hormone concentrations were compared between groups by age class to account for developmental and nutritional transitions experienced in early life. Given that environmental stressors (e.g., availability of food and water sources) change over the course of the dry season, early- and late-dry seasons were separated in the analyses.

Results

fGCM concentrations were higher in orphans at younger ages than non-orphaned controls of any age. This may be due to the younger orphans being temporally closer to the traumatic event and thus not having had sufficient time to establish meaningful social bonds that could buffer the negative outcomes associated with ELAEs. Alternatively, orphans could have acclimated to living under human care, resulting in fGCM concentrations that were not different from wild controls at older ages. Orphans also had significantly higher mean fT3 concentrations than non-orphans, suggesting increased caloric intake during rehabilitation. There was no difference in BCS between orphan and non-orphan elephants at any age or time period, possibly reflecting the limitations associated with BCS assessments in younger elephants.

Conclusions

Together, these results provide insight into possible physiological responses underlying ELAEs and/or living under human care, including alterations in fGCM and fT3 concentrations, particularly in younger orphans. While these hormonal changes suggest a physiological response to trauma, the support of social bonds and acclimation to human care may mitigate long-term stress effects, highlighting the critical role of social integration in elephant rehabilitation and conservation efforts.

Motivation and Pleasure Deficits Undermine the Benefits of Social Affiliation in Psychosis

In psychotic disorders, motivation and pleasure (MAP) deficits are associated with decreased affiliation and heightened functional impairment. We leveraged a transdiagnostic sample enriched for psychosis and a multi-method approach to test the hypothesis that MAP deficits undermine the stress-buffering benefits of affiliation. Participants completed the Social Affiliation Enhancement Task (SAET) to cultivate affiliation with an experimental partner. Although the SAET increased perceived affiliation and mood, individuals with greater negative symptoms derived smaller emotional benefits from the partners, as indexed by self-report and facial behavior. We then used the Handholding fMRI paradigm, which combines threat-anticipation with affiliative physical contact, to determine whether MAP deficits undermine the social regulation of distress. Individuals with greater MAP deficits showed diminished neural 'benefits'-reduced dampening of threat-elicited activation-from affiliative touch in key frontoparietal nodes of the Dorsal Attention Network. In short, MAP symptoms disrupt the emotional and neuroregulatory benefits of affiliation.

Task-dependent functional connectivity changes in response to varying levels of social support

BACKGROUND

Having social support improves one's health outcomes and self-esteem, and buffers the negative impact of stressors. Previous studies have explored the association between social support and brain activity, but evidence from task-dependent functional connectivity is still limited.

AIMS

We aimed to explore how gradually decreasing levels of social support influence task-dependent functional connectivity across several major neural networks.

METHOD

We designed a social support task and recruited 72 young adults from real-life social groups. Of the four members in each group, one healthy participant (18 participants in total) completed the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. The fMRI task included three phases with varying levels of social support: high-support phase, fair phase and low-support phase. Functional connectivity changes according to three phases were examined by generalised psychophysiological interaction analysis.

RESULTS

The results of the analysis demonstrated that participants losing expected support showed increased connectivity among salience network, default mood network and frontoparietal network nodes during the fair phase compared with the high-support phase. During the low-support phase, participants showed increased connectivity among only salience network nodes compared with the high-support phase.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that the loss of support was perceived as a threat signal and induced widespread increased functional connectivity within brain networks. The observation of significant functional connectivity changes between fair and high-support phases suggests that even a small loss of social support from close ones leads to major changes in brain function.

Interaction of perceived social support and childhood maltreatment on limbic responsivity towards negative emotional stimuli in healthy individuals

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with increased limbic activity, while social support is linked to decreased limbic activity towards negative stimuli. Our study aimed to explore the interaction of perceived social support with CM, and their combined impact on limbic activity in negative emotion processing. A total of 130 healthy individuals (HC) underwent a negative emotional face processing paradigm. They were divided into two groups based on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire: n = 65 HC without CM matched with n = 65 HC with CM. In a region-of-interest approach of the bilateral amygdala-hippocampus-complex (AHC), regression analyses investigating the association of CM and perceived social support with limbic activity and a social support x CM ANCOVA were conducted. CM was associated with increased AHC activity, while perceived social support tended to be associated with decreased AHC activity during negative emotion processing. The ANCOVA showed a significant interaction in bilateral AHC activity (pFWE ≤ 0.024) driven by a negative association between perceived social support and bilateral AHC activity in HC without CM. No significant association was observed in HC with CM. Exploratory analyses using continuous CM scores support this finding. Our results suggest that CM moderates the link between perceived social support and limbic activity, with a protective effect of perceived social support only in HC without CM. The lack of this effect in HC with CM suggests that CM may alter the buffering effect of perceived social support on limbic functioning, highlighting the potential need for preventive interventions targeting social perception of HC with CM.

Early adolescent perceived friendship quality aids affective and neural responses to social inclusion and exclusion in young adults with and without adverse childhood experiences

Friendships increase mental wellbeing and resilient functioning in young people with childhood adversity (CA). However, the mechanisms of this relationship are unknown. We examined the relationship between perceived friendship quality at age 14 after the experience of CA and reduced affective and neural responses to social exclusion at age 24. Resilient functioning was quantified as psychosocial functioning relative to the degree of CA severity in 310 participants at age 24. From this cohort, 62 young people with and without CA underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to assess brain responses to social inclusion and exclusion. We observed that good friendship quality was significantly associated with better resilient functioning. Both friendship quality and resilient functioning were related to increased affective responses to social inclusion. We also found that friendship quality, but not resilient functioning, was associated with increased dorsomedial prefrontal cortex responses to peer exclusion. Our findings suggest that friendship quality in early adolescence may contribute to the evaluation of social inclusion by increasing affective sensitivity to positive social experiences and increased brain activity in regions involved in emotion regulation to negative social experiences. Future research is needed to clarify this relationship with resilient functioning in early adulthood.

Factors associated with health-related quality of life among people with visual impairments living in nursing homes in Armenia: a cross-sectional study

PURPOSE

The study aimed to examine the effect of visual impairment (VI), eye diseases, and other risk factors on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in nursing home residents in Armenia.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study administered an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire to collect information about socio-demographics, chronic diseases, HRQoL, smoking, receiving and giving instrumental/emotional social support, and sleeping disorders among 313 nursing home residents. An ophthalmic examination of the participants was conducted.

RESULTS

The mean age was 72.5 years, ranging from 45.5 to 91.4. Women constituted 50% of the sample. The prevalence of normal vision by presenting visual acuity with available correction was 55.3%, while VI and blindness were present in 40.8% and 3.9%, respectively. Uncorrected refractive error (URE) was found in 20% of participants. The mean HRQoL score was 51.3, ranging from 7.9 to 95.0. In the adjusted analysis, having at least one chronic non-communicable disease, sleeping disorders, eye diseases, URE, VI, blindness, and giving instrumental social support were associated with HRQoL.

CONCLUSIONS

Regular eye care services could improve the eye health and HRQoL of nursing home residents. Interventions addressing vision loss and chronic non-communicable diseases could enhance the functioning and overall well-being of the target population.

The interaction effect of high social support and resilience on functional connectivity using seed-based resting-state assessed by 7-Tesla ultra-high field MRI

Recent resilience research has increasingly emphasized the importance of focusing on investigating the protective factors in mentally healthy populations, complementing the traditional focus on psychopathology. Social support has emerged as a crucial element within the complex interplay of individual and socio-environmental factors that shape resilience. However, the neural underpinnings of the relationship between social support and resilience, particularly in healthy subjects, remain largely unexplored. With advances in neuroimaging techniques, such as ultra-high field MRI at 7T and beyond, researchers can more effectively investigate the neural mechanisms underlying these factors. Thus, our study employed ultra-high field rs-fMRI to explore how social support moderates the relationship between psychological resilience and functional connectivity in a healthy cohort. We hypothesized that enhanced social support would amplify resilience-associated connectivity within neural circuits essential for emotional regulation, cognitive processing, and adaptive problem-solving, signifying a synergistic interaction where strong social networks bolster the neural underpinnings of resilience. (n = 30). Through seed-based functional connectivity analyses and interaction analysis, we aimed to uncover the neural correlates at the interplay of social support and resilience. Our findings indicate that perceived social support significantly (p<0.001) alters functional connectivity in the right and left FP, PCC, and left hippocampus, affirming the pivotal roles of these regions in the brain's resilience network. Moreover, we identified significant moderation effects of social support across various brain regions, each showing unique connectivity patterns. Specifically, the right FP demonstrated a significant interaction effect where high social support levels were linked to increased connectivity with regions involved in socio-cognitive processing, while low social support showed opposite effects. Similar patterns by social support levels were observed in the left FP, with connectivity changes in clusters associated with emotional regulation and cognitive functions. The PCC's connectivity was distinctly influenced by support levels, elucidating its role in emotional and social cognition. Interestingly, the connectivity of the left hippocampus was not significantly impacted by social support levels, indicating a unique pattern within this region. These insights highlight the importance of high social support levels in enhancing the neural foundations of resilience and fostering adaptive neurological responses to environmental challenges.

The Effect of Everyday-Life Social Contact on Pain

Pain is a biopsychosocial phenomenon, resulting from the interplay between physiological and psychological processes and social factors. Given that humans constantly interact with others, the effect of social factors is particularly relevant. Documenting the significance of the social modulation of pain, an increasing number of studies have investigated the effect of social contact on subjective pain intensity and pain-related physiological changes. While evidence suggests that social contact can alleviate pain, contradictory findings indicate an increase in pain intensity and a deterioration of pain coping strategies. This evidence primarily stems from studies examining the effect of social contact on pain within highly controlled laboratory conditions. Moreover, pain assessments often rely on one-time subjective reports of average pain intensity across a predefined period. Ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) can circumvent these problems, as they can capture diverse aspects of behavior and experiences multiple times a day, in real time, with high resolution, and within naturalistic and ecologically valid settings. These multiple measures allow for the examination of fluctuations of pain symptoms throughout the day in relation to affective, cognitive, behavioral, and social factors. In this opinion paper, we review the current state and future relevance of EMA-based social pain research in daily life. Specifically, we examine whether everyday-life social support reduces or enhances pain. The first part of the paper provides a comprehensive overview of the use of EMA in pain research and summarizes the main findings. The review of the relatively limited number of existing EMA studies shows that the association between pain and social contact in everyday life depends on numerous factors, including pain syndromes, temporal dynamics, the nature of social interactions, and characteristics of the interaction partners. In line with laboratory research, there is evidence that everyday-life social contact can alleviate, but also intensify pain, depending on the type of social support. Everyday-life emotional support seems to reduce pain, while extensive solicitous support was found to have opposite effects. Moreover, positive short-term effects of social support can be overshadowed by other symptoms such as fatigue. Overall, gathering and integrating experiences from a patient's social environment can offer valuable insights. These insights can help interpret dynamics in pain intensity and accompanying symptoms such as depression or fatigue. We conclude that factors determining the reducing versus enhancing effects of social contact on pain need to be investigated more thoroughly. We advocate EMA as the assessment method of the future and highlight open questions that should be addressed in future EMA studies on pain and the potential of ecological momentary interventions for pain treatment.

Exposure to community violence as a mechanism linking neighborhood disadvantage to amygdala reactivity and the protective role of parental nurturance

Emerging literature links neighborhood disadvantage to altered neural function in regions supporting socioemotional and threat processing. Few studies, however, have examined the proximal mechanisms through which neighborhood disadvantage is associated with neural functioning. In a sample of 7- to 19-year-old twins recruited from disadvantaged neighborhoods (354 families, 708 twins; 54.5% boys; 78.5% White, 13.0% Black, 8.5% other racial/ethnic group membership), we found that exposure to community violence was related to increased amygdala reactivity during socioemotional processing and may be one mechanism linking neighborhood disadvantage to amygdala functioning. Importantly, parenting behavior appeared to modulate these effects, such that high parental nurturance buffered the effect of exposure to community violence on amygdala reactivity. These findings elucidate the potential impact of exposure to community violence on brain function and highlight the role parents can play in protecting youth from the neural effects of exposure to adversity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescents' trust and reciprocity toward friends, unknown peers, and community members

Using a newly developed version of the Trust Game among 196 adolescents aged 11-20 years, this study examined whether adolescents distinguish between trust and reciprocity to unknown peers, friends, and community members. We also tested for effects of age, gender, and individual differences in attending to others' emotions, emotional support to friends, societal contributions, and institutional and interpersonal trust beliefs. Results indicated that adolescents showed the least trust and reciprocity to unknown peers, more to a community member, and most to friends. Reciprocity increased with age, and individual differences in societal contributions and interpersonal trust were positively related to trust and reciprocity. This study was the first to show that community members are a specific target in adolescents' social world.

Social support and overeating in young women: The role of altering functional network connectivity patterns and negative emotions

Research suggests that social support has a protective effect on emotional health and emotionally induced overeating. Women are especially more sensitive to benefits from social support when facing eating problems. Although it has been demonstrated that social support can affect the neural processes of emotion regulation and reward perception, it is unclear how social support alters synergistic patterns in large-scale brain networks associated with negative emotions and overeating. We used a large sample of young women aged 17-22 years (N = 360) to examine how social support influences the synchrony of five intrinsic networks (executive control network [ECN], default mode network, salience network [SN], basal ganglia network, and precuneus network [PN]) and how these networks influence negative affect and overeating. Additionally, we explored these analyses in another sample of males (N = 136). After statistically controlling for differences in age and head movement, we observed significant associations of higher levels of social support with increased intra- and inter-network functional synchrony, particularly for ECN-centered network connectivity. Subsequent chain-mediated analyses showed that social support predicted overeating through the ECN-SN and ECN-PN network connectivity and negative emotions. However, these results were not found in men. These findings suggest that social support influences the synergistic patterns within and between intrinsic networks related to inhibitory control, emotion salience, self-referential thinking, and reward sensitivity. Furthermore, they reveal that social support and its neural markers may play a key role in young women's emotional health and eating behavior.

Intermixed safety cues facilitate extinction retention in adult and adolescent mice

Extinction learning is tremendously adaptive as it allows an animal to adjust their behavior in a changing environment. Yet, extinction is not without limitations and fear often reemerges over time (i.e. spontaneous recovery). Relative to adults, adolescent rodents and humans are particularly prone to spontaneous recovery following extinction. In this study, we aimed to address whether combining methods of fear regulation (extinction and conditioned inhibition) can facilitate extinction retention. Early adolescent (29 days old, n = 81) and adult (70 days old, n = 80) mice underwent extinction with or without a safety cue present. Safety cue presentations were systematically varied to overlap with or alternate with fear cue presentations. We found that initial safety learning was faster in adolescent mice. In addition, intermixing safety cues into extinction reduced spontaneous recovery during a test two weeks later. The decrease in spontaneous recovery relative to a standard extinction protocol was greater in adolescents than adults. Together, our findings provide initial evidence that safety learning may be inherently stronger during adolescence. These results inform the parameters by which conditioned safety and extinction learning may be merged to augment the inhibition of fear. While methods to enhance fear regulation are valuable for any age, the potential to do so during adolescence is particularly striking.

Childhood trauma and social support affect symptom profiles through cortical thickness abnormalities in major depressive disorder: A structural equation modeling analysis

BACKGROUND

Childhood trauma, low social support, and alexithymia are recognized as risk factors for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the mechanisms of risk factors, symptoms, and corresponding structural brain abnormalities in MDD are not fully understood. Structural equation modeling (SEM) has advantages in studying multivariate interrelationships. We aim to illustrate their relationships using SEM.

METHODS

313 MDD patients (213 female; mean age 42.49 years) underwent magnetic resonance imaging and completed assessments. We integrated childhood trauma, alexithymia, social support, anhedonia, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and cortical thickness into a multivariate SEM.

RESULTS

We first established the risk factors-clinical phenotype SEM with an adequate fit. Cortical thickness results show a negative correlation of childhood trauma with the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) (p = 0.012), and social support was negatively correlated with the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) (p < 0.001). The final good fit SEM (χ2 = 32.92, df = 21, χ2/df = 1.57, CFI = 0.962, GFI = 0.978, RMSEA = 0.043) suggested two pathways, with left PCC thickness mediating the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation, and left MTG thickness mediating between childhood trauma and anhedonia/anxiety.

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide evidence for the impact of risk factor variables on the brain structure and clinical phenotype of MDD patients. Insufficient social support and childhood trauma might lead to corresponding cortical abnormalities in PCC and MTG, affecting the patient's mood and suicidal ideation. Future interventions should aim at these nodes.

The association between social support provision, psychological capital, subjective well-being and sense of indebtedness among undergraduates with low socioeconomic status

BACKGROUND

Social support consists of receipt and provision in the interpersonal exchange process. Many studies have explored and verified the effect of received social support. This study focuses on whether and when social support provision can benefit the providers' positive psychological capital and subjective well-being.

METHODS

A sample of 732 Chinese undergraduates with low socioeconomic status completed questionnaires on social support provision, psychological capital, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and sense of indebtedness.

RESULTS

The correlation and regression analyses showed that impoverished college students' social support provision was positively associated with life satisfaction, positive affect, and psychological capital and negatively associated with negative affect. The interaction between the sense of indebtedness and social support provision was negatively associated with life satisfaction, positive affect, and psychological capital, not significantly associated with negative affect.

CONCLUSION

The results demonstrated that giving social support can be as beneficial as receiving social support, and the sense of indebtedness can limit the benefits. Individuals with a lower sense of indebtedness are more likely to benefit from social support provision. The findings have implications for marginalized groups' subjective well-being and positive psychological capital and show the necessity of guiding individuals to provide social support while maintaining their autonomy.

Health-Related Quality of Life after Cataract Surgery in Armenia: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Cataract surgery helps to enhance visual function and improve the quality of life of cataract patients. The present study assessed visual outcomes and explored health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and factors associated with it following cataract surgery in Armenia. An interviewer-administered survey along with the ophthalmologic examination was conducted among 248 patients. It explored socio-demographic characteristics, use of eye care services, smoking status, comorbidities, and receiving and giving social support. A Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to measure HRQoL. Simple and multivariable linear regression was used for the analysis. About 72.8% of examined eyes had good visual outcomes, while 17.7% had borderline outcomes. Poor visual outcomes were detected in 9.5% of the eyes. The mean composite SF-36 score for physical health was 50.8, while the mean composite score for mental health was 49.9. Gender, socioeconomic status, having a non-communicable disease, and receiving and giving tangible social support were significantly associated with SF-36 physical component in the adjusted analysis, while the variables which demonstrated significant association with the mental component included socioeconomic status, having a non-communicable disease, and giving tangible support. The visual outcome after cataract surgery in Armenian patients is below WHO-recommended standards. The quality of ophthalmological surgical care should be monitored to maximize the visual outcome in Armenian patients, with a focus on women, patients with poor socioeconomic status, and those with non-communicable diseases.

Hair androgen concentrations and depressive disorders in adolescents from the general population

Although the link between androgens and depression is well established in adults, the effects of cofactors on this association are less clearly understood, particularly in youth. Epidemiological cohort study of adolescents in Dresden, Germany. Analyses comprised data of 985 individuals assessed at baseline and of 512 individuals at 1-year follow-up. We investigated multivariable regression models for cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of hair testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and their cortisol ratios with 12-month diagnoses of major depressive disorder (MDD) and MDD without any anxiety disorder assessed with standardized diagnostic interview (DIA-X-5), and with dimensional depression scores (PHQ-9, PROMIS), separately for males and females. The potential moderating effect of social support was determined. Cross-sectional analyses yielded inverse associations of testosterone and DHEA with MDD and MDD without any anxiety disorders in males. In cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, baseline ratio cortisol/DHEA was significantly, inversely associated to PROMIS-depression in males. Only cross-sectional associations for ratio cortisol/DHEA and PROMIS-depression remained significant after Bonferroni-Holm correction. No robust associations were observed in female participants. Social support exerted no consistent moderating effect on the investigated association. The present observational cohort study showed no consistent association of hair androgen concentrations with depressive disorders in adolescents. However, findings provide some support for the association between the cortisol/DHEA ratio and depression in males. Longitudinal research designs in large samples are needed to understand the interplay between androgens, depression, and developmental and social factors in youth.

The effects of everyday-life social interactions on anxiety-related autonomic responses differ between men and women

Social buffering, a phenomenon where social presence can reduce anxiety and fear-related autonomic responses, has been studied in numerous laboratory settings. The results suggest that the familiarity of the interaction partner influences social buffering while also providing some evidence for gender effects. In the laboratory, however, it is difficult to mimic the complexity of real-life social interactions. Consequently, the social modulation of anxiety and related autonomic responses in everyday life remains poorly understood. We used smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) combined with wearable electrocardiogram sensors to investigate how everyday-life social interactions affect state anxiety and related cardiac changes in women and men. On five consecutive days, 96 healthy young participants (53% women) answered up to six EMA surveys per day, indicating characteristics of their most recent social interaction and the respective interaction partner(s). In women, our results showed lower heart rate in the presence of a male interaction partner. Men showed the same effect with female interaction partners. Moreover, only women showed decreased heart rate and increased heart rate variability with increasing interaction partner familiarity. These findings specify the conditions under which social interactions reduce anxiety-related responses in women and men.

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Cognition in Breast Cancer Survivors: The Mediating Role of Anxiety

Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is one of the most prevalent symptoms that breast cancer survivors experience. While cancer treatments are established contributors to CRCI, inter-individual differences in CRCI are not well understood. Individual differences in sensitivity to uncertainty are potential contributors to CRCI; however, no prior studies have attempted to examine this link in the context of breast cancer. To address the gap, we used preliminary findings from an ongoing cross-sectional study. A total of 38 women with stage I-III breast cancer (1-4 years post-treatment) were included in this study. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) was assessed using the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Self-reported cognitive function was assessed with the Neuro-QoL questionnaire. Anxiety was assessed using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement System Bank. From this study, we found that anxiety mediates the association between IU and cognitive function of survivors. In other words, among post-menopausal breast cancer survivors, those with higher IU showed higher anxiety and consequently had lower cognitive function. This finding suggests that assessing IU may help predict the risk of CRCI. This study expands the current knowledge that addresses the importance of IU as a factor associated with cognitive health.

The importance of high-quality partner support for reducing stress during pregnancy and postpartum bonding impairments

The current study investigated the extent to which interparental support reduced pregnancy stress and subsequent postpartum bonding impairments with infant. We hypothesized that receiving higher quality partner support would be associated with decreased maternal pregnancy-related concerns, and less maternal and paternal pregnancy stress which, in turn, would predict fewer parent-infant bonding impairments. One hundred fifty-seven cohabiting couples completed semi-structured interviews and questionnaires once during pregnancy and twice postpartum. Path analyses with tests of mediation were employed to test our hypotheses. Higher quality support received by mothers was associated with lower maternal pregnancy stress which, in turn, predicted fewer mother-infant bonding impairments. An indirect pathway of equal magnitude was observed for fathers. Dyadic pathways also emerged such that higher quality support received by fathers was associated with lower maternal pregnancy stress which reduced mother-infant bonding impairments. Similarly, higher quality support received by mothers reduced paternal pregnancy stress and subsequent father-infant bonding impairments. Hypothesized effects reaching statistical significance (p < .05) were small to moderate in magnitude. These findings have important theoretical and clinical implications in demonstrating the critical role of both receiving and providing high-quality interparental support to reduce pregnancy stress and subsequent postpartum bonding impairments for mothers and fathers. Results also highlight the utility of investigating maternal mental health in the couple context.

Theory of brain complexity and marital behaviors: The application of complexity science and neuroscience to explain the complexities of marital behaviors

The extant theories on the quality and stability of marital relationships have some difficulties in explaining some of the complexities of marital behaviors. The present article is an initial attempt to explain the complexities of marital behaviors based on the science of complexity and neuroscience. This article proposes a new theoretical framework relying on this simple argument that marital behaviors, as one of the most complex human behaviors, are the product of one's brain's complex adaptive system (CAS). Hence, to understand the complexities of marital behaviors, a movement toward familiarity with the brain's CAS involved in marital behaviors needs to be started. The article presents the theory of brain complexity and marital behaviors (BCM) and outlines its assumptions, concepts, and propositions. Then, BCM is compared with the extant theories on happy and stable marriage, and finally, it was concluded by discussing the testability and the potential application of the theory. This article might inspire interdisciplinary studies of marital relationships, complex systems, and neuroscience and may have considerable practical implications.

Research Review: The neuroscience of emerging adulthood - reward, ambiguity, and social support as building blocks of mental health

BACKGROUND

The interval between adolescence and adulthood, 'emerging adulthood' (EA), lays the foundation for lifelong health and well-being. To date, there exist little empirical data - particularly in the neurobiological domain - to establish markers of risk and resilience during the transition to adulthood. This gap in the literature is concerning given the numerous forms of psychiatric illness that emerge or worsen during this period.

METHODS

In this review, we focus on two strands of research with distinct importance for EA: reward sensitivity, and tolerance of ambiguity. We begin by placing these domains in a framework that considers the unique developmental goals of EA and then synthesize emerging neurobiological research on how these domains develop during EA. We then consider their role in common mental health problems that occur during this interval as well as how social support may moderate outcomes. Finally, we offer recommendations for advancing research to understand developmental process and outcomes in EA.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

Few longitudinal studies specifically address emerging adult development and the milestones that characterize this interval. Data on neurobiological development are similarly sparse. Understanding neurobiological development during this window and its links to key adjustment outcomes is crucial for optimizing outcomes.

Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health

How do experiences in nature or in spiritual contemplation or in being moved by music or with psychedelics promote mental and physical health? Our proposal in this article is awe. To make this argument, we first review recent advances in the scientific study of awe, an emotion often considered ineffable and beyond measurement. Awe engages five processes-shifts in neurophysiology, a diminished focus on the self, increased prosocial relationality, greater social integration, and a heightened sense of meaning-that benefit well-being. We then apply this model to illuminate how experiences of awe that arise in nature, spirituality, music, collective movement, and psychedelics strengthen the mind and body.

Social Disconnection as a Global Behavioral Epidemic-A Call to Action About a Major Health Risk Factor

This Viewpoint describes ways to address social isolation and loneliness as an urgent public health problem, through education, health policy, research, and clinical practice.

Social environment and brain structure in adolescent mental health: A cross-sectional structural equation modelling study using IMAGEN data

Adolescent mental health is impacted by a myriad of factors, including the developing brain, socioeconomic conditions and changing social relationships. Studies to date have neglected investigating those factors simultaneously, despite evidence of their interacting effects and distinct profiles for males and females. The current study addressed that gap by applying structural equation modelling to IMAGEN data from adolescents aged 14 years (n = 1950). A multi-group model split by sex was tested with the variables of socioeconomic stress, family support, peer problems, and brain structure as predictors, and emotional symptoms as the main outcome. Findings indicated that, for both sexes, peer problems were positively associated with emotional symptoms, and socioeconomic stress was negatively associated with family support. Additionally, there were sex-specific findings within the full models: ventromedial prefrontal cortex grey matter volume was negatively associated with emotional symptoms for males when corrected for whole brain volume, and socioeconomic stress was negatively associated with whole brain volume for females. This study underscores the importance of the peer environment for early adolescent emotional symptoms in both boys and girls, but goes further to suggest distinct gender associations with socioeconomic factors and brain structure which provides a multi-level view of risk and resilience. Future research could exploit existing IMAGEN longitudinal data to strengthen causal claims and to determine the potential longstanding impact of social environment and brain development on adolescent mental health.

Social reappraisal of emotions is linked with the social presence effect in the default mode network

Introduction

Social reappraisal, during which one person deliberately tries to regulate another's emotions, is a powerful cognitive form of social emotion regulation, crucial for both daily life and psychotherapy. The neural underpinnings of social reappraisal include activity in the default mode network (DMN), but it is unclear how social processes influence the DMN and thereby social reappraisal functioning. We tested whether the mere presence of a supportive social regulator had an effect on the DMN during rest, and whether this effect in the DMN was linked with social reappraisal-related neural activations and effectiveness during negative emotions.

Methods

A two-part fMRI experiment was performed, with a psychotherapist as the social regulator, involving two resting state (social, non-social) and two task-related (social reappraisal, social no-reappraisal) conditions.

Results

The psychotherapist's presence enhanced intrinsic functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) within the anterior medial DMN, with the effect positively related to participants' trust in psychotherapists. Secondly, the social presence-induced change in the dACC was related with (a) the social reappraisal-related activation in the bilateral dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right temporoparietal junction and (b) social reappraisal success, with the latter relationship moderated by trust in psychotherapists.

Conclusion

Results demonstrate that a psychotherapist's supportive presence can change anterior medial DMN's intrinsic connectivity even in the absence of stimuli and that this DMN change during rest is linked with social reappraisal functioning during negative emotions. Data suggest that trust-dependent social presence effects on DMN states are relevant for social reappraisal-an idea important for daily-life and psychotherapy-related emotion regulation.

Perceived Social Support and Heart Rate Variability: An Integrative Review

The purpose of this integrative review is to explore and synthesize literature about the relationship between perceived social support and cardiac vagal modulation, measured by heart rate variability (HRV), during phases of an acute stress response to assess this potential relationship underlying the stress-buffering effects of perceived social support. A systematic search of seven databases was conducted, including MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Embase, ProQuest, medRxiv, and clinicaltrials.gov. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria and were systematically synthesized. A quality appraisal was completed for each included study. Majority of studies focused on time and frequency domain measures of HRV thought to reflect parasympathetic modulation of heart rate and identified them as positively associated with perceived social support during rest, stress induction, and recovery from an acute stressor. Results highlight the importance for nurses and other health care professionals to assess patients' perceived social support, as increased perceived social support may contribute to an adaptive stress response.

Giving to others and neural processing during adolescence

Adolescence is marked by an increased sensitivity to the social environment as youth navigate evolving relationships with family, friends, and communities. Prosocial behavior becomes more differentiated such that older adolescents increasingly give more to known others (e.g., family, friends) than to strangers. This differentiation may be linked with changes in neural processing among brain regions implicated in social decision-making. A total of 269 adolescents from 9–15 and 19–20 years of age completed a decision-making task in which they could give money to caregivers, friends, and strangers while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Giving to caregivers and friends (at a cost to oneself) increased with age, but giving to strangers remained lower and stable across age. Brain regions implicated in cognitive control (dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) showed increased blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activation with increasing age across giving decisions to all recipients; regions associated with reward processing (ventral striatum and ventral tegmental area) showed increased activation across all ages when giving to all recipients. Brain regions associated with social cognition were either not active (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex) or showed reduced activation (temporal parietal junction and posterior superior temporal sulcus) when giving to others across all ages. Findings have implications for understanding the role of brain development in the increased complexity of social decision-making during adolescence.

Youth's Experiences of the Devaluing of Their Contributions Due to Their Ethnicity and Gender

The message that one’s contributions are devalued can be a significant way that youth experience marginalization during the transition into adulthood. Participants (N = 298, M_age = 19.47 years, 51% female) reported having their ideas, opinions, and contributions being unwelcomed due to their ethnicity and gender. African American, Latinx, and Asian American young women indicated the most frequent devalued contributions. Devalued contributions due to ethnicity and gender were most strongly linked among these groups and Multiethnic youth than European American youth. Devalued contributions predicted depressive symptoms, feeling more needed and useful by society, and a greater sense of purpose beyond a traditional measure of discrimination. Assessing experiences of devalued contributions can provide a more thorough understanding of how marginalization shapes the transition to adulthood.

Behavioral, neurochemical, and neuroimmune changes associated with social buffering and stress contagion

Social buffering can provide protective effects on stress responses and their subsequent negative health outcomes. Although social buffering is beneficial for the recipient, it can also have anxiogenic effects on the provider of the social buffering - a phenomena referred to as stress contagion. Social buffering and stress contagion usually occur together, but they have traditionally been studied independently, thus limiting our understanding of this dyadic social interaction. In the present study, we examined the effects of preventative social buffering and stress contagion in socially monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). We tested the hypothesis that this dynamic social interaction is associated with coordinated alterations in behaviors, neurochemical activation, and neuroimmune responses. To do so, adult male prairie voles were stressed via an acute immobilization restraint tube (IMO) either alone (Alone) or with their previously pair-bonded female partner (Partner) in the cage for 1 h. In contrast, females were placed in a cage containing either an empty IMO tube (Empty) or one that contained their pair-bonded male (Partner). Anxiety-like behavior was tested on the elevated plus maze (EPM) following the 60-mins test and brain sections were processed for neurochemical/neuroimmune marker labeling for all subjects. Our data indicate that females in the Partner group were in contact with and sniffed the IMO tube more, showed fewer anxiety-like behaviors, and had a higher level of oxytocin expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) compared to the Empty group females. Males in the Partner group had lower levels of anxiety-like behavior during the EPM test, greater activation of corticotropin-releasing hormone expressing neurons in the PVN, lower activation of serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe, and lower levels of microgliosis in the nucleus accumbens. Taken together, these data suggest brain region- and neurochemical-specific alterations as well as neuroinflammatory changes that may be involved in the regulation of social buffering and stress contagion behaviors.

Social relationships and children's perceptions of adversity

Having sensitive, contingent, and supportive social relationships has been linked to more positive outcomes after experiences of early childhood adversity. Traditionally, social relationships are construed as moderators that buffer children from the effects of exposure to adverse events. However, recent data support an alternative view: that supportive social relationships influence children's later outcomes by shaping their perceptions of safety and stress, regardless of the particular events to which children are exposed. This perspective has implications for understanding vulnerability and resilience in children.

Stronger functional network connectivity and social support buffer against negative affect during the COVID-19 outbreak and after the pandemic peak

Health and financial uncertainties, as well as enforced social distancing, during the COVID-19 pandemic have adversely affected the mental health of people. These impacts are expected to continue even after the pandemic, particularly for those who lack support from family and friends. The salience network (SN), default mode network (DMN), and frontoparietal network (FPN) function in an interconnected manner to support information processing and emotional regulation processes in stressful contexts. In this study, we examined whether functional connectivity of the SN, DMN, and FPN, measured using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the pandemic, is a neurobiological marker of negative affect (NA) during the COVID-19 pandemic and after its peak in a large sample (N = 496, 360 females); the moderating role of social support in the brain-NA association was also investigated. We found that participants reported an increase in NA during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic, and the NA did not decrease, even after the peak period. People with higher connectivity within the SN and between the SN and the other two networks reported less NA during and after the COVID-19 outbreak peak, and the buffer effect was stronger if their social support was greater. These findings suggest that the functional networks that are responsible for affective processing and executive functioning, as well as the social support from family and friends, play an important role in protecting against NA under stressful and uncontrollable situations.

Social Support Effects on Neural Stress and Alcohol Reward Responses

Social support (SS), or having people to depend on during times of stress, may offer an emotional and neurological buffer to problem drinking. Specifically, SS may modulate reward and stress-related brain responses to mitigate perceptions of alcohol reward and stress. There is limited evidence, however, on this topic and specifically on brain networks that may modulate SS effects on stress and alcohol reward. Here we present a review of the current literature on this topic as well as data from a large community sample of 115 social drinkers. Findings from a novel fMRI task viewing alcohol cue, stress, and neutral images, in separate blocks, while providing ratings on subjective feelings of alcohol craving, stress, and arousal are included. Lower SS significantly predicted greater alcohol craving during alcohol cue and stress conditions, higher baseline levels of stress, and greater arousal in the alcohol cue, relative to neutral condition. Remarkably, individuals with low SS showed greater reward activation (ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VmPFC) and ventral striatum) during alcohol cue exposure, while those with high SS showed no such activation (p < 0.001, family wise error corrected at 0.05). Furthermore, individuals with lower SS showed greater stress circuit (VmPFC, dorsal striatum, and periaqueductal gray) activation not observed in the high SS groups. Both groups showed increased amygdala activation under stress condition. The findings support the notion that SS is a powerful modulator of stress response and reward motivation. High SS buffers neural and subjective stress responses, while low SS potentiates greater reward seeking with higher alcohol craving and greater brain activation during alcohol cue exposure. Previous research and current results suggest the need to further explore the role of SS in those at risk of developing alcohol use disorder and assess novel prevention strategies to boost SS in at-risk drinkers.

The benefits of giving: Effects of prosocial behavior on recovery from stress

Individuals regularly face stress, and the manner in which they cope with that stress is a crucial component in predicting stress recovery. While many engage in self-rewarding behaviors to feel better, these behaviors can come with a cost. The current study tested the effect of engaging in a different behavior after experiencing stress-prosocial behavior. Given the health benefits associated with giving to others, it is plausible that engaging in prosocial behavior is more successful in reducing the psychological and physiological responses to stress. To test this, participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test and then either sent a gift card to a person of their choosing, received a gift card for themselves, or selected the more aesthetically pleasing gift card. Measures of self-reported mood, heart rate, blood pressure, salivary alpha-amylase, and cortisol were collected throughout the session. While the manipulation did not elicit differences in psychological or hormonal measures, the giving group showed a significantly greater downregulation of their heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure while recovering from the stressor. Additionally, those in the giving group who evidenced greater prosocial sentiment showed a larger reduction in diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure. A follow-up study suggested that these behaviors may be engaging different reward components, as those who gave a gift card reported greater "liking" while those who received a gift card reported greater "wanting". Overall, the findings show that engaging in prosocial behavior following a stressor can help to downregulate physiological stress responses.

The Mediating Effects of Nursing Professional Commitment on the Relationship between Social Support, Resilience, and Intention to Stay among Newly Graduated Male Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Survey

The current shortage of nurses is an important global issue. Most male nurses leave nursing within four years of starting their nursing career. It is crucial to understand the influencing factors on newly graduated male nurses staying in nursing. Previous studies on intentions to stay as nurses were seldom based on theory and failed to consider the differences between genders. Based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study tested the model that social support, resilience, and nursing professional commitment influence the intention to stay and the mediating effect of nursing professional commitment in the above relationship. This cross-sectional study adopted purposive and snowball sampling methods. Data were collected using online questionnaire, and 272 newly graduated male nurses completed it. The hypothetical model had a good fit with the data. Nursing professional commitment had a complete mediating effect between social support and intention to stay and between resilience and intention to stay. Nursing professional commitment was highly positively correlated to intention to stay. It is suggested that future research and practice should enhance male nurses’ professional commitment to increase their intention to stay. The findings can serve as reference for developing newly graduated male nurse retention programs.

EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF NEUROIMMUNE DYSREGULATION ON SOCIAL BEHAVIOR OF MALE AND FEMALE JUVENILE RATS

Many individuals diagnosed with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and social anxiety disorder, all share a common dimension of aberrant social behavior. Epidemiological data indicate that adverse environmental factors contribute to the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, including those associated with aberrant social behavior. Early-life exposure to infectious pathogens is one of those adverse environmental factors, suggesting that activation of the immune system during early development may contribute to disease pathology associated with altered social behavior. In the current project, we examined the impact of neonatal infection, with or without juvenile immune activation, on the expression of juvenile social behavior and on the expression of inflammatory cytokines and microglial signaling molecules in the juvenile rat brain. The outcomes of these experiments revealed that neonatal infection significantly decreased juvenile social interaction, but significantly increased juvenile play behavior in male and female rats. Moreover, neonatal infection alone, juvenile immune activation alone, and neonatal infection plus juvenile immune activation all significantly impaired social recognition in juvenile male rats. Juvenile female rats (including controls) failed to demonstrate social recognition as measured in our three-chamber social recognition test. Taken together, the behavioral and molecular data presented here support the sensitivity of the developing brain to immune activation, particularly in the expression of age-appropriate social behaviors. These data warrant the design of additional studies to examine the mechanistic relationship between early-life immune activation and aberrant social behavior to develop novel as well as modify existing therapeutic targets and preventative measures to help those who display aberrant social behavior.

Exploring neural mechanisms of the health benefits of gratitude in women: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Gratitude has received growing interest as an emotion that can bring greater happiness and health. However, little is known about the effects of gratitude on objective measures of physical health or the neural mechanisms that underlie these effects. Given strong links between gratitude and giving behavior, and giving and health, it is possible that gratitude may benefit health through the same mechanisms as giving to others. Thus, this study investigated whether gratitude activates a neural 'caregiving system' (e.g., ventral striatum (VS), septal area (SA)), which can downregulate threat responding (e.g., amygdala) and possibly cellular inflammatory responses linked to health.

METHODS

A parallel group randomized controlled trial examined the effect of a six-week online gratitude (n = 31) vs. control (n = 30) writing intervention on neural activity and inflammatory outcomes. Pre- and post-intervention, healthy female participants (ages 35-50) reported on support-giving behavior and provided blood samples to assess circulating plasma levels and stimulated monocytic production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)). Post-intervention, participants completed a gratitude task and a threat reactivity task in an fMRI scanner.

RESULTS

There were no significant group differences (gratitude vs. control intervention) in neural responses (VS, SA, or amygdala) to the gratitude or threat tasks. However, across the entire sample, those who showed larger pre- to- post-intervention increases in self-reported support-giving showed larger reductions in amygdala reactivity following the gratitude task (vs. control task). Additionally, those who showed larger reductions in amygdala reactivity following the gratitude task showed larger pre-to-post reductions in the stimulated production of TNF-α and IL-6. Importantly, gratitude-related reductions in amygdala reactivity statistically mediated the relationship between increases in support-giving and decreases in stimulated TNF-α production.

CONCLUSION

The observed relationships suggest that gratitude may benefit health (reducing inflammatory responses) through the threat-reducing effects of support-giving.

Population variability in social brain morphology for social support, household size and friendship satisfaction

The social brain hypothesis proposes that the complexity of human brains has coevolved with increasing complexity of social interactions in primate societies. The present study explored the possible relationships between brain morphology and the richness of more intimate 'inner' and wider 'outer' social circles by integrating Bayesian hierarchical modeling with a large cohort sample from the UK Biobank resource (n = 10 000). In this way, we examined population volume effects in 36 regions of the 'social brain', ranging from lower sensory to higher associative cortices. We observed strong volume effects in the visual sensory network for the group of individuals with satisfying friendships. Further, the limbic network displayed several brain regions with substantial volume variations in individuals with a lack of social support. Our population neuroscience approach thus showed that distinct networks of the social brain show different patterns of volume variations linked to the examined social indices.

The balance of giving versus receiving social support and all-cause mortality in a US national sample

While numerous studies exist on the benefits of social support (both receiving and giving), little research exists on how the balance between the support that individuals regularly give versus that which they receive from others relates to physical health. In a US national sample of 6,325 adults from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, participants were assessed at baseline on hours of social support given and received on a monthly basis, with all-cause mortality data collected from the National Death Index over a 23-y follow-up period. Participants who were relatively balanced in the support they gave compared to what they received had a lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who either disproportionately received support from others (e.g., received more hours of support than they gave each month) or disproportionately gave support to others (e.g., gave many more hours of support a month than they received). These findings applied to instrumental social support (e.g., help with transportation, childcare). Additionally, participants who gave a moderate amount of instrumental social support had a lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who either gave very little support or those who gave a lot of support to others. Associations were evident over and above demographic, medical, mental health, and health behavior covariates. Although results are correlational, one interpretation is that promoting a balance, in terms of the support that individuals regularly give relative to what they receive in their social relationships, may not only help to strengthen the social fabric of society but may also have potential physical health benefits.

Early life stress and neural development: Implications for understanding the developmental effects of COVID-19

Chronic and/or extreme stress in childhood, often referred to as early life stress, is associated with a wide range of long-term effects on development. Given this, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to concern about how stress due to the pandemic will affect children's development and mental health. Although early life stress has been linked to altered functioning of a number of neural and biological systems, there is a wide range of variability in children's outcomes. The mechanisms that influence these individual differences are still not well understood. In the past, studies of stress in childhood focused on the type of events that children encountered in their lives. We conducted a review of the literature to formulate a new perspective on the effects of early life stress on development. This new, topological model, may increase understanding of the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's development. This model is oriented on children's perceptions of their environment and their social relationships, rather than specific events. These factors influence central and peripheral nervous system development, changing how children interpret, adapt, and respond to potentially stressful events, with implications for children's mental and physical health outcomes.

Coronavirus stress and COVID-19 burnout among healthcare staffs: The mediating role of optimism and social connectedness

Coronavirus stress has been associated with undesirable mental health and well-being outcomes, including burnout. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism of change. The present study aimed to examine if optimism and social connectedness mediated the relationship between coronavirus stress and COVID-19 burnout in a large sample of healthcare staffs. Participants included 1046 healthcare staffs (56.8% females) aged 20–61 years (mean age = 30.29 years, SD = 7.80), who completed the measures of coronavirus stress, optimism, social connectedness, and COVID-19 burnout. Females reported more coronavirus stress and burnout and less social connectedness. People confirmed with COVID-19 reported lower optimism. The results indicated that coronavirus stress did not only have a direct effect on increased COVID-19 burnout but also had an indirect effect on it through reduced optimism and social connectedness. These results are important given the shortage of intervention efforts targeting coronavirus stress. Future intervention efforts aimed at reducing coronavirus stress and related outcomes may benefit from simultaneously focusing on optimism and social connectedness.

The cardiovascular response to acute psychological stress is related to subjectively giving and receiving social support

The pathways linking giving and receiving emotional and instrumental social support, and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) are not yet fully understood. Eight-two healthy young adults completed psychometric measures of giving and receiving emotional and instrumental social support and participated in a standardised laboratory stress task. Cardiovascular and hemodynamic parameters were monitored throughout. Both giving and receiving emotional support were positively associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), such that those reporting giving and receiving more emotional support had higher reactivity. Only receiving instrumental was associated with DBP, with those receiving more instrumental support having higher reactivity. Moreover, while the significant association between giving social support and CVR withstood adjustment for several confounding factors (e.g., BMI, sex) it was abolished when receiving support was controlled for. These findings are novel and extend the literature on social support and CVR. Taken together, these findings suggest that receipt of support, rather than giving, may be more influential in this context.

Self-esteem, social support and coping strategies of left-behind children in rural China, and the intermediary role of subjective support:a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND

Negative coping strategies and behavioral problems are common among Chinese left-behind children, which are relate to a variety of negative consequences. At this stage of development, the relevant factors of coping strategies need to be further studied, in which social support and self-esteem are worthy of our attention. The aim of this study is to detect the current situation of self-esteem, social support, and coping styles of left-behind children (LBC) in rural China.

METHODS

322 children from 3 schools in China enrolled in this study, including 236 LBC and 86 non-left-behind children (NLBC) to assess self-esteem, social support and coping strategies.

RESULTS

The LBC group had lower self-esteem score and lower total social support (subjective support, objective support and support-seeking behavior) than the NLBC group. In terms of coping strategies, the LBC group was lower than the NLBC group in problem-solving and rationalization. The self-esteem score in LBC was significant positive associated with the subjective support score, objective support score, problem-solving and help-seeking score. In addition, self-esteem has significant mediating effect between subjective support and problem-solving, subjective support and help-seeking, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The finding indicate that Chinese LBC's self-esteem and social support need to be improved. Given the significant correlativity between self-esteem, subjective support and coping strategy, it is necessary to promote Chinese LBC's self-esteem and social support, especially subjective support.

Kindness Media Rapidly Inspires Viewers and Increases Happiness, Calm, Gratitude, and Generosity in a Healthcare Setting

Background and Objectives: Stress is a ubiquitous aspect of modern life that affects both mental and physical health. Clinical care settings can be particularly stressful for both patients and providers. Kindness and compassion are buffers for the negative effects of stress, likely through strengthening positive interpersonal connection. In previous laboratory-based studies, simply watching kindness media uplifts (elevates) viewers, increases altruism, and promotes connection to others. The objective of the present study is to examine whether kindness media can affect viewers in a real-world, pediatric healthcare setting. Methods: Parents and staff in a pediatric dental clinic were studied. Study days were randomized for viewers to watch either original kindness media or the standard televised children's programming that the clinic shows. Participants scored self-rated pre-media emotions in a survey, watched either media type for 8 min, and then completed the survey. All participants were informed that they would receive a gift card for their participation. After completion of the survey, participants were asked if they wanted to keep the card or donate it to a family in need. Results: Fifty (50) participants completed the study; 28 were parents and 22 were staff. In comparison to viewers of children's programming, participants who watched kindness media had significant increases in feeling happy, calmer, more grateful, and less irritated (p < 0.05), with trends observed in feeling more optimistic and less anxious. Kindness media caused marked increases in viewers' reports of feeling inspired, moved, or touched (p < 0.001). No change was observed in self-reported compassion, although baseline levels were self-rated as very high. People who watched kindness media were also more generous, with 85% donating their honoraria compared to 54% of Standard viewers (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Kindness media can increase positive emotions and promote generosity in a healthcare setting.

Coping resources of heart failure patients - a comparison with cancer patients and individuals having no chronic condition results from the esther study

BACKGROUND

Heart failure (HF) and cancer patients share similarities in symptom burden and depression prevalence. Coping resources, such as optimism have been associated with improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and mental health.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate a wide range of resources in a large population-based sample of HF patients; to compare resources between three groups: HF patients, cancer patients, and individuals having no chronic condition.

METHODS

This cross-sectional analysis was performed among n = 2761 subjects who participated in home visits during the 11-year follow-up of the epidemiological ESTHER study. Resources were assessed by trained medical doctors through a questionnaire that lists 26 items. One-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) controlled for sociodemographic variables and depression were performed to compare resources between groups.

RESULTS

Family and self-efficacy were the most frequently reported resources in all groups. HF patients reported optimism significantly less frequently as a resource in comparison to cancer patients (p=.031). HF patients showed significantly lower levels of resource factor 3 (positive attitude), compared to cancer patients (p=.006), and not chronically ill participants (p=.037).

CONCLUSIONS

Family and self-efficacy seem to be the most important resources, regardless of diagnosis. HF patients appear to have significantly lower levels of resources concerning positive attitude, compared to cancer patients, and not chronically ill individuals. We suggest the development of psychosocial interventions to enhance optimism in HF.