Men, women…who cares? A population-based study on sex differences and gender roles in empathy and moral cognition

Empathy in Adults with Acquired Brain Injury: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Empathy is the ability to recognise, share and understand others' emotional states. Increasing evidence suggests that empathy may be impacted by acquired brain injury (ABI), with consequences for social and emotional functioning. However, the literature has been characterised by inconsistent findings and small sample sizes. To address these limitations, we provide the first meta-analytic review of empathy in adults with ABI. Specifically, the review aimed to quantify the degree of impairment in adults with ABI across four empathy-related domains: cognitive, affective, empathic concern (e.g. sympathy) and personal distress. We also sought to estimate the prevalence of deficits in each area and explore whether demographic and injury factors moderate impairment. A systematic search yielded 29 studies measuring self-reported empathy in adults with ABI versus healthy, matched peers. A series of random-effects meta-analyses revealed moderate deficits in cognitive empathy (Hedges' g =  - 0.68, 95% CI [- 0.87, - 0.50]) and affective empathy (Hedges' g =  - 0.43, 95% CI [- 0.65, - 0.21]), as well as small-to-moderate deficits in empathic concern (Hedges' g =  - 0.38, 95% CI [- 0.63, - 0.13]). No significant difference was found for personal distress. We estimated the proportion of ABI participants scoring equal to or more than 1 SD below the normative mean to be 15.3-35.0%, depending on the empathy subcomponent. Our results highlight that empathy deficits may play an important role in functional or emotional difficulties post-brain injury. This demonstrates the need for routine clinical assessment of empathy in survivors of brain injury and the need to develop interventions which target both cognitive and affective components.

Eating to live well-Or worse? The role of vegan and vegetarian diets in mental health

BackgroundOver the past two decades, there has been an increase in the prevalence of psychological conditions, such as depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and body image disturbances. In concert with this trend, there was a substantial rise in the advocacy and practice of restrictive dietary patterns, such as veganism and vegetarianism. These parallel developments suggest a relation between diet and mental health, but to date, research has failed to offer clear answers on whether these associations are causal, coincidental, or more complex than superficial analyses suggest.AimGiven this context, the purpose of this commentary is to offer a consilient perspective on the role of vegan and vegetarian diets in mental health.MethodsWe performed a broad qualitative synthesis of the current literature on diet and mental health from sociologic and psychologic perspectives.ResultsSeveral empirically supported hypotheses were presented with equivocal support.ConclusionThe current evidence suggests that if a nutritionally adequate diet is consumed, the avoidance/consumption of meat and other animal foods will have no significant effects on physical and mental health.

A longitudinal neuroimaging study of adolescent girls' mentalizing and perspective-taking tendencies

Research in developmental psychology suggests that self-concept formation and mentalizing capacities, along with their neural foundations, show significant developmental change during adolescence. Perspective-taking tendencies are also believed to increase in adolescence, supporting the refinement of prosocial behavior and the demands of increasingly complex social relationships. To explore the development of, and relationship between, these processes in adolescence, early adolescent girls (N = 172) completed a measure of perspective-taking tendencies and a self-evaluation fMRI task at two waves, approximately 18 months apart (mean ages = 11.62 and 13.20, respectively). In line with our hypothesis, perspective-taking tendencies were positively associated with age. Greater perspective-taking tendencies were also associated with a more prosocial, and less antisocial, self-concept. In addition, dmPFC activity increased with age, but this did not survive correction for multiple comparisons across all mentalizing regions. Post hoc analyses also showed that an increase in perspective-taking tendencies across waves was significantly associated with activity in parts of the precuneus at wave 2. Finally, while we did not observe cross-variable coupling, our Bivariate Latent Change Score model showed that lower perspective-taking tendencies at wave 1 were associated with greater latent change in this variable (and the same was true for mean activity in mentalizing brain regions).

Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents

Whereas humans exhibit emergency responses to assist unconscious individuals, how nonhuman animals react to unresponsive conspecifics is less well understood. We report that mice exhibit stereotypic behaviors toward unconscious or dead social partners, which escalate from sniffing and grooming to more forceful actions such as mouth or tongue biting and tongue pulling. The latter intense actions, more prominent in familiar pairs, begin after prolonged immobility and unresponsiveness and cease when the partner regains activity. Their consequences, including improved airway opening and clearance and accelerated recovery from unconsciousness, suggest rescue-like efforts. Oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus respond differentially to the presence of unconscious versus active partners, and their activation, along with oxytocin signaling, is required for the reviving-like actions. This tendency to assist unresponsive members may enhance group cohesion and survival of social species.

The relationship between professional values of nursing students and respectful maternity care: A descriptive and correlational study

AIM

This study aimed to examine the relationship between nursing students' perception of respectful maternal care and their professional values.

DESIGN

A descriptive and correlation design was used.

METHOD

The sample were 323 nursing students in the third and fourth year of training. Data collection occurred in 2023. Nursing students completed the Personal Information Form, Students' Perceptions of Respectful Maternity Care Scale and Nurses' Professional Values Scale.

RESULTS

In this study, the mean age of the students was 21.51 (SD 1.26) years. It was determined that 56.3 % of the students were in their 3rd year, 23.2 % were male, 63.5 % chose the nursing profession willingly, 123 students (38.1 %) had previously worked in a pregnancy clinic in clinical practice and 99 students (30.7 %) had observed a vaginal birth. A moderate relationship was found between the students' Respectful Maternity Care Perception Scale total score and the Nurses' Professional Values Scale total score. It was found that the predictors of students' perception of respectful maternity care were human dignity, action and security sub-dimensions and the predictors of nursing students' professional values were the respectful care, security and comfort sub-dimensions of the Students' Perception of Respectful Maternity Care Scale.

CONCLUSIONS

Nursing students' perception of respectful maternity care and professional values of nurses were found to be above the mean level. As a result, it is very important to evaluate nursing students' perception of respectful maternal care and its relationship with professional values and to support and strengthen this in nursing education.

TSST-OL: Comparison between online and laboratory application and effects on empathy

Online test protocols are increasingly popular in psychological and neuroscientific research. Despite its relevance to the social functioning, the influence of acute stress on cognitive and affective state empathy is not clearly understood. Recently, a remote online version (TSST-OL) of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was established for use in research with both children and adults. In general, the TSST-OL offers the opportunity for context-independent application (e.g., at the participants' home or in field contexts). However, in order to exploit this opportunity, it seems crucial to validate the TSST-OL across different settings and contextual variables. We compared stress reactivity in response to the TSST-OL at home and in the laboratory. In a 2 ×2 factorial design, N=120 participants (n=60 women) underwent the TSST-OL and an online adaption of the friendly TSST (fTSST-OL) either at home (n=60) or at the laboratory (n=60). Stress induction was evaluated in terms of physiological (cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase, sAA) and subjective stress and affect measures. Participants also completed an empathy performance task after stress and control exposure. Results confirmed that the TSST-OL successfully induced stress both when conducted at participants' homes and in the laboratory. Still, cortisol levels were higher during laboratory participation compared to application at home, likely due to anticipatory stress. Consequently, the TSST-OL in a home-based application seems to buffer anticipatory stress thus making it an attractive tool to study experimentally induced stress reactivity. Concerning empathy, positive emotions were generally better identified (cognitive empathy) and empathized (affective empathy) than negative emotions. For the latter, this difference was absent after stress, indicated by decreased affective empathy for positive emotions. Overall, this study indicates that the TSST-OL induces stress and validates the tool using a rigorous study design with sufficient participants and relevant stress parameters. Thus, future studies may apply the TSST-OL in different contexts and diverse samples. The findings on empathy under stress align with mixed results in existing research, highlighting the necessity for further investigations into empathy, considering various measurements, stimulus valence, and sex of the participant.

Mental Health Awareness: Stigma and Help-Seeking Among Portuguese College Students

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Help-seeking-that is, the attempt to attain external help for mental health, be it from formal or informal sources-can be described as an adaptive coping process. Mental illness stigma is the most frequently identified barrier that prevents students from seeking psychological help. This study analyzed college students' beliefs about mental illness and attitudes toward formal psychological help-seeking.

METHODS

Two hundred and eighty-two students from the first and third undergraduate years of Psychology, Sociology, Fashion Design, and Sports Science courses participated. The majority of the sample (75.4%) was female, while only 24.6% was male, with a mean age of 20.04 years. The scales used were the Inventory of Beliefs about Mental Illness (IBMI), the Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IATSMHS), and a sociodemographic questionnaire.

RESULTS

The results revealed that females, third-year students, and Psychology students had fewer stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness and more positive attitudes towards help-seeking. Moreover, there were statistically significant differences in beliefs and attitudes in relation to psychological support and familiarity with mental illness. We also glimpsed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' mental health, and observed a change in opinions and attitudes toward mental illness during this period. Correlation analysis showed negative correlations between stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes toward seeking help. Finally, a cluster analysis identified two profiles of individuals that reflected different levels of stigma and help-seeking attitudes.

CONCLUSIONS

This study delineated two distinct groups of students, which is relevant as it allows us to trace profiles to outline more uniform intervention groups and, in turn, implement new and improved interventions that are better adapted to the specific needs of college students.

Do Danish medical students feel prepared to deliver healthcare to patients with backgrounds different from their own? A cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND

Migrant and ethnic minority populations in Europe are growing, leading to a demand for health systems and health educations to accommodate the growing diversity. Research indicates that health professionals feel inadequately prepared to care for diverse populations, and medical education has gaps in addressing these issues. The aim of the study is to explore whether Danish medical students and newly graduated physicians feel prepared to meet the needs of the increasingly diverse populations.

METHODS

An online survey was emailed to students in the four medical Master's programs in Denmark and to newly graduated physicians in clinical internships. Data was collected spring 2023. Descriptive statistics reported overall numbers, and multivariate logistic regression was used to model the association between survey answers and the background variables: semester, gender/sex, parent's education, self-identified ethnicity.

RESULTS

Many medical students and newly graduated physicians feel unprepared to care for patients of backgrounds different from their own. For all items women reported feeling more unprepared than men. Among the medical students and newly graduated physicians with enough clinical experience to answer the question, 34.2% reported feeling helpless at times or often in the past year when treating culturally different patients. Men were less likely than women to report feeling helpless (OR = 0.42; 95% CI 0.28 to 0.64); and self-identified ethnic minorities were 2.59 times more likely than Danish/European medical students and newly graduated physicians to report feeling helpless (95% CI 1.32-5.07).

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate shortcomings in medical students and newly graduated physicians feeling of preparedness to provide care to patients of backgrounds different from their own. These findings can assist medical education management with identifying curriculum gaps.

Biomarkers of neurodegeneration across the Global South

Research on neurodegenerative diseases has predominantly focused on high-income countries in the Global North. This Series paper describes the state of biomarker evidence for neurodegeneration in the Global South, including Latin America, Africa, and countries in south, east, and southeast Asia. Latin America shows growth in fluid biomarker and neuroimaging research, with notable advancements in genetics. Research in Africa focuses on genetics and cognition but there is a paucity of data on fluid and neuroimaging biomarkers. South and east Asia, particularly India and China, has achieved substantial progress in plasma, neuroimaging, and genetic studies. However, all three regions face several challenges in the form of a lack of harmonisation, insufficient funding, and few comparative studies both within the Global South, and between the Global North and Global South. Other barriers include scarce infrastructure, lack of knowledge centralisation, genetic and cultural diversity, sociocultural stigmas, and restricted access to tools such as PET scans. However, the diverse ethnic, genetic, economic, and cultural backgrounds in the Global South present unique opportunities for bidirectional learning, underscoring the need for global collaboration to enhance the understanding of dementia and brain health.

Autistic People's Experience of Empathy and the Autistic Empathy Deficit Narrative

Background

There is a dominant discourse, both in clinical texts and throughout the academic literature, that autistic people lack empathy; however, over the past decade, both clinicians and academics have increasingly rejected deficit-based descriptions of autism in favor of more nuanced explanations of the experience of autistic individuals in a social world.

Methods

This study asked 76 autistic individuals about their own experience of empathy and the oft-cited empathy deficit. Data were thematically analyzed and revealed a wide array of empathic self-concepts among respondents.

Results

Notably, there was a high proportion of hyper-empathic experiences. Many respondents reported their empathic responses to be overwhelming, or even distressing. These different experiences of empathy contrast with societal expectations of empathy, which often result in additional labor for autistic people as they navigate the non-autistic centered world.

Conclusion

Although the academic literature is, in some areas, slowly moving away from a deficit perspective, more broadly there is still a negative impact from misconceptions around autistic people and empathy. Further work needs to be done to not only explore this misconception at a societal (rather than academic) level, but also better bridge the gap around the changing ideas of empathy and real-world understanding of autistic empathy.

Does Medical Curriculum Impact on Empathy? A Longitudinal Study in a Sample of Undergraduate Medical Students

Empathy in medical students is receiving increasing attention as it is fundamental to build and develop a functional patient-physician relationship. When looking at its determinants, demographic and academic factors seem to concur in shaping empathy in this population. Although data show strong gender differences and changes in empathy throughout medical school, it is not clear the direction of these changes and whether gender and curriculum features modulate them. This longitudinal study examined changes in empathy and explored gender differences throughout the medical school. Four consecutive cohorts of Italian medical students (N = 336) completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Student (JSE-S) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) in their second year of study (before any clinical clerkship and communication skills courses) and fifth year of study (after a 2-year clinical clerkship and communication skills courses). Analysis of variance for repeated-measures revealed that, beyond the effect of gender, JSE-S total score and IRI Perspective Taking increased, whereas IRI Personal Distress and IRI Fantasy significantly decreased throughout medical school. No significant change in IRI Empathic Concern emerged over time. Student's t-tests showed that female students displayed significantly higher mean scores than their male counterparts for all empathy measures in both their second and fifth years of medical training. The findings suggest that the medical curriculum affects self-reported empathy dimensions among undergraduate medical students. Further research is needed to deepen the understanding of the educational factors that promote the changes in empathy levels during medical training.

Nurses' self-efficiency levels in safe blood and blood component transfusion: The case of Turkey

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to determine nurses' self-efficacy levels for safe transfusion of blood and blood components.

METHOD

The design of this study is descriptive and cross-sectional. Before starting the study, ethics committee approval and institution approval was obtained. The participants were informed about the purpose of the study, and their written consent was obtained. The research was conducted between the dates 01 March 2022 and 01 May 2022, a private hospital in Turkey. The study sample consisted of 482 nurses. Data were collected using descriptive characteristics form and the Safe Blood and Blood Products Transfusion Self-Efficacy Scale (SBT-SES).

RESULTS

The total SBT-SES scores of the nurses were high (202.7 ± 50.1), and the behavioral sub-factor self-efficacy scores were moderate (48.2 ± 19.5). When the SBT-SES scores were analyzed based on demographic characteristics, it was found that those who had received previous safe blood transfusion training scored higher than those who had not, and women scored higher than men (p < 0.05). In addition, no relationship was found between age, working time, number of weekly blood transfusions, and self-efficacy levels.

DISCUSSION

As a result, nurses' self-efficacy levels towards blood transfusion are high. However, the behavioral sub-factor self-efficacy level is not sufficient.

CONCLUSION

Based on these results, in order to increase the behavioral self-efficacy levels of nurses, our recommendations are as follows: investigating appropriate training methods, considering the sex factor when choosing training methods and techniques, investigating the barriers to safe transfusion behaviors, and measuring self-efficacy levels at regular intervals.

Should it stay, or swerve? Trading off lives in dilemma situations involving autonomous cars

Using a representative survey with 1317 individuals and 12,815 moral decisions, we elicit Swedish citizens' preferences on how algorithms for self-driving cars should be programmed in cases of unavoidable harm to humans. Participants' choices in different dilemma situations (treatments) show that, at the margin, the average respondent values the lives of passengers and pedestrians equally when both groups are homogeneous and no group is to blame for the dilemma. In comparison, the respondent values the lives of passengers more when the pedestrians violate a social norm, and less when the pedestrians are children. Furthermore, we explain why the average respondent in the control treatment needs to be compensated with two to six passengers spared in order to sacrifice the first pedestrian, even though she values the lives of passengers and pedestrians equally at the margin. We conclude that respondents' choices are highly contextual and consider the age of the persons involved and whether these persons have complied with social norms.

Neuronal, affective, and sensory correlates of targeted helping behavior in male and female Sprague Dawley rats

Introduction

Empathic behaviors are driven by the ability to understand the emotional states of others along with the motivation to improve it. Evidence points towards forms of empathy, like targeted helping, in many species including rats. There are several variables that may modulate targeted helping, including sex, sensory modalities, and activity of multiple neural substrates.

Methods

Using a model of social contact-independent targeted helping, we first tested whether sex differences exist in helping behavior. Next, we explored sex differences in sensory and affective signaling, including direct visualization and an analysis of ultrasonic vocalizations made between animal pairs. Finally, we examined the neural activity in males and females of multiple regions of interest across time. Here, we aim to examine any behavioral differences in our lab's social contact independent targeted helping task between males and females.

Results and Discussion

These findings are the first to intimate that, like other prosocial behaviors, males and females may exhibit similar social-independent targeted helping behavior, but the underlying sensory communication in males and females may differ. In addition, this is the first set of experiments that explore the neural correlates of social-independent targeted helping in both males and females. These results lay the groundwork for future studies to explore the similarities and differences that drive targeted helping in both sexes.

"Snapping, sharing and receiving blame": A systematic review on psychosocial factors of victim blaming in non-consensual pornography

Non-consensual pornography has become a growing concern, with potentially negative consequences for the victims. Victims of revenge porn are more likely to be blamed, and understanding why and how blame is attributed toward victims of non-consensual pornography is crucial to support them and reduce the negative consequences. This study aimed to explore and synthesize the existing evidence on victim blaming in non-consensual pornography and the underlying psychosocial factors within the context of attribution framework. A comprehensive systematic review was conducted across four databases namely PubMed, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and Scopus for English-language studies published from April 2012 to June 2022. Data from the selected studies were extracted and collated into the review matrix. Among the 22 full-text reviews, 10 records that met the eligibility criteria were included in the final review. Two themes namely "Culture and morality" and "gendered differences in attributions of blame" were derived from a thematic synthesis of 10 studies and reflected the psychosocial underpinnings of victim blaming. The review highlighted how cultural narratives and perceived immorality play a major role in how attributions are placed on self or others for victim blaming in "non-consensual pornography." Blame attributions emerging from gender stereotyping and gendered responsibilization within cultural and societal contexts were found to impact self-blame and compound victimization in non-consensual pornography. The study findings implicated that recognizing psychosocial underpinnings of victim blame attribution in revenge porn would allow for evolving suitable legislative and policy responses for designing effective educative and preventative strategies.

Linguistic Empathy: Behavioral measures, neurophysiological correlates, and correlation with Psychological Empathy

Relations among behavioral, psychological, and electrophysiological correlates of Linguistic Empathy were examined in two experiments using lateralized stimuli. Linguistic Empathy is defined as a linguistic manifestation of the point of view the speaker assumes toward the content of the utterance, and of the speaker's attitude toward/identification with the referents therein. Linguistic choices made by the speaker among multiple logically and referentially synonymous lexical and grammatical options reveal the speaker's perspectives. In experiment 1, acceptability ratings were measured for Context-Target sentence pairs that did or did not violate two Empathy Hierarchies (Person Empathy Hierarchy and Topic Empathy Hierarchy); the Empathy Quotient (EQ) test of Psychological Empathy was also administered. Ratings were lower for sentence pairs that violated both hierarchies than for those violating neither and were intermediate for sentences violating only one hierarchy. Linguistic Empathy (LE) was operationalized as the difference in ratings between sentences violating both vs. neither empathy hierarchy; this measure correlated positively with EQ. Experiment 2 replicated those results with new participants and measured reaction time and EEG during ratings. While there were no effects of hemisphere or visual field on the linguistic variables, the amplitude of a positive event-related potential deflection at 380 ms provided a partial electrophysiological correlate for LE. Its difference measure correlated with behavioral LE but not with EQ. Though preliminary, these experiments show that Linguistic Empathy may share information processing computations with Psychological Empathy and have an electrophysiological correlate.

Gender differences in empathy, compassion, and prosocial donations, but not theory of mind in a naturalistic social task

Despite broad interest, experimental evidence for gender differences in social abilities remains inconclusive. Two important factors may have limited previous results: (i) a lack of clear distinctions between empathy (sharing another's feelings), compassion (a feeling of concern toward others), and Theory of Mind (ToM; inferring others' mental states), and (ii) the absence of robust, naturalistic social tasks. Overcoming these limitations, in Study 1 (N = 295) we integrate three independent, previously published datasets, each using a dynamic and situated, video-based paradigm which disentangles ToM, empathy, and compassion, to examine gender differences in social abilities. We observed greater empathy and compassion in women compared to men, but found no evidence that either gender performed better in ToM. In Study 2 (n = 226) we extend this paradigm to allow participants to engage in prosocial donations. Along with replicating the findings of Study 1, we also observed greater prosocial donations in women compared to men. Additionally, we discuss an exploratory, novel finding, namely that ToM performance is positively associated with prosocial donations in women, but not men. Overall, these results emphasize the importance of establishing experimental designs that incorporate dynamic, complex stimuli to better capture the social realities that men and women experience in their daily lives.

The role of empathy in trolley problems and variants: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The role of empathy in morality is a subject of ongoing scientific debate due to the lack of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on this topic. To address this gap, we conducted a PRISMA-based systematic quantitative review to investigate the role of empathy in moral judgements, decision-making, and inclinations using trolley problems and variants, which are popular types of moral dilemmas that explore utilitarianism and deontology. We searched for articles in four databases (PsycINFO, Pubmed, WorldWideScience, and Scopus) and performed citation searches. Out of 661 records, we selected 34 that studied the associations between empathy and moral judgements, moral decision-making, and/or moral inclinations. Six meta-analyses and systematic reviews of these records consistently showed small to moderate associations between affective empathy and these moral parameters, particularly in personal moral dilemmas involving intentional harm (although some approaches highlighted more complex associations between these parameters). Regarding other empathy domains, most studies found limited or insignificant links between cognitive empathy domains and moral judgements, decision-making, and inclinations. We discuss the nuances and implications of these results.

Profiles of parents' emotion socialization within a multinational sample of parents

Introduction

Seminal emotion socialization theories classify parents according to two patterns of parent emotion socialization processes: 'emotion coaching' (i.e., parents validate and teach children about emotions) versus 'emotion dismissing' parenting (i.e., parents minimize and dismiss their children's emotions). However, empirical evidence supporting this binary distinction of parents remains limited. Our objective was to investigate whether parents can be differentiated by distinct patterns in their (1) beliefs about children's emotions, (2) emotion regulation, and (3) emotion-related parenting practices.

Method

Participants were parents of children aged 4-10 years from the Child and Parent Emotion Study (N = 869) (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e038124). Parents completed self-reported measures of emotion socialization processes via an online survey, which took 20-30 min to complete. Data included in the current study were collected May-August 2019. We conducted a latent profile analysis of parents' emotion socialization (13 indicators). To assess reliability of the profiles, we examined stability of the profiles across (1) parents of children in early versus middle childhood, and (2) fathers versus mothers, via measurement invariance testing. Further, to assess for construct validity of the profiles, we examined concurrent associations between six criterion constructs and parents' emotion socialization profiles.

Results

A three-profile model emerged characterizing parents by: (1) emotion coaching; (2) emotion dismissing; (3) emotion disengaged. There was strong support for construct validity and reliability.

Discussion

Our study provides empirical support for distinct differentiated classifications of emotion coaching and emotion dismissing parenting, aligned with emotion socialization theories. We further extend on extant theory and suggest a third 'emotion disengaged' classification, describing parents with moderate levels of emotion dismissing parenting and low levels of emotion coaching parenting. It should be noted that the profiles were derived with self-report data, therefore, data may have been biased by contextual factors. Furthermore, the study sample consisted of Western families from affluent backgrounds. The field should focus efforts on conducting person-centered studies with more diverse samples in future.

Sorry, not sorry: Unpopular individuals report but don't display empathy and prosocial behaviors

The resource control theory postulates that the combination of prosocial strategies and coercive strategies are useful in gaining and maintaining resources that allow one to be perceived popular within society. Often prosocial behaviors appear in conjunction with empathy. The social-reconnection hypothesis suggest that prosocial behaviors might be executed when an individual fears they are or might be socially excluded. However, some research shows that mixed feelings arise and increased attendance to acceptance might take place but not actual helping behaviors. The current study examined eighty-six individuals and the impact of perceived popularity on empathy and prosocial behaviors. Specifically, self-reported popular and unpopular individuals were examined based on resource control strategy usage, empathy quotient (EQ) scores, helping behavior, and galvanic skin response to an emotion inducing video about rejection and bullying. Unpopular individuals self-reported higher levels of empathy but did not display greater galvanic skin responses or more helping behavior than popular self-reported individuals.

Heterogeneous factors influence social cognition across diverse settings in brain health and age-related diseases

Aging may diminish social cognition, which is crucial for interaction with others, and significant changes in this capacity can indicate pathological processes like dementia. However, the extent to which non-specific factors explain variability in social cognition performance, especially among older adults and in global settings, remains unknown. A computational approach assessed combined heterogeneous contributors to social cognition in a diverse sample of 1063 older adults from 9 countries. Support vector regressions predicted the performance in emotion recognition, mentalizing, and a total social cognition score from a combination of disparate factors, including clinical diagnosis (healthy controls, subjective cognitive complaints, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia), demographics (sex, age, education, and country income as a proxy of socioeconomic status), cognition (cognitive and executive functions), structural brain reserve, and in-scanner motion artifacts. Cognitive and executive functions and educational level consistently emerged among the top predictors of social cognition across models. Such non-specific factors showed more substantial influence than diagnosis (dementia or cognitive decline) and brain reserve. Notably, age did not make a significant contribution when considering all predictors. While fMRI brain networks did not show predictive value, head movements significantly contributed to emotion recognition. Models explained between 28-44% of the variance in social cognition performance. Results challenge traditional interpretations of age-related decline, patient-control differences, and brain signatures of social cognition, emphasizing the role of heterogeneous factors. Findings advance our understanding of social cognition in brain health and disease, with implications for predictive models, assessments, and interventions.

Relationship between adult attachment and cognitive emotional regulation style in women and men

Cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies are useful in evaluating the risk of developing emotional disorders and that they may define subjects' styles. This study aims to explore the extent to which specific styles of CER strategies relate to the anxious and avoidant attachment dimensions in adults and whether such relationships operate similarly for women and men. Two hundred and fifteen adults (between 22 and 67 years old) completed the Spanish versions of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the Experiences in Close Relationships instrument. Cluster analysis, ANOVA and Student's t-test were used. Our results show that women and men can be successfully classified into two CER clusters (Protective and Vulnerable), distinguished by the higher use in the protective cluster of the CER strategies considered most adaptive and complex (Acceptance, Positive Refocusing, Refocus on Planning, Positive Reappraisal, and Putting into Perspective). However, only in women were the anxious and avoidant attachment dimensions significantly associated with CER style. In conclusion, from a clinical and interpersonal perspective, it is interesting to be able to predict the belonging to a Protective or Vulnerable coping style by analysing the CER strategies and to know their relationship with the adult affective system.

Calling on clinicians to get social and emotional

OBJECTIVE

Disorders of social cognition, such as difficulties with emotion perception, alexithymia, Theory of Mind (ToM), empathy and disorders of emotion regulation, are prevalent and pervasive problems across many neurological, neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions. Clinicians are familiar with how these difficulties present but assessment and treatment has lagged behind other traditional cognitive domains, such as memory, language and executive functioning.

METHOD

In this paper, we review the prevalence and degree of impairment associated with disorders of social cognition and emotion regulation across a range of clinical conditions, with particular emphasis on their relationship to cognitive deficits and also real-world functioning. We reported effects sizes from published meta-analyses for a range of clinical disorders and also review test usage and available tests.

RESULTS

In general, many clinical conditions are associated with impairments in social cognition and emotion regulation. Effect sizes range from small to very large and are comparable to effect sizes for impairments in nonsocial cognition. Socio-emotional impairments are also associated with social and adaptive functioning. In reviewing prior research, it is apparent that the standardized assessment of social cognition, in particular, is not routine in clinical practice. This is despite the fact that there are a range of tools available and accruing evidence for the efficacy of interventions for social cognitive impairments.

CONCLUSION

We are using this information to urge and call for clinicians to factor social cognition into their clinical assessments and treatment planning, as to provide rigorous, holistic and comprehensive person-centred care.

Are women more empathetic than men? Questionnaire and EEG estimations of sex/gender differences in empathic ability

The debate regarding whether women are more empathetic than men has broad scientific, social and clinical implications. However, previous independent questionnaires and brain imaging studies that tested different samples reported inconsistent results regarding sex/gender differences in empathic ability. We conducted three studies to investigate sex/gender differences in empathic ability using large-sample questionnaires and electroencephalography (EEG) measures. We showed that the estimation of empathic ability using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index questionnaire showed higher rating scores in women than in men in all studies. However, our EEG measures of empathy, indexed by both phase-locked and non-phased-locked neural responses to others' painful (vs neutral) facial expressions, support a null hypothesis of the sex/gender difference in empathic ability. In addition, we showed evidence that priming social expectations of women and men's ability to share and care about others' feelings eliminated the sex/gender difference in questionnaire measures of empathic ability. Our large-sample EEG results challenge the notion of women's superiority in empathy that is built based on subjective questionnaire measures that are sensitive to social desirability. Our findings indicate that whether the notion of women's superiority in empathic ability reflects a biological/social difference between women and men or a gender-role stereotype remains an open question.

Sex differences matter: Males and females are equal but not the same

Sex differences between males and females can be detected early in life. They are present also later even to a much greater extent affecting our life in adulthood and a wide spectrum of physical, psychological, cognitive, and behavioral characteristics. Moreover, sex differences matter also in individual's health and disease. In this article, we reviewed at first the sex differences in brain organization and function with respect to the underlying biological mechanisms. Since the individual functional differences in the brain, in turn, shape the behavior, sex-specific psychological/behavioral differences that can be observed in infants but also adults are consequently addressed. Finally, we briefly mention sex-dependent variations in susceptibility to selected disorders as well as their pathophysiology, diagnosis, and response to therapy. The understanding of biologically determined variability between males and females can have important implications, especially in gender-specific health care. We have the impression that it is very important to emphasize that sex matters. Males and females are differently programmed by nature, and it must be respected. Even though we as males and females are not the same, we would like to emphasize that we are still equal and together form a worthy colorful continuum.

Protocol: Implementation and evaluation of an adolescent-mediated intervention to improve glycemic control and diabetes self-management among Samoan adults

BACKGROUND

Diagnoses of Type 2 Diabetes in the United States have more than doubled in the last two decades. One minority group at disproportionate risk are Pacific Islanders who face numerous barriers to prevention and self-care. To address the need for prevention and treatment in this group, and building on the family-centered culture, we will pilot test an adolescent-mediated intervention designed to improve the glycemic control and self-care practices of a paired adult family member with diagnosed diabetes.

METHODS

We will conduct a randomized controlled trial in American Samoa among n = 160 dyads (adolescent without diabetes, adult with diabetes). Adolescents will receive either a six-month diabetes intervention or a leadership and life skills-focused control curriculum. Aside from research assessments we will have no contact with the adults in the dyad who will proceed with their usual care. To test our hypothesis that adolescents will be effective conduits of diabetes knowledge and will support their paired adult in the adoption of self-care strategies, our primary efficacy outcomes will be adult glycemic control and cardiovascular risk factors (BMI, blood pressure, waist circumference). Secondarily, since we believe exposure to the intervention may encourage positive behavior change in the adolescent themselves, we will measure the same outcomes in adolescents. Outcomes will be measured at baseline, after active intervention (six months post-randomization) and at 12-months post-randomization to examine maintenance effects. To determine potential for sustainability and scale up, we will examine intervention acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, reach, and cost.

DISCUSSION

This study will explore Samoan adolescents' ability to act as agents of familial health behavior change. Intervention success would produce a scalable program with potential for replication in other family-centered ethnic minority groups across the US who are the ideal beneficiaries of innovations to reduce chronic disease risk and eliminate health disparities.

Gender differences in empathy, emotional intelligence and problem-solving ability among nursing students: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Empathy, emotional intelligence (EI) and problem-solving ability are three important characteristics that influence effective communication in clinical practice. Previous studies have not adequately explored the specific relationships between these three abilities and their gender differences among nursing students.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to investigate the current state of emotional intelligence, empathy, and problem-solving ability in nursing students and to identify whether gender differences affect these three characteristics and how gender differences can be used to educate nurses on empathy.

DESIGN

We conducted a cross-sectional survey.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 993 nursing students from two grade A tertiary hospitals in Hunan, China participated in this study.

METHODS

Data were collected using the Empathy of Clinical Nurse Scale (ENCS), Emotional Intelligence Scale of Clinical Junior Nurses (EIS) and Social Problem-Solving Inventory (SPSI). Data were analyzed using an independent samples t-test, Pearson correlation and hierarchical multiple linear regression.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in the ENCS and SPSI scores between male and female nursing students, but male nursing students had lower EIS scores (P < 0.05). A significant association was found between ENCS, EIS and SPSI on most dimensions among female nursing students, but no significant association was found between ENCS and EIS for total scores among males. We found that problem-solving ability was the most important factor affecting the variation in empathy for both male and female nursing students through hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Gender differences are reflected not only in the level of emotional intelligence but also in the relationships between emotional intelligence, empathy, and problem-solving ability. Nursing educators should be aware of how gender differences can affect these three traits; this is particularly important for teaching based on students' aptitudes.

The Cost of Caring: Compassion Fatigue among Peer Overdose Response Workers in British Columbia

Background: The drug toxicity crisis has had dramatic impacts on people who use drugs. Peer overdose response workers (peer responders), i.e., individuals with lived/living experience of drug use who work in overdose response settings, are particularly susceptible to negative physical and mental health impacts of the crisis. Despite that, the mental health impacts on peer responders have yet to be studied and measured. Methods: The Professional Quality of Life survey (Version 5) was completed by 47 peer responders at two organizations in British Columbia between September 2020 and March 2021 to assess compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. The Likert scale responses were converted into numerical values and scores were calculated for each sub-scale. The mean score was calculated for each sub-scale and categorized as low, medium, or high, based on the instructions for Version 5 of the instrument. Results: Our study uncovered a high mean score for compassion satisfaction, low mean score for burnout, and medium mean score for secondary traumatic stress among peer responders. These results may be due to the participants' strong feelings of pride and recognition from their work, as well as the low number of participants that felt they had too much to do at work. Conclusion: Although peer responders derive pleasure and fulfillment from their jobs, i.e., compassion satisfaction, they also sometimes face burnout and stress due to continuous exposure to the trauma of the people they support. These results shed light on the areas that need to be targeted when creating supports for peer responders.

The impact of breast cancer on social cognition in female Colombian patients

BACKGROUND

The high prevalence of female breast cancer is a global health concern. Breast cancer and its treatments have been associated with impairments in general cognition, as well as structural and functional brain changes. Considering the social challenges that some of these patients face, it is important to understand the socio-emotional effects of breast cancer as well. Nevertheless, the impact of breast cancer on social cognition has remained underexplored. The objective of this study was to assess social cognition domains and other relevant cognitive and emotional variables (executive functions, anxiety, or depression) in females with breast cancer.

METHODS

The participants were 29 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 29 female healthy controls. We assessed emotion recognition, theory of mind, empathy, and moral emotions. We also included measures of general cognitive functioning, quality of life, anxiety, and depression. Linear multiple regressions were performed to assess whether the group (patients or controls), GAD-7 scores, emotional and social subscales of EORTC QLQ-C30, and IFS scores predicted the social cognition variables (EET, RMET, MSAT).

RESULTS

Patients with breast cancer showed impairments in emotion recognition and in affective theory of mind. In addition, patients had lower scores in some executive functions. Only theory of mind between group differences remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Emotion recognition was associated with executive functioning, but anxiety levels were not a significant predictor of the changes in social cognition.

CONCLUSIONS

Social cognition impairments, especially in theory of mind, may be present in breast cancer, which can be relevant to understanding the social challenges that these patients encounter. This could indicate the need for therapeutic interventions to preserve social cognition skills in patients with breast cancer.

The link between cognitive and affective empathy and interpersonal emotion regulation direction and strategies

Interpersonal emotion regulation (ER) refers to the different processes aimed at changing the emotional states of others. Some authors have speculated about the pivotal role of empathy for interpersonal ER to happen. However, the very limited empirical evidence suggests that only cognitive empathy as opposed to affective empathy may be a necessary antecedent. As previous research only considered interpersonal affect improvement and showed mixed evidence for the regulation strategies, we aimed to address this gap in the current research. To that aim, 374 adults (M = 30.3 years, 249 female) reported their tendency to engage in cognitive (perspective-taking) and affective empathy (empathic concern and personal distress) as well as their tendency to improve and worsen others' mood, and to use different regulation strategies (situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and modulation of the emotional response) to change others' feelings. Results of the regression analyses showed that while affect improvement was not significantly predicted by any of the empathy variables, affect worsening was positively predicted by personal distress. Concerning the regulation strategies, while cognitive change and situation modification were positively predicted by personal distress, attention deployment was positively predicted by perspective-taking. Overall, the obtained results highlight the need to further investigate the link between empathy and ER and to carefully consider the methods selected for that purpose.

Task‐related functional neuroimaging contribution to sex/gender differences in cognition and emotion during development

Recent research has shown that sex/gender (s/g) influences on cognitive functions and related brain anatomy, functional responses, and connectivity are less clear than previously assumed, and most studies investigated adult population. In this mini-review, we summarize research progress in the study of s/g differences in the human brain function as investigated by neuroimaging methods adopting a developmental perspective. In particular, we review original studies published from 2000 to 2021 investigating s/g differences in task-related brain functional activation and connectivity in healthy children and adolescents. We summarize results about studies in the domains of language, visuospatial ability, social cognition, and executive functions. Overall, a clear relation between cognition and brain activation or connectivity pattern is far from being established and the few coherent results should be considered exploratory, despite in some cases, brain function seems to present specific patterns in comparison with what reported in adults. Moreover, future studies should address methodological limitations, such as fragmentation of tasks, lack of control for confounding variables, and lack of longitudinal designs to study developmental trajectories.

Impact of the special care dentistry education on Malaysian students' attitudes, self-efficacy and intention to treat people with learning disability

INTRODUCTION

Special Care Dentistry (SCD) education has been introduced in Malaysia, but there are limited number of studies about its impact to students. Thus, this study aimed to explore the level of students' readiness to treat people with learning disability (PWLD) based on their attitudes, self-efficacy and intention to treat.

METHODS

A questionnaire was developed based on the Dental Student Attitude to the Handicapped Scale, Scale of Attitudes to the Disabled Persons and Health Action Process Approach. The self-administered, validated questionnaire was tested for reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .71-.81), before being distributed to clinical dental students of both genders from two universities (University A, n = 176 and University B, n = 175). Quantitative data were analysed via t test and ANOVA (p < .05) using the SPSS software.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in mean total attitude score between the universities, although dental students from University A, who mostly reported having received hands-on clinical experience in SCD and exposure to Disability Equality Training (DET), showed significantly higher individual mean attitude score for 5 (out of 24) attitudinal items. The mean total self-efficacy score and individual mean self-efficacy score for 1 (out of 5) self-efficacy items were also significantly higher amongst University A dental students. The intention to treat PWLD was not significantly influenced by university, gender or year of study.

CONCLUSION

Incorporation of SCD education in the undergraduate curriculum, with hands-on clinical experience and exposure to DET, is recommended to equip students to be efficient oral healthcare providers for PWLD.

Does culture shape our understanding of others' thoughts and emotions? An investigation across 12 countries

Measures of social cognition have now become central in neuropsychology, being essential for early and differential diagnoses, follow-up, and rehabilitation in a wide range of conditions. With the scientific world becoming increasingly interconnected, international neuropsychological and medical collaborations are burgeoning to tackle the global challenges that are mental health conditions. These initiatives commonly merge data across a diversity of populations and countries, while ignoring their specificity.

OBJECTIVE

In this context, we aimed to estimate the influence of participants' nationality on social cognition evaluation. This issue is of particular importance as most cognitive tasks are developed in highly specific contexts, not representative of that encountered by the world's population.

METHOD

Through a large international study across 18 sites, neuropsychologists assessed core aspects of social cognition in 587 participants from 12 countries using traditional and widely used tasks.

RESULTS

Age, gender, and education were found to impact measures of mentalizing and emotion recognition. After controlling for these factors, differences between countries accounted for more than 20% of the variance on both measures. Importantly, it was possible to isolate participants' nationality from potential translation issues, which classically constitute a major limitation.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, these findings highlight the need for important methodological shifts to better represent social cognition in both fundamental research and clinical practice, especially within emerging international networks and consortia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing the Factors That Influence Medical Students' Attitudes Toward Working With Medically Underserved Populations

INTRODUCTION

The needs of medically-underserved populations (MUPs) are consistently outpacing the number of physicians caring for them. Medical students' motivations toward working with MUPs consistently decline as they progress through medical school. Given the shortage of doctors caring for MUPs, the objective of our study was to further investigate factors that influence medical students' motivation to work with MUPs while they progress through their education. By identifying these elements, we hope to recommend identified factors within medical education that support the development of more physicians who care for MUPs.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study is an assessment of medical students at the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School (UTSW). The study utilized the Medical Student Attitudes Toward the Underserved (MSATU), a validated survey that assesses medical student motivations toward the provision of medical care to MUPs. Surveys were administered at three time points selected to represent key transition points in medical education.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference between MSATU scores among the three time points. MSATU scores were higher among students who identified as female, had higher empathy, had higher value placed on teamwork, and had higher community-centeredness. MSATU scores were also higher among students planning to specialize in primary care compared to students planning to specialize in a non-primary care field (P=.239).

CONCLUSION

This study identifies factors associated with high MSATU scores within UTSW medical education, including female identification, higher empathy score, higher emphasis on teamwork, higher community-centeredness, and plans to practice primary care. Additionally, the results support maintenance of MSATU scores across all three time points. Future research should examine individual-level data to determine whether individual students are maintaining their MSATU scores or if individual fluctuations are neutralized by group changes.

Association of compassion and empathy with prosocial health behaviors and attitudes in a pandemic

This investigation examined how dispositional compassion and empathy were associated with prosocial behaviors and attitudes in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Every two weeks from March 22 to June 15, 2020, we fielded a survey to a new cohort of adults in the U.S. Compassion related to whether one stayed home to protect others, more hours spent staying home and distancing from others, and more frequent mask wearing in public, in the past two weeks. Compassion also related to greater perceived ability to help others who were negatively affected. Empathy related to more endorsement of understanding others' fear of COVID-19, and less endorsement of the view that others were overreacting to COVID-19. There was an interaction between empathy and political ideology, suggesting that empathy may matter for understanding others' fear among those with more conservative-leaning beliefs. Empathy also related to greater understanding that sheltering-in-place helps prevent the spread of COVID-19. Findings suggest that messaging and interventions to increase compassion and empathy may promote public health behaviors during a pandemic regardless of political orientation. Targeting empathy may be one way to reach individuals with more conservative political beliefs, and it is important to use an evidence-based approach accounting for political party differences in motivated reasoning.

Are Adolescents With Higher Self-Esteem More Prosocial? Exploring the Moderating Effect of Self-Compassion in Different Genders

Previous studies have revealed a positive relationship between self-esteem and prosocial behavior. Based on social mentality theory, the authors propose that self-compassion as a self-soothing system moderates the relationship in adolescents girls and not in adolescent boys. A total of 540 adolescents from 12 to 14 years old completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Self-Compassion Scale, and Prosocial Tendencies Measure. The results showed that both self-esteem and self-compassion were positively correlated with prosocial behavior, self-compassion moderated the relationship between self-esteem and altruistic or anonymous prosocial behavior, and self-compassion moderated the relationship between self-esteem and dire prosocial behavior and the moderating effect was moderated by gender. In conclusion, the present study indicates that self-esteem and self-compassion, as two important aspects of the self, are beneficial to prosocial behavior in adolescence. Self-compassion strengthens the relationship between self-esteem and specific prosocial behavior, especially for adolescent girls.

Reliability of Greek version of the Toronto empathy questionnaire in medical students and associations with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors

BACKGROUND

Empathy is an important key driver of any therapeutic relationship. It is beneficial for both physicians and patients. Enhancing physician's empathy should be an important goal of medical education. As there was a literature gap regarding the topic of empathy among medical students in Greece, this study aimed to contribute to filling this gap.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted. A socio-demographic questionnaire and the 52-item Greek version of the Toronto composite empathy scale (TCES) for measuring the cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy in both personal and professional life was administered to all the medical students in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Greece. Descriptive statistics were displayed for demographics. The associations of the variables were quantified by Chi-2 independence tests and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire was determined by Cronbach's α, Hotelling's T-Squared Test, and Pearson correlation. Paired and Independent Sample T-Tests and One-way ANOVAs indicated statistically significant mean differences among the variables or subgroups of the variables.

RESULTS

The 52-item TCES, 26 for the personal (Per) setting and another 26 for professional (Pro) life, equally divided into cognitive (Cog) and emotional (Emo) empathy in each case. The overall reliability of the TCES questionnaire was found to be high (Cronbach's α = 0.895, significant positive correlations between the subscales). The mean total score of empathy showed that students had a moderately high empathy. Further, there was a statistically significant difference in means between the Per-Cog and Per-Emo settings (p < 0.001), the Pro-Cog and Pro-Emo (p < 0.001), the Per-Cog and Pro-Cog (p = 0.004), and the Per-Emo and Pro-Emo (p < 0.001). Females had significantly higher empathy scores (mean score 208.04) than males (192.5) on the Per-Cog, Per-Emo and Pro-Emo subscales. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between empathy and factors such as love for animals, interest in medical ethics, belief in God, having an ill person in the family, class year or carrier intention.

CONCLUSIONS

The TCES is applicable to medical students. For the most part our findings were consistent with previous literature. However, we identified some nuances that might draw researchers' attention. The results of this study may contribute to plan interventions in the curriculum to enhance empathy in the medical students.

Linguistic gender congruity differentially correlates with film and novel ratings by critics and audiences

The film and publishing industries are fraught with gender disparities, with men overpowering nearly every sector of these domains. For instance, men are not only paid more than women in the film industry, but they also outnumber women in positions such as director, screenwriter, and lead acting roles. Similarly, women often resort to assuming gender-neutral or male pseudonyms to increase their prospects in the publishing industry. This widespread gender inequality in the film and publishing industries raises the question of how writers’ gender relates to gendered language and narrative receptions. Two archival studies examined whether gender-linked language relates to film (N = 521) and novel (N = 150) ratings, and whether those associations differ as a function of writer gender or the expertise of the rater (professional critics and lay audience members). Results demonstrated that female screenwriters and novelists used a more feminine style of writing, whereas male screenwriters and novelists used a more masculine style of writing. Lay audiences gave more positive ratings to films and novels by writers who used a more gender-congruent writing style, in contrast with professional critics, who gave more positive reviews to films by writers who used a more gender-incongruent writing style. Our findings substantiate past research regarding the differing tastes of lay audiences and professional critics in addition to lending insight into subtle social dynamics that may sustain gender biases in the film and publishing industries.

Mattering in the community: Domain and demographic differences in a US sample

Mattering is defined as experiences of feeling valued and adding value in different domains of life: self, relationships, work, and community. Mattering is a construct with great relevance across psychological and social issues. Research has suggested there may be value in understanding group differences in mattering. Following the recent validation of a scale which measures mattering across multiple domains of life (MIDLS), the present study analyzed a representative US sample to identify demographic group differences in domain-specific mattering. Despite the presence of few differences in Overall Mattering, significant differences were found among all domains and between groups for each demographic variable. Overall, high incomes, advanced degrees, and employment were most consistently associated with higher mattering across domains. In addition, individuals across demographic groups and domains were more likely to report adding value than feeling valued. Age, gender, ethnicity, and marital status correlations were found in certain domains. These results demonstrate the value of a multidimensional conception of mattering and provide initial insight into demographic differences in mattering in a United States, English-speaking sample.

Investigating the contribution of white matter hyperintensities and cortical thickness to empathy in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases

Change in empathy is an increasingly recognised symptom of neurodegenerative diseases and contributes to caregiver burden and patient distress. Empathy impairment has been associated with brain atrophy but its relationship to white matter hyperintensities (WMH) is unknown. We aimed to investigate the relationships amongst WMH, brain atrophy, and empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Five hundred thirteen participants with Alzheimer's disease/mild cognitive impairment, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Parkinson's disease, or cerebrovascular disease (CVD) were included. Empathy was assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. WMH were measured using a semi-automatic segmentation and FreeSurfer was used to measure cortical thickness. A heterogeneous pattern of cortical thinning was found between groups, with FTD showing thinning in frontotemporal regions and CVD in left superior parietal, left insula, and left postcentral. Results from both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that several variables were associated with empathy, particularly cortical thickness in the fronto-insulo-temporal and cingulate regions, sex (female), global cognition, and right parietal and occipital WMH. Our results suggest that cortical atrophy and WMH may be associated with empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Future work should consider investigating the longitudinal effects of WMH and atrophy on empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases.

Functional connectivity patterns of trait empathy are associated with age

Empathy is the capacity to feel and understand others' mental states. In some individuals, there is an imbalance between the affective and cognitive components of empathy, which can lead to deficits. This study investigated the functional connectivity of the anterior insula (AI) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), which play key roles in empathy, in covariation with the affective and cognitive subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), as a function of age and sex, as an exploratory analysis. Seed-based functional connectivity analyses were performed on 33 healthy participants that were subdivided according to their age (16 adults and 17 adolescents) and sex (16 women and 17 men). Adolescents reported lower cognitive empathy than adults and men less affective empathy than women. The connectivity of the dmPFC and AI, in covariation with the cognitive and affective subscales of empathy, respectively, differed between adolescents and adults, but was similar in men and women. Adolescents had patterns of negative covariations between the regions of interest and many brain regions associated with the default-mode and salience networks. These findings support that lower self-report levels of empathy in certain individuals could be reflected in the functional connectivity patterns of the dmPFC and AI.

Humanitarian approach in medicine: A study on clinical empathy among medical students and graduates using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy

Background Empathy is one of the pillars of professionalism in the medical field associated with better patient satisfaction and outcome. This study aimed to assess and compare the empathy score with other institutes within and outside India using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student version (JSE-S). Methods We did a cross-sectional study for undergraduate medical students and interns of Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad, for 4 months from October 2019. Voluntary participants completed the JSE-S, an internationally validated 20-item survey questionnaire. Results The mean empathy score of 575 voluntary participants out of 631 was 100.75, with women having higher and significant scores than men (F 102.1 [11.5]; M 98.3 [12.5]; p<0.001). The highest empathy score was observed in the first year (102 [10.8]), which increased and decreased in different years of medical education with a maximum dip in the second year (99.4 [11.5]). The choice of specialty of participants showed a lower significant difference as per the JSE-S score. A lower empathy score was identified among participants compared to medical students studying in international medical institutes. Conclusion There is a need to organize workshops with training modules to cater to the empathy aspect of professional care, as a continuous process, starting from the first year till the completion of internship.

The Dark Side of Humanity Scale: A reconstruction of the Dark Tetrad constructs

There has been an absence of consideration regarding measurement invariance across males and females in the widely available Dark Tetrad (DT) scales which measure psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism and everyday sadism. This has resulted in criticisms of the measures, suggesting that the assessed constructs are not wholly relatable between the groups. This article documents the construction and validation of the Dark Side of Humanity Scale (DSHS), which measures dark personalities from an alternative viewpoint, determined by the constructs as they emerged from the male and female data, whilst aligning with theory and attaining invariance between sex. Across four samples (n = 2409), using a diverse range of statistical methods, including exploratory graph analysis, item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis, a divergence from the widely available DT measures emerged, whereby primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were unified. This corroborated past research which had discussed the two constructs as being parallel. It further supported the DSHS with a shift away from the traditional DT conceptualisation. The resulting scale encompasses four factors which are sex invariant across samples and time. The first factor represents the successful psychopath, factor two addresses the grandiose form of entitlement, factor three taps into everyday sadism whilst the fourth factor pertains to narcissistic entitlement rage. Construct and external validity of the DSHS across two samples (n = 1338), as well as test-retest reliability (n = 413), was achieved. The DSHS provides an alternative approach to investigating the dark side of human nature, whilst also being sex invariant, thus making it highly suitable for use with mixed sex samples.

Sex and gender differences in the development of empathy

The topic of typical sex and gender difference in empathy is examined in both a developmental and neuroscientific perspective. Empathy is construed as a multi-layered phenomenon with various degrees of complexity unfolding in ontogeny. The different components of empathy (i.e., affective, cognitive, and prosocial motivation) will be discussed as they interact and are expressed behaviorally. Significant sex/gender differences in empathy are discussed in relation to putative bottom-up or top-down processes underlying empathetic responses. The early onset and the pervasive presence of such sex/gender differences throughout the lifespan are further discussed in light of social and neurobiological modeling factors, including early socialization, brain's structural/functional variances, as well as genetics and hormonal factors.

Ethical Decision-making of Health Professionals Caring for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Hunan, China: A Qualitative Study

Numerous ethical issues surged the moment acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was discovered. As advocates of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), health professionals encounter many ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. However, it remains unclear how health professionals solve these issues. The descriptive qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 22 health professionals from May to August 2018. Three themes emerged from data analyses of the interviews: (1) real ethical dilemma experienced by health professionals, (2) factors influencing ethical judgment, (3) ethical motivations. About two-thirds of participants failed to recall ethical dilemmas experienced in their clinical practice. Emotions, gender, occupation, and difficulty balancing different roles may influence the ethical judgments of health professionals. In the ethical decision-making (EDM) process, most participants took other people’s interests into consideration and conformed to law and professional codes of conduct. However, the fear of medical disputes (conflicts with families and others) was experienced by many participants, influencing their ethical behaviors.

Feelings first? Sex differences in affective and cognitive processes in emotion recognition

The recognition of emotional expressions is important for social understanding and interaction, but findings on the relationship between emotion recognition, empathy, and theory of mind, as well as sex differences in these relationships, have been inconsistent. This may reflect the relative involvement of affective and cognitive processes at different stages of emotion recognition and in different experimental paradigms. In this study, images of faces were morphed from neutral to full expression of five basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness), which participants were asked to identify as quickly and accurately as possible. Accuracy and response times from healthy males (n = 46) and females (n = 43) were analysed in relation to self-reported empathy (Empathy Quotient; EQ) and mentalising/theory of mind (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test). Females were faster and more accurate than males in recognising dynamic emotions. Linear mixed-effects modelling showed that response times were inversely related to the emotional empathy subscale of the EQ, but this was accounted for by a female advantage on both measures. Accuracy was unrelated to EQ scores but was predicted independently by sex and Eyes Test scores. These findings suggest that rapid processing of dynamic emotional expressions is strongly influenced by sex, which may reflect the greater involvement of affective processes at earlier stages of emotion recognition.