Does sunlight exposure predict next-night sleep? A daily diary study among U.S. adults.

Poor sleep is becoming increasingly prevalent and is associated with adverse health outcomes. Sunlight exposure may improve sleep by regulating circadian rhythms, increasing vitamin D, and influencing melatonin production. However, research on the sunlight-sleep association is limited, especially outside of cross-sectional designs. This study examined associations between daily self-reported sunlight exposure and next-night sleep quality in 103 adults for up to 70 days. The timing of sunlight exposure predicted next-night sleep quality. Specifically, morning sunlight exposure, relative to no sunlight, predicted better sleep quality based on responses to the brief Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. Duration of sunlight exposure was generally not associated with sleep quality. Morning sunlight may regulate circadian rhythms, subsequently improving sleep. Findings have potential implications for sleep interventions and daylight savings time policies. Future research should test whether morning sunlight exposure can enhance the effectiveness of sleep interventions.

Examining the Longitudinal Bi-Directional Associations of Friend Engagement, Social Functioning, and Depression.

Various components of social functioning predict depression and these associations can vary by gender. Bi-directional associations may be important to consider as social factors may influence depressive symptoms while depressive symptoms may impact social factors. Most previous longitudinal research examining bi-directional effects has traditionally used the cross-lagged panel model (CLPM), which has some inherent weaknesses. This study sought to apply a more comprehensive analysis to examine bi-directional associations between friend engagement, social functioning, and depressive symptoms. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) were tested on three waves from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 5890). Average levels of social functioning were positively associated with friend engagement and negatively associated with depression. Fluctuations in social functioning and friend engagement were negatively associated with same-wave depressive symptoms. Lastly, depression was predicted by previous fluctuations in social functioning, although the findings varied by gender. This study showed that the relationships between social factors and depression are apparent within and across large time intervals, even while controlling for between-person associations. These findings add further support to the need to attend to social life as a predictor of depression in older adults. Future research could improve upon this research by examining the characteristics of the friendship interactions and including more diverse samples.

The clustering of lifestyle behaviors in U.S. college students: a network approach.

Objective: College student mental health has been decreasing and lifestyle factors may be an important factor in improving mental health. These behaviors may cluster together in complex ways, which could impact the success of lifestyle interventions. Participants: Two samples of U.S. undergraduate college students were drawn from the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment (NCHA). The data were collected in Fall of 2019 (N = 30,075) and Spring of 2021 (N = 70,059). Methods: Students responded to various health and well-being related questions. Network models were used to examine how lifestyle behaviors cluster together and additional models contained both lifestyle behaviors and health and well-being outcomes. Results: Lifestyle clustering was found, and some similar patterns were seen across time periods and across levels of psychological distress. Conclusions: Individual lifestyle behaviors exist within a complex lifestyle network, which may need to be accounted for in lifestyle interventions.

Mapping the associations of daily pain, sleep, and psychological distress in a U.S. sample.

Chronic pain, sleep problems, and psychological distress (PD) can be disabling conditions and previous research has shown that they are associated. The nuances of the comorbid nature of these conditions may be important to understand for those who treat these conditions. This study examined the bidirectional associations of these health factors concurrently and over time in a sample of U.S. adults (N = 1,008, Mage = 57.68) from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Participants reported on their daily pain, sleep quantity, and psychological distress over eight days. A modified Random Intercept Cross-lagged Panel Model was used to analyze the relations, starting with the whole sample and then a comparison of those with and without chronic pain. Results indicated that nightly variation in sleep quantity predicted next day psychological distress for both groups. Sleep quantity also predicted next-day pain, but only for individuals with chronic pain. Associations between pain and psychological distress were found both at the daily level and individual (between-person) level. This between-person association was stronger for those with chronic pain. The lagged associations between sleep, and both pain and psychological distress for the chronic pain group indicate that, increased quantity of sleep predicts decreased next-day pain and psychological distress. Providers could consider this unidirectional lagged relationship when prioritizing treatment for patients with these comorbid conditions. Future research may examine whether responsive, just-in-time treatments might intervene after participants wake from a poor night's sleep to counteract the negative effects of reduced sleep on PD and pain.

Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor of the Larynx: Report of a Case.

PURPOSE: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare tumor composed of mesenchymal myofibroblastic spindle cells enveloped by an inflammatory infiltrate. Historically, this tumor sparked debate regarding whether it was a true malignancy with metastatic potential or merely a locally destructive physiologic inflammatory response. Few reports of IMT exist in the recent literature, with the majority of cases occurring in the pediatric population and favoring the lungs. Here we present an exceedingly rare case of IMT involving the larynx of a 22-year-old female. RESULTS: A hemorrhagic and solid mass of the right true membranous vocal fold was excised and sent for histopathological assessment. Features of the surgical specimens were diagnostic for IMT. Intralesional steroid therapy was selected for additional treatment. Panendoscopy facilitated surveillance for any additional or recurrent lesions, of which there were none. At 11 months post-excision, follow-up MRI revealed symmetric vocal cords without evidence of any masses. CONCLUSIONS: Although rare, laryngeal IMT should be considered in any patient presenting with hoarseness due to a vocal fold mass. Based on the successful treatment of our patient, we suggest that our approach of surgical excision followed by intralesional corticosteroid injection may be an efficacious treatment approach for this rare tumor. However, more research is warranted to elucidate the most effective, safe, and cost-effective treatment approach.

Exploring the longitudinal clustering of lifestyle behaviors, social determinants of health, and depression.

Lifestyle behaviors such as exercise, sleep, smoking, diet, and social interaction are associated with depression. This study aimed to model the complex relationships between lifestyle behaviors and depression and among the lifestyle behaviors. Data from three waves of the Midlife in the United States study were used, involving 6898 adults. Network models revealed associations between the lifestyle behaviors and depression, with smoker status being strongly associated with depression. Depression, smoker status, age, time, and exercise were some of the most central components of the networks. Future lifestyle intervention research might prioritize specific behaviors based on these associations and centrality indices.

Enjoying nature, exercise, social interaction, and affect: A daily diary study.

This study investigated the pathways linking daily nature enjoyment to affect by testing whether the associations would be fully explained by exercise and social interaction. Participants (N = 782; 55.6% female; age 25-74, Mage = 47.9) from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) refresher study completed surveys across 8 days. Multilevel models indicated that enjoying nature with others tended to predict affect at the within-person level, while enjoying nature alone did not. However, enjoying nature alone did predict affect at the between-person level. Lastly, many of these associations remained, even while controlling for exercise and social interaction.

Resilience predicts posttraumatic cognitions after a trauma reminder task and subsequent positive emotion induction among veterans with PTSD.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 14(S1) of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (see record 2022-45004-002). In the article (https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001143), the Supplemental materials link was missing from the title page. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common problem for veterans. Resilience, the tendency to bounce back from difficult circumstances, is negatively associated with posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) among individuals with a history of trauma, and it may be important to understand responses to trauma reminders. METHOD: Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined the association between trait resilience and state PTCs in veterans with PTSD (n = 47, Mage = 48.60, 91.8% male) at two points: following a written trauma narrative exposure (Time 1 [T1]), and following a subsequent positive distraction task (i.e., brief, positive video; Time 2 [T2]). RESULTS: After controlling for PTSD symptom severity and combat exposure, resilience was negatively associated with PTCs at T1 (ΔR2 = .19) and T2 (ΔR2 = .13). However, resilience was a poor predictor of change in PTCs from T1 to T2. We also examined the relationship between resilience and subtypes of PTCs: resilience was associated with negative views of the self (T1, ΔR2 = .24) but not negative views of the world or self-blame (T1, ΔR2s ≤ .07); these results were consistent at T2. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, resilience may attenuate negative trauma-related cognitions after trauma recall; however, this study was not designed to test causal pathways. Future research could examine whether resilience-building exercises reduce negative PTCs after trauma reminders among veterans. Additional research is needed to generalize to other trauma-exposed populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Social Interaction Within a Trauma-Exposed Population During the Early Phase of COVID-19.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to significant stressors and shifts in social life, yet social interactions experienced by people with trauma exposure during the COVID pandemic is largely unknown. This study assessed frequency of interactions, social support given and received, and prosocial behavior using online survey methods (N=1049). We examined differences in experiences across three groups: no trauma exposure, trauma-exposed with low PTSD symptoms, and trauma-exposed with high PTSD symptoms. We also explored correlations between social interactions and PTSD symptom clusters. Results indicated significant differences across groups and the high PTSD group reported stronger associations between social interaction variables and symptom clusters, on average.

Is a better planned day a healthier day? A daily diary study.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has shown that intentions, implementation intentions, active planning and coping planning predict engagement in important health behaviours. This study investigated the role of general daily planning as opposed to specific behaviour planning as a predictor of engagement in lifestyle behaviours. The study also examined conscientiousness and mean levels of planning as moderators of that relationship. DESIGN: This study utilised a daily diary approach wherein 76 adults were recruited to complete daily diary surveys for 14 days. Multilevel models assessed the within- and between-person relationships between planning and five lifestyle behaviours. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Physical exercise, fruit and vegetable intake, time spent in social interaction, time spent in nature and heavy alcohol intake. RESULTS: Within-person general daily planning predicted engagement in exercise. Interactions were found between within-person general daily planning and between-person general daily planning as predictors of exercise, social interaction and time spent in nature. CONCLUSION: These findings introduce general daily planning as a potentially influential variable for explaining engagement in some lifestyle behaviours. Further, the interactions shed further light on when planning may be more and less helpful depending on individual differences.

Lifestyle behaviors, psychological distress, and well-being: A daily diary study.

RATIONALE: Many lifestyle behaviors such as diet, exercise, social interaction, and substance use are related to physical and mental health. Less understood are the day-to-day associations of these behaviors with both psychological distress, well-being, and with each other. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated how a number of common lifestyle behaviors were associated with psychological distress and well-being using a daily diary study with multilevel modeling. Associations among behaviors were analyzed with multilevel mediation and network models. METHODS: An online participant pool consisting of seventy-six adults (age range: 19-64; mean age: 40.29; 58% female) completed daily diary surveys over 14 days and reported their engagement in lifestyle behaviors, psychological distress, hedonic well-being, and eudaimonic well-being. RESULTS: Time spent in social interaction was the most consistent within-person correlate of psychological distress and well-being. The association between daily time in nature and well-being was mediated by social interaction and exercise. Network models found within-person associations among the lifestyle behaviors. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that social interaction may be an especially important lifestyle behavior to consider when promoting well-being. Future research should recognize that daily fluctuations in many lifestyle behaviors cluster together.

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT EARLY IN THE U.S. COVID-19 CRISIS: EXPLORING SOCIAL SUPPORT AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR BETWEEN THOSE WITH AND WITHOUT DEPRESSION OR ANXIETY IN AN ONLINE SAMPLE.

INTRODUCTION: Social distancing and sheltering-in-place mitigate the physical health risks of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); however, there are concerns about the impact on mental health and social engagement. METHODS: We used data from a U.S.-based online survey (March 2020) to examine patterns of social support and prosocial behavior, explore differences between people with and without depression or anxiety, and explore correlates of social engagement in both groups, including symptom severity in the clinical group. RESULTS: The clinical group reported greater social engagement. In both groups, social engagement was positively associated with COVID-19-related worry and trait moral elevation; mindfulness was positively associated with all outcomes for the clinical group only. Social interaction frequency had little influence on outcomes. Depressive symptom severity was positively associated with all outcomes, whereas anxiety was negatively associated with prosocial behavior. DISCUSSION: These findings highlight how social engagement was experienced early in the U.S. COVID-19 crisis.

On properly characterizing moral agency.

Doris (2015b) develops a theory of moral agency to avoid a skeptical challenge arising from psychology studies indicating that (im)moral behavior is caused by trivial situational factors. His theory is flawed in attending only to situational influences on behavior and neglecting individual differences such as moral identity and virtue. A focus on individual differences in resilience to influence from trivial situational factors defangs the skeptical challenge and offers a better account of moral agency.

Family-Based Treatments for Adolescent Substance Use.

Adolescent substance use is a major risk factor for negative outcomes, including substance dependence later in life, criminal behavior, school problems, mental health disorders, injury, and death. This article provides a user-friendly, clinically focused, and pragmatic review of current and evidence-based family treatments, including multisystemic therapy, multidimensional family therapy, functional family therapy, brief strategic family therapy, ecologically based family therapy, family behavior therapy, culturally informed flexible family treatment for adolescents, and strengths-oriented family therapy. Outcomes, treatment parameters, adolescent characteristics, and implementation factors are reviewed.

Taking Brief Strategic Family Therapy from Bench to Trench: Evidence Generation Across Translational Phases.

In this article, we review the research evidence generated over 40 years on Brief Strategic Family Therapy illustrating the NIH stages of intervention development and highlighting the translational process. Basic research (Stage 0) led to the discovery of the characteristics of the population and the nature of the problems that needed to be addressed. This step informed the selection of an intervention model that addressed the problems presented by the population, but in a fashion that was congruent with the population's culture, defined in terms of its value orientations. From this basic research, an intervention that integrated structural and strategic elements was selected and refined through testing (Stage I). The second stage of translation (Stage II) included efficacy trials of a specialized engagement module that responded to challenges to the provision of services. It also included several other efficacy trials that documented the effects of the intervention, mostly in research settings or with research therapists. Stages III/IV in the translational process led to the testing of the effectiveness of the intervention in real-world settings with community therapists and some oversight from the developer. This work revealed that an implementation/organizational intervention was required to achieve fidelity and sustainability of the intervention in real-world settings. The work is currently in Stage V in which new model development led to an implementation intervention that can ensure fidelity and sustainability. Future research will evaluate the effectiveness of the current implementation model in increasing adoption, fidelity, and long-term sustainability in real-world settings.

Sex differences in experimental measures of pain sensitivity and endogenous pain inhibition.

It has been suggested that increased pain sensitivity and disruption of endogenous pain inhibitory processes may account, at least in part, for the greater prevalence and severity of chronic pain in women compared to men. However, previous studies addressing this topic have produced mixed findings. This study examined sex differences in pain sensitivity and inhibition using quantitative sensory testing (QST), while also considering the influence of other important factors such as depressive symptoms and sleep quality. Healthy men (n=24) and women (n=24) each completed a QST battery. This battery included an ischemic pain task (IPT) that used a submaximal effort tourniquet procedure as well as a conditioned pain modulation (CPM) procedure for the assessment of endogenous pain inhibition. Prior to QST, participants completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Analyses revealed significant sex differences for the ischemic pain task and the conditioned pain modulation procedure, such that women tolerated the ischemic pain for a shorter amount of time and demonstrated less pain inhibition compared with men. This remained true even when accounting for sex differences in depressive symptoms and sleep quality. The results of this study suggest that women may be more pain sensitive and possess less-efficient endogenous pain inhibitory capacity compared with men. Whether interventions that decrease pain sensitivity and enhance pain inhibition in women ultimately improve their clinical pain outcomes is an area of research that deserves additional attention in the future.