Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating symptoms in children's daily life: Can parents protect against appearance comparison on social media?

Research suggests that body dissatisfaction is common among children. However, it remains largely unknown how body dissatisfaction occurs on a daily basis and which environmental factors are linked to this. The purpose of this study was to examine (1) state body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, compensatory exercise and loss of control eating among children and its association with upward comparisons via social media and (2) whether trust in parents may attenuate this association. Children from 10 to 12 years old (N = 50) were assessed three times a day during a two-week period. Trust was examined via a baseline questionnaire. State body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, compensatory exercise, loss of control eating and upward comparisons were examined via Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Multilevel analyses indicated that an a higher level of upward comparison is associated with a higher level of state body dissatisfaction, compensatory exercise and loss of control eating. Trust in father significantly moderated the association between appearance comparison and body dissatisfaction. No evidence was found for the protective role of trust in mother. Future research is necessary to enhance our understanding of state body dissatisfaction among children and of environmental factors that may protect children from the adverse effects of social media.

The association between day-to-day stress experiences, recovery, and work engagement among office workers in academia-An Ecological Momentary Assessment study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the associations between day-to-day work-related stress exposures (i.e., job demands and lack of job control), job strain, and next-day work engagement among office workers in academic settings. Additionally, we assessed the influence of psychological detachment and relaxation on next-day work engagement and tested for interaction effects of these recovery variables on the relationship between work-related stressors and next-day work engagement. METHODS: Office workers from two academic settings in Belgium and Slovenia were recruited. This study is based on an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) with a 15-working day data collection period using our self-developed STRAW smartphone application. Participants were asked repeatedly about their work-related stressors, work engagement, and recovery experiences. Fixed-effect model testing using random intercepts was applied to investigate within- and between-participant levels. RESULTS: Our sample consisted of 55 participants and 2710 item measurements were analysed. A significant positive association was found between job control and next-day work engagement (ß = 0.28, p < 0.001). Further, a significant negative association was found between job strain and next-day work engagement (ß = -0.32, p = 0.05). Furthermore, relaxation was negatively associated with work engagement (ß = -0.08, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed previous results, such as higher job control being associated with higher work engagement and higher job strain predicting lower work engagement. An interesting result was the association of higher relaxation after the working day with a lower next-day work engagement. Further research investigating fluctuations in work-related stressors, work engagement, and recovery experiences is required.

The association between day-to-day stress experiences and work-life interference among office workers in academia: an ecological momentary assessment study.

PURPOSE: We investigated relations between day-to-day job demands, job control, job strain, social support at work, and day-to-day work-life interference among office workers in academia. METHODS: This study is based on a 15-working day data collection period using an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) implemented in our self-developed STRAW smartphone application. We recruited office workers from two academic settings in Belgium and Slovenia. Participants were repeatedly asked to complete EMAs including work stressors and work interfering with personal life (WIPL) as well as personal life interfering with work (PLIW). We applied fixed-effect model testing with random intercepts to investigate within- and between-participant levels. RESULTS: We included 55 participants with 2261 analyzed observations in this study. Our data showed that researchers with a PhD reported higher WIPL compared to administrative and technical staff (ß = 0.37, p < 0.05). We found significant positive associations between job demands (ß = 0.53, p < 0.001), job control (ß = 0.19, p < 0.01), and job strain (ß = 0.61, p < 0.001) and WIPL. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction effect between job control and social support at work on WIPL (ß = - 0.24, p < 0.05). Additionally, a significant negative association was found between job control and PLIW (ß = - 0.20, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Based on our EMA study, higher job demands and job strain were correlated with higher WIPL. Furthermore, we found associations going in opposite directions; higher job control was correlated with higher WIPL and lower PLIW. Higher job control leading to higher imbalance stands out as a novel result.

Indoor nature integration for stress recovery and healthy eating: A picture experiment with plants versus green color.

AIM: Urbanized environments may stimulate unhealthy food choices and stress. Several theories explain that exposure to green nature can counter these stress effects. Since we spend most time indoors, integrating nature in the interior could be a promising health promotion tool. Hence, we tested whether the beneficial effect of nature for stress recovery is also present in indoor settings via the use of plants or green colors, and whether it is applicable on eating behavior as a new outcome. METHODS: The 92 participants (18-30y, 16% men) were divided into four groups. Each viewed a 6-min slideshow with room pictures containing either green plants, green objects, greyscale plants or greyscale objects to allow distinction between color- and plant-effects. Group differences were tested for the perceived restorativeness scale, psychological recovery and eating behavior. To allow psychological recovery testing, participants were exposed to a stressor before the picture slideshow via the Trier Social Stress Test. The change of self-reports (stress, positive and negative affect) and psychophysiology (heart rate and vagal-induced heart rate variability RMSSD) post-slideshow versus pre-slideshow was checked. Eating behavior outcomes included change in hunger, craving, and food choice (for fruits, vegetables and snacks). RESULTS: From the four picture sets, the green plants pictures were reported as most mentally restorative and appeared most beneficial for post-stressor recovery of positive affect, but not for negative affect or stress recovery. The green plants group also had higher preference for vegetables and lower preference or craving for (unhealthy) snacks. Those significant group differences were mainly due to the presence of plants and only occasionally due to the green color. CONCLUSION: Indoor green plant pictures were associated with higher mental restorativeness and healthier food choices. Integrating plants in the interior seems to be a relevant health promotion approach, while applying green colors seems less relevant.

Failure to modulate reward prediction errors in declarative learning with theta (6 Hz) frequency transcranial alternating current stimulation.

Recent evidence suggests that reward prediction errors (RPEs) play an important role in declarative learning, but its neurophysiological mechanism remains unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that RPEs modulate declarative learning via theta-frequency oscillations, which have been related to memory encoding in prior work. For that purpose, we examined the interaction between RPE and transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) in declarative learning. Using a between-subject (real versus sham stimulation group), single-blind stimulation design, 76 participants learned 60 Dutch-Swahili word pairs, while theta-frequency (6 Hz) tACS was administered over the medial frontal cortex (MFC). Previous studies have implicated MFC in memory encoding. We replicated our previous finding of signed RPEs (SRPEs) boosting declarative learning; with larger and more positive RPEs enhancing memory performance. However, tACS failed to modulate the SRPE effect in declarative learning and did not affect memory performance. Bayesian statistics supported evidence for an absence of effect. Our study confirms a role of RPE in declarative learning, but also calls for standardized procedures in transcranial electrical stimulation.