The interacting partner as the immediate environment: Personality, interpersonal dynamics, and bodily synchronization.

OBJECTIVE: In social interactions, humans tend to naturally synchronize their body movements. We investigated interpersonal synchronization in conversations and examined its relationship with personality differences and post-interaction appraisals. METHOD: In a 15-minute semi-structured conversation, 56 previously-unfamiliar dyads introduced themselves, followed by self-disclosing and argumentative conversations. Their bodily movements were video-recorded in a standardized room (112 young adults, aged 18-33, mean = 20.54, SD = 2.74; 58% Dutch, 31% German, 11% other). Interpersonal bodily synchronization was estimated as (a) synchronization strength using Windowed Lagged Cross-Correlations and (b) Dynamic Organization (Determinism/Entropy/Laminarity/Mean Line) using Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis. Bodily synchronization was associated with differences in Agreeableness and Extraversion (IPIP-NEO-120) and post-conversational appraisals (affect/closeness/enjoyment) in mixed-effect models. RESULTS: Agreeable participants exhibited higher complexity in bodily synchronization dynamics (higher Entropy) than disagreeable individuals, who also reported more negative affect afterward. Interpersonal synchronization was stronger among extroverts than among introverts and extroverts appraised conversations as more positive and enjoyable. Bodily synchronization strength and dynamic organization were related to the type of conversation (self-disclosing/argumentative). CONCLUSIONS: Interpersonal dynamics were intimately connected to differences in Agreeableness and Extraversion, varied across situations, and these parameters affected how pleasant, close, and enjoyable each conversation felt.

Mixture multilevel vector-autoregressive modeling.

With the rising popularity of intensive longitudinal research, the modeling techniques for such data are increasingly focused on individual differences. Here we present mixture multilevel vector-autoregressive modeling, which extends multilevel vector-autoregressive modeling by including a mixture, to identify individuals with similar traits and dynamic processes. This exploratory model identifies mixture components, where each component refers to individuals with similarities in means (expressing traits), autoregressions, and cross-regressions (expressing dynamics), while allowing for some interindividual differences in these attributes. Key issues in modeling are discussed, where the issue of centering predictors is examined in a small simulation study. The proposed model is validated in a simulation study and used to analyze the affective data from the COGITO study. These data consist of samples for two different age groups of over 100 individuals each who were measured for about 100 days. We demonstrate the advantage of exploratory identifying mixture components by analyzing these heterogeneous samples jointly. The model identifies three distinct components, and we provide an interpretation for each component motivated by developmental psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Childhood Trauma and Adult Somatic Symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: Childhood trauma is a key public health risk factor for developing physical illness. This study examined how childhood abuse and neglect predict adult somatic symptoms assessed retrospectively and in real time. METHODS: Participants in the HowNutsAreTheDutch project completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form and, to assess somatic symptoms, the cross-sectional Patient Health Questionnaire ( n = 406) or a longitudinal ecological momentary assessment protocol that included responding to an item on physical discomfort 3 times a day for 30 days ( n = 290). RESULTS: As hypothesized, childhood trauma was positively associated with adult somatic symptoms assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire ( d = 0.30) and assessed using the ecological momentary assessment item ( d = 0.31), also after adjustment for age, sex, educational level, and relationship status. Longitudinally, we also explored whether interpersonal context moderated abuse outcomes, and observed that social company dampened momentary physical discomfort among people with a history of more physical neglect ( d = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Childhood trauma, especially emotional and sexual abuse, predicts specific adult somatic symptoms. Future work may examine how symptom expression is influenced by the social lives of traumatized individuals.

Interdependencies Between Family and Friends in Daily Life: Personality Differences and Associations with Affective Well-Being Across the Lifespan.

Family and friends are central to human life and well-being. Yet, interdependencies between family and friends have scarcely been examined. How is the relative frequency of daily contact with family and friends (i.e., the friends/family-ratio) related to personality and to well-being? In an experience sampling study with 396 participants (M age= 40 years, range 14-88 years, 52% females), we studied how the friends/family-ratio in contact differed along Big Five personality trait scores and was connected to affective well-being across six daily measurements on nine days (average of 55 assessments). Most participants reported more daily contact with family than friends (i.e. they held a family orientation), but individual differences were substantial. More agreeable individuals reported a greater family orientation. More extraverted individuals reported more positive affect in the company of friends than with family. Age moderated the effect of the friends/family-ratio on positive affect. Younger adults reported less positive affect in the company of family, yet older adults reported more positive affect in the company of family, the more they were friendship oriented. We discuss how examining the friends/family-ratio extends previous knowledge on personality differences in social relationships, and how the friends/family-ratio yields promising, yet challenging, future directions in personality-relationship associations.

Pandemic boredom: Little evidence that lockdown-related boredom affects risky public health behaviors across 116 countries.

Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional "lockdown") may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for noncompliance. We examined whether there was empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sample of 63,336 community respondents from 116 countries. Although boredom was higher in countries with more COVID-19 cases and in countries that instituted more stringent lockdowns, such boredom did not predict longitudinal within-person decreases in social distancing behavior (or vice versa; n = 8,031) in early spring and summer of 2020. Overall, we found little evidence that changes in boredom predict individual public health behaviors (handwashing, staying home, self-quarantining, and avoiding crowds) over time, or that such behaviors had any reliable longitudinal effects on boredom itself. In summary, contrary to concerns, we found little evidence that boredom posed a public health risk during lockdown and quarantine. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing the mood brightening hypothesis: Hedonic benefits of physical, outdoor, and social activities in people with anxiety, depression or both.

BACKGROUND: The mood brightening hypothesis postulates that people with depressive symptoms report more positive affect (PA) and less negative affect (NA) than healthy controls after rewarding daily life activities. Whether mood brightening also occurs in people with anxiety symptoms remains unclear. This study examined effects of physical activity, being outdoors, and social activity on PA and NA across different levels of depression and anxiety symptoms in the general Dutch population. METHODS: Participants completed an electronic diary on their smartphone, thrice daily over 30 days, to assess activities and affect (n = 430; 22,086 assessments). We compared five groups based on their scores on the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales: asymptomatic participants, participants with mild symptoms of depression and/or anxiety, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms. Multilevel linear regression models with interaction terms were used to compare the association between activities and affect in these five groups. RESULTS: All activities were associated with increased PA and reduced NA in all groups. We found a mood brightening effect in participants with depression, as physical activity and being outdoors were associated with reduced NA. Participants with depression had increased PA and reduced NA when in social company compared to asymptomatic participants. No mood brightening effects were observed in participants with anxiety or comorbid depression and anxiety. LIMITATIONS: Our sample included mainly women and highly educated subjects, which may limit the generalizability of our findings. CONCLUSION: Mood brightening is specific to depression, and typically stronger when in social company.

Distinguishing dimensions of emotion dynamics across 12 emotions in adolescents' daily lives.

Research on emotion dynamics as indices of emotion functioning has become muddled by conceptual confusion, methodological heterogeneity, and seemingly conflicting results. One way to address this chaos is the study of profiles of emotion dynamics across 12 emotions and how they differ between 246 adolescents. The interpretation of these dynamic profiles was guided by auxiliary variables including age, personality, depressive symptoms, and social experiences. During 6 days, 246 adolescents (Mage = 14.20; 65% female) rated nine times daily the intensity of 12 emotions (cheerful, happy, energetic, joyful, content, relaxed, anxious, worried, irritable, insecure, down, and guilty) and their social experiences with family, friends, and classmates. Additional baseline measures included neuroticism, extraversion (Revised Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Short Form), and depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale). A three-mode principal component analysis (3MPCA Tucker3-based) model was estimated on the person-specific dynamic parameters of emotional intensity (mean), variability (standard deviation), instability (mean squared successive difference), and inertia (autocorrelation). The 3MPCA identified three emotion-mode components (positive affect, negative affect, and irritability) and three dynamic-mode components (emotional intensity, lability, and inertia). Five individual-mode components captured interactions between these modes, of which positive affect explained most variation in the data. These emotion dynamic profiles correlated differently with social experiences. Additional 3MPCA model structures based on imputed data (correcting missing autocorrelations) and affect scale composites (low- and high-arousal positive and negative affect) showed strong resemblance. The identified emotion dynamic profiles capture meaningful interpersonal differences in adolescents' emotional experiences and change. Future work should focus on irritability and positive affect as these were uniquely informative in adolescents' emotional experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Age differences in hedonic adaptation to societal restrictions? Positive and negative affect trajectories during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 33 nations.

We examined age group differences in hedonic adaptation trajectories of positive and negative affect (PA/NA) at different arousal levels during the severe societal restrictions that governments implemented to contain the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (March to June 2020). Data from 10,509 participants from 33 countries and 12 weekly assessments were used (67% women, aged 18 to 85 +, on average 318 participants per country (SD = 434) and 5.6 assessments (SD = 2.5) per participant). Multilevel models (level 1: assessments, level 2: participants, level 3: countries) were fit to examine trajectories of low to high arousal PA and NA during the phase of tightening societal restrictions, the phase of stable peak restrictions, and the phase of easing restrictions separately. During the entire study period mean levels of PA were lower in emerging and young adults (aged 18-44) than older adults, whereas mean NA levels were higher. During peak societal restrictions, participants reported increasingly more PA, especially high-arousal emotions (d = .36 per month vs. .19 unaroused). NA levels decreased over time, especially high-arousal emotions (d = .35 vs. .14 p/month). These hedonic adaptation trajectories were largely similar across age groups. Nevertheless, up to 30% of the participants increased in NA and up to 6% decreased in PA, against the general trend, demonstrating substantial individual differences in emotional adaptation. Finally, heterogeneity in the effects of time on affect was larger on the individual level than the country level. Emotional recovery trajectories during the first lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic were virtually similar across age groups in 33 countries, across valence and arousal levels, suggesting age advantages in emotional well-being remain restricted to mean-level differences rather than emotion dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Intentions to be Vaccinated Against COVID-19: The Role of Prosociality and Conspiracy Beliefs across 20 Countries.

Understanding the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake is important to inform policy decisions and plan vaccination campaigns. The aims of this research were to: (1) explore the individual- and country-level determinants of intentions to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, and (2) examine worldwide variation in vaccination intentions. This cross-sectional online survey was conducted during the first wave of the pandemic, involving 6697 respondents across 20 countries. Results showed that 72.9% of participants reported positive intentions to be vaccinated against COVID-19, whereas 16.8% were undecided, and 10.3% reported they would not be vaccinated. At the individual level, prosociality was a significant positive predictor of vaccination intentions, whereas generic beliefs in conspiracy theories and religiosity were negative predictors. Country-level determinants, including cultural dimensions of individualism/collectivism and power distance, were not significant predictors of vaccination intentions. Altogether, this study identifies individual-level predictors that are common across multiple countries, provides further evidence on the importance of combating conspiracy theories, involving religious institutions in vaccination campaigns, and stimulating prosocial motives to encourage vaccine uptake.

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Is Not an Improvement Over the DSM.

In their response to our article (both in this issue), DeYoung and colleagues did not sufficiently address three fundamental flaws with the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). First, HiTOP was created using a simple-structure factor-analytic approach, which does not adequately represent the dimensional space of the symptoms of psychopathology. Consequently, HiTOP is not the empirical structure of psychopathology. Second, factor analysis and dimensional ratings do not fix the problems inherent to descriptive (folk) classification; self-reported symptoms are still the basis on which clinical judgments about people are made. Finally, HiTOP is not ready to use in real-world clinical settings. There is currently no empirical evidence demonstrating that clinicians who use HiTOP have better clinical outcomes than those who use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In sum, HiTOP is a factor-analytic variation of the DSM that does not get the field closer to a more valid and useful taxonomy.

Folk Classification and Factor Rotations: Whales, Sharks, and the Problems With the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP).

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) uses factor analysis to group people with similar self-reported symptoms (i.e., like-goes-with-like). It is hailed as a significant improvement over other diagnostic taxonomies. However, the purported advantages and fundamental assumptions of HiTOP have received little, if any scientific scrutiny. We critically evaluated five fundamental claims about HiTOP. We conclude that HiTOP does not demonstrate a high degree of verisimilitude and has the potential to hinder progress on understanding the etiology of psychopathology. It does not lend itself to theory-building or taxonomic evolution, and it cannot account for multifinality, equifinality, or developmental and etiological processes. In its current form, HiTOP is not ready to use in clinical settings and may result in algorithmic bias against underrepresented groups. We recommend a bifurcation strategy moving forward in which the DSM is used in clinical settings while researchers focus on developing a falsifiable theory-based classification system.

Using machine learning to identify important predictors of COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors during the early phase of the pandemic.

Before vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became available, a set of infection-prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas social and health psychological theories suggest a limited set of predictors, machine-learning analyses can identify correlates from a larger pool of candidate predictors. We used random forests to rank 115 candidate correlates of infection-prevention behavior in 56,072 participants across 28 countries, administered in March to May 2020. The machine-learning model predicted 52% of the variance in infection-prevention behavior in a separate test sample-exceeding the performance of psychological models of health behavior. Results indicated the two most important predictors related to individual-level injunctive norms. Illustrating how data-driven methods can complement theory, some of the most important predictors were not derived from theories of health behavior-and some theoretically derived predictors were relatively unimportant.

COVID-19 stressors and health behaviors: A multilevel longitudinal study across 86 countries.

Anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and home confinement has been associated with adverse health behaviors, such as unhealthy eating, smoking, and drinking. However, most studies have been limited by regional sampling, which precludes the examination of behavioral consequences associated with the pandemic at a global level. Further, few studies operationalized pandemic-related stressors to enable the investigation of the impact of different types of stressors on health outcomes. This study examined the association between perceived risk of COVID-19 infection and economic burden of COVID-19 with health-promoting and health-damaging behaviors using data from the PsyCorona Study: an international, longitudinal online study of psychological and behavioral correlates of COVID-19. Analyses utilized data from 7,402 participants from 86 countries across three waves of assessment between May 16 and June 13, 2020. Participants completed self-report measures of COVID-19 infection risk, COVID-19-related economic burden, physical exercise, diet quality, cigarette smoking, sleep quality, and binge drinking. Multilevel structural equation modeling analyses showed that across three time points, perceived economic burden was associated with reduced diet quality and sleep quality, as well as increased smoking. Diet quality and sleep quality were lowest among respondents who perceived high COVID-19 infection risk combined with high economic burden. Neither binge drinking nor exercise were associated with perceived COVID-19 infection risk, economic burden, or their interaction. Findings point to the value of developing interventions to address COVID-related stressors, which have an impact on health behaviors that, in turn, may influence vulnerability to COVID-19 and other health outcomes.

Predictors of adherence to public health behaviors for fighting COVID-19 derived from longitudinal data.

The present paper examines longitudinally how subjective perceptions about COVID-19, one's community, and the government predict adherence to public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Using an international survey (N = 3040), we test how infection risk perception, trust in the governmental response and communications about COVID-19, conspiracy beliefs, social norms on distancing, tightness of culture, and community punishment predict various containment-related attitudes and behavior. Autoregressive analyses indicate that, at the personal level, personal hygiene behavior was predicted by personal infection risk perception. At social level, social distancing behaviors such as abstaining from face-to-face contact were predicted by perceived social norms. Support for behavioral mandates was predicted by confidence in the government and cultural tightness, whereas support for anti-lockdown protests was predicted by (lower) perceived clarity of communication about the virus. Results are discussed in light of policy implications and creating effective interventions.

Correction: Politicization of COVID-19 health-protective behaviors in the United States: Longitudinal and cross-national evidence.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256740.].

Concern with COVID-19 pandemic threat and attitudes towards immigrants: The mediating effect of the desire for tightness.

Tightening social norms is thought to be adaptive for dealing with collective threat yet it may have negative consequences for increasing prejudice. The present research investigated the role of desire for cultural tightness, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, in increasing negative attitudes towards immigrants. We used participant-level data from 41 countries (N = 55,015) collected as part of the PsyCorona project, a cross-national longitudinal study on responses to COVID-19. Our predictions were tested through multilevel and SEM models, treating participants as nested within countries. Results showed that people's concern with COVID-19 threat was related to greater desire for tightness which, in turn, was linked to more negative attitudes towards immigrants. These findings were followed up with a longitudinal model (N = 2,349) which also showed that people's heightened concern with COVID-19 in an earlier stage of the pandemic was associated with an increase in their desire for tightness and negative attitudes towards immigrants later in time. Our findings offer insight into the trade-offs that tightening social norms under collective threat has for human groups.

Lockdown Lives: A Longitudinal Study of Inter-Relationships Among Feelings of Loneliness, Social Contacts, and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Early 2020.

We examine how social contacts and feelings of solidarity shape experiences of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020. From the PsyCorona database, we obtained longitudinal data from 23 countries, collected between March and May 2020. The results demonstrated that although online contacts help to reduce feelings of loneliness, people who feel more lonely are less likely to use that strategy. Solidarity played only a small role in shaping feelings of loneliness during lockdown. Thus, it seems we must look beyond the current focus on online contact and solidarity to help people address feelings of loneliness during lockdown. Finally, online contacts did not function as a substitute for face-to-face contacts outside the home-in fact, more frequent online contact in earlier weeks predicted more frequent face-to-face contacts in later weeks. As such, this work provides relevant insights into how individuals manage the impact of restrictions on their social lives.

Emotion dynamics in children and adolescents: A meta-analytic and descriptive review.

Theories on children and adolescent emotion dynamics were reviewed using data from 102 ecological momentary assessment studies with 19,928 participants and 689 estimates. We examined age-graded differences in emotional intensity, variability, instability, inertia, differentiation, and augmentation/blunting. Outcomes included positive versus negative affect scales, discrete emotions (anger, sadness, anxiety, and happiness), and we compared samples of youth with or without mental or physiological problems. Multilevel models showed more variable positive affect and sadness in adolescents compared with children, and more intense negative affect. Our additional descriptive review suggests a decrease in instability of positive and negative emotions from early to late adolescence. Mental health problems were associated with more variable and less intense positive affect, and more intense anxiety and heightened sadness variability. These results suggest systematic changes in emotion dynamics throughout childhood and adolescence, but the supporting literature proved to be limited, fragmented, and based on heterogeneous concepts and methodology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

'We are all in the same boat': How societal discontent affects intention to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global health crisis. Consequently, many countries have adopted restrictive measures that caused a substantial change in society. Within this framework, it is reasonable to suppose that a sentiment of societal discontent, defined as generalized concern about the precarious state of society, has arisen. Literature shows that collectively experienced situations can motivate people to help each other. Since societal discontent is conceptualized as a collective phenomenon, we argue that it could influence intention to help others, particularly those who suffer from coronavirus. Thus, in the present study, we aimed (a) to explore the relationship between societal discontent and intention to help at the individual level and (b) to investigate a possible moderating effect of societal discontent at the country level on this relationship. To fulfil our purposes, we used data collected in 42 countries (N = 61,734) from the PsyCorona Survey, a cross-national longitudinal study. Results of multilevel analysis showed that, when societal discontent is experienced by the entire community, individuals dissatisfied with society are more prone to help others. Testing the model with longitudinal data (N = 3,817) confirmed our results. Implications for those findings are discussed in relation to crisis management. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Intra-Individual Variability in Cognitive Performance Can Befuddle the Study of Cognitive Impairments and Decline.

Using group-aggregated results and snapshot assessments of cognitive performance may prove problematic if the assessed construct shows substantial and rapid variation over time. To illustrate the significance of this issue, we analyzed cognitive performance data of ten older adults undergoing daily computerized cognitive assessments (CogState Brief Battery) for 36-93 days. In all cases, the day-to-day intra-individual variability was substantial when compared with group-level, between-person variability. This indicates that the results of studies using single snapshot assessments of cognitive functioning should be interpreted with caution. Additionally, group-aggregated measures of cognitive performance may not directly extrapolate to an individual.