Who are we missing? Self-selection bias in nonsuicidal self-injury research.

BACKGROUND: Despite the threat of self-selection bias to the generalizability of research findings, remarkably little is known about who chooses to take part in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) research specifically. We aimed to establish the extent of willingness to take part in NSSI research within a commonly sampled population before assessing whether individual differences in demographic characteristics, NSSI lived experience, and participation experiences were associated with willingness to take part in future NSSI research. METHODS: New Zealand university students (n = 3098) completed self-report measures of their NSSI, psychological distress, emotional dysregulation, experience of their participation in the current study, and willingness to participate in future NSSI research. RESULTS: Most participants (78.2%) indicated that they were willing to take part in future NSSI research. Men, older participants, people with NSSI lived experience, and those with more frequent past-year NSSI were more likely to be willing to take part in future NSSI research. Participants who reported a more positive subjective experience of the current study also indicated greater willingness. CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate systematic differences in who is willing to take part in NSSI research. Future research should implement methodological and statistical approaches to mitigate the impact of self-selection bias on NSSI research.

Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury.

People who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) consistently report greater emotion reactivity and dysregulation than their peers. However, evidence that these self-reports reflect an amplified emotional response under controlled conditions is limited. Here we test the effects of both subtle and overt social exclusion, to determine whether self-reported emotion dysregulation reflects responses to real-time emotional challenge for people who self-injure. We recruited 100 young women with past-year NSSI and 100 without NSSI to an online experiment. Participants took part in a baseline social inclusion ball-tossing game, followed by either an overt or subtle social exclusion ball-tossing game, while we measured negative mood and belongingness. Despite reporting greater emotion reactivity (d = 1.40) and dysregulation (d = 1.63) than controls, women with past-year NSSI showed no differences in negative mood or belongingness ratings in response to either overt or subtle social exclusion. Within the NSSI group, exploratory analyses found greater endorsement of intrapersonal functions predicted greater negative mood following social exclusion (ß = 0.19). Given that amplified emotional responding is central to prominent theoretical models of NSSI, findings highlight the need to better understand the divergence in findings between self-reported emotion dysregulation and real-time emotional responding among people who self-injure.

Educational stakeholders' attitudes and knowledge about nonsuicidal self-injury among university students: A cross-national study.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a commonly occurring, yet historically poorly understood, mental health concern among post-secondary students. The present study sought to identify the current knowledge needs of university stakeholders to inform training efforts around effective NSSI response and student support on university campuses.Participants were 1,762 university students, staff, and student-staff (77% female) from seven universities in Canada, the USA, New Zealand, and Australia.Participants completed an online survey about their attitudes and knowledge of both general mental health and NSSI.University stakeholders reported significantly greater stigma toward NSSI than mental illness in general. Student-staff reported greater perceived knowledge and comfort, and demonstrated greater knowledge of NSSI, than students and staff.Findings underscore the need for additional training and resources to reduce stigma and increase knowledge about NSSI on university campuses internationally.

To meat, or not to meat: A longitudinal investigation of transitioning to and from plant-based diets.

Concerns over potential negative effects of excessive meat consumption on both the environment and personal health, coupled with long-standing debates over animal rights, have motivated research on the prevalence and predictors of plant-based versus meat-based diets. Yet few studies have examined longitudinal trends in dietary behaviours using large national samples. We address this gap by examining the prevalence, predictors, and annual change in the self-reported dietary behaviour of a large national probability sample of New Zealand adults (categorised as omnivore, vegetarian, or vegan; Ns = 12,259-50,964). Consistent with our pre-registered hypotheses, omnivore was the most prevalent dietary category (94.1%). Moreover, higher levels of conservative ideologies (i.e., political conservatism, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Social Dominance Orientation), lower subjective health, lower environmental efficacy, and lower disgust sensitivity predicted having an omnivore (vs. vegetarian or vegan) diet. Longitudinal analyses further revealed that the probability of shifting from an omnivore diet to a vegetarian or vegan diet over a one-year period was low, and that veganism was the least stable dietary category. Both gender (men) and political conservatism predicted lower probabilities of transitioning from meat to no-meat diets over time.

Nonsuicidal self-injury thoughts and behavioural characteristics: Associations with suicidal thoughts and behaviours among community adolescents.

BACKGROUND: We consider whether nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) thoughts - in the absence of any NSSI behaviour - are associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviours among adolescents, before examining whether characteristics of NSSI behaviour are associated with greater suicidal thoughts and behaviours. METHODS: Adolescents (n = 2,057, M age =15.56) recruited from secondary schools reported their lifetime history of NSSI, suicidal thoughts and behaviours, NSSI characteristics, and NSSI functions. Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis test whether NSSI status and characteristics of NSSI behaviour are diagnostic of clinically elevated suicidal thoughts and behaviours (a score of 7 or higher on the Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire-Revised). Regression models test whether NSSI functions predict greater suicidality. RESULTS: Adolescents with NSSI thoughts and those with NSSI behaviour were more likely to report lifetime suicidal ideation and past-year suicide plan(s) than adolescents with no history of NSSI. In addition, adolescents with a history of NSSI were more likely to report a lifetime history of suicide attempt(s) as well as past-year suicide attempt(s) than adolescents with no history of NSSI. A greater number of NSSI methods, requiring medical assistance for NSSI injuries, and engaging in NSSI for self-punishment, anti-suicide, and sensation-seeking functions were associated with greater severity of suicidal thoughts and behaviours. LIMITATIONS: Data are cross-sectional, limiting inferences about causality. CONCLUSIONS: Findings emphasize the importance of NSSI thoughts and characteristics of NSSI behaviour in understanding the complex relationship between NSSI and suicidal thoughts and behaviours among adolescents.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown on trust, attitudes toward government, and well-being.

The contagiousness and deadliness of COVID-19 have necessitated drastic social management to halt transmission. The immediate effects of a nationwide lockdown were investigated by comparing matched samples of New Zealanders assessed before (Nprelockdown = 1,003) and during the first 18 days of lockdown (Nlockdown = 1,003). Two categories of outcomes were examined: (a) institutional trust and attitudes toward the nation and government and (b) health and well-being. Applying propensity score matching to approximate the conditions of a randomized controlled experiment, the study found that people in the pandemic/lockdown group reported higher trust in science, politicians, and police, higher levels of patriotism, and higher rates of mental distress compared to people in the prelockdown prepandemic group. Results were confirmed in within-subjects analyses. The study highlights social connectedness, resilience, and vulnerability in the face of adversity and has applied implications for how countries face this global challenge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Open to interpretation? Inconsistent reporting of lifetime nonsuicidal self-injury across two common assessments.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is typically assessed using either single-item questionnaires or checklists of common behaviors, but preliminary research suggests that checklists produce higher lifetime prevalence rates. In 2 preregistered studies (combined n = 1,364), we tested whether memory cueing afforded by behavioral checklists accounts for this discrepancy. Participants reported their lifetime NSSI history using both a single-item and a checklist, with presentation order randomized across participants. Nearly a third of participants reported inconsistent NSSI histories on the 2 assessments, with participants 1.57 times more likely to report an NSSI history on a checklist than on a single-item. Counter to the memory account, this discrepancy was evident even when participants completed the checklist first, suggesting that the increased prevalence estimates captured by checklists are unlikely to simply reflect memory facilitation. Across the 2 samples, 12.5% of participants would have been incorrectly screened out in 2-step assessments; these participants were more likely to have engaged in NSSI historically, less likely to self-injure by cutting, and (in Study 2 only) were more likely to be men. These studies suggest that the inconsistencies across 2 of the most common NSSI assessments arise because people dissimilar to the lay conceptualization of self-injury are less likely to endorse a single-item, even when they have affirmed engaging in self-injury behaviors on a checklist. We argue that single-item and checklist assessments capture different aspects of NSSI, such that future research should distinguish between behaviorally identified NSSI assessed with behavioral checklists and self-identified NSSI assessed with single-item assessments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A Fresh Start or the Devil You Know? Examining Relationships Between Release Location Choices, Community Experiences, and Recidivism for High-Risk Parolees.

This study investigated the effects of residential relocation in a sample of 282 high-risk male offenders paroled from New Zealand prisons. Initially we compared those returning to their old neighborhoods (devil you know) and those released to a new location (fresh start). This second category was then further divided: those released to a new location voluntarily (fresh start-voluntary) versus those forced to start anew at the behest of the parole board that was releasing them (fresh start-duress). All three categories were then compared on the quality of their community experiences and recidivism. Results indicated that parolees returning by choice to either their old neighborhood or a new location each were reconvicted in the first year after release at approximately the same rate; however, parolees relocating to a new area at the direction of the parole board (under duress) were reconvicted at a higher rate than those in either of the voluntary location categories. Significant group differences in ratings of community life quality were few, but there were some indications that compared with those choosing to return to a familiar location, making a voluntary residential relocation may lead to better parole experiences, particularly in terms of avoiding criminal peers, and that making a residential relocation under duress may lead to poorer parole experiences than for those returning to a familiar location.

Coding Responses to an Open-ended Gender Measure in a New Zealand National Sample.

In light of the methodological and ethical issues associated with using a male/female tick box to collect gender data, researchers are increasingly questioning how to measure gender inclusively in survey research. Open-ended measures afford the greatest flexibility, though whether they are practical for large-scale surveys has yet to be tested. Here, we systematically assess the feasibility of open-ended gender measures drawing on a New Zealand national probability sample (New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, N = 15,758). We asked participants "What is your gender?" as an open-ended measure of gender, and developed a simple, cost-effective coding scheme for coding qualitative gender data. Results indicate that very few participants (n = 15) self-identified as transgender, or outside of the male/female gender binary. Moreover, we find no evidence that implementation of the open-ended measure contributes to non-response rates or panel attrition. Taken together, these results demonstrate that large-scale surveys can feasibly implement inclusive measures of gender as an alternative to binary categorical measures. Because the single-measure approach likely underestimates the number of transgender participants, however, researchers interested in identifying all participants whose gender differs from their assigned sex should utilize two-step methods, which assess gender as well as assigned sex at birth.

The influence of social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism on environmentalism: A five-year cross-lagged analysis.

Social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) are ideological attitudes that predict lower concern for the environment and less willingness to act on climate change. Research generally shows that SDO and RWA exhibit moderate, negative relationships with environmentalism. We examine the longitudinal influence of SDO and RWA on people's willingness to change their behaviour to benefit the environment in a national probability sample over five years. We show that both ideological attitudes relate to lower environmentalism across time and that the SDO effect was stronger than the RWA effect, yet the association from environmentalism to later endorsement of SDO is stronger than the reverse. Interestingly, these findings suggest that the more likely temporal association flows from environmentalism to SDO.

Psychiatric framing affects positive but not negative schizotypy scores in psychology and medical students.

When testing risk for psychosis, we regularly rely on self-report questionnaires. Yet, the more that people know about this condition, the more they might respond defensively, in particular with regard to the more salient positive symptom dimension. In two studies, we investigated whether framing provided by questionnaire instructions might modulate responses on self-reported positive and negative schizotypy. The O-LIFE (UK study) or SPQ (New Zealand study) questionnaire was framed in either a "psychiatric", "creativity", or "personality" (NZ only) context. We tested psychology students (without taught knowledge about psychosis) and medical students (with taught knowledge about psychosis; UK only). We observed framing effects in psychology students in both studies: positive schizotypy scores were lower after the psychiatric compared to the creativity instruction. However, schizotypy scores did not differ between the creativity and personality framing conditions, suggesting that the low scores with psychiatric framing reflect defensive responding. The same framing effect was also observed in medical students, despite their lower positive schizotypy scores overall. Negative schizotypy scores were not affected by framing in either study. These results highlight the need to reduce response biases when studying schizotypy, because these might blur schizotypy-behaviour relationships.

The public's belief in climate change and its human cause are increasing over time.

Polls examining public opinion on the subject of climate change are now commonplace, and one-off public opinion polls provide a snapshot of citizen's opinions that can inform policy and communication strategies. However, cross-sectional polls do not track opinions over time, thus making it impossible to ascertain whether key climate change beliefs held by the same group of individuals are changing or not. Here we examine the extent to which individual's level of agreement with two key beliefs ("climate change is real" and "climate change is caused by humans") remain stable or increase/decrease over a six-year period in New Zealand using latent growth curve modelling (n = 10,436). Data were drawn from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, a probabilistic national panel study, and indicated that levels of agreement to both beliefs have steadily increased over the 2009-2015 period. Given that climate change beliefs and concerns are key predictors of climate change action, our findings suggest that a combination of targeted endeavors, as well as serendipitous events, may successfully convey the emergency of the issue.

The Diversity and Prevalence of Sexual Orientation Self-Labels in a New Zealand National Sample.

In this study, we asked participants to "describe their sexual orientation" in an open-ended measure of self-generated sexual orientation. The question was included as part of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (N = 18,261) 2013/2014 wave, a national probability survey conducted shortly after the first legal same-sex marriages in New Zealand. We present a two-level classification scheme to address questions about the prevalence of, and demographic differences between, sexual orientations. At the most detailed level of the coding scheme, 49 unique categories were generated by participant responses. Of those who responded with the following, significantly more were women: bisexual (2.1 % of women, compared to 1.5 % of men), bicurious (0.7 % of women, 0.4 % of men), and asexual (0.4 % of women and less than 0.1 % of men). However, significantly fewer women than men reported being lesbian or gay (1.8 % of women, compared to 3.5 % of men). Those openly identifying as bicurious, bisexual, or lesbian/gay were significantly younger than those with a heterosexual orientation. This study shows diversity in the terms used in self-generated sexual orientations, and provides up-to-date gender, age, and prevalence estimates for the New Zealand population. Finally, results reveal that a substantial minority of participants may not have understood the question about sexual orientation.

Environmental consequences of the desire to dominate and be superior.

A belief in human dominance over nature lies at the heart of current environmental problems. In this article, we extend the theoretical scope of social dominance theory by arguing that social dominance orientation (SDO) is an important variable in understanding person-environment relations. We argue that individuals high in SDO are more willing to exploit the environment in unsustainable ways because SDO promotes human hierarchical dominance over nature. Four studies provide support for this perspective. High SDO was associated with lower levels of environmental concern in a nationally representative New Zealand sample (Study 1) and in country-level data across 27 nations (Study 2). SDO was also positively related to utilization attitudes toward nature (Study 3) and mediated the gender difference in beliefs about anthropogenic climate change (Study 4), and both occurred independently of right-wing authoritarianism. Implications for the human-dominated view of nature subscribed to by those high in SDO are discussed.

A sinister plot? Facts, beliefs, and stereotypes about the left-handed personality.

Is there a left-handed personality? Is there a left-handed stereotype? Although psychologists have enthusiastically compared left- and right-handers across myriad cognitive, behavioural, and neuropsychological domains, there has been very little empirical investigation of the relationship between handedness and personality. In Study 1 we assessed the Big 5 personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotionality, and openness to experience) in a sample of 662 young adults in New Zealand. Left- and right-handers did not differ on any factor. However, there was a curvilinear relationship between hand preference and extraversion; mixed-handers were more introverted than either left- or right-handers. This finding is consistent with other research indicating that degree may be of more psychological consequence than direction of handedness. In Study 2 we assessed beliefs and stereotypes about the left-handed personality. Both left- and right-handers shared the belief that left-handers are more introverted and open to experience than right-handers. This stereotype is not negative, and argues against the status of left-handers as a stigmatised group in modern Western culture.

The role of intellectual openness in the relationship between hand preference and positive schizotypy.

Recently it has been suggested that the relationship between positive schizotypy and mixed handedness is limited to questionnaire measures, and thus reflects some aspect of questionnaire-taking behaviour as opposed to some aspect of atypical brain organisation. The current study set out to explore this possibility. Undergraduate psychology students completed the Magical Ideation Scale, the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire-Revised, a manual dot-filling task, and an inventory measuring the personality trait of intellectual openness. On the questionnaire measure, magical ideation was related to mixed handedness on unskilled but not skilled hand preference; however, this relationship was partially mediated by intellectual openness. Magical ideation was not related to the behavioural measure of handedness. These findings suggest that responses on handedness questionnaires partially reflect personality variables, and such effects should be considered in future research on the nature of the relationship between handedness and schizotypy.

Antecedents of men's hostile and benevolent sexism: the dual roles of social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism.

The authors argue that individual differences in men's Benevolent Sexism (BS) stem from a threat-driven security-cohesion motivation, indexed by Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), whereas Hostile Sexism (HS) stems from a competitively driven motivation for intergroup dominance, indexed by Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). In Study 1, meta-analysis indicated that men's SDO (controlling for RWA) was moderately positively associated with HS (r = .35) but not BS (r = .05), whereas men's RWA (controlling for SDO) was moderately associated with BS (r = .36) but only weakly associated with HS (r = .16). Study 2 replicated and extended these results by also modeling the dual personality traits and world-views underlying HS and BS. In Study 3, longitudinal analyses demonstrated that SDO predicted increases in HS (but not BS) and RWA predicted increases in BS (but not HS) throughout a 5-month period. Relations between the sociostructural and individual difference bases of men's ambivalent sexism are discussed.