Age-related disgust responses to signs of disease.

Previous studies found similarities in adults' disgust responses to benign (e.g. obesity) and actual disease signs (e.g. influenza). However, limited research has compared visual (i.e. benign and actual) to cognitive (i.e. disease label) disease cues in different age groups. The current study investigated disgust responses across middle childhood (7-9 years), late childhood (10-12 years), adolescence (13-17 years), and adulthood (18+ years). Participants viewed individuals representing a benign visual disease (obese), sick-looking (staphylococcus), sick-label (cold/flu), and healthy condition. Disgust-related outcomes were: (1) avoidance, or contact level with apparel the individual was said to have worn, (2) disgust facial reactions, and (3) a combination of (1) and (2). Avoidance was greater for the sick-looking and sick-label than the healthy and obese conditions. For facial reaction and combination outcomes, middle childhood participants responded with greater disgust to the sick-looking than the healthy condition, while late childhood participants expressed stronger disgust towards the sick-looking and obese conditions than the healthy condition. Adolescents and adults exhibited stronger disgust towards sick-label and sick-looking than obese and healthy conditions. Results suggest visual cues are central to children's disgust responses whereas adolescents and adult responses considered cognitive cues.

Daily use of digital technologies to feel better: Adolescents' digital emotion regulation, emotions, loneliness, and recovery, considering prior emotional problems.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescents report using digital technologies for emotion regulation (digital ER), with the aim of feeling better (i.e., improving emotions and reducing loneliness). In this 7-day diary study, we investigated associations of digital ER, emotions, and loneliness, and tested whether prior emotional problems moderated these associations. METHOD: Participants were 312 Australian adolescents (Mage = 13.91, SD = 1.52; 44% boys). Daily surveys measured digital ER; end-of-day happiness, sadness, worry, anger, and loneliness; and peak sadness, worry, and anger. End-of day emotions were subtracted from peak emotions to calculate emotion recovery for sadness, worry, and anger. Participants were randomly selected from two symptom strata (high/low) defined by depression and social anxiety measures collected before the diary. Data were analyzed using multilevel path modeling. Cross-level interactions tested whether symptom strata moderated associations. RESULTS: Digital ER was associated with more recovery from peak to end-of-day sadness and worry, but also with increased sadness, worry, anger, and loneliness by the next end-of-day. Higher end-of-day loneliness was associated with increased next-day digital ER. Prior emotional symptoms were not a significant moderator of daily digital ER and emotion associations. CONCLUSION: Adolescents who report more digital ER in a day show more recovery from the peak of negative emotion that day, but this recovery dissipates, with digital ER also associated with increased negative emotion and loneliness by the next day for all adolescents, regardless of prior symptom status. Lonelier adolescents use more digital ER by the next day, suggesting they need support to make social connections-online or offline.

Parental Support and Adolescents' Coping with Academic Stressors: A Longitudinal Study of Parents' Influence Beyond Academic Pressure and Achievement.

Adolescents face many academic pressures that require good coping skills, but coping skills can also depend on social resources, such as parental support and fewer negative interactions. The aim of this study was to determine if parental support and parental negative interactions concurrently and longitudinally relate to adolescents' ways of academic coping, above and beyond the impact of three types of academic stress, students' achievement at school (i.e., grades in school), and age. Survey data were collected from 839 Australian students in grades 5 to 10 (Mage = 12.2, SD = 1.72; 50% girls). Students completed measures of support and negative interactions with parents; academic stress from workload, external pressure (teachers/parents) to achieve, and intrapsychic pressure for high achievement; and ways of academic coping that were grouped into two positive and two negative types. Hypothesized associations were tested concurrently and from one year to the next using path modeling. Beyond the numerous significant influences of academic stress and achievement on coping, and control for age and COVID-19 timing, adolescents with more parental support reported more use of engagement coping (e.g., strategizing) and comfort-seeking, whereas those who reported more negative interactions with parents reported more use of disengagement coping (e.g., concealment) and escape. In the longitudinal model, parental support predicted an increase in engagement and comfort-seeking and a decrease in disengagement coping, whereas negative interaction with parents predicted an increase in disengagement coping. Overall, the findings support the view that coping with academic stressors will continue to depend on parent-adolescent relationships even into the teen years.

A pattern-centered analysis of adolescents' concerns and hopes about future crises: Differences in ways of coping and personal adjustment.

INTRODUCTION: Many adolescents are concerned about global and future crises, such as the health of the planet or terrorism/safety. Yet, adolescents can also express hope about the future. Thus, asking adolescents about their concern and hope could yield subgroups with different ways of coping and personal adjustment. METHOD: Australian adolescents (N = 863; age 10-16) completed surveys to report their concern (worry and anger) and hope about the planet, safety, jobs, income, housing, and technology, as well as their active and avoidant coping, depression, and life satisfaction. RESULTS: Four distinct subgroups were identified using cluster analysis: Hopeful (low on concern and high on hope across all issues, 32%), Uninvolved (low in concern and hope; 26%), Concerned about the Planet (CP, 27%), and Concerned about Future Life (CFL, 15%). When compared (adjusting for age, sex, and COVID timing), the CP subgroup was highest in active coping (e.g., taking action) but moderate in personal adjustment. Hopeful had the most positive adjustment, whereas CFL had the poorest adjustment. Uninvolved were lowest in coping but moderate in adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest ways of coping and adjustment may not always align, in that CP is connected with more active coping but also some cost to personal adjustment, whereas Hopeful is associated with optimal adjustment but perhaps at the cost of active coping. In addition, although CFL adolescents emerged as the at-risk group, the low levels of hope and coping in Uninvolved adolescents raise the possibility that they are at risk of future problems.

Mindfulness, rejection, and recovery of positive mood and friendliness: A Cyberball study.

Experiencing stressful events that threaten feelings of social belonging can have far-reaching negative impacts on well-being, but there are individual differences in sensitivity to threat that might be explained by dispositional traits. In particular, naturally occurring dispositional mindfulness may be one trait that can explain such differences. To test this possibility, a pool of 495 young adults completed a measure of dispositional mindfulness and a subset of 90 (M = 19 years, SD = 1.3), selected to represent the full range of mindfulness scores, participated in an induced social rejection task (Cyberball). Threat appraisal was collected by asking about perceived exclusion and rejection post-Cyberball, and participants reported their mood and friendliness before, after, and at 3-mins of recovery, and their self-esteem and life meaning after Cyberball and at recovery. Participants higher in mindfulness reported better mood and less unfriendliness prior to Cyberball. Directly after playing Cyberball, a more heightened appraisal of threat, but not mindfulness, was associated with worse mood, less friendliness, lower self-esteem, and less life meaning. Mindfulness directly mitigated the negative effects of rejection on feelings of friendliness post rejection. When mindfulness and threat appraisal were considered in interaction, the association of perceived threat with pre- to post- changes in positive mood and friendliness was strongly negative when mindfulness was high relative to low. Further, mindfulness was associated with better recovery of mood and life meaning by 3-min after Cyberball, and these effects were additive rather than interactive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Associative Learning Processes in the Formation of Intergroup Anxiety and Avoidance in Society.

Laboratory-based aversive conditioning studies have reliably induced fear toward an image of an outgroup member by pairing the image with a fear-inducing, aversive stimulus. However, laboratory-based studies have been criticized for being simplistic in comparison to the complexities of the real world. The current study is the first to apply an aversive conditioning framework to explain the formation of intergroup fear and subsequent anxiety toward, and avoidance of, the outgroup outside the laboratory. Two samples recalled details of their first negative encounter with an African American (N = 554) or Muslim (N = 613) individual, respectively. Congruent with learning theory, participants who reported an unpleasant event with an outgroup member reported more fear during the encounter than did those who did not report experiencing an unpleasant event. Additionally, the intensity of unpleasantness during the first encounter indirectly predicted outgroup avoidance, via retrospectively recalled fear and current levels of intergroup anxiety.

Does a Facebook-enhanced Mindful Self-Compassion intervention improve body image? An evaluation study.

This study evaluates a brief intervention aimed at improving body image. The intervention comprised a Mindful Self-Compassion workshop complemented by a group discussion on Facebook. Young women (Mage = 18.31), screened for body concerns, were allocated by university campus to a 50-minute workshop intervention (n = 42) or a waitlist control (n = 34). Following the workshop, participants in the intervention group utilized self-compassion techniques when experiencing appearance distress and posted about their experiences on a private Facebook group three times per week for two weeks. Findings showed that, relative to control, the intervention group experienced lower upward appearance comparison, social appearance anxiety, body dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness, and higher body appreciation and self-compassion, at posttest and 1-month follow-up. All effects, except those for body dissatisfaction, were held at 3-month follow-up. Additionally, common humanity predicted gains in body appreciation from pretest to posttest. The Mindful Self-Compassion intervention involving a Facebook group may have resonated with young women as it allowed them to share moments of self-compassionate body image experiences in a private and supportive environment.

Heightened emotional sensitivity intensifies associations between relational aggression and victimization among girls but not boys: a longitudinal study.

Founded in the social process model, the aim of this study was to identify whether the associations of relational aggression with concurrent and subsequent relational victimization differed depending on early adolescents' personal vulnerabilities and gender. The vulnerabilities of interest were social-information processing variables that convey greater emotional sensitivity, including rejection sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, and avoidance of intimacy. Participants were 358 early adolescents (176 boys, 178 girls) aged 9 to 13 years. Relational aggression and victimization were assessed via peer nominations, whereas the three indicators of emotional sensitivity were assessed via self-report. Overall, results revealed greater relational aggression at Time 1 to be associated with greater relational victimization at both Time 1 and Time 2. However, this finding was qualified by both emotional sensitivity and gender. When considered separately, girls who were relationally aggressive and emotionally sensitive were at increased risk of victimization at both assessment points. In contrast, no link was found between relational aggression and victimization for boys, although relational vulnerabilities did have unique associations with boys' relational victimization. These findings have implications for our understanding of relational aggression and victimization, as well as for the development of interventions aimed at reducing these problems.

Clinical evaluation of a single dose of immune plasma for treatment of canine parvovirus infection.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of administration of a single 12-mL dose of canine parvovirus (CPV)-immune plasma for treatment of CPV enteritis. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. ANIMALS: 14 dogs with naturally occurring CPV enteritis. PROCEDURES: Dogs were assigned to treatment groups on the basis of randomization tables and were administered a single i.v. dose of CPV-immune plasma (treatment group) or an equivalent volume of saline (0.9% NaCl) solution (placebo group) within 18 hours after admission to the hospital. Treatment and outcome variables evaluated included neutrophil, monocyte, and CPV counts; number of days of hospitalization; changes in body weight; and cost of treatment. RESULTS: When dogs treated with CPV-immune plasma were compared with dogs treated with saline solution, there were no significant differences detected among neutrophil or monocyte counts, magnitude of viremia, weight change, number of days of hospitalization, or cost of treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Administration of a single 12-mL dose of immune plasma soon after the onset of CPV enteritis in dogs was not effective in ameliorating clinical signs, reducing viremia, or hastening hematologic recovery.

Canine pedal injury resulting from metal landscape edging.

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to document the frequency and severity of limb injuries that occur when dogs come in contact with metal landscape edging. A retrospective study from 1997 to 2007 was performed at Colorado State University veterinary teaching hospital. Sixty dogs were admitted to hospital for traumatic limb injuries resulting from metal landscape edging identified by a computerized medical records search. KEY FINDINGS: Most dogs were young, large breed dogs. All 60 dogs suffered traumatic pedal lacerations when contacting metal landscape edging, the majority of which occurred on the forelimbs. Eighty-five percent required surgical repair. All 60 dogs were discharged from the hospital and 30 were available for long-term follow-up. While most dogs healed with a perfect cosmetic outcome, 3 dogs with tendon involvement developed residual digital deformities. SIGNIFICANCE: Dogs are at risk of injury when exposed to metal landscape edging. Severity of pedal injury determines treatment protocol and prognosis for recovery.

Serum concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in healthy and critically ill dogs.

BACKGROUND: The chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a primary regulator of monocyte mobilization from bone marrow, and increased concentrations of MCP-1 have been associated with sepsis and other inflammatory disorders in critically ill people. The relationship between MCP-1 and disease in dogs has not been evaluated previously. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess serum concentrations of MCP-1 in healthy dogs, dogs in the postoperative period, and critically ill dogs. We hypothesized that MCP-1 concentrations would be significantly increased in critically ill dogs compared with postoperative or healthy dogs. METHODS: Serum concentrations of MCP-1 were measured in 26 healthy control dogs, 35 postoperative dogs, and 26 critically ill dogs. Critically ill dogs were further subgrouped into dogs with sepsis, parvovirus gastroenteritis, immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, and severe trauma (n=26). MCP-1 concentrations were determined using a commercial canine MCP-1 ELISA. Associations between MCP-1 concentrations and disease status were evaluated statistically. RESULTS: MCP-1 concentration was significantly higher in critically ill dogs (median 578 pg/mL, range 144.7-1723 pg/mL) compared with healthy dogs (median 144 pg/mL, range 4.2-266.8 pg/mL) and postoperative dogs (median 160 pg/mL, range 12.6-560.4 pg/mL) (P<.001). All subgroups of critically ill dogs had increased MCP-1 concentrations with the highest concentrations occurring in dogs with sepsis. However, differences among the 4 subgroups were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Critically ill dogs had markedly increased serum concentrations of MCP-1 compared with postoperative and healthy dogs. These results indicate that surgery alone is not sufficient to increase MCP-1 concentrations; thus, measurement of MCP-1 may be useful in assessing disease severity in critically ill dogs.

Comparison of continuous arterial pressure waveform analysis with the lithium dilution technique to monitor cardiac output in conscious dogs with systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the agreement between cardiac output (CO) measured by use of arterial pressure waveform analysis (PulseCO) and lithium dilution (LiDCO) in conscious dogs with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). ANIMALS: 14 dogs with naturally occurring SIRS. PROCEDURES: Pulse power analysis was performed on critically ill patients with a PulseCO monitor. All measurements were obtained with an indwelling arterial line and in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Intermittent measurements of CO were obtained with the LiDCO method to validate the PulseCO measurements at initial calibration (baseline; time 0) and at 4, 8, 16, and 24 hours. The 2 methods for measuring CO were compared by use of Bland-Altman analysis. An error rate for the limits of agreement between the 2 methods of < 30% was defined as being acceptable. RESULTS: Bland-Altman analysis did not indicate good agreement between measurements obtained by use of the PulseCO and LiDCO methods, despite no significant change in cardiac index (CI) over time as measured with the LiDCO method. The percentage error for the overall difference in CI values between the PulseCO and LiDCO measurements was 122%, which indicated that the PulseCO method was not an acceptable means of CO measurement when compared with the LiDCO method for this patient population. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Agreement between the PulseCO and LiDCO methods for measurement of CO was not acceptable at 4- and 8-hour intervals after calibration in conscious dogs with naturally occurring SIRS.