Investigating coaches' recognition of symptoms of eating disorders in track athletes.

Objective: To determine the extent to which athletics coaches can identify evidence of an eating disorder in track athletes and what treatment advice they would provide. Methods: Vignettes depicting athletes portraying symptoms consistent with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) were developed and used to survey 185 UK and Irish athletics coaches (and a community sample of 105 non-coaches) regarding their ability to recognise and respond to symptoms of an eating disorder. Results: Coaches were no more likely than the community sample to correctly identify an eating disorder but were more likely to suggest professional treatment for an athlete experiencing symptoms of AN (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.02 to 3.29). For both eating disorders, higher levels of mental health literacy (AN: OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.11, BN: OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.14) and more years of coaching experience (AN: OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.24, BN: OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.16) also increased the likelihood of suggesting professional help. When considering the whole sample, participants were more likely to correctly identify an eating disorder (OR 4.67, 95% CI 2.66 to 8.20) and suggest professional treatment for AN than BN (OR 1.76, CI 1.04 to 2.97). Further, symptoms of AN were more likely to be correctly identified in female than male athletes (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.28 to 4.06). Conclusions: Although coaches were more likely than community members to recommend professional treatment to an athlete exhibiting symptoms of an eating disorder, they were no more likely to correctly identify an eating disorder in the first instance. Further work is required to enhance coaches' capacity to identify symptoms of eating disorders to ensure athletes receive appropriate interventions.

Evaluating the interplay between subclinical levels of mental health symptoms and coordination dynamics.

Viewed under the broad theoretical umbrella of an embodied-embedded approach to psychological activity, body movements can be seen to play an essential role in shaping social interaction. Of note, research concerning the embodiment of social cognition has documented key differences in non-verbal behaviour during social interaction for individuals diagnosed with a range of disorders, including social anxiety disorder and autism spectrum disorder. The present work sets out to extend these findings by better understanding the interplay between subclinical variation in psychopathology and social-motor coordination, a key component of effective interaction. We asked participants, in pairs, to swing hand-held pendula that varied in their intrinsic movement characteristics. Extending previous clinically oriented work (Varlet et al., 2014, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 29), our results indicated that subclinical variation in mental health status was predictive of disruption to the patterns of coordination dynamics that characterize effective social exchange. This work provides further evidence for the utility of theorizing social interaction as a self-organizing dynamical system and strengthens support for the claim that disruption to interpersonal coordination may act as an embodied-embedded marker of variation in mental health.

Coordination and Collective Performance: Cooperative Goals Boost Interpersonal Synchrony and Task Outcomes.

Whether it be a rugby team or a rescue crew, ensuring peak group performance is a primary goal during collective activities. In reality, however, groups often suffer from productivity losses that can lead to less than optimal outputs. Where researchers have focused on this problem, inefficiencies in the way team members coordinate their efforts has been identified as one potent source of productivity decrements. Here, we set out to explore whether performance on a simple object movement task is shaped by the spontaneous emergence of interpersonally coordinated behavior. Forty-six pairs of participants were instructed to either compete or cooperate in order to empty a container of approximately 100 small plastic balls as quickly and accurately as possible. Each trial was recorded to video and a frame-differencing approach was employed to estimate between-person coordination. The results revealed that cooperative pairs coordinated to a greater extent than their competitive counterparts. Furthermore, coordination, as well as movement regularity were positively related to accuracy, an effect that was most prominent when the task was structured such that opportunities to coordinate were restricted. These findings are discussed with regard to contemporary theories of coordination and collective performance.

Childhood socio-economic status and ethnic disparities in psychosocial outcomes in New Zealand.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the extent to which childhood socio-economic status (SES) could account for differences in adult psychosocial outcomes between Maori and non-Maori individuals in a birth cohort of more than 1000 individuals studied to age 30. METHODS: Data were gathered on three measures of childhood SES (family SES, family living standards, family income) and adult psychosocial outcomes including mental health, substance use, criminal offending, and education/welfare dependence outcomes, as part of a longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort (the Christchurch Health and Development Study). RESULTS: Those reporting Maori ethnicity had significantly (p < 0.0001) poorer scores on the three measures of childhood SES, with estimates of Cohen's d indicating a moderate effect size. Maori cohort members also had significantly (p < 0.05) greater rates of adverse psychosocial outcomes in adulthood. Controlling for childhood SES reduced the magnitude of the ethnic differences in psychosocial outcomes, but did not fully explain the differences between Maori and non-Maori. Adjustment for childhood SES had the strongest effect on education/welfare dependence, but weaker effects on mental health, substance use, and criminal offending. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements in SES among Maori in New Zealand may, to some extent, ameliorate the long standing disparities in psychosocial well-being between Maori and non-Maori. However, efforts to improve Maori well-being will require an approach that moves beyond a sole focus on rectifying socio-economic disadvantage.

The links between ethnicity, cultural identity and alcohol use, abuse and dependence in a New Zealand birth cohort.

AIMS: To examine the role of ethnicity and cultural identity in alcohol use and misuse in a birth cohort of over 1000 young people. METHODS: Data on ethnicity, cultural identification, alcohol use, alcohol abuse/dependence (AAD), socio-economic factors and childhood adversity were gathered as part of a longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort (the Christchurch Health and Development Study). RESULTS: Those reporting Maori ethnicity had rates of alcohol use and AAD that were 1.47-1.63 times higher than the rates found in the non-Maori people. However, there was little evidence to suggest that rates of alcohol use and AAD differed according to Maori cultural identity. Generalized estimating equation regression analyses adjusting for socio-economic disadvantage and childhood adversity slightly reduced the magnitude of these associations, but they remained statistically significant [AAD: odds ratio = 1.52; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11-2.10; consumption: incidence rate ratio = 1.31; 95% CI: 1.13-1.52]. CONCLUSION: (a) Maori ethnicity was found to be associated with modestly increased risks of alcohol use and AAD (b) the higher rates of alcohol use and AAD among the Maori members of the cohort could not be explained by a combination of socio-economic factors and greater exposure to environmental factors known to influence the risk of alcohol use and misuse.

Does socioeconomic inequality explain ethnic differences in nicotine dependence? Evidence from a New Zealand birth cohort.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the role of socioeconomic status and cultural identity in the association between ethnicity and nicotine dependence, in a birth cohort of >1000 methods young people studied to age 30. METHODS: Data were gathered on ethnicity, cultural identification, nicotine dependence, and socioeconomic factors, as part of a longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort (the Christchurch Health and Development Study). RESULTS: Those reporting Maori identity had rates of nicotine dependence that were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than rates for non-Maori. Control for socioeconomic factors reduced the associations between ethnic identity and nicotine dependence to statistical non-significance. In addition, there was no evidence of a statistically significant association between Maori cultural identity and nicotine dependence, nor was there evidence of gender differences in the association between ethnic identity and nicotine dependence, after controlling for socioeconomic factors. CONCLUSIONS: The higher rates of nicotine dependence observed among Maori appear to be attributable to differences in socioeconomic status. Efforts to improve the socioeconomic standing of Maori should therefore help to reduce rates of nicotine dependence in this population.

Links between ethnic identification, cannabis use and dependence, and life outcomes in a New Zealand birth cohort.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of ethnic identity in cannabis use, and links between ethnic identity, cannabis use and life outcomes, in a birth cohort of >1000 young people studied to age 25. METHODS: Data were gathered on cultural identification, cannabis use, socioeconomic factors, childhood adversity, and a range of life outcomes as part of a longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort (Christchurch Health and Development Study). RESULTS: Those reporting Maori identity had rates of cannabis use and dependence that were significantly higher (p<0.05) than rates for non-Maori. Regression analysis suggested that the elevated rates of cannabis use among Maori were largely explained by their higher exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage and childhood adversity. Further analyses examined the role of cannabis use in the links between ethnicity and a range of life outcomes, including education, income and employment, mental health, criminal offending, and intimate partner violence. These analyses showed that cannabis use made a small but detectable contribution to rates of Maori disadvantage in life outcomes, with this contribution being most evident in the areas of crime, education, and unemployment. CONCLUSIONS: Maori ethnic identification was associated with increased risks of cannabis use and dependence. The higher rate of cannabis use by Maori could be largely attributed to a combination of socioeconomic factors and greater exposure to environmental factors known to influence risk of cannabis use. The higher rates of cannabis use by Maori made a small contribution to higher rates of early school leaving, crime, and unemployment among Maori.

Ethnic identification, social disadvantage, and mental health in adolescence/young adulthood: results of a 25 year longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of cultural identity and social disadvantage/childhood adversity in a birth cohort of 984 young people studied to the age of 25. METHODS: Data were gathered on mental health, cultural identification, socioeconomic factors and childhood adversity as part of a longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort (the Christchurch Health and Development Study). RESULTS: Those with sole Maori identity had rates of disorder that were 1.28-fold higher than those of non- Maori; those of Maori/other identity had rates of disorder that were 1.57-fold higher than non- Maori. Regression analyses suggested that the elevated rates of mental disorder among Maori were largely explained by their higher exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage and childhood adversity. But even after adjustment, being of sole Maori identity was a protective factor that reduced rates of mental disorder among Maori. CONCLUSIONS: Risk and protective factors associated with the mental health of young Maori involve an interplay between levels of exposure to social disadvantage/childhood adversity and cultural identity, with secure cultural identity being a factor that may mitigate the effects of exposure to adversity.

Social distance and perceived dangerousness across four diagnostic categories of mental disorder.

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether laypersons make categorical distinctions between psychoses, neuroses, and addictive behaviours relative to desired social distance and whether degree of familiarity and perceived dangerousness influences social distance judgements. METHOD: Two studies were undertaken using the mental health literacy framework. The first study involved surveying lay beliefs and perceptions of a mentally ill person who exhibited behavioural cues of one of the following: schizophrenia, depression, alcohol abuse, or substance dependence. The second study involved a partial replication and refinement of the first study to determine whether discriminate judgements across diagnostic categories were influenced by perceived dangerousness. RESULTS: Findings from study 1 indicated that laypersons do differentiate between psychological disorders and respond to them differently relative to social distance. Results from study 2 confirmed those of study 1 and in addition suggested that perceived dangerousness influences social distance, largely with respect to schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: Laypersons make categorical distinctions between different types of disorders. Perceived dangerousness is more strongly associated with schizophrenia, than is warranted when considered against acts of violence and aggression committed by individuals with alcohol abuse and substance dependence problems.

Over-representation of Maori New Zealanders among adolescents in a schizotypy taxon.

BACKGROUND: Minority ethnic and migrant groups are often over-represented among those with schizophrenia. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether Maori, the aboriginal minority of New Zealand, are over-represented in a schizotypy taxon derived from a general population sample of adolescents. METHOD: Secondary school students (n = 387) aged 13 to 17 years completed self-report measures of four schizotypy attributes, magical thinking, hallucinatory tendency, self-referential ideation, and perceptual aberration, and indicated ethnic descent and self-identified ethnic belonging. RESULTS: Taxometric analyses (maximum covariance, maximum eigenvalue, latent modes) yielded consistent evidence of taxonicity of schizotypy. Participants who were of Maori descent were over-represented in the schizotypy group. CONCLUSIONS: Ethnicity, or the stress and resilience factors for which ethnicity is a proxy measure, has a measurable impact on psychometric risk for schizophrenia.

Categorical ethnicity and mental health literacy in New Zealand.

OBJECTIVE: Public social policies in New Zealand assume that there are fundamental differences between Maori views of health phenomena and non-Maori perceptions. The biomedical model and a Maori model known as Te Whare Tapa Wha are commonly employed to characterise these differences. Using the categorical ethnicity demarcation 'Maori/non-Maori' we investigate this claim with respect to mental health literacy about depression. DESIGN: Participants were randomly selected from the General and Maori Electoral Rolls and recruited by post (N=205). A vignette methodology was employed and involved the development of a fictional character as a target stimulus who exhibited the minimum DSM-IV-R criteria for a major depressive disorder. Participants responded to items regarding problem recognition, well-being, causal attributions, treatment preferences, and likely prognosis. RESULTS: The majority of Maori and non-Maori participants correctly identified the problem the vignette character was experiencing and nominated congruent attributions for the causes of the problem. In relation to treatment strategies and likely prognosis, independent of self-assigned ethnicity, participants rated professional treatments above alternative options. Overall the categorical ethnicity distinction 'Maori and non-Maori' produced no systematic variation with regards to individual evaluative responses about a major depressive disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to the embedded assumption within New Zealand's public health strategies that there are essential differences between the way Maori and non-Maori view health problems, and that the categorical ethnicity demarcation reliably reflects these differences, we found no evidence for the veracity of this claim using a major depressive disorder as a target for judgements. Alternative explanations are canvassed as to why this assumption about fundamental differences based on categorical ethnicity has gained ascendancy and prominence within the sphere of New Zealand health.