An explanatory model of parental sensitivity in the mother-father-infant triad.

Quality of early family interactions has been associated with child development, bonding, and mental health. Childhood adversity, stress, and depression impact parenting, affecting the quality of the interaction within the mother-father-child triad. The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of parents' adverse childhood experiences, depressive symptoms, and parental stress, on their sensitive response toward their tooddler and quality of traidic interactions. A correlational cross-sectional method was used. The sample included 80 mother-father-child triads, of toddlers with social-emotional difficulties. Parents early adverse experiences, parental stress, and depressive symptoms were assessed through self-report measures. Observational measures on parental sensitivity and triadic interaction were used. For mothers and fathers, adverse childhood experiences were associated with depressive symptoms in adulthood. Sensitivity toward their child and stress were positively associated among both parents. Symptoms of depression in mothers were associated with lower sensitivity toward their child, but in fathers, their sensitive response was influenced by the level of parental stress in the mother. In both parents, greater sensitivity in the dyadic interaction with the child was associated with a higher quality of the triadic interactions, in the triad as a whole, and in the regulation and involvement of the child.

Se ha asociado la calidad de las tempranas interacciones de familia con el desarrollo, la unión afectiva y la salud mental del niño. La adversidad en la niñez, el estrés y la depresión tienen un impacto en la crianza, lo cual afecta la calidad de la interacción dentro de la tríada madre-padre-niño. El propósito del presente estudio fue analizar la influencia que las adversas experiencias de niñez de los padres, los síntomas depresivos y el estrés de crianza ejercen sobre sus sensibles respuestas hacia su niño pequeñito y la calidad de las interacciones tríadicas. Se utilizó un método correlacional entre las secciones. El grupo muestra estuvo compuesto de 80 tríadas madre-padre-niño, de niños pequeñitos con dificultades socio-emocionales. A través de medidas de auto-reportes, se evaluaron las tempranas experiencias adversas de los padres, el estrés de crianza, así como los síntomas depresivos. Se usaron medidas de observación de la sensibilidad de los padres y la interacción tríadica. Para mamás y papás, las adversas experiencias de niñez estuvieron asociadas con síntomas depresivos en la edad adulta. La sensibilidad hacia su niño y el estrés se asociaron positivamente entre ambos padres. Se asociaron los síntomas de depresión en las madres con una más baja sensibilidad hacia su niño, pero en los papás la respuesta sensible estuvo influida por el nivel de estrés de crianza de la madre. En ambos padres, una mayor sensibilidad en la interacción diádica con el niño se asoció con una más alta calidad de las interacciones tríadicas, en la tríada en general, así como en la regulación y participación del niño.

La qualité des interactions précoces de la famille a été liée au développement de l'enfant, à la connexion et à la santé mentale. L'adversité durant l'enfant, le stress et la dépression impactent le parentage, affectant la qualité de l'interaction au sein de la triade mère-père-enfant. Le but de cette étude était d'analyser l'influence d'expériences négatives de l'enfance, de symptômes dépressifs et de stress parental sur leur réaction sensible envers leur petit enfant et la qualité des interactions triadiques. Une méthode transversale corrélative a été utilisée. L'échantillon a inclus 80 triades mère-père-enfant, de jeunes enfants avec des difficultés socio-émotionnelles. Les expériences négatives précoces des parents, le stress parental, et les symptômes dépressifs ont été évalués au travers de mesures d'auto-évaluation. Des mesures d'observation de la sensibilité parentale et de l'interaction triadique ont été utilisées. Pour les mères et les pères les expériences négatives de l'enfance étaient liées à des symptômes dépressifs à l'âge adulte. La sensibilité envers leur enfant et le stress étaient liés de manière positive chez les deux parents. Les symptômes de dépression chez les mères étaient liés à une sensibilité moindre envers leur enfant mais chez les pères leur réaction sensible était influencée par le niveau de stress parental chez la mère. Chez les deux parents une plus grande sensibilité dans l'interaction dyadique avec l'enfant était liée à une qualité plus élevée des interactions triadiques, dans la triade dans son ensemble, et dans la régulation et l'engagement de l'enfant.

Students With High Metacognition Are Favourable Towards Individualism When Anxious.

Metacognitive ability has been described as an important predictor of several processes involved in learning, including problem-solving. Although this relationship is fairly documented, little is known about the mechanisms that could modulate it. Given its relationship with both constructs, we decided to evaluate the impact of self-knowledge on PS. In addition, we inspected whether emotional (self-reported anxiety) and interpersonal (attitudes towards social interdependence) variables could affect the relationship between metacognition and problem-solving. We tested a sample of 32 undergraduate students and used behavioural tasks and self-report questionnaires. Contrary to the literature, we found no significant relationship between metacognition and problem-solving performance, nor a significant moderating effect when including emotional and interpersonal variables in the model. In contrast, we observed a significant moderating model combining metacognition, self-reported anxiety and attitudes towards social interdependence. It was found that participants with high metacognition reported attitudes unfavourable towards interdependence when they felt high anxiety. These results suggest that already anxious individuals with high metacognition would prefer to work alone rather than with others, as a coping mechanism against further anxiety derived from cooperation. We hypothesise that in anxiogenic contexts, metacognition is used as a tool to compare possible threats with one's own skills and act accordingly, in order to maximise one's own performance. Further studies are needed to understand how metacognition works in contexts adverse to learning.

The sustained increase of mental health symptoms in Chilean university students over three years / Aumento sostenido de síntomas de salud mental durante tres años en estudiantes universitarios chilenos

Abstract Given the high rates of mental health problems within the general population and, particularly, the university population, the main goal of this paper is to determine the prevalence of symptoms related to mental health in students at the University Austral de Chile between 2015 and 2017. A convenience sample was taken with a non-experimental correlational design of a transversal character. The final samples were composed of 1631 students in the year 2015, 1518 in 2016 and 1707 in 2017. The Instruments used measured depression, anxiety, stress, hopelessness, alimentary restraint, and functional social support. Reliability analysis, descriptive and polynomial contrast analysis which searched for linear and quadratic trends through ANOVA were perform. The results indicate a sustained rise in the percentages of symptomologies and a decline in the perception of social support. There are also statistically significant differences between men and women surveyed, with women showing more symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress over the three years studied. The results are concurrent with findings on a global level concerning the prevalence of mental health problems in university students. This data has allowed university professionals to better direct their efforts in supporting and treating students and promoting health in general.

Resumen Dadas las altas tasas de problemas de salud mental en población general y en particular, en población universitaria, el objetivo principal de este estudio es determinar la prevalencia de síntomas de salud mental en estudiantes de la Universidad Austral de Chile entre los años 2015 y 2017. Se utilizó un muestreo por conveniencia, con un diseño correlacional no experimental de carácter transversal. Las muestras finales se compusieron de 1631 estudiantes en el año 2015, 1518 en 2016 y 1707 en 2017. Los instrumentos utilizados midieron depresión, ansiedad, estrés, desesperanza, restricción alimentaria y apoyo social funcional. Se realizaron análisis de confiabilidad, descriptivos y de contraste polinómico que buscaron tendencias lineales y cuadráticas a través de ANOVA. Los resultados indican un aumento sostenido en los porcentajes de sintomatologías y una disminución en la percepción del apoyo social. También hay diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre hombres y mujeres encuestados, siendo las mujeres quienes muestran más síntomas de depresión, ansiedad y estrés durante los tres años estudiados. Los resultados coinciden con los hallazgos a nivel mundial sobre la prevalencia de problemas de salud mental en estudiantes universitarios. Estos datos han permitido a los profesionales de la universidad dirigir mejor sus esfuerzos para apoyar y tratar a los estudiantes y promover la salud en general.

Corrigendum: Biological Stress Reactivity and Introspective Sensitivity: An Exploratory Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00543.].

Biological Stress Reactivity and Introspective Sensitivity: An Exploratory Study.

Reaction to stressful events has an impact on several cognitive processes. High levels of stress can be detrimental to working memory, attention and decision-making. Here, we investigated whether individuals' reactivity to stress is related to their introspective sensitivity (i.e., how well individuals monitor their own cognitive processes). To this aim, 27 participants (16 women, mean 20 years old) were exposed to a psychosocial stress protocol (trier social stress test, TSST), where individuals were asked to simulate a job interview and perform arithmetic calculations in front of a panel of experts. The salivary cortisol concentration, which is considered a hormonal index of stress reactivity, was collected during the TSST through the enzyme immunoassay DRG cortisol ELISA kit. Based on literature recommendations, we classified participants as responders and non-responders to the TSST. In a second session, through a visual search paradigm, we evaluated the introspective sensitivity of the participants. We evaluated how these individuals (i) monitor their own performance (through a confidence estimation), (ii) monitor their own attentional shifts (through a subjective number of scanned items estimation, SNSI), and (iii) monitor their own response times (through an introspective response time estimation, iRT). We found that individuals with lower biological reactivity to stress are more accurate in estimating their SNSI (p = 0.033) and iRT (p = 0.002), and in evaluating their own performance (p = 0.038) through their confidence. We argue that the effect of stress on introspection is not limited to a particular type of introspective evaluation, but rather consists of a general alteration of the introspective mechanism.

Meditation focused on self-observation of the body impairs metacognitive efficiency.

In the last decade of research on metacognition, the literature has been focused on understanding its mechanism, function and scope; however, little is known about whether metacognitive capacity can be trained. The specificity of the potential training procedure is in particular still largely unknown. In this study, we evaluate whether metacognition is trainable through generic meditation training, and if so, which component of meditation would be instrumental in this improvement. To this end, we evaluated participants' metacognitive efficiency before and after two types of meditation training protocols: the first focused on mental cues (Mental Monitoring [MM] training), whereas the second focused on body cues (Self-observation of the Body [SoB] training). Results indicated that while metacognitive efficiency was stable in MM training group, it was significantly reduced in the SoB group after training. This suggests that metacognition should not be conceived as a stable capacity but rather as a malleable skill.

Biological stress reactivity as an index of the two polarities of the experience model.

The two-polarities model of personality argues that experience is organized around two axes: interpersonal relatedness and self-definition. Differential emphasis on one of these poles defines adaptive and pathological experiences, generating anaclitic or introjective tendencies. The anaclitic pattern, on one hand, has been conceptually related with an exaggerated emphasis on interpersonal relatedness. On the other hand, the introjective pattern has been connected to high levels of self-criticism. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychophysiological basis for this relationship. Specifically, we hypothesized that the anaclitic individual should have a higher biological reactivity to stress (BRS), measured by the cortisol concentration in saliva, in an interpersonal stress induction protocol (Trier Social Stress Test). Contrary to what was expected, the results indicated that introjective participants presented a higher BSR than the anaclitic group. Interestingly, in contrast to their higher BSR, the introjective group reported a diminished subjective stress in relation to the average. In the anaclitic group, a tendency that goes in the opposite direction was found. Theoretical implications of these findings were discussed.

Estimating Consumption to Biomass Ratio in Non-Stationary Harvested Fish Populations.

The food consumption to biomass ratio (C) is one of the most important population parameters in ecosystem modelling because its quantifies the interactions between predator and prey. Existing models for estimating C in fish populations are per-recruit cohort models or empirical models, valid only for stationary populations. Moreover, empirical models lack theoretical support. Here we develop a theory and derive a general modelling framework to estimate C in fish populations, based on length frequency data and the generalised von Bertalanffy growth function, in which models for stationary populations with a stable-age distributions are special cases. Estimates using our method are compared with estimates from per-recruit cohort models for C using simulated harvested fish populations of different lifespans. The models proposed here are also applied to three fish populations that are targets of commercial fisheries in southern Chile. Uncertainty in the estimation of C was evaluated using a resampling approach. Simulations showed that stationary and non-stationary population models produce different estimates for C and those differences depend on the lifespan, fishing mortality and recruitment variations. Estimates of C using the new model exhibited smoother inter-annual variation in comparison with a per-recruit model estimates and they were also smaller than C predicted by the empirical equations in all population assessed.

Modelling production per unit of food consumed in fish populations.

The ratio of production-to-consumption (ρ) reflects how efficiently a population can transform ingested food into biomass. Usually this ratio is estimated by separately integrating cohort per-recruit production and consumption per unit of biomass. Estimates of ρ from cohort analysis differ from those that consider the whole population, because fish populations are usually composed of cohorts that differ in their relative abundance. Cohort models for ρ also assume a stable age-structure and a constant population size (stationary condition). This may preclude their application to harvested populations, in which variations in fishing mortality and recruitment will affect age-structure. In this paper, we propose a different framework for estimating (ρ) in which production and consumption are modelled simultaneously to produce a population estimator of ρ. Food consumption is inferred from the physiological concepts underpinning the generalised von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF). This general framework allows the effects of different age-structures to be explored, with a stationary population as a special case. Three models with different complexities, depending mostly on what assumptions are made about age-structure, are explored. The full data model requires knowledge about food assimilation efficiency, parameters of the VBGF and the relative proportion of individuals at age a at time y (Py(a)). A simpler model, which requires less data, is based on the stationary assumption. Model results are compared with estimates from cohort models for ρ using simulated fish populations of different lifespans. The models proposed here were also applied to three fish populations that are targets of commercial fisheries in the south-east Pacific. Uncertainty in the estimation of ρ was evaluated using a resampling approach. Simulation showed that cohort and population models produce different estimates for ρ and those differences depend on lifespan, fishing mortality and recruitment variations. Results from the three case studies show that the population model gives similar estimates to those reported by empirical models in other fish species. This modelling framework allows ρ to be related directly to population length- or age-structure and thus has the potential to improve the biological realism of both population and ecosystem models.