Individual Dispositions and Situational Stressors in Competitive Sport: The Role of Stress Mindset in the Cognitive Appraisals Processes.

Personality has widely been documented to play an important role in the cognitive appraisal and stress processes. Emerging studies highlight the stress mindset as a new concept that could add to the understanding of individual differences in stress experiences. This study aimed to examine the relative contribution of Big Five personality dimensions and stress mindset in accounting for measures of cognitive appraisals of stress among the competing athletes. The study was conducted on a sample of 125 collegiate athletes of both genders who actively compete in sport. All the participants were regular undergraduate or graduate students at the Faculty of Kinesiology of the University of Zagreb. A questionnaire including demographic information about athletes and their sport career, stress mindset measure (SMM), situation-specific cognitive appraisal scale, sources of stress scale, and personality scale measured by IPIP-50 was administered in an online form using the Google Forms platform. Multivariate hierarchical regression procedures resulted in somewhat different predictor structures accounting for cognitive appraisals of threat, loss, and challenge, used as criterion variables. The set of Big Five personality dimensions and stress mindset measure proved to have a significant additive contribution to the explanation of each of the three cognitive appraisal criterion variances. The study results support the current body of literature suggesting a unique role of the stress mindset construct in explaining individual differences in cognitive stress appraisal among athletes above and beyond general personality dimensions.

Experiences With Online Teaching and Psychological Adjustment of High-School Students at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Croatia.

Vastly changed schooling arrangements due to the COVID-19 crisis have generally limited the opportunities and resources for schools to provide necessary psychological and other support to their students. Given this, all parties involved in the schooling system need to understand the kinds of experiences students have via distance learning and how students adapt to novel living and studying conditions. This study examines the relevant sources of stress that students encounter with regard to online classes, and the frustrations they face due to living in social isolation, as well as how these stressors relate to the measures of students' emotional wellbeing and psychological adjustment. Data were collected in April 2020 via an online questionnaire administered to a sample of 4,492 students (62.6% female) attending all four grades of high school within two Croatian counties. The results point to the differential effects of particular aspects of online teaching practices on the stressful experiences of students. Furthermore, the results of multivariate analysis of variance and canonical discriminant analyses demonstrated notable gender and grade differences in the structure of students' emotional and behavioral adaptation to the health crisis. Female students and those predominantly studying at the highest grade reported higher frequency and intensity of short-term emotional and psychosomatic difficulties. Male students in the final grade year scored highest on the dimension defined by the number and intensity of online teaching stressors. The results are interesting in light of hypothetical accounts of adjustment mechanisms based on existing stress theories. Moreover, the findings serve as a basis for teachers' self-reflection and self-evaluation of schools, which can then lead to designing specific programs of support in learning and adaptation to the new living and studying conditions.

Are We Losing the Most Relevant Cases First? Selective Dropout in Two Longitudinal Studies of Adolescent Pornography Use.

In longitudinal studies of pornography use, selective loss of participants who may be more vulnerable to the effects of pornography than their peers is a serious concern. To explore the potential for such selective dropout, we used data from two independent large-scale panel studies of adolescents' pornography use. Of the three types of attrition-early attrition, later attrition, and gaps in participation-only the first was substantially higher among more vulnerable adolescents, compared with other participants. Panel type (online vs. classroom-based) moderated only the association between vulnerability and participation gaps, which was significant in the classroom-based but not the online panel. Overall, this study's findings point to the importance of delaying selective dropout by developing a comprehensive plan of action, for which we offer some guidelines.

The Relationship between the Use of Social Networking Sites and Sexually Explicit Material, the Internalization of Appearance Ideals and Body Self-Surveillance: Results from a Longitudinal Study of Male Adolescents.

Although there is now a substantial body of research suggesting a positive association between the exposure to sexualized content in the media and self-objectification/body surveillance, most of the studies have been cross-sectional, conducted in exclusively female samples, focused on the use of traditional media (e.g., printed magazines and TV), and have not assessed the role of the internalization of appearance ideals, which is potentially an important intervening variable in the relationship between media exposure and outcomes related to body concerns. Addressing the need for further assessments of self-objectification in more diverse samples, this study used five-wave longitudinal data to investigate the parallel changes in the use of social networking sites and sexually explicit material and the internalization of appearance ideals and body surveillance in Croatian adolescent men (Mage at baseline = 15.9, SD = 0.54; n= 743). Over a period of 22 months during the transition from middle to late adolescence, both the internalization of appearance ideals and body surveillance decreased. Furthermore, although the internalization of appearance ideals and body surveillance were associated both at baseline and over time, this study's results did not indicate a longitudinal relationship between respectively the use of online social networking sites and sexually explicit material and either the internalization of appearance ideals or body surveillance among adolescent males. Overall, this study's findings highlight the potential for a more specific assessment of the role of the use of social networking sites and sexually explicit material in self-objectification and body surveillance among young men. Future research may benefit from exploring the relationship between young men's modes of engagement with and motives for the use of social networking sites and body surveillance, as well as the possible association between the use of sexually explicit material and competency-based self-objectification, in particular sexual body functionality.

Testing the content progression thesis: A longitudinal assessment of pornography use and preference for coercive and violent content among male adolescents.

Content progression thesis (CPT), a direct application of conditioning theories to conceptualizing exposure to pornography, proposes that pornography use leads to viewing increasingly more extreme material due to the effect of satiation. To test this assumption, association between the frequency of pornography use and the preference for violent and coercive content were examined over a 24-month period using an online panel sample of male adolescents. Participants were 248 high school students who took part in at least three of five waves of the PROBIOPS study. The average baseline age was 16.1. Dual-domain latent growth curve modeling was used to test the CPT. The preference for violent/coercive pornography was found to decrease over time. Moreover, its dynamics was unrelated to latent growth in pornography use. In this first longitudinal assessment, the CPT was not found to be a useful model for understanding the patterns and potential consequences of adolescent pornography use.

Corrigendum: No Robust Association between Static Markers of Testosterone and Facets of Socio-Economic Decision Making.

[This corrects the article on p. 250 in vol. 11, PMID: 29326567.].

No Robust Association between Static Markers of Testosterone and Facets of Socio-Economic Decision Making.

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and facial width-to-height ratio (WHR) are supposedly static indicators of testosterone exposition during prenatal and pubertal lifetime, respectively. Both measures have been linked to aggressive and assertive behavior in laboratory economic games, as well as in real world scenarios. Most of the research-often limited to male subjects-considers the associations between these behaviors, traits, and hormonal markers separately for 2D:4D and WHR. Reported associations are weak and volatile. In the present study we had independent raters assess 2D:4D and WHR in a sample of N = 175 participants who played the ultimatum game (UG). Respondent behavior in UG captures the tendency to reject unfair offers (negative reciprocity). If unfair UG offers are seen as provocations, then individuals with stronger testosterone exposition may be more prone to reject such offers. Economists argue that negative reciprocity reflects altruistic punishment, since the rejecting individual is sacrificing own resources. However, recent studies suggest that self-interest, in terms of status defense plays a substantial role in decisions to reject unfair offers. We also assessed social preferences by social value orientation and assertiveness via self-report. By applying structural equation modeling we estimated the latent level association of 2D:4D and WHR with negative reciprocity, assertiveness and prosociality in both sexes. Results revealed no robust association between any of the trait measures and hormonal markers. The measures of 2D:4D and WHR were not related with each other. Multigroup models based on sex suggested invariance of factor loadings allowing to compare hormone-behavior relationships of females and males. Only when collapsing across sex greater WHR was weakly associated with assertiveness, suggesting that individuals with wider faces tend to express greater status defense. Only the right hand 2D:4D was weakly associated with prosocial behavior, indicating that individuals with lower prenatal testosterone exposure are more cooperative. Rejection behavior in UG was not related with 2D:4D nor WHR in any of the models. There were also no curvilinear associations between 2D:4D and prosociality as theorized in the literature. Our results suggest that previous studies over-estimated the role of static markers of testosterone in accounting for aggression and competition behavior in males.

IL-12 concentrations in the aqueous humor and serum of diabetic retinopathy patients.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that inflammation plays an important part in the pathogenesis of diabetes. Cytokines may have a role in both positive and negative control of immunological reactions. Among many cytokines, interleukin 12 (IL-12) is known to be a strong pro-inflammatory cytokine. METHODS: A total of 76 participants were enrolled in this study and classified into four groups: 23 diabetic patients with non-treated retinopathy, 17 diabetic patients with treated retinopathy, 12 diabetic patients without retinopathy, and 24 healthy control patients. Serum and aqueous humor samples were taken for the analysis of IL-12 concentration. RESULTS: The aqueous humor IL-12 concentration was significantly elevated in the patients with non-treated diabetic retinopathy (χ(2)(3, n = 76) = 27.137; p < 0.001). No significant differences in IL-12 serum concentrations between the groups were found (F = 0.405, p = 0.750). Correlation analysis of IL-12 concentrations in the serum and aqueous humor showed a linear association between the two variables only in non-diabetic patients (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to show a significantly higher concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-12 in the aqueous humor of non-treated diabetic retinopathy patients in comparison with diabetic patients treated for retinopathy, without retinopathy, or with healthy individuals. Because the serum levels of IL-12 did not differ considerably between the studied groups, it is plausible that this is due to its local production and secretion.

Development and bicultural validation of the new sexual satisfaction scale.

The development and bicultural validation of the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale (NSSS)--a 20 item, multidimensional, composite measure of sexual satisfaction--is presented. The development of the scale was based on a five-dimension, conceptual model that emphasized the importance of multiple domains of sexual behavior including sexual sensations, sexual awareness and focus, sexual exchange, emotional closeness, and sexual activity. Scale construction and validation were carried out using seven independent samples with over 2,000 participants aged 18 to 55 in Croatia and the United States. Primary data collection was completed using online survey tools. Analyses did not confirm the proposed conceptual framework but suggested a two-dimensional structure focusing on self ("ego-centered") and the other (a "partner- and sexual activity-centered" factor) domains, each containing items representing all five conceptual dimensions. Scale reliability (k = 20) was satisfactory for all samples, and construct validity was confirmed in both cultures. The NSSS was also found to have acceptable one-month stability. It is suggested that the NSSS may be a useful tool for assessing sexual satisfaction regardless of a person's gender, sexual orientation, and relationship status.

Pornography, sexual socialization, and satisfaction among young men.

In spite of a growing presence of pornography in contemporary life, little is known about its potential effects on young people's sexual socialization and sexual satisfaction. In this article, we present a theoretical model of the effects of sexually explicit materials (SEM) mediated by sexual scripting and moderated by the type of SEM used. An on-line survey dataset that included 650 young Croatian men aged 18-25 years was used to explore empirically the model. Descriptive findings pointed to significant differences between mainstream and paraphilic SEM users in frequency of SEM use at the age of 14, current SEM use, frequency of masturbation, sexual boredom, acceptance of sex myths, and sexual compulsiveness. In testing the model, a novel instrument was used, the Sexual Scripts Overlap Scale, designed to measure the influence of SEM on sexual socialization. Structural equation analyses suggested that negative effects of early exposure to SEM on young men's sexual satisfaction, albeit small, could be stronger than positive effects. Both positive and negative effects-the latter being expressed through suppression of intimacy-were observed only among users of paraphilic SEM. No effect of early exposure to SEM was found among the mainstream SEM users. To counterbalance moral panic but also glamorization of pornography, sex education programs should incorporate contents that would increase media literacy and assist young people in critical interpretation of pornographic imagery.