Say farewell to bland regression reporting: Three forest plot variations for visualizing linear models.

Regression ranks among the most popular statistical analysis methods across many research areas, including psychology. Typically, regression coefficients are displayed in tables. While this mode of presentation is information-dense, extensive tables can be cumbersome to read and difficult to interpret. Here, we introduce three novel visualizations for reporting regression results. Our methods allow researchers to arrange large numbers of regression models in a single plot. Using regression results from real-world as well as simulated data, we demonstrate the transformations which are necessary to produce the required data structure and how to subsequently plot the results. The proposed methods provide visually appealing ways to report regression results efficiently and intuitively. Potential applications range from visual screening in the model selection stage to formal reporting in research papers. The procedure is fully reproducible using the provided code and can be executed via free-of-charge, open-source software routines in R.

Measurement-Invariant Fluid Anti-Flynn Effects in Population-Representative German Student Samples (2012-2022).

Generational IQ test scores in the general population were observed to increase over time (i.e., the Flynn effect) across most of the 1900s. However, according to more recent reports, Flynn effect patterns have seemingly become less consistent. So far, most available evidence on this phenomenon has been categorized by drawing on the classic fluid vs. crystallized intelligence taxonomy. However, recent evidence suggests that subdomain-specific trajectories of IQ change may well be more complex. Here, we present evidence for cross-temporal changes in measurement-invariant figural reasoning tasks in three large-scale, population-representative samples of German secondary school students (total N = 19,474). Analyses revealed a consistent pattern of significant and meaningful declines in performance from 2012 to 2022. Results indicate a decrease in figural reasoning of 4.68 to 5.17 IQ points per decade (corresponding to small-to-medium effects, Cohen ds from 0.34 to 0.38). These findings may be interpreted as tentative evidence for a decreasing strength of the positive manifold of intelligence as a potential cause of the increasing number of recent reports about inconsistent IQ change trajectories.

Which psychological interventions improve quality of life in patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders? A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Quality of life (QoL) is a major patient reported outcome used to measure the psychological treatments success in people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. To date, the specific impact of different interventions on QoL remains undefined. A meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) was carried out for this purpose. We searched Proquest, PUBMED/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, WOS, Scopus, the Cochrane Library for RCTs published until January 2023. We used multilevel meta-analysis to examine differences between intervention effectiveness of experimental and control conditions whilst accounting for data dependencies. By means of subgroup analyses, we investigated influences of intervention types (i.e. psychoeducation v. CBT v. cognitive v. combination of several types v. other, such as psychodynamic, systemic, etc.) and continuous moderators were examined with precision-weighted meta-regressions. The generalizability of results across moderators, their combinations, and analytical approaches was investigated with multiverse meta-analyses. We examined data of 60 independent studies, reporting intervention effects for objective and subjective QoL (k = 19 and 70 effect sizes based on N = 1024 and 6254 participants, respectively). Overall, psychological interventions seemed to be more effective for objective than for subjective QoL. However, specific intervention results were differentiated, suggesting largest effects of psychoeducation on objective and combined interventions on subjective QoL. Our findings suggest that QoL is a valid outcome criterion for testing intervention effectiveness, as it is sensitive to change. Additionally, psychological interventions can improve patients' QoL, though the effects are small. Further testing of less widely used interventions and a shift toward the multidimensional nature of QoL is still necessary.

Effectiveness of cloth face masks to prevent viral spread: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of cloth face masks to prevent viral spread has not yet been conclusively established. In this meta-analysis, we evaluate their effectiveness in comparison to standard medical/surgical and N95-typed masks against viral spread. METHODS: We identified literature through a systematic search in three databases and meta-analytically synthesized relevant studies by means of random-effects as well as multilevel modelling. RESULTS: Twelve studies comprising k = 28 effect sizes (N = 338) were included. Medical/surgical and N95-typed masks outperformed cloth masks, yielding a large effect (g = 1.40). This effect remained robust when data were grouped according to comparisons with medical/surgical masks (g = 1.25) and N95-typed masks (g = 1.29). However, effects were differentiated according to mask fit, indicating reversals of signs when cloth mask effects were compared with ill-fitting medical/surgical and N95-typed masks (gs = -12.50 and - 10.90, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Cloth face masks were found to have significantly poorer filtering performance than medical/surgical masks and N95 masks, but only if non-cloth masks were properly fitted. Our results illustrate the necessity of using well-fitting medical/surgical or N95-typed masks to prevent viral spread, although some allowance should be made in circumstances where higher compliance with cloth mask mandates are expected.

The impact of COVID-19 and socioeconomic status on psychological distress in cancer patients

Objective: We aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological symptom burden against the socioeconomic background of cancer patients using data from routine assessments before and during the pandemic Method: In this cross-sectional study, standardised assessment instruments were applied in N = 1,329 patients to screen for symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and fatigue from 2018 to 2022. Two MANOVAs with post-hoc tests were computed. First, only time was included as predictor to examine the isolated impact of the pandemic. Second, income level and education level were included as further predictors to additionally test the predictive power of socioeconomic factors Results: In the final model, only income had a significant impact on all aspects of psychological symptom burden, with patients with low income being highly burdened (partial η² = .01, p = .023). The highest mean difference was found for depressive symptoms (MD = 0.13, CI = [0.07; 0.19], p < .001). The pandemic had no further influence on psychological distress Conclusions: Although the pandemic is a major stressor in many respects, poverty may be the more important risk factor for psychological symptom burden in cancer outpatients, outweighing the impact of the pandemic. (AU)

The impact of COVID-19 and socioeconomic status on psychological distress in cancer patients.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological symptom burden against the socioeconomic background of cancer patients using data from routine assessments before and during the pandemic. Method: In this cross-sectional study, standardised assessment instruments were applied in N = 1,329 patients to screen for symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and fatigue from 2018 to 2022. Two MANOVAs with post-hoc tests were computed. First, only time was included as predictor to examine the isolated impact of the pandemic. Second, income level and education level were included as further predictors to additionally test the predictive power of socioeconomic factors. Results: In the final model, only income had a significant impact on all aspects of psychological symptom burden, with patients with low income being highly burdened (partial η² = .01, p = .023). The highest mean difference was found for depressive symptoms (MD = 0.13, CI = [0.07; 0.19], p < .001). The pandemic had no further influence on psychological distress. Conclusions: Although the pandemic is a major stressor in many respects, poverty may be the more important risk factor for psychological symptom burden in cancer outpatients, outweighing the impact of the pandemic.

Are Speeded Tests Unfair? Modeling the Impact of Time Limits on the Gender Gap in Mathematics.

When cognitive and educational tests are administered under time limits, tests may become speeded and this may affect the reliability and validity of the resulting test scores. Prior research has shown that time limits may create or enlarge gender gaps in cognitive and academic testing. On average, women complete fewer items than men when a test is administered with a strict time limit, whereas gender gaps are frequently reduced when time limits are relaxed. In this study, we propose that gender differences in test strategy might inflate gender gaps favoring men, and relate test strategy to stereotype threat effects under which women underperform due to the pressure of negative stereotypes about their performance. First, we applied a Bayesian two-dimensional item response theory (IRT) model to data obtained from two registered reports that investigated stereotype threat in mathematics, and estimated the latent correlation between underlying test strategy (here, completion factor, a proxy for working speed) and mathematics ability. Second, we tested the gender gap and assessed potential effects of stereotype threat on female test performance. We found a positive correlation between the completion factor and mathematics ability, such that more able participants dropped out later in the test. We did not observe a stereotype threat effect but found larger gender differences on the latent completion factor than on latent mathematical ability, suggesting that test strategies affect the gender gap in timed mathematics performance. We argue that if the effect of time limits on tests is not taken into account, this may lead to test unfairness and biased group comparisons, and urge researchers to consider these effects in either their analyses or study planning.

Unfounded authority, underpowered studies, and non-transparent reporting perpetuate the Mozart effect myth: a multiverse meta-analysis.

In recent years, an ostensible Mozart effect, suggesting beneficial influences of listening to the sonata KV448 on epilepsy, has been extensively covered in popular media outlets. However, the evidential value of such a potential effect seems unclear. Here, we present the first formal meta-analysis on this topic, based on k = 8 studies (N = 207). Further published studies that met our inclusion criteria had to be omitted due to insufficient reporting and author non-responsiveness on data requests. In three independent analyses, we observed non-significant trivial-to-small summary effects for listening to Mozart KV448 or other musical stimuli on epilepsy or other medical conditions (g range: 0.09-0.43). Bias and sensitivity analyses suggested that these effects were likely inflated and non-trivial effects were driven by isolated leverage points. Multiverse analyses conformed to these results, showing inconsistent evidential patterns. Low primary study power and consequently lacking evidential value indicates that there is only little reason to suspect a specific Mozart effect. In all, listening to music, let alone a specific kind of sonata, does not appear to have any beneficial effect on epilepsy. Unfounded authority, underpowered studies, and non-transparent reporting appear to be the main drivers of the Mozart effect myth.

Is There a "Gifted Personality"? Initial Evidence for Differences between MENSA and General Population Members in the HEXACO Personality Inventory.

Contrary to the common notion that personality and intelligence are unrelated constructs, numerous correlational studies have demonstrated substantial associations between the two domains. Moreover, samples of intellectually gifted individuals have been found to differ from the general population in specific aspects of their personalities. However, most studies so far have relied on the Five-Factor Model of Personality (FFM), while none have investigated this phenomenon using the HEXACO personality framework. We recruited 617 adult members of the international high-IQ society MENSA and compared them to 3 reference samples (combined N = 112,637) regarding their personalities as measured by the HEXACO-60 personality inventory. We found that gifted persons scored higher in Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness but lower in Emotionality compared to reference samples. Interestingly, gifted individuals scored only slightly higher in Openness to Experience, and no consistent differences emerged for Agreeableness. We demonstrate that some known personality differences between gifted and non-gifted persons translate from the FFM to the HEXACO model, while others do not. Our results indicate that within the HEXACO factor structure differences in sociability are more pronounced, while intellect-related differences are comparatively weak.

Of differing methods, disputed estimates and discordant interpretations: the meta-analytical multiverse of brain volume and IQ associations.

Brain size and IQ are positively correlated. However, multiple meta-analyses have led to considerable differences in summary effect estimations, thus failing to provide a plausible effect estimate. Here we aim at resolving this issue by providing the largest meta-analysis and systematic review so far of the brain volume and IQ association (86 studies; 454 effect sizes from k = 194 independent samples; N = 26 000+) in three cognitive ability domains (full-scale, verbal, performance IQ). By means of competing meta-analytical approaches as well as combinatorial and specification curve analyses, we show that most reasonable estimates for the brain size and IQ link yield r-values in the mid-0.20s, with the most extreme specifications yielding rs of 0.10 and 0.37. Summary effects appeared to be somewhat inflated due to selective reporting, and cross-temporally decreasing effect sizes indicated a confounding decline effect, with three quarters of the summary effect estimations according to any reasonable specification not exceeding r = 0.26, thus contrasting effect sizes were observed in some prior related, but individual, meta-analytical specifications. Brain size and IQ associations yielded r = 0.24, with the strongest effects observed for more g-loaded tests and in healthy samples that generalize across participant sex and age bands.

Meta-analyzing intelligence and religiosity associations: Evidence from the multiverse.

Over the past century, a remarkable body of research about the relationship of intelligence and religiosity has accumulated. So far, the majority of studies that investigated this relationship showed a negative correlation, indicating lower cognitive abilities of individuals reporting stronger religious beliefs. Although the effect direction has been observed to be largely consistent across studies, the reported effect strength varied substantially across studies. Several potentially moderating variables such as different intelligence and religiosity assessment methods, educational status of samples, and participant sex have been proposed as likely candidates for explaining systematic differences in effect strengths. However, the effects of these moderators are to date unclear. Consequently, we focused in investigating effects of these moderating variables on the intelligence and religiosity link in an update of prior meta-analytical investigations in n = 89 (k = 105; N = 201,457) studies. Random-effects analyses showed a small but robust negative association between intelligence and religiosity r = -.14 (p < .001; 95% CI [-.17, -.12]). Effects were stronger for (i) psychometric intelligence tests than for proxy measures such as grade point averages and (ii) general population and college samples than pre-college samples. Moreover, we provide evidence from combinatorial, multiverse, and specification curve analyses that further corroborates the robustness of the investigated association. Out of 192 reasonable specifications all 135 (70.4%) significant summary effects were negative. In all, our results show small but robust negative associations between religiosity and intelligence that are differentiated in strength but generalize in terms of direction over moderating variables.

Bright, but allergic and neurotic? A critical investigation of the "overexcitable genius" hypothesis.

Introduction: Higher intelligence has been associated with improved health and longevity. However, recent findings have claimed that exceptional intelligence may come at a cost. Individuals at the upmost end of the intelligence distribution are reported to be disproportionately afflicted by a set of stress-related physical and mental health conditions: so-called overexcitabilities. Few accounts have investigated this issue and no studies are available for non-US samples yet. Here, we aimed to replicate and extend previous work by examining hitherto unaddressed overexcitabilities in a European high-IQ sample. Methods: We carried out a preregistered survey among members of MENSA, the world's largest high-IQ society. In total, 615 (307 male) members from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom participated. Results and Discussion: Compared to the general population, our sample exhibited considerably elevated prevalences in autism spectrum disorders (risk ratio/RR = 2.25), chronic fatigue syndrome (RR = 5.69), depression (RR = 4.38), generalized anxiety (RR = 3.82), and irritable bowel syndrome (RR = 3.76). Contrary to previous accounts, neither asthma, allergies, nor autoimmune diseases were elevated. We show that this subsample of intellectually gifted persons faces specific health challenges compared to the general population. The reasons for this remain speculative, as we find little evidence for previously proposed immunological explanations. However, it is possible that the effects are caused by sample selectiveness (i.e., membership in a high-IQ society) rather than high IQ itself.

Informant-based assessment instruments for dementia in people with intellectual disability: A systematic review and standardised evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Dementia in people with intellectual disability (ID) is frequent but hard to recognise. Evidence-based recommendations for suitable instruments are lacking. AIMS: The present study set out to evaluate informant-based dementia assessment instruments and to provide evidence-based recommendations for instruments most suitable in clinical practice and research. METHOD AND PROCEDURES: A systematic review was conducted across ten international electronic databases. The COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) guidelines, including a risk of bias assessment, was applied to extract information and to evaluate measurement properties and the quality of available evidence. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: In total, 42 studies evaluating 18 informant-based assessment instruments were analysed. For screening purposes, we recommend the Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia in Down Syndrome Scale (BPSD-DS), the Cognitive Scale for Down Syndrome (CS-DS), and the Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (DSQIID). For a more thorough dementia assessment, we recommend the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of Older People with Down's Syndrome and Others with Intellectual Disabilities (CAMDEX-DS). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our study informs clinicians and researchers about adequate, well-evaluated dementia assessment instruments for people with ID, and highlights the need for high quality studies, especially regarding content validity.

Times are changing, bias isn't: A meta-meta-analysis on publication bias detection practices, prevalence rates, and predictors in industrial/organizational psychology.

Effect misestimations plague Psychological Science, but advances in the identification of dissemination biases in general and publication bias in particular have helped in dealing with biased effects in the literature. However, the application of publication bias detection methods appears to be not equally prevalent across subdisciplines. It has been suggested that particularly in I/O Psychology, appropriate publication bias detection methods are underused. In this meta-meta-analysis, we present prevalence estimates, predictors, and time trends of publication bias in 128 meta-analyses that were published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (7,263 effect sizes, 3,000,000 + participants). Moreover, we reanalyzed data of 87 meta-analyses and applied nine standard and more modern publication bias detection methods. We show that (a) the bias detection method applications are underused (only 41% of meta-analyses use at least one method) but have increased in recent years, (b) those meta-analyses that apply such methods now use more, but mostly inappropriate methods, and (c) the prevalence of potential publication bias is concerning but mostly remains undetected. Although our results indicate somewhat of a trend toward higher bias awareness, they substantiate concerns about potential publication bias in I/O Psychology, warranting increased researcher awareness about appropriate and state-of-the-art bias detection and triangulation. Embracing open science practices such as data sharing or study preregistration is needed to raise reproducibility and ultimately strengthen Psychological Science in general and I/O Psychology in particular. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

After all, it is an outdoor sport: Meta-analytic evidence for negative associations between wind compensation points and round scores in ski jumping competitions.

Wind conditions are well-known to affect results of ski jumping competitions. To alleviate effects of different head or tail winds and differences in inrun length due to jury or coaches' decisions, the FIS (Féderation Internationale de Ski) has adopted a wind and gate compensation system since January 2010. However, the accuracy and fairness of the resulting compensation points are often questioned by athletes, spectators, and media commentators alike but have not yet been thoroughly investigated. In the present meta-analysis, we present evidence for systematic negative associations of wind points but positive associations of gate points with round scores across all World Cup and World Championship competitions of men in the ski jumping seasons 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 (k = 35 and 30, respectively). Moreover, our results indicate that absolute correlations between wind points and round scores increased in presence of larger wind point variability, thus indicating lower accuracy of compensation systems when conditions are more variable. Additionally, there was a trend for larger wind point malcompensations on larger jumping hills. Our results suggest that the current wind point compensation formula as well as gate factors should be reevaluated to prevent systematically biased point awards within and across competitions.

Effect Declines Are Systematic, Strong, and Ubiquitous: A Meta-Meta-Analysis of the Decline Effect in Intelligence Research.

Empirical sciences in general and psychological science in particular are plagued by replicability problems and biased published effect sizes. Although dissemination bias-related phenomena such as publication bias, time-lag bias, or visibility bias are well-known and have been intensively studied, another variant of effect distorting mechanisms, so-called decline effects, have not. Conceptually, decline effects are rooted in low initial (exploratory) study power due to strategic researcher behavior and can be expected to yield overproportional effect declines. Although decline effects have been documented in individual meta-analytic investigations, systematic evidence for decline effects in the psychological literature remains to date unavailable. Therefore, we present in this meta-meta-analysis a systematic investigation of the decline effect in intelligence research. In all, data from 22 meta-analyses comprising 36 meta-analytical and 1,391 primary effect sizes (N = 697,000+) that have been published in the journal Intelligence were included in our analyses. Two different analytic approaches showed consistent evidence for a higher prevalence of cross-temporal effect declines compared to effect increases, yielding a ratio of about 2:1. Moreover, effect declines were considerably stronger when referenced to the initial primary study within a meta-analysis, yielding about twice the magnitude of effect increases. Effect misestimations were more substantial when initial studies had smaller sample sizes and reported larger effects, thus indicating suboptimal initial study power as the main driver of effect misestimations in initial studies. Post hoc study power comparisons of initial versus subsequent studies were consistent with this interpretation, showing substantially lower initial study power of declining, than of increasing effects. Our findings add another facet to the ever accumulating evidence about non-trivial effect misestimations in the scientific literature. We therefore stress the necessity for more rigorous protocols when it comes to designing and conducting primary research as well as reporting findings in exploratory and replication studies. Increasing transparency in scientific processes such as data sharing, (exploratory) study preregistration, but also self- (or independent) replication preceding the publication of exploratory findings may be suitable approaches to strengthen the credibility of empirical research in general and psychological science in particular.

Indirect (implicit) and direct (explicit) self-esteem measures are virtually unrelated: A meta-analysis of the initial preference task.

BACKGROUND: The initial preference task (IPT) is an implicit measure that has featured prominently in the literature and enjoys high popularity because it offers to provide an unobtrusive and objective assessment of self-esteem that is easy to administer. However, its use for self-esteem assessment may be limited because of weak associations with direct personality measures. Moreover, moderator effects of sample- and study-related variables need investigation to determine the value of IPT-based assessments of self-esteem. METHODS: Conventional and grey-literature database searches, as well as screening of reference lists of obtained articles, yielded a total of 105 independent healthy adult samples (N = 17,777) originating from 60 studies. Summary effect estimates and subgroup analyses for potential effect moderators (e.g., administration order, algorithm, rating type) were calculated by means of meta-analytic random- and mixed-effects models. Moreover, we accounted for potential influences of publication year, publication status (published vs. not), and participant sex in a weighted stepwise hierarchical multiple meta-regression. We tested for dissemination bias through six methods. RESULTS: There was no noteworthy correlation between IPT-based implicit and explicit self-esteem (r = .102), indicating conceptual independence of these two constructs. Effects were stronger when the B-algorithm was used for calculation of IPT-scores and the IPT was administered only once, whilst all other moderators did not show significant influences. Regression analyses revealed a somewhat stronger (albeit non-significant) effect for men. Moreover, there was no evidence for dissemination bias or a decline effect, although effects from published studies were numerically somewhat stronger than unpublished effects. DISCUSSION: We show that there is no noteworthy association between IPT-based implicit and explicit self-esteem, which is broadly consistent with dual-process models of implicit and explicit evaluations on the one hand, but also casts doubt on the suitability of the IPT for the assessment of implicit self-esteem on the other hand.

Reliable and Valid Coding of Thin Slices of Video Footage: Applicability to the Assessment of Mother-Child Interactions.

When using behavioral-observation methods for coding video footage, it is unknown how much time of an interaction needs to be coded to gain results that are representative for the behavior of interest. The current study examined this problem using the INTAKT, a standardized observational measure for assessing the quality of mother-child interactions. Results from coding only 10 min of each video (i.e., thin slices) were compared with results from coding the remaining parts (averaging about 40 min) of the interaction. Inter-rater agreement for the short versions taken from the beginning or the middle, but not the end of the interactions indicated satisfactory observer accuracy. Coding results did not differ between short and long video sequences, when sequences were taken from the middle of the interactions. Importantly, characteristic differences between different interactive situations were equally well represented in the short and long video sequences. Therefore, our results show that coding only 10 min of an interaction is as reliable and valid as coding full-length videos, if those short sequences are taken from the middle of an interaction. Our findings support the idea that for every method, it is necessary to individually determine the window duration that is long enough to gain results that are reliable and valid.

META-ANALYSIS SHOWS ASSOCIATIONS OF DIGIT RATIO (2D:4D) AND TRANSGENDER IDENTITY ARE SMALL AT BEST.

ABBREVIATIONS: 2D:4D = digit ratio; CI = confidence interval; F = female; FtM = female-to-male transgender; M = male; MtF = male-to-female transgender; TGI = transgender identity.

Genetic and Environmental Sources of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and Affect: Results from a Genetically Sensitive Multi-group Design.

In today's world, researchers frequently utilize indirect measures of implicit (i.e., automatic, spontaneous) evaluations. The results of several studies have supported the usefulness of these measures in predicting behavior, as compared to utilizing direct measures of explicit (i.e., purposeful, deliberate) evaluations. A current, under-debate issue concerns the origin of these implicit evaluations. The present genetically sensitive multi-group study analyzed data from 223 twin pairs and 222 biological core families to estimate possible genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in implicit and explicit self-esteem and affect. The results show that implicit self-esteem and affect maintain a substantial genetic basis, but demonstrate little influence from the shared environment by siblings (e.g., shared familial socialization in childhood). A bivariate analysis found that implicit and explicit evaluations of the same construct share a common genetic core which aligns with the motivation and opportunity as determinants (MODE) model.