Examining the impact of major life events on the frequency and experience of daily social events.

OBJECTIVE: Life events can impact people's dispositional functioning by changing their state-level patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior. One pathway through which this change may be facilitated is changes in the experience of daily social events. METHOD: We examined the dynamic relationship between major life events and the subsequent experience of positive and negative daily social events in a year-long longitudinal study (initial N = 1247). RESULTS: Experiencing positive and negative major life events moderated the effects of positive and negative social events on event-contingent state well-being and ill-being in ways that were mostly (but not always) consistent with both endowment and contrast effects on judgments of well-being. Furthermore, negative life events predicted an increase in the subsequent trajectory of negative social events, while the experience of daily ill-being predicted the subsequent experience of negative social events. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the possible impact of major life events by explaining how they shape the subsequent experience of daily social events.

Super-spreading social events for COVID-19 transmission: evidence from the investigation of six early clusters in Bahrain.

Introduction: This study aimed to characterize six early clusters of COVID-19 and derive key transmission parameters from confirmed cases that were traced between April and June 2020 in Bahrain. Methods: Pairs of "infector-infectee" allowed us to map the clusters and estimate the incubation period serial interval as the secondary attack rate. The chi-squared test, with a p-value computed using the Monte Carlo test, measured associations between categorical variables. Statistical analysis was performed using R software and the "data.tree, tidyverse" libraries. Results: From 9 April to 27 June 2020, we investigated 596 individuals suspected of COVID-19, of whom 127 positive cases were confirmed by PCR and linked in six clusters. The mean age was 30.34 years (S.D. = 17.84 years). The male-to-female ratio was 0.87 (276/318), and most of the contacts were of Bahraini citizenship (511/591 = 86.5%). Exposure occurred within the family in 74.3% (411/553), and 18.9% of clusters' cases were symptomatic (23/122 = 18.9%). Mapped clusters and generations increased after 24 May 2020, corresponding to "Aid El-Fitr." The mean incubation period was 4 days, and the mean serial interval ranged from 3 to 3.31 days. The secondary attack rate was 0.21 (95% C.I.) = [0.17-0.24]. Conclusion: COVID-19 transmission was amplified due to the high number of families mixing during "Aid El Fitr" and "Ramadhan," generating important clusters. Estimated serial intervals and incubation periods support asymptomatic transmission.

Uplifts and hassles are related to worsening in chronic fatigue syndrome: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Limited published data suggests that absence of uplifts (minor pleasant events) is associated with clinical worsening in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The current study aimed to assess the relation of illness worsening to the trajectories of social and non-social uplifts and hassles in a six-month prospective study in CFS. METHODS: Participants were primarily in their 40s, female, white, and ill for over a decade. All participants (N = 128) met criteria for CFS. The interview-based global impression of change rating was used to classify individual outcomes as improved, unchanged, or worsened at six- month follow-up. Uplifts and hassles, both social and non-social, were assessed with the Combined Hassles and Uplifts Scale (CHUS). The CHUS was administered weekly in online diaries over six months. Linear mixed effect models were utilized to examine linear trends for hassles and uplifts. RESULTS: No significant differences were found between the three global outcome groups for age, sex, or illness duration; however, work status was significantly lower for the non-improved groups (p < 0.001). Non-social hassles intensity showed an increasing slope for the worsened group (p = 0.03) and a decreasing slope (p = 0.05) for the improved group. For the worsened group, a downward trend was found for frequency of non-social (p = 0.01) uplifts. CONCLUSION: Individuals with worsening as compared to improving illness in CFS show significantly different six-month trajectories for weekly hassles and a deficit in uplifts. This may have clinical implications for behavioral intervention. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02948556.

Evolution of Public Opinion on COVID-19 Vaccination in Japan: Large-Scale Twitter Data Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Vaccines are promising tools to control the spread of COVID-19. An effective vaccination campaign requires government policies and community engagement, sharing experiences for social support, and voicing concerns about vaccine safety and efficiency. The increasing use of online social platforms allows us to trace large-scale communication and infer public opinion in real time. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the main themes in COVID-19 vaccine-related discussions on Twitter in Japan and track how the popularity of the tweeted themes evolved during the vaccination campaign. Furthermore, we aimed to understand the impact of critical social events on the popularity of the themes. METHODS: We collected more than 100 million vaccine-related tweets written in Japanese and posted by 8 million users (approximately 6.4% of the Japanese population) from January 1 to October 31, 2021. We used Latent Dirichlet Allocation to perform automated topic modeling of tweet text during the vaccination campaign. In addition, we performed an interrupted time series regression analysis to evaluate the impact of 4 critical social events on public opinion. RESULTS: We identified 15 topics grouped into the following 4 themes: (1) personal issue, (2) breaking news, (3) politics, and (4) conspiracy and humor. The evolution of the popularity of themes revealed a shift in public opinion, with initial sharing of attention over personal issues (individual aspect), collecting information from news (knowledge acquisition), and government criticism to focusing on personal issues. Our analysis showed that the Tokyo Olympic Games affected public opinion more than other critical events but not the course of vaccination. Public opinion about politics was significantly affected by various social events, positively shifting attention in the early stages of the vaccination campaign and negatively shifting attention later. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a striking shift in public interest in Japan, with users splitting their attention over various themes early in the vaccination campaign and then focusing only on personal issues, as trust in vaccines and policies increased. An interrupted time series regression analysis showed that the vaccination rollout to the general population (under 65 years) increased the popularity of tweets about practical advice and personal vaccination experience, and the Tokyo Olympic Games disrupted public opinion but not the course of the vaccination campaign. The methodology developed here allowed us to monitor the evolution of public opinion and evaluate the impact of social events on public opinion, using large-scale Twitter data.

Social anxiety and negative interpretations of positive social events: What role does intolerance of uncertainty play?

OBJECTIVE: Although previous studies have demonstrated the association between social anxiety symptom severity and the tendency to appraise positive social events negatively among individuals with social anxiety disorder, no study has examined mediators of this relationship. The current study sought to examine whether intolerance of uncertainty and its subfactors mediate the relationship between social interaction anxiety and the tendency to interpret positive social events negatively. METHOD: One hundred and sixty-five individuals with social anxiety disorder completed measures of social interaction anxiety symptom severity, intolerance of uncertainty, and negative interpretations of positive social events. RESULTS: Total intolerance of uncertainty and the inhibitory-intolerance of uncertainty subscale scores significantly mediated the relationship between social interaction anxiety and negative interpretations of positive events. Exploratory post-hoc analyses regarding the possible contributing role of depression demonstrated mixed results. The same mediation pattern was found in the full sample as well as those without a secondary comorbid mood disorder diagnosis. In contrast, serial mediation showed a mediating role of depressive symptom severity. CONCLUSION: Inhibitory-intolerance of uncertainty plays a role in the relationship between social interaction anxiety and negative interpretations of positive social events.

COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi: Did public sociopolitical events gatherings contribute to its first-wave local transmission?

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi emerged amidst widespread anti-government demonstrations and subsequent mass gatherings. This paper describes the incidence and factors associated with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi. METHODOLOGY: This was a retrospective study of public data analysing geopolitical and immigration activities that occurred between 02 April and 08 September 2020. The Chi-square test of independence was used to tabulate sex and age-related fatality ratios among deaths due to COVID-19-related complications. RESULTS: The drivers for COVID-19 spread were mass gatherings secondary to the country's political landscape and repatriation of citizens from high-risk areas coupled with minimum use of public health interventions. The prevalence was higher in people aged 50-59 years, males and in urban areas. Men had an increased risk of COVID-19-related deaths (Case Fatality Ratio: 1.58 (95% CI 1.11-2.22) compared with women. Furthermore, men and women aged ≥40 years were 16.1 times and 7.1 times more likely to die of COVID-related complications, respectively. Men aged ≥40 years had a 62% increased risk of deaths compared with women of the same age group. CONCLUSION: Mass political gatherings and cross-border immigration from high-risk areas were drivers for infection. Males, older age and urban residence were associated with increased COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. To control the spread of COVID-19 there is a need to regulate mass gatherings and repatriation of citizens, and strengthen the use of preventive health interventions. Men, the older age groups and urban areas should be prioritised for COVID-19 prevention strategies.

Focus on One or More? Cultural Similarities and Differences in How Parents Talk About Social Events to Preschool Children.

How parents talk about social events shapes their children's understanding of the social world and themselves. In this study, we show that parents in a society that more strongly values individualism (the United States) and one that more strongly values collectivism (Japan) differ in how they talk about negative social events, but not positive ones. An animal puppet show presented positive social events (e.g., giving a gift) and negative social events (e.g., knocking over another puppet's block tower). All shows contained two puppets, an actor and a recipient of the event. We asked parents to talk to their 3- and 4-years old children about these events. A total of 26 parent-child dyads from the United States (M = 41.92 months) and Japan (M = 42.77 months) participated. The principal dependent measure was how much parent talk referred to the actor of each type of social event. There were no cultural differences observed in positive events - both the United States and Japanese parents discussed actors more than recipients. However, there were cultural differences observed in negative events - the United States parents talked mostly about the actor but Japanese parents talked equally about the actor and the recipient of the event. The potential influences of these differences on early cognitive and social development are discussed.

Can words be worse than stones? Understanding distressing social events and their relationship with social anxiety.

Research on the relationship between distressing social events and social anxiety has focused on antagonistic social events (i.e., peer victimization, cyberbullying) in adolescent samples. There is little research examining such relationships in adults, and less examining the relationship between non-antagonistic distressing social events (i.e., accidental embarrassing events) and social anxiety. The current investigation utilized a retrospective design to examine how different distressing social events may be associated with posttraumatic stress-like reactions, which may relate to social anxiety in early adulthood. Characteristics of distressing social events (i.e., betrayal, presence of an antagonist) were explored as possible influences on the severity of stress responses. Community participants (n = 271; ages 18-25) completed online questionnaires measuring social anxiety and reactions to distressing social events. Antagonistic and non-antagonistic distressing social events were both related to social anxiety. Relationships between the frequencies of any distressing social events and social anxiety were mediated by reactions akin to posttraumatic stress. Responses to distressing social events were not influenced by the presence of an antagonist or betrayal. The results suggest that non-antagonistic distressing social events can be as distressing as antagonistic distressing social events and contribute to expanding evidence that reactions to distressing social events may resemble reactions to life-threatening events.

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: An unexplored co-occurrence of conditions.

LAY ABSTRACT: People with Autism Spectrum Disorder show an increased risk of experiencing traumatic events, particularly social victimization. However, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder co-occurrence was hardly studied. We examined exposure to traumatic life events and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder vs typical adults. Two groups took part in this study: Twenty-five adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and 25 typical adults of similar age and male to female ratio. Participants completed questionnaires on potentially traumatic life events of social and non-social nature, as well as on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms related to their most distressing event. Participants also filled out an autism traits questionnaire. Results showed a higher Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder rate in the Autism Spectrum Disorder group (32%) compared with the typical group (4%). Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder reported more Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms, particularly re-experiencing and increased physiological arousal, compared with typical adults, although the latter was elevated only in females with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Participants with Autism Spectrum Disorder, especially females, reported more negative life events, particularly social events, than typical adults. Sixty percent of Autism Spectrum Disorder participants, but only 20% of typical participants, chose a social event as their most distressing event. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder who were also suspected as having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (based on their questionnaires) presented poorer social skills compared with those with Autism Spectrum Disorder alone. Results indicate that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder are more susceptible to trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, particularly due to social stressors. Females with Autism Spectrum Disorder may be especially vulnerable to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Impact of meteorological and social events on human-excreted contaminant loads in raw wastewater: From daily to weekly dynamics.

The temporal dynamics of the wastewater influent loads of 25 drug target residues (DTR, both pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs) was assessed during 84 consecutive days. This monitoring scale enables longer temporal patterns than weekday/weekend patterns to be explored. In this study, we focus on day to day variations and the potential statistical correlation of each DTR analyzed in order to better understand the potential forcings that lead to the load variation of DTRs (alone or in clusters). The weekly patterns based on the weekly loads of DTRs were also analyzed and the impact of social and meteorological events on their variations was investigated. Two cold events occurred during the monitoring period and were associated with the highest loads of analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as the lowest loads of stimulants. During the Easter holidays, a significant decrease in some year-long medication as well as analgesics was found, consistent with the demographic decrease within the catchment during this period. Lastly, a good correlation between the academic calendar and the loads of stimulants was found, emphasizing the overrepresentation of students in the consumption of recreational drugs. This study furnishes new insights in order to better understand the variations in DTR loads in wastewater influents, beyond the weekday/weekend pattern and the seasonal effect. Further investigations remain necessary, especially a real-time monitoring of the population figures within the catchment in order to improve our understanding of these results.

Service Availability, Service Use, and Psychological Well-Being of Older Residents of Residential Care Facilities and Nursing Homes.

THE PROBLEM: The availability and use of certain services that can compensate for older adults' decreased abilities and capabilities may help them maintain their independence and improve their psychological well-being. Therefore, this study investigated whether service availability and service use were associated with the psychological well-being of residents of residential care facilities and nursing homes. THE RESOLUTION: Residents who used services that provide help with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living were more likely to report a worse mood, poor psychological health, and low self-efficacy compared with those living in facilities where the services were not available. On the other hand, older residents who used social and wellness-related services were more likely to have a better mood, good psychological health, and high self-efficacy. TIPS FOR SUCCESS: Senior living facilities should consider providing more social and wellness-related services and encourage residents' use of such services to improve their psychological well-being.

Coletividade e histeria: psicanálise e manifestações sociais / Collectivity and hysteria: psychoanalyses and social events / Colectividad e histeria: psicoanálisis y manifestaciones

A proposta deste trabalho é trazer uma contribuição partindo da noção psicanalítica de histeria que percorre o avanço teórico em Freud e em Lacan, para dizer de organizações coletivas. Para isso, pretendemos dedicar-nos às elaborações de Freud (1921) sobre 'identificação por meio do sintoma' -- que dão margem a uma suposta 'histeria coletiva' -- e a posterior teoria dos discursos de Jacques Lacan (1969-1970) sobre o enquadramento dos laços sociais, nos atentando em sua provocação aos 'revolucionários' de maio de 1968, indicando-os como alocados ao que denominou de 'discurso da histérica'. Com isso, pretendemos defender, a partir da noção de histeria em psicanálise, a existência de ao menos dois desdobramentos diferentes que se originam do mesmo tipo clínico: 'histeria coletiva' e 'discurso da histeria'. Assim, tentamos contribuir para melhor compreensão das possibilidades e limitações das manifestações coletivas e grupamentos sociais, especialmente alguns que permearam a cena política brasileira nos últimos tempos. (AU)

The proposal of this paper is to bring a contribution starting from the psychoanalytic idea of hysteria that goes of theoretical advance by Freud and by Lacan to think about collective organisations. For this purpose, we intend to dedicate our studies especially to elaborations by Freud (1921) about 'identification to a symptom' - that permit it a suppose 'collective hysteria' - and the succeeding theory of the discourses by Lacan (1969-1970) about the social ties' framework, observing his provocation to the 'revolucionaries' of 1968 May, pointing them as being allocated to the 'Discourse of the Hysteric'. Therefore, we intend to defend from the idea of hysteria in psychoanalyses, the existence at least two different ramifications originating from the same clinical type. Thus, we will try to contribute to a better comprehension of the possibilities and limitations of the social events and social groups, especially those that permeated the Brazilian political scene in recent times. (AU)

La propuesta de este trabajo es aportar una contribución a respeto de las organizaciones colectivas partiendo de la formulación psicoanalítica de histeria, haciendo un recorrido por los avances teóricos encontrados en la obras de Freud y de Lacan. Nos dedicaremos a las elaboraciones de Freud acerca de la 'identificación a través del síntoma' - que abre una grieta para pensar en una supuesta 'histeria colectiva'- y la posterior teoría de los discursos de Lacan acerca del encuadre de los lazos sociales, llamando nuestra atención a su provocación a los 'revolucionarios' de mayo de 1968, indicándonos de que se trataba de hallarse emplazado en lo que él ha denominado el 'Discurso de la Histérica'. De esta manera, nuestra intención es defender, partiendo de la noción de histeria en psicoanálisis, la existencia de al menos dos desenlaces distintos que tienen origen en la misma tipología clínica. Así pensamos contribuir para avanzar en una mejor comprensión de las posibilidades y limitaciones de las manifestaciones, en especial algunos de los cuales formaron parte de la escenario político brasileño reciente. (AU)

Associations between periodic social events and status epilepticus-An 11-year cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: Periodic social events may influence the incidence and course of status epilepticus (SE), likely explained by patients' behavioral changes regarding alcohol intake, sleep, and compliance with antiseizure medication. However, data regarding the association between such events and SE are lacking. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify associations between periodic social events and the incidence, etiology, and outcome of SE. METHODS: Adult patients who were admitted to a tertiary academic medical care center with SE from 2005 to 2015 were included. Associations between periodic social events (including birthday, Christmas, New Year's Eve, carnival, national holiday) and the number and etiologies of SE over time were calculated using linear and Poisson regression. Logistic regression was applied to identify associations between time from social events and outcome. RESULTS: Four hundred nine patients with a median age of 66 years (interquartile range 52-76) were analyzed. The number of total SE events and SE in patients with known epilepsy peaked within 2 weeks following social events and then decreased with each additional day (incidence rate ratio [IRR]per day 0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98-0.99; P < .001 and IRRper day 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-0.99; P < .001, respectively) and week (IRRper week 0.94, 95% CI 0.93-0.95; P < .001 and IRRper week 0.94, 95% CI 0.92-0.96; P < .001, respectively). The highest proportion of epilepsy patients not taking antiseizure medication was seen closest to social events and decreased thereafter (IRRper day 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-0.99; P = .003). There was no association between time from social events and outcome. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings support the hypothesis that periodic social events in adults may be associated with an increase in SE and should heighten awareness for SE in this context. Clinicians are urged to inform epilepsy patients regarding this association and to instruct them on preventive measures around such events.

Predicting the Trends of Social Events on Chinese Social Media.

Growing interest in social events on social media came along with the rapid development of the Internet. Social events that occur in the "real" world can spread on social media (e.g., Sina Weibo) rapidly, which may trigger severe consequences and thus require the government's timely attention and responses. This article proposes to predict the trends of social events on Sina Weibo, which is currently the most popular social media in China. Based on the theories of social psychology and communication sciences, we extract an unprecedented amount of comprehensive and effective features that relate to the trends of social events on Chinese social media, and we construct the trends of prediction models by using three classical regression algorithms. We found that lasso regression performed better with the precision 0.78 and the recall 0.88. The results of our experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposed approach.

Does Amount and Type of Activity Matter in Behavioral Activation? A Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship between Pleasant, Functional, and Social Activities and Outcome.

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence supports behavioral activation (BA) as an effective stand-alone treatment for improving depression and related conditions, though little is known about the factors that influence positive outcomes. Such research is ripe for future dissemination and implementation efforts, particularly among vulnerable older adult populations in need of such efficacious and transportable treatments. AIMS: Given the central but largely unexamined role that increasing activities plays in BA, we investigated the association between participation in weekly activities and treatment outcome. METHOD: As a preliminary study of this research question, we report on a sample of 20 older adults with symptoms of depression and complicated bereavement who completed 5 weeks of BA, pre- and posttreatment measures, and weekly planners of BA activities. All activities were coded as either functional or pleasurable (by participants) and if they were social in nature (by trained coders). RESULTS: Overall, BA was associated with reductions in symptomatology. However, participants' total number of reported activities, and their relative proportion of functional, pleasurable, and social activities, did not significantly relate to their improvement in symptoms. CONCLUSION: One interpretation of the findings suggests that countering avoidance more generally, potentially independent of the specific type or total amount of activation activities, may be associated with amelioration of symptomatology.