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.

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.

Lateral preferences for hand clasping and arm folding are associated with handedness in two large-sample latent variable analyses.

Hand clasping (HC) and arm folding (AF) are bilateral limb postures which are subject to lateral preferences. Previous research suggested that left HC and left AF are "canonical" among European populations, i.e., generally preferred by right-handers. However, evidence on the associations of handedness with HC and AF to date is sparse and inconsistent, with studies mostly relying on relatively small sample sizes and arbitrary classifications of handedness. Utilizing latent class analysis for handedness classification, we present data from two large and independent middle-European samples, a discovery (n = 7,658) and replication (n = 5,062) sample. Our results indicate that right HC, not left HC, is overall preferred and that right-handedness is associated with right HC/left AF, and left- and mixed-handedness with left HC/right AF. Moreover, lateral preferences increased with age, and men had a higher preference of right HC, independent of handedness. We discuss our findings with regard to the generalizability of previous results.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: A Meta-Analysis on the Validity of Self-Assessed Intelligence through the Lens of the Multiverse.

Examining the relationship between self-assessed intelligence (SAI) and psychometric intelligence (IQ) is essential for understanding how people's self-evaluations reflect their actual intelligence. Various factors, such as SAI measurement methods, participant characteristics, and testing conditions have been hypothesized to moderate the SAI-IQ link, yet the generality of this association remains unclear. Here, we provide evidence for SAI and IQ associations based on 278 effect sizes from 115 independent samples (N = 36,833) using a multi-level meta-analysis, revealing a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.30; 95% CI [0.27, 0.33]). Multiverse analyses demonstrated remarkable stability of this effect, with most summary effect specifications yielding significant positive correlations (96%), averaging r = 0.32. Notably, ability domain and sample type emerged as significant moderators, with numerical ability showing stronger correlations compared to general cognitive, verbal, and spatial abilities. Importantly, our study found that correlations in student samples were significantly higher than those in general samples. Our findings show a moderate positive association of SAI with IQ, unaffected by participant sex, publication year, administration order, neuroticism, and self-assessment method, yet significantly moderated by ability domain and sample type. Our results illustrate the importance of feedback in educational settings to help students accurately assess their cognitive abilities.

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.

Do Religiosity and Spirituality Differ in Their Relationship with Crystallized Intelligence? Evidence from the General Social Survey.

Negative associations of religiosity and intelligence are well established in psychological research. However, past studies have shown a substantial heterogeneity in reported effect strengths. Causes that may be able to explain the identified inconsistencies pertain to differing religiosity measurement modalities, participant ages, or possibly cohort effects due to changing societal values in terms of being religious. Moreover, little is known about intelligence associations with the religiosity-related yet distinct construct of spirituality. Here, we provide evidence for religiosity and crystallized intelligence, as well as spirituality and crystallized intelligence associations, in 14 cohorts from 1988 to 2022 (N = 35,093) in the General Social Survey data by means of primary data analyses and meta-analytical approaches. As expected, religiosity was non-trivially negatively associated (r = -0.13, p < .001), but spirituality showed no meaningful association with crystallized intelligence (r = 0.03, p < .001). Our results broadly generalized across age groups, cohorts, and analytical approaches, thus suggesting that religiosity and intelligence may possibly be functionally equivalent to a certain extent whilst spirituality represents a distinct construct that is not functionally equivalent.

Smoking behavior is associated with suicidality in individuals with psychosis and bipolar disorder: a systematic quantitative review and meta-analysis.

Smoking behavior has been well-established to be more prevalent in individuals with psychosis and bipolar disorder compared to the general population. However, reports about higher suicide attempt prevalence of smoking compared to non-smoking patients suggest that smoking behavior may contribute to identifying at-risk groups of patients in a comparatively easy manner. In the present systematic quantitative review, we provide meta-analytical evidence on the smoking and suicide attempt link in 22 studies (k = 27 independent samples; N = 11,452) of patients with psychosis and bipolar disorder. We observed a small meaningful effect of smoking on suicide attempts (OR = 1.70; 95% CI [1.48; 1.95]), indicating that smokers have 1.70 the odds of having reported a suicide attempt compared to non-smokers. This effect generalized across diagnosis type (i.e., schizophrenia vs. bipolar spectrum disorder), sample type (i.e., in-vs. outpatients), and participant sex. However, the observed summary effect appeared somewhat inflated due to publication process-related mechanisms, showing some evidence for effect-inflating publication bias and a decline effect. In all, the presently observed smoking and suicide attempt link appears to be small but meaningful and robust, thus suggesting smoking status represents a useful variable for the identification of at-risk populations for suicide attempts.

Detecting jingle and jangle fallacies by identifying consistencies and variabilities in study specifications - a call for research.

Over the past few years, more attention has been paid to jingle and jangle fallacies in psychological science. Jingle fallacies arise when two or more distinct psychological phenomena are erroneously labeled with the same term, while jangle fallacies occur when different terms are used to describe the same phenomenon. Jingle and jangle fallacies emerge due to the vague linkage between psychological theories and their practical implementation in empirical studies, compounded by variations in study designs, methodologies, and applying different statistical procedures' algorithms. Despite progress in organizing scientific findings via systematic reviews and meta-analyses, effective strategies to prevent these fallacies are still lacking. This paper explores the integration of several approaches with the potential to identify and mitigate jingle and jangle fallacies within psychological science. Essentially, organizing studies according to their specifications, which include theoretical background, methods, study designs, and results, alongside a combinatorial algorithm and flexible inclusion criteria, may indeed represent a feasible approach. A jingle-fallacy detector arises when identical specifications lead to disparate outcomes, whereas jangle-fallacy indicators could operate on the premise that varying specifications consistently yield overrandomly similar results. We discuss the role of advanced computational technologies, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), in identifying these fallacies. In conclusion, addressing jingle and jangle fallacies requires a comprehensive approach that considers all levels and phases of psychological science.

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.

Body image and personality: associations between the Big Five Personality Factors, actual-ideal weight discrepancy, and body appreciation.

Studies have suggested associations between personality dimensions and body image constructs, but these have not been conclusively established. In two studies, we examined direct associations between the Big Five dimensions and two body image constructs, actual-ideal weight discrepancy and body appreciation. In Study 1, 950 women completed measures of both body image constructs and a brief measure of the Big Five dimensions. In Study 2,339 women completed measures of the body image constructs and a more reliable measure of the Big Five. Both studies showed that Neuroticism was significantly associated with actual-ideal weight discrepancy (positively) and body appreciation (negatively) once the effects of body mass index and social status had been accounted for. These results are consistent with the suggestion that Neuroticism is a trait of public health significance requiring attention by body image scholars.

Blame it on patriarchy: more sexist attitudes are associated with stronger consideration of cosmetic surgery for oneself and one's partner.

In the present work, we examined associations between oppressive, sexist beliefs and consideration of cosmetic surgery for oneself and also endorsement of cosmetic surgery for one's romantic partner. A total of 554 German-speaking volunteers from the community, mainly in Austria, completed measures of consideration of cosmetic surgery and three measures of sexist attitudes, while a subset of participants in romantic relationships completed a measure of endorsement of cosmetic surgery for their partners along with the measures of sexism. Preliminary analyses showed that women and single respondents were more likely to consider having cosmetic surgery than men and committed respondents, respectively. Further analyses showed that consideration of cosmetic surgery for oneself was significantly associated with sexist attitudes, particularly hostile attitudes to women. In addition, among participants in a relationship, sexist attitudes were associated with endorsement of cosmetic surgery for one's partner. These results indicate that attitudes to cosmetic surgery for oneself and one's partner are shaped by gender-ideological belief systems in patriarchal societies. Possible implications for understanding the motivations for having cosmetic surgery, among both single respondents and couples, are discussed.

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.

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.

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.

Further investigation of the validity and reliability of the photographic figure rating scale for body image assessment.

Previous studies have not fully investigated the psychometric properties of the Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS). In 2 studies, we report on the test-retest reliability and convergent validity of ratings derived from the PFRS. In Study 1, 322 female university students in Britain provided self-ratings on the PFRS and objectively measured body mass index (BMI); a subsample of 132 women also completed the task after 5 weeks. In Study 2, 243 women from the community in Austria completed the PFRS along with a battery of other body image scales. Results of Study 1 showed that ratings on the PFRS had good test-retest reliability (all rs > .87) and good convergent validity in relation to BMI. Results of Study 2 showed that PFRS-derived body dissatisfaction scores were significantly correlated with a range of body image variables. These results provide evidence for the convergent validity and good test-retest reliability of the PFRS.

Academic workload, research productivity, and end of life: a single-case historiometric study.

Fourteen years of biographical time-series data were analyzed quantitatively retrospectively using the historiometric approach. The data were descriptions of self-recorded daily working hours for one academic researcher's career and life. The researcher's unexpected death was preceded by a notable decline in daily working hours and conference travels commencing two years before. Well-known calendar effects (week and academic year) as well as effects of increased academic rank and duties on working hours were all discernible in these unobtrusive data. However, effort (total working hours) did not predict concurrent or near-future research output, even when teaching load was controlled for.

Personality differences between tattooed and non-tattooed individuals.

This study examined differences between tattooed and non-tattooed individuals on a range of personality and individual difference measures. A community sample of 540 individuals from the southern German-speaking area of central Europe completed a survey consisting of measures of the Big Five personality factors, Need for Uniqueness, Self-esteem, sensation seeking, Religious and Spiritual Beliefs, Attitudes Toward Tattoos, tattoo possession, and demographics. Preliminary analyses showed that 22% of the total sample possessed at least one tattoo. Further analyses showed that, compared with non-tattooed (n = 420) individuals, tattooed participants (n = 120) had significantly higher scores on Extraversion, Experience Seeking, Need for Uniqueness, and held more positive Attitudes Toward Tattoos, although effect sizes of these group differences were generally small- to medium-sized. These results are considered in relation to the contemporary prevalence of tattoos in socioeconomically developed societies.

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.