Previous findings on peripartum anxiety are inconsistent in respect to the prevalence and course of peripartum anxiety with comorbidity of depression. Our aim was threefold: (1) to examine the course ...of elevated anxiety during pregnancy, immediately after childbirth, and six weeks postpartum; (2) to establish comorbidity of postpartum anxiety and postpartum depression (PPD); and (3) to examine predictors of anxiety 6 weeks postpartum. A sample of women (N=272) who were below the cut-off score for clinical depression during pregnancy were assessed in the third trimester of pregnancy, then 2 days and 6 weeks postpartum. Questionnaires on anxiety, pregnancy specific distress, stress, coping styles, social support, and depression were administered at each assessment. Obstetric data were collected from the participants' medical records. The estimated rate of high anxiety was 35% during pregnancy, 17% immediately after childbirth, and 20% six weeks postpartum, showing a decrease in anxiety levels after childbirth. Comorbidity of anxiety and PPD was 75%. Trait anxiety and early postpartum state anxiety are significant predictors of postpartum anxiety. Anxiety is a common peripartum psychological disturbance. Anxiety symptoms overlap with PPD, but not com-pletely, indicating that screening for postpartum mental difficulties should include both depression and anxiety.
The activational effects of sex hormones on spatial ability have been well documented. It has been suggested that these effects might be related to hormonally induced changes in interhemispheric ...communication. In this EEG study, we opted to explore menstrual cycle-related changes in the efficacy of solving mental rotation tasks and laterality indices while participants were engaged with the tasks. We compared 2D and 3D mental rotation tasks, as they differ both psychometrically and in terms of lateralization. A group (n = 39) of healthy young women was tested twice, once during the mid-luteal (high estrogen and progesterone) and once during the early follicular (low levels of sex hormones) phase of menstrual cycle. The differences in power within the same frequency band on homologous sites of the left and right hemispheres were then calculated. Participants were faster, more accurate, and showed higher laterality scores when solving 3D mental rotation tasks in the early follicular phase compared to the mid-luteal phase. This indicates a higher lateralization of this specific spatial function when the levels of sex hormones are low. However, for 2D mental rotation tasks, participants showed neither shifts in efficacy nor in hemispheric laterality as a function of the menstrual cycle. This pattern of results provides further support for the notion that fluctuations in sex hormones affect laterality, and consequently, the expression of lateralized cognitive abilities.
Guns N’ Snakes Tadinac, Meri; Faraguna, Katarina
Psihologijske teme,
12/2023, Letnik:
32, Številka:
3
Journal Article, Paper
Odprti dostop
S ciljem ispitivanja evolucijske hipoteze o selektivnosti ulaznih informacija modula za strah metodom vidnoga pretraživanja provedeno je istraživanje brzine reakcije na različite vrste podražaja. ...Sudionicima (N = 74) su prikazane matrice fotografija opasnih i bezopasnih podražaja za koje su trebali utvrditi jesu li iz iste kategorije ili je jedna od prikazanih fotografija iz različite kategorije. Dobiveni rezultati u skladu su s pretpostavkama modula za strah. Na opasne podražaje sudionici su reagirali brže nego na bezopasne te je zabilježena brža reakcija na zmije kao evolucijski opasne podražaje u odnosu na slične bezopasne životinje. Brža reakcija na pištolje kao moderne opasne podražaje u odnosu na slične bezopasne predmete nije dobivena. Usporedba vremena reakcije za zmije i pištolje pokazala je općenito bržu reakciju na podražaje pištolja, što može sugerirati potencijalnu interakciju modula za strah s procesima socijalnoga učenja. Dobiveni rezultati naglašavaju važnost valencije podražaja u objašnjavanju selektivnosti modula za strah, pri čemu je nužno daljnje utvrđivanje specifičnih perceptivnih faktora koji dovode do brže detekcije i reakcije na pojedine vrste podražaja.
Reaction time to different types of stimuli within the visual search task was examined to test the evolutionary hypothesis on the input information selectivity of the fear module. The participants (N = 74) were presented different image matrices, containing dangerous and harmless stimuli, for which they had to determine whether they all belong to the same category or whether there was a discrepant one from a different category. The results are consistent with the basic assumptions of the fear module. Participants reacted faster to dangerous stimuli than to harmless ones, and a faster response rate was found for snakes as evolutionarily dangerous stimuli when compared to similar harmless animals. There was no difference in reaction time to guns as modern dangerous stimuli when compared to similar harmless objects. A comparison of reaction times for snakes and guns showed a generally faster response to gun stimuli, which could indicate a possible interaction of the fear module with social learning processes. The results obtained highlight the importance of stimulus valence for the selectivity of the fear module, while further studies are needed to determine specific perceptual factors that lead to faster detection and reaction time to specific types of stimuli.
Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this ...variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch.
The anti-scientific and anti-vaccine movements gained momentum amidst the health and socio-economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. These widespread pseudoscientific beliefs and the ...endorsement of conspiracy theories likely contributed to the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The aim of this study was to explore which variables best differentiated between groups of vaccinated (n = 289), vaccine-hesitant (n = 106), and vaccine-refusing (n = 146) young adults. The study was conducted online at the beginning of the mass vaccination campaign in Croatia when the vaccine just became available for younger and non-vulnerable members of the general population. The demographic variables, COVID-19 anxiety, and conspiratorial thinking regarding COVID-19 were entered into the discriminant analysis. The function explaining 89.2% of the group differences, mostly between the vaccinated and vaccine-refusing, was largely defined by conspiratorial thinking regarding COVID-19 (0.852), followed by variables with substantially less discriminative power, including COVID-19 anxiety (0.423; lower in the vaccine-refusing group), political orientation (0.486; vaccine-refusing leaning less to the left), financial and educational status (0.435 and 0.304, respectively; both lower in the vaccine-refusing group), and religiosity (0.301; higher in the vaccine-refusing group). These results confirm that among young adults, the decision to vaccinate against COVID-19 might be heavily influenced by one's proclivity to engage in conspiratorial thinking.
Previous studies have found a negative relationship between creativity and conservatism. However, as these studies were mostly conducted on samples of homogeneous nationality, the generalizability of ...the effect across different cultures is unknown. We addressed this gap by conducting a study in 28 countries. Based on the notion that attitudes can be shaped by both environmental and ecological factors, we hypothesized that parasite stress can also affect creativity and thus, its potential effects should be controlled for. The results of multilevel analyses showed that, as expected, conservatism was a significant predictor of lower creativity, adjusting for economic status, age, sex, education level, subjective susceptibility to disease, and country-level parasite stress. In addition, most of the variability in creativity was due to individual rather than country-level variance. Our study provides evidence for a weak but significant negative link between conservatism and creativity at the individual level (β = −0.08, p < .001) and no such effect when country-level conservatism was considered. We present our hypotheses considering previous findings on the behavioral immune system in humans.
Objective:
The Maternal Mental Health in Canada, 2018/2019, survey reported that 18% of 7,085 mothers who recently gave birth reported “feelings consistent with postpartum depression” based on scores ...≥7 on a 5-item version of the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS-5). The EPDS-5 was designed as a screening questionnaire, not to classify disorders or estimate prevalence; the extent to which EPDS-5 results reflect depression prevalence is unknown. We investigated EPDS-5 ≥7 performance relative to major depression prevalence based on a validated diagnostic interview, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID).
Methods:
We searched Medline, Medline In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, PsycINFO, and the Web of Science Core Collection through June 2016 for studies with data sets with item response data to calculate EPDS-5 scores and that used the SCID to ascertain depression status. We conducted an individual participant data meta-analysis to estimate pooled percentage of EPDS-5 ≥7, pooled SCID major depression prevalence, and the pooled difference in prevalence.
Results:
A total of 3,958 participants from 19 primary studies were included. Pooled prevalence of SCID major depression was 9.2% (95% confidence interval CI 6.0% to 13.7%), pooled percentage of participants with EPDS-5 ≥7 was 16.2% (95% CI 10.7% to 23.8%), and pooled difference was 8.0% (95% CI 2.9% to 13.2%). In the 19 included studies, mean and median ratios of EPDS-5 to SCID prevalence were 2.1 and 1.4 times.
Conclusions:
Prevalence estimated based on EPDS-5 ≥7 appears to be substantially higher than the prevalence of major depression. Validated diagnostic interviews should be used to establish prevalence.
Epilepsy is characterized by repeated epileptic seizures, which are manifested in various ways and depend on the location and size of foci in the brain. Long-term seizures with secondary ...generalization can cause memory problems. Numerous studies demonstrate the connection of memory damage and lateralization in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). However, the results were not always consistent with the material-specific memory model. A possible explanation for these inconsistent data is the insufficient control of psychological variables that can affect memory. In most of the previous studies in persons with epilepsy, they were not controlled for their emotional states such as anxiety and depression. We used the Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT) as a measure of visual memory, Beck's depression inventory as a measure of depressive symptoms, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory as a measure of anxiety in 57 consecutive participants. Our aim was to investigate whether there is difference in visual memory with respect to the left and right TLE, and whether the participants of different gender with higher anxiety and depression rates would achieve different results on visual memory. Persons with lower levels of depression achieved better scores in the Immediate and Delayed recall subtests of the RCFT. We also explored the potential gender differences. Testing differences between the persons with higher and lower anxiety levels did not reveal any significant differences in any of the measures tested.
The focus on the ultimate level of analysis within the evolutionary psychology approach gives an impression that ultimate causes are more important than the proximate ones. The point argued in this ...article is that we should not neglect the proximate mechanisms of the adaptations we are researching, as we too often do. How and why questions are not alternatives; they are complementary, and to advance our understanding of human behavior, we must tie a proximate mechanism with an ultimate explanation.
Public Significance Statement
This article suggests that the focus on the ultimate causation within the framework of evolutionary psychology has led to neglecting the proximate mechanisms underlying psychological adaptations. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary research to answer both "why" and "how" questions and integrate them, as the only way to fully explain human behavior.
AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) for screening to detect major depression in pregnant and postpartum women.DesignIndividual participant data ...meta-analysis.Data sourcesMedline, Medline In-Process and Other Non-Indexed Citations, PsycINFO, and Web of Science (from inception to 3 October 2018).Eligibility criteria for selecting studiesEligible datasets included EPDS scores and major depression classification based on validated diagnostic interviews. Bivariate random effects meta-analysis was used to estimate EPDS sensitivity and specificity compared with semi-structured, fully structured (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) excluded), and MINI diagnostic interviews separately using individual participant data. One stage meta-regression was used to examine accuracy by reference standard categories and participant characteristics.ResultsIndividual participant data were obtained from 58 of 83 eligible studies (70%; 15 557 of 22 788 eligible participants (68%), 2069 with major depression). Combined sensitivity and specificity was maximised at a cut-off value of 11 or higher across reference standards. Among studies with a semi-structured interview (36 studies, 9066 participants, 1330 with major depression), sensitivity and specificity were 0.85 (95% confidence interval 0.79 to 0.90) and 0.84 (0.79 to 0.88) for a cut-off value of 10 or higher, 0.81 (0.75 to 0.87) and 0.88 (0.85 to 0.91) for a cut-off value of 11 or higher, and 0.66 (0.58 to 0.74) and 0.95 (0.92 to 0.96) for a cut-off value of 13 or higher, respectively. Accuracy was similar across reference standards and subgroups, including for pregnant and postpartum women.ConclusionsAn EPDS cut-off value of 11 or higher maximised combined sensitivity and specificity; a cut-off value of 13 or higher was less sensitive but more specific. To identify pregnant and postpartum women with higher symptom levels, a cut-off of 13 or higher could be used. Lower cut-off values could be used if the intention is to avoid false negatives and identify most patients who meet diagnostic criteria.RegistrationPROSPERO (CRD42015024785).
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