Being
Surviving and Thriving: Fundamental Social Motives Provide Purpose in Life
Matthew Scott & Adam Cohen
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Purpose in life (PIL) is often associated with grand achievements and existential beliefs, but recent theory suggests that it might ultimately track gainful pursuit of basic evolved goals. Five studies (N = 1,993) investigated the relationships between fundamental social motives and PIL. In Study 1, attribution of a life goal pursuit to disease avoidance, affiliation, or kin care motives correlated with higher PIL. Studies 2 and 3 found correlations of self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, mate retention, and kin care motives with PIL after controlling for potential confounds. Study 4 showed that writing about success in the status, mating, and kin care domains increased PIL. Study 5 replicated the effect for mating and kin care, but not for status. Results imply that fundamental motives link to PIL through a sense of progress, rather than raw desire. Overall, this set of studies suggests that pursuit of evolved fundamental goals contributes to a purposeful life.
Feeling Needed: Effects of A Randomized Generativity Intervention on Well-Being and Inflammation in Older Women
Mona Moieni et al.
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Generativity, or concern for and contribution to the well-being of younger generations, plays an important role in successful aging. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel, writing-based intervention to increase feelings of generativity and test the effect of this intervention on well-being and inflammation in a sample of older women. Participants in this study (n=73; mean age = 70.9 years, range 60-86 years) were randomly assigned to a 6-week generativity writing condition (writing about life experiences and sharing advice with others) or a control writing condition (neutral, descriptive writing). Self-reported measures of social well-being, mental health, and physical health, as well as objective measures of systemic and cellular levels of inflammation (plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α; genome-wide RNA transcriptional profiling), were assessed pre- and post-intervention. The generativity intervention led to significant improvements across multiple domains, including increases in participation in social activities, decreases in psychological distress, more positive expectations regarding aging in the physical health domain, and decreases in pro-inflammatory gene expression. Thus, this study provides preliminary evidence for the ability of a novel, low-cost, low-effort intervention to favorably impact inflammation and well-being in older women.
Experimentally manipulating social media abstinence: Results of a four-week diary study
Jeffrey Hall et al.
Media Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Social media use has a weak, negative association with well-being in cross-sectional and longitudinal research, but this association in experimental studies is mixed. This investigation explores whether social media abstinence leads to improved daily well-being over four weeks of time. Community and undergraduate participants (N = 130) were randomly assigned to five experimental conditions: no change in social media use, and one week, two weeks, three weeks, and four weeks abstinence from social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat). All participants completed a daily diary measuring loneliness, well-being, and quality of day. Results showed no main effect of social media abstinence. The duration of abstinence was not associated with change in outcomes and order of abstinence did not explain variance in outcomes. Results are consistent with trivial effects detected in large cross-sectional research, and call into question the causal relationship between social media and well-being on the daily level.
Secular Trends in Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Growing Disparities between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Schools
Rebekah Levine Coley, Michael O’Brien & Bryn Spielvogel
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, November 2019, Pages 2087–2098
Abstract:
Growing economic inequality across the family and school contexts that adolescents inhabit may have significant consequences for their psychological well-being. Yet little research has assessed the mental health repercussions of economic inequities or whether such repercussions have shifted with rising inequality. This study assessed annual Monitoring the Future surveys with 8th (n = 124,468; age 13; 59 percent White, 41 percent students of color), 10th (n = 164,916; age 15; 65 percent white, 35 percent students of color), and 12th (n = 60,664; age 17; 66 percent white, 34 percent students of color) grade students from 1989–2017. Analyses tracked secular trends in adolescent depressive symptoms and assessed whether family and school socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in depressive symptoms have shifted over time. Depressive symptoms showed significant elevations in 2014–2017 among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders over 2010–2013 levels. Pervasive small SES gaps were found in adolescent depressive symptoms, with youth from lower SES families and lower SES schools reporting higher depressive symptoms than their more advantaged peers across all grades. Family SES gaps remained stable over recent decades, whereas school SES gaps rose significantly in recent years across all grades and genders, suggesting that the recent rise in depressive symptoms is driven by adolescents in low SES schools. The results suggest that repercussions of growing economic inequality may extend to psychological outcomes, and identify the need for greater preventive and intervention services targeting adolescent mental health.
Forecasting a Fatal Decision: Direct Replication of the Predictive Validity of the Suicide–Implicit Association Test
Nina Tello et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
A previous study by Nock et al. (2010) suggested that people’s implicit identification with “death” or “suicide” can accurately predict whether they will attempt suicide several months in advance. We report the first direct and independent replication of this promising finding. Participants were 165 patients seeking treatment at a psychiatric unit in France. At baseline, patients completed the Suicide–Implicit Association Test (S–IAT), a semistructured interview, and a self-report measure of suicide ideation. Six months later, we contacted participants by phone and examined their hospital medical records to determine whether they had made a new suicide attempt. Results showed that the S–IAT did not distinguish between patients who were admitted to the hospital following suicide attempts and those who were admitted for other reasons. As in the original study, however, the S–IAT predicted suicide attempts within the 6-month follow-up period beyond well-known predictors. The test correctly classified 85% of patients (95% confidence interval = [76.91, 91.53]), supporting its diagnostic value for identifying who will make a suicide attempt.