Germany 2003-2017: Overall physical activity remained stable among youths in the past ten years, however, there is an ongoing trend towards organized forms of PA at the expense of unorganized sports and playing outside

The physical activity of children and adolescents in Germany 2003-2017: The MoMo-study. Steffen C. E. Schmidt ,Bastian Anedda,Alexander Burchartz,Doris Oriwol,Simon Kolb,Hagen Wäsche,Claudia Niessner,Alexander Woll. PLoS One, July 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236117

Abstract: With digitalization and virtual entertainment being the megatrends of the 21st century, there is reasonable concern about the role of physical activity (PA) in the daily life of children and adolescents. To identify risk-groups with insufficient PA and to guide interventions, continuous and representative tracking of PA is crucial. In this paper, representative PA data of children and adolescents from the Motorik-Modul (MoMo) baseline study (2003–2006, N = 4,528) is compared to those of Wave 2 (2014–2017, N = 3,708). Participants aged 4–17 were drawn out of 167 sample points in Germany and the data was weighted to ensure representativeness for Germany. Organized (sports clubs and schools) and unorganized (unorganized sports and playing outside) PA was measured by questionnaire and stratified by sex, age, and socioeconomic status. Contrary to common expectation, overall PA remained stable among youths in the past ten years, however, there is an ongoing trend towards organized forms of PA at the expense of unorganized sports and playing outside. Besides different trends in settings, there is inequality in PA distribution among socioeconomic status and gender, unequally pronounced in different settings.

4 Discussion

The MoMo Wave 2 data confirm the trend of decreasing unorganized PA and increasing organized PA among children and adolescents living in Germany. The results are consistent with the results of Wave 1 (2009–2012) data [8]. However, a slight overall increase in PA that has been found in the data from 2003 to 2012 [8] could not be confirmed. Additionally, a closer look at the settings and disadvantaged groups revealed significant, setting-specific socioeconomic inequalities in PA behavior that should be used to tailor target-group and setting-specific interventions.

4.1 Organized physical activity

Whereas time spent in curricular sports remained stable from 2003 to 2017, the overall time spent in extracurricular sports increased from 6.1 to 16.6 minutes per week. This finding verifies the trend we observed from Wave 1 data [8], evolving extracurricular activities to an important setting for organized PA in Germany. One reason for this development might be the extensive implementation of daytime schools in Germany in the last years. The fear of a "PA cannibalism" at the expense of PA in sports clubs with increasing PA in schools and other extracurricular activities [26] is not confirmed. However, this study shows evidence for a general PA cannibalism, but at the expense of unstructured PA. Boys reported slightly higher amounts of extracurricular PA in school compared to girls, especially at the age of 11 to 13, but mean differences between genders are small. Taking into account the apparent gender inequality in sports clubs, extracurricular sports could be used as a vehicle to promote PA among girls in the school setting.

Considering the 15-year trend from Baseline to Wave 2, an increase in participation rates from 53.5% to 60.0% and 89.4 to 99.1 minutes PA in sports clubs was observed. Official numbers from the DOSB also report relatively stable rates of sports club memberships during the 2000s and 2010s with rates peaking at 79.8% among 7-to-14-year-old boys and 61.1 among 7-to-14-year-old girls [10]. In sum, a total of 60.0% of children and adolescents living in Germany report to participate in PA in sports clubs (Table 1). Overall rates of participation in sports clubs peak as early as between the age of six to ten and then decline slowly until adulthood. This decline in PA participation during adulthood is also reported in Canadian studies [27, 28]. Studies with non-humans show that a decline in PA of up to 50% appears at the maturation from adolescence to adulthood in nearly every living being [29]. However, Farooq and colleagues stated in a recent study that PA declines as early as from the age of 7 years in western civilizations and that there was no evidence indicating a substantially smaller decline during childhood than during the transition between adolescence and adulthood [30]. Considering the overall average time spent with PA per week (Table 2) compared to PA participation rates, a decline is delayed to late adolescents, as training volumes increase with age which, in turn, compensate for drop-outs. However, sports clubs are still the most important setting for the PA of children and adolescents in Germany and become more important worldwide [31]. A critical question is how to foster the active participation of adults in sports clubs. Offering a broader range of sports, including new trend sports and sports-related activities, as well as age-appropriated forms of motivation and competition are just some of many possible examples for interventions in the setting sports club.

4.2 Unorganized physical activity & playing outside

Data from Wave 1 showed that in Germany, unorganized sports activity as well as playing outside decreased between 2003 and 2012. This decline could be confirmed by our recent Wave 2 data. Other international studies also reported a declining trend in active play [32]. Reviews state that active, unstructured play in developed countries is decreasing for various reasons, including increased screen time, safety concerns (e.g. traffic, stranger danger), emphasis on organized youth sports, and parental work [5]. Although studies show that PA, particularly unorganized activity, is an effective way to decrease obesity in children [33], active play is likely of light intensity and to date, still, the significance of light and/or incidental PA among children and adolescents, is widely unknown [5]. One promising approach in promoting unorganized PA such as playing outside or active commuting is to improve walkability [34]. Walkability is, in turn, linked to unorganized sports activity and outside play in children [34]. Even though, there is some evidence that active commuting is not, or even negatively linked to organized PA in children under 10 years of age [35]. However, it may be a source of unorganized PA for older children and adolescents, just because of the fact they cross and use playgrounds on their way [36].

4.3 Overall PA & socioeconomic inequalities

Our study shows that overall PA among children and adolescents in Germany did not decline significantly during the 2000s and 2010s, although this expectation was expressed in previous research [37]. Other national studies and previous research support this finding [7, 8]. Referring to international PA recommendations [4] overall PA is on an unsatisfying level in Germany [38]. Nevertheless, the signaled crisis in childhood PA [5, 6] did not get worse during the 2000s and 2010s in Germany and there is a lack of representative data from periods before 2000 to discuss earlier trends.

However, as our survey assessed mainly sports activity, shifts in light PA may have been unobserved in our study. A recent Norwegian study among a representative sample of 9-year-olds found, that the prevalence of children and adolescents meeting the Norwegian PA recommendations was similar in 2005–2006 and 2011–2012. Yet, their accelerometer data indicated that both children and adolescents substituted time spent in light PA for time spent sedentary [39].

The decrease of unorganized PA among children and adolescents since the beginning of this study is alarming and needs to be observed meticulously. It is yet unclear, whether the lack of unorganized PA can be compensated in organized settings with the expertise of trained instructors. Although, participants in sports clubs typically spend 40–50% of their time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [40] and intensities of PA during organized sports are relatively high compared to other settings [14, 41]. Current studies indicate that sports clubs become a more and more important source of PA all over the world [31] and sports club participants are more likely to meet PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4, [31]). The question of the pros and cons of a mainly structured and guided PA at the expense of unorganized playing outside becomes increasingly important and should be the focus of further experimental research.

Although there is not much change in the total amount of PA, previous research that focused on biological and environmental correlates [42], different settings [8], and socio-structural factors [43] revealed that there is social and environmental inequality in PA attendance and PA behavior in Germany. The SES has been identified as an important correlate of PA and a healthy lifestyle [5, 34]. Socioeconomic disparities in health behavior have been found by numerous studies all over the world and account for a large amount of PA inequality [44–46]. By analyzing different PA-relevant settings, the present study shows that these socioeconomic differences are not evenly pronounced in each setting. For example, there is no gender gap in curricular sports, and gender differences in extracurricular sports are small and age-dependent (Table 2). Adding the SES as a factor, our study shows that a prevalent gender gap in unorganized PA is mainly due to differences between gender among youths from families with low SES (Table 3) and can therefore not be generalized. In families with an intermediate SES, girls do even more unorganized PA compared to their male counterparts. The fact that different social groups participate in different types of settings provides the opportunity for target-group-specific interventions. An example would be the development of additional programs for extracurricular sports in schools utilizing cooperations between schools and sports clubs to reach out especially for girls from low SES families or girls with migration backgrounds. On the other hand, these setting-specific trends sharpen the scope of shifts in the importance of those settings. For example, the shift from unorganized PA to PA in sports clubs may leave boys from low SES families with lesser overall PA.

The large meta-analysis from Althoff et al. (2017) about PA data from smartphones found these inequalities in PA to be crucial for the prevalence of inactivity driven diseases such as overweight and obesity.

4.4 Strength and limitations

The present study is limited to its observational nature and we do not intend to infer causality from paralleled trends or significant correlations. The main goal of MoMo is to track and report PA and fitness of children and adolescents in a nationwide sample, and significant effort was put into collecting representative data from 167 sample points all over the country.

PA was assessed by self-reports. This method has various limitations including recall bias and social desirability. Measuring PA by objective methods such as accelerometers is more accurate in most types of PA, but is always limited to a short time interval, and unless a diary is added, the setting in which the PA took place is not captured. Since accelerometers capture any form of PA in a specific time frame, the correlation with self-reported habitual PA in specific settings is expected to be restricted, even when summarized. An accelerometer is also a very responsive tool towards socially desired behavior, and children drop it for some sports like swimming, martial arts, and sometimes even curricular sports in school. Using a questionnaire offered the chance to assess different types of exercise as well as other PA parameters like setting and sports club membership during a normal week, even when the person is, for example, on vacation or ill.

Mixed cyber aggressor-victims reported more social dominance and dating partners, and highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims reported more sexual partners, when compared to uninvolved peers

Social advantages and disadvantages associated with cyber aggression-victimization: A Latent Class Analysis. Kiana R. Lapierre, Andrew V. Dane. Computers in Human Behavior, July 20 2020, 106497, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106497

Highlights
• Evolutionary functions apply to cyber aggression and victimization.
• Empirical analyses show groups involved in both cyber aggression and victimization.
• Cyber aggressive-victim groups differ in frequency of reactive aggression.
• Cyber aggression-victimization is associated with social advantages.
• Highly reactive cyber aggression-victimization is linked to social disadvantages.

Abstract: This study examines cyber aggression and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending the literature by: (1) employing Latent Class Analysis to identify cyber aggression-victimization status groups using proactive and reactive cyber aggression, and cyber victimization, as indicators; and (2) examining whether cyber aggression-victimization status groups experience social advantages and disadvantages similar to those in traditional aggression research. In this study, a three-class model best described adolescents’ cyber aggression and victimization; in the sample of 400 adolescents ages 12–18, 79.4% were uninvolved, 13.1% were mixed cyber aggressor-victims (moderate proactive and reactive cyber aggression, and cyber victimization), and 7.4% were highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims (moderate proactive cyber aggression and cyber victimization, but high reactive cyber aggression). These groups contrast with those found in empirical traditional aggression research as pure cyber aggressors and cyber victims were not identified. Consistent with evolutionary theory and aggression research that suggest it has adaptive functions, mixed cyber aggressor-victims reported more social dominance and dating partners, and highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims reported more sexual partners, when compared to uninvolved peers. However, highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims also reported more friendship anxiety and less implicit social power than the mixed and uninvolved group, consistent with traditional research suggesting that reactive aggression is more strongly linked to social disadvantages and less strongly linked to social advantages, than is proactive aggression. Although cyber aggression is a relatively new form of aggression, an evolutionary perspective can illuminate why it continues to be a social problem despite intervention efforts.

Keywords: Proactive cyber aggressionReactive cyber aggressionCyber victimizationEvolutionary perspective

Rolf Degen summarizing... People differ systematically in the tendency to see the best or worst in others, with women and the less educated being more likely to take a rosy view

Seeing the Best or Worst in Others: A Measure of Generalized Other-Perceptions. Richard Rau et al. Assessment, February 26, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120905015

Abstract: How positively or negatively people generally view others is key for understanding personality, social behavior, and psychopathology. Previous research has measured generalized other-perceptions by relying on either explicit self-reports or judgments made in group settings. With the current research, we overcome the limitations of these past approaches by introducing a novel measurement instrument for generalized other-perceptions: the Online-Tool for Assessing Perceiver Effects (O-TAPE). By assessing perceivers’ first impressions of a standardized set of target people displayed in social network profiles or short video sequences, the O-TAPE captures individual differences in the positivity of other-perceptions. In Study 1 (n = 219), the instrument demonstrated good psychometric properties and correlations with related constructs. Study 2 (n = 142) replicated these findings and also showed that the O-TAPE predicted other-perceptions in a naturalistic group setting. Study 3 (n = 200) refined the nomological network of the construct and demonstrated that the O-TAPE is invulnerable to effects of social desirability.

Keywords: generalized other-perception, perceiver effect, interpersonal perception, person judgment, positivity bias

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People differ systematically in the tendency to see the best or worst in others, with women and the less educated being more likely to take a rosy view

More text: https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/01/the-better-people-are-educated-less.html

Decline in adolescent drinking: Some possible explanations

Decline in adolescent drinking: Some possible explanations. Ingeborg Rossow  Hilde Pape  Leila Torgersen. Drug and Alcohol Review, July 19 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13132

Abstract
Introduction and Aims: Adolescent drinking has decreased in numerous high‐income countries in the 2000s, and how to explain this downward trend is far from clear. Focussing on the decline in drinking to intoxication among youth in Norway, we examined the following potential explanatory factors: family/home‐based and peer‐oriented leisure‐time activities, perceived parental drinking, drug substitution, school conscientiousness and delinquency.

Design and Methods: Data stemmed from cross‐sectional surveys of adolescents aged 13–17 years in the four largest cities in Norway in 2002 (n = 1204) and in 2013/2015 (n = 31 441). We examined the extent to which the decline in intoxication prevalence was attributable to the possible explanatory variables using logistic regression analysis.

Results: The proportion reporting any past‐year intoxication episodes dropped markedly from 2002 (41%) to 2013/2015 (22%). Family/home‐oriented leisure‐time activities and school conscientiousness increased, whereas hanging out with friends in the evening and delinquent behaviours decreased. These factors together accounted for 43% of this decline. Decrease in going out with friends was the most important factor. We found no empirical support for assumptions that perceived parental drinking or drug substitution had contributed to the decrease in drinking to intoxication.

Discussion and Conclusions: Since the millennium shift, urban adolescents in Norway have become more home‐, family‐ and school‐oriented, and less involved in unsupervised socialising with peers and delinquency. These changes may have contributed to some of the reduction in the prevalence of intoxication in this population group.


DISCUSSION
The intoxication frequency among urban adolescents in Norway decreased substantially from 2002 to 2013/2015. Concomitantly, adolescents' leisure‐time activities, school commitment and delinquent behaviour also changed markedly. We found no empirical support for assumptions that parents had modified their own drinking practice, or that adolescents substituted alcohol with cannabis. However, substantial changes in leisure‐time activities, school conscientiousness and delinquency could explain—in statistical terms—a large proportion of the decrease in drinking to intoxication.

The sizable temporal changes, both in adolescent drinking and in factors associated with drinking, corroborate the research findings from many countries [1]. Thus, concurrent with the downward drinking trend in the 2000s, substantial cross‐national changes in adolescents' lifestyles, leisure‐time activities and priorities have occurred. First, most studies indicate that hanging out with friends in the evenings occurs less frequently [14, 17, 18], and that a marked increase in time spent on screen activities has occurred [28]. Some studies have also found an increase in spending time with parents [17, 29], as well as other changes that are indicative of closer ties to parents [30, 31]. This fits a broader picture of improved parenting and family relationships. Parents' knowledge about their adolescent offspring's whereabouts has increased, and alcohol‐specific parenting practices have become more restrictive [6, 11-13]. At least in the Nordic countries, it seems that young people want to perform better at school than previously, with higher academic ambitions [8, 32], which fits our findings of more school conscientiousness. Finally, and well in line with the above‐mentioned changes in young people's lives, delinquency and other risk‐taking behaviours have declined in several countries [8, 10, 30, 31], as we also found.

The single most important factor to explain the decline in drinking in our study was the decrease in time hanging out with friends in the evening. Some previous studies [14, 17-19] have also found that a decrease in hanging out with friends contributed to a decrease in drinking. The decrease in unsupervised socialising with peers probably implies fewer opportunities for drinking to intoxication. It has been suggested that the rise in time spent on using information and communication technologies is important in this regard, as adolescents have become too busy with their media pursuits at the expense of activities, such as substance use, that typically occur in face‐to‐face social interactions [7, 10]. However, the extant body of research does not support this assumption [19, 33], and a possible role of the use of digital media in this regard may be complex [1].

We also found that indicators of school conscientiousness accounted for a sizable part of the drop in intoxication prevalence. Truancy has also previously been shown to be of some importance in this regard [12, 14]. We found that the time spent on homework increased and that school misconduct decreased, and that these changes also contributed to explain the drop in drinking to intoxication. This fits well with a recent finding that a stronger emphasis on academic performance is not compatible with heavy alcohol consumption and frequent drinking to intoxication [32]. Hegna et al. [34] noted that the ‘educational explosion’ over the past few decades has left fewer options for those who do not complete senior high school, and it has been claimed that this has led to a more ‘conformist’ youth generation [35]. Our finding of a decrease in delinquency fits well into the picture of a more conformist lifestyle.

Several studies indicate that increased parental knowledge and stricter alcohol‐specific parenting have contributed to the downward drinking trend [6, 11-13]. Kraus et al . [7] suggested that parents have also become less likely to drink in front of their adolescent children. However, we found no empirical support for this suggestion, as perceived parental drinking frequency did not change. On the other hand, we observed an increase in time spent on activities with parents. This observation is in line with previous findings of changes in family dynamics and closer parent–child relationships [7, 17, 29-31], which are predictive of reduced drinking [16, 36]. These changes could also account for some of the reduction in intoxication frequency, and may suggest that adolescents' leisure time to a lesser extent includes social situations compatible with drinking, but rather favours ‘competing activities’ [37].

The Opioid Epidemic Was Not Caused by Economic Distress But by Factors that Could be More Rapidly Addressed

The Opioid Epidemic Was Not Caused by Economic Distress But by Factors that Could be More Rapidly Addressed. Janet Currie, Hannes Schwandt NBER Working Paper No. 27544, July 2020. https://www.nber.org/papers/w27544

Abstract: Without the opioid epidemic, American life expectancy would not have declined in recent years. In turn, the epidemic was sparked by the development and marketing of a new generation of prescription opioids and provider behavior is still helping to drive it. There is little relationship between the opioid crisis and contemporaneous measures of labor market opportunity. Cohorts and areas that experienced poor labor market conditions do show lagged increases in opioid mortality, but the effect is modest relative to the scale of the epidemic. Instead, we argue that there are specific policies and features of the U.S. health care market that led to the current crisis. It will not be possible to quickly reverse depressed economic conditions, but it is possible to implement policies that would reduce the number of new opioid addicts and save the lives of many of those who are already addicted.

Effects of credit restrictions in the Netherlands and lessons for macroprudential policy: 1960s-1990s

Effects of credit restrictions in the Netherlands and lessons for macroprudential policy. Gabriele Galati, Jan Kakes and Richhild Moessner. BIS Working Papers, No 872, July 20 2020. https://www.bis.org/publ/work872.htm

Focus: Macroprudential instruments, which play a key role in the current policy debate, have a long history. Some of the tools in current use originated as monetary policy instruments that were deployed in order to influence the credit supply. For example, the Netherlands used credit restrictions as a monetary policy instrument from the 1960s to the early 1990s. We study the effects of these credit restrictions on the balance sheet structure of banks and other financial institutions.

Contribution: Our contribution is to study the effects of credit restrictions on the balance sheet structure of banks and non-bank financial institutions. We analyse the effects separately for different types of bank - commercial banks, cooperatives, saving banks and mortgage banks - and institutional investors, since credit restrictions were not applied uniformly across different types of financial institution. This lets us compare "treated" with "untreated" institutions. We can also investigate to what extent credit controls led to leakages through cross-sectoral substitution and regulatory arbitrage.

Findings: We find that banks responded to credit restrictions by switching to long-term funding with a view to facilitating credit supply while still meeting the restrictions. Most categories of lending were not affected by credit controls and some even increased following the implementation of restrictions. Arguably, the restrictions were effective in reaching their main goal, ie containing money growth. Our results also suggest that the credit restrictions contributed to financial stability by making Dutch financial institutions more reliant on stable sources of funding.

Abstract: Credit restrictions were used as a monetary policy instrument in the Netherlands from the 1960s to the early 1990s. We study the effects of credit restrictions being active on the balance sheet structure of banks and other financial institutions. We find that banks mainly responded to credit restrictions by making adjustments to the liability side of their balance sheets, particularly by increasing the proportion of long-term funding. Responses on the asset side were limited, while part of the banking sector even increased lending after the installment of a restriction. These results suggest that banks and financial institutions responded by switching to long-term funding to meet the restriction and shield their lending business. Arguably, the credit restrictions were therefore still effective in reaching their main goal, i.e. containing money growth.

JEL classification: E42, E51, E52, E58, G28
Keywords: credit restrictions, monetary policy, macroprudential policy

Canada was left with a self-selected group who didn't want much from life: an agrarian, very religious, austere population of peasants and labourers who tended to see a consumer economy as generally sinful excess

Maximum Canada: Toward a Country of 100 Million Paperback. Doug Saunders. August 20, 2019. https://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Canada-Million-Canadians-Enough/dp/0735273103

"Americans were the first major population group to settle permanently in Canada in more than token numbers, and they dominated Canada's population for six decades.  From the 1770s until the 1830s, the majority of English-speaking Canadians were U.S.-born [...].

"Over the preceding decades, most ambitious and inventive immigrants to Canada had quickly departed for the United States.  The colonies were left with a self-selected group who didn't want much from life: an agrarian, very religious, austere population of peasants and labourers who tended to see change and growth as a threat rather than an opportunity and a consumer economy as generally sinful excess."

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From the editor:
Canada’s population has always grown slowly, when it has grown at all. That wasn’t by accident. For centuries before Confederation and a century after, colonial economic policies and an inward-facing world view isolated this country, attracting few of the people and building few of the institutions needed to sustain a sovereign nation. In fact, during most years before 1967, a greater number of people fled Canada than immigrated to it. Canada’s growth has faltered and left us underpopulated ever since.

Increased pillow talk (i.e., communication after sexual activity) produces greater relationship satisfaction for men (but not women), but does not benefit either group’s physiological stress responses

Exploring the effects of pillow talk on relationship satisfaction and physiological stress responses to couples’ difficult conversations. Amanda Denes, John P Crowley, Kara L Winkler, Anuraj Dhillon, Ambyre LP Ponivas, Margaret Bennett. Communication Monographs, Mar 2 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2020.1726424

Description: This study examined the effects of pillow talk (i.e., communication after sexual activity) on relationship satisfaction and physiological stress responses to difficult conversations. Fifty heterosexual couples were randomly assigned to either a pillow talk condition in which they doubled their pillow talk for three weeks or a control condition. After three weeks, participants came to the lab to engage in a conflict conversation. Saliva samples taken before and after the conversation were assayed for cortisol, a physiological marker of stress. The results indicate that increased pillow talk produces greater relationship satisfaction for men (but not women), but does not benefit either group’s physiological stress responses. The findings suggest that pillow talk has distinct benefits for romantic relationships.

KEYWORDS: Post sex communication, pillow talk, stress, resilience, affectionate communication

Whites with darker skin will be motivated to protect the boundaries of Whiteness due to the loss of status they would face if not White; they are more likely to hold conservative political views on racialized issues

Shades of Privilege: The Relationship Between Skin Color and Political Attitudes Among White Americans. Nicole Yadon & Mara C. Ostfeld . Political Behavior (2020). Jul 18 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-020-09635-0

Abstract: Shifting racial dynamics in the U.S. have heightened the salience of White racial identity, and a sense that Whites’ social status and resources are no longer secure. At the same time, the growing size of non-White populations has also renewed attention to skin color-based stratification and the potential blurring of racial boundaries. We theorize that Whites with darker skin will be motivated to protect the boundaries of Whiteness due to the loss of status they would face from blurring racial boundaries. Consistent with growing evidence of skin color’s importance for Whites, we demonstrate that darker-skinned Whites—measured via a light-reflectance spectrophotometer—identify more strongly with their White racial identity and are more likely to hold conservative political views on racialized issues than lighter-skinned Whites. Together, these findings offer new insights into the evolving meaning of race and color in American politics.

No direct association between contraceptives use and the risk of female sexual dysfunction was found; nevertheless, declining sexual desire was significantly associated with contraceptives use

Huang M, Li G, Liu J, et al. Is There an Association Between Contraception and Sexual Dysfunction in Women? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Based on Female Sexual Function Index. J Sex Med 2020;XX:XXX–XXX.

Abstract
Background: A growing body of research investigates the sexual functioning status in women with contraceptives use; however, the evidence is still inconclusive.

Aim: To examine whether contraceptives use is associated with a higher risk of female sexual dysfunction (FSD).

Methods: The electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library databases, and PsychINFO were systematically screened for eligible studies before December 2019. We only included those studies assessing women's sexual functioning by the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). This study was registered on the PROSPERO (ID: CRD42020167723, http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO).

Outcomes: The strength of the association between contraceptives use and risk of FSD was presented by calculating the standard mean dierences (SMDs) and the relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). The pooled results were calculated using a random-effects model.

Results: A total of 12 studies (7 cross-sectional studies, 3 cohorts, and 1 case-control study) involving 9,427 participants were included. The mean age in the contraceptive users ranged from 22.5 ± 2.4 years to 38.2 ± 4.6 years, while the mean age in the nonusers was 22.5 ± 2.4 years to 36.0 ± 1.0 years. Pooled results showed that no significant difference in the total FSFI scores was observed between contraceptives use and noncontraception (SMD = −1.03, 95% CI: −2.08 to 0.01, P = .053; heterogeneity: I2 = 98.2%, P < .001). In line with this finding, the pooled RR also yielded no association between contraception use and the risk of FSD (RR = 1.29, 95% CI: 0.72–2.28, P = .392; heterogeneity: I2 = 76.0%, P = .0015). However, the subscale sexual desire showed a significant reduction in women who received contraceptives than those did not use contraception (SMD = −1.17, 95% CI: −2.09 to −0.24, P = .014; heterogeneity: I2 = 97.7%, P < .001), while no significant differences were found in sexual arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain domain.

Clinical Implications: Though evidence from this meta-analysis did not support an association between contraceptives use and the risk of FSD, the sexual desire could be significantly impaired by contraceptives use.

Strengths & Limitations: This is the first meta-analysis quantifying the relationship between contraceptives use and the risks of FSD. However, substantial heterogeneities were presented across the included studies.

Conclusion: No direct association between contraceptives use and the risk of FSD was found. Nevertheless, declining sexual desire was significantly associated with contraceptives use. Additional double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials are still warranted.

Key Words: ContraceptionFemale Sexual DysfunctionMeta-analysisFemale Sexual Function Index

Feynman on utter honesty & scientific integrity: "Cargo Cult Science," 1974

Feynman on utter honesty & scientific integrity: "Cargo Cult Science," 1974. http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm

We have learned a lot from experience about how to handle some of the ways we fool ourselves.  One example: Millikan measured the charge on an electron by an experiment with falling oil drops and got an answer which we now know not to be quite right.  It’s a little bit off, because he had the incorrect value for the viscosity of air.  It’s interesting to look at the history of measurements of the charge of the electron, after Millikan.  If you plot them as a function of time, you find that one is a little bigger than Millikan’s, and the next one’s a little bit bigger than that, and the next one’s a little bit bigger than that, until finally they settle down to a number which is higher.

Why didn’t they discover that the new number was higher right away?  It’s a thing that scientists are ashamed of—this history—because it’s apparent that people did things like this: When they got a number that was too high above Millikan’s, they thought something must be wrong—and they would look for and find a reason why something might be wrong.  When they got a number closer to Millikan’s value they didn’t look so hard.  And so they eliminated the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that.  We’ve learned those tricks nowadays, and now we don’t have that kind of a disease.

But this long history of learning how to not fool ourselves—of having utter scientific integrity—is, I’m sorry to say, something that we haven’t specifically included in any particular course that I know of.  We just hope you’ve caught on by osmosis.

Effects of Leaving a Covenantal Religion: Those who experienced more push toward disaffiliation, reported decreased current wellness; significant differences in the experiences of disaffiliation between men & women

Engelman, Joel, Glen Milstein, Irvin S. Schonfeld, and Joshua B. Grubbs. 2019. “Leaving a Covenantal Religion: Orthodox Jewish Disaffiliation from an Immigration Psychology Perspective.” PsyArXiv. December 5. doi:10.1080/13674676.2020.1744547

Abstract: This study explored psychological variables associated with disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism (a covenantal community), and subsequent wellness. A web-based survey (N = 206) assessed factors previously used to study immigrants: push (distress within origin community), pull (toward destination community), and goal attainment. Psychological and emotional wellness, perceived stress, overall health, and loneliness were also assessed. Findings included: 1) strong pull toward opportunities for physical and ideological autonomy; 2) those who experienced more push toward disaffiliation, reported decreased current wellness; 3) goal attainment was associated with increased wellness 4) significant differences in the experiences of disaffiliation between men and women; 5) most who disaffiliated left religion altogether; those who remained religious decreased their participation, few joined non-Jewish faith communities. Results demonstrate that this immigration paradigm can be adapted to advance research on individuals who disaffiliate from covenantal communities.

Initiation of Drug and Alcohol Use and Personality Development During Adolescence: initiation of substance use leads to changes in personality; cocaine and cigarettes were the substances that had the largest impact

Wright, Amanda J., and Joshua J. Jackson. 2020. “What Happens After Your First Time? Initiation of Drug and Alcohol Use and Personality Development During Adolescence.” PsyArXiv. July 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gpsj4

Abstract: Personality traits predict both the initiation and continued usage of alcohol and drugs. Less established is if substance use is associated with subsequent changes in personality, especially during the sensitive period of adolescence. We used three novel approaches to disentangle selection and socialization effects to address whether substance use is associated with personality development (impulsivity, sensation-seeking, depression, self-esteem). First, we used a multi-wave longitudinal sample of adolescents (N = 8,303) from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth - Child and Young Adult dataset to study the first use of a controlled substance. Second, we used propensity score weighting to equate users and abstainers on a range of background variables. Third, we investigated changes before, during, and after initiation of substances. Overall, there was unique variability and effects in personality across time for average levels, trajectories, and magnitudes of change both between users and abstainers as well as within users of specific substances. Results suggest that initiation of substance use leads to changes in personality; the specifics of which are largely contingent upon the substance being used. Impulsivity and sensation-seeking were the traits that changed the most while cocaine and cigarettes were the substances that had the largest impact.

Gray Matter Microstructure: While macrostructural features, like brain volume, are mainly genetically influenced, there are genetic & environmental influences on microstructure

Quantifying Genetic and Environmental Influence on Gray Matter Microstructure Using Diffusion MRI. Madhura Baxi, Maria A Di Biase, Amanda E Lyall, Suheyla Cetin-Karayumak, Johanna Seitz, Lipeng Ning, Nikos Makris, Douglas Rosene, Marek Kubicki, Yogesh Rathi. Cerebral Cortex, bhaa174, July 17 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaa174

Abstract: Early neuroimaging work in twin studies focused on studying genetic and environmental influence on gray matter macrostructure. However, it is also important to understand how gray matter microstructure is influenced by genes and environment to facilitate future investigations of their influence in mental disorders. Advanced diffusion MRI (dMRI) measures allow more accurate assessment of gray matter microstructure compared with conventional diffusion tensor measures. To understand genetic and environmental influence on gray matter, we used diffusion and structural MRI data from a large twin and sibling study (N = 840) and computed advanced dMRI measures including return to origin probability (RTOP), which is heavily weighted toward intracellular and intra-axonal restricted spaces, and mean squared displacement (MSD), more heavily weighted to diffusion in extracellular space and large cell bodies in gray matter. We show that while macrostructural features like brain volume are mainly genetically influenced, RTOP and MSD can together tap into both genetic and environmental influence on microstructure.

Keywords: imaging genetics, MSD, non-Gaussian model, RTOP, twin study

Check also Sleep duration over 28 years, cognition, gray matter volume, and white matter microstructure: a prospective cohort study. Jennifer Zitser et al. Sleep, zsz290, January 6 2020. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/01/no-differences-in-cognitive-or.html

Abstract
Study Objectives: To examine the association between sleep duration trajectories over 28 years and measures of cognition, gray matter volume, and white matter microstructure. We hypothesize that consistently meeting sleep guidelines that recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night will be associated with better cognition, greater gray matter volumes, higher fractional anisotropy, and lower radial diffusivity values. 

Methods: We studied 613 participants (age 42.3 ± 5.03 years at baseline) who self-reported sleep duration at five time points between 1985 and 2013, and who had cognitive testing and magnetic resonance imaging administered at a single timepoint between 2012 and 2016. We applied latent class growth analysis to estimate membership into trajectory groups based on self-reported sleep duration over time. Analysis of gray matter volumes was carried out using FSL Voxel-Based-Morphometry and white matter microstructure using Tract Based Spatial Statistics. We assessed group differences in cognitive and MRI outcomes using nonparametric permutation testing. 

Results: Latent class growth analysis identified four trajectory groups, with an average sleep duration of 5.4 ± 0.2 hours (5%, N = 29), 6.2 ± 0.3 hours (37%, N = 228), 7.0 ± 0.2 hours (45%, N = 278), and 7.9 ± 0.3 hours (13%, N = 78). No differences in cognition, gray matter, and white matter measures were detected between groups. 

Conclusions: Our null findings suggest that current sleep guidelines that recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night may not be supported in relation to an association between sleep patterns and cognitive function or brain structure. 

Keywords: aging, cognition, gray matter, sleep, white matter 

Statement of Significance: Up to a third of adults report between 6 and 7 hours of sleep per night, and thus fail to meet sleep guidelines which recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Although extreme short sleep (e.g. ≤5 hours per night) has repeatedly been associated with poor cognitive health, it is currently unclear if such relationships subsist for more moderate short-sleep durations. We found no differences in cognitive or structural MRI measures between groups that reported, on average, 5.4 hours, 6.2 hours, 7.0 hours, and 7.9 hours sleep per night over 5 timepoints spanning 28 years. If replicated with longitudinal markers of cognitive health, such null results could challenge the suitability of current sleep guidelines on cognitive outcomes.

At least 16 species of deep-sea fishes have ultra-black skin; by reducing reflectance, ultra-black fish can reduce the sighting distance of visual predators more than 6-fold compared to fish with 2% reflectance

Ultra-black Camouflage in Deep-Sea Fishes. Alexander L. Davis, Kate N. Thomas, Freya E. Goetz, Bruce H. Robison, Sonke Johnsen, Karen J. Osborn. Current Biology 30, 1–7, September 7, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/%20j.cub.2020.06.044

Highlights
*  Reflected bioluminescence can reveal deep-sea animals to predators or prey
*  At least 16 species of deep-sea fishes have ultra-black skin (<0.5% reflectance)
*  Fish achieve low reflectance using a continuous layer of melanosomes in the skin
*  The size and shape of these melanosomes are optimal for reducing reflectance

Summary: At oceanic depths >200 m, there is little ambient sunlight, but bioluminescent organisms provide another lightsource that can reveal animals to visual predators and prey [1–4]. Transparency and mirrored surfaces—common camouflage strategies under the diffuse solar illumination of shallower waters—are conspicuous when illuminated by directed bioluminescent sources due to reflection from the body surface [5, 6]. Pigmentation allows animals to absorb light from bioluminescent sources, rendering them visually undetectable against the dark background of the deep sea [5]. We present evidence suggesting pressure to reduce reflected bioluminescence led to the evolution of ultra-black skin (reflectance <0.5%) in 16 species of deep-sea fishes across seven distantly related orders. Histological data suggest this low reflectance is mediated by a continuous layer of densely packed melanosomes in the exterior-most layer of the dermis [7, 8] and that this layer lacks the unpigmented gaps between pigment cells found in other darkly colored fishes [9–13]. Using finite-difference, time-domain modeling and comparisons with melanosomes found in other ectothermic vertebrates [11, 13–21], we find the melanosomes making up the layer in these ultra-black species are optimized in size and shape to minimize reflectance. Low reflectance results from melanosomes scattering light within the layer, increasing the optical path length and therefore light absorption by the melanin. By reducing reflectance, ultra-black fish can reduce the sighting distance of visual predators more than 6-fold compared to fish with 2% reflectance. This biological example of efficient light absorption via a simple architecture of strongly absorbing and highly scattering particles may inspire new ultra-black materials.

Negative relationship quality, notably, criticism received from one’s spouse or partner, heightens older adults’ risk of mortality

Bookwala, J., & Gaugler, T. (2020). Relationship quality and 5-year mortality risk. Health Psychology, 39(8), 633–641. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000883

Abstract
Objective: The present study examined positive and negative aspects of relationship quality with one’s spouse or partner as predictors of mortality and the role of gender in moderating this link.
Method: Data were drawn from 2 waves, 5 years apart, of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 1,734). Positive aspects of relationship quality (frequency of opening up to the partner to talk about worries and relying on the partner) and negative aspects (frequency of the partner making too many demands and criticism by the partner) were assessed. Survival/mortality status was recorded at the time of Wave 2 data collection 5 years later (1,567 alive; 167 deceased). Covariates included sociodemographic variables, relationship type, health status, and the network size of close family relationships and friendships.
Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that negative relationship quality with one’s spouse or partner was associated with significantly higher odds for mortality after 5 years (odds ratio [OR] = 1.20, 95% CI [1.03, 1.38], p < .001), after including the statistical covariates. Also, age, gender, education, self-rated health, and medication use were significantly related to mortality. Propensity score matching replicated these findings. Follow-up analyses revealed that criticism from one’s spouse or partner, in particular, was linked to a higher mortality risk (OR = 1.44, 95% CI [1.10, 1.88]). Gender did not moderate the relationship-quality–mortality link.
Conclusions: Negative relationship quality, notably, criticism received from one’s spouse or partner, heightens older adults’ risk of mortality. These results suggest the value of developing interventions that target reducing expressed criticism in couple relationships.

Individuals who moved in with a partner/got married/separated from a partner primarily experienced changes in openness in the first year; & those who separated from a partner/got divorced became less emotionally stable

Asselmann, E., & Specht, J. (2020). Taking the ups and downs at the rollercoaster of love: Associations between major life events in the domain of romantic relationships and the Big Five personality traits. Developmental Psychology, Jul 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001047

Abstract: Personality predicts how we interact with others, what partners we have, and how happy and lasting our romantic relationships are. At the same time, our experiences in these relationships may affect our personality. Who experiences specific major relationship events, and how do these events relate to personality development? We examined this issue based on data from a nationally representative household panel study from Germany (N = 49,932). In this study, the occurrence of major relationship events (moving in with a partner, marriage, separation, and divorce) was assessed yearly, and the Big Five personality traits were measured repeatedly in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017 with the short version of the Big Five Inventory. We applied multilevel analyses to simultaneously model selection effects as well as different types of personality changes in the years before and after these events in the total sample and separately in women and men. Our findings revealed that less agreeable individuals were more likely to experience each of the examined relationship events. Moreover, each event was associated with personality changes, which only occurred after (not before) these events and considerably varied by event and gender. Individuals who moved in with a partner, got married, or separated from a partner primarily experienced changes in openness in the first year thereafter, and individuals who separated from a partner or got divorced became less emotionally stable in the following years. However, there was little evidence for “maturation” effects, except that individuals who moved in with a partner (especially men) became more conscientious in the following years.

Ordinary citizens increasingly moderate online forums, blogs, & social media feeds, selectively removing opposing political viewpoints from online contexts even when opposing comments were inoffensive & courteous

Ashokkumar, Ashwini, Sanaz Talaifar, William T. Fraser, Rodrigo Landabur, Michael Burhmester, Ángel Gómez, Borja Paredes, et al. 2020. “Censoring Political Opposition Online: Who Does It and Why.” PsyArXiv. July 16. doi:10.31234/osf.io/r9c5z

Abstract: As ordinary citizens increasingly moderate online forums, blogs, and their own social media feeds, a new type of censoring has emerged wherein people selectively remove opposing political viewpoints from online contexts. In three studies of behavior on putative online forums, supporters of a political cause (e.g., abortion or gun rights) preferentially censored comments that opposed their cause. The tendency to selectively censor cause-incongruent online content was amplified among people whose cause-related beliefs were deeply rooted in or “fused with” their identities. Moreover, six additional identity-related measures also amplified the selective censoring effect. Finally, selective censoring emerged even when opposing comments were inoffensive and courteous. We suggest that because online censorship enacted by moderators can skew online content consumed by millions of users, it can systematically disrupt democratic dialogue and subvert social harmony.

Physical Exercise Increases Perceived Musical Pleasure: Modulatory Roles of Arousal, Mood, or Dopamine?

Hove, Michael J., Steven A. Martinez, and Samantha R. Shorrock. 2020. “Physical Exercise Increases Perceived Musical Pleasure: Modulatory Roles of Arousal, Mood, or Dopamine?” PsyArXiv. July 16. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gy6qd

Abstract: Music’s ability to influence exercise performance is well known, but the converse, how exercise influences music listening, remains largely unknown. Exercise can elevate arousal, mood, and neurotransmitters including dopamine, which are involved in musical pleasure. Here we examine how exercise influences music enjoyment, and test for a modulatory role of arousal, mood, and dopamine. Before and after exercise (12 min of vigorous running) and a rest control session, participants (n=20) listened to music clips and rated their enjoyment and subjective arousal; we also collected mood ratings and eye-blink rates, an established predictor of dopamine activity. Ratings of musical enjoyment increased significantly after running, but not after the rest control condition. While changes in subjective arousal ratings did not differ between run and rest days, change in subjective arousal correlated with change in music enjoyment. After running, the change in music enjoyment had a positive but non-significant correlation with change in eye- blink rates (r=.36). Positive mood increased more after exercise than after the rest control session, but the change in positive mood did not correlate with change in music enjoyment. In sum, exercise leads to increased musical pleasure, and this effect was related to changes in arousal.

The development and use of highly reliable and valid facial grimace scales for pain measurement in animals: Grimace scales to measure pain now exist for 10 species

The development and use of facial grimace scales for pain measurement in animals. Jeffrey S.Mogil et al. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, July 16 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.013

Highlights
• Grimace scales were developed based on pain scales measuring facial expression in human neonates.
• Grimace scales to measure pain now exist for 10 species.
• Grimace scales have high reliability and validity, but can be affected by a number of modulatory factors.

ABSTRACT: The measurement of pain in animals is surprisingly complex, and remains a critical issue in veterinary care and biomedical research. Based on the known utility of pain measurement via facial expression in verbal and especially non-verbal human populations, “grimace scales” were first developed a decade ago for use in rodents and now exist for 10 different mammalian species. This review details the background context, historical development, features (including duration), psychometric properties, modulatory factors, and impact of animal grimace scales for pain.

Keywords: grimacePainfacial expressionveterinaryPreclinical

Average-Size Erect Penis: Fiction, Fact, and the Need for Counseling

Average-Size Erect Penis: Fiction, Fact, and the Need for Counseling. Bruce M. King. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, Jul 15 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2020.1787279

Abstract
Most men believe that the average length of an erect penis is greater than 6 inches (15.24 cm). This belief is due, in part, to several often-cited studies that relied on self-reported measurements, with means of about 6.2 inches (15.75 cm) for heterosexual men and even greater for gay men. These studies suffered from both volunteer bias and social desirability bias. In this review, the combined mean for 10 studies in which researchers took measurements of erect penises was 5.36 inches (13.61 cm; n = 1,629). For 21 studies in which researchers measured stretched penises, the mean was approximately 5.11 inches (12.98 cm; n = 13,719). Based on these studies, the average length of an erect penis is between 5.1 and 5.5 inches (12.95–13.97 cm), but after taking volunteer bias into account, it is probably toward the lower end of this range. Studies show that a majority of men wish they were larger, with some choosing penile lengthening surgery. These surgeries are considered by the American Urological Association to be risky. Most men seeking surgery have normal sized penises. Counseling with factual information about penis size might be effective in alleviating concerns for the majority of men who worry about having a small penis.

Studies find that many men have concerns that their penis is not large enough and that they are smaller relative to other men (Johnston, McLellan, & McKinlay, 2014; Lee, 1996; Lever, Frederick, & Peplau, 2006; Morrison, Bearden, Ellis, & Harriman, 2005; Tiggemann, Martins, & Churchett, 2008). They equate penis size with sexual competence and masculinity (Morrison et al., 2005; Tiggemann et al., 2008; Wylie & Eardley, 2007). As a result, 45–68.3% of men wish they had a larger penis (Lever et al., 2006; Tiggemann et al., 2008). Most men believe that the average erect penis is over 6 inches (15.24 cm) in length, and for many their ideal penis length is considerably longer than that (Johnston et al., 2014).

This paper reviews all known studies of measurements of erect or stretched penis length. The review includes 10 studies that relied on self-reported measurements, 11 studies in which researchers measured erect penises, and 22 studies in which researchers measured stretched penises (see Table 1). Only studies of abnormalities of the penis, or of children, were excluded. The purpose of not excluding other studies is two-fold: (1) to point out the methodological flaws in many studies that contributed to men’s false beliefs that the average-size erect penis is 6+ inches (15.24+ cm) in length, and (2) based on better conducted studies, to estimate within a small range of values the actual mean length of an erect penis. By including flawed studies, therapists may better address false beliefs by clients based on those studies. The primary sources for the review were Medline and Social Sciences with Full Text (1975 to present), using “penis” as the key search word.

Conclusion

With one exception (Herbenick et al., 2014), the studies of erect penis length that relied on self-reported measurements had serious flaws, most notably volunteer bias and social desirability bias. Some of these studies have no doubt contributed to men’s insecurities about penis size and should be dismissed and ignored. In 22 studies, researchers measured stretched penises, thus eliminating social desirability bias, but this technique tends to under-report erect penis size (e.g., Habous et al., 2015; Şengezer et al., 2002). In 11 studies, researchers measured erect penises. However, one used an unconventional technique (Sparling, 1997) and this and another study had obvious volunteer bias (Ansell Research, 2001; Sparling, 1997). Based on the other nine studies, the actual average length of an erect penis is probably between 5.1 and 5.5 inches (12.95 to 13.97 cm).

Recall that among the studies in which researchers measured erect penis length, one of the largest reported means was 5.71 inches (14.5 cm) (da Ros et al., 1994). In that study, only 12% of men had an erect penis longer than 6.3 inches (16.0 cm). In the study in which men self-reported erect penis lengths in order to receive correctly-sized condoms (but there still may have been some over-reporting due to social desirability), only 17% of men had penises that were longer than 6.3 inches (16.0 cm) (Herbenick et al., 2014). Mean erect penis lengths in these two studies were at the high end of the many studies in which measurements could be trusted as accurate. Thus, it is likely that even fewer than 12–17% of men have a penis that measures greater than 6.3 (16.0 cm) inches when erect.

In a previous review of studies of penis size, Veale et al. (2015) cautioned that because many of these studies relied on volunteers there is still the possibility of volunteer bias. That is, men with larger penises might have been more likely to volunteer to be measured than men with smaller penises. If true, the estimated average erect penis length of 5.1 to 5.5 inches (12.95 to 13.97 cm) is likely to be toward the lower end of this range.

For a review of flaccid penis length and circumference, see Veale et al. (2015).

Growth mindset was studied longitudinally from high school through 4 college years; the mindset was not associated with grades at any point, even in students for whom university was especially challenging

Testing the association of growth mindset and grades across a challenging transition: Is growth mindset associated with grades? Yue Li, Timothy C. Bates. Intelligence, Volume 81, July–August 2020, 101471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2020.101471

Highlights
• Reports two near-replications of the relationship of mindset to grades across a challenging transition (n = 832)
• Growth mindset was studied longitudinally from high school through four years of university
• Growth mindset was not associated with grades at any point
• Growth mindset was not associated with grades across the challenging transition from high school to university
• Growth mindset was not associated with grades even in students for whom university was especially challenging

Abstract: Mindset theory predicts that whether students believe basic ability is greatly malleable exerts a major influence on their own educational attainment (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007). We tested this prediction in two near-replication studies (total n = 832). In study 1 we tested the association of mindset with university grades in a cross-sectional design involving self-reported grades for 246 undergraduates. Growth mindset showed no association with grades (β = −0.02 CI95 [−0.16, 0.12], t = −0.26, p = .792). In study 2, we implemented a longitudinal design, testing the association of mindset with grade transcript scores across a series of challenging transitions: from high school to university entry, and then across all years of an undergraduate degree (n = 586). Contrary to prediction, mindset was not associated with grades across the challenging transition from high-school to the first year of university (β = −0.05 CI95 [−0.14, 0.05], t = −0.95, p = .345). In addition, mindset was unrelated to entry grades (p = .808). And no support was found for a predicted interaction of mindset with academic disadvantage across the transition (β = −0.03 CI95 [−0.12, 0.07], t = −0.54, p = .592). Follow-up analyses showed no association of mindset with improvement in grades at any subsequent year of the degree (minimum p-value 0.591). Jointly, these two near-replication studies suggest that, even across challenging transitions, growth mindset is either unrelated to educational attainment or has a very small negative influence.

Keywords: Intelligence-mindsetEducational attainmentGrowth mindsetChallenging transitions

Does Growth Mindset Do What It Promises? It doesn't

Does Growth Mindset Work? Marc Effron, Talent Strategy Group, May 2020. https://talentstrategygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Does-Growth-Mindset-Work.pdf

But there has to be something there!

Many reasonable people will ask, “if growth mindset doesn’t do what it promises, how come when I changed my mindset I was able to overcome obstacles or to succeed where I previously couldn’t?” There are a multitude of reasons that people succeed at something after they first fail or under-perform. The most obvious reason is that they were capable the entire time but didn’t try or didn’t try hard enough. When they either tried, tried again or tried harder, their existing capabilities allowed them to succeed.

Why isn’t that the epitome of growth mindset? First, because Dweck explicitly states that growth mindset is not about effort.32 Second, because you could put a less intelligent person in that same situation, have them apply the same mindset and the same amount of effort and they wouldn’t achieve the same results.

A less intelligent, personality-disadvantaged individual with a growth mindset will not outperform a more intelligent person with a growth mindset. The difference in achievement will be due to fixed characteristics like intelligence and personality, not to someone’s mindset.

People can also succeed at Time B where they didn’t succeed at Time A if they apply any of the scientifically proven methods to improve their performance at work. Those methods include setting goals, changing their behaviors, working harder, influencing better or any of the other scientifically-proven approaches I wrote about in 8 Steps to High Performance.

In that book, I also cautioned that our core personality traits and intelligence are the largest factors in our success and that one’s efforts and mindset will only move someone as far as those fixed characteristics will allow.  It would be wonderful if everyone engaged in all of those scientifically proven tactics so they could be as successful as possible.  There’s no proof that also having a growth or fixed mindset would make any difference in the outcome.


Why you should avoid the term “growth mindset”

You may believe that there’s no harm in urging people to have a growth mindset. It may not hurt if, when you say that term, you mean that someone should engage in tactics that are proven to make them more successful. But, in that case, why not tell someone specifically that they should try harder or practice more or keep a positive attitude.  If you mean that they should have a "growth mindset" (they should believe that intelligence and personality can change and that they will be more successful for that belief), you’re harming individuals who may not be able to succeed and doing nothing for people who would have succeeded anyway.


Let’s separate positive intention from scientific proof

The growth mindset concept captures the best of our humanistic spirit (anyone can improve if they just believe!) and confirms the worst of our scientific ignorance (can’t anyone improve if they just believe?).  It purports to solve a problem that may not exist or that may be more effectively addressed by other means if it does exist. In any case, a growth mindset intervention would be sharply constrained by the more powerful influence of intelligence and personality.  The science is clear that adopting a growth mindset does not meaningfully increase performance in adults or children. You become a higher performer when you engage in any of the multitude of activities that are proven to make you a high performer. If we want to help more people to succeed, let's focus our efforts there first.

The Effects of Personality Traits and Situational Factors on the Deliberativeness and Civility of User Comments on News Websites

The Effects of Personality Traits and Situational Factors on the Deliberativeness and Civility of User Comments on News Websites. Johannes Beckert, Marc Ziegele. International Journal of Communication, Vol 14, Jul 2020. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/13422

Abstract: Comment sections have become an integral part of digital journalism. They enable users to share their viewpoints and discuss news issues with others. From a deliberative perspective, there is controversy regarding the democratic benefits of comment sections. Though previous research  analyzed causes and effects of uncivil and low-quality comments, it is not clear what makes users contribute deliberative and civil comments. The present study combines data from an online survey and a content analysis of the comments that the survey participants provided to investigate the relative importance of personality traits and situational states for commenting behavior. The findings show that the quality of user comments is both a matter of personality traits and situational states. Incivility was found to be triggered mainly by sadistic personality traits and specific article topics, whereas deliberative comments result from high levels of agreeableness, cognitive involvement, and from low levels of extraversion and positive affect.

Keywords: user comments, deliberation, incivility, personality, involvement, multimethod