Passive social networking sites use and disordered eating behaviors in adolescents: The roles of upward social comparison and body dissatisfaction and its sex differences.

Previous research has indicated a link between social networking site (SNS) use and eating behaviors, but the underlying mechanisms have not been well explored. This study investigated the role of upward social comparison and body dissatisfaction in the relationship between passive SNS use and disordered eating (DE) behaviors, as well as sex differences. A total of 744 middle school students (51.6% female, Mage = 12.87 years, SD = 0.68) completed self-report questionnaires regarding passive SNS use, upward social comparison, body dissatisfaction, and DE behaviors. Results revealed that: 1) girls reported significantly higher levels of passive SNS use, body dissatisfaction, and DE behaviors than boys; 2) passive SNS use was a significant predictor of DE behaviors both sexes; 3) body dissatisfaction mediated the relationship between passive SNS use and DE behaviors for girls; 4) the chain mediating effects of upward social comparison and body dissatisfaction between passive SNS use and DE behaviors were found only among adolescent girls; 5) Compared to boys, body dissatisfaction in girls is more significantly related to DE behaviors, and upward social comparison is more closely related to body dissatisfaction in girls. These findings suggest that passive SNS use, rather than general SNS use, was related to body dissatisfaction and eating concerns. Interventions targeting specific passive SNS users may be an effective avenue for the prevention and management of body-related concerns and disordered eating behavior in adolescent girls.

Mobile social media use and life satisfaction among adolescents: a moderated mediation model.

Introduction: Adolescence is a sensitive transitional period accompanied by great physical, mental, and behavioral changes. Therefore, maintaining physical and mental health is crucial to the growth and development of adolescents. As one of the important indicators of mental health, the influencing factors of life satisfaction have been widely concerned by scholars. In recent years, with the rapid development of Internet technology, mobile social media has penetrated into all aspects of adolescents' life, which has a subtle impact on their physical and mental health. Existing studies have indicated that mobile social media use can affect adolescents' life satisfaction. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms linking this association. This study developed a moderated mediation model to examine the mediating role of meaning in life and the moderating role of childhood psychological maltreatment. Methods: A total of 1,198 adolescents across four provinces and municipalities of China completed questionnaires on mobile social media use, life satisfaction, meaning in life, and childhood psychological maltreatment. Results: After controlling for gender and age, the results demonstrated that mobile social media use was positively associated with life satisfaction and meaning in life among adolescents. Moreover, meaning in life fully mediated the association between mobile social media use and life satisfaction. Finally, the association between mobile social media use and life satisfaction, as well as that between mobile social media use and meaning in life, was moderated by childhood psychological maltreatment. Specifically, these associations are stronger for adolescents with high levels of psychological maltreatment. Discussion: These findings shed light on the important mechanism underlying mobile social media use's effects on adolescents' life satisfaction, which is helpful to formulate targeted measures for improving adolescents' life satisfaction.

Vulnerable Narcissism in Social Networking Sites: The Role of Upward and Downward Social Comparisons.

Social networking sites (SNSs) have provided a new platform for people to present their narcissism. The objective of the current study was to investigate the underlying mechanisms between active and passive SNS use and vulnerable narcissism among college students. In achieving this, the study based its method on the media effect and social comparative theory and recruited 529 participants to complete the Surveillance Use Scale, Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure, and Hypersensitivity Narcissistic Scale. The results showed that active and passive SNS use were positively related to upward and downward social comparisons. Active and passive SNS use also indirectly predicted vulnerable narcissism through the parallel mediation of upward and downward social comparisons. This study also revealed the vital role of social comparison in the association between SNS use and vulnerable narcissism.

Internet Behavior Preferences Predict Pathological Internet Use: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Recent research in the underlying structure of pathological Internet use (PIU) has produced considerable debate among academics, in which a new "person-centered" approach of studying PIU has recently gathered support but produced mixed results. This study used the latent profile analysis (LPA) to estimate the types of PIU in a large sample of college students (n = 1,400, aged 17-25 years). Participants provided information on demographics, PIU, and Internet behavior preferences. The adolescent pathological Internet use (APIU), which served as the basis of LPA, was used for searching subgroups that represent participants with PIU. LPA identified the PIU classes, and regressions identified the psychological predictors of class membership. Participants were classified into pathological users, pathological-tendency users, preferential users, and ordinary Internet users. In comparison with pathological Internet users, lower Internet gaming and communication preference were associated with pathological-tendency users, preferential users, and ordinary Internet users. The distinct types of college students belong to each PIU class, suggesting that individual differences may be incorporated into the prevention efforts.

Behavioural and ERP evidence of the self-advantage of online self-relevant information.

The present study examined whether individuals experienced the same cognitive advantage for online self-relevant information (nickname) as that experienced for information encountered in real life (real name) through two experiments at both the behavioural and neural levels (event-related potential, ERP). The results indicated that individuals showed the same cognitive advantage for nicknames and real names. At the behavioural level, a nickname was detected as quickly as the real name, and both were detected faster than a famous name; at the neural level, the P300 potential elicited by one's nickname was similar to that elicited by one's real name, and both the P300 amplitudes and latencies were larger and more prolonged than those elicited by other name stimuli. These results not only confirmed the cognitive advantage for one's own nickname and indicated that this self-advantage can be extended to online information, but also indicated that the virtual self could be integrated into the self and further expanded individuals' self-concept.

Why Do People With Self-Control Forgive Others Easily? The Role of Rumination and Anger.

Previous research shows that self-control predicts forgiveness, but few studies have investigated the internal mechanism of this link. The current study explored the effects of rumination and anger on the relationship between self-control and forgiveness. A total of 580 college students recruited from three universities in Wuhan completed the self-control, rumination, anger, and trait forgiveness scales. Results showed that self-control was positively correlated with forgiveness (r = 0.34, p < 0.001). Rumination (ß = 0.08, p < 0.05) and anger (ß = 0.13, p < 0.05) mediate the relationship between self-control and forgiveness. Moreover, a serial mediation effect of rumination and anger was observed between self-control and trait forgiveness (ß = 0.02, p < 0.05). These findings suggest that self-control may impair individuals' rumination. Moreover, less rumination may restrain anger and consequently increase forgiveness.

Online interpersonal sexual objectification experiences and Chinese adolescent girls' intuitive eating: The role of broad conceptualization of beauty and body appreciation.

Interpersonal sexual objectification experiences are pervasive in online communication contexts, and their influence on positive eating behaviors should not be ignored. Broad conceptualization of beauty refers to how widely women and girls define female beauty in terms of both internal and external characteristics, and body appreciation refers to loving, respecting, and holding a positive attitude toward the body. This study examined the association between online interpersonal sexual objectification (OISO) experiences and intuitive eating, as well as the mediating role of broad conceptualization of beauty and body appreciation. Participants were 1152 Chinese adolescent girls aged 11 to 15 years who completed a questionnaire survey measuring OISO experiences, broad conceptualization of beauty, body appreciation, and intuitive eating. The results showed a negative association of OISO experiences with broad conceptualization of beauty and intuitive eating. Mediation analysis using structural equation modeling showed a negative association of OISO experiences with intuitive eating through broad conceptualization of beauty and body appreciation. These results suggest that programs aiming to improve healthy eating behaviors could direct adolescent girls to criticize the appearance-focused mindset in online interaction and encourage them to focus on body functionality, such as health, creative endeavors, and communication with others.

Internet Use Influences Self-Related Process: Evidence From Behavior and ERPs.

The present study aimed to examine whether a self-related stimulus produces a self-related process bias between pathological-tendency Internet users and ordinary Internet users. Participants were asked to judge the color of the target stimulus' frame (Internet pictures) in an implicit priming task, which enclosed the prime of self/other related words and the target of the online image in sequence. Results from Experiment 1 showed that response time (RT) in the self-related condition was significantly longer than that of the other related condition. Further analysis showed that RT in the self-related condition was significantly longer than that under the other related conditions for pathological-tendency Internet users but not for ordinary Internet users. In Experiment 2, behavior results demonstrated that RT under the self-related condition was significantly longer than that in the other-related condition for both groups, and the RT was shorter for pathological-tendency Internet users than that of the ordinary Internet users. Moreover, ERP data showed that the N2 amplitude was larger in the self-related condition than that of other related conditions for pathological-tendency Internet users but not for ordinary Internet users. The amplitudes of late positive component (LPC) was smaller in the self-related condition than those of the other related conditions. Hence, the Internet use influenced the inhibition control in self-unrelated stimuli and automatically retrieved the self-related stimuli.

High-disinhibition restrained eaters are disinhibited by self-regulatory depletion in the food-related inhibitory control.

Restrained eating for weight control and loss is becoming highly prevalent in many affluent societies, while most of the restrained eaters are rather unsuccessful in the long term. According to the strength model of self-control, the disinhibition effect of restrained eaters may occur after the depletion of self-control resources. However, no work has examined the direct impact of self-control resources on inhibitory control ability of restrained eaters. This study investigated the influences of self-control resources on the food-related inhibitory control among high-restraint/low-disinhibition restrained eaters, high-restraint/high-disinhibition restrained eaters and unrestrained eaters using stop signal task. Results reveal that there's no difference of food-related inhibitory control between three groups when the self-control resources are non-depleted, while high-restraint/high-disinhibition restrained eaters showing a decrease of food-related inhibitory control after ego-depletion. This disinhibition effect only seems to occur in samples of restrained eaters with a high tendency toward overeating.

Cue-induced craving for Internet among Internet addicts.

Intense craving is a core feature of addictive disorder, and cue-induced craving is believed to be a key factor in the maintenance and relapse of addictive behaviors. With the rapid development of the Internet, Internet addiction has become a widespread behavioral problem accompanied by many negative effects. This study used the cue-reactivity paradigm to examine cue-induced craving for the Internet among Internet addicts and non-addicts. Participants were exposed to Internet-related words, and asked to report their craving for the Internet. Results indicated that Internet-related words aroused cue-induced craving for the Internet among both Internet addicts and non-addicts; however, the craving was more intense among Internet addicts. These results suggest that craving may not be a unipolar, all or none state found only in addicts, but may also be present among non-addicts. They indicate that Internet-related words may be able to induce craving for the Internet, and that Internet addiction and other addictions may share similar underlying mechanisms. This finding has important implications for designing interventions for Internet addiction.

Inhibition ability of food cues between successful and unsuccessful restrained eaters: a two-choice oddball task.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have presented mixed findings on the inhibition ability in restrained eaters (REs) due to the limited amount of neural evidence and limitations of behavioral measures. The current study explores the neural correlations of the specific inhibition ability among successful restrained eaters (S-REs), unsuccessful restrained eaters (US-REs), and unrestrained eaters (UREs). METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Three groups of females (with 13 participants in each group) completed a two-choice Oddball task, while the event-related potentials (ERPs) are recorded synchronously. Results indicate that S-REs showed inhibition deficit in processing high-energy food cues whereas US-REs show inhibition deficit in processing both low- and high-energy food cues. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that S-REs and US-REs differ in terms of specific inhibition ability and that enhanced inhibition is essential to a successful diet.

Recognition Memory Bias in Earthquake-Exposed Survivors: A Behavioral and ERP Study.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: To investigate the neural correlates of earthquake-related stimuli among earthquake-exposed survivors, 13 earthquake-exposed undergraduates without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 13 matched controls completed a study-test task during which event-related potentials were recorded synchronously. RESULTS: The earthquake-exposed group exhibited stronger P2, P300 and late positive component amplitudes to earthquake-related stimuli compared with the control group on the anterior scalp during recognition memory processing. In addition, earthquake-related stimuli elicited enhanced positivity compared with neutral stimuli in the earthquake-exposed group. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that earthquake-exposed subjects demonstrate recognition memory bias toward threatening stimuli. Even though both groups showed no PTSD symptoms, potential threat cues or stimuli associated with a traumatic event may trigger traumatic memories in this group. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Self-relevant beauty evaluation: Evidence from an event-related potentials study.

This study examines the electrophysiological correlates of beauty evaluation when participants performed the self-reference task. About 13 (7 men, 6 women) undergraduates participated in the experiment using event-related potentials. Results showed that the response to self-relevant information was faster compared to other-relevant information and no significant differences for self-relevant relative to mother-relevant information were observed. Both physical and interior beauty words for self-relevant information showed an enhanced late positive component as compared to other-relevant information. Physical beauty for self-relevant information yielded a larger late positive component in contrast to mother-relevant information but not for interior beauty. This study indicates that beauty is specific to the person who judges it though an individual and one's mother may hold similar views of interior beauty.

Attention bias in earthquake-exposed survivors: an event-related potential study.

The Chinese Wenchuan earthquake, which happened on the 28th of May in 2008, may leave deep invisible scars in individuals. China has a large number of children and adolescents, who tend to be most vulnerable because they are in an early stage of human development and possible post-traumatic psychological distress may have a life-long consequence. Trauma survivors without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have received little attention in previous studies, especially in event-related potential (ERP) studies. We compared the attention bias to threat stimuli between the earthquake-exposed group and the control group in a masked version of the dot probe task. The target probe presented at the same space location consistent with earthquake-related words was the congruent trial, while in the space location of neutral words was the incongruent trial. Thirteen earthquake-exposed middle school students without PTSD and 13 matched controls were included in this investigation. The earthquake-exposed group showed significantly faster RTs to congruent trials than to incongruent trials. The earthquake-exposed group produced significantly shorter C1 and P1 latencies and larger C1, P1 and P2 amplitudes than the control group. In particular, enhanced P1 amplitude to threat stimuli was observed in the earthquake-exposed group. These findings are in agreement with the prediction that earthquake-exposed survivors have an attention bias to threat stimuli. The traumatic event had a much greater effect on earthquake-exposed survivors even if they showed no PTSD symptoms than individuals in the controls. These results will provide neurobiological evidences for effective intervention and prevention to post-traumatic mental problems.

The construct validity of the Restraint Scale among mainland Chinese women.

This study aimed to test the construct validity of the newly developed Chinese version of the Revised Restraint Scale (RRS) in two separate female samples from Chinese universities (n(1) = 171; n(2) = 158). The RRS is the most widely used measure of restricted eating for the purpose of achieving or maintaining a desired weight. Results showed that the 10-item Chinese RRS comprised of two subscales of concern dieting (CD) and weight fluctuation (WF), which together accounted for 53.01% of the total variance. Confirmative factor analysis supported this two-factor model as an acceptable model (χ(2)/df = 1.545, p < 0.001; RMSEA=0.059, GFI=0.938, and CFI=0.935). Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.77 for RRS, 0.71 for CD and 0.66 for WF. Significant correlations were shown between RRS and its subscales ((rRRS-CD) = 0.894, p < 0.01; r(RRS-WF) = 0.850, p < 0.01; r(CD-WF) = 0.523, p < 0.01). Moreover, RS significantly correlated with the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R (TFEQ-R), the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire-R (DEBQ-R), the Fatness Concern (FC) and the body measure index (BMI) (r = 0.548, p < 0.01; r = 0.631, p < 0.01; r = 0.620, p < 0.01; r = 0.351, p < 0.01, respectively). In sum, the RS has stable factor structure, acceptable internal consistency and satisfactory convergent reliability among female Chinese college students. The adapted scale may serve as a useful tool for identifying restrained and unrestrained eaters among Chinese women and may be particularly useful in assessing eating restraint before and after prevention and intervention programs.

ERP differences between processing of physical characteristics and personality attributes.

BACKGROUND: Limited data from behavioral and brain-imaging studies indicate that personality traits and physical characteristics are processed differently by the brain. Additionally, electrophysiological results of studies comparing the processing of positive and negative words have produced mixed results. It is therefore not clear how physical and personality attributes with emotional valence (i.e., positive and negative valence) are processed. Thus, this study aimed to examine the neural activity associated with words describing personality traits and physical characteristics with positive or negative emotional valence using Event Related Potentials (ERPs). METHODS: A sample of 15 healthy adults (7 men, 8 women) participated in a computerized word categorization task. Participants were asked to categorize visual word stimuli as physical characteristics or personality traits, while ERPs were recorded synchronously. RESULTS: Behavioral reaction times to negative physical stimuli were shorter compared to negative personality words, however reaction times did not significantly differ for positive stimuli. Electrophysiological results showed that personality stimuli elicited larger P2 and LPC (Late Positive Component) amplitudes compared to physical stimuli, regardless of negative or positive valence. Moreover, negative as compared with positive stimuli elicited larger P2 and LPC amplitudes. CONCLUSION: Personality and physical stimuli were processed differently regardless of positive or negative valence. These findings suggest that personality traits and physical characteristics are differentially classified and are associated with different motivational significance.

Identifying cognitive preferences for attractive female faces: an event-related potential experiment using a study-test paradigm.

In this experiment, sensitivity to female facial attractiveness was examined by comparing event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to attractive and unattractive female faces within a study-test paradigm. Fourteen heterosexual participants (age range 18-24 years, mean age 21.67 years) were required to judge 84 attractive and 84 unattractive face images as either "attractive" or "unattractive." They were then asked whether they had previously viewed each face in a recognition task in which 50% of the images were novel. Analyses indicated that attractive faces elicited more enhanced ERP amplitudes than did unattractive faces in judgment (N300 and P350-550 msec) and recognition (P160 and N250-400 msec and P400-700 msec) tasks on anterior locations. Moreover, longer reaction times and higher accuracy rate were observed in identifying attractive faces than unattractive faces. In sum, this research identified neural and behavioral bases related to cognitive preferences for judging and recognizing attractive female faces. Explanations for the results are that attractive female faces arouse more intense positive emotions in participants than do unattractive faces, and they also represent reproductive fitness and mating value from the evolutionary perspective.