Orthorexia nervosa versus healthy orthorexia: Anxiety, perfectionism, and mindfulness as risk and preventative factors of distress.

BACKGROUND: Orthorexia nervosa is a recently conceptualised pathological entity presenting as an obsessive focus on healthy eating with associated psychosocial impairment. AIMS: The present study investigated the differential associations between orthorexia nervosa and healthy orthorexia with distress and impairment. MATERIALS & METHODS: With a community sample (N = 268) multiple measures of orthorexia nervosa and health orthorexia were compared as explanatory variables in mediation structural equation modelling (SEM). Outcome variables assessed and investigated were psychological distress while demographic variables were controlled. The mediating roles of perfectionism and health anxiety on orthorexia nervosa were examined with further preventative mediation role of mindfulness on distress. RESULTS: Distinctive to other eating disorders, gender showed no significant effects on orthorexia nervosa and healthy orthorexia. Signalling measurement issues for this disorder, the different measures of orthorexia nervosa resulted in mixed findings regarding body mass index and age. Findings supported perfectionism and health anxiety as risk factors, as well as mindfulness acceptance as a preventative factor in both orthorexia nervosa and healthy orthorexia. Orthorexia nervosa and healthy orthorexia assessed by most measures, contrary to the expectations, had significant positive associations with psychological distress indicated by stress, anxiety, and depression. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION: The complexity in differentiating orthorexia nervosa from healthy orthorexia calls for further investigation. This research effort should serve to substantiate the status of orthorexia nervosa as a distinct clinical disorder.

Moral, self-interested, and social motivation each predict compliance with social distancing rules: utilitarianism is an indirect positive predictor.

BACKGROUND: Social distancing rules have proven to be essential in reducing the spread of COVID-19. However, we can optimise these rules if we identify factors which predict compliance. Thus, in this study we investigated whether compliance with distancing rules is predicted by whether an individual is motivated by moral, self-interested, or social reasons. We also investigated the impact of an individual's utilitarian orientation both on compliance itself and on reasons for compliance. METHODS: Our sample consisted of 301 participants recruited from four US states - California, Oregon, Mississippi, and Alabama - who completed an anonymous online survey. Six vignettes describing hypothetical social distancing rules were developed for the study. Participants indicated (i) how likely they were to violate each hypothetical distancing rule, (ii) how morally wrong violating each rule would be, (iii) how much risk of contracting COVID-19 they would tolerate in order to violate each rule, and (iv) how much social condemnation they would tolerate in order to violate each rule. Based on these responses, we gauged each participant's overall degree of compliance with social distancing rules as well as the extent to which each participant's compliance is motivated by moral, self-interested, and social reasons. We also measured other variables that could affect compliance including personality, level of religiosity, and inclination to engage in utilitarian reasoning. Multiple regression and exploratory structural equation modelling were used to determine predictors of compliance with social distancing rules. RESULTS: We found that moral, self-interested, and social motivation each positively predicted compliance, with self-interested motivation being the strongest predictor. Furthermore, utilitarian orientation indirectly predicted compliance, with moral, self-interested, and social motivation as positive mediating factors. No controlled covariates (personality factors, religiosity, political orientation, or other background variables) predicted compliance. CONCLUSION: These findings have implications not only for the design of social distancing rules but also for efforts to ensure vaccine uptake. Governments need to consider how to harness moral, self-interested, and social motivation to promote compliance, perhaps by co-opting utilitarian reasoning, which positively influences these motivational forces.

Autism Traits and Cognitive Performance: Mediating Roles of Sleep Disturbance, Anxiety and Depression.

Theories about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have addressed cognitive deficits however few have examined how comorbid diagnoses, including sleep disturbance, anxiety and depression contribute to the underlying deficits. We investigated potential mediations of common ASD comorbidities in the relationship between sub-clinical autism traits and cognitive performance using an international community sample. Cognitive tasks assessed working memory [executive functioning (EF) theory], mental state attribution [theory of mind (ToM)], and global/local visual processing [weak central coherence (WCC) theory]. Structural equation modelling (SEM) demonstrated sleep disturbance and anxiety mediated the relationship of autism traits on measures of EF, but not WCC and ToM. This suggests that treating the symptoms of sleep disturbance and anxiety may lead to improvements in working memory.

Integrative review on psychological and social risk and prevention factors of eating disorders including anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: seven major theories.

Across the globe, disordered eating disorders alarmingly have increased by over 30% in the general public, as characterised by a wide range of eating, shape and weight concerns. Subsequent physical, functional, social, and mental health issues significantly burden society, conveying various personal sufferings to affected individuals. Disordered eating behaviours and cognitions can increase to clinical severity, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The present study critically reviewed over 100 major papers on disordered eating to integrate theoretical underpinnings and explore practical insights. The review resulted in identifying seven major theories concerning the development and persistence of disturbed eating behaviour. These include self-esteem theory, interpersonal theory, emotion regulation theory, executive function theory, social neuroscience theory, theory of mind, and trans-diagnostic theory. Furthermore, depression, anxiety, social norms and family functioning also emerged as major psychological and social correlates of disordered eating. The results further suggested significant research gaps and inconsistencies, including directional ambiguity between self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, self-esteem and depression, and executive functioning and eating, as well as mixed findings pertaining to theory of mind deficits, such as perspective taking and emotion recognition, and family functioning. Prospective empirical studies should incorporate these complexities and investigate underlying multiple psychological mediation mechanisms, preferably with experimental designs and longitudinal studies for further causal explanations.

Validity and reliability of resiliency measures trialled for the evaluation of a preventative Resilience-promoting social-emotional curriculum for remote Aboriginal school students.

PURPOSE: We aimed to test the reliability and validity of two brief measures of resilience adopted for the evaluation of a preventative social-emotional curriculum implemented for Aboriginal middle school students from socially disadvantaged remote communities in Australia's Northern Territory. The questionnaires chosen were intended to measure psychological resilience and socio-cultural resilience as complementary dimensions of the capacity to cope in circumstances of significant life stress and risk of self-harm. METHODS: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess construct validity of the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), a measure of psychological resilience, and the 12-item Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12), a measure of socio-cultural resilience, with a sample of 520 students. Associations between resilience and psychological distress and emotional and behavioural difficulty were analysed in relation to life stressors to assess criterion validity of the scales. RESULTS: CFA provided support for the validity of the respective constructs. There was good fit for both scales. However, assessment of criterion validity of the scales suggested that the adapted measure of socio-cultural resilience (CYRM-12NT) showed higher reliability and a clearer indication of predictive validity than the measure of psychological resilience (CD-RISC-10). CONCLUSIONS: The CYRM-12NT appears to be a more useful measure of resilience among Aboriginal youth exposed to significant life stress and disadvantage. However, both measures may require further development to enhance their validity and utility among potentially at-risk adolescents in socially, culturally and linguistically diverse remote Aboriginal communities.

Greater Knowledge Enhances Complainant Credibility and Increases Jury Convictions for Child Sexual Assault.

Child sexual assault (CSA) cases reliant on uncorroborated testimony yield low conviction rates. Past research demonstrated a strong relationship between verdict and juror CSA knowledge such as typical delays in reporting by victims, and perceived victim credibility. This trial simulation experiment examined the effectiveness of interventions by an expert witness or an educative judicial direction in reducing jurors' CSA misconceptions. Participants were 885 jurors in New South Wales, Australia. After viewing a professionally acted video trial, half the jurors rendered individual verdicts and half deliberated in groups of 8-12 before completing a post-trial questionnaire. Multilevel structural equation modeling exploring the relationship between CSA knowledge and verdict demonstrated that greater CSA knowledge after the interventions increased the odds ratio to convict by itself, and that the judicial direction predicted a higher level of post-trial CSA knowledge in jurors than other expert interventions. Moreover, greater CSA knowledge was associated with heightened credibility perceptions of the complainant and a corroborating witness. At the conclusion of the trial, the more jurors knew about CSA, the higher the perceived credibility of both the complainant and her grandmother, and the more likely jurors were to convict the accused.

Diet, Physical Activity, and Screen Time to Sleep Better: Multiple Mediation Analysis of Lifestyle Factors in School-Aged Children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the mediation roles of multiple lifestyle factors in school-aged children. Structural equation modeling (SEM) tested how lifestyle factors play mechanism roles one another in the impact of ADHD to seek theoretical and intervention insights. METHOD: An online survey assessed children's lifestyle factors including diet, physical activity, screen time, sleep difficulties, and having ADHD diagnosis. A multi-country sample from English speaking nations included 309 caregivers. Multiple regression and SEM were planned to identify significant correlates and mediators of ADHD in explaining lifestyle differences. RESULTS: Preliminary multiple regression showed only sleep quality was significantly different between children with and without ADHD. Significant triple mediation effects suggested diet, physical activity, and screen time mediated the ADHD impact on sleep quality. CONCLUSION: Researchers and practitioners may incorporate the findings to develop intervention models for children with ADHD attending to the mediational roles of lifestyle factors to improve sleep quality.

School-Based Prevention in Very Remote Settings: A Feasibility Trial of Methods and Measures for the Evaluation of a Social Emotional Learning Program for Indigenous Students in Remote Northern Australia.

Purpose: Skills for Life (SFL) is a social-emotional curriculum for Indigenous middle school students that was co-developed with educators and community members in a remote community of northern Australia. This preliminary study aimed to test the feasibility of processes and methods of data-gathering, the reliability of youth self-report measures, and to identify the direction of effects for an evaluation of a longer-term pilot of the curriculum. Design/Methodology/Approach: Indigenous Students in years 7-9 of a remote school participated in SFL over 2 years. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Kessler 6 (K6), and a purpose-designed Connected Self Scale (CSS) were administered to 63 students pre- and post-program. Findings: Only the K6, Prosocial behavior (SDQ), and two CSS subscales showed sufficient internal consistency for analysis. Change was positive but non-significant for SDQ and CSS. There was evidence of a dosage effect: students receiving the intervention over 2 years showed greater reduction in psychological distress than other students. There was no evidence of iatrogenic effects. Conclusions: The feasibility pilot is a critically important phase in the development of evaluation design and cjhoice of evaluation measures for challenging remote settings. This study found that evaluation of SFL with culturally and linguistically distinct Indigenous middle school students using self-report measures is feasible. However, the SDQ may not be suitable for this project. High levels of psychological distress suggest the need to investigate sources of life stress and potential supports for adolescent resilience in this context. This preliminary pilot aimed to trial methods and measures for evaluation of a social-emotional curriculum developed specifically for remote Australian Indigenous students who are at risk of poor psychosocial outcomes. No studies have examined the appropriateness of standardized self-report measures for evaluation of SEL with this student population in remote school settings.

The Theory of Planned Behavior and the Social Identity Approach: A New Look at Group Processes and Social Norms in the Context of Student Binge Drinking.

The current study investigates the theory of planned behavior with important additional predictors from the social identity approach. The study explores whether social identity might function as a driver of the theory of planned behavior and help explain how abstract group processes might impact student binge drinking behavior. Adopting a controlled statistical analysis, the hypothesized model expands the theory of planned behavior's current conceptualization of group norms and considers how the behavioral content of a specific group, with group identification, impacts binge drinking behavior (N = 551 university students). A path analysis that simultaneously mapped all the hypothesized relationships supported a reconceptualization of social identity as a predictor within the theory of planned behavior. The interaction between group identification and the importance of drinking to the group's identity significantly predicted an individual's attitudes towards binge drinking and perceived social binge drinking norms (subjective, descriptive and injunctive), which in turn predicted intentions to binge drink. Intentions to binge drink predicted self-reported binge drinking behavior two weeks later, above and beyond relevant covariates. The implications of these findings are discussed, with recommendations for future research.

Are diverse societies less cohesive? Testing contact and mediated contact theories.

Previous research has demonstrated that there is a negative relationship between ethnic diversity in a local community and social cohesion. Often the way social cohesion is assessed, though, varies across studies and only some aspects of the construct are included (e.g., trust). The current research explores the relationship between diversity and social cohesion across a number of indicators of social cohesion including neighbourhood social capital, safety, belonging, generalized trust, and volunteering. Furthermore, social psychological theories concerning the role of positive contact and its impact on feelings of threat are investigated. Using a sample of 1070 third generation 'majority' Australians and structural equation modelling (SEM), findings suggest ethnic diversity is related to positive intergroup contact, and that contact showed beneficial impacts for some indicators of social cohesion both directly and indirectly through reducing perceived threat. When interethnic contact and perceived threat are included in the model there is no direct negative effect between diversity and social cohesion. The theoretical implications of these findings are outlined including the importance of facilitating opportunities for positive contact in diverse communities.

The Impact of School Climate and School Identification on Academic Achievement: Multilevel Modeling with Student and Teacher Data.

School climate is a leading factor in explaining student learning and achievement. Less work has explored the impact of both staff and student perceptions of school climate raising interesting questions about whether staff school climate experiences can add "value" to students' achievement. In the current research, multiple sources were integrated into a multilevel model, including staff self-reports, student self-reports, objective school records of academic achievement, and socio-economic demographics. Achievement was assessed using a national literacy and numeracy tests (N = 760 staff and 2,257 students from 17 secondary schools). In addition, guided by the "social identity approach," school identification is investigated as a possible psychological mechanism to explain the relationship between school climate and achievement. In line with predictions, results show that students' perceptions of school climate significantly explain writing and numeracy achievement and this effect is mediated by students' psychological identification with the school. Furthermore, staff perceptions of school climate explain students' achievement on numeracy, writing and reading tests (while accounting for students' responses). However, staff's school identification did not play a significant role. Implications of these findings for organizational, social, and educational research are discussed.

Well-being, school climate, and the social identity process: a latent growth model study of bullying perpetration and peer victimization.

The present study concerns longitudinal research on bullying perpetration and peer victimization. A focus is on school factors of school climate (academic support, group support) and school identification (connectedness or belonging), which are conceptualized as related but distinct constructs. Analysis of change on these factors as well as individual well-being across time contributes to understanding bullying behavior. Latent growth modeling was employed to examine the predictors of anxiety, depression, 2 school climate factors and school identification in understanding change in physical and verbal bullying behavior. The sample included 492 Australian school students (means age 15 years, 53.5% male) in Grades 7 to 10 who completed measures over 3 years. Academic support and group support were the strongest predictors of change in bullying and victimization. Positive change in school identification also predicted a decrease in bullying behavior over time. An increase in depression or anxiety across time predicted an increase in rates of both bullying and victimization over time. Future research should continue to examine the complex relationship between individual-psychological and social-psychological variables in impacting on incidence of school-based bullying. On a practical note, school-based intervention programs may benefit from an approach that aims to target the school climate, social identity with the school, and promote individual psychological well-being.