A large clinical trial to improve well-being during the transition to college using wearables: The lived experiences measured using rings study.

INTRODUCTION: The transition to college is a period of elevated risk for a range of mental health conditions. Although colleges and universities strive to provide mental health support to their students, the high demand for these services makes it difficult to provide scalable, cost-effective solutions. OBJECTIVE: To address these issues, the present study aims to compare the efficacy of three different treatments using a large cohort of 600 students transitioning to college. Interventions were selected based on their potential for generalizability and cost-effectiveness on college campuses. METHODS: The study is a Phase II parallel-group, four-arm, randomized controlled trial with 1:1 allocation that will assign 600 participants to one (n = 150 per condition) of four arms: 1) group-based therapy, 2) physical activity program, 3) nature experiences, or 4) weekly assessment condition as a control group. Physiological data will be collected from all participants using a wearable device to develop algorithmic mental and physical health functioning predictions. Once recruitment is complete, modeling strategies will be used to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of each intervention. DISCUSSION: The findings of this study will provide evidence as to the benefits of implementing scalable and proactive interventions using technology with the goal of improving the well-being and success of new college students.

Emerging Ideas. A ripple effect: Does I-sharing with a stranger promote compromise in cohabiting couples?

Background: Living together harmoniously requires compromise. Research on the psychological factors that promote compromise frequently focuses on individual differences and interpersonal environment. The current research takes a different approach by asking what role I-sharing (i.e., the feeling that others share the same in-the-moment, subjective experience as oneself) plays in the success of a cohabiting couple's compromise efforts. Objective: Drawing from work on the prosocial outcomes associated with I-sharing, we asked whether I-sharing with a stranger enhances couples' ability to compromise. Method: Both members of a cohabiting couple privately reported the percentage of time they spend on household tasks (the Division of Household Labor inventory [DHL]) before undergoing a manipulation in which they either did or did not have an I-sharing experience with a stranger. Participants then completed the DHL again, this time working together with their cohabiting partner to reach a consensus in their responses. Finally, participants had another chance to complete the DHL in private, receiving the instruction to respond with their true beliefs. Results: When relationship partners worked together to complete the DHL at the second reporting, their responses were identical. At the third (private) DHL reporting, consistent with prediction, couples assigned to the I-share condition showed more agreement with their partner than couples assigned to the No I-share condition. Conclusion: This finding suggests that the prosociality generated by I-sharing can promote compromise in cohabiting couples. Implications: I-sharing holds promise as a therapeutic tool to promote compromise in treatment-seeking families and couples.

Moral foundations theory, political identity, and the depiction of morality in children's movies.

Children's movies often provide messages about morally appropriate and inappropriate conduct. In two studies, we draw on Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to derive predictions about actual depictions of morality, and people's preferences for different moral depictions, within children's movies. According to MFT, people's moral concerns include individualizing foundations of care and fairness and binding foundations of loyalty, authority, and sanctity. Prior work reveals that although there are political differences in the endorsement of these two broad categories-whereby stronger political conservatism predicts stronger binding concerns and weaker individualizing concerns-there nonetheless is broad agreement across political identity in the importance of individualizing concerns. We therefore predicted that heroes would value individualizing foundations more than villains, and that despite political differences in preferences for moral messages, there would be more agreement in the importance of messages promoting individualizing concerns. In Study 1, we coded heroes and villains from popular children's movies for their valuation of moral foundations. Heroes valued individualizing concerns more, and binding concerns less, than villains did. Participants in Study 2 considered moral dilemmas faced by children's movie characters, and rated their preferences for resolutions that promoted either individualizing or binding foundations. Although liberals preferred individualizing-promoting resolutions and conservatives preferred binding-promoting resolutions, there was stronger agreement across political identity in the importance of individualizing concerns. Despite political differences in moral preferences, popular depictions of children's movie characters and people's self-reported moral endorsement suggest a shared belief in the importance of the individualizing moral virtues of care and fairness. Movies are often infused with moral messages. From their exploration of overarching themes, their ascription of particular traits to heroic and villainous characters, and their resolution of pivotal moral dilemmas, movies provide viewers with depictions of morally virtuous (and morally suspect) behavior. Moral messaging in children's movies is of particular importance, since it is targeted at an audience for which morality is actively developing. What moral messages do filmmakers (and consumers, including parents) want children's movies to depict? Are these preferences related to people's political identity? And what are the actual moral depictions presented in movies? In the present two studies, we draw on an influential theory of moral judgment-Moral Foundations Theory-to develop and test predictions about the depiction of morality in children's movies.