Psychological Research and Reviews

The recent literature (last five years) on frailty in aging (ageing) adults is predominantly focused on predictors/ risk factors for frailty along with some studies on negative effects and interventions. Aging has been typically defined as starting as early as 60 or 65. And, frailty has been defined as reduced physiological and functional reserve or measured by grip strength, weakness, exhaustion and social isolation or by longer assessments like The Frailty Index for Elders. The prevalence rates for frailty in aging adults have been highly variable in this literature, ranging from a low of 5% to a high of 51% depending on the severity of the frailty. Negative effects have included falls and mortality. Predictors/risk factors have included social isolation, lack of exercise, bad nutrition, anemia, anorexia, depression and multiple demographic variables. Interventions have included physical activity, Mediterranean-style diet, combinations of exercise and diet and the anti-aging drug metformin. Potential underlying mechanisms for frailty have been the negative effects of inflammation and the positive effects of Klotho, an aging suppressor gene. More well-designed longitudinal studies are needed as well as more robust randomized controlled trials.

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective construction technique used to identify individual responses to ambiguous stimuli. The TAT may also be used to assess one’s object relations and to understand how one uses object representations to interpret interpersonal situations illustrated on TAT cards. While the TAT has not been widely used in assessing psychopathology, a few studies have investigated its use in identifying psychopathic traits. A review of available studies indicated the TAT has only been used minimally in the assessment of psychopathology, and even less so in the evaluation of psychopathy. To date, use of the Westen’s SCORS scoring system has provided varied results, with the greatest support for valid use of the TAT in assessing psychopathy found in borderline personality disorder evaluation (Garb et al., 2002).

Across cultures and throughout time, human aggression has been conceptualized in various ways. The monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene on the X chromosome (Grimsby et al., 1990) has been implicated in aggression from research originating in the 1990s (Cases et al., 1995; Shih & Thompson, 1999). Researchers have sought to create predictive models of aggression, and throughout decades of research have used several different tools to measure the construct such as the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire and the Conners’ Teachers Rating Scale. This work will analyze and synthesize current scholarly research; a critical review of this impactful line of inquiry will also be provided.

Eating problems and disorders in youth have been increasingly prevalent during COVID-19. Unhealthy eating has resulted in short-term effects like sleep problems and long-term effects including significant weight gain. Several risk factors have been noted for eating problems in these mostly parent questionnaire studies including demographics such as low income and female gender, experiences of the youth including boredom, activities of youth including excessive social media and limited physical activity and parent reinforcement for snacking. Eating disorders have worsened including symptoms and behaviors as well as medical instability and hospitalizations. Although this literature is limited by variability in sampling, measures and data analyses, it highlights the need for further research.

The recent literature on loneliness in aging adults (last five years) is predominantly focused on negative effects of being lonely along with some studies on risk factors, buffers, and inter-ventions. Aging is typically defined as ages starting at 60 or 65. The prevalence rates for loneliness in aging adults were highly variable in this literature, ranging from a low of 11% in Norway to a high of 76% in San Diego. Negative effects have included age-ism attitudes, anxiety, depression, memory loss, low heart rate variability, short telomere length, frailty, frequent falls and trips to the emergency room. Risk factors have included aging anxiety, sensory loss, neuroticism, losing a partner, and COVID-19. Buf-fers/protective factors have included being in a relationship, con-tinued working, internet use and being with pets and robots. And personality traits have been protective including agreeableness, wisdom, and narcissism. Interventions have included social net-working, personal voice assistants, writing and laughter therapy. Although the recent research suggests that loneliness and aging are related on some variables like frailty, it has not suggested that loneliness is more prevalent among the aging than younger adults. In addition, most of the data are based on self-report sur-veys that have yielded mixed results across countries.

This narrative review includes summaries of research on touch for social engagement and for therapy. Touch for social engagement includes greeting touch, affectionate touch and buffers for touch deprivation. Typical greeting behaviors including shaking hands and hugging were superseded by fist and elbow bumping following safety concerns during COVID-19 lockdowns. Affectionate touch as in handholding, cuddling, caressing and kissing have received less recent research attention likely because of the difficulty recruiting participants for affectionate touch during COVID. Instead, touch deprivation has been common including data suggesting that 60% reported being touch deprived during COVID lockdowns, only 21 % of children were being touched a lot and only 38% of partners were being touched a lot. This level of touch deprivation may have preceded COVID based on an airport gate study showing that people were only touching 4% of their waiting time as they were spending most of their time on cell phones scrolling and texting. Although natural activities have been noted to compensate for touch deprivation such as exercise, several studies have attempted to simulate social touch in robots. Touch as therapy has included several different types of touch including cuddling and handholding during painful procedures and massage therapy for innumerable medical and psychiatric conditions. The underlying mechanism for the positive effects of touch involves the stimulation of pressure receptors, as in moving the skin, resulting in a slowing of the nervous system including decreased heart rate, increased heart rate variability, less stress hormone (cortisol), and the increased production of healthy neurotransmitters and natural killer cells to ward off bacterial, viral and cancer cells.

Various court systems often mandate treatment for individuals convicted of sexual offenses (ICSO). Legal parameters often limit how clinicians provide services, and information is shared to protect the community and the ICSO. Ethical challenges often present as clinicians serve ICSO, especially concerning privacy, confidentiality, and the duty to warn. Research shows that not all approaches to clinical treatment with ICSO are effective, especially when examining client treatment engagement and the therapeutic alliance. Issues of diversity and culture further complicate inherently complex and precarious situations involved in treatment with ICSO. This narrative review highlights the need for clinicians to stay well-informed, remain diligently transparent, and practice cultural sensitivity in approaches to therapy with ICSO.

Externalizing behavior and psychopathy in early childhood are considered precursors to adolescent delinquency and criminal behavior. Psychopathic characteristics in adults consist of callousness, lack of empathy, shallowness, and impulsivity (Hare et al., 2000). A key trait associated with externalizing behaviors of children with a high callous-unemotional (CU) score is insensitivity to the sadness of others. CU characteristics are associated with a hypoactive amygdala, which has been found to modify the association between CU characteristics and externalizing tendencies (Saxbe et al., 2018). This paper analyses and synthesizes scholarly research articles and provides a critical review of the current state of this field of research.

Spirituality and self-care have been associated with life satisfaction and health throughout the COVID literature but rarely as protective factors against psychological symptoms of stress, depression, and fatigue. The current study examined the relationships between spirituality, self-care, work, and the psychological problems of stress, depression and fatigue in the COVID-19 Lockdown Activities Survey archival database (N = 260 participants). Feelings of spirituality were reported by 72% of the study participants. Correlation analyses and ANOVAs revealed that spirituality was associated with self-care, caregiving and housekeeping and negatively correlated with stress, depression and fatigue The results suggested that spirituality may buffer negative mental health symptoms associated with COVID-19. The generalizability of these findings is limited by the homogeneity of the sample that is predominantly comprised of white, non-Hispanic women. Nonetheless, the results highlight the importance of including spirituality in psychological interventions for stress, depression, and fatigue.

A health crisis context is an extraordinary situation that requires the individual to make appropriate decisions in order to be able to overcome and protect others. This study explored the relationships between social beliefs, emotional intelligence, and health-specific decision style in the health crisis context. With a sample of 291 students (120 males) averaging 25.5 years old, we administered the Conspiracy Theory Belief Scales, Social Beliefs, and Health-Specific Decision Style Scales during the semi-lockdown period due to covid-19 in Cameroon. The results showed that (1) irrational beliefs are positively associated with intuitive style; (2) emotional intelligence is positively associated with the deliberative style and (3) conspiracy belief is positively associated with both modes of thinking. The health-specific decision style in the context of health crisis is linked to the cognitive and emotional processes involved in the situation. These results have been discussed and future avenues raised.