Link Between Teens’ Time On Digital Devices And Lower Wellbeing Is “Too Small To Merit Substantial Scientific Discussion”

By Christian Jarrett

My friends and I would often be so hooked on the latest computer game that we’d play all day long, breaking only for munchies or when nature called. Our parents would urge (plead with) us to get outside, especially when it was sunny. “The fresh air and exercise will do you good”, they would say, or similar. Fast forward to now, and the anxiety over all the time that children and young people spend in front of screens, be it playing video games, watching TV or using social media, has of course only intensified. Surely it can’t be mentally or physically healthy, can it?

As we look to psychologists to provide an answer, we find a field divided. At one extreme, some experts point to survey data throwing up apparently worrying correlations between increased screen time and increased mental health problems. Yet other experts are sceptical, in part because of what they see as the poor quality of much of the correlational evidence for harm.

In this latter camp are Amy Orben and Andrew Przybylski at the University of Oxford, the authors of a recent paper in Psychological Science, which aims to set new standards for research in this area – including by using time-use diary-based reports of screen time (rather than relying on notoriously unreliable retrospective reports), and by pre-registering their methods and hypotheses, thus guarding against the kind of post-hoc data-mining that they say has plagued the field.

The pair began with an exploratory analysis of two large surveys of thousands of teenagers, one based in Ireland, the other in the USA. These included data on teens’ mental health and wellbeing (including mood, depression and self-esteem) and their screen time (including time on TV, computer, and video-games and smartphones). The screen time measures included commonly used retrospective reports, such as “how much time do you typically spend during a weekday watching TV, playing video games etc?”, but crucially also detailed diary-based measures, in which each participant broke down their precise activities during every 15-minute period of a given day (either completed through that day, in the evening or the next day).

Orben and Przybylski found a handful of statistically significant correlations between screen time and wellbeing, and then they used these to make some specific evidence-based, pre-registered (written down publicly in advance) predictions about the kind of screen time–wellbeing associations they were looking for in a second, “confirmatory study”. This is a robust methodological approach that avoids the pitfalls of scouring a large data set hunting for all and any significant correlations (such post-hoc result hunting carries the risk that any associations that do turn up are flukes rather than meaningful).

The survey data Orben and Przybylski used in their confirmatory study involved over 10,000 British teenagers (aged 14 to 15) and their caregivers, who once again provided retrospective and diary-based information on their screen time and completed wellbeing measures.

The researchers found a few statistically significant correlations, including: between greater self-reported screen time and lower wellbeing; and greater diary-recorded screen time and lower wellbeing. Based on some mixed results from the exploratory work, the pair also looked specifically at screen time prior to bed, but this was not found to be associated with wellbeing. Critically, the significant associations that Orben and Przybylski did find were very weak – in fact, of a magnitude “too small to merit substantial scientific discussion”.

The pair provide a graphic illustration of the average size of the associations between screen time and wellbeing that they found. Assuming that causality flows in the direction of greater screen time to poorer wellbeing (the research is cross-sectional so we don’t know if this is the case), then given the size of the association, teenagers would have to increase their screen time use by over 63 hours per day for it to have an effect on their wellbeing that they would actually notice (this is based on what is known from past research about the kind of wellbeing changes that are subjectively noticeable). Of course such an increase is a practical impossibility, thus showing the practical insignificance of the documented correlations.

While aiming to set new standards for research in this area, the researchers admit their study has its own limitations – among them that the data on screen time and wellbeing were not collected at the same time, potentially reducing the chance to identify meaningful relations between the two. Also, some may wonder whether total screen time (however carefully it is measured) is the right metric – perhaps it is too crude and it is the nature of one’s relationship with digital devices that is more relevant to wellbeing, such as why they are used, whether the screen time displaces other meaningful activities, and if there is a compulsive quality to the usage or not.

—Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-Being: Evidence From Three Time-Use-Diary Studies

Christian Jarrett (@Psych_Writer) is Editor of BPS Research Digest

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Understanding the Emotional Stages of Divorce

Coping with divorce is not easy. A couple in love usually enters marriage with the hope they will be together for the rest of their lives. However, relationship issues such as unfulfilled expectations, betrayal, sexual problems, financial problems, or interpersonal conflicts may derail a marriage if they are not thoroughly resolved. In some cases, marriage mates may see divorce as their path to living happily ever after.

But even if it is the best choice for a happier future, divorce may still have devastating effects on one or both marriage mates. Many divorced partners report going through a series of intense emotions before they were able to overcome their grief and find peace. These emotions include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Let’s discuss what each of these emotions involves.         

Denial

According to Marriage.com, denial is probably the first of emotional hurdle a person faces when going through a divorce. During this phase, an individual may be unable to accept the reality that his or her relationship may be coming to an end. He or she may be comforted by thoughts that everything will work out in the end and things will go back to how they used to be. At this point it is unlikely that the divorce papers have been signed, especially if the possibility of divorce was raised unexpectedly. Once the initial shock subsides, the dominant emotion often shifts to anger.

Anger

A marriage mate who is facing divorce tends to become much more sensitive during the anger phase. He or she may be irritated by many things that were easily ignored before. Communication with his or her partner often becomes strained and conversations are more likely to degrade into screams, shouting, and cursing. In some cases, anger causes marriage mates to come to blows or direct their rage toward other family members and friends. Individuals who are going through this stage are encouraged to practice breathing exercises and relaxation techniques to help keep their emotions under control.

Bargaining

Marriage mates who are in the bargaining phase spend a lot of their time thinking. They think about their past experiences, what they are going through right now, and what they really want in life. Questions such as “Do I really love this person?” and “Is it better to get a fresh start?” are usually on their mind. The person who wants to leave may wonder if he or she is making a terrible mistake, while the person being left may wonder if there is anything he or she can do to keep the relationship intact. In some cases, the divorce is called off and both parties work together to repair their relationship. Many times though, one or both partners make the decision to follow through with the divorce.

Depression

According to Completecase.com, depression is usually the saddest and hardest stage of the divorce process. This is especially true for a partner who may not have seen it coming at all. A marriage mate who is suddenly confronted with divorce may have to consider a number of major life adjustments. These adjustments may include losing the person you love, losing a large percentage of your finances, losing custody of your children, dealing with social stigma, and finding a new place to live.

Many spouses who face divorce feel overwhelmed by the changes it will bring to their life. In addition to feeling sad, some individuals may become clinically depressed as they withdraw from society and try to figure out what exactly went wrong. A few symptoms of major depression include low energy, low mood, reckless behavior, loss of appetite, sleep issues, and a lack of motivation. These symptoms may last for months or even years. People who are diagnosed with major depression may require assistance from a licensed therapist.

Acceptance

Acceptance is generally the final stage of the divorce process. In this phase, both partners are able to accept the reality that their relationship has come to an end. For partners who were struggling with anger and/or depression, reaching acceptance may bring a sense of relief. Acceptance allows partners to reflect fondly on the food times they spent with each other, without losing sight of the need to make a fresh start. Partners who are able to reach acceptance in the divorce process are often able to look to the future with hope.

Taking Things One Step at a Time

It takes at least two people to form a happy marriage. If one or both partners are no longer interested in remaining faithful and making the marriage work, divorce may be unavoidable. Nevertheless, it is possible to rise from the ashes of a failed marriage and build a successful life in the future. For that to happen though, you will need to successfully navigate the emotional roller coaster of divorce, give yourself sufficient time to heal, and be courageous enough to take one step at a time toward a better life.

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The Dissatisfaction of Being Sexually Rejected By A Partner Lasts Longer Than Pleasure Of Having An Advance Accepted

By Matthew Warren

Sex is an important part of most romantic relationships – and when couples are not on the same page about their sex life, it can become a source of frustration. Research has found that couples have sex about 1 or 2 times a week, but about half of sexual advances between partners go unfulfilled. 

A preprint uploaded recently to PsyArXiv sheds some light on how responses to sexual advances influence individuals’ feelings of sexual and relationship satisfaction. The study suggests that while having an advance accepted leaves partners feeling more content, this effect may be short-lived compared to the dissatisfaction of being rejected.

To get a peek into the bedrooms of 115 heterosexual couples (participants were aged between 19 and 64), Kiersten Dobson from the University of Western Ontario and colleagues asked them all to keep sex diaries. Every day for 3 weeks, both partners independently logged whether they or their partner had made a sexual advance, and if so, whether that led to sexual activity. They also recorded their daily levels of satisfaction with their sexual relationship, as well as their relationship generally, answering questions such as “How good is your relationship compared to most?”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the researchers found that accepting a sexual advance, or having an advance accepted by the partner, resulted in an increase in both sexual and relationship satisfaction that day compared to other days. 

On the other hand, being rejected decreased sexual satisfaction. But intriguingly, if the participant themselves was the rejecter – that is, if they shunned an advance from their partner – their sexual satisfaction still increased. (Neither being rejected nor being the rejecter had any effect on general relationship satisfaction.)

Changes in sexual satisfaction could still be detected days after advances were made. The team found that the boost in satisfaction from having an advance accepted persisted for 24 hours, with the slump of being rejected lasting twice as long. And the gratification that came from being either an acceptor or a rejecter lasted a remarkable 72 hours. 

It might seem especially surprising that rejecting a partner’s advances gives a boost in sexual satisfaction, particularly one that appears to last for three days. But rather than reflecting some pleasure derived from rejecting someone, the researchers suggest that being approached for sex leaves a person feeling desired, so enhances sexual satisfaction even when no actual sex ends up happening.

The fact that the negative effects of being sexually rejected by a partner last longer than the positive effects of being accepted mean that making an advance can be a risky move, the authors say.  “The act of making a sexual advance may be a high-risk situation for romantic partners, which may in turn lead those who feel less sure of their partner’s response to an advance to take the risk of making an advance less often,” they write. This could ultimately lead to fewer opportunities to bolster intimacy through sex.

The study doesn’t reveal anything about whether there is a way to buffer against the negative effects of rejection, though, or how different individuals respond. For example, the same team previously found that men underestimate, and women overestimate, how often their partners make sexual advances – though gender didn’t seem to play a role in the new study. However, it would be interesting to know whether other individual differences might alter people’s responses to acceptance or rejection.

—Responses to sexual advances and satisfaction in romantic relationships: Is yes good and no bad? [this study is a preprint meaning it has not yet been subjected to peer review and the final published version may differ from the version on which this report was based]

Matthew Warren (@MattbWarren) is Staff Writer at BPS Research Digest

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Business networking: 5 tips to help you master this essential skill

Networking is essential to building relationships and furthering your career. Luckily, there are tricks to help you network (even if you hate it).

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People Who Self-Harm May Be Compensating For Their Difficulty Interpreting Bodily Signals of Emotion

By Emma Young

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel

From Hurt by Johnny Cash 

Deliberate self-injury (without the intent to commit suicide) is widely thought to be a way that some people, especially teenagers and young adults, cope with or express feelings that they find overwhelming. However, a set of three studies published as a preprint at PsyArXiv by psychologists at Swansea University, reveals that difficulties with perceiving and interpreting the bodily signals of emotion may also play a role – a finding that could help inspire new treatment approaches. 

Previously, interviews with people who have self-harmed have included reports that they feel both “overwhelmed” by emotions they can’t identify, but also emotionally detached or “numb”. Hayley Young and her colleagues reasoned that if an individual is struggling to read their bodily signals of emotion properly (and “interoceptive ability” – the ability to sense physiological signals – is known to dip in adolescence), then self-injury may work to generate a stronger bodily input into their emotional experience.

The researchers ran three related studies using more than 300 young adult participants, mostly women. In the first few studies, the researchers looked for links between self-harm and self-reported factors, such as perceived difficulties in identifying and describing emotions. In the final study, interoceptive ability was measured using a standard method in which a person has to count their heartbeats over a period of time (without actually feeling for a pulse or using any other aid.)

Overall, the results revealed that participants with a history of self-harm were characterised by “a difficulty in distinguishing and interpreting interoceptive signals”. Participants who had self-harmed reported being more aware than others of general bodily sensations, but they tended to score worse on the interoceptive accuracy test. 

“This is an important finding as low interoceptive awareness may be the biological basis for reports of ‘absent affect’ and ‘detachment’ and ‘disembodiement’” in those who self-harm, the researchers write. Low interoceptive accuracy may also contribute to self-harm, they suggest, in driving the individual to manipulate the way the body contributes to the experience of emotion. 

A function of self-harm “may be to resolve a state of interoceptive and emotional uncertainty —  [it] may serve to disambiguate the body’s role in emotional experience and provide clarity about what is being felt,” the researchers write. 

The new findings add to past research that’s linked superior interoception to better emotional functioning, including experiencing more nuanced emotions. Conversely, poor interoception has been associated with a wide range of mental health problems, including depression and schizophrenia. 

Young and her team added that their research suggests a pathway to new interventions: “a focus on improving compassionate self-focus may be beneficial.” 

In fact, other groups are actively working on ways to improve people’s interoceptive accuracy. Sarah Garfinkel at the University of Sussex and her team are trialling just such a treatment for people with autism (poor interoception is relatively common in people with autism spectrum disorder). A pilot study on healthy people, which involved asking participants to count their heartbeats, and giving them feedback on how well they were doing, led to improvements in interoceptive accuracy and reductions in anxiety. This treatment research is ongoing. In theory, it might help with other conditions, too.

—Non-Suicidal Self-injury is associated with Multidimensional Deficits in Interoception: Evidence from Three Studies [this study is a preprint meaning that it has not yet been subject to peer review and the final published version may differ from the version upon which our report was based]

Emma Young (@EmmaELYoung) is Staff Writer at BPS Research Digest

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How to live in the moment – experts advise

We chatted to Mandy Johnson and Patrick Madden, two experienced and thought-provoking opinion leaders who offer an Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme designed for coaches, counsellors, mentors and others in the helping professions about what to expect from their workshop.

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Teenagers Define Themselves Mostly In Terms Of Their Traits; Adults More In Terms Of Their Social Roles

By Christian Jarrett

Write down the unfinished statement “I am …” twenty times. Now think to yourself “Who am I?” and complete as many of the “I am …” statements as you can in the next five minutes or less.

This is the Twenty Statements Test and it’s designed to assess how we see ourselves – our “self-concept”.  For their new paper in the journal Memory, a team at the University of Reading, led by Emily Hards, gave this test to 822 teenagers (aged 13-18) from three schools in England, with the additional instruction “not to think too much about the responses and not to worry about the order/importance of the statements”.

While it’s widely recognised that adolescence is a crucial period for the establishment of our sense of self, little is actually known about how teenagers’ generally see themselves. Indeed, this is the first time that teenagers’ own self-generated descriptions of themselves (what the researchers call their “self-images”) have been gathered in a systematic way.

In all, the participants provided 6,558 self-descriptions or self-images. After removing any redundancy (for example, treating “I am irritating at times” and “I am somewhat irritating” as the same response), the researchers calculated that the teens came up with 443 different ways of describing themselves.

On average, the participants provided eight self-images. The twenty most commonly given, from most to least, were: happy, a son/daughter, funny, a student, a sports player, a friend, a brother/sister, kind, friendly, [some kind of description of] appearance, [description of] height, tired, sporty, caring, confident, [something about their] age, love, smart, shy, [description of their] gender, quiet.

Overall then, at a time when there is much talk of a crisis of mental health among young people, the researchers said their results paint a rather a “striking and reassuring” picture. Most of the teens’ self-images pertained to traits, and most of them were positive.

The participants’ focus on their personal characteristics and traits is consistent with “broader ideas in developmental psychology,” the researchers said, “which suggest that during adolescence young people become increasingly focused on their ‘psychological interior’ and engage in self-reflection.”

A few gender differences were apparent: girls tended to provide more self-images than boys; girls more often described themselves as a daughter (relative to how often boys described themselves as a son), as being a sibling, a friend, mentioning their appearance, as tired, caring, love, shy, or quiet; whereas boys more often described themselves as a sports player and sporty.

The researchers also compared the teenagers’ self-images with those obtained in an earlier study from a sample of predominantly young adults (aged 18 to 30). The main difference was that whereas the teenagers mostly described themselves in terms of their traits, the adults more often described themselves in terms of their social roles, such as friend or son. “…[S]ocial roles may be more accessible and important among adults than adolescents” the researchers said.

The images we form of ourselves in adolescence can have a lasting impact on the rest of our lives – shaping (and being shaped by) the autobiographical memories that we hold most dear, thereby influencing the way we see ourselves for years to come. Though limited by its monocultural and cross-sectional design, this research helps lay the groundwork for a better understanding how people come to see themselves the way they do, and for investigating what might be different about the self-images of those teenagers who develop depression or other mental health problems. Hards and her colleagues have also made their findings publicly available as a searchable database, providing a useful resource for future research.

—Memories of the self in adolescence: examining 6558 self-image norms

Christian Jarrett (@Psych_Writer) is Editor of BPS Research Digest

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Connecting to the new world of learning

Johannesburg-based life coach, Penny Castle, discovered new ways of learning which helped her during her son’s battle with cancer.

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Family Life is Important for Kids Mental Health and Adjustment to Life

All parents have the goal of raising happy, healthy, well-adjusted children.  Most parents look for information online and from books and other resources related to child development, child psychology, and parenting to help them to be successful in achieving their goals.  Yet parents may overlook the importance of day to day interaction with kids and […]

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A New Trial Of An Ancient Rhetorical Trick Finds It Can Make You Wiser

Benefits of a Memory Foam Mattress

Memory-foam mattresses are hugely popular. They offer optimum comfort and support during sleep, which makes you wake up feeling healthy and ready for the day. While many people are aware that a good night’s rest aids physical ailments and recovery, it can also boost cognition. These benefits are crucial if you want to lead a happy and productive life.

Although you may have heard of a memory-foam mattress before, you may wonder what the exact advantages of this type of material really are. Let’s take a look at a few of them below.

Better memory

The ability to form and consolidate memories is crucial for a person to adapt successfully to changes in his or her environment. One of the best ways to improve your memory is improving the quality of your sleep. More than 100 years of research support the close relationship between restful sleep and memory retention. Memory foam can help you to get more slow-wave sleep (SWS), which is crucial for integrating encoded neuronal memory representations into long-term memory.

Pressure and circulation

Memory foam adapts to your shape and weight, molding to it and keeping a ‘memory’ of your body impression. As a result, it can ease pressure points that may leave you in pain after hours of lying in the same position. What’s more, gravity forcing your body down and resistance in bedding pushing your body up can adversely affect your circulation and even damage soft tissue.

But since memory-foam adapts to your shape, regardless of which position you usually sleep in (back, side or front), it can relieve potentially painful pressure and help you sleep more soundly.

Maintenance

Memory foam also doesn’t require much upkeep, which saves you effort and time. For example, with no tendency to sag, you don’t need to flip or rotate your mattress often to maintain the level of comfort and support it delivers. This is ideal if flipping a mattress is not a hobby of yours!

Allergy-friendly

A standard mattress that has been in use for a few years can harbor between 100,000 and 10 million dust mites, according to Environment, Health and Safety Online.

But fortunately for memory-foam mattress buyers, memory foam is made from fibers that stop dust mites from gathering inside. Also, these types of mattress have dense dimensions that hinder the collection of allergens, as well as resist mold and pet dander that can worsen any respiratory problems someone may have.

So, if you’re prone to allergies, the hypoallergenic property of memory foam is definitely a major benefit for you.

Body temperature control

Some people remain wary of memory foam as an option for their mattress needs due to the misconception that all memory-foam mattresses trap heat. As the material is designed to conform to your body, memory foam can constrict air circulation and possibly lead to overheating and an uncomfortable night.

However, due to this potential drawback, many manufacturers have strived to create memory foam with temperature-sensitive materials that adjusts to body heat. There are also various types of memory foam mattresses such as gel that feature cooling mechanisms that boost breathability and lower heat build-up.  

So, if overheating is a concern of yours, know that there are options at hand when it comes to memory foam.

Spine alignment

Reportedly, over 30 million US citizens experience lower back pain at some point but memory foam can help.

As we mentioned earlier, memory-foam mattresses don’t droop or sag. Conveniently, they spread the sleeper’s body weight evenly and conform to its curves. The advantage is a properly aligned spine that can prevent or reduce back pain the following day or even long-term.

Longevity

Memory-foam mattresses absorb less mold, dust mites, and other harmful or damaging substances. As a result, this type of mattress will probably last longer compared to an innerspring model. In fact, good-quality memory-foam mattresses can stay comfortable for more than a decade!

Not only does that mean you won’t have to spend time and effort shopping for a replacement in a few years, but it also shows that memory foam is an excellent choice when it comes to value for money.

Clearly there are many perks of a memory-foam mattress and it’s certainly a type worth considering if you’re searching for something to provide a restful night.  

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Credit- What is Psychology (WIP). Published by- Dr. Sabiha : www.drsabiha.blogspot.com