Relationships between job stress, psychological adaptation, negative affective states and Internet gaming disorder among migrant factory workers in China: cross-sectional survey (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Factory workers make up a large proportion of China’s internal migrants and may be highly susceptible to Internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, little research on IGD has been conducted in this population. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate the prevalence and potential factors of IGD among migrant factory workers in China. Furthermore, it aims to examine a mediation model based on the framework of the general strain model among migrant factory workers. METHODS A stratified multi-stage sampling approach was used for recruitment. In the first stage, the research team randomly selected 16 factories in Longhua district, and then randomly selected three to four workshops from each factory. All full-time employees aged ≥18 years in the selected workshops were invited to participate in the study. A total of 2,023 factory workers completed a self-administered questionnaire between October and December 2019. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the proposed mediation model. RESULTS Most of the participants (67.3%) were male, aged 35 years old or below (71.7%), and without teritary education (91%). The prevalence of probable depression, probable anxiety, and IGD was 39.3%, 28.7%, and 7.5%. Being male, younger age, and shorter duration of living in Shenzhen were associated with higher IGD scores. Job stress was significantly associated with IGD (B=.02, β=.11, p=.01) but not with negative affective states (B=.04, β=.01, p=.77). Psychological adaptation was significantly associated with negative affective states (B=-2.93, β=-.37, p<.001) but not with IGD (B=.04, β=.09, p>.05). Negative affective states were positively associated with IGD (B=.02, β=.27, p<.001). The indirect effect of psychological adaptation (B=-.05, β=-.10, 95%CI=-.14 to -.07, p=.004) but not job stress (B=.001, β=.003, 95%CI=-.02 to .03, p=.76) on IGD through negative affective states was statistically significant. The significant indirect effect and insignificant direct effect of psychological adaptation on IGD suggested a full mediation effect of negative affective states. CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence for applying the general strain model to understand IGD among migrant factory workers. Efforts to prevent negative affective states, IGD and other risk behaviors in this special and huge population in China are in urgent need. The observed psychological factors and mechanisms are modifiable, and can inform the design of evidence-based prevention programs for IGD in this population.

Affect-congruent attention drives changes in reward expectations

Positive and negative affective states are respectively associated with optimistic and pessimistic expectations regarding future reward. One mechanism that might underlie these affect-related expectation biases is attention to positive- versus negative-valence stimulus features (e.g., attending to the positive reviews of a restaurant versus its expensive price). Here we tested the effects of experimentally induced positive and negative affect on feature-based attention in 120 participants completing a compound-generalization task with eye-tracking. We found that participants' reward expectations for novel compound stimuli were modulated by the affect induction in an affect-congruent way: positive affect increased reward expectations for compounds, whereas negative affect decreased reward expectations. Computational modelling and eye-tracking analyses each revealed that these effects were driven by affect-congruent changes in participants' allocation of attention to high- versus low-value features of compound stimuli. These results provide mechanistic insight into a process by which affect produces biases in generalized reward expectations.

“I Feel Therefore I Decide”: Effect of Negative Emotions on Temporal Discounting and Probability Discounting

Temporal and probability discounting are considered two fundamental constructs in economic science, as they are associated with phenomena with major societal impact and a variety of sub-optimal behaviors and clinical conditions. Although it is well known that positive and negative affective states bear important cognitive/behavioral consequences, the effect of emotional experiences on decision-making remains unclear due to the existence of many conflicting results. Inspired by the need to understand if and to what extent the current COVID-19 pandemic has determined changes in our decision-making processes by means of the unusual, prolonged experience of negative feelings, in this study we investigate the effect of anger, fear, sadness, physical and moral disgust on intertemporal and risky choices. Results show that all emotions significantly increase subjects’ preferences for immediate rewards over delayed ones, and for risky rewards over certain ones, in comparison to a “neutral emotion” condition, although the magnitude of the effect differs across emotions. In particular, we observed a more pronounced effect in the case of sadness and moral disgust. These findings contribute to the literature on emotions and decision-making by offering an alternative explanation to the traditional motivational appraisal theories. Specifically, we propose that the increased preference for immediate gratification and risky outcomes serves as a mechanism of self-reward aimed at down-regulating negative feelings and restore the individual’s “emotional balance”.

Reactivating Hippocampal-Mediated Memories to Disrupt the Reconsolidation of Fear

Memories are stored in the brain as cellular ensembles activated during learning and reactivated during retrieval. Using the Tet-tag system, we labeled dorsal dentate gyrus (dDG) neurons activated by positive, neutral or negative experiences with channelrhodopsin-2. Following fear-conditioning, these cells were artificially reactivated during fear memory recall. Optical stimulation of a competing positive memory was sufficient to disrupt reconsolidation, thereby reducing conditioned fear acutely and enduringly. Moreover, mice demonstrated operant responding for reactivation of a positive memory, confirming its rewarding properties. These results show that interference from a rewarding experience can counteract negative affective states. While interference induced by memory reactivation involved a relatively small set of neurons, we also found that activating a large population of randomly labeled dDG neurons was effective at disrupting reconsolidation. Importantly, reconsolidation-interference was specific to the fear memory. These findings implicate the dDG as a potential therapeutic node for modulating memories to suppress fear.

Neurons expressing mu opioid receptors of the habenula promote negative affect in a projection-specific manner

BACKGROUND: The mu opioid receptor (MOR) is central to hedonic balance, and produces euphoria by engaging reward circuits. MOR signaling may also influence aversion centers, and notably the medial habenula (MHb) where the receptor is highly dense, however this was not investigated. Our prior data suggest that the inhibitory activity of MOR in the MHb limits aversive states. Here we therefore tested the hypothesis that neurons expressing MOR in the MHb (MHb-MOR neurons) promote negative affective states. METHODS: Using Oprm1-Cre knock-in mice, we combined tracing and optogenetics with behavioral testing to investigate consequences of MHb-MOR neuron stimulation in approach/avoidance (real-time place preference), anxiety-related responses (open field, elevated plus maze and marble burying) and despair-like behavior (tail suspension). RESULTS: Opto-stimulation of MHb-MOR neurons elicited avoidance behavior, demonstrating that these neurons promote aversive states. Anterograde tracing showed that, in addition to the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), MHb-MOR neurons project to the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), uncovering a yet unreported connection of MHb to a main mood center. Opto-stimulation of MHb-MOR/IPN neurons triggered avoidance and despair-like responses with no anxiety-related effect, whereas light-activation of MHb-MOR/DRN neurons increased levels of anxiety with no effect on other behaviors, revealing two dissociable pathways controlling negative affect. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates aversive activity of MHb neurons that respond to MOR opioids. We propose that inhibition of these neurons by endogenous or exogenous opioids relieves negative affect via two distinct MHb microcircuits, contributing to despair-like behavior (MHb-MOR/IPN) and anxiety (MHb-MOR/DRN). This mechanism has implications for hedonic homeostasis and addiction.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Higher Education: Characterizing the Psychosocial Context of the Positive and Negative Affective States Using Classification and Regression Trees

Our aim is to analyze the extent to which the psychosocial aspects can characterize the affective states of the teachers, administrative staff, and undergraduate and postgraduate students during the quarantine. A questionnaire was answered by 1,328 people from the community of the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Spain. The survey was partially designed ad hoc, collecting indicators related to sociodemographic variables, the impact of COVID on the subjects or in their personal context, the psychosocial context of coexistence and perceived social support, characteristics related to the physical context during the quarantine, and labor conditions. Additionally, it included two validated instruments: the Survey Work-Home Interaction–Nijmegen for Spanish Speaking Countries (SWING-SSC) validated in Spanish and PANAS, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were performed to identify which variables better characterize the participants' level of positive and negative affective states. Results according to groups showed that students are the ones who have suffered the most as a result of this situation (temporary employment regulation, higher scores in negative work-home and home-work interaction, lower scores in positive home-work interaction, and negative effects of teleworking). Additionally, they reported a higher mean score in interpersonal conflict and worse scores with regard to negative affective states. Based on sex, women were the ones whose environment was shown to be more frequently affected by the pandemic and who exhibited more negative effects of teleworking. In general terms, participants with the highest scores in negative affective states were those who perceived an increase in conflict and a high negative effect from work spilling over into their personal lives. On the contrary, participants with the highest levels of positive affective states were those with medium to low levels of negative home-work interaction, over 42.5 years old, and with medium to high levels of positive work-home interaction. Our results aim to help higher education to reflect on the need to adapt to this new reality, since the institutions that keep pace with evolving trends will be able to better attract, retain, and engage all the members of the university community in the years ahead.

Psychoactive Substance Use and Its Relationship to Stress, Emotional State, Depressive Symptomatology, and Perceived Threat During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico

People can increase their use of psychoactive substances in response to stressful situations as a maladaptive mechanism for reducing negative affective states. It is therefore necessary to examine changes in the use of such substances and their relationship to mental health in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.Objective: Evaluate the relationship between psychoactive substances and stress, emotional state, and symptomatology during the COVID-19 lockdown in Mexico.Method: A national survey was conducted, using the free Google Forms platform, of residents of Mexico aged 18 and older. The survey was disseminated through social media.Results: The sample comprised 4,122 individuals, mostly women (71.8%), with an age range of 18–81 years (M = 37.08, SD = 12.689), of which 46.8% were single, and 42.9% married. In general, there was a reduction in substance use during the first 2 months of the quarantine; the most commonly used substances were alcohol, tobacco, and tranquilizers. Respondents who described having greater use than before the pandemic presented greater stress, depressive symptomatology, and perceived threat than those who did not use substances.Conclusions: Respondents who did not use substances reported lower levels of stress, depressive symptomatology, impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and perception of its threat. Women reported greater stress, depressive symptomatology, and emotional intensity than men.

Cognitive and Composite Behavioural Welfare Assessments of Pet Cats between the Ages of 9–22 Months, Living in Single and Multi-Cat Households

Although agonistic interactions between cats are often regarded clinically as a source of stress, there is currently limited research evidence regarding the welfare impact of keeping multiple cats as pets. The aim of this study was to compare welfare indicators between cats living in domestic single and multi-cat households, as well as between multi-cat households where agonistic behaviour was/was not reported by owners. Indicators included a spatial judgment bias task (JBT), where longer latencies to ambiguous probes are interpreted as being related to a more ‘pessimistic’ mood state, and the cat stress score (CSS), where high scores are indicative of high stress levels. Of 128 focal cats between the ages of 9–22 months, 94 were from multi-cat households, 126 had useable CSS data and 42 had JBT results suitable for analysis. CSSs were significantly lower for cats showing a more ‘pessimistic’ response in the JBT. It is possible that the cats that appeared to be the most relaxed may have been showing inactivity relating to negative affective states and/or were the least active/food motivated, and therefore slower in the JBT. CSSs were significantly higher in cats from single compared with multi-cat households, and did not vary with reports of agonistic interactions in multi-cat households. JBT results did not vary depending on the presence of, or reports of agonistic behaviours between, cohabiting cats. These data suggest that cats from single-cat households may be more likely to show signs of acute stress than those in multi-cat households. Alternative explanations are possible. For example, lower CSSs in the multi-cat group may reflect ‘relief’ effects resulting from separating cats for the test period, or inactivity relating to negative affective states. Due to the narrow sample population and broad scope of husbandry conditions, the potential for confounding variables limits the degree by which results can be used to inform causation of the relationships identified. Further research is warranted to replicate this work and explore potential confounders.

The costs of over-control in anorexia nervosa: evidence from fMRI and ecological momentary assessment

A growing body of evidence suggests that a high level of self-control may, despite its positive effects, influence cognitive processing in an unfavorable manner. However, the affective costs of self-control have only rarely been investigated. Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder that is often characterized by excessive self-control. Here, we used fMRI to explore whether over-control in AN may have negative affective consequences. 36 predominantly adolescent female AN patients and 36 age-matched healthy controls (HC) viewed negative and neutral pictures during two separate fMRI sessions before and after 10 min of rest. We tested whether abnormally elevated neural activity during the initial presentation in a brain region broadly implicated in top-down control, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), could predict subsequent activation in limbic areas relevant to bottom-up affective processing. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), we also tested for associations between the aforementioned neuroimaging markers and negative affective states in the two weeks following the experiment. fMRI data revealed that higher initial activation of the dlPFC in AN predicted increased amygdala reactivity during the second fMRI session, which in turn was related to increased self-reported tension during two weeks following the scan. These data suggest that over-control in AN patients may come at a cost including negative affective states on a short (minutes) as well as a longer time scale (days). This mechanism may significantly contribute to the persistence of AN.