Sustained Stress Reduces the Age Advantages in Emotional Experience of Older Adults: Commentary on Carstensen et al. (2020)

Older age is characterized by more positive and less negative emotional experience. Recent work by Carstensen et al. (2020) demonstrated that the age advantages in emotional experience have persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In two studies, we replicated and extended this work. In Study 1, we conducted a large-scale test of the robustness of Carstensen and colleagues’ findings using data from 23,350 participants in 63 countries. Our results confirm that age advantages in emotions have persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Study 2, we directly compared the age advantages before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a within-participants study ( N = 4,370). We found that the age advantages in emotions decreased during the pandemic. These findings are consistent with theoretical proposals that the age advantages reflect older adults’ ability to avoid situations that are likely to cause negative emotions, which is challenging under conditions of sustained unavoidable stress.

Keeping both parents’ bond with their child in separation situation – considerations in the context of forensic-psychological diagnosis

The article undertakes the topic of psychological diagnosis in a situation of joint custody from the forensic psychologist’s perspective. The authors underline the necessity of deep psychological analysis of the issue in order to answer the question of how separating parents can create the best possible conditions of care for their child and how to minimize the stress inevitably accompanying all family members in such a situation. Parenting model in which both parents are similarly engaged in upbringing process and the child lives at both parents’ places is discussed. The authors summarize benefits and disadvantages of parenting with the so-called ‘leading parent’ and joint custody trying to show the importance of organization of the parenting that first of all minimizes the unavoidable stress of the child in the situation of separation and protects existing bonds. It was proposed that the process of psychological diagnosis for legal purposes should not focus on which parent has higher level of ‘parental competence’, but should consider which specific situation may be the most beneficial for the child, bearing in mind the priority given to fostering attachment. This implies the need to change parents’, lawyers’ and psychologists’ way of thinking. For forensic psychologists, the proposed perspective may even require a reorganization of diagnostic process.

ROLE OF MANIPUR CHAKRA ACTIVATION IN TREATMENT OF DIABETES MELLITUS

Chakras are the circular vortex of energy lying across the seven different points on your spinal column. On a physical level, chakras are associated with the major nerve plexuses and endocrine glands in the body. Many asanas have particularly powerful and beneficial effect on one or more of these glands or plexuses. Chakras are not the physical entity and reside in energy body, but help us to understand the body functions and emotions. As they are psychoactive energy centers in human body they are directly related to physiological and psychological health of human being. The unavoidable stress in lifestyle has blocked the entire chakra system and imbalance in the energy flow causes various diseases. We have the great ancient knowledge with us to regulate the energy flow through chakras and get cured from various disorders related to that chakra. Mechanism of yoga effects is the most visible in the systems of chakras and nadis, which specifically and directly correlates with nervous and endocrine system. This study is a small effort to prove the effect and application of Manipur chakra activation in management of life style disorders especially diabetes mellitus.

Age Advantages in Emotional Experience Persist Even Under Threat From the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating unprecedented, sustained, and unavoidable stress for the entire population, and older people are facing particularly heightened risk of contracting the virus and suffering severe complications, including death. The present study was conducted when the pandemic was spreading exponentially in the United States. To address important theoretical questions about age differences in emotional experience in times of crisis, we surveyed a representative sample of 945 Americans between the ages of 18 and 76 years and assessed the frequency and intensity of a range of positive and negative emotions. We also assessed perceived risk of contagion and complications from the virus, as well as personality, health, and demographic characteristics. Age was associated with relatively greater emotional well-being both when analyses did and did not control for perceived risk and other covariates. The present findings extend previous research about age and emotion by demonstrating that older adults’ relatively better emotional well-being persists even in the face of prolonged stress.

Age Advantages in Emotional Experience Persist Even Under Threat From the COVID-19 Pandemic

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is creating unprecedented, sustained, and unavoidable stress for the entire population, with older people facing particularly heightened risk of contracting the virus and suffering severe complications including death. The present study was conducted when the pandemic was spreading exponentially in the United States. To address important theoretical questions about age differences in emotional experience in times of crisis, we surveyed a representative sample of 945 Americans aged 18-76 and assessed the frequency and intensity of a range of positive and negative emotions. We also assessed perceived risk of contagion and complications from the virus, as well as personality, health, and demographic characteristics. Age was associated with relatively greater emotional well-being with and without controlling for perceived risk and other covariates. Findings extend previous research about age and emotion by demonstrating that older adults’ relatively better emotional well-being persists even in the face of prolonged stress.</p><p><br></p><p>Accepted for COVID-19 fast-track publication in Psychological Science.<br></p>

Age Advantages in Emotional Experience Persist Even Under Threat From the COVID-19 Pandemic

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is creating unprecedented, sustained, and unavoidable stress for the entire population, with older people facing particularly heightened risk of contracting the virus and suffering severe complications including death. The present study was conducted when the pandemic was spreading exponentially in the United States. To address important theoretical questions about age differences in emotional experience in times of crisis, we surveyed a representative sample of 945 Americans aged 18-76 and assessed the frequency and intensity of a range of positive and negative emotions. We also assessed perceived risk of contagion and complications from the virus, as well as personality, health, and demographic characteristics. Age was associated with relatively greater emotional well-being with and without controlling for perceived risk and other covariates. Findings extend previous research about age and emotion by demonstrating that older adults’ relatively better emotional well-being persists even in the face of prolonged stress.</p><p><br></p><p>Accepted for COVID-19 fast-track publication in Psychological Science.<br></p>

Grain kinematics during stress relaxation in sand: not a problem for X-ray imaging

X-ray tomography is a very valuable tool for studying the full-field 3D deformation of granular materials. The requirement to stop loading and scan a given state (assumed to be stationary) used in most approaches implies unavoidable stress relaxation during scanning. Since scanning times on laboratory tomographs are normally in the order of 1 hour, the strength of the assumption of a stationary state cannot be tested, which introduces some potential weakness in the interpretation of the rich micro-mechanics observed. This paper presents the kinematics of relaxation of a dry natural sand in a typical oedometric cell used for X-ray scanning, using a synchrotron X-ray source to provide scanning times of around 3 minutes, at two different magnifications. This allows the relaxation of the cell & sand system for the first time to be quantified. Advanced image correlation tools are used to quantify the rearrangements of the soil skeleton during loading and the subsequent relaxation. The results indicate that the magnitude of grain displacements during relaxation, associated to ≈4% reduction in externally measured axial stress under oedometric loading, falls below 0:01D50. It can, therefore, be concluded that the relaxation step required prior to an X-ray scan during an in-situ geomechanical experiment on dry sand does not lead to appreciable uncertainties.

Anti-anhedonic activity of long-term lithium treatment in rats exposed to repeated unavoidable stress

Behavioural and neurochemical responses to palatable food exposure represent an index of hedonic competence. In rats, a palatable meal increases extra-neuronal dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcS) that confers to it incentive salience and reinforcing value. Repeated stress exposure decreases dopamine output and impairs the NAcS dopaminergic response to palatable food and the competence to acquire a vanilla sugar (VS)-reinforced instrumental behaviour [VS-sustained appetitive behaviour (VAB)]. Moreover, chronic stress exposure disrupts reactivity to aversive stimuli. A 3-wk treatment with lithium, the gold-standard treatment in bipolar disorder, tonically reduces NAcS dopamine output and the reactivity to aversive stimuli. However, it does not affect the dopaminergic response to VS and the competence to acquire VAB. This study investigated whether repeated lithium administration is endowed with anti-anhedonic activity. The NAcS dopaminergic response to VS and the competence to acquire VAB and sucrose self-administration (SA), in terms of fixed-ratio (FR)1, FR5 and progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement, were studied in saline or lithium-treated groups of non-food-deprived rats exposed or not to repeated unavoidable stress. Chronic stress exposure impaired the NAcS dopaminergic response to VS, acquisition of VAB and sucrose SA, in terms of FR1 and FR5 schedules of reinforcement and breaking point score. Repeated lithium treatment restored these parameters to control group values, even when treatment began in rats already showing an anhedonia-like condition. Since the breaking point defines the reinforcement efficacy of a hedonic stimulus, the present data suggest that lithium treatment is endowed with anti-anhedonic activity in rats.