Ecological systems contributors to internalizing symptoms in a national sample of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Internalizing problems are common in adolescence and increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leveraging data from a U.S. nationally diverse sample of 2,954 adolescents (ages 13-16), we examined the associations between factors at multiple levels of youths’ ecologies – spanning indicators of threat and deprivation – and their depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we examined how these associations differed by adolescents’ racial/ethnic groups. Consistent with socio-ecological models, we found that indicators of threat and deprivation at the adolescents’ immediate home, and more distal neighborhood environments were associated with their depression and anxiety symptoms. The patterns of associations were similar across racial/ethnic groups in multigroup structural equation models. Additionally, we found that mean levels of internalizing symptoms and socio-ecological predictors significantly differed across racial/ethnic groups. These findings have important implications for understanding multi-level contributors to mental health among adolescents which may inform research, practice, and policy.

Situational and Ecological Predictors of Conducted Energy Weapon Application Severity

Despite being touted as a “less lethal” use-of-force option, conducted energy weapons (CEWs) do pose some risk of injury to civilians, and thus warrant empirical examination. CEWs provide users with multiple use modes constituting various levels of severity; yet apart from the work of Somers and colleagues, almost no research exists investigating these levels of severity. Further, research findings on the impact of suspect resistance on CEW deployment are somewhat mixed. We contribute an innovative application of environmental criminology in a Canadian setting by exploring situational and ecological predictors of CEW application severity, with special attention being paid to reasons cited for CEW use and the impact of subject resistance level. Using all 393 Ontario Provincial Police CEW-related use-of-force reports over a two-year period, we find probe deployment to be the most common level of CEW application severity, irrespective of subject resistance level, and even when officers and subjects are in close proximity to one another. Application of CEW for the purpose of effecting an arrest is consistently the strongest predictor of CEW application severity without any mediating effect of subject resistance level or presence of a weapon. The impact of applying CEWs for the purpose of effecting arrests on CEW application severity is partially mediated by lighting visibility. Results are discussed.

A Tale of Peaks and Valleys: Sinusoid Relationship Patterns Between Mountainousness and Basic Human Values

Mountains—mythic and majestic—have fueled widespread speculation about their effects on character. Emerging empirical evidence has begun to show that physical topography is indeed associated with personality traits, especially heightened openness. Here, we extend this work to the domain of personal values, linking novel large-scale individual values data ( n = 32,666) to objective indicators of altitude and mountainousness derived from satellite radar data. Partial correlations and conditional random forest machine-learning algorithms demonstrate that altitude and mountainousness are related to increased conservation values and decreased hedonism. Effect sizes are generally small (| r| < .031) but comparable to other socio-ecological predictors, such as population density and latitude. The findings align with the dual-pressure model of ecological stress, suggesting that it might be most adaptive in the mountains to have an open personality to effectively deal with threats and endorse conservative values that promote a social order that minimizes threats.

Extended Theoretical Framework of Parental Internet Mediation: Use of Multiple Theoretical Stances for Understanding Socio-Ecological Predictors

Digital media is a common phenomenon in contemporary societies. Recognizing the popularity of digital and online devices among the younger generation, the subject of parental internet mediation is of utmost significance for avoiding the adverse effects of digital media on the physical, cognitive, and social wellbeing of youngsters. Taking insights from an informed review of multi-grounded theories, we propose an extended framework of socio-ecological predictors concerning parental internet mediation. This contribution offers an innovative methodological and analytical perspective to consider both psychological and behavioral predictors for promoting resilience. This review acknowledged resilience as a strength-based measure to ensure online safety among young individuals. This review suggests that an integrated socio-ecological approach is critical to formulating the basis for a theoretical framework to fully comprehend the socio-ecological predictors of parental internet mediation.

Testing hypotheses of marsupial brain size variation using phylogenetic multiple imputations and a Bayesian comparative framework

Considerable controversy exists about which hypotheses and variables best explain mammalian brain size variation. We use a new, high-coverage dataset of marsupial brain and body sizes, and the first phylogenetically imputed full datasets of 16 predictor variables, to model the prevalent hypotheses explaining brain size evolution using phylogenetically corrected Bayesian generalized linear mixed-effects modelling. Despite this comprehensive analysis, litter size emerges as the only significant predictor. Marsupials differ from the more frequently studied placentals in displaying a much lower diversity of reproductive traits, which are known to interact extensively with many behavioural and ecological predictors of brain size. Our results therefore suggest that studies of relative brain size evolution in placental mammals may require targeted co-analysis or adjustment of reproductive parameters like litter size, weaning age or gestation length. This supports suggestions that significant associations between behavioural or ecological variables with relative brain size may be due to a confounding influence of the extensive reproductive diversity of placental mammals.