Lifetime prevalence of questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: A preregistered nationally representative survey.

A growing body of evidence suggests that questionable health behaviors- not following medical recommendations and resorting to non-evidence based treatments-are more frequent than previously thought, and that they seem to have strong psychological roots. We thus aimed to: 1) document the lifetime prevalence of intentional non-adherence to medical recommendations (iNAR) and use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) in Serbia and 2) understand how they relate to 'distal' psychological factors-personality traits and thinking dispositions, and 'proximal' factors-a set of beliefs and cognitive biases under the term 'irrational mindset'. In this preregistered cross-sectional study on a nationally representative sample (N = 1003), we observed high lifetime prevalence of iNAR (91.

Screening for depression in the Serbian general population sample: an alternative to the traditional patient health questionnaire-9 cut-off score.

Background: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score ≥ 10 balances best sensitivity and specificity when detecting probable depression in patients. In the general population, different cut-offs are suggested. European studies on general populations validating the PHQ-9 against a diagnostic interview to detect depression are rare.

Prevalence of questionable health behaviours in Serbia and their psychological roots: protocol for a nationally representative survey.

Introduction: We will launch a national survey in Serbia to document the prevalence of two types of questionable health behaviours: (1) intentional non-adherence to medical recommendations and (2) use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine practices, as well as the relation between the two. We will also investigate their psychological roots, including (a) 'distal' predictors such as HEXACO personality traits (plus Disintegration) and thinking dispositions (rational/experiential thinking and cognitive reflexivity), and (b) 'proximal' predictors under the umbrella 'irrational mindset' (set of unfounded beliefs consisting of conspiratorial thinking, superstition, magical health beliefs as well as selected cognitive biases), which have more content-wise overlap with the health behaviours.

Methods And Analysis: In this cross-sectional study, a research agency will collect data from a nationally representative sample (n=1043; age 18-75 years; estimated start/end-June/November 2021) recruited online (approximately, 70% of the sample, aged 18-54; 11 years) and face-to-face (approximately, 30% of the sample, aged 55-75 years).

Tracking variations in daily questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: a preregistered experience sampling study.

People resort to various questionable health practices to preserve or regain health - they intentionally do not adhere to medical recommendations (e.g. self-medicate or modify the prescribed therapies; iNAR), or use traditional/complementary/alternative (TCAM) medicine.

Relationships between Physical Activity and Selected Chronic Diseases among Functionally Independent Long-Term Care Residents during the Post-Lockdown Period in Croatia.

The aim of this observational study was to investigate the level and association of physical activity and selected chronic diseases in functionally independent LTC residents after prolonged physical and social isolation during COVID-19 in Croatia. Adhering to the inclusion criteria, 180 functionally independent residents were included in the study. Assessment of physical activity was carried out by 7-day motor monitoring.

The anatomy of COVID-19-related conspiracy beliefs: Exploring their nomological network on a nationally representative sample.

Objectives: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was followed by the widespread proliferation of conspiracy beliefs (CBs) regarding the origin and harmfulness of the virus and a high level of hesitancy to vaccinate. We aimed to test a series of hypotheses on the correlates of CBs and vaccination, including socio-demographic factors, personality dispositions, somatic health, stressful experiences during pandemics, and psychological distress.

Method: The sample (N = 1203), was based on a multistage probabilistic household sampling representative of the general population.

Do people diagnosed with psychosis spectrum disorders share the same personality space as the general population? Big Five complemented by the proneness to psychotic-like experiences/behaviors.

Objective: Disintegration is a recently proposed broad, trait-like reconceptualization of the proneness to psychotic-like experiences/behaviors.

Methods: We tested the assumption that the 6-factor model (Five-Factor traits plus Disintegration) was the most adequate one and that it was invariant across clinical and non-clinical populations. The clinical sample (n = 161) consisted of patients who had at least one psychotic episode, duration of illness less than 10 years, currently in remission.

Covid-19-related stressors, mental disorders, depressive and anxiety symptoms: a cross-sectional, nationally-representative, face-to-face survey in Serbia.

Aim: The Covid-19 pandemic may be associated with an increase in mental disorders and mental distress. However, there are no representative studies testing the impact of stressors directly related to Covid-19. We aimed to determine whether Covid-19-related stressors were associated with mental disorders, depressive and anxiety symptoms in the second year of the pandemic.

On the relationship between valence and arousal in samples across the globe.

Affect is involved in many psychological phenomena, but a descriptive structure, long sought, has been elusive. Valence and arousal are fundamental, and a key question-the focus of the present study-is the relationship between them. Valence is sometimes thought to be independent of arousal, but, in some studies (representing too few societies in the world) arousal was found to vary with valence.

The meaning of momentary psychotic-like experiences in a non-clinical sample: A personality perspective.

The relationships between Momentary Psychotic-Like Experiences (MPLEs) and HEXACO-complemented by the proneness to PLEs conceptualized as a basic personality trait (Disintegration), and a maladaptive trait (PID-5 Psychoticism)-were investigated in a prospective study that includes experience-sampling methodology (ESM). The main goal was to investigate whether MPLEs are better predicted by HEXACO or measures of the dispositional proneness to PLEs. A sample of 180 participants assessed MPLEs and affective states they experienced in the previous two hours, twice per day, with semi-randomly set assessment time-points, during seven days, by using ESM.

Proneness to psychotic-like experiences as a basic personality trait complementing the HEXACO model-A preregistered cross-national study.

The goal of the study is to investigate the relationship between the HEXACO personality model and Disintegration-representing a broad spectrum of psychotic-like experiences and behavioral tendencies (Perceptual Distortions, General Executive/Cognitive Impairment, Enhanced Awareness, Paranoia, Mania, Flattened Affect, Apathy/Depression, Somatoform Dysregulation, and Magical Thinking) that are reconceptualized as a personality trait. In this preregistered study, we predicted that the Disintegration factor would separate from HEXACO. The replicability of the factorial structures of HEXACO and Disintegration subcomponents is investigated across the three national samples (UK, Germany, and Serbia), matched on key socio-demographic variables.

The relationship between closed-mindedness and militant extremism in a post-conflict society.

This study aimed to examine the role of socio-political attitudes and motivational tendencies supposed to mark closed-mindedness, as well as other relevant variables of individual differences (Disintegration, i.e., proneness to psychotic-like experiences/behaviors and Death Anxiety), in the Militant Extremist Mindset (MEM).

Relationship between electrocardiogram-based features and personality traits: Machine learning approach.

Background: Based on the known relationship between the human emotion and standard surface electrocardiogram (ECG), we explored the relationship between features extracted from standard ECG recorded during relaxation and seven personality traits (Honesty/humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Disintegration) by using the machine learning (ML) approach which learns from the ECG-based features and predicts the appropriate personality trait by adopting an automated software algorithm.

Methods: A total of 71 healthy university students participated in the study. For quantification of 62 ECG-based parameters (heart rate variability, as well as temporal and amplitude-based parameters) for each ECG record, we used computation procedures together with publicly available data and code.

Mental health in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic: protocol for a nationally representative multilevel survey in Serbia.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a prolonged impact on mental health (MH); however, the long-term MH effects of the COVID-19 pandemic remain unknown. The Serbian national survey-CoV2Soul.RS-was launched to document the MH status of the Serbian population following the COVID-19 pandemic and to contribute to an international evidence base about MH prevalence rates during different phases of the pandemic.

Determinants of quality of life among individuals seeking mental health care after termination of state of emergency due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Prompted by the need to measure the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 on main areas of quality of life related to mental health (MH), the COV-19-impact on quality of life (COV19-QoL) scale has been developed recently. We measured how patients seeking face-to-face MH care perceived the coronavirus disease 2019 impact on QoL and how socio-demographic factors, stress, and personality contributed to QoL in this diagnostically diverse population.Patients aged 18 to 65 years (n = 251) who came for the first time to the outpatient units during the 6-week index-period (May 21-July 1, 2020) were included.

Parental Burnout Around the Globe: a 42-Country Study.

Unlabelled: High levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to , a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children It is not yet clear, however, whether parental burnout varies by culture, and if so, why it might do so. In this study, we examined the prevalence of parental burnout in 42 countries (17,409 parents; 71% mothers; M = 39.20) and showed that the prevalence of parental burnout varies dramatically across countries.

What drives us to be (ir)responsible for our health during the COVID-19 pandemic? The role of personality, thinking styles, and conspiracy mentality.

The study aimed to investigate the role of personality, thinking styles, and conspiracy mentality in health-related behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., recommended health behaviors according to COVID-19 guidelines and engagement in pseudoscientific practices related to COVID-19.

Ambulatory assessment of language use: Evidence on the temporal stability of Electronically Activated Recorder and stream of consciousness data.

The ambulatory assessment offers a wide range of methods enabling researchers to investigate psychological, behavioral, emotional, and biological processes. These methods enable us to gather data on individual differences in language use for psychological research. Two studies were conducted with an aim to evaluate and compare the temporal stability of language measures extracted by LIWC software form data obtained by two frequently used methods for assessment of language use, i.

Relations Between Lexical and Biological Perspectives on Personality: New Evidence Based on HEXACO and Affective Neuroscience Theory.

We provide evidence on the convergence of language-based questionnaire and biological perspectives on personality traits. The first study, conducted on Serbian students, provided evidence on the position of Panksepp's Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) in the personality space defined by HEXACO facets. The second, replicatory study was conducted on a sample of German young adults.

Cross-cultural consistency and relativity in the enjoyment of thinking versus doing.

Which is more enjoyable: trying to think enjoyable thoughts or doing everyday solitary activities? Wilson et al. (2014) found that American participants much preferred solitary everyday activities, such as reading or watching TV, to thinking for pleasure. To see whether this preference generalized outside of the United States, we replicated the study with 2,557 participants from 12 sites in 11 countries.

PTSD and depressive symptoms are linked to DHEAS via personality.

Background: Research results on dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate ester (DHEAS) in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are inconsistent. We hypothesized that personality traits could be the confounders of DHEAS levels and disease symptoms, which could in part explain the discrepancy in findings.

Method: This study was a part of a broader project in which simultaneous psychological and biological investigations were carried out in hospital conditions.

Sadism, the Intuitive System, and Antisocial Punishment in the Public Goods Game.

In public goods situations, a specific destructive behavior emerges when individuals face the possibility of punishing others: antisocial punishment, that is, costly punishing cooperative individuals. So far, little is known about the (intuitive or reflective) processes underlying antisocial punishment. Building on the Social Heuristics Hypothesis and arguing that antisocial punishment reflects the basic characteristics of sadism, namely, aggressive behavior to dominate and to harm other individuals it is assumed that everyday sadists intuitively engage in antisocial punishment.

Posttraumatic and depressive symptoms in β-endorphin dynamics.

A disturbed beta-endorphin system can be a part of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression allostasis. Study subjects (N=392) included those with PTSD and/or (stress-induced) depression, and healthy controls with and without traumas. The aim of the study was to examine the network of relations centered around plasma beta-endorphin.