Insomnia partially mediates the relationship between anxiogenic and depressogenic traits and state anxiety and depression in college students.

Objective: Insomnia, anxiety, and depression are common and co-morbid amongst college students. The mechanisms by which trait factors like intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity connect to state anxiety and depression is unclear, but insomnia may mediate that relationship.

Participants: College students ( = 439) were recruited from national and local sources.

The Effects of Lucid Dreaming and Nightmares on Sleep Quality and Mental Health Outcomes.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate relationships between lucid dreaming and sleep and mental health outcomes within a representative sample of the general population. We also sought to examine how nightmares interact with the relationship between lucid dreaming, sleep, and mental health outcomes.

Methods: Participants ( = 1332) completed measures of lucid dream frequency, nightmare frequency, anxiety and depressive symptoms, stress, and sleep quality.

The relationships between wanting to nap, actually napping, and depressed and anxious mood.

Study Objectives: These studies disentangle the relationships between wanting to nap (nap desire), actually napping (nap behavior), and depressed and anxious mood. Study 1 partially replicated and extended findings connecting napping and depressed and anxious mood. Study 2 explored the distinction between nap desire and behavior using a new, larger sample and a different technique.

Declines in social-emotional skills in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The present study investigated whether social-emotional skills in first year college students differed before and after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdowns.

Methods: Participants ( = 1,685) consisted of first year college students (mean age 18.53 years) selected from a broader cohort enrolled in a longitudinal study on college mental health at liberal arts colleges in the United States.

The impact of COVID-19 and long COVID on sexual function in cisgender women.

Background: Research suggests that COVID-19 impairs sexual function in men, but little is known about the impact of COVID-19 (or long COVID) on sexual function in women.

Aim: We sought to compare the sexual function of cisgender women who had never had COVID-19, who had COVID-19 but not long COVID, and who had long COVID, and assessed whether long COVID symptoms and/or emotional distress mediate the relationship between COVID-19 history and sexual function.

Methods: In total, 2329 adult cisgender women were recruited online as study participants.

Relationship of insomnia to sexual function and sexual satisfaction: Findings from the sleep and sex survey II.

Objective: Research suggests that healthy sleep is a key component of sexual function. When evaluating sexual function, however, poor sleep is often overlooked as a contributing factor. This cross-sectional survey expands prior work by exploring relationships among insomnia severity, sexual satisfaction, and sexual function with an updated battery of measures for the Sleep and Sex Survey.

The Psychological Science Accelerator's COVID-19 rapid-response dataset.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments.

In COVID-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety with Little-to-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence from 84 Countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g.

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation.

To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov's valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions.

Impact of COVID-19 predicts perceived risk more strongly than known demographic risk factors.

Objective: To identify the factors associated with perceived COVID-19 risk among people living in the US.

Methods: A cross-sectional representative sample of 485 US residents was collected in mid-April 2020. Participants were asked about (a) perceptions of COVID-19 risk, (b) demographic factors known to be associated with increased COVID-19 risk, and (c) the impact of COVID-19 on different life domains.

The Differential Role of Coping, Physical Activity, and Mindfulness in College Student Adjustment.

Research has examined the function of stress management techniques, including coping, physical activity, and mindfulness on college students' adjustment. The present study examined the differential contributions of three stress management techniques to students' maladaptation (perceived stress, depression, anxiety, and loneliness) and adaptation (self-esteem). Undergraduate students ( = 1185) responded to an online survey.

An internet-based mind/body intervention to mitigate distress in women experiencing infertility: A randomized pilot trial.

Objective: To determine if an internet-based mind/body program would lead to participants experiencing infertility (1) being willing to be recruited and randomized and (2) accepting and being ready to engage in a fertility-specific intervention. Secondary exploratory goals were to examine reduced distress over the course of the intervention and increased likelihood to conceive.

Methods: This was a pilot randomized controlled feasibility trial with a between-groups, repeated measure design.

Emotional Intelligence, Belongingness, and Mental Health in College Students.

Mental health problems are prevalent amongst today's college students and psychosocial stress has been identified as a strong contributing factor. Conversely, research has documented that emotional intelligence (EQ) is a protective factor for depression, anxiety and stress (mental health problems). However, the underlying mechanism whereby EQ may support stronger mental health is currently not well understood.

Emotional responding: Integration of multiple constructs and association with psychological health.

Objective: Numerous psychological constructs exist to describe different facets of emotional responding, but they have rarely been examined together. We empirically modeled the associations between four psychological constructs (mindfulness, emotional nonacceptance, experiential avoidance, and anxiety sensitivity) of individuals' responses to their affective experience, hypothesizing that a bifactor model would fit the data best.

Method: We used exploratory structural equation modeling, a novel latent variable modeling framework, to compare five measurement models of emotional responding in an online community sample (N = 307).

Gender effects on mental health symptoms and treatment in college students.

Mental health problems are a growing concern on college campuses. Although postsecondary institutions often provide mental health services to students free of charge, it is unclear which students access such treatment and why. This study examined predictors of mental health treatment among college students.

A house is not a home: Modeling the effects of social support and connection within resettled refugee populations.

Aim: The U.S. resettlement program currently resettles refugees in communities of similar or the same ethnic background known as like-ethnic communities.

Loneliness as a mediator for college students' social skills and experiences of depression and anxiety.

Introduction: Rates of anxiety and depression are increasing among college undergraduates. Existing research has demonstrated a link between social skills and mental health outcomes. This study explores the relationship between verbal social skills (encoding and decoding) and anxiety and depression by measuring the extent to which loneliness mediates these relationships.

On the Content of "Real-World" Sexual Fantasy: Results From an Analysis of 250,000+ Anonymous Text-Based Erotic Fantasies.

A recurring problem with the study of sexual fantasy is that of social desirability bias. Study participants may report fantasies that are consistent with general societal expectations of fantasy content, as opposed to themes characterized by their actual fantasies. The wide availability of erotic material on the Internet, however, facilitates the study of sexual fantasy narratives as they are anonymously expressed and viewed online.

The sleep and sex survey: Relationships between sexual function and sleep.

Objective: Distress and dysfunction in sleep and sex are both very common, and have been found to be separately related to anxiety, depression, and stress. Even so, and despite evidence linking obstructive sleep apnea and erectile disfunction, the connections between sleep and sex are largely understudied.

Method: A large (N = 703) survey of people in the United States between 18 and 65 years old was conducted using Mechanical Turk, an on-line crowd-sourcing platform.

Sexual vs. Nonsexual Currently Most Upsetting Trauma: A Fresh Look at Attenuation of Sexual Response, Alcohol Intoxication, and Post-Traumatic Stress.

This study examined the dependence of sexual response (vaginal pulse amplitude [VPA] and subjective sexual arousal) on alcohol intoxication (.10% breath alcohol concentration [BrAC] versus no alcohol) and the nature of a woman's currently most upsetting traumatic event (C-MUTE), whether it was sexual (e.g.

Father Participation in Child Psychopathology Research.

The purpose of the current study was two-fold: (1) To examine time trends of the inclusion of fathers in child psychopathology research from 2005 to 2015; and (2) to examine online crowdsourcing as a method to recruit and study fathers. In study 1, findings indicated that, relative to two earlier reviews of father participation from 1984 to 1991 and 1992-2004, there has been limited progress in the inclusion of fathers in child psychopathology research over the last decade. In study 2, without explicit efforts to recruit fathers, almost 40% of a sample of 564 parents recruited from online crowdsourcing (Amazon's Mechanical Turk) were fathers.

Responding to the need for sleep among survivors of interpersonal violence: A randomized controlled trial of a cognitive-behavioral insomnia intervention followed by PTSD treatment.

Sleep disturbance is a common feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but is not a focus of standard PTSD treatments. Psychological trauma exposure is associated with considerable physical and mental health morbidity, possibly due to the alterations in neuroendocrine function and inflammation observed in trauma exposed individuals. Although PTSD treatments are efficacious, they are associated with high drop-out rates in clinical trials and clinical practice.