Publications by authors named "Sally Hang"

Article Synopsis
  • Loneliness tends to increase as kids move from childhood into their teenage years, partly due to the body's natural stress response changes during puberty.
  • Different individuals react to stress in varying ways, leading some to withdraw socially ("fight-or-flight") and others to seek social support ("tend-and-befriend").
  • The authors suggest a model that explains these reactions and propose interventions aimed at improving social relationships, personality traits, and managing stress to reduce loneliness in adolescents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Climate change, wildfires, and environmental justice concerns have drawn increased attention to the impact of air pollution on children's health and development. Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution exposure, as their brains and bodies are still developing. The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize available empirical evidence on the associations between air pollution exposure and brain outcomes in developmental samples (ages 0-18 years old).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Longitudinal studies across the globe documented significant increases in psychological stress and mental health problems among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health concerns, school disruptions, and social disconnection were major sources of stress. High levels of perceived stress predicted worse mental health outcomes, with girls, older adolescents, and socio-economically marginalized youth experiencing more pronounced mental health deteriorations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The concept of "social homeostasis", introduced by Matthews and Tye in 2019, has provided a framework with which to consider our changing individual needs for social interaction, and the neurobiology underlying this system. This model was conceived as including detector systems, a control center with a setpoint, and effectors which allow us to seek out or avoid additional social contact. In this article, we review and theorize about the many different factors that might contribute to the setpoint of a person or animal, including individual, social, cultural, and other environmental factors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF