Publications by authors named "Sam Parsons"

Emerging neuroimaging studies investigating changes in the brain aim to collect sufficient data points to examine trajectories of change across key developmental periods. Yet, current studies are often constrained by the number of time points available now. We demonstrate that these constraints should be taken seriously and that studies with two time points should focus on particular questions (e.

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The Cognitive Bias (CogBIAS) hypothesis proposes that cognitive biases develop as a function of environmental influences (which determine the valence of biases) and the genetic susceptibility to those influences (which determines the potency of biases). The current study employed a longitudinal, polygenic-by-environment approach to examine the CogBIAS hypothesis. To this end, measures of life experiences and polygenic scores for depression were used to assess the development of memory and interpretation biases in a three-wave sample of adolescents (12-16 years) ( = 337).

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Background: The race-based Implicit Association Test (IAT) was proposed to measure individual differences in implicit racial bias subsumed within social cognition. In recent years, researchers have debated the theoretical tenets underpinning the IAT, questioning whether performance on this task: (1) measures implicit attitudes that operate automatically outside of conscious awareness; (2) reflects individual differences in social cognition; and (3) can predict social behavior. One way to better address these research questions is to assess whether the race-IAT correlates with other implicit processes that are subsumed within social cognition.

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Identifying early neurocognitive mechanisms that confer risk for mental health problems is one important avenue as we seek to develop successful early interventions. Currently, however, we have limited understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms involved in shaping mental health trajectories from childhood through young adulthood, and this constrains our ability to develop effective clinical interventions. In particular, there is an urgent need to develop more sensitive, reliable, and scalable measures of individual differences for use in developmental settings.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explored how various sociodemographic factors like sex, age, occupational class, education, and ethnicity influenced self-reported healthcare disruptions during the early COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.
  • Over 68,000 participants reported disruptions, with 6%-32% indicating challenges in accessing medications, procedures, and appointments; disruptions were notably higher among females, older adults, and ethnic minorities.
  • The findings suggest that these healthcare disruptions may exacerbate existing health inequalities, particularly affecting disadvantaged social classes.
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Background: Employment disruptions can impact smoking and alcohol consumption. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented furlough schemes to prevent job loss. We examine how furlough was associated with smoking, vaping and alcohol consumption in the UK.

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Objectives: Children with experience of out-of-home care (OHC) are at an increased risk of adverse outcomes in later life, including poorer levels of psycho-social adjustment. Less is known about the intergenerational transmission of the trauma associated with OHC and psychosocial outcomes in mid-adulthood, particularly during a major health pandemic.

Design: To examine if there is evidence of intergenerational transmission of trauma associated with OHC in mid-adulthood, we used data from the 1970 British Cohort Study 2020 COVID-19 Survey.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The UK implemented the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) in March 2020 to reduce job losses, and researchers examined its impact on diet, physical activity, and sleep among furloughed individuals during the first COVID-19 lockdown.
  • - The study included data from over 25,000 participants, revealing that furloughed workers were somewhat less physically inactive compared to those working, but there were mixed results regarding fruit and vegetable consumption and sleep patterns.
  • - Overall, furloughed individuals did not show significant health behavior differences from those still working, and some reported increases in healthy eating, exercise, and sleep duration.
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The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has called for evidence on the roles that different stakeholders play in reproducibility and research integrity. Of central priority are proposals for improving research integrity and quality, as well as guidance and support for researchers. In response to this, we argue that there is one important component of research integrity that is often absent from discussion: the pedagogical consequences of how we teach, mentor, and supervise students through open scholarship.

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Background: Recent years have witnessed an increasing prevalence of binge eating tendencies in adolescence-warranting a clearer understanding of their underlying predisposing and precipitating factors. The current study investigated whether the interaction between high levels of anxiety and stress predicted increased levels of binge eating tendencies in a prospective cohort of adolescents (N = 324).

Methods: Measurements were taken over three waves (M ages: 13.

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In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the swift response of mental health research funders and institutions, service providers, and academics enabled progress toward understanding the mental health consequences. Nevertheless, there remains an urgent need to understand the true extent of the short- and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, necessitating ongoing research. Although the speed with which mental health researchers have mobilized to respond to the pandemic so far is to be commended, there are valid concerns as to whether speed may have compromised the quality of our work.

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The combined cognitive bias hypothesis proposes that emotional information-processing biases may conjointly influence mental health. Yet, little is known about the interrelationships amongst cognitive biases, particularly in adolescence. We used data from the CogBIAS longitudinal study (Booth et al.

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The development of negative cognitive biases, together with symptoms of anxiety and depression, has yet to be investigated longitudinally. Using a three-wave design, the present study examined developmental trajectories of anxiety and depressive symptoms and the co-occurrence of cognitive biases, in a large normative sample of adolescents (N = 504). Data was drawn from the CogBIAS Longitudinal Study (CogBIAS-L-S), which assessed a wide range of psychological variables, including cognitive biases and self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms, when adolescents were approximately 13, 14.

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Extensive research has examined attention bias to threat in the context of anxiety in adults, but little is understood about this association in young children, and there is a dearth of longitudinal research examining whether attention bias to threat predicts anxiety over time in childhood. In the current study, a sample of 180 children participated in a longitudinal study, first as preschoolers and again as they transitioned to formal schooling. At baseline, children aged 3-4 years completed a free-viewing eye-tracking task with angry-neutral and happy-neutral face pairs and an assessment of behavioral inhibition (BI).

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Resilience is a dynamic process depicted by better than expected levels of functioning in response to significant adversity. This can be assessed statistically, by taking the residuals from a model of psychological functioning regressed onto negative life events. We report the first study to investigate multiple cognitive factors in relation to this depiction of resilient functioning.

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The strength of research conclusions must follow from the strength of evidence. In this commentary I raise several issues with a recent paper "Brain structure changes induced by attention bias modification training" (Abend et al., 2019).

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Background: Adolescence is a time of considerable social, cognitive, and physiological development. It reflects a period of heightened risk for the onset of mental health problems, as well as heightened opportunity for flourishing and resilience. The CogBIAS Longitudinal Study (CogBIAS-L-S) aims to investigate psychological development during adolescence.

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Considerable effort and funding have been spent on developing Attention Bias Modification (ABM) as a treatment for anxiety disorders, theorized to exert therapeutic effects through reduction of a tendency to orient attention toward threat. However, meta-analytical evidence that clinical anxiety is characterized by threat-related attention bias is thin. The largest meta-analysis to date included dot-probe data for n = 337 clinically anxious individuals.

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Attentional bias to threat cues is most adaptive when the dangers they signal can readily be controlled by timely action. This study examined whether heightened trait anxiety is associated with impaired alignment between attentional bias to threat and variation in the controllability of danger, and whether this is moderated by executive functioning. Participants completed a task in which threat cues signalled money loss and an aversive noise burst (the danger).

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Background: Optimal psychological development is dependent upon a complex interplay between individual and situational factors. Investigating the development of these factors in adolescence will help to improve understanding of emotional vulnerability and resilience. The CogBIAS longitudinal study (CogBIAS-L-S) aims to combine cognitive and genetic approaches to investigate risk and protective factors associated with the development of mood and impulsivity-related outcomes in an adolescent sample.

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Background: Attending private school or a higher-status university is thought to benefit future earnings and occupational opportunities. We examined whether these measures were beneficially related to health and selected health-related behaviours in midlife.

Methods: Data were from up to 9799 participants from the 1970 British birth Cohort Study.

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Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia face many barriers to recycling participation. This study first investigated the volumes and types of waste produced by SMEs. Significant barriers were then identified and key motivators to recycle examined.

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