The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls' report on "prostitution and violence".

Readers of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matter are no strangers to interrogating evidence in all its forms, assessing which claims it can support, and about challenges and uncertainties in international norms in the fields of sexual and reproductive rights and health. Questions of evidence, positionality and the role of testimony are particularly live in the context of sex work and human rights. As an exploration about good and bad practices in research and evidence, in this Commentary we highlight the errors, mistakes and wrongly shaped conclusions arising in the recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls about prostitution law, sex worker health and rights, and the status of international human rights law on sex work and trafficking.

Measurement invariance of the Facebook intrusion questionnaire across 25 countries.

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites. However, Facebook intrusion or addiction is a growing concern as it involves an excessive attachment to Facebook, which disrupts daily functioning. To date, few studies have examined whether cross-cultural differences in the measurement of Facebook addiction exist.

Family Resilience and Children's Subjective Well-Being: A Two-Wave Study.

According to the Theory of Change, the resilience of the family unit plays a crucial role in shaping the developmental trajectory of children. Families exhibiting higher levels of family resilience are typically characterized by transparent and effective communication, optimistic outlooks on adversity, adept problem-solving skills, strong spiritual beliefs, and effective management of social and financial resources. While existing research has indicated that parental and familial characteristics can predict diverse outcomes for children, investigations concerning the association between family resilience and children's subjective well-being remains limited.

The Role of Religiosity and Personal Faith in Young People's Sexual Debut and Sexual Risk Taking: A Bayesian Approach.

Using a Bayesian statistical approach, this study aimed to provide a robust assessment of associations between religiosity and personal faith, timing of sexual initiation and sexual risk taking in young people. To produce posterior probability distribution of the estimation of associations, this study combined two population-based surveys of emerging Croatian adults and meta-analytical estimates pertaining to international studies published between 2000 and 2020. Regardless of the prior used, age at sexual debut was delayed by both religiosity (correlations ranged from 0.

Association between prolonged stress caused by COVID-19 pandemic and earthquakes and quality of life, anxiety, depression, psychoactive substances, and problematic alcohol use in adult Croatian population.

Background: The prolonged stress experience caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and two earthquakes led to increased alcohol and psychoactive substance use (PSU) accompanied by a decrease in mental wellbeing and quality of life (QoL) in the Croatian population. Our aim was to determine the relationship between alcohol and PSU and mental health outcomes including anxiety and depression, and QoL.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey conducted from September 30 to October 27, 2021, included 1,118 Croatian adults (220 men and 898 women; mean age, 35.

How much stressful life events really matter? Conceptual and methodological difficulties in assessing the impact of self-reported events on adolescents' subjective stress.

Numerous studies have pointed to the strong impact of stressful life events on subjective stress and indirectly on the adolescents' mental health. However, the results of many such studies contain bias caused by the choice of measurement method or an incomplete theoretical framework. To estimate the extent of possible bias when using self-reports, we conducted research on a representative sample of 2201 Croatian adolescents aged 14-18 years.

Association between problematic Internet use and specific Internet activities and COVID-19- and earthquake-related stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms among Croatian young adults.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic and concomitant earthquakes in Croatia in 2020, increased Internet use (IU) and Internet-based addictive behaviors were associated with decreasing mental well-being. We determined the changes in IU, problematic IU (PIU), and problematic specific Internet activities in young adults during the prolonged stress caused by the pandemic and earthquakes, age differences in PIU and differences in perceived source of stress (pandemic or earthquakes), and association between PIU and increase in specific Internet activities and stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms in young adults.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey conducted from September 30, 2021 to October 17, 2021 included 353 young adults aged 22.

A look through dark-colored glasses: The Dark Tetrad and affective processing.

The Dark Tetrad personality traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism) have been continuously linked to various deficits in affective reactivity.

No Support for Two Hypotheses About the Communicative Functions of Displaying Disgust: Evidence From Turkey, Norway, Germany, and Croatia.

In recent years, researchers have discovered much about how disgust works, its neural basis, its relationship with immune function, its connection with mating, and some of its antecedents and consequents. Despite these advances in our understanding, an under-explored area is how disgust may be used to serve a communicative function, including how individuals might strategically downplay or exaggerate the disgust display in front of different audiences. Here, we generated two hypotheses about potential communicative functions of disgust, and tested these hypotheses in four countries (Turkey, Croatia, Germany, and Norway).

Botanical Analysis of the Baroque Art on the Eastern Adriatic Coast, South Croatia.

The analysis of plants featured in Baroque artworks on the eastern Adriatic coast has not previously been the subject of an in-depth study. The study of plant iconography in Baroque sacred artworks, which are mostly paintings, was carried out in eight churches and monasteries on the Pelješac peninsula in southern Croatia. Taxonomic interpretation of the painted flora on 15 artworks led to the identification of 23 different plant taxa (species or genera) belonging to 17 families.

Quality of Life During the First Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Two Earthquakes in Croatia.

In a cross-sectional study, we measured the impact of the first three COVID-19 pandemic waves and two earthquakes, occurring during the same period in Croatia, on the quality of life (QoL) of the general adult population. An online survey consisting of sociodemographic questions, questions related to COVID-19 and earthquake stressors, the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoL)-BREF scale, Impact of Event Scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire 4 was completed by 220 men and 898 women (mean age, 35.1 ± 12.

A meta-analytic exploration of associations between religious service attendance and sexual risk taking in adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Findings since 2000 about the association between the frequency of religious service attendance (formal religiosity) and sexual risk taking in adolescents and emerging adults were explored. A systematic literature search (April 2020) focused on articles with data on religiosity and age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use at most recent sexual intercourse, and consistent condom use. A total of 27 studies with 37,430 participants ( = 18.

Modeling nationalism, religiosity, and threat perception: During the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rise of nationalism and populism in Europe has created significant political and policy challenges. Understanding and addressing these challenges will require attention to the psychological mechanisms and social dynamics that have engendered and promoted these societal shifts. This article presents the results of two new empirical studies that attempt to shed light on the relationships between nationalism, religiosity, national and religious identification, threat perception, and sentiment toward different groups.

Psychometric validity and the appropriateness of tolerance as a criterion for internet gaming disorder: A systematic review.

Tolerance is a controversial but still an omnipresent criterion in measuring problematic gaming and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). Despite criticisms, a systematic review of its suitability has not been conducted until now. The aim of this study was to assess the evidence of psychometric validity and the appropriateness of tolerance as a criterion for IGD.

Differences between COVID-19-vaccinated and unvaccinated participants from Croatia.

Aim: To compare Croatian participants vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and unvaccinated participants in terms of socio-demographic, personal, social, and COVID-19-related variables.

Methods: From August till December 2021, 721 (465 vaccinated and 256 unvaccinated) participants completed an online survey about socio-demographic (age, sex income, education, marital status), personal (well-being indicators, personality measures and health), social (trust in experts, trust in government), and COVID-19-related characteristics (fear of COVID-19, history of COVID-19 infection). Differences between the groups were assessed with discriminant analysis.

Use of psychoactive substances and alcohol during the first three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic: Croatian experience.

Increased prevalence and severity of both substance and behavioral addictions are among the most harmful consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. To determine the sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19-related stressors, and stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms that may predict the use and changes in the use of psychoactive substances (PS) during the first three COVID-19 waves in Croatia. The cross-sectional online survey included 1,118 adult participants (220 men and 898 women; mean age: 35.

Problematic Internet Use, Anxiety, Depression, and Stress Symptoms in Adults with COVID-19 Pandemic and Earthquake Experience: Insights from Croatian Online Survey.

In 2020, Croatia was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and two earthquakes. As previous research showed that Internet use (IU) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, we carried out an online survey to determine the levels of problematic Internet use (PIU) and problematic specific Internet activities before and during the prolonged stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as earthquakes. We also determined the correlation between the PIU and specific Internet activities and anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms.

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.

The Psychological Well-Being and Civic Engagement of Polish, Croatian and Lithuanian Academic Students during COVID-19 Outbreak.

The aim of this research was to recognize the relationship between well-being and civic engagement under the difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic amongst students from Poland, Lithuania and Croatia. Overall, 1362 academic students (Poland, n = 596, Croatia, n = 386, and Lithuania, n = 379) participated in the study. Mean rank differences in civic engagement level (overall CE) were analysed by levels of psychological well-being (overall PWB and its subscales) using the Kruskal-Wallis test (one-way ANOVA on ranks).

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning.

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions.

The globalizability of temporal discounting.

Economic inequality is associated with preferences for smaller, immediate gains over larger, delayed ones. Such temporal discounting may feed into rising global inequality, yet it is unclear whether it is a function of choice preferences or norms, or rather the absence of sufficient resources for immediate needs. It is also not clear whether these reflect true differences in choice patterns between income groups.