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Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted people and institutions to turn to online virtual environments for a wide variety of social gatherings. In this perspectives article, we draw upon our previous work and interviews with Ghanaian Christian leaders to consider implications of this shift. Specifically, we propose that the shift from physical to virtual interactions mimics and amplifies the neoliberal individualist experience of abstraction from place associated with Eurocentric modernity. On the positive side, the shift from physical to virtual environments liberates people to selectively pursue the most fulfilling interactions, free from constraints of physical distance. On the negative side, the move from physical to virtual space necessitates a shift from material care and tangible engagement with the local community to the psychologization of care and pursuit of emotional intimacy in relations of one’s choosing—a dynamic that further marginalizes people who are already on the margins. The disruptions of the pandemic provide an opportunity to re-set social relations, to design ways of being that better promote sustainable collective well-being rather than fleeting personal fulfillment.
Based on stereotype threat and stereotype lift theory, this study explores implicit stereotype threat effects of gender stereotypes on the performance of primary school children in mathematics. Moreover, effects of implicit gender stereotypical cues (gender-specific task material) on motivational aspects were explored, which have revealed mixed results in stereotype threat research in the past. N = 151 German primary school children (47.7% female; mean age: M = 9.81, SD = 0.60) calculated either stereotypical or neutral mathematical text problems before motivational aspects were assessed. Contradicting our expectations, results neither revealed a stereotype threat effect on girls’ performance nor a lift effect on the boys. Instead, girls calculating stereotypical tasks outperformed girls in the control group, whereas boys’ performance did not significantly differ compared to the control group. Regarding motivational aspects, only traditional gender differences emerged as girls reported significantly more pressure and tension calculating the mathematical tasks. The discussion focuses on the way in which stereotypes can affect children’s cognitive performance and in turn, their mathematical performance.
Individualization can be defined as the adaptation of instructional parameters to relevant characteristics of a specific learner. This definition raises several questions, however: Which characteristics are actually relevant? Which parameters of instruction need to be adjusted, and in which way, to positively interact with those characteristics? In a classroom context, additional questions arise: how can information about the relevant learner characteristics be delivered to the teacher? How can individualized instruction be delivered to each learner in a context that has originally been designed for whole-class instruction? By focusing on the measurement and modelling of learner characteristics and instructional adaptations, this dissertation aims to provide an insight into each of these issues.
This dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part is concerned with the theoretical (Paper 1) and statistical (Paper 2) modeling of learner characteristics in the context of individualized instruction. The second part is concerned with the measurement (Paper 3) and implementation (Paper 4) of individualized instruction in the classroom context.
Paper 1 summarizes existing research on individualization from different research traditions. From this summary I derive the need for a dynamic conceptualization of learner characteristics (acknowledging that learners change during and in interaction with the learning process) and synthesize a dynamic framework that details the opportunities for individualization on three different timescales. Paper 2 reports results from an exploratory study that investigated the potential benefits of utilizing person-centered analysis for the assessment of multivariate learner prerequisites and their interaction with instruction. We found that latent profiles over several reading related abilities could explain differential effectiveness of self-reported teaching foci in German third grade reading lessons. These findings indicate not just a need for stronger individualization of teaching but also an advantage of multivariate conceptualizations of learner characteristics. Additionally, they show the utility of person-centered approaches for the investigation of such multivariate learner characteristics and their interaction with instruction.
In the second part, I investigate possible approaches to the implementation and measurement of individualization in a classroom context. Paper 3 investigates whether teacher-, student- and observer perspectives converge when rating the amount of individualization present in regular classroom instruction. We found considerable agreement between the perspectives, indicating a common understanding of the construct at the classroom level as well as providing some evidence for the validity of the used measurement instruments. Paper 4 replicates findings concerning the effectiveness of formative assessment procedures for fostering reading education, supplemented by a moderator analysis showing that only children with low performance at the beginning of the school-year profited from its implementation. This indicates that the information provided by formative assessment procedures helps teachers to identify struggling readers but does not seem to be utilized for adapting instruction to specific deficits of average or high performing children.
In sum, this dissertation contributes to research on individualized instruction by demonstrating necessary conditions for its effectiveness. It posits the need for a dynamic conceptualization of learner characteristics, demonstrates the advantage of multivariate learner profiles, and points out ways towards the successful implementation of individualized instruction in the classroom.
Systemic therapy considers the complex dynamics of relational factors and resources contributing to psychological symptoms. Negative maintaining factors have been well researched for people suffering from Alcohol-use Disorders (AUD). However, we know little about the complex dynamics of these negative factors and resources. We interviewed fifty-five participants suffering or fully remitted from Alcohol-use disorders in this cross-sectional study (M = 52 years; 33% female). The interviews focused on relational factors (e.g., social support and social negativity) referring to a Support Social Network and a Craving Social Network (CSN). The CSN included all significant others who were associated with craving situations. We compared the network characteristics of the group suffering from Alcohol-use Disorders (n = 38) to a fully remitted control group (n = 17). The abstinent group with full remission named on average fewer individuals in the CSNs. They had lower social negativity mean scores in the Support Social Network compared to the non-remitted group (d = 0.74). In the CSN, the mean scores of social support were significantly higher than the median for both groups (d = 2.50). These findings reveal the complex interplay of relational patterns contributing to the etiology, maintenance, and recovery from Alcohol-use disorders. A successful recovery can be linked to increased social resources and reduced relations associated with craving. However, craving-associated relations represent an important source of social support. Future research should investigate this ambivalence for the systemic perspective on the explanation and treatment of Alcohol-use disorders.
Cultural and biographical influences on the expression of emotions manifest themselves in so-called “display rules.” These rules determine the time, intensity, and situations in which an emotion is expressed. To date, only a small number of empirical studies deal with this transformation of how migrants, who are faced with a new culture, may change their emotional expression. The present, cross-sectional study focuses on changes in anger expression as part of a complex acculturation process among Iranian migrants. To this end, Iranian citizens in Iran (n = 61), German citizens (n = 61), and Iranian migrants in Germany (n = 60) were compared in terms of anger expression behavior and acculturation strategy (assimilation, separation, integration, marginalization) was assessed among the migrants, using the Frankfurt Acculturation Scale (FRACC). A questionnaire developed in a preliminary study was used to measure anger expression via subjective anger experience and anger expression within 16 hypothetical situations. Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA) revealed that Iranians and Iranian migrants reported higher anger experience ratings than Germans and directed their anger more often inward (anger-in). Further findings suggest that transformation processes may have affected Iranian migrants in terms of suppressed anger (anger-in): Iranian migrants with a higher orientation toward German culture reported lower average anger-in scores. These results suggest that there was different emotional expression among Iranian migrants, depending on their acculturation. The results provide new insight into socio-cultural and individual adjustment processes.
Über zwei Drittel aller Menschen erleben in ihrem Leben mindestens ein traumatisches Ereignis (Kessler et al., 2017). Gerade nach interpersonellen Traumatisierungen ist die Rate der Betroffenen, welche eine posttraumatische Belastungsstörung (PTBS) entwickeln, sehr hoch (z. B. ca. 50% nach sexuellem Missbrauch; Hauffa et al., 2011). In der Vergangenheit wurden Angst- und Ohnmachtsgefühle als zentrale der PTBS zu Grunde liegende Emotionen aufgefasst (Foa & Kozak, 1986). Neuere Forschungsbefunde legen jedoch nahe, dass traumabezogene Schuld- und Schamgefühle auch eine wichtige Rolle bei der Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung der PTBS spielen (z. B. Badour et al., 2017). Dabei leiden besonders Betroffene von interpersonellen Gewalterfahrungen unter diesen Gefühlen (z. B. Badour et al., 2017).
Im Hinblick auf die psychotherapeutische Behandlung der PTBS haben sich traumafokussierte Verfahren als wirksam erwiesen (z. B. Lewis et al., 2020). Hohe Drop-out (z. B. Swift & Greenberg, 2014) und Nonresponse Raten (Fonzo et al., 2020) geben jedoch Hinweise darauf, dass nicht allen PTBS Patient*innen mit diesen Verfahren ausreichend geholfen werden kann, wobei insbesondere Patient*innen mit interpersonellen Traumatisierungen weniger gut davon zu profitieren scheinen (z. B. Karatzias et al., 2019). Zudem hat sich gezeigt, dass Schuldgefühle auch nach einer erfolgreichen PTBS Behandlung weiter persistieren (Larsen et al., 2019). Demnach besteht ein Bedarf an alternativen Therapieverfahren für Patient*innen mit interpersonellen Traumatisierungen und/oder Schuld- und Schamgefühlen.
Besonders vielversprechend sind hierbei achtsamkeitsbasierte Interventionen, die bereits in der PTBS Behandlung eine zunehmend bedeutsame Rolle spielen (Hopwood & Schutte, 2017). Eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die weitere Erforschung dieser Interventionen sind valide und reliable Verfahren zur Veränderungsmessung von Achtsamkeit (Isbel et al., 2020). So scheinen bisherige Studien jedoch hauptsächlich fragebogenbasierte Maße zur Erfassung von Veränderungen in Trait-Achtsamkeit eingesetzt zu haben, obwohl diese Interventionen eher auf die Steigerung von State-Achtsamkeit abzielen (Goodman et al., 2017). Darüber hinaus kristallisierten sich methodische Kritikpunkte in Bezug auf die Validität von Fragebögen zur Erfassung von Trait-Achtsamkeit heraus (van Dam et al., 2018). Demgegenüber erfassen Experience-Sampling Ansätze (z. B. Mindful-Breathing Exercise, MBE; Burg & Michalak, 2011) eher Aspekte der State-Achtsamkeit, sind jedoch in klinischen Untersuchungsstichproben bisher kaum untersucht worden. Darauf aufbauend fokussierte die erste Forschungsfrage der Dissertation die Untersuchung der MBE im klinischen Kontext. Ein Hauptbefund der Studie zeigte, dass die MBE bei PTBS Patient*innen hinsichtlich ihres Prädiktionswertes für die PTBS Symptome Übererregung und Intrusionen gegenüber fragebogenbasierter Trait-Achtsamkeit überlegen war. Mögliche Wirkmechanismen achtsamkeitsbasierter Interventionen könnten demnach durch den Einsatz der MBE besonders gut abgebildet werden.
Innerhalb der achtsamkeitsbasierten Interventionen kommt in der Behandlung der PTBS am häufigsten die Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn, 2013) als standardisierte Gruppenintervention zum Einsatz (Boyd et al., 2018). Jedoch scheint die MBSR insbesondere für PTBS Patient*innen mit interpersonellen Traumatisierungen nicht eins-zu-eins anwendbar zu sein (Müller-Engelmann et al., 2017). Buddhistische Metta-Meditationen (dt.: Liebende Güte; Salzberg, 2002) sind vor diesem Hintergrund eine vielversprechende Ergänzung zu achtsamkeitsbasierten Interventionen. Metta-Meditationen zielen darauf ab, sich selbst sowie allen anderen Lebewesen bedingungsloses Wohlwollen und Freundlichkeit entgegen zu bringen (Bodhi, 2010). Metta-Meditationen sind noch weniger gut in der klinischen Forschung etabliert. Erste Befunde deuten jedoch darauf hin, dass sie bei PTBS Patient*innen zu einer Reduktion der PTBS Symptomatik führen können (z. B. Kearney et al., 2021). Folglich wurde im Rahmen der zweiten Forschungsfrage eine neue Intervention entwickelt und evaluiert, welche sich an den Bedürfnissen von PTBS Patient*innen mit interpersonellen Traumatisierungen orientiert. Sie kombiniert kürzere, PTBS spezifische Achtsamkeitsübungen mit angepassten Übungen aus MBSR sowie Metta-Meditationen (= Trauma-MILOKI). Trauma-MILOKI zeigte sich in einer multiplen Baseline Studie wirksam zur Reduktion der PTBS Symptome sowie zur Steigerung des Wohlbefindens.
Ein Wirkmechanismus von Metta-Meditationen ist die Förderung positiver Emotionen sowie des Gefühls sozialer Verbundenheit (Salzberg, 2002), weswegen sie auch besonders gut geeignet scheinen, traumabezogene Schuld- und Schamgefühle zu reduzieren. Darüber hinaus haben sich unter den etablierten Therapieverfahren v. a. kognitive Ansätze zur Reduktion von Schuldgefühlen als wirksam erwiesen (Resick et al., 2008)...
Background: Standardized neuropsychological testing serves to quantify cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. However, the exact mechanism underlying the translation of cognitive dysfunction into difficulties in everyday tasks has remained unclear. To answer this question, we tested if MS patients with intact vs. impaired information processing speed measured by the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) differ in their visual search behavior during ecologically valid tasks reflecting everyday activities.
Methods: Forty-three patients with relapsing-remitting MS enrolled in an eye-tracking experiment consisting of a visual search task with naturalistic images. Patients were grouped into “impaired” and “unimpaired” according to their SDMT performance. Reaction time, accuracy and eye-tracking parameters were measured.
Results: The groups did not differ regarding age, gender, and visual acuity. Patients with impaired SDMT (cut-off SDMT-z-score < −1.5) performance needed more time to find and fixate the target (q = 0.006). They spent less time fixating the target (q = 0.042). Impaired patients had slower reaction times and were less accurate (both q = 0.0495) even after controlling for patients' upper extremity function. Exploratory analysis revealed that unimpaired patients had higher accuracy than impaired patients particularly when the announced target was in unexpected location (p = 0.037). Correlational analysis suggested that SDMT performance is inversely linked to the time to first fixation of the target only if the announced target was in its expected location (r = −0.498, p = 0.003 vs. r = −0.212, p = 0.229).
Conclusion: Dysfunctional visual search behavior may be one of the mechanisms translating cognitive deficits into difficulties in everyday tasks in MS patients. Our results suggest that cognitively impaired patients search their visual environment less efficiently and this is particularly evident when top-down processes have to be employed.
This cross-sectional study examined gender differences between male- and female-typed housework during the early COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. Participants in Germany, India, Nigeria, and South Africa (N = 823) rated their housework share before and during the lockdown, then speculated about the division of housework performed by men and women in general, before and post-lockdown. Women spent more time on female-typed tasks and men (in Nigeria and South Africa) on male-typed tasks before and during the lockdown. Irrespective of participants’ gender, they speculated that men's and women's housework was more pronounced post-lockdown than before, but we only found gender differences in South Africa and India. Gender role ideology (GRI) moderated the gender‒housework relationship in Germany, but gender did not moderate the paid work hours and housework relationship in any country. Our findings suggest that gendered housework persisted in these countries and raises concerns that this pattern is likely to continue post-lockdown.
Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of psychological interventions to foster resilience. However, little is known about whether the cultural context in which resilience interventions are implemented affects their efficacy on mental health. Studies performed in Western (k = 175) and Eastern countries (k = 46) regarding different aspects of interventions (setting, mode of delivery, target population, underlying theoretical approach, duration, control group design) and their efficacy on resilience, anxiety, depressive symptoms, quality of life, perceived stress, and social support were compared. Interventions in Eastern countries were longer in duration and tended to be more often conducted in group settings with a focus on family caregivers. We found evidence for larger effect sizes of resilience interventions in Eastern countries for improving resilience (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.28 to 0.67; p < 0.0001; 43 studies; 6248 participants; I2 = 97.4%). Intercultural differences should receive more attention in resilience intervention research. Future studies could directly compare interventions in different cultural contexts to explain possible underlying causes for differences in their efficacy on mental health outcomes.
Stress influences health not only directly, but also indirectly through changes in health-related behaviours, such as diet. Research has shown that stress influences individuals’ eating behaviour in different ways: Some increase, some decrease food intake, while others show no change. Identifying individuals at risk for stress-induced eating is essential for the development of tailored strategies for the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity. The individual-difference model of stress-induced eating suggests that individual differences in the dietary response to stress are determined by differences in learning history, attitudes, or biology. Even though many studies have tried to identify person-characteristics that explain individual differences in the dietary response to stress, evidence remains inconclusive. Considering that eating is a repeated-occurrence health behaviour which is performed multiple times a day, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) seems particularly promising to study the complex relationship between stress and food intake when and where it naturally occurs. Despite its potential, the number of studies applying EMA to assess the stress and eating relationship is limited. Furthermore, previous EMA studies show two limitations: (1) Actual food intake is not assessed and (2) inappropriate data analysis approaches are applied to semicontinuous outcomes. Therefore, the first aim of the present dissertation was to address the lack of an EMA tool that allows the assessment of stress and actual food intake by developing and evaluating the APPetite-mobile-app. Feasibility and usability of the APPetite-mobile-app as well as validity of the incorporated food record were empirically examined (Paper 1). Given the lack of an appropriate data analysis procedure, the second aim of the present dissertation was the introduction of a sophisticated statistical approach for semicontinuous data (Paper 2): Multilevel two-part modelling allows studying the influence of stress on the occurrence (i.e., whether individuals eat) as well as the amount of food intake (i.e., how much individuals eat) while accounting for the potential dependency between the two. Lastly, the novel EMA tool and the advanced data analysis procedure were integrated in order to gain novel insights into individual differences in the dietary response to stress and thereby identify individuals at risk for stress-induced eating in daily life (Paper 3). Results of Paper 1 showed good feasibility and acceptable usability of the APPetite-mobile-app as well as validity of the incorporated food record. Findings of Paper 2 highlight that multilevel two-part models offer novel and distinct insights in terms of the occurrence and the amount of food intake and are therefore not only methodologically but also conceptually promising. Paper 3 provides first evidence that the dietary response to stress might not be as stable as yet assumed. Time-varying factors might moderate the relationship between stress and actual food intake. Therefore, an expansion of the individual-difference model is proposed which accounts for time-varying factors. Further EMA studies are needed to verify the expanded model and identify time-varying factors which influence the dietary response to stress. Beyond that, improvements in the dietary assessment are required in order to allow prolonged EMA periods as well as larger samples. The present dissertation contributes to the research on the stress and eating relationship as it overcomes limitations of previous EMA studies and yields novel insights into the relationship between stress and actual food intake in daily life. Not only identifying individuals at risk for stress-induced eating, but also the identification of situations with an increased risk for stress-induced eating appears to be important for the development of targeted strategies for the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity.
Growing up in cities is associated with increased risk for developing mental health problems. Stress exposure and altered stress regulation have been proposed as mechanisms linking urbanicity and psychopathology, with most research conducted in adult populations. Here, we focus on early childhood, and investigate urbanicity, behavior problems and the regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a central circuit of the stress system, in a sample of N = 399 preschoolers aged 45 months. Urbanicity was coded dichotomously distinguishing between residences with more or less than 100,000 inhabitants. Behavior problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 1½ - 5. Cortisol stress reactivity was assessed using an age-appropriated game-like stress task, and cortisol in the first morning urine was measured to assess nocturnal HPA axis activity. Urbanicity was not associated with behavior problems, urinary cortisol or the cortisol stress response. Neither urinary cortisol nor salivary cortisol response after stress exposure were identified as mediators of the relationship between urbanicity and behavior problems. The findings suggest no strong association of urbanicity with behavior problems and HPA axis regulation in preschool age. To our knowledge, this is the youngest sample to date studying the relationship between urbanicity and behavior problems as well as HPA axis regulation. Future research should examine at which age associations can first be identified and which mechanisms contribute to these relationships.
Objectives: To investigate whether citizens’ adherence to health-protective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted by identity leadership, wherein leaders are perceived to create a sense of shared national identity.
Design: Observational two-wave study. Hypotheses testing was conducted with structural equation modelling.
Setting: Data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Germany, Israel and the USA in April/May 2020 and four weeks later.
Participants: Adults in China (n=548, 66.6% women), Germany (n=182, 78% women), Israel (n=198, 51.0% women) and the USA (n=108, 58.3% women).
Measures: Identity leadership (assessed by the four-item Identity Leadership Inventory Short-Form) at Time 1, perceived shared national identification (PSNI; assessed with four items) and adherence to health-protective NPIs (assessed with 10 items that describe different health-protective interventions; for example, wearing face masks) at Time 2.
Results: Identity leadership was positively associated with PSNI (95% CI0.11 to 0.30, p<0.001) in all countries. This, in turn, was related to more adherence to health-protective NPIs in all countries (95% CI 0.03 to 0.36, 0.001≤p≤0.017) except Israel (95% CI−0.03 to 0.27, p=0.119). In Germany, the more people saw Chancellor Merkel as engaging in identity leadership, the more they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI 0.04 to 0.18, p=0.002). In the USA, in contrast, the more people perceived President Trump as engaging in identity leadership, the less they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI−0.17 to −0.04, p=0.002).
Conclusions: National leaders can make a difference by promoting a sense of shared identity among their citizens because people are more inclined to follow health-protective NPIs to the extent that they feel part of a united ‘us’. However, the content of identity leadership (perceptions of what it means to be a nation’s citizen) is essential, because this can also encourage people to disregard such recommendations.
Background: The assessment of therapeutic adherence and competence is essential to understand mechanisms that contribute to treatment outcome. Nevertheless, their assessment is often neglected in psychotherapy research.
Aims/Objective: To develop an adherence and a treatment-specific competence rating scale for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (DBT-PTSD), and to examine their psychometric properties. Global cognitive behavioural therapeutic competence and disorder-specific therapeutic competence were assessed using already existing scales to confirm their psychometric properties in our sample of patients with PTSD and emotion regulation difficulties.
Method: Two rating scales were developed using an inductive procedure. 155 videotaped therapy sessions from a multicenter randomised controlled trial were rated by trained raters using these scales, 40 randomly chosen videotapes involving eleven therapists and fourteen patients were doubly rated by two raters.
Results: Both the adherence scale (Patient-level ICC = .98; αs = .65; αp = .75) and the treatment-specific competence scale (Patient-level ICC = .98; αs = .78; αp = .82) for DBT-PTSD showed excellent interrater – and good reliability on the patient level. Content validity, including relevance and appropriateness of all items, was confirmed by experts in DBT-PTSD for the new treatment-specific competence scale.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that both scales are reliable instruments. They will be useful to examine possible effects of adherence and treatment-specific competence on DBT-PTSD treatment outcome.
The purpose of this study was to investigate which social groups are perceived as a threat target and which are perceived as a threat source during the COVID-19 outbreak. In a German sample (N = 1454) we examined perceptions of social groups ranging from those that are psychologically close and smaller (family, friends, neighbors) to those that are more distal and larger (people living in Germany, humankind). We hypothesized that psychologically closer groups would be perceived as less affected by COVID-19 as well as less threatening than more psychologically distal groups. Based on social identity theorizing, we also hypothesized that stronger identification with humankind would change these patterns. Furthermore, we explored how these threat perceptions relate to adherence to COVID-19 health guidelines. In line with our hypotheses, latent random-slope modelling revealed that psychologically distal and larger groups were perceived as more affected by COVID-19 and as more threatening than psychologically closer and smaller groups. Including identification with humankind as a predictor into the threat target model resulted in a steeper increase in threat target perception patterns, whereas identification with humankind did not predict differences in threat source perceptions. Additionally, an increase in threat source perceptions across social groups was associated with more adherence to health guidelines, whereas an increase in threat target perceptions was not. We fully replicated these findings in a subgroup from the original sample (N = 989) four weeks later. We argue that societal recovery from this and other crises will be supported by an inclusive approach informed by a sense of our common identity as human beings.
Mexico’s role in the US-Central American migration regime is threefold: not only is it a country of origin, and a transit country, but also increasingly becoming a receiving country for migrants who flee from violence, insecurity and poverty. The Mexican state responds with detention enforcement. Clinical research usually puts emphasise on the negative impact of detention enforcement on the detainees‘ mental health. Yet, it often disregards the spatial configurations of detention centres and their socio-political context. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing how such factors create harmful environments that affect both the detainees‘ mental health and their social life in Mexico’s migration detention centres. The study’s mixed method approach builds on semi-structured interviews with a sample of N = 56 migrants of diverse nationalities and varying socioeconomic status of whom 22 were still detained while 34 had been released. The interviews include the Torturing Environment Scale (TES), a novel instrument for the analysis of detention environments, as well as clinical psychological measures of emotional distress. Additional n = 10 in-depth interviews with human rights advocates to explore the interconnections between the detention environments, their impact on mental health, and Mexican migration politics. Facultative counter-mappings of the detention centres complement the interviews. Without exception, all interviews of detainees underline that the manipulation of detention conditions creates torturing environments that cause harm to basic physiological and psychological needs. A comparison between detained vs. released interviewees revealed lasting feelings of fear and shame. The study emphasises that immigration detention immobilises migrants in a necropolitical limbo, which destroys hope as much as human integrity. It indicates that detention is part of deterrence politics, which perpetuates harm and inequality through detention and deportation. Highlighting structural human rights violations, the findings stress the need to review current migration policies.
Social identification is health-beneficial as social groups provide social support (i.e., the social cure effect). We study this social cure effect in diabetes patients by focusing on two relevant sources of social support, namely medical practitioners (MP) and fellow patients. As both groups have diabetes-specific knowledge, we predict that sharing an identity with them provides access to specific support, which, in turn, optimizes individuals’ diabetes management and reduces diabetes-related stress. We further predict that identifying with their MP or fellow patients will be more strongly related to perceived social support among individuals with lower diabetes-specific resilience because they pay more attention to supportive cues. We tested this moderated mediation model in a two-wave study with n = 200 diabetes patients. Identification with the MP related to more support, which, in turn, was related to better diabetes management and less diabetes-specific stress. Identification with fellow patients related to more support; however, social support was unrelated to diabetes management and stress. Resilience only moderated the relationship between MP identification and support, as people with lower resilience levels reported more support from their MP. This study shows the importance of social identification with the MP and other diabetes patients, especially for people with lower resilience levels.
The relationship between external and internal load parameters in 3 × 3 basketball tournaments
(2022)
Purpose: 3 × 3 basketball games are characterized by high-intensity accelerations and decelerations, and a high number of changes of direction and jumps. It is played in tournament form with multiple games per day. Therefore, optimal regeneration is crucial for maintaining a high performance level over the course of the tournament. To elucidate how load of a match affects the athletes' bodies (i.e., internal load), muscular responses to the load of 3 × 3 games were analyzed. We aimed to investigate changes in contractility of the m. rectus femoris (RF) and m. gastrocnemius medialis (GC) in response to the load of single 3 × 3 games and a 3 × 3 tournament.
Methods: Inertial movement analysis was conducted to capture game load in 3 × 3. Changes in contractility were measured using tensiomyography (TMG). During a two-day tournament, TMG measurements were conducted in the morning and after each game. Additionally, off-game performance analysis consisting of jump and change-of-direction (COD) tests was conducted the day before the tournament.
Results: Significant changes of the muscle contractility were found for GC with TMG values being higher in the baseline than in the post-game measurements. In contrast to athletes of the GC group, athletes of the RF group responded with either decreased or increased muscle contractility after a single 3 × 3 game. A significant correlation between external and internal load parameters could not be shown. Concerning off-game performance, significant correlations can be reported for COD test duration, CMJ height and ∆Vc as well as COD test duration and ∆Dm. No systematic changes in muscle contractility were found over the course of the tournament in RF and GC.
Conclusion: The athletes' external 3 × 3 game load and their performance level did not seem to affect muscular contractility after a single 3 × 3 game or a complete 3 × 3 tournament within this investigation. This might indicate that elite athletes can resist external load without relevant local muscular fatigue. With respect to the course of the tournament, it can therefore be concluded that the breaks between games seem to be sufficient to return to the initial level of muscle contractility.
Understanding the brain's proactive nature and its ability to anticipate the future has been a longstanding pursuit in philosophy and scientific research. The predictive processing framework explains how the brain generates predictions based on environmental regularities and adapts to both predicted and unpredicted events. Prediction errors (PE) occur when sensory evidence deviates from predictions, triggering cognitive and neural processes that enhance learning and subsequent memory. However, the effects of PE on episodic memory have not been clearly explained. This dissertation aims to address three key questions to advance our understanding of PE and episodic memory. First, how does the degree of PE influence episodic memory, and how do expected and unexpected events interact in this process? Second, what insights can be gained from studying the electrophysiological activity associated with prediction violations, and what role does PE play in subsequent memory benefits? Lastly, how do memory processes change across the lifespan, and how does this impact the brain's ability to remember events? By answering these questions, this dissertation contributes to advancing our understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the relationship PE and episodic memory.