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Science and education

InPsych

Research snapshot

Research snapshot : Building the ‘ultimate’ male body

April 2020

How does muscularity define masculinity in young male bodybuilders?

A team of Queensland researchers investigated men’s identification with a subculture based around muscle-building. The aim was to find out the various factors involved in the quest for young men to achieve the ideal masculine body image, especially as it is defined by muscularity. The researchers were motivated by the increasing numbers of young Australian men who follow strict training and eating plans in order to gain high muscle-mass and low body fat, and who use steroids and performance-enhancing substances to achieve their goals. Interviews were undertaken with 14 young men who (a) weight-trained more than three times a week, (b) took bodybuilding supplements daily, and (c) used/had used steroids and/or other performance and image enhancing drugs. Interview analysis determined some precipitating (e.g., low self-confidence), perpetuating (e.g., social media pressures), and other factors related to strict adherence to a regime, including the use of recreational drugs at the same time as training. The array of influences lend support to a sociocultural framework for outlining the development and maintenance of striving for a muscular ideal body within this group. Having a greater awareness of the elements that drive the attainment of a muscularity-defined body image is key given some of the potentially dangerous health behaviours young men may enact to reach their physical ideal.

https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12451

Research snapshot : Why don’t parents seek help?

February 2020

Reluctance of many parents to seek mental health help for their children may be because they believe there are too many barriers.

There is a high prevalence of child mental health problems in Australia, but a large number of parents do not actively seek professional help for their child. The impact of parent beliefs on help-seeking behaviour was examined via questionnaires in a sample of 399 Australian parents of children aged from 4 to 14 years. Parents who had not sought help for their child, compared to those who had sought help, perceived significantly more barriers to help seeking and had significantly stronger beliefs that child emotional and behavioural difficulties were deliberate. However, correlational analyses indicated that, as parents’ sense of competence increased, and their beliefs that their child’s difficulties were stable, they perceived fewer barriers to help seeking. This research highlights the need for parent education and intervention to address beliefs that impact on their likelihood of seeking help for their child.

doi.org/10.1017/edp.2019.8

Research snapshot : Internalising racism

February 2020

There is a growing body of research on internalised racism, but further research is needed to understand the experiences of different ethnic and racial groups.

An aspect of racism that has received little attention is the internalised component, whereby as a result of racist stereotypes and ideologies coming from the dominant racial group about a person’s own racial group, they start to have feelings of self-doubt, disrespect and disgust towards their own race and/or themselves. American researchers conducted a systematic review of the psychological literature on internalised racism. Psychological research on internalised racism is growing and there have been some conceptual and empirical developments, including theoretical conceptualisations, developments of scales and correlates with mental health variables. However, further research is needed that incorporates qualitative data collection about the experiences of different ethnic and racial groups, examines the connection between internalised racism and other forms of internalised oppression and incorporates social justice and advocacy in clinical and community services.

doi.org/10.1111/josi.12350

Research snapshot : Prisoners with psychosis

February 2020

Treating prisoners with psychosis in hospital may reduce their risk of reoffending.

There is a high prevalence of psychosis in prisons and effective management is important for both clinical and criminal outcomes. British researchers examined whether treatment location (prison versus hospital) affected the likelihood of reoffending and the time to reoffending. They compared released prisoners with psychosis with discharged psychosis patients and matched them on criminal history and age at discharge or release (124 matched pairs). Released prisoners were more likely to commit any offence within any given time period (1, 2 or 3 years). At any time period assessed, three times as many released prisoners with psychosis reoffended proportionally to their matched controls who have been discharged from hospitals. The researchers conclude that the findings suggest that it is not only the diagnosis of psychosis that impacts on the time to reoffending but also whether it is managed in prisons or specialist hospitals. They recommend that offenders with psychosis be treated in secure hospitals to reduce future likelihood of reoffending.

doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2019.1651381

Research snapshot : Applying the evidence

February 2020

Mental health apps show promise but need to be evidence-based.

A variety of mental health apps exist, but the majority have not been evaluated for effectiveness. Australian researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a strengths focused app, ‘My Coping Plan’ in improving mental health and coping among 56 Australian university students with self-reported elevated psychological distress (K10 total >16). The app assists users to develop a healthy coping plan to manage distress and other negative emotions. Users can also learn about coping and healthy coping strategies, including sleep, nutrition, physical activity and pleasurable events. After using the app for one month participants in the intervention group reported significantly lower psychological distress, improved wellbeing and improved use of healthy coping strategies compared to participants in a waitlist control group. There was no difference between groups in reported use of unhealthy coping strategies. It was concluded that the app can improve mental health and wellbeing in the short-term, probably through increased self-efficacy. Some people may need professional support to sustain healthy coping strategies over the long-term.

doi.org/10.1111/cp.12185

Research snapshot : Dancing with Parkinson’s disease

December 2019

Dance classes may be an effective element of rehabilitation for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Dance is showing promise as an intervention for symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), including improving motor symptoms such as balance, gait and coordination. It is not yet clear whether it can improve non-motor symptoms, which standard medical treatments show some limitations in treating. Australian researchers examined whether dancing classes, co-designed by people with PD, could improve cognition, psychological symptoms and quality of life in people with early-stage PD. Participants took part in either a one-hour class twice weekly for 12 weeks (n=17) or they had their usual treatment. Psychological symptoms (anxiety and depression), cognitive skills (episodic memory and executive function) and quality of life were significantly improved in the intervention group compared to the control group. These benefits may be in part because dancing involves motor planning and memory, multi-tasking, expression of feelings and tapping into emotions. The researchers recommend a one-hour class twice a week be considered in rehabilitation programs for people with PD. However, they recommend follow-up assessment over a longer-period to determine the durability of the benefits.

doi.org/10.3233/NRE-192788

Research snapshot : Deep sleep for a calm mind

December 2019

A poor night’s sleep can increase anxiety by up to 30 per cent.

American research has revealed that a poor night’s sleep can trigger an up to 30 per cent rise in anxiety levels, while a daily dose of deep sleep is a natural means of reducing anxiety. Two sleep laboratory experiments (with 18 and 32 healthy adults respectively) were conducted with brain monitoring (polysomnography) and scanning (study 1 only). In addition, two online samples of healthy adults (n = 194 and 154 respectively) tracked their sleep and anxiety over two and four consecutive days/nights respectively. Across laboratory studies those adults who experienced more night-time deep (non-REM) sleep experienced the lowest levels of anxiety the next day. Following sleep deprivation 50 per cent of participants experienced clinical levels of anxiety. Among the online participants, the amount and quality of sleep that participants had predicted how anxious they felt the next day. The researchers report that even modest improvements in sleep quality may help reduce subjective anxiety, which highlights the role of targeting sleep in anxiety treatment.

doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0754-8

Research snapshot : Screen use by preschoolers

December 2019

The use of screen-based media changes the brains of young children.

In a study of 47 healthy American pre-kindergarten children aged 3–5 years, the integrity of brain white matter tracts, which support language and literacy skills, were examined and compared to the screen-time usage of the children. Screen time was assessed using a measure that reflects recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Children who had more screen time than recommended by the AAP showed lower microstructural integrity of brain white matter tracts supporting language, executive functions and emergent literacy skills than children whose screen use was in line with recommendations. Greater screen use was also associated with lower scores on language and literacy measures. The researchers suggest that at least some aspects of screen-based media use in early childhood may provide sub-optimal stimulation. However, further research is needed to better understand the association between screen-based media use and the developing brain.

doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.3869

Research snapshot : Coping with conflict

December 2019

Young refugees are more likely to use non-productive coping strategies in reponse to interpersonal conflict.

Australian researchers explored how students from diverse migration backgrounds (refugee, immigrant and local) perceive and respond to conflict. They conducted focus groups with 17 students, aged 13–16 years, from different migration backgrounds to explore how they perceived and responded to conflict. Subsequently, 80 students completed questionnaires assessing their exposure to traumatic events and preferred coping styles when dealing with conflicts. Young refugees, compared to immigrant or local students were more likely to have been exposed to traumatic events. They were more likely to use non-productive coping within interpersonal conflicts, particularly among older refugee students, compared with students who had not had exposure to traumatic events. However, the refugee students also showed that they were resourceful in coping with conflict, such as by referring to their faith, seeking to belong and asking for help. The researchers recommend that universal conflict resolution education programs conceptualise conflict within a problem-solving and coping framework. For example, students could be taught to both draw on internal resources (e.g., problem solving) and external resources (e.g., seeking help from others).

doi.org/10.1111/ap.12245

Research snapshot : Measuring academic clout

October 2019

Research productivity and impact are key to assessing the performance of academic psychologists.

An Australian study set out to establish new normative data on the productivity and citation impact of publications by Australian academic psychologists at each level. These ranged from lecturer to professor, and represented each university grouping. The team extracted citation and publication data for a representative sample of 732 academics from the psychology field using the Scopus database. Norms for citations, lifetime publications and h-indexes were then generated for each academic level and compared with those outlined in earlier studies. The findings suggest that the perception of academic level based upon the number of publications, citations and h-indexes is highly reliable. Lifetime publication means have increased by a factor of 2 to 3 since the norms were published nearly a decade ago (which is in keeping with the notion that rates of scholarly publication have increased in the past 10 years). As a group, academic psychologists at the research-intensive Go8 universities had significantly higher publication averages at all levels than those from other universities. Despite this, the differences varied notably in size across the university groupings. Overall, the team found that the research conducted offers current and representative norms, and that indices of research productivity and impact are important when assessing the performance of Australian academic psychologists.

doi:10.1111/ajpy.12248

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