Research snapshot

Celebrity endorsements of e-cigarettes in social media campaigns significantly increase positive attitudes towards e-smoking.

Utilising a between-subject experiment, this study examined the effects of endorser type (celebrities, non-celebrities and products only) in e-cigarette brand Instagram advertisements on e-cigarette attitudes and smoking intentions. Results showed that celebrity endorsers significantly increased positive attitudes towards e-cigarettes and smoking intentions, compared to non-celebrities or products only. Celebrity endorsers also rated significantly higher on trustworthiness, expertise, goodwill and attractiveness, compared to non-celebrities. Additionally, identification, social comparison, health consciousness and social networking site use moderated between endorser type and key dependent measures. Implications for e-cigarette marketing regulation are discussed.

doi.org/10.1177/1359105317693912

Identification with being Australian and self-employment linked to flourishing for migrants.

While most research has focused on psychological distress in migrant populations, researchers at La Trobe University explored demographic, social, and psychological factors related to a broader spectrum of wellbeing by including the concept of 'flourishing' as well as that of psychological distress. A national online survey of 1446 migrants to Australia found that being younger, wishing to return to the home country, experiencing a greater degree of racism, and dissatisfaction with the quality of relationships to be predictive of distress. Being a student rather than working full-time was also associated with high distress levels. Conversely, satisfaction with relationships, greater identification with being Australian, and being self-employed were associated with flourishing. The promotion of flourishing is not merely the prevention of distress, and that targeting social interventions to tackle these factors may support the positive adaptation of migrants to life in a new country.

doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-9961-7

Contrary to common workplace assumptions, open-plan offices are linked to lower-levels of job satisfaction and wellbeing.

Researchers from Sweden and Denmark explored the employee job satisfaction and productivity of 271 participants across differing office environments, comparing individual office-based settings, shared-room offices (sharing with 1 to 2 co-workers), small open-plan offices (sharing with 3 to 9 co-workers) and medium-sized open-plan offices (sharing with 10 to 20 co-workers). Contrary to assumptions that open-plan offices improve communication and productivity, employees working in small or medium-sized open-plan offices reported lower levels of job satisfaction, subjective wellbeing, and ease of interaction with co-workers than employees working in individual or shared-room offices. The association between office type and job satisfaction was mediated by ease of interaction and, in turn, subjective wellbeing.

doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3707

The final years of university study are associated with greater burnout than the early years of a career.

Burnout is a psychological syndrome related to prolonged stress at work and is often defined as the experience of exhaustion, cynicism and low professional efficacy. Researchers at the University of Adelaide explored the transition from study to work and the potential impact of student burnout on later work burnout. Two hundred and sixty participants studying in nursing, social work, occupational therapy or psychology were recruited and evaluated for burnout across three time-points; the first evaluation during their studies, and the second and third evaluations in their first two years of work.

Contrary to the researchers' prediction, participants were more likely to report burnout in their final year of study than in their first years of work. Exhaustion and cynicism during the final year of study both predicted exhaustion and cynicism in the workplace, controlling for factors such as other aspects of mental health. The authors highlight the importance of exploring and addressing burnout in university settings which may confer vulnerability to early career burnout in the field.

doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1344827

Findings demonstrate that the protective impact of positive childhood experiences may offset the impact of adverse events.

Adverse childhood experiences are a known risk factor for mental health concerns and social adversity later in life, however less is known about the possible influence of positive early life experiences. Researchers in the US piloted a new measure – the Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) scale, designed to assess positive early life experiences in adults with histories of childhood maltreatment and other adversities. Participants were 101 pregnant women, representing a broad range of ethnic groups. Participants completed both the BCEs and Adverse Childhood Experiences scales and a range of other measures relating to prenatal and broader life stress. Higher levels of positive childhood experiences predicted less mental health concerns and less prenatal stress, above and beyond that apparent influence of adverse experiences.

The study highlights the importance of considering favourable childhood experiences as well as adversity when considering prenatal histories, and of identifying health-promoting childhood influences which may serve to offset the typically negative effects of early adverse life experiences and increase the odds of intergenerational trajectories of resilience in mothers and babies.

doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.09.022

Content analysis of social media platform Tumblr reveals an array of classic ‘thinspiration’ themes.

Thinspiration is content advocating extreme weight loss by means of images and/or text posts. While past content analyses have examined thinspiration content on social media and other websites, no research to date has examined thinspiration content on Tumblr. Over the course of a week, 222 images and text posts were collected after entering the keyword ‘thinspiration’ into the Tumblr search bar. These images were then rated on a variety of characteristics. The majority of thinspiration images included a thin woman adhering to culturally based beauty standards, often posing in a manner that accentuated her thinness or sexuality. The most common themes for thinspiration text posts included dieting/restraint, weight loss, food guilt and body guilt. The thinspiration content on Tumblr appears to be consistent with that on other mediums. Future research should utilise experimental methods to examine the potential effects of consuming thinspiration content on Tumblr.

10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.11.005

An athlete’s sense of moral identity, guilt and disengagement could be indirectly related to their likelihood to engage in doping.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham investigated athlete characteristics related to risk for doping. In a sample of 398 club and college athletes they measured athletes’ moral identity, moral disengagement, anticipated guilt, and doping likelihood. Moral identity refers to the degree to which a person considers being good or moral as central to their self-concept. Moral disengagement refers to a person’s capacity to cognitively and emotionally disengage from illicit behaviour, by justifying their behaviour, downplaying the seriousness, normalising the behaviour (e.g. “everybody’s doing it”), or displacing responsibility onto others such as the coach. The study found both moral identity and moral disengagement are indirectly related to doping likelihood via anticipated guilt. The researchers recommend focusing on strengthening athletes’ sense of ‘moral identity’ by emphasising ethical sporting behaviour, and reducing athlete’s moral disengagement by challenging justifications for doping.

dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2016-0333x

Affect regulation difficulties found to contribute to non-suicidal self-injury.

A group of Australian researchers recently tested the theory that non-suicidal self-injury is related to the quality of primary attachment relationships and the ability to regulate emotions. They evaluated 237 young, predominantly female university students. Self-injury was associated with anxiety in the attachment relationship with mothers and difficulty regulating emotions. Affect regulation was reported to be the primary purpose of non-suicidal self-injury. An inability to accept negative emotional states and difficulty generating strategies to cope with them were strong mediators of these relationships. The researchers highlight the role for the development of mentalisation-based therapies and emotional acceptance training to increase reflective functioning and improve self-regulatory strategies.

doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12166

Excessive levels of gaming may lead to a range of psychological, social and health-related issues.

Researchers from Finland found a link between problematic gaming behaviour (PGB) and a range of physical and mental health problems. A systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis of 50 eligible studies revealed correlations between PGB and depression, anxiety, OCD and somatisation. Effect sizes appeared related to participant age, with small effect sizes found for adolescents, and moderate effect sizes for young adults. As most studies were cross-sectional rather than longitudinal, causal inferences cannot be made but the researchers considered that it is possible that PGB leads to a range of psychological, health and social issues, or that PGB emerges in the context of existing health problems, with individuals retreating to the solace of their gaming world.

dx.doi.org/10.1177/1359105317740414