Under the influence of Facebook? Excess use of social networking sites and drinking motives, consequences, and attitudes in college students

Background and aims Excessive use of social networking sites (SNS) has recently been conceptualized as a behavioral addiction (i.e., “disordered SNS use”) using key criteria for the diagnosis of substance dependence and shown to be associated with a variety of impairments in psychosocial functioning, including an increased risk of problem drinking. This study sought to characterize associations between “disordered SNS use” and attitudes towards alcohol, drinking motives, and adverse consequences resulting from alcohol use in young adults. Methods Undergraduate students (n = 537, 64.0% female, mean age = 19.63 years, SD = 4.24) reported on their use of SNSs and completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Temptation and Restraint Inventory, Approach and Avoidance of Alcohol and Drinking Motives Questionnaires, and Drinker Inventory of Consequences. Results Respondents meeting previously established criteria for “disordered SNS use” were significantly more likely to use alcohol to cope with negative affect and to conform to perceived social norms, reported significantly more conflicting (i.e., simultaneous positive and negative) attitudes towards alcohol, and had experienced significantly more, and more frequent adverse consequences from drinking in their inter- and intrapersonal, physical, and social functioning, compared to individuals without problems related to SNS use. Discussion and conclusions Findings add to an emerging body of literature suggesting a link between excess or maladaptive SNS use and problems related to alcohol in young adults and point to emotion dysregulation and coping motives as potential shared risk factors for substance and behavioral addictions in this demographic

Towards a Socio-Cultural Model of Food Cravings: Evidence From the Case of Perimenstrual Chocolate Craving

Food cravings are a common, yet poorly understood phenomenon. Past attempts to explain them with a focus purely on physiological mechanisms have been unsuccessful. Four studies examine the hypothesis that food cravings are best conceptualized in terms of socio-cultural and psychological factors, looking specifically at the example of perimenstrual chocolate craving. Study 1 demonstrates that the word “craving” does not lexicalize in a majority of foreign languages, calling into question the idea that craving is a universally relevant concept. Instead, the notion of craving appears fundamentally culture-bound. Study 2 characterizes chocolate cravers in the United States, and finds that women who link craving temporally to their menstrual cycle are unique in several attributes, most notably in significantly more disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. Differences between menstrual and other cravers and non-cravers hint at possible psychological characteristics associated with perimenstrual chocolate craving. Study 3 assesses the fate of perimenstrual chocolate craving in women post-menopause and finds that cravings remain prevalent, but in the absence of regular menstrual cycles are attributed in self-reports to stressors in the environment. This provides further evidence against a direct causal role of hormones in the etiology of perimenstrual chocolate craving, and gives rise to the hypothesis that cravings are a culturally sanctioned response to stress, and that menstruation is simply one highly salient stressor. Study 4 tests this stress-hypothesis by assessing the affective and physical correlates of chocolate craving in women diagnosed with premenstrual syndrome. Premenstrual chocolate craving, along with a range of affective symptoms, is shown to decrease significantly with the onset of menstruation, in the absence of significant changes in levels of hormones. It is furthermore reduced effectively with placebo treatment. This strongly suggests that perimenstrual chocolate craving is part of a cluster of affective symptoms that emerge prior to menstruation, probably in response to the subjective experience of stress. Results from these four studies constitute compelling new evidence against a physiological basis of food cravings. They provide the basis for a novel model of food cravings that emphasizes socio-cultural and psychological factors, including dietary restraint, ambivalence and culturally-promoted ways of coping with stress

Holocene glacier variability and Neoglacial hydroclimate at Ålfotbreen, western Norway

Glaciers and small ice caps respond rapidly to climate perturbations (mainly winter precipitation, and summer temperature), and the mass-balance of glaciers located in western Norway is governed mainly by winter precipitation (Pw). Records of past Pw can offer important insight into long-term changes in atmospheric circulation, but few proxies are able to accurately capture winter climate variations in Scandinavia. Reconstructions of equilibrium-line-altitude (ELA) variations from glaciers that are sensitive to changes in Pw therefore provide a unique opportunity to quantify past winter climate in this region. Here we present a new, Holocene glacier activity reconstruction for the maritime ice cap Ålfotbreen in western Norway, based on investigations of distal glacier-fed lake sediments and modern mass balance measurements (1963–2010). Several lake sediment cores have been subject to a suite of laboratory analyses, including measurements of physical parameters such as dry bulk density (DBD) and loss-on-ignition (LOI), geochemistry (XRF), surface magnetic susceptibility (MS), and grain size distribution, to identify glacial sedimentation in the lake. Both radiocarbon (AMS 14C) and 210Pb dating were applied to establish age-depth relationships in the sediment cores. A novel approach was used to calibrate the sedimentary record against a simple ELA model, which allowed reconstruction of continuous ELA changes for Ålfotbreen during the Neoglacial (when Ålfotbreen was present, i.e. the last ∼1400 years). Furthermore, the resulting ELA variations were combined with an independent summer temperature record to calculate Neoglacial Pw using the ‘Liestøl equation’. The resulting Pw record is of higher resolution than previous reconstructions from glaciers in Norway and shows the potential of glacier records to provide high-resolution data reflecting past variations in hydroclimate. Complete deglaciation of the Ålfotbreen occurred ∼9700 cal yr BP, and the ice cap was subsequently absent or very small until a short-lived glacier event is seen in the lake sediments ∼8200 cal yr BP. The ice cap was most likely completely melted until a new glacier event occurred around ∼5300 cal yr BP, coeval with the onset of the Neoglacial at several other glaciers in southwestern Norway. Ålfotbreen was thereafter absent (or very small) until the onset of the Neoglacial period ∼1400 cal yr BP. The ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) ∼650–50 cal yr BP was the largest glacier advance of Ålfotbreen since deglaciation, with a maximum extent at ∼400–200 cal yr BP, when the ELA was lowered approximately 200 m relative to today. The late onset of the Neoglacial at Ålfotbreen is suggested to be a result of its low altitude relative to the regional ELA. A synthesis of Neoglacial ELA fluctuations along the coast of Norway indicates a time-transgressive trend in the maximum extent of the LIA, which apparently seems to have occurred progressively later as we move northwards. We suggest that this trend is likely due to regional winter precipitation differences along the coast of Norway.publishedVersio

Lead uptake in diverse plant families: A study applying X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy

The chemical environment of lead in roots and leaves of plants from four different plant families and a lichen from a former lead mining site in the Eifel Mountains in Germany was determined by Pb L3-edge XANES measurements using solid reference compounds and also aqueous solutions of different ionic strength simulating the plant environment. Pb2+ ions in the plants were found to have two major coordinations, one with nine oxygen atoms in the first coordination shell similar to outer-sphere complexation and a second coordination with just three oxygen atoms similar to inner-sphere complexation. This can be interpreted assuming that lead is sorbed on the surface of cell walls depending on the concentration of lead in the soil solution. Pb L3-edge XANES spectra of dried and fresh plant samples are very similar because sorption does not change with removal of water but only because of the initial ionic strength. No bonding to biologically important groups (-S, - N) or precipitation (-PO4) was found. © 2013 American Chemical Society

The relationship of sex and sexual orientation to self-esteem, body shape satisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology

There is increasing interest in understanding what role, if any, sex and sexual orientation play in body dissatisfaction, its correlates to distress, and its relationship to disordered eating. The goals of the present study were to examine: (a) differences in sex and sexual orientation in internalization of societal pressure to modify physical appearance, components of body image dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and eating disorder symptomatology and (b) whether the internalization-eating disorder symptomatology was mediated by the different components of body image dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. The present data support several key trends in the literature: men generally reported less body dissatisfaction, internalization of socio-cultural standards of beauty, drive for thinness, and disordered eating, but a greater drive for muscularity than women; results also indicated that different components of body image dissatisfaction and low self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between internalization and eating disorder symptomatology. Gay men reported significantly more body dissatisfaction, internalization, eating disorder symptomatology, drive for thinness, and drive for muscularity than heterosexual men. Compared to heterosexual women, lesbians reported increased drive for muscularity, lower self-esteem, and lower internalization; however, they did not significantly differ on body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness or disordered eating. Correlation coefficients between body shape dissatisfaction and several aspects of mental distress were significantly larger for gay men than heterosexual men; the same coefficients did not differ between lesbian women and heterosexual women. Results of path analyses indicated that the relationship between internalization and disordered eating differs for gay and heterosexual men but not for lesbian and heterosexual women. These results call attention to lesbians as a generally understudied population

Climate variability in the subarctic area for the last 2 millennia

To put recent climate change in perspective, it is necessary to extend the instrumental climate records with proxy data from paleoclimate archives. Arctic climate variability for the last 2 millennia has been investigated using statistical and signal analyses from three regionally averaged records from the North Atlantic, Siberia and Alaska based on many types of proxy data archived in the Arctic 2k database v1.1.1. In the North Atlantic and Alaska, the major climatic trend is characterized by long-term cooling interrupted by recent warming that started at the beginning of the 19th century. This cooling is visible in the Siberian region at two sites, warming at the others. The cooling of the Little Ice Age (LIA) was identified from the individual series, but it is characterized by wide-range spatial and temporal expression of climate variability, in contrary to the Medieval Climate Anomaly. The LIA started at the earliest by around AD 1200 and ended at the latest in the middle of the 20th century. The widespread temporal coverage of the LIA did not show regional consistency or particular spatial distribution and did not show a relationship with archive or proxy type either. A focus on the last 2 centuries shows a recent warming characterized by a well-marked warming trend parallel with increasing greenhouse gas emissions. It also shows a multidecadal variability likely due to natural processes acting on the internal climate system on a regional scale. A similar to 16-30-year cycle is found in Alaska and seems to be linked to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, whereas similar to 20-30- and similar to 50-90-year periodicities characterize the North Atlantic climate variability, likely in relation with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. These regional features are probably linked to the sea ice cover fluctuations through ice-temperature positive feedback.Peer reviewe