Endocrine and Psychophysiological Correlates of Jealousy and Social Anxiety in Healthy Adults: Elevated Responses to Inter-Male Competition

Male mammals compete for reproductive access to females. Gaining and maintaining this access can be stressful and anxiety-provoking. In humans, anxiety and associated protective behaviors can manifest as jealousy. Physiological stress is likely to increase in relation to jealousy as it does with anxiety. Hypothetically, higher levels of anxiety and cortisol may indicate, and may even promote, strong territorial or jealous behavior. Chronically elevated cortisol has been shown to be deleterious to prefrontal and hippocampal neurons and result in emotional and stress-response dysregulation. In very anxious and jealous individuals, chronic stress activation could further promote these tendencies via emotional disinhibition. Cortisol production also related to vasopressin (AVP) levels and AVP has been shown to increase mate preference and territoriality. Furthermore, physiological measures may be more valid than self-report of less socially desirable behaviors such as jealousy and anxiety. As a preliminary study, we measured salivary cortisol, heart-rate, and blood pressure in relation to self-reported anxiety and jealousy in healthy men and women in response to threatening male faces paired with smiling female faces. Elevated anxiety positively predicted jealousy in men but not women. Anxiety and jealousy also predicted elevated heart rate and blood pressure. Cortisol levels in response to the threat task and in relation to jealousy approached statistical significance (ps \u3c 0.07) and suggest the need for a larger sample size

Endocrine and Psychophysiological Correlates of Jealousy and Social Anxiety in Healthy Adults: Elevated Responses to Inter-Male Competition

Male mammals compete for reproductive access to females. Gaining and maintaining this access can be stressful and anxiety-provoking. In humans, anxiety and associated protective behaviors can manifest as jealousy. Physiological stress is likely to increase in relation to jealousy as it does with anxiety. Hypothetically, higher levels of anxiety and cortisol may indicate, and may even promote, strong territorial or jealous behavior. Chronically elevated cortisol has been shown to be deleterious to prefrontal and hippocampal neurons and result in emotional and stress-response dysregulation. In very anxious and jealous individuals, chronic stress activation could further promote these tendencies via emotional disinhibition. Cortisol production also related to vasopressin (AVP) levels and AVP has been shown to increase mate preference and territoriality. Furthermore, physiological measures may be more valid than self-report of less socially desirable behaviors such as jealousy and anxiety. As a preliminary study, we measured salivary cortisol, heart-rate, and blood pressure in relation to self-reported anxiety and jealousy in healthy men and women in response to threatening male faces paired with smiling female faces. Elevated anxiety positively predicted jealousy in men but not women. Anxiety and jealousy also predicted elevated heart rate and blood pressure. Cortisol levels in response to the threat task and in relation to jealousy approached statistical significance (ps \u3c 0.07) and suggest the need for a larger sample size

A Systematic Review of Experimental Studies Evaluating Anti-Racist Program Techniques for Children and Adolescents

This systematic review synthesizes studies that used experimental designs to evaluate techniques theorized to foster the development of antiracism among youth in school settings (19 published reports; 23 independent studies; participant ages 3–19 years old, primarily White). Our goal herein was to identify unique program components, design elements, and outcome measures; and to critically evaluate the existing studies in terms of potential public health impact. A number of specific programming elements were distilled that may be included in future interventions. Overall, interventions that leveraged cognitive and educational components to help increase positive outgroup contact seemed most promising. However, most of the studies testing such programs lacked methodological robustness (e.g., probable gaps in internal validity from the absence of intervention manuals or equivalent, fidelity checks, reliance on outcome measures with unknown psychometric properties, and follow-up designs). Future research would benefit from establishing adherence to implementation (fidelity to protocol), including pre, post, and follow-up assessments, as well as using outcome measures appropriate for determining both short-term and long-term change. There is a clear need for the funding of technique development, manualized programming for delivery, rigorous evaluation of these with standardized outcome measures, and adequately powered studies testing outcomes across development

Program Evaluation of a School-Based Mental Health and Wellness Curriculum Featuring Yoga and Mindfulness

Background: Interest in the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions such as yoga in primary schools has grown. Evidence shows promise, as youth who engage in yoga to promote mindfulness show improved coping skills, increased socio-emotional competence and prosocial skills, academic performance, attention span, and ability to deal with stress. Objective: This study reports the results of a program evaluation of a universal health and wellness curriculum, Pure Power, designed to teach youth yoga techniques, mindfulness, and emotion regulation. Methods: A non-randomized comparison design examined outcomes among participants from schools that completed the intervention with highest fidelity of implementation (n= 461) and from students in matched comparison schools (n= 420). Standard measures of coping, emotion regulation and emotion dysregulation, spelling and math achievement were collected. Results: Analyses suggest the youth in the intervention schools demonstrated relative improvement on measures of emotion regulation, spelling, and math. Conclusions: Challenges in implementation in real life settings are vital to identify. The data provide some real-world evidence for the effectiveness of a universal health and wellness curriculum on emotion regulation and positive academic outcomes. Training school staff to deliver the intervention may foster implementation. Future research should test the effectiveness of who delivers the intervention; for example, teacher delivered groups vs. other wellness personnel