None for the money: how we actually make monetary decisions: a literature review

Often, critics of academic scholarship point to the failure of academic findings translating to practical applications. This paper tackles an issue that most people deal with every single day, how to make smart decisions with their money. The literature scrutinizing the psychology of monetary decisions is vast. However, in a literature so comprehensive it can be easy to miss the forest for all the trees. By returning primarily to two authors who did much of the foundational research on the subject and expanding upon their work, this paper examines the overwhelming prevalence, causes, and future implications of irrational monetary decision making

Making Friends with Yourself: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study of a Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Adolescents

The aims of this mixed-method pilot study were to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary psychosocial outcomes of “Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens” (MFY), an adaptation of the adult Mindful Self-Compassion program. Thirty-four students age 14–17 enrolled in this waitlist controlled crossover study. Participants were randomized to either the waitlist or intervention group and administered online surveys at baseline, after the first cohort participated in the intervention, and after the waitlist crossovers participated in the intervention. Attendance and retention data were collected to determine feasibility, and audiorecordings of the 6-week class were analyzed to determine acceptability of the program. Findings indicated that MFY is a feasible and acceptable program for adolescents. Compared to the waitlist control, the intervention group had significantly greater self-compassion and life satisfaction and significantly lower depression than the waitlist control, with trends for greater mindfulness, greater social connectedness and lower anxiety. When waitlist crossovers results were combined with that of the first intervention group, findings indicated significantly greater mindfulness and self-compassion, and significantly less anxiety, depression, perceived stress and negative affect post-intervention. Additionally, regression results demonstrated that self-compassion and mindfulness predicted decreases in anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and increases in life satisfaction post-intervention. MFY shows promise as a program to increase psychosocial wellbeing in adolescents through increasing mindfulness and self-compassion. Further testing is needed to substantiate the findings

A School-Based Mindfulness Pilot Study for Ethnically Diverse At-Risk Adolescents

Adolescence is a critical period for intervention with at-risk youth to promote emotional well-being, deter problematic behavior, and prevent the onset of life-long challenges. Despite preliminary evidence supporting mindfulness interventions for at-risk youth, few studies have included implementation details or reported feasibility and acceptance in ethnically diverse at-risk adolescents in a school setting. We conducted a randomized pilot study of a school-based mindfulness program, Learning to BREATHE, with ethnically diverse at-risk adolescents. Twenty-seven students were randomly assigned to a mindfulness or substance abuse control class that occurred for 50 min, once a week, over one school semester. Adjustments were made to increase acceptability of the mindfulness class, including enhanced instructor engagement in school activities. Reductions in depression were seen for students in the mindfulness class compared to controls. Initially, students’ perceived credibility of the mindfulness class was lower than that of the substance abuse class. Over the semester, perceived credibility of the mindfulness class increased while that of the substance abuse class decreased. Qualitative acceptability measures revealed that the mindfulness class helped to relieve stress and that students favored continuing the class. This study provides practical knowledge about what works with this unique population in a school setting and offers suggestions for future studies

Non-allergic rhinitis: a case report and review

Rhinitis is characterized by rhinorrhea, sneezing, nasal congestion, nasal itch and/or postnasal drip. Often the first step in arriving at a diagnosis is to exclude or diagnose sensitivity to inhalant allergens. Non-allergic rhinitis (NAR) comprises multiple distinct conditions that may even co-exist with allergic rhinitis (AR). They may differ in their presentation and treatment. As well, the pathogenesis of NAR is not clearly elucidated and likely varied. There are many conditions that can have similar presentations to NAR or AR, including nasal polyps, anatomical/mechanical factors, autoimmune diseases, metabolic conditions, genetic conditions and immunodeficiency. Here we present a case of a rare condition initially diagnosed and treated as typical allergic rhinitis vs. vasomotor rhinitis, but found to be something much more serious. This case illustrates the importance of maintaining an appropriate differential diagnosis for a complaint routinely seen as mundane. The case presentation is followed by a review of the potential causes and pathogenesis of NAR

Crowdsourcing hypothesis tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results

To what extent are research results influenced by subjective decisions that scientists make as they design studies? Fifteen research teams independently designed studies to answer fiveoriginal research questions related to moral judgments, negotiations, and implicit cognition. Participants from two separate large samples (total N > 15,000) were then randomly assigned to complete one version of each study. Effect sizes varied dramatically across different sets of materials designed to test the same hypothesis: materials from different teams renderedstatistically significant effects in opposite directions for four out of five hypotheses, with the narrowest range in estimates being d = -0.37 to +0.26. Meta-analysis and a Bayesian perspective on the results revealed overall support for two hypotheses, and a lack of support for three hypotheses. Overall, practically none of the variability in effect sizes was attributable to the skill of the research team in designing materials, while considerable variability was attributable to the hypothesis being tested. In a forecasting survey, predictions of other scientists were significantly correlated with study results, both across and within hypotheses. Crowdsourced testing of research hypotheses helps reveal the true consistency of empirical support for a scientific claim.</div

Increasing frailty is associated with higher prevalence and reduced recognition of delirium in older hospitalised inpatients: results of a multi-centre study

Purpose: Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder delineated by an acute change in cognition, attention, and consciousness. It is common, particularly in older adults, but poorly recognised. Frailty is the accumulation of deficits conferring an increased risk of adverse outcomes. We set out to determine how severity of frailty, as measured using the CFS, affected delirium rates, and recognition in hospitalised older people in the United Kingdom. Methods: Adults over 65 years were included in an observational multi-centre audit across UK hospitals, two prospective rounds, and one retrospective note review. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), delirium status, and 30-day outcomes were recorded. Results: The overall prevalence of delirium was 16.3% (483). Patients with delirium were more frail than patients without delirium (median CFS 6 vs 4). The risk of delirium was greater with increasing frailty [OR 2.9 (1.8–4.6) in CFS 4 vs 1–3; OR 12.4 (6.2–24.5) in CFS 8 vs 1–3]. Higher CFS was associated with reduced recognition of delirium (OR of 0.7 (0.3–1.9) in CFS 4 compared to 0.2 (0.1–0.7) in CFS 8). These risks were both independent of age and dementia. Conclusion: We have demonstrated an incremental increase in risk of delirium with increasing frailty. This has important clinical implications, suggesting that frailty may provide a more nuanced measure of vulnerability to delirium and poor outcomes. However, the most frail patients are least likely to have their delirium diagnosed and there is a significant lack of research into the underlying pathophysiology of both of these common geriatric syndromes

Functions for Calculating Common Language Effect Sizes in R

Functions to calculate common language effect sizes in R for paired (CLES_d_z) and non-paired (CLES_d_av) sample

Taking a symptom level approach to adolescent depression

Many individuals experience their first major depressive episode in adolescence (Merikangas et al., 2010), and even sub-clinical depressive symptoms in adolescents predict maladaptive outcomes (Bertha & Balázs, 2013). Still, sum scoring all of the items on a depression scale to determine severity, can be problematic psychometrically (Fried, van Borkulo, et al., 2016) and conceptually (Borsboom, 2008). Therefore, examining how individual depression symptoms relate to depression relevant outcomes appears to be an appropriate approach (Fried & Nesse, 2015b). However, no systematic evaluation of how individual depression symptoms relate to important outcomes has occurred in an adolescent sample. In Studies 1 and 2, I systematically evaluated which depressive symptoms may be more important during adolescence using network analysis (Borsboom & Cramer, 2013), a method that quantifies which symptoms are more central to a disorder (Valente, 2012). I found that self-hatred, sadness, loneliness, and pessimism were the most central symptoms in a large (N = 1,409), diverse (63.38% Non-Caucasian) sample of adolescents, and all assessed central symptoms replicated in a separate sample (N = 1,059) using a different measure of depression. Further, the more central a depression symptom was in the network the more variance it shared with life satisfaction (r = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.27, 0.76). In Study 3, I explicitly evaluated the replicability of strength centrality in cross-sectional adolescent depression networks using KL divergence and a pseudo R2 metric. Compared to a null model (R2 = 0) and a perfect replication (R2 = 1), cross-sectional network strength centrality replicated well (R2 = 0.80) across two samples (Ns = 1,159, 402) of non-selected adolescents. Using a novel application of bootstrapping, I found cross-sectional network strength centrality of adolescent depression in one sample predicts change over time centrality of adolescent depression in another sample (r = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.45, 0.92). My findings indicate more central adolescent depression symptoms as determined by network analysis, self-hatred, sadness, and loneliness, may be more important for depression related outcomes than more peripheral symptoms. Further investigating these central symptoms may more effectively advance our theoretical and clinical understanding of adolescent depression relative to investigating other symptoms.Psycholog

Using Network Analysis to Identify Central Symptoms of Adolescent Depression

Objective: Experiencing depression symptoms, even at mild to moderate levels, is associated with maladaptive outcomes for adolescents. We used network analysis to evaluate which symptoms (and associations between symptoms) are most central to adolescent depression. Method: Participants were part of a large, diverse community sample (N = 1,409) of adolescents between the ages of 13-19 years old. Network analysis was used to identify the most central symptoms (nodes) and associations between symptoms (edges) assessed by the Children\u2019s Depression Inventory (CDI). We also evaluated these centrality indicators for network robustness using stability and accuracy tests, associated symptom centrality with mean levels of symptoms, and examined potential differences between the structure and connectivity of depression networks in boys and girls. Results: The most central symptoms in the network were self-hatred, loneliness, sadness, and pessimism. The strongest associations between symptoms were sadness-crying, anhedonia-school dislike, sadness-loneliness, school work difficulty-school performance decrement, self-hatred-negative body image, sleep disturbance-fatigue, and self-deprecation-self-blame. The network was robust to stability and accuracy tests. Notably, symptom centrality and mean levels of symptoms were not associated. Boys and girls\u2019 networks did not differ in levels of connectivity, though the link between body image and self-hatred was stronger in girls than boys. Conclusions: Self-hatred, loneliness, sadness, and pessimism were the most central symptoms in adolescent depression networks, suggesting these symptoms (and associations between symptoms) should be prioritized in theoretical models of adolescent depression and could also serve as important treatment targets for adolescent depression interventions