College students and cyberbullying: how social media use affects social anxiety and social comparison

Cyberbullying is defined as aggression intending to inflict harm on others by electronic communication technologies. Cyberbullying has become more common as social media has grown and is accompanied by negative mental health consequences. Research on cyberbullying and mental health in adolescents suggests cyberbullying victimization moderates the relationship between social comparison and social anxiety, but little is known about this phenomenon in college students. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the relationship between cyberbullying, social anxiety, and social comparison amongst college students. A convenience sample of 486 undergraduate students from southern Texas and northern Ohio completed a PyschData survey that assessed social anxiety, social comparison, experiences with be a cyberbullying victim, perpetrator, or both. We found that social anxiety was associated with cyberbullying victimization and perpetration; however, social comparison was not. Cyberbullying victimization was not a moderator between social comparison and anxiety, suggesting that unlike adolescence, college students\u27 experiences with these constructs may be unique to their developmental level

Characterizing underlying cognitive components of ADHD presentations and co-morbid diagnoses – A diffusion decision model analysis

Objective. To Explore whether subtypes and comorbidities of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) induce distinct biases in cognitive components involved in information processing. Method. Performance on the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA-CPT) was compared between 150 children (aged 7-10 years) with ADHD, grouped by DSM-5 presentation (ADHD-C, ADHD-I) or co-morbid diagnoses (anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder [ODD], both, neither), and 60 children without ADHD. Diffusion decision modeling decomposed performance into cognitive components. Results. Children with ADHD had poorer information integration than controls. Children with ADHD-C were more sensitive to changes in presentation modality (auditory/visual) than those with ADHD-I and controls. Above and beyond these results, children with ADHD+anxiety+ODD had larger increases in response biases when targets became frequent than children with ADHD-only or one comorbidity. Conclusion. ADHD presentations and comorbidities have distinct cognitive characteristics quantifiable using DDM and IVA-CPT. We discuss implications for tailored cognitive-behavioral therapy

The unique relationship between childhood sexual abuse, self-injury and suicide ideation: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has serious short-term and long-term effects, including non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation (SI). One possible thread linking CSA to NSSI and suicide risk is emotion dysregulation. The current study assessed whether facets of emotion dysregulation mediated relations of NSSI behaviours and functions, and SI. Participants (N = 121; Mean age = 18.69, age-range 18–22; 78 per cent female), college students with a history of childhood trauma, completed an online survey. Results indicated that facets of emotion dysregulation (i.e. clarity, non-acceptance) mediated the relationship between CSA and SI. CSA was associated with automatic negative reinforcement, social negative and social positive reinforcement NSSI functions, but was not associated with NSSI behaviours. Emotion dysregulation facets did not mediate the relationship between CSA and NSSI functions. Findings highlight the need to help CSA survivors have clarity and acceptance of emotional experiences to reduce SI risk

Coping competence and hopelessness moderate the influence of perceived burdensomeness on suicidal ideation in undergraduate college students

According to the interpersonal theory of suicide, the perception of imposing a burden on loved ones increases the risk for suicidal ideation. Little research, however, has examined the interaction of burdensomeness with cognitive variables in predicting suicidal ideation in college students even though the relationship between burdensomeness and ideation may be contingent on levels of cognitive risk factors. The present study thus examined the relationships between burdensomeness, hopelessness, coping competence, and suicidal ideation. Questionnaires were administered to 279 undergraduate students from a university in the Midwest United States. After controlling for depression, hopelessness, and coping competence, burdensomeness significantly predicted ideation and accounted for variance above and beyond the control variables. Moreover, the relationship between burdensomeness and suicidal ideation was significantly moderated by coping competence and hopelessness. The findings suggest that perceived burdensomeness plays a critical role in the risk for suicide in college students. More specifically, the findings suggest that coping competence and hopelessness can be ideal targets for interventions as changes in these variables may attenuate the association between perceived burdensomeness and suicidal ideation

Different Spectral Analysis Methods for the Theta/Beta Ratio Calculate Different Ratios But Do Not Distinguish ADHD from Controls

There has been ongoing research on the ratio of theta to beta power (Theta/Beta Ratio, TBR) as an EEG-based test in the diagnosis of ADHD. Earlier studies reported significant TBR differences between patients with ADHD and controls. However, a recent meta-analysis revealed a marked decline of effect size for the difference in TBR between ADHD and controls for studies published in the past decade. Here, we test if differences in EEG processing explain the heterogeneity of findings. We analyzed EEG data from two multi-center clinical studies. Five different EEG signal processing algorithms were applied to calculate the TBR. Differences between resulting TBRs were subsequently assessed for clinical usability in the iSPOT-A dataset. Although there were significant differences in the resulting TBRs, none distinguished between children with and without ADHD, and no consistent associations with ADHD symptoms arose. Different methods for EEG signal processing result in significantly different TBRs. However, none of the methods significantly distinguished between ADHD and healthy controls in our sample. The secular effect size decline for the TBR is most likely explained by factors other than differences in EEG signal processing, e.g. fewer hours of sleep in participants and differences in inclusion criteria for healthy controls

Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial of Neurofeedback for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder With 13-Month Follow-up

Objective: To determine whether theta/beta-ratio (TBR) electroencephalographic biofeedback (neurofeedback [NF]) has a specific effect on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) beyond nonspecific benefit. Method: In a 2-site double-blind randomized clinical trial, 144 children aged 7 to 10 years with rigorously diagnosed moderate/severe ADHD and theta/beta-ratio (TBR) ≥4.5 were randomized 3:2 to deliberate TBR downtraining versus a control of equal duration, intensity, and appearance. Two early dropouts left 142 children for modified intent-to-treat analysis. The control used prerecorded electroencephalograms with the participant's artifacts superimposed. Treatment was programmed via Internet by an off-site statistician-guided co-investigator. Fidelity was 98.7% by trainers/therapists and 93.2% by NF expert monitor. The primary outcome was parent- and teacher-rated inattention; analysis was mixed-effects regression. Because the expense and effort of NF can be justified only by enduring benefit, follow-ups were integrated. Results: Blinding was excellent. Although both groups showed significant improvement (p <.001, d = 1.5) in parent/teacher-rated inattention from baseline to treatment end and 13-month follow-up, NF was not significantly superior to the control condition at either time point on this primary outcome (d = 0.01, p =.965 at treatment end; d = 0.23, p =.412 at 13-month follow-up). Responders (Clinical Global Impression−Improvement [CGI-I] = 1−2) were 61% of NF and 54% of controls (p =.36). Adverse events were distributed proportionally between treatments. The 13-month follow-up found nonsignificant improvement from treatment end for NF (d = 0.1), with mild deterioration for controls (d = −0.07). NF required significantly less medication at follow-up (p =.012). Conclusion: This study does not support a specific effect of deliberate TBR NF at either treatment end or 13-month follow-up. Participants will be reassessed at 25-month follow-up. Clinical trial registration information: Double-Blind 2-Site Randomized Clinical Trial of Neurofeedback for ADHD; https://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT02251743