Internet source evaluation: The role of implicit associations and psychophysiological self-regulation

This study focused on middle school students\u2019 source evaluation skills as a key component of digital literacy. Specifically, it examined the role of two unexplored individual factors that may affect the evaluation of sources providing information about the controversial topic of the health risks associated with the use of mobile phones. The factors were the implicit association of mobile phone with health or no health, and psychophysiological self-regulation as reflected in basal Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Seventy-two seventh graders read six webpages that provided contrasting information on the unsettled topic of the potential health risks related to the use of mobile phones. Then they were asked to rank-order the six websites along the dimension of reliability (source evaluation). Findings revealed that students were able to discriminate between the most and least reliable websites, justifying their ranking in light of different criteria. However, overall, they were little accurate in rank-ordering all six Internet sources. Both implicit associations and HRV correlated with source evaluation. The interaction between the two individual variables was a significant predictor of participants\u2019 performance in rank-ordering the websites for reliability. A slope analysis revealed that when students had an average psychophysiological self-regulation, the stronger their association of the mobile phone with health, the better their performance on source evaluation. Theoretical and educational significances of the study are discussed

The role of emotional reactivity in the comprehension of online multiple texts

Multiple text-comprehension relies on a coherent mental representation based on content integration of various texts about a topic (Br\ue5ten et al. 2014; Stadler & Bromme, 2013). With respect to the Kintsch (1998) model of single-text comprehension, the \u201cdocuments model\u201d (Britt & Rouet, 2012; Rouet & Britt, 2011) includes the additional layer of the intertext model, which involves the representation of information about the sources, that is, author, type of document, purposes, date of publication, etc. Person-related factors were examined in the literature on multiple-text comprehension, mostly cognitive factors, such as prior knowledge (Br\ue5ten & Str\uf8ms\uf8, 2010; Br\ue5ten et al., 2013), argumentative reasoning (Mason, Ariasi, & Boldrin, 2011), and epistemic beliefs (Kammerer et al., 2013). Recently, theories of intelligence (Braasch et al., 2014), individual interest (Br\ue5ten et al., 2014), and reading self-efficacy (Br\ue5ten et al., 2013) were also examined as motivational factors. What is unknown in this field is the role of emotions (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2014). In the present study we investigated emotional reactivity as an individual tendency to respond with different intensity to emotional materials (Davidson, 1998). When studying emotions two basic components should be considered: valence and arousal. Valence concerns the degree of pleasantness of students\u2019 response to an emotional stimulus. Arousal regards the intensity of the emotional activation (Pekrun & Perry, 2014). While the former can be easily measured through self-reports of affective states (Crawford & Henry, 2004), arousal is measured at physiological level (Mauss & Robinson, 2009). In this regard, to extend current knowledge, we measured electrodermal activity in response to an emotional material as an index of arousal and sympathetic activation (Boucsein, 2012; Kreibig & Gendolla, 2014). Skin conductance level (SCL) is an electrodermal measure based on the activity of sweat glands that are innervated solely by the sympathetic nervous system. SCL can be collected in a non-intrusive way in school settings. Objectives of the study were the answers to the following research questions (RQ): (1) Can students be grouped according to reliably distinct profiles of emotional response to a negative school-related stimulus in terms of arousal and valence? (2) Do profiles of emotional reactivity differentiate multiple-text comprehension when controlling for potentially interfering factors? For RQ1 we expected that at least two profiles of overall response would emerge when considering physiological reactions and self-perception of emotional states. For RQ2, we expected that the profiles of emotional reactivity would differentiate deeper comprehension at the intertext level. More reactive students would show poorer multiple-text comprehension than less reactive peers. This is because the latter requires extra elaborative processing of the information while more cognitive resources may not be available when individuals tend to become easily hyper-aroused and in a negative affective state

Re: Management of women with low-grade cytology: How reassuring is a normal colposcopy examination?

The debate over best management of low-grade smear results is still open. The Italian Society of Colposcopy and Cervico-Vaginal Pathology, in the Guidelines on the Management of Women with Abnormal Cervical Cytology stated that women with low-grade cytological abnormalities should be immediately referred for colposcopic examination in an outpatient clinic.This option was criticised because it may lead to overtreatment, complications and later adverse effects in young women, without clear psychological benefit. One suggestion that we could make is to restrict the use of a see-and-treat approach since the two-step approach, requiring a colposcopically obtained direct biopsy, as recently recommended by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, is, in our opinion, preferable and favours a better training for colposcopist

Mental Health among Former Child Soldiers and Never-Abducted Children in Northern Uganda

The present study aimed to evaluate posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychological distress, and emotional and behavioral problems in former Ugandan child soldiers in comparison with civilian children living in the same conflict setting. Participants included 133 former child soldiers and 101 never-abducted children in northern Uganda, who were interviewed about exposure to traumatic war-related experiences, posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychological distress, and emotional and behavioral problems. Results indicated that former child soldiers had experienced significantly more war-related traumatic events than nonabducted children, with 39.3% of girls having been forced to engage in sexual contact. Total scores on measures of PTSD symptoms, psychological distress, and emotional and behavioral problems were significantly higher among child soldiers compared to their never-abducted peers. Girls reported significantly more emotional and behavioral difficulties than boys. In never-abducted children, more mental health problems were associated with experiencing physical harm, witnessing the killings of other people, and being forced to engage in sexual contact

The longitudinal negative impact of early stressful events on emotional and physical well-being: The buffering role of cardiac vagal development

Early stressful events negatively affect emotional and physical well-being. Cardiac vagal tone (CVT), which is associated with better emotional and physical well-being, usually gradually increase in early childhood. Nonetheless, children's CVT developmental trajectories are greatly variable, such that CVT can increase or decrease across the years. The present study examines the longitudinal effects of early stressful events and the role of 4 years CVT developmental trajectory on children's emotional and physical well-being. Forty-two 4-year-old children were enrolled. Number of stressful events and resting electrocardiogram (ECG) were collected at T1. ECG was registered again after one (T2), two (T3) and three (T4) years. Children's emotional and physical well-being were assessed at T4 through the Child Health and Illness Profile – Child Edition (CHIP–CE). CVT development was calculated as the angular coefficient, reflecting the developmental trajectory of CVT across the four timepoints. Results yielded that higher experienced stressful events predicted poorer emotional and physical well-being after 4 years. The interaction between the number of stressful events and CVT development emerged on physical well-being. Early stressful events negatively affect long-term children's emotional and physical well-being while a positive CVT development seems to mitigate the negative effects of early stressful events on physical well-being

Mothers living with contamination of perfluoroalkyl substances: an assessment of the perceived health risk and self-reported diseases

Widespread contamination of the superficial, drinking, and groundwater by perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) was discovered in the Veneto Region (northeast of Italy) in 2013. Mothers from the contaminated area were concerned about the effects of PFAS on their own and their children’s health. We determined the factors that influenced the perceived risk of PFAS and the presence of self-reported diseases by conducting a study with 384 mothers of children aged 1–13 years living in the contaminated area (Red Zone, Veneto, Italy). Information on demography, the sources of exposure, and the health condition of the mothers was collected through an online survey. The serum PFAS concentration was recorded for some of the participants. We determined the factors influencing the perceived risk, risk of health outcomes, and serum PFAS levels through regression analyses. The PFAS perceived risk of the mothers increased with an increase in the trust in scientific institutions and social media, and when many friends were present, trust in politics and full-time employment had a protective effect. The PFAS perceived risk increased the occurrences of self-reported and autoimmune diseases. Longer residence (> 20 years) in the most exposed area (Red Zone A) increased the frequency of some health outcomes. Serum PFAS concentrations decreased with breastfeeding, but increased with tap water consumption, residence in Red Zone A, and residence time. The PFAS perceived risk of the mothers was associated with many factors that influenced reporting of health issues. The association between PFAS exposure and health outcomes needs further investigation

Student-teacher socioemotional interactions, student’s focus of attention and emotional arousal in environmentally sensitive students

Literature has shown how student-teacher interaction influence children’s wellbeing and learning. Such interactions may also capture bystanders’ attention causing emotional arousal and taking away the focus of attention form the assigned task. The present study assessed the relation between student-teacher socioemotional interactions, student’s focus of attention and emotional arousal also accounting for environmental sensitivity. Through an eye tracker apparatus, we registered 95 primary school children’s pupil diameters while watching a student-teacher interaction scene. Sympathetic response and focus of attention were registered while different interaction scenes took place. Children self-reported on environmental sensitivity and perceived classroom climate. A mixed effects regression model for second pass pupil dilatation showed that attention was captured by different scenes based on their previous classroom experiences. The sympathetic response-attention link was moderated by environmental sensitivity. More sensitive children were more emotionally aroused when looking at the teacher scolding a sad child or a kind teacher having a child respond to her aggressively. Incongruent socio-emotional exchanges caused grater arousal in highly sensitive children compared to low sensitive ones. Based on the finding we planned an intervention to promote emotionally positive and in-tune teacher-student interactions to avoid students’ distraction and sympathetic arousal, especially in more environmentally sensitive students