Government-mandated warnings on cannabis legally sold for recreational use

Background: Frequent cannabis use can pose risks to health and safety. Multiple governments have legalized the sale of cannabis for recreational use and mandated health and safety warnings for recreational cannabis packages or signs at sales locations. The purposes of this study were to identify common themes across warnings and to compare the actual warnings with those previously recommended by cannabis experts and cannabis users.Methods: We searched Google and Google Scholar for online lists of governments that allow or will soon allow the sale of cannabis for recreational use. Using the online lists we found, we searched for laws mandating the warnings, using the search terms “mandated warnings for recreational use marijuana” in addition to the name of the jurisdiction under review. We evaluated the content of the warnings and compared them with warnings recommended by cannabis experts and by users of recreational cannabis.Results: Each search led to millions of results. Within the top results of each of the searches there were website links to official legislative websites, databases and documents of the jurisdiction under review. We used these official documents. The search revealed that 11 U.S. states and two countries allow the recreational use of cannabis and that 10 U.S. states and Canada mandate warnings on legally sold recreational cannabis. The mandated warnings can be categorized as focusing on one of nine risks: (1) negative health effects on the user, (2) harm to children or fetuses, (3) risks related to driving or operating machinery, (4) risks of habit formation leading to over-use, (5) risks relating to over-use on a single occasion, especially with regard to edible cannabis, (6) developmental risks for young people, (7) harm caused by secondary smoke, (8) risks of effects lasting several hours, and (9) risks specific to using cannabis topicals. The warnings include no graphic images and no phone number to call for help quitting.Conclusions: The warnings, as a group, parallel most warnings recommended by cannabis experts and a sample of recreational users of cannabis. The effects of the warnings are unknown, but prior research findings on warnings for cannabis and for other substances suggest potential for positive effects in raising awareness of risks and decreasing the risks. The warnings could be used in public health campaigns. Public health professionals may find it possible through research to help improve the warnings, either in presentation or in content. Cannabis researchers can use the list to identify additional risks suitable for inclusion in mandated warnings

Increasing Emotional Intelligence through Training: Current Status and Future Directions

Emotional intelligence consists of adaptive emotional functioning involving inter-related competencies relating to perception, understanding, utilising and managing emotions in the self and others. Researchers in diverse fields have studied emotional intelligence and found the construct to be associated with a variety of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors such as mental health, relationship satisfaction, and work performance. This article reviews research investigating the impact of training in emotional-intelligence skills. The results indicate that it is possible to increase emotional intelligence and that such training has the potential to lead to other positive outcomes. The paper offers suggestions about how future research, from diverse disciplines,can uncover what types of training most effectively increase emotional intelligence and produce related beneficial outcomes

Can psychological interventions increase optimism? A meta-analysis

Greater optimism is related to better mental and physical health. A number of studies have investigated interventions intended to increase optimism. The aim of this meta-analysis was to consolidate effect sizes found in randomized controlled intervention studies of optimism training and to identify factors that may influence the effect of interventions. Twenty-nine studies, with a total of 3319 participants, met criteria for inclusion in the analysis. A significant meta-analytic effect size, g = .41, indicated that, across studies, interventions increased optimism. Moderator analyses showed that studies had significantly higher effect sizes if they used the Best Possible Self intervention, provided the intervention in person, used an active control, used separate positive and negative expectancy measures rather than a version of the LOT-R, had a final assessment within one day of the end of the intervention, and used completer analyses rather than intention-to-treat analyses. The results indicate that psychological interventions can increase optimism and that various factors may influence effect size

Preliminary Experimental Evaluation of a Behavioral-Cognitive Method of Increasing Life Excitement

This randomized controlled trial with 113 adults evaluated the effects of a behavioral-cognitive method developed to increase life excitement. The intervention included encouraging participants to (1) do something new, (2) go somewhere new, (3) act spontaneously, (4) take on a new challenge, (5) learn something new, (6) interact with exciting individuals, (7) engage in romantically or sexually exciting behaviors, (8) read, watch, or listen to something suspenseful or stimulating, (9) take a (reasonable) risk, (10) engage in stimulating exercise or sport, (11) accomplish something new, (12) pursue their own interests, (13) talk with others about exciting experiences, (14) think about past exciting activities, or (15) plan future exciting activities. Participants reported level of excitement-aimed behavior, positive affect, and life satisfaction at pre-intervention and post-intervention. Experimental-group members also reported their outcome levels three months after the end of the intervention. At pre-intervention, excitement-aimed behavior was significantly associated with positive affect and life satisfaction. The intervention had significant between-groups effects on excitement-aimed behavior and positive affect. The experimental group maintained significant pre-post improvements on these variables through a three-month follow-up. The results provide initial support for a new method of increasing positive affect

The Nature of Well-Being: The Roles of Hedonic Processes, Eudaimonic Processes, Emotional Intelligence, and Cultural Orientation

The first part of the present project reconceptualised the role of hedonic (pleasure) and eudaimonic (engagement) functions as satisfaction "processes" and distinguished them from well-being "outcomes". Well-being "outcomes" cover the full spectrum of human well-being by encompassing life satisfaction, positive affect, psychological well-being, social well-being, general physical health and absence of depression, anxiety, and stress. It was hypothesised that adaptive emotional functioning as operationalised by emotional intelligence would mediate the relationship between satisfaction "processes" and well-being "outcomes", and that cultural orientation would moderate the relationship among satisfaction processes, emotional intelligence, and well-being outcomes. Participants were university students from both Australia and India. Path analysis using structural equation modelling showed that emotional intelligence fully mediated the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic satisfaction processes and well-being outcomes. Multi-group analyses showed that cultural orientation did not moderate this mediation model. An experimental study explored the effect of expressive writing about positive satisfaction experiences with a focus on emotional functioning on the overall well-being of an individual. Participants in the experimental condition wrote about meaningful activities that provide them with an intense sense of enjoyment and pleasure and how satisfaction derived from such activities can be increased by strengthening emotions associated with them. The control group participants were asked to write about their daily activities. Results indicated that writing about positive satisfaction experiences in the context of adaptive emotional functioning led to a significant increase in well-being at post-test as compared to writing about daily activities

The Development of an Internet Course as an Integral Component of Face-to-Face Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

The study tested the feasibility of a self-learning interactive online course on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) as a component in an intervention for the treatment of participants with mild or moderate levels of major depressive disorder (MOD). The course provided a means for participants to learn cognitive behavioural skills through an interactive website with email and if necessary telephone support by the writer. The intervention included individual face-to-face sessions, which participants arranged as they felt the need during or after completion of the course. The sessions concentrated on the application of skills learnt in the course and overcoming difficulties encountered in learning aspects of the course. Nine participants scoring in the mild and moderate levels on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were selected for the study. The existence of MOD was verified by a clinical interview based on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Participants were retested with the BDR on completion of the intervention, the face-to-face phase and three months following the end of treatment. The BDI scores were compared with those of individuals in studies of face-to-face treatment and online treatment only, to identify significant differences in effect sizes or improvement rates. At the same time as the BOI testing participants completed interview questionnaires on the extent to which they were using skills learnt in the intervention and also provided feedback on the treatment process. Case study methodology was used to provide information on changes in functioning as participants advanced through the treatment process. The results are tentative because the study has several limitations including the smallness of the sample, the lack of control groups and the nature of the relationship between the researcher and the participants. Much more research is required before the effectiveness of the intervention can be accepted

Beliefs around luck : confirming the empirical conceptualization of beliefs around luck and the development of the Darke and Freedman beliefs around luck scale

The current study developed a multi-dimensional measure of beliefs around luck. Two studies introduced the Darke and Freedman beliefs around luck scale where the scale showed a consistent 4 component model (beliefs in luck, rejection of luck, being lucky, and being unlucky) across two samples (n = 250; n = 145). The scales also show adequate reliability statistics and validity by ways of comparison with other measures of beliefs around luck, peer and family ratings and expected associations with measures of personality, individual difference and well-being variables

Meta-analysis of associations between five-factor personality traits and problematic social media use

This meta-analysis quantified the relationship between the five-factor model of personality and problematic social media use and identified moderators of this relationship. The analysis used a random-effects model to calculate a correlation for each factor and included 113 samples, with a total of 53,913 participants, identified from systematic searches of four databases. Moderator analyses were used to investigate potential causes of heterogeneity. The meta-analysis found that high neuroticism (r=.21,

Emotional Intelligence Predicts Adolescent Mental Health Beyond Personality and Cognitive Ability

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been reliably linked to better mental health (Martins, Ramalho, & Morin, 2010). However, critics have argued that EI may be conceptually redundant and unable to offer anything new to the prediction of key adaptational outcomes beyond known correlates of performance, i.e., personality and cognitive ability (Brody, 2004). Although sparse, extant evidence points to differential incremental contributions from ability and trait EI in the prediction of internalising vs. externalising symptomotology in adults (e.g., Gardner & Qualter, 2010; Rossen & Kranzler, 2009). However, there is a dearth of research addressing these associations in adolescents. The current study explored the incremental validity of ability and trait EI to predict depression and disruptive behaviour beyond the ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions and general cognitive ability in a sample of 499 adolescents (mean age 13.02 years). Regression analyses found that collectively, EI made a significant, incremental contribution to the prediction of disorder in youth. However, of the two, trait EI appears the stronger predictor. Findings are discussed with reference to EI theory and directions for future research

Multi-site genetic analysis of diffusion images and voxelwise heritability analysis : a pilot project of the ENIGMA–DTI working group

The ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Consortium was set up to analyze brain measures and genotypes from multiple sites across the world to improve the power to detect genetic variants that influence the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) yields quantitative measures sensitive to brain development and degeneration, and some common genetic variants may be associated with white matter integrity or connectivity. DTI measures, such as the fractional anisotropy (FA) of water diffusion, may be useful for identifying genetic variants that influence brain microstructure. However, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) require large populations to obtain sufficient power to detect and replicate significant effects, motivating a multi-site consortium effort. As part of an ENIGMA–DTI working group, we analyzed high-resolution FA images from multiple imaging sites across North America, Australia, and Europe, to address the challenge of harmonizing imaging data collected at multiple sites. Four hundred images of healthy adults aged 18–85 from four sites were used to create a template and corresponding skeletonized FA image as a common reference space. Using twin and pedigree samples of different ethnicities, we used our common template to evaluate the heritability of tract-derived FA measures. We show that our template is reliable for integrating multiple datasets by combining results through meta-analysis and unifying the data through exploratory mega-analyses. Our results may help prioritize regions of the FA map that are consistently influenced by additive genetic factors for future genetic discovery studies. Protocols and templates are publicly available at (http://enigma.loni.ucla.edu/ongoing/dti-working-group/)