The Deep Affectional Bond Between Humans and Their Animal Companions: The Role of Experiences With Parents in Childhood and Current Parental Status

BackgroundAntisocial behaviour is a result of a multifactorial process that involve social and individual risk factors. Only few studies explored the mechanisms explaining the effects of social factors on antisocial behaviour through proximal factors. To extend previous findings, this study aims to investigate the complex relationship between distal and proximal factors, identifying proximal factors mediating the relationship between social factors and antisocial behaviour among 12-14 years old Italian adolescents.MethodsThe analytical sample included 1847 school students of Piedmont Region and city of Rome who participated in the baseline survey of the experimental controlled trial “GAPUnplugged”. The data was collected between November 2022 and January 2023. The associations of sociodemographic characteristics, distal factors and proximal factors with the probability of adolescent's antisocial behaviour were estimated through multilevel mixed-effect models. Mediation analysis was conducted to test the mediating effect of proximal factors on the relationship between distal factors and adolescent's antisocial behaviour.ResultsThe prevalence of lifetime antisocial behaviour was 61.2%. Among distal factors, parental permissiveness to use substances, low parental support, low class climate, perceptions of peer's cigarette, alcohol and illicit drug use were associated with higher probability of antisocial behaviour. Low school performance, low pupil's respect for teacher, impulsiveness and sensation-seeking were significant mediators of the trajectories of most distal factors on antisocial behaviours.ConclusionsBoth distal and proximal factors help to understand trajectories of antisocial behaviours in adolescence. All these factors should be considered in prevention interventions aimed at reducing or preventing antisocial behaviour among early adolescents.Key messages• Both distal and proximal risk factors are associated with the risk of engaging in antisocial behaviours during adolescence.• The alarmingly high prevalence of antisocial behaviour among early adolescents requires immediate actions for implementing targeted and effective prevention programs prior the onset of behaviour.

What co-curricular interventions contribute to the academic success and retention of non-traditional commencing undergraduate students identified to be at risk of academic failure or early attrition from university when taking into account distal and proximal factors?

The dynamics of proximal and distal factors in construction site water pollution

BackgroundAccumulating evidence indicates that a variety of distal and proximal factors might impact a risk of suicide. However, the association between both groups of factors remains unknown. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the interplay between distal and proximal correlates of the current suicidal ideation.MethodsA total of 3,000 individuals (aged 18–35 years, 41.7% males), who had reported a negative history of psychiatric treatment, were enrolled through an online computer-assisted web interview. Self-reports were administered to measure: (a) distal factors: a history of childhood trauma (CT), reading disabilities (RDs), symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), lifetime history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), lifetime problematic substance use as well as family history of schizophrenia and mood disorders; (b) proximal factors: depressive symptoms, psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), and insomnia; and (c) sociodemographic characteristics.ResultsSuicidal ideation was directly associated with unemployment, being single, higher level of RD, lifetime history of NSSI as well as higher severity of PLEs, depression, and insomnia. The association of distal factors with suicidal ideation was fully (a history of CT and symptoms of ADHD) or partially (a history of NSSI and RD) mediated by proximal factors (PLEs, depression, and insomnia).ConclusionsMain findings from this study posit the role of distal factors related to neurodevelopmental disorders, CT and NSSI in shaping suicide risk. Their effects might be partially or fully mediated by depression, PLEs, and insomnia.

Family factors contributing to emotional and behavioral problems in Korean adolescents with epilepsy.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of project creativity in international marketing teams. The proposed framework includes both proximal (characteristics that impact the everyday functioning of the team) and distal (characteristics associated with the team's organizations that are relatively remote to the everyday functioning of the team) factors as antecedents of project creativity. Specifically, the authors investigate the influence of three proximal factors, namely, collaboration with foreign counterparts, autonomy, and international experience as well as two distal factors, namely, organizational encouragement and innovative organizational culture.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from 156 executives from publicly traded firms in the manufacturing sector in South Korea and tested using hierarchical regression.Findings– Collaboration with foreign counterparts and autonomy exert direct positive influence on project creativity. International experience exerts a curvilinear relationship such that low and high levels of international experience positively influence project creativity, whereas moderate international experience negatively influences project creativity. In addition, whereas the relationship between organizational encouragement and project creativity was supported, the relationship between innovative culture and project creativity was not.Originality/value– Despite the importance afforded to international marketing teams and creativity in marketing research and practice, little attention has focussed on project creativity in international marketing teams. This study represents an initial effort toward filling the void and identifying certain proximal and distal factors as relevant antecedents of project creativity in international marketing teams. In addition, deviating from extant studies on creativity, this study highlights a curvilinear relationship between international experience and creativity.

Parental maltreatment and proximal risk factors using the Childhood Experience of Care & Abuse (CECA) instrument: A life-course study of adult chronic depression — 5

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide known to influence social and cognitive processing across several mammalian species. There currently exists a mixed and controversial pattern of evidence that oxytocin pathway genes confer individual differences in social cognition and personality in humans. Inconsistencies across studies may in part be explained by the presence of intermediary, epigenetic, variables that exist between genotype and phenotype. This study was designed to investigate the association between epigenetic modification of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR), via DNA methylation, and Big-5 personality traits. Genetic data were collected via saliva samples and analyzed to quantify DNA methylation within the promoter region of OXTR. The results indicate that Openness to Experience is associated with OXTR DNA methylation, while controlling for the remaining Big-5 personality dimensions (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) and sex and age. This finding provides additional support for models associating oxytocin with individual differences in personality and identity in humans.

Obesity in childhood is complex; structural equation modeling (SEM) offers an approach to ascertain complicated relationships between weight and proximal (health behaviors, child health) and distal (family/household, community) variables. The objective of the study was to use SEM to map the influence of different etiological clusters on obesity in childhood. Secondary analysis of baseline data from patients and parents enrolled in a multi-site study of pediatric weight management was conducted. The primary outcome was weight status (utilizing percentage above the 95th percentile BMI, %95BMI). SEM was used to evaluate the influences of variables proximal and distal to child weight within the context of the Ecological Model of obesity in childhood. Complete data on 375 child-parent dyads were imputed. Proximal factors (child stress and mobility, parent BMI) were significantly related to %95BMI; some distal factors (family level) did not have a direct effect on %95BMI, but did indirectly through proximal factors (such as child stress). Other distal factors (neighborhood deprivation represented by the Area Deprivation Index) were significantly related to %95BMI and family-level factors. Except for the distal factor of neighborhood deprivation, proximal factors were the drivers of weight status. Distal factors did have indirect effects via proximal factors. SEM provides a means to investigate the complex contributors to childhood obesity, and could identify key leverage points for intervention.

Do measures of country-level safety predict individual-level health outcomes?

While using self-tracking devices for physical health has become ubiquitous, the potential for quantified-self (QS) dependence as a detrimental outcome for mental health is under-explored. This study examined the mechanism of wearable users' QS dependence by investigating both the distal and proximal factors based on a cognitive-behavioral model. A total of 535 wearable users aged 18-35 years were surveyed in this study. The surveys included control variable questions related to age, gender, monthly income, BMI, and wearable use experience. Key variable measures included distal factor (habitual use of wearables), proximal factors (perceived external regulation, recognition, and perceived irreplaceability), and perceived QS dependence. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test research hypotheses. The results revealed that habitual use of wearables as a distal factor alone was negatively associated with perceived QS dependence. However, it positively influenced perceived external regulation, recognition, and perceived irreplaceability, which in turn significantly contributed to perceived QS dependence, suggesting the suppression effect of the proximal factors. The relationships between habitual use of wearables and QS dependence are complex. Although habitual use may seem apparently harmless, it can indirectly foster maladaptive cognitions, thereby promoting dependence. These findings underscore the potential threats of maladaptive cognitions that may arise from leveraging technology to promote physical health, thus offering guidance to technology designers for interventions.

Serotonin is involved in a wide range of mental capacities essential for navigating the social world, including emotion and impulse control. Much recent work on serotonin and social functioning has focused on decision-making. Here we investigated the influence of serotonin on human emotional reactions to social conflict. We used a novel computerised task that required mentally simulating social situations involving unjust harm and found that depleting the serotonin precursor tryptophan—in a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled design—enhanced emotional responses to the scenarios in a large sample of healthy volunteers (n = 73), and interacted with individual differences in trait personality to produce distinctive human emotions. Whereas guilt was preferentially elevated in highly empathic participants, annoyance was potentiated in those high in trait psychopathy, with medium to large effect sizes. Our findings show how individual differences in personality, when combined with fluctuations of serotonin, may produce diverse emotional phenotypes. This has implications for understanding vulnerability to psychopathology, determining who may be more sensitive to serotonin-modulating treatments, and casts new light on the functions of serotonin in emotional processing.

This is the final proceedings of the 15th annual Australian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences conference, which was hosted by the Understanding Personality and Individual Differences Research Team at Monash University. The final proceedings include abstracts of papers which were presented, as well as full papers. All papers presented at the conference were subject to blind peer review. Full papers included in the conference proceedings were subjected to further review for suitability and scientific rigour. To cite the conference proceedings as a whole, please use: Costello, S. (Ed.). (2017). Proceedings of the 15th annual Australian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences . Melbourne, Australia: ACPID. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4702291 To cite an individual abstract or paper, please use: AuthorSurname, Firstname. (2017). Title of abstract or paper. Proceedings of the 15th annual Australian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4702291

Pathways to suicidal ideation for young people engaged in mental health care.

Individuals who undergo metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) are at increased risk for postoperative alcohol use disorder. Reducing postoperative alcohol use could prevent the development of alcohol use disorder; however, the factors leading to episodic alcohol use are not known. The purpose of this paper is to describe the protocol for a study that will examine distal and proximal factors associated with episodic alcohol use and hazardous alcohol use among individuals who undergo MBS. We will enroll 100 participants who undergo MBS at a single health care system. Participants will complete measures of substance use, psychiatric symptoms, and disordered eating behaviors at baseline and at 6- and 12-week follow-ups. Participants will also complete a 3-week ecological momentary assessment protocol in which they will complete brief surveys each morning and evening, reporting on their mood, disordered eating, and substance use. This study received funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21 AA029423) in May 2023. This part of the grant was approved by the institutional review board in March 2024, and data collection occurred between November 2024 and December 2025. We anticipate that our study protocol will be feasible and that we will observe at least 80% participant retention at the follow-up assessments and their response to at least 75% of ecological momentary assessment signals. We hypothesize that depressive symptoms (distal factor) and negative affect (proximal factor) will be associated with increased alcohol use, and alcohol use will occur in lieu of disordered eating behaviors. Findings will help us understand distal and proximal factors leading to episodic alcohol use after undergoing MBS. This knowledge will allow us to construct better monitoring strategies for postoperative alcohol use within MBS programs and identify targets for intervention to reduce alcohol use after undergoing MBS. DERR1-10.2196/87209.