Psychological Motivation Research Articles

Basic Human Values and Preferences for an EU‐Wide Social Benefit Scheme

AbstractPrevious explanations regarding transnational solidarity in the European Union (EU) have mainly focussed on factors including left–right self‐placement, support for European integration and European identity. We expand this model by considering deeper psychological determinants of transnational solidarity: values, operationalised as Schwartz's basic human values of universalism and security. We expect them to exert (1) direct effects on transnational solidarity – measured as support for pan‐European social benefits – and (2) indirect effects via the three aforementioned factors. We test and find evidence to support our theoretical framework using multigroup structural equation modelling and data from the European Social Survey. We further show that the effect size of the value of universalism on preferences for an EU social benefit scheme in each country is positively moderated by that country's net contribution to the EU budget, highlighting the interaction between material interests and psychological value motivations.

Would employees accept curtailments in heating and air conditioning, and why? An empirical investigation of demand response potential in office buildings

Support for demand response has mostly been investigated in the context of private households. We extend the examination of support to organizational contexts. Specifically, we analyze employee support for a scenario in which employees are faced with temporary heating or air conditioning curtailments in their workplace. We also examine the factors underpinning support, including socio-demographic and workplace characteristics and psychological motivations and beliefs. Our empirical results are based on a sample of 551 employees from different organizations who work in air-conditioned offices. Results indicate that employees generally support corporate demand response programs and are willing to accept small deviations from their ideal office temperature, but the level of support is heterogeneous across employees. Subsequent modeling of potential underlying factors shows that socio-demographic or workplace-related characteristics only play a minor role in explaining these variations. In contrast, psychological factors, including environmental motivations and perceived corporate environmental responsibility underpin support, and specific beliefs about the consequences of participation can directly explain support as well. Moreover, personal norms emerged as an important antecedent of program support. Policy makers and organizations can use these insights to design effective demand response programs that address the relevant drivers and barriers of employee support.

Rumor detection on social networks focusing on endogenous psychological motivation

Emerging information acquisition methods represented by social networks are increasingly popular. The freedom and concealment make social media become the main platform for rumor spreading. Rumor detection has attracted the attention of both academia and industry, and a series of rumor detection methods have emerged. However, existing methods focus on modeling exogenous features such as text content and user characteristics, while ignoring the endogenous psychological motivation of users. Sociological and psychological researches on rumor have demonstrated the correlation between the endogenous psychology of users and their behavior in social networks. Therefore, this study focuses on the intrinsic psychological motivation of users, probes the psychological changes of users after they are exposed to rumors from the perspectives of active sharing and passive response, analyzes and judges user behaviors to explore an efficient rumor detection method. Among them, active sharing behavior is based on the investigation of social users’ motivation, decision making and goal setting, and is related to users’ motivation to actively participate in content by creating posts and so on. Passive response, which is closely related to personal emotions originating from the influence of external factors, is a study of users’ cognitive processes and is associated with the way they handle information without active participation. Experiments demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method in rumor detection tasks, improving accuracy by 2.1% over the current baseline on the Twitter16 dataset and enabling early detection of rumors as they emerge.

Review of the Book “Monsters and Monarchs: Serial Killers in Classical Myths and History”

Serial killers have been a popular topic in literature for centuries, appearing in works of fiction, non-fiction, and even poetry. In literature, serial killers often represent the dark side of human nature, and their stories often explore the depths of depravity and the psychological motivations behind their heinous acts. Examples of serial killers can be found throughout history and mythology. With all that the public’s attention is usually focused on the serial murders of the latest decades, with the historical cases still generally remaining in the obscure. The reason for that lack of publicity is that serial killers in antiquity are difficult to identify, because the concept of serial killing is a relatively modern one. One of the pleasant exceptions is a book by Debbie Felton “Monsters and Monarchs: Serial Killers in Classical Myths and History” published by University of Texas Press, 2021, 235 pp., ISBN: 978-1-4773-2357-1 (paperback edition). This article reviews the book and comments on its contents and style.

Measuring the Potential Effects of Mirror Therapy Added to the Gold Standard Facial Neuromuscular Retraining in Patients With Chronic Peripheral Facial Palsy: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Facial neuromuscular retraining (fNMR) is a noninvasive physical therapy widely used to treat peripheral facial palsies. It consists of different intervention methods that aim to reduce the debilitating sequelae of the disease. Recently, the use of mirror therapy in the acute facial palsy and postsurgical rehabilitation contexts has shown promising results, suggesting its use as an adjunct to fNMR in treating patients with later stages of paralysis, such as the paretic, early, or chronic synkinetic. The main aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of an added mirror therapy component with fNMR in patients with peripheral facial palsy (PFP) sequelae in 3 different stages. The specific objectives of this study are to measure the effects of combined therapy compared to fNMR alone on (1) participants' facial symmetry and synkinesis, (2) quality of life and psychological aspects of the participants, (3) motivation and treatment adherence, and (4) different stages of facial palsies. This study is a randomized controlled trial that compares the effect of fNMR combined with mirror therapy (experimental group: n=45) with fNMR alone (control group: n=45) in 90 patients with peripheral facial palsy presenting with sequelae 3-12 months after onset. Both groups will receive 6 months of rehabilitation training. Facial symmetry and synkinesis; participants' quality of life; and their psychological factors, motivation, and compliance will be assessed at baseline (T0), 3 months (T1), 6 months (T2), and 12 months (T3) postintervention. Outcome measures are (1) changes in facial symmetry and synkinesis assessed with facial grading tools, (2) quality of life changes with patient questionnaires, and (3) therapy motivation with a standardized scale, as well as adherence to treatment with metadata. Changes in facial symmetry and synkinesis will be judged by 3 assessors blinded to group assignment. Mixed models and Kruskal-Wallis, chi-square, and multilevel analyses will be conducted according to the appropriate variable type. Inclusion will start in 2024 and is anticipated to be completed in 2027. The 12-month follow-up will be completed with the last patient in 2028. We expect patients included in this study to experience improvement in facial symmetry, synkinesis, and quality of life, regardless of group assignments. A potential benefit of mirror therapy for facial symmetry and synkinesis could be noted for patients in the paretic phase. We hypothesize better motivation and adherence to treatment for the mirror therapy group. The results of this trial may provide new guidelines for PFP rehabilitation with patients dealing with long-term sequelae. It also fills the need for robust evidence-based data in behavioral facial rehabilitation. PRR1-10.2196/47709.

Exploring the Incentive Function of Virtual Academic Degrees in a Chinese Online Smoking Cessation Community: Qualitative Content Analysis

Background Previous studies on online smoking cessation communities (OSCCs) have shown how such networks contribute to members’ health outcomes from behavior influence and social support perspectives. However, these studies rarely considered the incentive function of OSCCs. One of the ways OSCCs motivate smoking cessation behaviors is through digital incentives. Objective This study aims to explore the incentive function of a novel digital incentive in a Chinese OSCC—the awarding of academic degrees—to promote smoking cessation. It specifically focuses on “Smoking Cessation Bar,” an OSCC in the popular web-based Chinese forum Baidu Tieba. Methods We collected discussions about the virtual academic degrees (N= 1193) from 540 members of the “Smoking Cessation Bar.” The time frame of the data set was from November 15, 2012, to November 3, 2021. Drawing upon motivational affordances theory, 2 coders qualitatively coded the data. Results We identified five key topics of discussion, including members’ (1) intention to get virtual academic degrees (n=38, 2.47%), (2) action to apply for the degrees (n=312, 20.27%), (3) feedback on the accomplishment of goals (n=203, 13.19%), (4) interpersonal interaction (n=794, 51.59%), and (5) expression of personal feelings (n=192, 12.48%). Most notably, the results identified underlying social and psychological motivations behind using the forum to discuss obtaining academic degrees for smoking cessation. Specifically, members were found to engage in sharing behavior (n=423, 27.49%) over other forms of interaction such as providing recommendations or encouragement. Moreover, expressions of personal feelings about achieving degrees were generally positive. It was possible that members hid their negative feelings (such as doubt, carelessness, and dislike) in the discussion. Conclusions The virtual academic degrees in the OSCC created opportunities for self-presentation for participants. They also improved their self-efficacy to persist in smoking cessation by providing progressive challenges. They served as social bonds connecting different community members, triggering interpersonal interactions, and inducing positive feelings. They also helped realize members’ desire to influence or to be influenced by others. Similar nonfinancial rewards could be adopted in various smoking cessation projects to enhance participation and sustainability.

THE PROBLEM OF MOTIVATING EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF SENIOR PRESCHOOL STUDENTS WITH COGNITIVE DISORDERS OF DEVELOPMENT

The article reveals the issue of psychological readiness of children to study at school. The aim of the article is to reveal the issue of psychological readiness of preschoolers with cognitive development disorders to study at school. In the research, in order to achieve the set goal and reveal the topic, methods of search, analysis, systematization and generalization of the researched material were used. The psychology of motivation of the IX and XX centuries is investigated. It is proved that in the middle of the IX century the subject, limits and specifics of the psychology of motivation were studied in the context of behavioral psychology, and in the XX century the field of motivation studies acquires wider boundaries and is actually distributed between socio-cognitive psychology. The leading role of motivational readiness is determined, which is decisive in the successful learning and adaptation of the child to school. Psychological and pedagogical researches on the specified problems are analyzed. The motives (external -getting a good grade, increasing their prestige, avoiding trouble, etc. and internal -educational and cognitive), which determine the educational activities of preschoolers. It was found that the child's readiness for learning is characterized by its weak focus on a positive attitude to school, low interest in the content and learning process. It has been determined that due to the immaturity of the cortical parts of the brain, which are often combined with local lesions of the brain structures and are characterized by heterogeneity and polymorphism of disorders of the emotional-volitional and cognitive spheres. It has been identified generalized classification features, which are characteristic of one or another group of children with impaired cognitive development: a combination of a low level of intellectual productivity with a low level of cognitive activity, delayed mental development, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Tasks aimed at further study of motivational readiness for learning of preschoolers with cognitive impairments are outlined. Thus, the study shows that the motivation to learn in children with cognitive impairment is not formed. Readiness for educational activities is characterized by a weak orientation of the child to a positive attitude to school, low interest in the content and learning process. Due to the violation of the development of cognitive processes in preschoolers there are difficulties in the process of cognitive and educational activities.

An Analysis of the Images in Hayao Miyazaki’s Movies from the Perspective of Cognitive Metaphor

Hayao Miyazaki’s (born on January 5, 1941 in Tokyo), is a Japanese animator, animation producer, cartoonist, animation director, and animation screenwriter. His movies have lasting impact. Based on the conceptual metaphor theory of cognitive linguistics, this study analyzes the multi-modal metaphors in his animated movies to explore his cognitive needs behind his creation and find out how these metaphors are generated. This paper uses the method of qualitative analysis and comprehensively analyzes the images, aiming to answer two questions: 1) What are the multi-modal metaphors in his animated movies? 2) What cognitive needs and creative motivations do these multi-modal metaphors reflect in his movies? 
 
 In this paper, five of Miyazaki’s animated movies are employed to analyze the images in it. The secondary data was collected from the website of movies. The results of the study showed that there is a large number of non-textual metaphors in his movies, such as: Pig, Totoro, Oil house, Chihiro, Animals, Fire, Bridge, Tain, and so on. These multimodal metaphors reflect the cognitive needs and psychological motivations behind his creations. Through the analysis of Hayao Miyazaki himself, basic color, emotions, space, daily habits, national culture and other metaphorical cognition in his movies, we have a full understanding of metaphorical cognition, language and culture, national psychology and thinking habits in the process of his creation. The findings are of great importance to the cognitive study of metaphors in the field of animated movies.

The Investigation of Psychological Motives of Creative Abilities in The Omani Musical Intelligence

The Sultanate of Oman is characterized by a huge and creative musical heritage that remains mostly preserved. One hundred forty-two different traditional musical genres and styles (funun) have been registered in the Sultanate. This study aimed to investigate the Omanis’ musical creative achievements and the psychological motives behind Omani musical creative achievements. The present qualitative study adopted ethnographic research. The two study’s questions were answered in two stages: firstly, by analysis of relevant documents of Omani genres, and secondly stage based on analysis of documentary films and direct observations. The study showed that the Omanis created such musical achievements, including many genres, rhythms, instruments, and ways of performing. Furthermore, research has shown psychological motives that motivated Omani people to create these various genres, such as provocation of enthusiasm, meditation, religious motivations, poetic competition, and emotional motivation. For each motive, musical genres have been presented.

Trending Topics about Performance in Second Language Learning

This article recomposes the background of this theme during the decade 2001 to 2011. This study aims to discover ten main current research trends of performance in second language from 2012 to 2022. It will search scientific articles in the Social Science Citation Index (WOS) and in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases and discover which are emergently compared to the previous decade. Finally, the study discusses these topic trends, other alternates and transversal-related issues. It presents a critical vision of the state-of-the-art of the last 20 years, considering reference publications. The method is a documentary review that selects ten scientific articles from the last decade to discover deep trends. This documentary methodology differs from a systematic bibliographic review in that it allows selecting and delving deeper into the qualitative content of the articles. The WOS database is the most relevant and prestigious database that collects journals. Thanks to the quality system implemented, the articles published in these journals included in this WOS database ensure significant studies that ensure scientific contributions and discoveries in the field. The main results are ten recurring topic trends with the previous decade on language learning programs, evaluation, teaching strategies, communication and psychological approach, digital devices, teacher action, cognitive approach, speaking performance, motivation and instructional performance language. The major conclusions highlight emerging interdisciplinary approaches to different variables and the adaptive study of emerging technologies, such as AI, without great interest in linguistic or economic policy issues. However, searches on other academic platforms find a broader open debate for two decades with other contextual parameters about economic factors and language policy, such as the literacy of immigrants in L2 as a factor of social and economic interest, the formal programming of a second language in institutions to obtain employment, especially in the professional framework of international mobility. This means that the WOS database collects general trends in this investigated topic. However, it only partially collects the breadth of scientific interest generated as a result of the needs of the socio-economic context. Funding This work belongs to the R+D+I Project, funded by a national state call titled Multiliteracies for adult at-risk learners of additional languages (Multi-Lits). It is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the State Research Agency [PID2020-113460RB-I00].

Predictors and motives for mask-wearing behavior and vaccination intention

Containing a pandemic requires that individuals adhere to measures such as wearing face-masks and getting vaccinated. Therefore, identifying predictors and motives for both behaviors is of importance. Here, we study the decisions made by a cross-national sample in randomized hypothetical scenarios during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results show that mask-wearing was predicted by empathic tendencies, germ aversion, and higher age, whilst belief in misinformation and presentation of an interaction partner as a family member lowered the safety standards. The main motives associated with taking the mask off included: rationalization, facilitating interaction, and comfort. Vaccination intention was positively predicted by empathy, and negatively predicted by belief in misinformation and higher costs of the vaccine. We found no effect of immunization status of the surrounding social group. The most common motive for vaccination was protection of oneself and others, whereas undecided and anti-vaccine groups reported doubts about the effectiveness and fear of side effects. Together, we identify social and psychological predictors and motives of mask-wearing behavior and vaccination intention. The results highlight the importance of social context for mask-wearing, easy access to vaccines, empathy, and trust in publicly distributed information.

Validation of the Persian Version of the Engagement in E-Learning Scale in Students of the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Iran

Background: Engagement in e-learning is undesirable in Iranian students, and there is no valid scale to assess its status. Objectives: This study was conducted to validate the scale of "participation in e-learning scale" among students of nursing and midwifery schools in Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, validation was conducted on 1014 students from 51 universities of medical sciences in Iran. The samples were selected using the cluster sampling method in 2022. The scale was translated into Persian by the forward-backward method. Validity was evaluated as face validity, content validity, and construct validity. Face validity was assessed by qualitative interviews with the participants and by calculating the impact scores of each item. Content validity was assessed using the content validity ratio and content validity index. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used for construction reliability. Convergent validity was calculated by average variance extract (AVE) and composite reliability (CR). Concurrent validity was checked by comparing the correlation between the Lee scale and the educational engagement questionnaire of Schaufeli’s study. Reliability was evaluated by calculating Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 18 and LISREL version 8.8. The level of significance was considered 0.05. Results: In this study, 579 (66.86%), 569 (65.7%), and 679 (78.41%) of the students were under the age of 22 years, women, and passing an undergraduate or associate degree, respectively. Based on the results, the items were revised with face validity. The content validity ratio value of the questionnaire items was estimated between 0.76 and 1, and the content validity index was estimated at 0.79. According to the factor analysis, four factors were extracted ((1) psychological motivation; (2) management and effective communication; (3) cognitive problem-solving; and (4) peer collaboration). Regarding the convergence validity results, AVE values were greater than 0.5, and CR values were greater than 0.7. The concurrent validity results were calculated at 0.61. The Cronbach's alpha obtained for the whole scale was 0.95. Conclusions: Our findings showed that the e-learning scale is valid and reliable for measuring the participation of nursing and midwifery students in e-learning, and this scale can improve academic engagement in online classes in nursing and midwifery schools.

The promise (and peril) in approaching gender parity: Preregistered survey experiments addressing gender inequality in negotiations

Despite repeated calls to reduce gender inequalities arising in negotiations, few solutions have emerged that effectively address the fact that women often ask—and even intend to ask—for less than men in negotiations. In this paper, we focus on intentions prior to a negotiation. We explore how a simple reminder of women’s inferior position in salary negotiations—showing either a stable or closing gender gap in salary requests—can help combat gender inequality by tapping into psychological motivations inherent to status competition. In two preregistered survey experiments of business school students and gig workers (n=4337), we show that any reminder of the gender gap in requested salaries leads women to intend to request more compared to the control groups in both samples. Showing a stable gap without female progress caused men in a business school, but not gig workers, to request less than men in a control condition. Yet, men in the same context request relatively more when shown a closing gap compared to the stable gap condition. Our work thus points both to the promise of simple interventions designed to reduce gender gaps in intended salary requests, as well as the perils arising from competitive dynamics as women actually approach parity.

Psychological Exhaustion and Motivation of Health Professionals in the COVID Era

Psychological Exhaustion and Motivation of Health Professionals in the COVID Era

Narcissism and Nihilism as Manifestations of the Axiological Crisis of Culture

This work is aimed at identifying socio-anthropological and socio-cultural forms in which the health-saving crisis is manifesting itself today. The article analyzes abnormal forms of attitude to one’s health, which are quite common today. These are narcissistic hyper-concern about bodily health and appearance, and the opposite nihilistic attitude to one’s life and health, manifested in an incredible dominance of bad habits, including among young people. If narcissism is individualism elevated to the absolute degree of indifference to others, then nihilism is the triumph of Thanatos over Eros, that is, destructive life-denying forces over vital life-affirming ones. There are no criteria for “good enough” health in the narcissistic paradigm: it is an endless process of influencing oneself, which is ultimately not only transferred to the digital format, but also begins to have a negative impact on the individual’s real body. Nihilism is based on an indifferent, but more often negative attitude towards the norms and ideals of a healthy lifestyle and on the denial of their practical implementation in daily behavior. This is its difference from narcissism, in which the main thing is unconcern towards others. The article shows that the source of these anomalies lies not in the psychological plane of motivation loss, but in the ethical-existential, that is, in the axiological plane. In this context, there is proposed to consider these phenomena as social, testifying to the value crisis of culture. The article concludes that both in the case of narcissism and in the case of nihilism, there is a loss of the spiritual value and meaning of life as a metaphysical gift. In relation to health, this signals something more than just a loss of psychological motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle. We are talking about the crisis of the individual’s value attitudes, going deep into the unenlightened existence of the individual.

Psychological and Physiological Motives in Humans (Study on Verses of The Qur'an)

The Al-Qur'an is the official guideline and is an interesting material for Muslims to study because it is comprehensive about all aspects of life. This is proven, one of which is with several verses that explore the nature of human creation to the deviations it commits. So guidance, coaching, education, and healing are needed both from the psychological and physiological aspects. So the purpose of this study is to describe the Psychological and Physiological Motives in Humans (Studies on the Verses of the Qur'an). The method used is literature in the process of collecting data, then careful analysis is carried out, and finally, descriptive conclusions are drawn. The results of the study show that the physiological motives in the Qur'an are divided into two parts, namely the motive for being oneself and the motive for preserving offspring. While the psychological motives are divided into four parts, namely ownership motives, competition motives, hostility motives, and religious motives. These two things show how the Qur'an pays great attention to various kinds of matters including the different human souls and physiques so that it not only exhibits various kinds of heavenly pleasures and the pain of the torments of hell but also provides insight for humans regarding this matter things that are useful for their daily life.

A reverse pattern in work motivation among Vietnamese health care workers during the prolonged COVID-19 outbreak of 2021: Determinants and implications.

The workload burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on health systems requires not only financial support but also long-term and contextualized policies. We assessed the work motivation and its determinants among health workers at Vietnamese hospitals and facilities during the prolonged COVID-19 outbreaks in 2021. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 2814 health care professionals across all three regions of Vietnam from October to November 2021. An online questionnaire, including the Work Motivation Scale, distributed by the snowball method to a subgroup of 939 respondents, investigated changes in working characteristics due to COVID-19, work motivation, and occupational intention. Only 37.2% of respondents committed to their current job and about 40% reported a decrease in their job satisfaction. The Work Motivation Scale scored the lowest in "financial motivation" and the highest in "perception of work value". Participants who were in the north region, of younger age, unmarried, and who had a low level of adaptability to external work pressure, shorter experience, and less job satisfaction tended to be less motivated and committed to their current job. Intrinsic motivation has increased in importance during the pandemic. Therefore, policymakers should develop interventions that raise intrinsic, psychological motivation instead of only focusing on salary raises. Issues about intrinsic motivations of health care workers such as low adaptability to stress and professionalism in routine work should be prioritized during the pandemic preparedness and control.

Organizational adaptation to working from home in a crisis situation (COVID-19): the interaction between leaders' openness and followers' voice.

We investigated the effect of time spent at home on employee voice behavior and leadership openness during Covid 19. According to DeRue's adaptive leadership theory which offers an interactionist perspective to explain adaptive organizational behavior during an environmental crisis, we proposed that in the WFH's (work from home) reduced and limited communication space, leaders, who need more feedback, will encourage employees to express their opinions and will show more willingness to listen to them. Meanwhile, employees will ask more questions and make more suggestions to alleviate uncertainty and misunderstanding. Using an online questionnaire, a cross-sectional study (N = 424) has been carried out with employees working from home for a different amount of their working time during the pandemic. Data were analyzed using structural equation models (SEM) in which the effect of leadership openness on employee voice behavior was assessed through the mediation of affective commitment, psychological safety, and intrinsic motivation. The results showed that in the WFH situation, time spent in home office had a low but significant direct negative effect on promotive voice behavior. At the same time, leadership openness was growing with the amount of time spent at home. Leadership openness counteracted the negative effect of WFH on voice behavior: although leadership openness did not have a direct significant effect on voice behavior, it had a positive effect on psychological safety and work motivation which, in turn, influenced positively both promotive and prohibitive voice behavior. Employee's voice, for its part, further augmented leadership openness. In our research we could demonstrate the contingent nature and the mutual influence patterns and feedback loops of leaders-employees exchange. In the WFH situation the openness of the leader is growing with the amount of time spent at home and with the amount of promotive voice manifested by the employee. In consent with DeRue social interactionist adaptive leadership theory, a mutually reinforcing process of leadership openness and employee voice could be demonstrated. We argue that leadership openness is a key factor to motivate employee voice behavior during WFH.

When Information Conflicts with Obligations: the Role of Motivated Cognition

Abstract We experimentally test how psychological motivations can impact the processing of purely objective information. We first document that, when the high-stakes College Entrance Exam is held in the month of Ramadan, Chinese Muslim students perform significantly worse. When asked about the impact of fasting, they severely underestimate the cost of taking the exam during Ramadan, even when presented with direct empirical evidence. In the experiment, we randomly offer students reading materials in which well-respected Muslim clerics explain that it is permissible to postpone the fast until after the exam. Consistent with an interpretation of motivated cognition, students who receive the material distort the statistics about the fasting cost significantly less and become more accepting of delaying the fast for the exam.

The influence of vitamin D on handgrip strength in elderly trauma patients

Background and objectivesThe treatment of elderly patients is an increasing challenge and the long-term sequelae often affect activities of daily living and quality of life in those patients. Handgrip strength (HGS) appears as a promising value to predict the outcome after trauma in elderly patients and to assess the overall muscle strength. Besides the possible role of psychological and hormonal factors, vitamin D may have a positive influence. Furthermore, some data suggest that Vitamin D is beneficial regarding muscle strength and possibly prevents further falls and injuries in orthogeriatric patients. The purpose of this study was to identify if Vitamin D is an influencing factor for HGSin elderly trauma patients.Materials and methods94 elderly patients in a Level I Trauma Center aged 60 years or older were prospectively enrolled and HGS as well as serum 25-OH Vitamin D concentration (VDC) were measured. In addition, the standardized questionnaires Barthel Index (BI), Parker Mobility Score (PMS), Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), Strength, Assistance with walking, Rise from a chair, Climb stairs and Falls (SARC-F) and European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions 5 Levels Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L), were used to record mental health status and demographic data.ResultsHGS is mainly related to age and sex in elderly trauma patients. HGS was higher in men (meanmale = 27.31 kg (± 8.11), meanfemale = 15.62 kg (± 5.63), p < 0.001 and decreased with age (βage = − 0.58, p < 0.001). A significant negative correlation between HGS and VDC exists in the overall sample (βVDC = − 0.27, pVDC < 0.008), which still remains after adjusting for age (pVDC < 0.004), but is not significant after adjustment for both main confounders, age and sex (pVDC < 0.08). Furthermore, the HGS was lower in pateints who reported frequent falls, stumbling, dizziness or a late onset of menopause, and decreased if patients felt anxious or depressed during measurements (βanxiety+depression = − 0.26, panxiety+depression < 0.01).ConclusionsThese results do not support the hypothesis that Vitamin D has a positive influence on muscle strength measured by HGS. Nevertheless, this study could confirm the usefulness of HGS as a tool to detect the risk for frequent falls or stumbling. Furthermore, HGS seems to be associated with dizziness and age at onset of menopause. A significant decrease of HGS could also be shown in patients with anxiety and depression. This underlines the importance of interdisciplinary treatment of elderly trauma patients and needs to be taken into account for further studies, as especially the psychological motivation seems to have a significant influence and is sometimes not considered enough in elderly musculo-skeletal patients.