Psychopathological Mechanisms Research Articles

The association between perceived social functioning and heart rate variability is mediated by subclinical depressive symptomatology and moderated by gender.

Chronic loneliness and low perceived social support have been recognized as risk factors for both mental and cardiovascular disorders. It has been proposed that their link to psychophysiological problems may involve changes in parasympathetic activity. However, the exact underlying psychopathological mechanisms and the moderating effects of gender are still not thoroughly examined. Thus, the present study investigated associations between perceived social functioning and resting vagal tone in the context of potential cognitive and subclinical mediators and gender differences. Three hundred twenty-five young adults (aged 18-35, 180 women) underwent an electrocardiogram measurement of 6-minute resting heart rate variability (HRV). They also completed questionnaires assessing loneliness, perceived social support, social cognitive biases, depressive and social anxiety symptoms, and general mental health. In men, HRV was significantly and negatively associated with poorer perceived social functioning, depressive symptoms, and self-reported social cognitive biases, while in women, there was a quadratic link between HRV and depressive symptoms and HRV and general mental health. Moderated mediation analysis revealed that depressive symptoms fully mediated the relationship between perceived social functioning and HRV in men. The results suggest that decreased resting vagal tone in lonely individuals is linked to depressive symptomatology rather than to specific social cognitive biases and that this association is significant only in men.

The association of impulsivity with depression and anxiety symptoms: A transdiagnostic network analysis and replication

BackgroundImpulsivity increases the risk for depression and anxiety. However, the granular pathways among them remain unknown. A network approach that moves from disorder-level analysis to symptom-level analysis can provide further understanding of psychopathological mechanisms. In this study, we examined the network structure of impulsivity and separate and comorbid symptoms of depression and anxiety. MethodsRegularized partial-correlation networks were estimated using cross-sectional data from 1047 Chinese participants aged 18–26 years (main dataset, mean age = 21.45 ± 2.01 years) and 325 Chinese participants aged 18–36 years (an independent replication dataset, mean age = 21.49 ± 3.73 years), including impulsivity-depression, impulsivity-anxiety, and impulsivity-depression-anxiety networks. The datasets were collected from 1 June 2023 to 4 August 2023 and from 27 April 2022 to 16 May 2022, respectively. Impulsivity, depression, and anxiety were assessed using Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, respectively. Bridge centrality was analyzed, and a network comparison test (NCT) was conducted to investigate the differences between the main dataset and replication dataset. ResultsThe motor impulsivity dimension was revealed to be closely connected with individual symptoms of depression and anxiety regardless of whether they were in separate disorder forms or comorbid forms. In all the networks, motor impulsivity was the most important bridge node. The NCT showed comparable network connectivity and network structure between the main and replication datasets. LimitationsThe use of cross-sectional data limited the inferences about the direction of causality between variables. ConclusionsThese findings elucidate the psychopathological mechanisms underlying how impulsivity functions within depression, anxiety, and comorbidity and support that motor impulsivity is an important risk factor across different mental disorders and is responsible for comorbidity. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Towards implementation of cognitive bias modification in mental health care: State of the science, best practices, and ways forward

Cognitive bias modification (CBM) has evolved from an experimental method testing cognitive mechanisms of psychopathology to a promising tool for accessible digital mental health care. While we are still discovering the conditions under which clinically relevant effects occur, the dire need for accessible, effective, and low-cost mental health tools underscores the need for implementation where such tools are available. Providing our expert opinion as Association for Cognitive Bias Modification members, we first discuss the readiness of different CBM approaches for clinical implementation, then discuss key considerations with regard to implementation. Evidence is robust for approach bias modification as an adjunctive intervention for alcohol use disorders and interpretation bias modification as a stand-alone intervention for anxiety disorders. Theoretical predictions regarding the mechanisms by which bias and symptom change occur await further testing. We propose that CBM interventions with demonstrated efficacy should be provided to the targeted populations. To facilitate this, we set a research agenda based on implementation frameworks, which includes feasibility and acceptability testing, co-creation with end-users, and collaboration with industry partners.

Gene-Environment Interactions in Irrational Beliefs: The Roles of Childhood Adversity and Multiple Candidate Genes.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is based on the view that maladaptive thinking is the causal mechanism of mental disorders. While this view is supported by extensive evidence, very limited work has addressed the factors that contribute to the development of maladaptive thinking. The present study aimed to uncover interactions between childhood maltreatment and multiple genetic differences in irrational beliefs. Childhood maltreatment and irrational beliefs were assessed using multiple self-report instruments in a sample of healthy volunteers (N = 452). Eighteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped in six candidate genes related to neurotransmitter function (COMT; SLC6A4; OXTR), neurotrophic factors (BDNF), and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (NR3C1; CRHR1). Gene-environment interactions (G×E) were first explored in models that employed one measure of childhood maltreatment and one measure of irrational beliefs. These effects were then followed up in models in which either the childhood maltreatment measure, the irrational belief measure, or both were substituted by parallel measures. Consistent results across models indicated that childhood maltreatment was positively associated with irrational beliefs, and these relations were significantly influenced by COMT rs165774 and OXTR rs53576. These results remain preliminary until independent replication, but they represent the best available evidence to date on G×E in a fundamental mechanism of psychopathology.

Gene‒environment interaction effect of hypothalamic‒pituitary‒adrenal axis gene polymorphisms and job stress on the risk of sleep disturbances.

Studies have shown that chronic exposure to job stress may increase the risk of sleep disturbances and that hypothalamic‒pituitary‒adrenal (HPA) axis gene polymorphisms may play an important role in the psychopathologic mechanisms of sleep disturbances. However, the interactions among job stress, gene polymorphisms and sleep disturbances have not been examined from the perspective of the HPA axis. This study aimed to know whether job stress is a risk factor for sleep disturbances and to further explore the effect of the HPA axis gene × job stress interaction on sleep disturbances among railway workers. In this cross-sectional study, 671 participants (363 males and 308 females) from the China Railway Fuzhou Branch were included. Sleep disturbances were evaluated with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and job stress was measured with the Effort-Reward Imbalance scale (ERI). Generalized multivariate dimensionality reduction (GMDR) models were used to assess gene‒environment interactions. We found a significant positive correlation between job stress and sleep disturbances (P < 0.01). The FKBP5 rs1360780-T and rs4713916-A alleles and the CRHR1 rs110402-G allele were associated with increased sleep disturbance risk, with adjusted ORs (95% CIs) of 1.75 [1.38-2.22], 1.68 [1.30-2.18] and 1.43 [1.09-1.87], respectively. However, the FKBP5 rs9470080-T allele was a protective factor against sleep disturbances, with an OR (95% CI) of 0.65 [0.51-0.83]. GMDR analysis indicated that under job stress, individuals with the FKBP5 rs1368780-CT, rs4713916-GG, and rs9470080-CT genotypes and the CRHR1 rs110402-AA genotype had the greatest risk of sleep disturbances. Individuals carrying risk alleles who experience job stress may be at increased risk of sleep disturbances. These findings may provide new insights into stress-related sleep disturbances in occupational populations.

Phenolic Compounds of Therapeutic Interest in Neuroprotection.

The number of elderly people is projected to double in the next 50 years worldwide, resulting in an increased prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases. Aging causes changes in brain tissue homeostasis, thus contributing to the development of neurodegenerative disorders. Current treatments are not entirely effective, so alternative treatments or adjuvant agents are being actively sought. Antioxidant properties of phenolic compounds are of particular interest for neurodegenerative diseases whose psychopathological mechanisms strongly rely on oxidative stress at the brain level. Moreover, phenolic compounds display other advantages such as the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the interesting molecular mechanisms that we reviewed in this work. We began by briefly outlining the physiopathology of neurodegenerative diseases to understand the mechanisms that result in irreversible brain damage, then we provided an overall classification of the phenolic compounds that would be addressed later. We reviewed in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as some clinical trials in which neuroprotective mechanisms were demonstrated in models of different neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), ischemia, and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the standardised assessment of personality abbreviated scale.

This study was undertaken to translate the Standardised Assessment of Personality - Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS) into Japanese and to evaluate its validity and reliability. SAPAS is one of the most rapid tools for assessing personality disorder (PD) and has excellent sensitivity and good specificity, whereas other PD assessment tools require such a significant investment of time that they are infeasible for large surveys or routine clinical practice. Customary assessment in clinical practice ideally incorporates screening for PD, as it is associated with a substantial public health burden, including premature mortality and increased health service utilization. Furthermore, PD's status as a key prognostic variable of mental disorders also drives PD screening. While SAPAS has been translated into several languages, there has been no Japanese version. Therefore, we translated SAPAS into Japanese (SAPAS-J) and evaluated its reliability and validity. Study 1 recruited undergraduates to reveal its test-retest reliability. Although its internal consistency was not high, since the intent of the original SAPAS was to assess the broad character of personality disorder with the fewest possible items, minimal correlations between items were reasonable. We tested two factorial models, the single-factor model and the higher-order-single-factor model, and the latter offered better fitting. This higher-order model contained a three-factor structure corresponding to clusters described in DSM-5. It measures general PD traits as a common higher-order latent variable comprising those factors. Correlations of SAPAS-J with the much longer PD screening questionnaire in Study 1 and depressive and anxiety symptoms in Study 2 from the general population support its validity. Although validation for the clinical use of SAPAS-J is limited, our research with non-clinical populations demonstrated sufficient validity to justify its use in the context of psychopathological analog research. Since PD is understood as a continuum, the severity of which is distributed dimensionally, the analog study recruiting from the general population and attempting to reveal psychopathological mechanisms of PD is meaningful.

Insomnia and Alexithymia in Chinese Adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study of Sex Differences and Associations.

Insomnia is related to alexithymia in adults, but the relationship between insomnia and alexithymia in adolescents with major depressive disorder remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the sex differences and the association between insomnia and alexithymia in adolescents with major depressive disorder. From October 2020 to April 2022, adolescent patients with major depressive disorder were recruited from psychiatric departments of seven hospitals in Anhui Province, China. Their general demographic and clinical information were collected. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression Scale, and the Insomnia Severity Index Scale were used to assess their alexithymia, depression, and insomnia symptoms, respectively. The analysis of variance (ANOVA), Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used for continuous variables and chi-square tests for categorical variables. Pearson's correlation analysis and Spearman correlation analysis were used to examine the correlation between ISI and demographic and clinical variables. Multiple binary logistic regression analyses with the "Enter" method were carried out to explore the correlations of insomnia. The prevalence of insomnia in female adolescent patients was similar to that of male patients (χ2=1.84, p = 0.175). Compared with those without insomnia, patients with insomnia had worse family relationships (F = 7.71, p = 0.021), perceived heavier academic stress (F = 6.32, p = 0.012), more likely to take sedative-hypnotics (F = 5.51, p = 0.019), had higher levels of depression (F = 81.57, p < 0.001) and alexithymia (F = 28.57, p < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed that alexithymia was significantly associated with insomnia in adolescent patients (r = 0.360, p < 0.01). Binary logistic regression analyses showed that, alexithymia was significantly associated with insomnia in female patients (OR = 1.050, p < 0.05) but not male patients. In female adolescent patients, alexithymia is a risk factor of insomnia, which is of great importance in the understanding of the psychopathological mechanisms, treatments and psychological interventions of insomnia in adolescents with major depressive disorder.

Proteomic insights into mental health status: plasma markers in young adults

Global emphasis on enhancing prevention and treatment strategies necessitates an increased understanding of the biological mechanisms of psychopathology. Plasma proteomics is a powerful tool that has been applied in the context of specific mental disorders for biomarker identification. The p-factor, also known as the “general psychopathology factor”, is a concept in psychopathology suggesting that there is a common underlying factor that contributes to the development of various forms of mental disorders. It has been proposed that the p-factor can be used to understand the overall mental health status of an individual. Here, we aimed to discover plasma proteins associated with the p-factor in 775 young adults in the FinnTwin12 cohort. Using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, 13 proteins with a significant connection with the p-factor were identified, 8 of which were linked to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. This exploratory study provides new insight into biological alterations associated with mental health status in young adults.

Prodromal period of psychosis: diagnostic criteria.

Aim: To study the psychopathological mechanisms of the development of the prodromal stage of psychosis in order to identify risk factors for the formation of psychosis. Materials and Methods: In this research 137 patients with newly diagnosed psychosis were examined: 65 patients with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia; 72 patients - with a diagnosis of acute polymorphic psychotic disorder. Results: According to the analysis of symptoms using the PANSS, the absence of signs of an anxious state, conceptual disorganization of thinking, emotional withdrowal are reliable signs of PPP in PS, and unusual thought content, absence of signs of stereotyped thinking, tension, anxiety, and hallucinations are reliable signs of PPP in APPD. According to the analysis of symptoms using the SOPS, unusual thought content/delusional ideas, bizarre thinking, social anhedonia, suspiciousness/persecutory ideas, decrease in expressiveness of emotions are reliable signs of PPP in PS, and bizarre thinking, impaired tolerance to normal stress, sleep disturbance, perceptual abnormalities/hallucinations, trouble with focus and attention are reliable signs of PPP in APPD. Conclusions: In the process of studying the clinical-psychopathological and pathopsychological aspects of the development of the PPP, a number of risk factors for the formation of psychosis were identified. We found that he most important diagnostic signs of PPP in PS patients are: stereotyped thinking, social isolation, disorganizational thinking disorders, passive-apathetic social detachment, suspiciousness. The most informative prodromal symptoms of HP in PS patients are: conceptual disorganization of thinking, bizzare thinking, social isolation, suspiciousness/persecutory ideas, reduced expression of emotions.

Editorial: Advances of neurobiological basis and psychopathological mechanism for mood disorders

Editorial: Advances of neurobiological basis and psychopathological mechanism for mood disorders

Challenges and ways forward in bridging units of analysis in clinical psychological science.

For decades, experiential measures (i.e., self- and informant-report) have dominated clinical psychological science as the primary methods of investigating the nature, causes, and consequences of psychopathology. Recent efforts to understand psychopathology in a comprehensive manner, bridging across measurement modalities and study designs, have yielded disappointing results and small cross-domain effect sizes. This problem has stymied progress in diagnosing and treating mental illness. We contend that we continue to struggle to link different units of analysis in psychopathology research because, as a field, we have not learned the lessons that have been detailed in the literature since at least the 1950s. We argue that our reliance on single units of analysis (e.g., only self-report or only neuroimaging) to conceptualize and operationalize psychological constructs lies at the heart of our struggles. Conflation of a construct with its operationalization in a single measurement modality fundamentally limits the ability to understand its manifestation in other units of analysis. To make progress toward a fine-grained understanding of the symptoms, signs, and mechanisms of psychopathology, we must move past the siloed reification of constructs and prioritize new, integrated research paradigms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal postnatal depressive symptoms and children's internalizing problems: The moderating role of mother-infant RSA synchrony.

Maternal depressive symptoms are a crucial risk factor for children's internalizing problems, though positive mother-child relationships may buffer this risk transmission. Mother-child physiological coregulation (e.g., synchrony) has emerged as a potentially important mechanism of developmental psychopathology and may play a role in the transmission of internalizing symptoms. In this two-wave longitudinal study, we examined whether and how mother-infant physiological synchrony (of respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) moderated the association between maternal postnatal depressive symptoms and children's internalizing problems in a rural, low-SES community sample (N = 166 dyads). At 6 months, mother-infant RSA synchrony and infant negative affect were assessed during free play. Mother reported their depressive symptoms at 6 months and children's internalizing problems at 24 months. Multilevel structural equation models indicated that mother-infant dyads demonstrated significant and positive RSA synchrony on average and RSA synchrony significantly moderated the association between maternal depressive symptoms and children's internalizing problems even after controlling for infant negative affect. Greater maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher child internalizing problems when RSA synchrony was lower but not when it was higher. This finding suggests that mother-infant RSA synchrony may operate as a resilience factor for the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in community samples.

A neuropsychological study of misophonia

Background and objectivesMisophonia is a recently identified condition characterized by negative emotional responsivity to certain types of sounds. Although progress has been made in understanding of neuronal, psychophysiological, and psychopathological mechanisms, important gaps in research remain, particularly insight into cognitive function. Accordingly, we conducted the first neuropsychological examination of misophonia, including clinical, diagnostic, and functional correlates. MethodsA misophonia group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 64) were screened for comorbidities using a formal semi-structured interview and completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, stress, impulsivity, and functional impairment. ResultsThe misophonia group significantly underperformed the control group on only 2 neuropsychological outcomes involving verbal memory retrieval. Subscales of the Misophonia Questionaaire (MQ) were inversely correlated only with measures of attention. The misophonia group reported significantly higher anxiety symptoms, behavioral impulsivity, and functional impairments, and had numerically higher rates of ADHD and OCD. LimitationsTo facilitate comparability, in lieu of a formal diagnostic algorithm for misophonia, we used a commonly used empirical definition for group allocation that has been utilized in numerous previous studies. ConclusionsMisophonia was associated with a reduction in performance on a minority of cognitive tasks and a modest increase in some psychological symptoms and comorbid conditions. Correlational data suggest that difficulties with attention regulation and impulsivity may play a role in misophonia, albeit attention functions were intact. Results should be interpreted with caution given the variability in diagnostic definitions, and more research is needed to understand cognitive functioning under ‘cold’ conditions in misophonia.

The prevalence and risk factors of suicidal ideation in women with and without postpartum depression

AimSuicidal ideation (SI) is a severe mental health issue in the postpartum period. As depression is a major risk factor of SI, it is often considered that the risk factors of SI are the same as those of postpartum depression. However, SI occurs in women without postpartum depression as well. The aim of this study is to separately examine the prevalence and risk factors of SI in postpartum women with and without depression. MethodsWe used data of 5688 postpartum women from a 2021 Japanese nation-wide survey, whose age and geographical distributions were nationally representative. Postpartum depression was evaluated with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and SI was measured with the 10th item of EPDS. ResultsThe prevalence of SI in women with and without depression (EPDS≥9) was 51.8 % and 3.3 %, respectively. Younger age and low family support were risk factors common to both women with and without depression. Being single, currently working, history of depressive disorders, and family members' visits to support being cancelled were risk factors of SI for women with depression. In contrast, primipara, history of psychiatric disorders other than depressive disorders, infectious disease other than colds during pregnancy, and feeling of loneliness increased since COVID-19 were risk factor of SI for women without depression. ConclusionAlthough with a low prevalence, SI occurs in women without postpartum depression, which has unique risk factors indicating distinct psychopathological mechanisms. These findings call for tailored SI intervention strategies according to whether postpartum depression is present or not.

Global Neuropeptidome Profiling in Response to Predator Stress in Rat: Implications for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Traumatic stress triggers or exacerbates multiple psychiatric illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nevertheless, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying stress-induced pathology remain unclear, in part due to the limited understanding of neuronal signaling molecules, such as neuropeptides, in this process. Here, we developed mass spectrometry (MS)-based qualitative and quantitative analytical strategies to profile neuropeptides in rats exposed to predator odor (an ethologically relevant analogue of trauma-like stress) versus control subjects (no odor) to determine peptidomic alterations induced by trauma. In total, 628 unique neuropeptides were identified across 5 fear-circuitry-related brain regions. Brain-region-specific changes of several neuropeptide families, including granin, ProSAAS, opioids, cholecystokinin, and tachykinin, were also observed in the stressed group. Neuropeptides from the same protein precursor were found to vary across different brain regions, indicating the site-specific effects of predator stress. This study reveals for the first time the interaction between neuropeptides and traumatic stress, providing insights into the molecular mechanisms of stress-induced psychopathology and suggesting putative novel therapeutic strategies for disorders such as PTSD.

Uncertainty in learning and decision-making: Introduction to the special issue.

Uncertainty is a fundamental aspect of the environment. This special issue presents interdisciplinary research on decision-making and learning under uncertainty. Thirty-one research and review papers report the findings of the behavioral, neural, and computational bases of coping with uncertainty, as well as changes of these mechanisms in development, aging, and psychopathology. Taken together, this special issue presents extant research, identifies gaps in our knowledge, and offers paths for future directions.

Family study of the startle reflex and event-related potentials in anticipation of predictable and unpredictable threat in adolescents and their parents.

A heightened sensitivity to unpredictable threat has been identified as a potential transdiagnostic mechanism of psychopathology. The majority of supporting research has been conducted in adults, and it is unclear whether psychophysiological indicators of sensitivity to unpredictable threat are comparable in youth during developmental periods associated with increased risk for psychopathology. In addition, no studies have examined whether sensitivity to unpredictable threat is correlated between parents and their offspring. The present study examined defensive motivation (startle reflex) and attentional engagement (probe N100, P300) in anticipation of predictable and unpredictable threat in a sample of 15-year-old adolescents (N = 395) and a biological parent (N = 379). Adolescents, compared to their parents, demonstrated greater startle potentiation and probe N100 enhancement in anticipation of unpredictable threat. In addition, overall startle potentiation in anticipation of threat was correlated between the adolescents and their parents. Adolescence is a key developmental period characterized by heightened defensive motivation and attentional engagement in anticipation of both predictable and unpredictable threat. Sensitivity to threat might index is one mechanism of vulnerability that is at least partially shared between parents and their offspring.

Obsessive-Compulsive Symptomatology and Disgust Propensity in Disordered Eating Behaviors of Adolescents with Celiac Disease.

Considering the importance of underlying psychopathological mechanisms that mediate maladaptive eating behaviors in celiac disease (CD) in the determination of cognitive-behavioral therapeutic approaches, we investigated the impact of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology and disgust propensity on disordered eating attitudes (DEA) and poor gluten-free diet (GFD) compliance in adolescents with CD. Adolescents with biopsy-proven CD (n = 148, aged 12-18years) were compared with age- and sex-matched controls (n = 104) in terms of eating attitudes/behaviors, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and disgust propensity, as well as depression and anxiety to rule out depression- and anxiety-related covariates. The clinical implications associated with poor GFD compliance were determined using between-subgroup analysis. Multivariate linear regression and multiple logistic regression were used to identify predictors of DEA and GFD noncompliance, respectively. In adolescents with CD, DEA was remarkably associated with obsessive-compulsive symptom severity and disgust propensity, especially in contamination and core disgust sub-dimensions. Obsessionality and disgust propensity were independent predictors of DEA, of which the obsessive-compulsive symptom severity was the most decisive predictor of DEA. Higher DEA severity and lower body mass index were independent predictors of poor GFD compliance. Higher obsessionality, accompanied by disgust-related evaluative conditioning processes, may contribute to constructing a cognitive network consisting of hypervigilance and catastrophic interpretations towards benign somatic stimulations, food-related preoccupations, and avoidant behaviors in the disordered eating of adolescents with CD. The reciprocal relationship between lifelong GFD and DEA, mediated by obsessionality and disgust propensity, was supported by current findings that could guide clinicians in the management of maladaptive eating behaviors in adolescents with CD.

Adolescents’ Internet Addiction: Influence Factors, Risks and Neuroscience Connectivity

This review explains and demonstrates certain factors and the formation of internet addiction in adolescents. The aim of this review was to find the Internet addiction concept, the mental status of the problematic use of the internet, the psycho-pathological mechanism in internet addiction, and neuroimaging studies on internet-addiction-related changes in brain activities. The methods in this article used the database Google Scholar to indicate the relationships between risk personality and internet addiction, supported by the adolescents’ samples from the recent research. At the end of this review, we conclude that poor Internet use is linked to various negative psychological effects on teens. Understanding the variables that may lead to Internet misuse might help lessen its detrimental impacts.