Neural processing of dynamic emotional facial expressions in psychopaths

Facial expressions play a critical role in social interactions by eliciting rapid responses in the observer. Failure to perceive and experience a normal range and depth of emotion seriously impact interpersonal communication and relationships. As has been demonstrated across a number of domains, abnormal emotion processing in individuals with psychopathy plays a key role in their lack of empathy. However, the neuroimaging literature is unclear as to whether deficits are specific to particular emotions such as fear and perhaps sadness. Moreover, findings are inconsistent across studies. In the current experiment, 80 incarcerated adult males scoring high, medium, and low on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while viewing dynamic facial expressions of fear, sadness, happiness, and pain. Participants who scored high on the PCL-R showed a reduction in neuro-hemodynamic response to all four categories of facial expressions in the face processing network (inferior occipital gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and superior temporal sulcus (STS)) as well as the extended network (inferior frontal gyrus and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)), which supports a pervasive deficit across emotion domains. Unexpectedly, the response in dorsal insula to fear, sadness, and pain was greater in psychopaths than non-psychopaths. Importantly, the orbitofrontal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), regions critically implicated in affective and motivated behaviors, were significantly less active in individuals with psychopathy during the perception of all four emotional expressions.     

心理健康干预对离退休干部自觉幸福度的影响分析

目的：通过心理健康干预,探讨其对离退休干部自觉幸福度的影响。方法：将新疆维吾尔自治区人民医院干部保健中心的80名57-74岁离退休干部按随机数字表法分为观察组和对照组。观察组采用开展心理咨询、开展丰富多彩的文体活动等方法进行心理干预,对照组不采取任何措施,观察其自然变化。比较这两组患者干预前后的幸福度的评分。结果：干预前观察组与对照组各项评分差异无统计学意义（ P＞0．05）。干预后患者的生活质量评分及幸福度评分均高于对照组,具有统计学差异（ P＜0．05）。结论：心理健康干预作为一种有效地干预措施,在提高离退休干部生活质量,尤其是自觉幸福度上有一定公共卫生意义。     

养老院老年人主观幸福感及相关因素分析

目的 调查养老院老年人主观幸福感水平,并分析其相关因素.方法 采用纽芬兰纪念大学幸福度量表(MUNSH)、自编老年人情况表及闲暇活动表,对北京市某养老院103例老年人进行问卷调查.结果 老年人主观幸福感得分为(39.30±8.17)分;经济收入、疼痛程度、文化程度以及参与闲暇活动的意愿是主观幸福感的影响因素,可解释总变异的31.1％.结论 养老院老年人主观幸福感相对较好,受经济收入、疼痛、文化程度、参与闲暇活动的意愿等多个因素的影响.     

The internet and children’s psychological wellbeing

Late childhood and adolescence is a critical time for social and emotional development. Over the past two decades, this life stage has been hugely affected by the almost universal adoption of the internet as a source of information, communication, and entertainment. We use a large representative sample of over 6300 children in England over the period 2012–2017, to estimate the effect of neighbourhood broadband speed, as a proxy for internet use, on a number of wellbeing outcomes, which reflect how these children feel about different aspects of their life. We find that internet use is negatively associated with wellbeing across a number of domains. The strongest effect is for how children feel about their appearance, and the effects are worse for girls than boys. We test a number of potential causal mechanisms, and find support both for the ‘crowding out’ hypothesis, whereby internet use reduces the time spent on other beneficial activities, and for the adverse effect of social media use. Our evidence adds weight to the already strident calls for interventions that can reduce the adverse effects of internet use on children’s emotional health.     

Factors associated with happiness in the elderly persons living in the community

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to evaluate factors associated with happiness in a sample of Brazilian older adults.MethodsA study was conducted with 263 elderly people in the area of coverage of a family health unit located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The Subjective Happiness Scale was used to measure happiness, the final score of which determined one of three outcomes: not happy, intermediate, and happy. Disability, sociodemographic characteristics, and psychological, cognitive, and physical factors were considered for the multinomial logistic regression analysis.ResultsStatistically significant differences were found among the three groups regarding satisfaction with life, disability, social phobia, anxiety, depression, and frailty (p ≤ 0.05). In the multinomial regression analysis, being “not happy” was significantly associated with satisfaction with life (RRR: 0.53), depression (RRR: 1.46), social phobia (RRR: 1.24), and age (RRR: 1.06).ConclusionThe present findings indicate that psychological factors and age influence the levels of happiness in older adults living in the community. Furthermore, better screening, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health disorders could increase the feeling of happiness among older adults.     

Economic Resources, Relative Socioeconomic Position and Social Relationships: Correlates of the Happiness of Young Canadian Teens

This paper uses a large, nationally representative microdata survey to conduct a multivariate analysis of the correlates of self-assessed happiness for Canadian 12 to 15 year olds living in two-parent families. We ask whether the same factors matter for the happiness of young teens as for adults. And, we ask whether the correlates of being at the bottom of the young teen happiness distribution are the same as the correlates of being at the top. Results suggest that the level of family income correlates with the probability of being at the bottom of the young teen happiness distribution but not with the probability of being at the top. Relative socioeconomic position and peer social relationships, on the other hand, correlate with being at the top but not at the bottom of the young teen happiness distribution. Relationships involving significant adults (parents, teachers) are the most important correlates of young teen happiness.

Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?

We present evidence that psychological well-being is U-shaped through life. A difficulty with research on this issue is that there are likely to be omitted cohort effects (earlier generations may have been born in, say, particularly good or bad times). First, using data on 500,000 randomly sampled Americans and West Europeans, the paper designs a test that can control for cohort effects. Holding other factors constant, we show that a typical individual's happiness reaches its minimum - on both sides of the Atlantic and for both males and females - in middle age. Second, evidence is provided for the existence of a similar U-shape through the life-course in East European, Latin American and Asian nations. Third, a U-shape in age is found in separate well-being regression equations in 72 developed and developing nations. Fourth, using measures that are closer to psychiatric scores, we document a comparable well-being curve across the life cycle in 2 other data sets (1) in GHQ-N6 mental health levels among a sample of 16,000 Europeans, and (2) in reported depression-and-anxiety levels among 1 million UK citizens. Fifth, we discuss some apparent exceptions, particularly in developing nations, to the U-shape. Sixth, we note that American male birth-cohorts seem to have become progressively less content with their lives. Our results are based on regression equations in which other influences, such as demographic variables and income, are held constant.     

Doing well by doing good. The relationship between formal volunteering and self-reported health and happiness

In this paper, we examine whether engaging in voluntary work leads to greater well-being, as measured by self-reported health and happiness. Drawing on data from the USA, our estimates suggest that people who volunteer report better health and greater happiness than people who do not, a relationship that is not driven by socio-economic differences between volunteers and non-volunteers. We concentrate on voluntary labor for religious groups and organizations and using second stage least square regressions we find that religious volunteering has a positive, causal influence on self-reported happiness but not on self-reported health. We explore reasons that could account for the observed causal effect of volunteering on happiness. Findings indicate that low relative socio-economic status is associated with poor health both among those who volunteer and those who do not. Low status, however, is associated with unhappy states only among those who do not volunteer, while volunteers are equally likely to be happy whether they have high or low status. We propose that volunteering might contribute to happiness levels by increasing empathic emotions, shifting aspirations and by moving the salient reference group in subjective evaluations of relative positions from the relatively better-off to the relatively worse-off.     

河南三地AIDS病人幸福感的探索性研究

目的了解河南有偿供血艾滋病（AIDS）病人的幸福感和生活质量,分析生活质量和幸福感之间的关系,探索性地讨论与幸福感相关的问题。方法以河南省尉氏县、镇平县、唐河县有偿供血AIDS病人作为研究对象,采用问卷和访谈方式对研究对象进行幸福感和生活质量的调查。结果94名研究对象中,尉氏县幸福度得分最高,镇平县其次,唐河县最低。三地受访者幸福度（MUNSH）比较差异有统计学意义。其中,尉氏、镇平幸福度得分与唐河比较有差异显著,尉氏与镇平间幸福度差异不显著。尉氏艾滋病人生活质量水平最高（359．00±53．26）,唐河县最低（248．24±61．20）,地区间各个领域得分及总分均存在显著性差异（P〈O．01）。同时影响生活质量和幸福度（感）的因素有健康状况和HIV检测情况。访谈结果显示,研究对象对现有的生活环境感到满意。结论健康状况和HIV检测情况是研究对象幸福度（感）的主要影响因素。与世界卫生组织艾滋病病人生活质量测定量表简表（WHOQOL—HIV-BREF）和纽芬兰纪念大学幸福度量表（MUNSH）相比,笑脸和阶梯量表是更有效的测量工具。