Stress can profoundly influence one’s behavior. Evidence suggests that the fight-or-flight response to stress causes reduced prosocial behavior. While men seem prone towards the fight-or-flight...Show moreStress can profoundly influence one’s behavior. Evidence suggests that the fight-or-flight response to stress causes reduced prosocial behavior. While men seem prone towards the fight-or-flight reaction, it has been proposed that women instead exhibit a stress response of nurturing and affiliation, termed the tend-and-befriend response. However, there is inconsistent evidence for whether stress differentially impacts prosociality across the sexes. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of sex and stress on prosocial behavior. We proposed that females would be more prosocial during stressful periods, while males would display the opposite pattern. This study was part of a larger research project involving a repeated-measure design with two time-points. Stress was naturalistically manipulated by comparing prosociality during an exam period and an exam-free period. 136 university students completed a prosocial effort task, which measured how much effort one would exert for someone else, compared to themselves, to obtain a reward. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed that there was no significant interaction between sex and stress levels affecting prosociality. In addition, prosocial behavior levels did not differ across the time points. However, females were found to be significantly more prosocial than males overall. The results of the prosocial effort task may have been confounded by other factors such as attachment security, while not properly measuring affiliation. Stress operationalization and personal characteristics may explain the absence of a relationship between stress and prosocial behavior. The higher prosocial behavior among females can be attributed to gender roles. Potential future research directions are discussed.Show less
Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that impacts females substantially more than men. However, not much research has been conducted on the classification possibilities...Show moreAlzheimer’s dementia (AD) is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that impacts females substantially more than men. However, not much research has been conducted on the classification possibilities of functional MRI (fMRI) on the basis of sex, although fMRI may be a better classifier of AD in women as functional connectivity (FC) research has shown that women with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) show weaker connectivity in the hippocampal area as compared to males. This research investigated if 1) functional connectivity is a better classifier of AD for females compared to males and 2) the addition of functional connectivity to grey matter density for AD classification improves accuracy more for females than for males. The measures grey matter density (GMD), functional connectivity between brain regions (FC) and a combined model of the two measures predicted the classification of AD or control, analyzed separately for males (AD = 30, controls = 74) and females (AD = 46, controls = 99). This was done with a logistic regression analysis with LASSO penalty. The results found that, unlike expected, males increased their AUC value (AUC = 0.941) when the FC measure was combined with the GMD measure (AUC = 0.959). The females however showed a decrease in their AUC value (AUC = 0.876) when the FC measure was combined with the GMD measure (AUC = 0.860). The FC measure also had a higher AUC value on its own in males (AUC = 0.723) versus females (AUC = 0.626). This shows that the FC measure used in this research increases accuracy of AD classification in males and implies that fMRI is not a better classifier of Alzheimer in females and does not improve diagnosis when compared to solely using structural MRI (sMRI).Show less
A majority of research in social sciences has been focused on peer preference throughout childhood and adolescence. Different factors have been found to be related to peer preference such as...Show moreA majority of research in social sciences has been focused on peer preference throughout childhood and adolescence. Different factors have been found to be related to peer preference such as emotion recognition, empathy, and prosocial behavior. In addition, prior research has shown possible sex differences regarding peer preference and the mechanisms and factors that influence how girls and boys choose which peers they prefer. In the present study participated 135 normally developing preschoolers, aged three to five, from different areas of Portugal, with the aim to investigate the socio-emotional factors that are related to peer preference. In detail, data for peer preference were gathered through the use of peer nomination techniques. Data on emotion recognition, empathy, and prosocial behavior- the social-emotional factors in this research- were gathered with parent questionnaires. The results were not as expected, as there were no correlations found between peer preference with empathy and prosocial behavior in the sample. However, a small negative correlation was found between peer preference and emotion recognition. Furthermore, none of the three factors could predict peer preference. Lastly, there were no significant differences between boys and girls regarding the relationship of preference with emotion recognition, empathy, and prosocial behavior. There is a possibility that the results were unexpected as the measuring techniques that were used were inappropriate for the variables that needed to be measured. Additionally, the cognitive and emotional level of preschoolers might not be yet advanced to the degree that is required to demonstrate empathy and prosocial behavior at a level that will influence the formation of peer preference. Still, peer preference during preschool years is of the utmost importance as it influences not only the present developmental level but also the future socio-emotional development of children.Show less
Background. Children with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) are at a high risk for an intellectual impairment and experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Internalizing problems, such as anxiety and a...Show moreBackground. Children with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) are at a high risk for an intellectual impairment and experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Internalizing problems, such as anxiety and a depressed mood, are among the most prevalent reported psychiatric symptoms in patients with TSC. These problems often precede more severe psychopathology, especially when they remain unrecognized. Despite this, research on this subject is still remarkably scarce, especially in children. A factor that seems to be positively associated with internalizing problems is intellectual ability. A major research question that arises is whether more internalizing problems are related to higher intelligence levels in children with TSC, which was examined in the current study. As TSC1 is related to less (severe) intellectual impairments compared to TSC2, a differentiation was made between these mutation types. Additionally, we explored whether internalizing problems increased with age, as would be consistent with findings in the general population. Methods. To test these hypotheses, internalizing problem scores (a parental report on the child behavior checklist) and intellectual ability (using different age- and range-appropriate intelligence and developmental tests) in a non-selected sample of children with TSC (N = 95, Age (Mean (SD) = 10.46 (4.25), 46.3% female, 28.5% TSC1) were assessed. To examine the association between internalizing problems and intellectual ability, several hierarchical regression analyses were performed. Externalizing problems, age, sex and the number of prescribed anti-epileptic drugs were included as control variables. For the exploratory hypothesis, this study tracked symptom severity over two follow-up visits in a subset of our patient population, using several paired sample t-tests. To additionally check whether internalizing problems became more severe in (early) adolescence we selected 15 children (66.7% female) for the childhood/adolescence subgroup. Within these groups, sex- and mutation related differences were also considered. Results. A significant model was found (F = 10.53, p <.001) in which externalizing problems (B = .55, p <.001) and age (B = .28, p <.005) were positively associated with internalizing problems. However, intelligence levels were found to have no influence. Furthermore, internalizing problems tend to increase with age (p <.001). Between childhood and adolescence, this increase was predominantly observed in girls (p = .03). Boys did not seem to experience more internalizing problems during this transition period. Lastly, a trend was found in which only a mutation on the TSC2 gene was associated with more internalizing problems over time (p <.005). Conclusion. This study could not confirm an association between internalizing problems and intelligence. However, our results indicated that internalizing problems increased with age, especially in girls. Since these behaviors contribute to the burden of the disease, it is of great importance that all involved professionals are sensitive to internalizing problems. A regular and thorough evaluation of internalizing problems should therefore always be part of the psychiatric assessment.Show less
Executive functions are critical for adequate social functioning which is mediated by social skills. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between executive functions and social skills...Show moreExecutive functions are critical for adequate social functioning which is mediated by social skills. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between executive functions and social skills of young children because associations between these domains have only rarely been examined. The research group consisted of 109 boys and 98 girls from primary schools with an average age between 4-7 years in 2009 and 5-9 years during the follow-up study in 2010. These children completed measurements of the Social Skills Rating Scale, the Dysexecutive Questionnaire for Children, the Zoo Map task, the Spatial Temporal Span task, the Go No Go task and the Response Organization Objects task. Results indicate that executive dysfunction in daily life is negatively correlated to social skills of boys and girls. For boys there also exists a positive correlation between working memory in 2009 and social skills in 2010. Based on the findings of this study it is concluded that executive dysfunction in daily life is a negative predictor for social skills of boys and girls.Show less
