Negative studies received fewer citations than positive studies. Furthermore, over half of the negative studies had a (partially) positive focus, and Web of Science citation rates were higher for these studies. Thus, discussion of the 5-HTTLPR-stress interaction is more positive than warranted. This study exemplifies how evidence-base-distorting mechanisms undermine the authenticity of research findings.

BackgroundThe loss of a significant other can lead to variety of responses, including prolonged grief disorder (PGD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend previous research that indicated that three subgroups of bereaved individuals can be distinguished based one similar post-loss symptom profiles using latent class analysis (LCA). The second aim was to examine whether sociodemographic and loss-related characteristics as well as the extent of meaning making were related to classes with more pervasive psychopathology.MethodsTelephone-based interviews with 433 Dutch and German speaking persons who had lost a significant other at last 6 months earlier were conducted. Self-rated PGD, PTSD, and depression symptoms were assessed. LCA was conducted and correlates of class-membership were examined using the 3step approach.ResultsThe LCA resulted in three distinct classes: a no symptoms class (47%), a moderate PGD, low depression/PTSD class (32%), and a high PGD, moderate depression/PTSD class (21%). A multivariate analysis indicated that female gender, a shorter time since loss, an unexpected loss and less meaning made to a loss were significantly associated with membership to the moderate PGD, low depression/PTSD and high PGD, moderate depression/PTSD class compared to membership to the no symptom class. Losing a child or spouse, a shorter time since loss, and having made less meaning to the loss further distinguished between the high PGD, moderate depression/PTSD symptom class and the moderate PGD, low depression/PTSD class.DiscussionWe found that the majority of individuals coped well in response to their loss since the no symptom class was the largest class. Post-loss symptoms could be categorized into classes marked by different intensity of symptoms, rather than qualitatively different symptom patterns. The findings indicate that perceiving the loss as more unexpected, finding less meaning in the loss, and loss-related factors, such as the recentness of a loss and the loss of a partner or child, were related to class membership more consistently than sociodemographic factors.

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Introduction: Victims of bullying often show interpersonal problems, such as having less high-quality interpersonal relationships compared to non-involved individuals. Research suggests that interpersonal struggles are associated with diminished emotional intelligence and competence and can lead to mental health problems such as depression. Therefore, we examined emotion recognition abilities, empathic accuracy, and behavioral responses to emotions in bullying victims and non-involved individuals. Based on previous research, we expected victims to show diminished skills in all three domains.Methods: Adolescents (Mage=17years; 67% female; no “other” gender participants) with (N=24) and without (N=21) a self-reported history of bullying victimization in high school completed a Virtual Reality facial emotion recognition task (ERT-VR), an empathic accuracy task (EAT) using videos of people recounting real-life autobiographical events, and a computer task in which they indicated their likely behavioral responses to facial emotions.Results: The two groups only significantly differed in recognizing emotions when taking their depression symptoms into account. Across emotions, victims had lower recognition accuracy than non-involved individuals. When examining emotion-specific differences, victims showed lower accuracy for neutral faces which they mainly mistook for angry faces.Conclusion: In contrast to expectations, adolescents with a high-school history of bullying victimization mostly showed similar emotional intelligence and competence skills as non-involved individuals. Nonetheless, we found some subtle differences regarding emotion recognition. Victims misjudged neutral as angry faces. This suggests a hostile attribution bias which might help explain victims’ interpersonal problems as well as their increased risk for mental health problems.

BackgroundWe examined the influence of interindividual differences in alcohol use on the intraindividual associations of drinking occurrence with interpersonal behaviors, affect, and perceptions of others during naturally occurring social interactions.MethodsFor 14 consecutive days, 219 psychology freshmen (55% female; M age = 20.7 years, SD = 2.18) recorded their behaviors, affect, and perceptions in social interactions soon after an interpersonal event occurred. Interpersonal behaviors and perceptions were assessed in terms of dominance–submissiveness and agreeableness–quarrelsomeness. Participants also reported the number of alcoholic drinks consumed within 3 hours of each interaction. We considered the intraindividual associations of (i) having a drinking episode and (ii) the number of drinks during an episode with behaviors, affect, and perceptions and examined interindividual differences in drinking frequency and intensity during social interactions as potential moderators of these associations.ResultsSocial drinking frequency and intensity moderated the associations between drinking episode and behaviors, affect, and perceptions in social interactions. During a drinking episode, more frequent social drinkers perceived others as more dominant than less frequent social drinkers. During a drinking episode in which more alcohol was consumed than usual, more frequent social drinkers also reported behaving more dominantly and experiencing less pleasant affect.ConclusionsAs more frequent social drinkers had different interpersonal responses to drinking than less frequent social drinkers, including when they had consumed larger amounts of alcohol than usual, our results suggest a differential susceptibility to the effects of alcohol during naturally occurring social interactions among drinkers with varying drinking frequency.