Results underscore the long-term risks of suffering from a combined anxiety and depressive syndrome.

In his ground-breaking Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Edmund Burke (1757) presented a comprehensive aesthetic theory based on two types of aesthetic appreciation: the beautiful and the sublime. While beauty inspires us with tender feelings of affection, a thrill of delightful horror attracts us to the sublime. According to Burke these ideas originate in a drive for affiliation (beautiful) and a drive for self-preservation (sublime). He also claims that the sublime is generally the more powerful aesthetic experience. A synopsis of literature on gender differences in aesthetic preferences, personality traits, and social motivation suggests, however, that on average women might be less susceptible to the Burkeian sublime than men. We tested this hypothesis empirically using sixty picture details from a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch. One hundred and fifty participants rated these stimuli in terms of threat (respectively safety) and liking. Besides, they completed standardized scales for state and trait anxiety as well as for state and trait depression. We found a strong effect for gender: on average, safety and liking were more closely related for female than for male participants. In the light of these findings we state that Burke’s concepts of the beautiful and the sublime might in fact be confounded with gender-related aesthetic preferences and that his proclivity to the sublime could reflect a male gaze on aesthetics. Finally, we discuss possible indicators for ‘Burke’s fallacy’ in empirical aesthetics today.

There is evidence that high alcohol use is associated with an increase in mortality. Little is known about long-term effects of problematic alcohol consumption in non-clinical (community) populations. The aim of our study was to obtain data on this and related issues in a representative rural community sample assessed longitudinally over a period of 20 years. Assessments focused on a baseline survey from 1980 to 1984 and 20-year follow-up from 2001 to 2004. Based on expert interviews and standardized self-rating scales (e.g. MALT; Munich Alcoholism Test), the following three groups were defined (a) severe alcohol problems, (b) moderate alcohol problems, and (c) no alcohol problems. Mortality and hazard rates were analyzed with logistic and Cox regression adjusted for several health risk factors. From an original community sample of 1,465 individuals, 448 were deceased at 20-year follow-up. Participation rates were high. Baseline prevalence according to the MALT was 1.6% for severe alcohol problems and 4.0% for moderate alcohol problems. Over the 20-year time span, individuals with severe alcohol problems had a significantly elevated risk for dying earlier than the group with no alcohol problems (2.4 times higher). Mortality for those with moderate alcohol problems at baseline had a non-significantly elevated 20-year mortality risk (1.5 times higher) compared to those with no alcohol problems. Cox survival analyses corroborate these findings from multiple sequential logistic regression analyses. In discussing the mortality risk of persons with alcohol problems, the severity of the alcohol problems must be taken into account.

The German word kitsch has been internationally successful. Today, it is commonly used in many modern languages including Serbian and Slovenian (kič)-but does it mean the same? In a pilot study, thirty-six volunteers from Bavaria, Serbia and Slovenia rated two hundred images of kitsch objects in terms of liking, familiarity, determinacy, arousal, perceived threat, and kitschiness. Additionally, art expertise, ambiguity tolerance, and value orientations were assessed. Multilevel regression analysis with crossed random effects was used to explore crosscultural differences: Regardless of cultural background, liking of kitsch objects was positively linked to emotionally arousing items with non-threatening content. Self-transcendence was positively linked to liking, while ambiguity of the parental image was concordantly associated with kitschiness. For participants from Serbia and Slovenia, threatening content was correlated with kitschiness, while participants from Bavaria rated determinate items as kitschier. Results are discussed with regard to literature on kitsch and implications for future research.

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