Women who were sexually abused as children are much more likely to be current smokers than women who weren’t abused as children. That’s a key finding of a preliminary study on possible connections between sexual abuse and smoking — a topic that has been largely overlooked in medical research.
The study is published in the February issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors.
“We found childhood sexual abuse is a strong predictor of smoking for women,” says Colmar De Von Figueroa-Mo
People on diets should be forgiven for moaning that chocolate tastes better when you’re hungry. Just missing breakfast makes you more sensitive to sweet and salty tastes, according to research published this week in BMC Neuroscience.
Hunger could increase your ability to taste, by increasing the sensitivity of the taste receptors on your tongue, or by changing the way you perceive the same taste stimuli, the author suggests.
Professor Zverev from the University of Malawi persua
Experts agree that when it comes to teamwork, constructive conflict can result in better decisions and performance. When teams develop ideas together, debate differing perspectives, and synthesize those perspectives, the resulting group decision is often superior to a decision made by one person. But what about destructive conflict – when personalities clash, rivalries erupt, emotions flare, and the whole dynamic turns bad?
In a new study, two teamwork researchers at Stevens Institute of T
Knowing our partner is in pain automatically triggers affective pain processing regions of our brains, according to new research by University College London (UCL) scientists. The study, published in the 20th February edition of the journal Science, asked whether empathizing with the pain of others involves the re-activation of the entire pain network underlying the processing of pain in our selves. The results suggest that empathy for pain of others only involves the affective, but not sensory comp
New research suggests that pointing enhances understanding
In some cultures, pointing is a faux pas, sometimes even insulting. New research is turning this social don’t on its head, showing that hand gestures, such as pointing, can enhance the understanding of messages.
While describing portraits, participants in a study who used referential gesturing were better able to identify targets and reduce verbal cues than participants who only relied on verbal directions.
Compared with their husbands, women tend to put less effort into planning for retirement, studies show. But lesbians tend to plan even less than other women, according to one of the first studies to look at the retirement plans of gay and lesbian couples.
A significant factor influencing same-sex couples’ retirement planning is, put simply, satisfaction with their relationship, according to Cornell University experts on gender issues.
“Although the quality of a marriage tends to
A group of Dutch investigators has published in the March-April issue of Psychotherapy and Psychoomatics a study linking childhood adversities and alexithymia (the inability to express emotions).
Affect regulation is assumed to be a biologically based function that can become disrupted by inadequate parenting and by traumatic experiences. We studied the relation between the perceived parental parenting style, and sexual and physical abuse, with alexithymia, dissociation, anxiety and depress
New research by Historian Dr Rebecca Earle from the University of Warwick charts love letters from the 16th -18th centuries to reveal that over 300 years ago men commonly used flowery, romantic words to express emotions, and that the emotionally open ‘New Man’ is not so new. Her research also suggests that 16th century Spaniards were more romantic than their American or English contemporaries.
The study of 303 letters entitled “Letters and Love in Colonial Spanish America” charts the langu
Well-qualified women are less likely than their male counterparts to consider running for public office because women do not perceive themselves as qualified and do not receive as much encouragement as men, according to a new study by political scientists at Brown University and Union College.
Despite the fact that women perform as well as men in terms of campaign fundraising and vote totals, they remain severely under-represented in U.S. political institutions. Gender disparities are appar
A new study of young mothers by researchers at University College London (UCL) has shown that romantic and maternal love activate many of the same specific regions of the brain, and lead to a suppression of neural activity associated with critical social assessment of other people and negative emotions. The findings suggest that once one is closely familiar with a person, the need to assess the character and personality of that person is reduced, and bring us closer to explaining why, in neurologica
Report suggests we’re better at avoiding self-blame than we think
“Regrets? I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.” When Frank Sinatra crooned those lyrics in his song “My Way,” he probably didn’t know that having few regrets is more like “Our Way.”
Research has shown that people often expect to feel more regret when they “nearly succeed” (miss an airplane by a minute) than when they “clearly fail” (miss a flight by an hour) because they believe they will blame
Anger primes prejudice
You may be more prejudiced than you think, especially if you’re angry and approached by someone of a different race, religion or creed.
A study slated for publication in the Spring 2004 edition of Psychological Science (the flagship Journal of the American Psychological Society) by psychology professors David DeSteno and Nilanjana Dasgupta from Northeastern University and UMass Amherst respectively, reveals that the experience of anger causes automati
As Valentine’s Day approaches, one prevailing argument for marriage may well be that studies show married people are less depressed than their single counterparts. Behind this string of scientific reasoning for matrimony is a proven fact: the prevalence of depression in patients with coronary artery disease (e.g., myocardial infarction and heart failure) is approximately five times that of the general population.
Background
Major depression is a significant predictor of mor
Heavy Internet use may be therapeutic for those people facing social isolation and loneliness, says a University of Alberta study–dispelling the belief that high computer usage leads to psychological problems.
A team of researchers, lead by graduate student Mary Modayil, challenged the notion that heavy Internet use increases levels of depression for its users. The research was recently published in the journal Cyberpsychology and Behavior.
Modayil and her team, made up of Dr. G
Teenage girls who have sex with more than one partner in a short period of time are likely to engage in other risk behaviors such as fighting, binge drinking, smoking cigarettes, using cocaine or sniffing glue, according to results from a national survey of American high school youth.
The study of more than 3,000 female students appears in the American Journal of Health Behavior.
Having sexual intercourse with multiple partners increases the risk of pregnancy, sexually transmitted
Treatment for depression may be stymied in people with moderate to severe body pain, according to a new study.
Researchers Matthew J. Bair, M.D., formerly of the Regenstrief Institute, and colleagues uncovered the connection by analyzing the results of a clinical trial of 573 depression patients taking medications like Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft. Their findings are published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
Although depression improved in most of the patients after three months
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