Progesterone is a female sex hormone that has been known to have anxiolytic, craving reducing, and sedative effects due largely to its major metabolite allopregnanolone. Women who are on hormonal birth control have low levels of progesterone and higher levels of a synthetic progestin that does not break down into allopregnanolone. Given this, we hypothesized that women on hormonal contraceptives (HC) will have greater alcohol craving compared to naturally cycling (NC) women due to lower levels of allopregnanolone. In a mixed model analysis, alcohol craving was compared across groups: manipulation (video with alcohol cues) versus control (neutral video), hormonal contraceptive (HC) users versus naturally cycling (NC) women, and before versus after watching the video. Participants were first asked about their current alcohol craving, such as how strong the participant’s urge to drink at the moment (0 = not at all, 100 = the most I’ve ever felt) and how likely the participant would drink that day (1 = not at all likely, 7 = extremely likely). Results revealed a significant increase in HC women’s reported intention to drink before and after the priming condition, but the same was not found in NC women. We conclude that HC women are more likely to drink alcohol when primed with an alcohol-related stimulus. This knowledge may encourage women to be more mindful of their drinking habits while also informing contraceptive developers to consider these potential side effects.

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, and activities and differences in reciprocal social communication abilities (APA, 2013). Prior research emphasizes the importance of including multiple informants when collecting data on child psychopathology (De Los Reyes, 2011). For example, results of a study conducted by Baumgarter et al., (2020) suggested large informant discrepancies between adolescents and their parents regarding the child’s mental health. However, there is a lack of research examining informant discrepancies between autistic adolescents and their parents. Therefore, the current study examined informant discrepancies between dyads (mother-father, mother-child, father-child) in a sample of autistic adolescents regarding adolescent mental health.

Methods: Participants included 117 autistic adolescents between the age of 10 and 17 years old. Both parents and the adolescent completed a series of questionnaires related to the adolescent’s mental health. Parents completed questionnaires regarding their child’s symptoms of depression and anxiety. Adolescents completed self-report measures of their own depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Results: A series of t-tests were conducted in order to examine whether there were discrepancies in ratings of depressive and anxiety symptoms between parents and their child. For each mental health outcome, a series of three t-tests were conducted including, mother versus father report, mother versus child report, and father versus child report. For depressive symptoms, all t-tests were non-significant (p > .05) suggesting that mothers, fathers, and their children agree in the rating of the adolescent’s depressive symptoms. However, for anxiety symptoms, there was a significant difference between both mother versus father report, t(117) = 3.30, p < .001, as well as father versus child report t(115) = -4.18, p < .001. These results revealed that mothers and adolescents are reporting higher anxiety symptoms than fathers. In addition, there was no difference between mother and child report of anxiety symptoms (p > .05), suggesting that mothers and adolescents agree in the rating of the adolescent’s anxiety symptoms.

Discussion: Overall, the results of the current study suggest that the family generally agrees on the rating of the child’s depressive symptoms, however, there are discrepancies in the rating of the child’s anxiety symptoms with fathers reporting less anxiety symptoms as compared to the mother and adolescent report. These discrepancies highlight the importance of including multiple informants when examining child psychopathology. Future research should consider possible predictors (i.e., symptom severity, child gender, parent mental health) of these discrepancies.

Research shows that a sense of belonging predicts meaning in life (Lambert et al., 2013). While psychologists have studied how individuals develop a sense of belonging with others, little attention has been given to the sense of belonging in time, or temporal rootedness (Baldwin & Keefer, 2020). Temporal rootedness has previously been defined as what makes people feel like they are living in the “right time” or that they “belong in the present.” Despite its positive link to well-being, its definition and content have remained unexplored. This study replicates Baldwin and Keefer (2020) to examine temporal rootedness and compare the themes that persist across time (i.e., 2020 and 2025). Additionally, this research will serve to help further define the construct, assist in creating a better operationalization of TR, and broaden manipulation techniques. A representative sample of participants (N = 386) was recruited via Prolific to describe their source of temporal rootedness and complete a questionnaire assessing time metaphors, human flourishing, existential isolation, social and economic conservatism, familiarity with technology, and perceived discrimination. These findings will improve our understanding of TR for future research.

The present study seeks to answer the research question: Are medical professionals who experience more existential isolation (EI) less empathetic toward their patients? We hypothesize that higher levels of existential isolation among medical professionals will be negatively associated with levels of self-reported empathy toward patients. Specifically, we predict that providers with greater EI will demonstrate lower scores on standardized measures of empathy, reflecting a reduced ability to connect with patients’ experiences. By investigating this relationship, the study will provide novel insight into how existential isolation may act as a psychological barrier to physician empathy. Results may inform future interventions aimed at reducing existential isolation or increasing empathy training, thereby strengthening the physician-patient relationship and ultimately improving patient care.

Prior work has shown that individuals become more committed to their partners and report higher relationship satisfaction when thoughts of nostalgia were salient. Although mentally revisiting partner-shared memories may be beneficial at reducing stress and increasing affect, other literature has argued that positive traits (e.g., optimism, forgiveness) are connected to heightened resilience and a greater acceptance of domestic abuse. The present research was designed to test the relationship between forgiveness, nostalgia, partner commitment, and intimate partner violence (IPV) attitudes. Nostalgia is positively associated with more forgiveness, partner commitment (Study 1), and IPV attitudes (Study 2).