Comparative study on emotional behavior and parental job stress of only-child and non-only-child preschool children

BACKGROUND Studies have revealed that Children's psychological,behavioral,and emotional problems are easily influenced by the family environment.In recent years,the family structure in China has undergone significant changes,with more families having two or three children.AIM To explore the relationship between emotional behavior and parental job stress in only preschool and non-only preschool children.METHODS Children aged 3-6 in kindergartens in four main urban areas of Shijiazhuang were selected by stratified sampling for a questionnaire and divided into only and nononly child groups.Their emotional behaviors and parental pressure were compared.Only and non-only children were paired in a 1:1 ratio by class and age(difference less than or equal to 6 months),and the matched data were compared.The relationship between children's emotional behavior and parents'job stress before and after matching was analyzed.RESULTS Before matching,the mother's occupation,children's personality characteristics,and children's rearing patterns differed between the groups(P<0.05).After matching 550 pairs,differences in the children's parenting styles remained.There were significant differences in children's gender and parents'attitudes toward children between the two groups.The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire(SDQ)scores of children in the only child group and the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form(PSI-SF)scores of parents were significantly lower than those in the non-only child group(P<0.05).Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that after matching,there was a positive correlation between children's parenting style and parents'attitudes toward their children(r=0.096,P<0.01),and the PSI-SF score was positively correlated with children's gender,parents'attitudes toward their children,and SDQ scores(r=0.077,0.193,0.172,0.222).CONCLUSION Preschool children's emotional behavior and parental pressure were significantly higher in multi-child families.Parental pressure in differently structured families was associated with many factors,and preschool children's emotional behavior was positively correlated with parental pressure.

Effects of mindfulness meditation on trait mindfulness,perceived stress,emotion regulation,and quality of life in hemodialysis patients:A randomized controlled trial

Objective:This study aimed to examine the effects of mindfulness meditation on trait mindfulness,perceived stress,emotion regulation,and quality of life in end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis.Methods:An experimental study with repeated measures design was conducted among a sample of 74 end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis between January and May 2021 in the dialysis center at Jahra hospital,Kuwait.The patients were randomly assigned to the experimental(n?37)and control groups(n?37).The experimental group participated in 30-min mindfulness meditation sessions(three sessions a week for five weeks)held during their hemodialysis sessions;the participants in the control group were instructed to sit with their eyes closed and relaxed for 30 min three times a week for five weeks during hemodialysis sessions.The dependent variables of both groups were measured at baseline(T0),middle of intervention(T1),and end of intervention(T2)using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale(MAAS),Perceived Stress Scale(PSS),Emotion Regulation Questionnaire(ERQ),and Kidney Disease Quality of Life(KDQOL-36)questionnaire.The study was registered in the ClinicalTrial.gov(Identifier:NCT05176730).Results:The repeated measures ANOVA(within-subject)results for the experimental group showed that mindfulness meditation had significantly decreased perceived stress by the end of the intervention.Also,mindfulness meditation improved mindfulness,emotion regulation,and kidney disease-related quality of life in the experimental group,and this improvement occurred significantly at both T1 and T2.The repeated measures ANOVA(within and between-subject)results showed that the experimental group,as compared to the control group,had lower perceived stress,higher trait mindfulness,higher emotional regulation,and higher kidney disease-related quality of life over time.Conclusions:The positive findings of this study offer health policy-makers and hospital administrators a promising tool to use with patients undergoing hemodialysis as a way to manage stress and improve quality of life.However,this study should be replicated in multiple settings with follow-up assessments.

Effects of College Students’ Perceived Stress on Anxiety in the Time of COVID-19: The Chain Mediation Role of Psychological Resilience and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy

COVID-19 has changed the way of learning and life of college students.The purpose is to explore the relationship between perceived stress and anxiety,and the mediating effect of resilience and regulatory emotional self-efficacy in college students during COVID-19.309 students from three colleges were selected as research participants(average age 19.79±1.11 years).SPSS was used to measure the correlation between variables.Amos was used to test the path coefficient and mediating effect of the hypothetical model.The results show that:Firstly,perceived stress has a significantly and positively predictive effect on anxiety.Secondly,psychological resilience and regu-latory emotional self-efficacy independently played a significant and partially mediating effect between perceived stress and anxiety.Among them,perceived stress had a negative predictive effect on psychological resilience and regulatory emotional self-efficacy.Psychological resilience and regulatory emotional self-efficacy had a negative predictive effect on anxiety.Thirdly,psychological resilience and regulatory emotional self-efficacy play a chain mediation role between psychological stress and anxiety.Regulatory emotional self-efficacy cannot only directly predict the level of anxiety,but also indirectly predict the level of anxiety by regulating psychological resilience.This study reveals the relationship between college students’perceived stress and anxiety,and the mediating effect of psychological resilience and regulatory emotional self-efficacy in the new time of COVID-19.The chain mediation role of psychological resilience and regulatory emotional self-efficacy reminds college mental health educators that improving students’regulatory emotional self-efficacy is an important way to promote students’mental health.

Biological mechanisms underlying the liver's regulation of emotions in women: A study using the Trier Social Stress Test

Objective:Research on the biological mechanisms by which the liver controls dispersion and regulates emotion usually focuses on psychological stress.This study investigated the biological mechanisms underlying the liver's regulation of emotion using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST).Differences in subjective stress,subjective emotion,and physiological responses were examined between healthy women (Group A) and depressed women with liver qi stagnation syndrome (Group B).Method:Subjects were 72 women who met the inclusion criteria after physical examination.The EPQ-RSC,BAI,and BDI-21 were used to assess personality and emotion.Subjects completed a 5-point scale to measure subjective stress.Heart rate and heart rate variability were measured.To measure changes in activity of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LCNE)/autonomic nervous system and the HPA axis,saliva samples were collected at the end of the rest and preparation periods,and 5 time pionts after the TSST task.The PAD Emotion Scale was completed at 4 time points before and after the TSST task.Saliva cortisol was tested.These indexes were compared between the two groups.Results:There were 33 subjects in Group A and 39 subjects in Group B.Subjects in Group B had lower levels of stress,pleasure,and dominance,but higher arousal (after the task:P <.05).They also had higher saliva cortisol levels,slower heart rate,higher BVP,and more stable RMSSD and SDNN.Conclusion:In relation to mood,the liver's regulation of emotion mainly affects negative emotional experience and the sense of control Regarding the biological mechanisms underlying the liver's regulation of emotion,the activity of the LC-NE/autonomic nervous system in women is more obvious in response to psychological stress when the dispersion of the liver is normal.The activity of the HPA axis in women is more obvious in response to psychological stress when the dispersion of the liver is abnormal.

The incorporation of emotion-regulation skills into couple-and family-based treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) is a disabling, potentially chronic disorder that is characterized by re-experience and hyperarousal symptoms as well as the avoidance of trauma-related stimuli. The distress experienced by many veterans of the Vietnam War and their partners prompted a strong interest in developing conjoint interventions that could both alleviate the core symptoms of PTSD and strengthen family bonds. We review the evolution of and evidence base for conjoint PTSD treatments from the Vietnam era through the post-911 era. Our review is particularly focused on the use of treatment strategies that are designed to address the emotions that are generated by the core symptoms of the disorder to reduce their adverse impact on veterans, their partners and the relationship. We present a rationale and evidence to support the direct incorporation of emotion-regulation skills training into conjoint interventions for PTSD. We begin by reviewing emerging evidence suggesting that high levels of emotion dysregulation are characteristic of and predict the severity of both PTSD symptoms and the level of interpersonal/marital difficulties reported by veterans with PTSD and their family members. In doing so, we present a compelling rationale for the inclusion of formal skills training in emotional regulation in couple–/family-based PTSD treatments. We further argue that increased exposure to trauma-related memories and emotions in treatments based on learning theory requires veterans and their partners to learn to manage the uncomfortable emotions that they previously avoided. Conjoint treatments that were developed in the last 30 years all acknowledge the importance of emotions in PTSD but vary widely in their relative emphasis on helping participants to acquire strategies to modulate them compared to other therapeutic tasks such as learning about the disorder or disclosing the trauma to a loved one. We conclude our review by describing two recent innovative treatments for PTSD that incorporate a special emphasis on emotion-regulation skills training in the dyadic context: structured approach therapy(SAT) and multi-family group for military couples(MFG-MC). Although the incorporation of emotion-regulation skills into conjoint PTSD therapies appears promising, replication and comparison to cognitive-behavioral approaches is needed to refine our understanding of which symptoms and veterans might be more responsive to one approach versus others.

Stress Inoculation Training on Cognitive Emotional Regulation: The Effect on Vulnerable Married Female Adolescents

Married female adolescents are the most vulnerable people that culturally marry with their parents’ permission in Iran. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of stress inoculation training (SIT) on cognitive emotional regulation (CER) in these women. The method of this research was semi-experiment with pretest and posttest. The statistical society was the married adolescent female students from Qom high schools (80 people). First, they were assessed by cognitive emotional regulation questionnaire to find the subjects under the CER cut of point (55 people). Then 30 participants were randomly selected and were equally divided into experimental and control groups. The entry criteria for samples were female married students between 17 and 19 from low socioeconomic income. The experimental group received 8 sessions of SIT training while there was no intervention for control group. Results from MANCOVA analysis showed that there were significant differences between groups on cognitive emotional regulation in post-test. The data of pretest were the covariate factor. Finding suggests SIT is effective for cognitive emotional regulation in vulnerable married female adolescents. In addition, this training method elevates positive emotional strategies, which correlate with planning, focusing and organizing the emotions. In contrast, except self and the others blaming, negative emotional strategies differed slightly.

Emotional Stress: The Dialectics of Nature

The article considers the biological nature and origins of emotional stress. Emotional stress is primarily formed within the mental activity of the brain in the form of pronounced negative emotions. The “Dynamic Theory of Emo-tions” characterizes the development of a continuous negative emotional state in conflicting behavioral situations when the subject is unable to satisfy its strong dominant need for a long time. The emotional stress is represented as having a dual nature, i.e. a biologically negative pathogenetic effect on health, but a positive impact on the adaptation of individuals, self-preservation of life, and evolutionary change in species.

Mental Activity of the Brain and Emotional Stress

The article considers the biological nature and origins of emotional stress. Emotional stress is primarily formed in the mental activity of the brain in the form of pronounced long-term negative emotions and is secondarily manifested in neurophysiological mechanisms and somatovegetative processes. However, all studies of the development of emotional stress are focused on the study of central neurophysiological mechanisms, excluding the possibility of analysis for the “sources” of emotional stress, which is primarily formed in the subjective sphere of brain activity, i.e., in the mechanisms of emotions. In our studies, we propose a fundamentally new methodology for studying the mental activity of the human brain and, in particular, the mechanisms of emotions. Thereby, modern methods of psychophysiology make it possible to come closer to understanding the nature of emotional stress.

Emotions and Stressing Situations Adaptation of Nursing Students in the New Normality

Background: New normality is uncertain in every sense, specifically in education and for many health disciplines. Being immersed in COVID-19 pandemics brought serious consequences for mental health, and is very important to handle emotions and stress coping strategies to obtain positive outcomes. Objective: To identify the most frequent emotions, as well as the adaptation strategies to the new normality faced by the students of nursing. Methods: Qualitative and phenomenological research, with the participation of 20 students from both genders in the middle term of nursing career at Faculty of Higher Studies Iztacala, National Autonomous University of Mexico, from August to November 2021. Information was collected from a focal group for ten sessions;analysis was according to De Souza Minayo, and there was a signed informed consent letter from participants. Results: Four categories emerged with sub-categories. Category I Maximized emotions. Sub-categories: 1) Frustration, anger, disappointment;2) Personal disappointment, hopelessness, uncertainty;3) Depression. Category II Support elements close to the new normality. Sub-categories: 1) Family communication;2) Education for mental and physical health. Category III Stressing situations that exceeded the student. Sub-category: Disease in lovely ones. Category IV Stress coping strategies. Sub-categories: 1) Friends and relatives that help to get better;2) Family values. Informers pointed out to have maximized emotion, and having no self-control on its negative outcomes occurred;in addition, the situation was not favorable at home with several losses of loved ones, as well as a poor economy that threatened students to give up studies. Conclusion: Emotions facing this new normality are very important and should be attended to, their proper handling will result in a new learning of socio-emotional abilities, stress coping strategies development, better adaptation and informed decisions taken.

Extent of Myocardial Damage in Patients after Emotional Stress-Induced Myocardial Infarction during Euro Cup Soccer 2008

Background: The World Cup soccer 2006 has been shown to provoke levels of stress sufficient to increase the incidence of acute coronary syndrome. However, the clinical outcome of these patients remains elusive. We sought to assess whether emotional stress-induced myocardial infarction might increase myocardial damage compared to non-stress-induced events. Design and Methods: We prospectively analysed the extent of left ventricular damage after emotional stress-induced myocardial infarction occurred during Euro Cup Soccer 2008 (study group, n = 51). Data were compared to a matched reference group (n = 55). The primary endpoint was a composite of cardiac troponin-T/I and the left ventricular ejection fraction at day 4th after the initial event. Results: Compared to standard values of troponin T and troponin I, concentrations were increased in both the study group and the reference group (troponin T: 4.7 ± 8.5 ng/ml vs. 2.4 ± 4.3 ng/ml;troponin I: 13.1 ± 16.5 ng/ml vs. 8.7 ± 13.9 ng/ml). The difference, adjusted for confounding variables, between both groups did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.33). Likewise, left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) was decreased in both the study patients and the reference group (51% ± 12% EF vs. 55% ± 10% EF), the difference between both groups was just not significant (p = 0.12). Discussion: In conclusion, because of the lack of significance, we cannot testify at present, weather emotional stress, e.g. induced by soccer matches of the national team, influences the extent of myocardial damage following myocardial infarction. However, a positive correlation can be assumed, because the troponin levels are considerably higher in the study group than in the control group.

Relaxation technique training to alleviate emotional stress in patients with chronic pain: A report of two cases

Aim: Chronic pain can leads to uncomfortable sensory and emotional experiences and remarkably decrease one’s quality of life. The purpose of this report is to describe our experience of treatment with relaxation techniques for two outpatients with chronic pain-related emotional stress. Methods: We offer outpatient relaxation treatment as a specialized out-patient nursing service. Two patients were motivated to self-manage their pain, and thus sought outpatient instruction in relaxation techniques to provide methods of pain self-management. We examined the usefulness of relaxation techniques as pain self-management methods based on subjective information and the Mental Health Pattern questionnaire. Results: Two patients were able to incorporate the relaxation techniques into their daily schedules and control their symptoms. Ultimately, their attitudes toward their pain changed, which lessened their stress levels and improved their quality of life. Conclusions: Our results suggest that nursing care using continuous relaxation techniques improves pain self-management in patients with chronic pain.

EEG Correlations during a Working Memory Task with Emotional Stimuli in Girls with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Secondary to Sexual Abuse

Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) can develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), alterations in the prefrontal cortex, changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, and lower performance on working memory tasks. The aim of this study was to characterize brain electrical correlations in girls with PTSD secondary to CSA during a working memory task based on recognizing emotional facial stimuli. Girls aged 8 - 16 years old were evaluated: 12 with PTSD secondary to CSA, and 12 healthy girls with no history of abuse. EEG activity during a working memory task with emotional stimuli was recorded, and the inter- and intra-hemispheric correlations that assessed the functional connectivity among different cortical regions were analyzed. The PTSD group showed lower performance than controls on the working memory task while watching happy faces, while the EEG of this group showed greater intrahemispheric correlation among frontal areas and between frontal and posterior cortical regions. Also, the PTSD group had lower interhemispheric correlations between posterior temporal areas. The higher intrahemispheric correlation in the PTSD group could indicate that those girls used more brain areas when performing the task, likely because it required greater effort. The lower inter-posterior temporal correlation could be attributed to a reduction of the corpus callosum.

Fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction problems:Intrusive,avoidance and hyperarousal stress as key mediators

BACKGROUND There is mounting empirical evidence of the detrimental effects of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)outbreak on mental health.Previous research has underscored the effects of similar destabilizing situations such as war,natural disasters or other pandemics on acute stress levels which have been shown to exacerbate current and future psychopathological symptoms.AIM To explore the role of acute stress responses(intrusive,avoidance and hyperarousal)as mediators in the association between fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction-related problems:Depression,agoraphobia,panic,obsessivecompulsive,generalized anxiety,social anxiety and health anxiety symptoms.METHODS A sample of 439 participants from a university community in Spain(age:mean±SD:36.64±13.37;73.1%females)completed several measures assessing their fear of COVID-19,acute stress responses and emotional dysfunction syndromes through an online survey.Data collection was carried out from the start of home confinement in Spain until May 4,2020,coinciding with initial de-escalation measures.Processing of the dataset included descriptive and frequency analyses,Mann-Whitney U Test of intergroup comparisons and path analysis for direct and indirect effects.This is an observational,descriptive-correlational and crosssectional study.RESULTS The prevalence of clinical symptoms in our sample,reported since the beginning of the pandemic,reached 31.44%.The female group presented higher scores although the effect size was small.Overall,the participants who exceeded the clinical cut-off points in emotional problems showed higher levels of fear of COVID-19 and of cognitive,motor and psychophysiological responses of acute stress,unlike the group with normative scores.In addition,the results show significant mediated effects of hyperarousal stress among fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction psychopathology.However,the clinical syndromes most related to the consequences of the pandemic(e.g.,social contact avoidance or frequent hand washing),such as agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms,were in fact predicted directly by fear of COVID-19 and/or the acute stress response associated with the pandemic and had a greater predictive power.CONCLUSION The present study illustrates a clearer picture of the role of acute stress on several forms of psychopathology during the COVID-19 crisis and home confinement.

Understanding the Link:Emotional Attention in Italian Families and Children’s Social Development

Background:Emotional attention refers to the capacity to recognize and properly respond to one’s and others’emotional states.On another note,family is a primary source of socialization that influences the development of various social skills.In another line,adolescence is a complex stage that has been associated with emotional difficulties that could be related to competences such as prosociability and inclusion.It is inferred that through the family context and the attention that is processed,a series of competencies are transmitted to the youngsters,but this relationship is still unclear.For this reason,the study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between the emotional attention of mothers and fathers and the social and prosocial competencies of their children.Methods:To accomplish this,a cross-sectional study and ex post facto design were conducted.The Trait-Meta Mood Scale(TMMS-24)-to assess emotional attention-,the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire(SDQ)-to determine the prosociality dimension-,and the Test on Passing Developmental Tasks in Adolescence(TCS-A)-to measure social inclusionwere administered.The participants were N=228 families composed of n=114 mothers/fathers(67.5%females)and n=114 daughters/sons(38.5%females)selected through non-probabilistic sampling using a convenience sample in the Bari region of Italy.A descriptive and inferential analysis-Student’s test and Pearson’s correlation-was performed with the statistic package SPSS version 28(significance level p<0.05).Results:The findings showed that the families possessed an adequate background in emotional attention and that their daughters and sons were also generally well-adjusted in social inclusion and prosociality.It also found certain signs that the prosocial competence of the children could be related to the behavior of their mothers and fathers.Conclusion:In conclusion,social inclusion is related to prosocial behavior,and maybe primarily cultivated within families where parents’emotional self-regulation serves as a model for children although further research is necessary.Comparative studies between different cultures are also proposed.

Neuroendocrine mechanisms of left ventricular dysfunction stimulated by anger stress in rats with atherosclerosis-a putative role of natriuretic peptide

Objective:To investigate the role of natriuretic peptide in the process of left ventricular dysfunction caused by emotional stress.Methods:Adult male SD rats(n=30)and Wistar rats(n=60)were selected in this study.Atherosclerosis models were induced with high-fat diet and excess VD3 injection(eight consecutive weeks),and anger stress models were prepared by residentintruder stress experiment(two consecutive weeks).Furthermore,left ventricular functions were examined by high-resolution echocardiograph,after which left ventricular myocardium and coronary arteries were prepared for pathological section and observed with electron microscope.At the same time,the hypothalamus,medulla oblongata and left ventricular myocardium were also prepared for pathological sections to detect the localization and expression of AMP,BNP and NPK-A with immunofluorescence and western blot.Results:We found that left ventricular functions of atherosclerosis or emotional stress modeled rats were both inferior to the healthy ones and superior to the combined(atherosclerosis and emotional stress)modeled ones(P<0.05).We also found that atherosclerosis and emotional stress could both cause morphological changes of left ventricular cells and capillary which contribute to apoptosis and hyperblastosis.Further more,there was NPR—A distributed in hypothalamus,medulla oblongata,as well as left ventricular tissues with the same express trend between groups,with atherosclerosis modeled rats the highest and the healthy rats the lowest.Conclusions:The results of our study suggest that anger stress could cause an excess consumption of ANP,BNP and NPR-A in nervous and cardiovascular system which inhibit the compensatory self-repair function of atherosclerosis rats,leading to a promotion of fibrosis and lipid peroxidation,offering insight into the neuroendocrine mechanisms of left heart function obstacle.

Gastric mucosal damage in water immersion stress:Mechanism and prevention with GHRP-6

AIM:To investigate the mechanism of gastric mucosal demage induced by water immersion restraint stress(WRS) and its prevention by growth hormone releasing peptide-6(GHRP-6).METHODS:Male Wistar rats were subjected to conscious or unconscious(anesthetized) WRS,simple restraint(SR),free swimming(FS),non-water fluid immersion,immersion without water contact,or rats were placed in a cage surrounded by sand.To explore the sensitivity structures that influence the stress reaction besides skin stimuli,a group the rats had their eyes occluded.Cervical bilateral trunk vagotomy or atropine injection was performed in some rats to assess the parasympathetic role in mucosal damage.Gastric mucosal lesions,acid output and heart rate variability were measured.Plasma renin,endothelin-1 and thromboxane B2 and gastric heat shock protein 70 were also assayed.GHRP-6 was injected [intraperitoneal(IP) or intracerebroventricular(ICV)] 2 h before the onset of stress to observe its potential prevention of the mucosal lesion.RESULTS:WRS for 6 h induced serious gastric mucosal lesion [lesion area,WRS 81.8 ± 6.4 mm 2 vs normal control 0.0 ± 0.0 mm 2,P < 0.01],decreased the heart rate,and increased the heart rate variability and gastric acid secretion,suggesting an increase in vagal nervecarrying stimuli.The mucosal injury was inversely correlated with water temperature(lesion area,WRS at 35 ℃ 56.4 ± 5.2 mm 2 vs WRS at 23 ℃ 81.8 ± 6.4 mm 2,P < 0.01) and was consciousness-dependent.The injury could not be prevented by eye occlusion,but could be prevented by avoiding contact of the rat body with the water by dressing it in an impermeable plastic suit.When water was replaced by vegetable oil or liquid paraffin,there were gastric lesions in the same grade of water immersion.When rat were placed in a cage surrounded by sand,there were no gastric lesions.All these data point to a remarkable importance of cutenuous information transmitted to the high neural center that by vagal nerves reaching the gastric mucosa.FS alone also induced serious gastric injury,but SR could not induce gastric injury.Bilateral vagotomy or atropine prevented the WRS-induced mucosal lesion,indicating that increased outflow from the vagal center is a decisive factor in WRS-induced gastric injury.The mucosal lesions were prevented by prior injection of GHRP-6 via IP did,but not via ICV,suggesting that the protection is peripheral,although a sudden injection is not equivalent to a physiological release and uptake,which eventually may affect the vagal center.CONCLUSION:From the central nervous system,vagal nerves carry the cutaneous stimuli brought about by the immersion restraint,an experimental model for inducing acute gastric erosions.GHRP-6 prevents the occurrence of these lesions.

The Impacts of Physical Exercise on Stress Coping and Well-Being in University Students in the Context of Leisure

This study aims at investigating the in-depth information regarding impacts of physical exercise on psychological well-being in university students with an emphasis on coping with stress in the context of leisure. A qualitative research, based on interview to draw findings in an inductive way, was conducted. Nine university students (N = 9) in a large mid-west university took part in a face- to face, semi-structured interviews using ten open-ended questions with respect to benefits of leisure time physical exercise. The interview on the basis of phenomenological research examined what the participants experienced with leisure time physical exercise in conjunction with stress coping and mental health. Meaningful units of themes were induced with 24 initially drawn themes. These themes were reduced to 8 comprehensive constituent themes: self-efficacy, positive emotion, mind and body, health-behaviors, self-esteem, leisure, problem-focused coping, and positive expectancy. These reduced themes were finally boiled down to 6 integrated themes: positive emotion, unity of mind and body, heightened self-esteem, leisure, problem-focused coping, and self-regulation of health behavior. This research may shed a light in illuminating potential mechanism of how regular physical exercise is conducive to enhanced health behavior as well as effective stress coping in university students in the context of leisure. In particular, this research appears to be meaningful in suggesting that regular leisure-time physical exercise can lead to an effective problem-focused coping through elicitation of positive emotion.

EZCalm:A User Emotion Regulation System by Immersive Music Based on Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions

Nowadays,many companies hire professional trainers to keep their employees emotionally positive.In addition,more and more people are visiting psychological doctors to adjust their emotion,in order to treat mental illness or gain sense of happiness.All kinds of people mentioned above want to adjust emotions in an effective way.Therefore,a simple and effective household pattern of emotion adjustment is particularly important for people to use in common days.For such a pattern,an emotion regulation pattern combined with Plutchiks' wheel of emotions is proposed for emotion adjustment.In order to enhance the effectiveness of emotion adjustment from both the vision channel and the hearing channel,we adjust the user's emotion by visualizing music on a Helmet mounted display(HMD)device.Findings demonstrate that the proposed system can calm down participants e'motions effectively.

Effects of therapeutic horseback riding on post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans

Background:Large numbers of post-deployment U.S.veterans are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)and/or traumatic brain injury(TBI),leading to an urgent need for effective interventions to reduce symptoms and increase veterans’coping.PTSD includes anxiety,flashbacks,and emotional numbing.The symptoms increase health care costs for stress-related illnesses and can make veterans’civilian life difficult.Methods:We used a randomized wait-list controlled design with repeated measures of U.S.military veterans to address our specific aim to test the efficacy of a 6-week therapeutic horseback riding(THR)program for decreasing PTSD symptoms and increasing coping self-efficacy,emotion regulation,social and emotional loneliness.Fiftyseven participants were recruited and 29 enrolled in the randomized trial.They were randomly assigned to either the horse riding group(n=15)or a wait-list control group(n=14).The wait-list control group experienced a 6-week waiting period,while the horse riding group began THR.The wait-list control group began riding after 6 weeks of participating in the control group.Demographic and health history information was obtained from all the participants.PTSD symptoms were measured using the standardized PTSD Checklist-Military Version(PCL-M).The PCL-M as well as other instruments including,The Coping Self Efficacy Scale(CSES),The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale(DERS)and The Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults-short version(SELSA)were used to access different aspects of individual well-being and the PTSD symptoms.Results:Participants had a statistically significant decrease in PTSD scores after 3 weeks of THR(P≤0.01)as well as a statistically and clinically significant decrease after 6 weeks of THR(P≤0.01).Logistic regression showed that participants had a 66.7%likelihood of having lower PTSD scores at 3 weeks and 87.5%likelihood at 6 weeks.Under the generalized linear model(GLM),our ANOVA findings for the coping self-efficacy,emotion regulation,and social and emotional loneliness did not reach statistical significance.The results for coping self-efficacy and emotion regulation trended in the predicted direction.Results for emotional loneliness were opposite the predicted direction.Logistic regression provided validation that outcome effects were caused by riding longer.Conclusion:The findings suggest that THR may be a clinically effective intervention for alleviating PTSD symptoms in military veterans.