DATE: July 28, 2025 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: New psychology research challenges influential theory linking childhood poverty to risk-taking

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-psychology-research-challenges-influential-theory-linking-childhood-poverty-to-risk-taking/

People who grow up in poverty may respond to life-threatening situations by taking more financial risks—but this connection may be much weaker than previously thought. A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied attempted to replicate an influential 2011 study that tied childhood poverty to riskier and more impulsive financial choices when individuals are reminded of death. The new research found only limited support for those claims, with much smaller effects than originally reported and no evidence of an effect on impulsive choices.

The study was conducted by Joe Gladstone and his colleagues at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. Their goal was to test whether early-life economic conditions shape the way people make financial decisions when confronted with thoughts of their own mortality.

The original research by Griskevicius and colleagues had suggested that people from lower-income childhood environments might adopt a faster, more risk-prone strategy to navigate an uncertain and dangerous world. The theory behind this idea comes from a framework in evolutionary biology known as life history theory.

According to this theory, organisms adjust their survival and reproductive strategies based on the availability of resources and stability in their environments. In humans, it has been proposed that those who grow up in poverty may become more oriented toward short-term rewards and higher risk, especially in situations that trigger thoughts of danger or death.

Gladstone and his team set out to test this idea using a much larger and more diverse sample than the original. Whereas the 2011 study included 71 university students, the new replication included more than 1,000 adults from across the United States, recruited online. The average age of participants was about 40 years, and the sample included a wide range of income levels and educational backgrounds.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. One group read a news-style article that emphasized threats to life and safety, such as violence and death, to subtly prompt thoughts about mortality. The other group read a neutral article about someone losing their keys. Afterward, participants completed two decision-making tasks. One asked them to choose between a guaranteed sum of money or a gamble for a larger amount, designed to measure financial risk-taking. The other task measured time preference, or how strongly people prefer smaller rewards immediately over larger rewards later.

The researchers also asked participants to reflect on their socioeconomic background during childhood and in adulthood. This was measured through questions about whether their family had enough money growing up, how wealthy their neighborhood felt, and how they perceived their financial standing compared to peers. A similar set of questions assessed their current financial stability.

When the researchers analyzed the data, they did find a statistically significant interaction between mortality cues and childhood poverty on financial risk-taking. People who reported growing up in lower-income environments were slightly more likely to take financial risks after being exposed to thoughts about death.

However, the size of this effect was extremely small—so small that the researchers questioned its practical significance. On a seven-question task measuring risk, the difference between low-income and high-income childhood backgrounds under threat amounted to less than one additional risky choice.

In contrast to the original study, the new research found no evidence that mortality salience influenced time preference. People did not show a greater desire for immediate rewards based on their childhood income background, even when reminded of their own mortality. This calls into question one of the original study’s key findings.

To explore whether age might explain the difference in results, the researchers conducted additional analyses. They found that among younger participants—those closer in age to the university students in the original study—the predicted pattern for time preference was somewhat more apparent.

Younger people from lower-income backgrounds showed a slight tendency to prefer immediate rewards when primed with thoughts of death. This effect was not present in older participants. The researchers suggest that age-related differences in decision-making might help explain why the original findings failed to replicate in their broader sample.

The study also included a number of improvements over the original. It was preregistered, meaning the researchers specified their hypotheses and methods before collecting data. They used attention checks to make sure participants engaged with the reading materials, and all data and analysis code were made publicly available. These steps were taken to improve transparency and reduce the risk of bias.

Despite some partial replication of the original findings, the authors caution against over-interpreting their results. They note that the effect sizes observed in their study are too small to have much impact on real-world behavior. For example, the observed differences in risk-taking were unlikely to translate into noticeable changes in financial habits like investing or borrowing.

The researchers also raise questions about the broader application of life history theory to individual human behavior. While the theory may help explain broad patterns across species or large populations, it may not be as useful for predicting how individuals will respond to specific life events. The authors suggest that other factors—such as current financial status, psychological traits, or cultural context—might play a larger role in shaping financial decision making.

“Overall, we interpret our results as challenging the practical applicability of [life history theory] to individual differences in risk preferences and temporal discounting under mortality salience,” they concluded.

The study, “Childhood Poverty and Its Impact on Financial Decision Making Under Threat: A Preregistered Replication of Griskevicius et al. (2011b),” was authored by Joe J. Gladstone, Meredith Lehman, and Mallory Decker.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-psychology-research-challenges-influential-theory-linking-childhood-poverty-to-risk-taking/

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DATE: July 28, 2025 at 04:30AM
SOURCE: STAT NEWS MENTAL HEALTH

TITLE: Opinion: What I learned by going off SSRIs after nearly a decade

URL: https://www.statnews.com/2025/07/28/going-off-ssris-antidepressants-maha-pregnancy-escitalopram-fda/?utm_campaign=rss

Here is a short list of things that have made me cry recently: 

•Trying to explain a scene from “The Lion King” to my mom. 

•

•Missing my mom when she went back to Ohio after a long visit with me and my baby in New York. 

•

•Describing to a friend how many New Yorkers volunteer to help me carry the baby’s stroller up and down the subway stairs, and how diverse the range of people who help me is, and how it makes me appreciate the no-nonsense communal spirit of this city, where people take care of each other without even breaking their stride.

•

•Thinking about what an emotional movie “Inside Out” is — I wasn’t thinking about what actually happens in the movie, I was thinking about how the movie made me cry, and I cried.

•

From these incidents, you might conclude, rightly, that children’s movies are my Achilles’ heel. What might be less obvious is that I’m crying more these days because I recently tapered off antidepressants after nearly 10 years. Escitalopram (the generic version of Lexapro) had long helped improve my mental health with minimal side effects — apart from stopping up my tear ducts. Now I’m in the process of discovering what my mind is like without the assistance of medication.

Read the rest…

URL: https://www.statnews.com/2025/07/28/going-off-ssris-antidepressants-maha-pregnancy-escitalopram-fda/?utm_campaign=rss

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DATE: July 27, 2025 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Exposure to gun violence linked to depression and suicide risk

URL: https://www.psypost.org/exposure-to-gun-violence-linked-to-depression-and-suicide-risk/

A nationwide survey of adult U.S. residents found that individuals frequently exposed to gun violence tend to have a heightened risk of depression and suicide. They are also more likely to use mental health services. The research was published in Social Science Medicine.

Gun violence in the United States is a major public health and safety issue, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths each year. It includes homicides, suicides, accidental shootings, and mass shootings. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of gun-related deaths among developed nations.

Gun violence disproportionately affects certain demographic groups, particularly young men and Black individuals. Suicide accounts for over half of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. Mass shootings, while less frequent, receive extensive media attention and fuel public debate. The issue remains deeply polarizing, with strong opinions on both sides of the political spectrum regarding gun rights and public safety.

Study author Daniel C. Semenza and his colleagues sought to explore how the frequency, variety, and recency of exposure to gun violence are associated with depression, healthcare utilization, and suicide risk in the U.S. They hypothesized that repetitive and more recent exposure to gun violence would be associated with a greater risk of depression, increased suicide risk, and greater use of healthcare.

Survey participants included 8,009 non-institutionalized adults residing in the U.S. Data collection was carried out in 2024 in collaboration with Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a large probability-based online panel. The survey included assessments of depression symptoms (using the Patient Health Questionnaire–9) and suicidal ideation (via the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview – Short Form – Self Report).

Participants were also asked whether they had ever attempted suicide and responded to several questions about their exposure to gun violence. Specifically, they were asked if they had ever: (1) known someone who died by firearm suicide, (2) been threatened with a firearm, (3) been shot by someone, (4) known a family member or friend who was shot, (5) witnessed a shooting, or (6) heard gunshots in their neighborhood. They also reported how often they had experienced each of these types of events as separate incidents and when they had last experienced them.

Results showed that both more frequent and more recent exposure to gun violence were associated with a heightened risk of depression, suicide, and increased utilization of mental health services. In other words, people who were more often or more recently exposed to gun violence were more likely to suffer from depression, experience suicidal ideation, and seek mental healthcare compared to those exposed less often or not at all. High cumulative exposure to gun violence over the course of a lifetime was also linked to an elevated risk of depression, suicidal ideation, and greater use of mental health services.

“Overall, the findings suggest that GVE [gun violence exposure], even when indirect, has long-lasting and severe mental health implications, underscoring the need for targeted public health interventions to address the gap between exposure and mental health care,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on the inks between gun violence exposure and mental health. However, it should be noted that all the study data came from self-reports leaving room for reporting bias to have affected the results. Additionally, the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the findings.

The paper, “Frequency, recency, and variety of gun violence exposure: Implications for mental health and suicide among US adults,” was authored by Daniel C. Semenza, Allison E. Bond, Devon Ziminski, and Michael D. Anestis.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/exposure-to-gun-violence-linked-to-depression-and-suicide-risk/

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July 27, 2025 at 08:20AM

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DATE: July 27, 2025 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Cross-party friendships are shockingly rare in the United States, study suggests

URL: https://www.psypost.org/cross-party-friendships-are-shockingly-rare-in-the-united-states-study-suggests/

In the United States, friendships between people who hold different political views are surprisingly uncommon. But when they do exist, they may come with a trade-off: slightly lower friendship quality, but also more positive attitudes toward people with opposing political beliefs. That’s according to new research published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

The new research was conducted by Angela J. Bahns, an associate professor of psychology at Wellesley College and director of the Prejudice Reduction and Friendship Diversity Lab. Bahns set out to explore how common politically diverse friendships are, how they function, and whether they might contribute to more tolerant political attitudes.

Political homophily—the tendency to associate with others who hold similar views—is a well-established phenomenon in social science. It’s common across romantic partnerships, family relationships, and friendships. People often assume their friends share their political views unless told otherwise, and discovering political differences can sometimes damage a relationship. But Bahns wanted to know whether some politically diverse friendships do persist, and what impact they might have.

“Lots of the research in psychology on cross-group friendships looks at race/ethnicity or religion as the dimension of difference,” Bahns told PsyPost. “Given that political groups have become an important part of identity for many people, I was curious to know whether there might be potential benefits of cross-political friendships in the same way that cross-race and cross-religious friendships are associated with more positive outgroup attitudes.”

“Also, in a previous study I found that people with positive diversity attitudes (who tend to be politically liberal) were even more likely to have friends who share their attitudes and values. This finding suggests that people who claim to value diversity may not value viewpoint diversity in the same way they value other forms of sociodemographic diversity.”

To examine this, Bahns conducted two separate studies. In the first, assistants approached 537 pairs of people in public spaces in New York City, Boston, and several colleges in the Northeast. The participants were asked to complete a brief paper survey on their political views, friendship dynamics, and their attitudes toward different political groups.

The second study took place online and recruited 434 adult friendship pairs through CloudResearch Connect, an online research platform. This second sample was politically balanced by design, with a greater share of Republican participants compared to the field study. Participants in both studies ranged in age from 18 to over 80 and completed similar sets of questions.

Across both studies, participants reported their political ideology, party affiliation, and beliefs about specific political issues such as immigration, climate change, gun control, and abortion. They also rated the quality of their friendship using questions about closeness, companionship, and reciprocity. Comfort with political disagreement—a personal trait reflecting how open someone is to discussing political differences—was measured using a validated six-item scale.

The studies also included questions about whether the friends had discussed various controversial political topics, and participants rated how warmly they felt toward members of their own political group and those from the opposite side. These ratings were used to assess prejudice toward political outgroups.

Overall, Bahns found strong evidence of political homophily. In both samples, most friendships were politically aligned. In the first study, only about 3% of pairs included one Democrat and one Republican. In the second study, that number rose to about 8%, still a small share. Even on specific political issues, differences between friends were usually modest. Only a quarter of all pairs had more than a 1.5-point average difference (on a 7-point scale) across their political issue ratings.

“Everyone knows our country is highly polarized when it comes to politics, but I was surprised at just how rare true bipartisan friendships were in these studies,” Bahns said.

Despite this general trend toward political similarity, the studies found that political attitude dissimilarity—when friends disagreed on political issues—was linked to more favorable views of political outgroups. In other words, people who had a friend with different political views tended to rate opposing groups more positively. This finding was consistent across both studies, though the effect was relatively small.

At the same time, greater political dissimilarity between friends was associated with slightly lower friendship quality. In both studies, people who disagreed more with their friends on political issues rated their friendships as a bit less close or satisfying. This suggests that political disagreement may introduce tension or discomfort into a relationship, even if it doesn’t end the friendship entirely.

“Friends that had at least some political attitude dissimilarity tended to have more positive attitudes toward political outgroups,” explained Bahns, but “political attitude dissimilarity was associated with lower friendship quality.”

The studies also looked at the role of “comfort with political disagreement.” People who were more open to discussing political differences tended to rate their friendships more positively, regardless of whether their friends held different views. This trait was modestly related to political orientation in one study but not in the other, and it appeared to play a small but meaningful role in how people managed political differences within their relationships.

Interestingly, the studies found that discussions about political issues were fairly common even among politically similar friends. Most participants reported talking with their friends about at least some controversial issues, such as abortion or LGBTQ+ rights. In these cases, comfort with disagreement predicted a greater likelihood of having such conversations.

The study, like all research, includes some caveats.

“The methods are cross-sectional, so while the study found an association between political attitude dissimilarity and political outgroup attitudes, we cannot say whether people with more positive outgroup attitudes are more open to having politically diverse friends or whether having politically diverse friends makes people’s outgroup attitudes more positive,” Bahns said.

“Another limitation is that the degree of political attitude dissimilarity in the samples is low. Because friendships among people who disagree strongly about politics are quite rare, these types of friendships are not well represented in these studies. Therefore we don’t know what the relationship between political attitude dissimilarity and outgroup attitudes would be at higher levels of attitude dissimilarity.”

Bahns suggests that future research should explore how politically diverse friendships form and whether they are more likely to dissolve over time. It would also be useful to examine other close relationships, such as romantic partners or family members, to see whether similar patterns hold.

“I hope to use experimental methods to test the causal relationship between politically diverse friendship and outgroup attitudes,” Bahns said. “If we learn that having politically diverse friends can reduce prejudice toward political outgroups, I would like to design an intervention to make people more open to having politically diverse friends.”

The study, “Examining the Frequency and Characteristics of Politically Diverse Friendships,” was published July 5, 2025.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/cross-party-friendships-are-shockingly-rare-in-the-united-states-study-suggests/

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