This article assesses a 10-month co-created universal school-based mental health (SBMH) promotion initiative for adolescents (10–19). The study combined quantitative and qualitative components. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were conducted in four schools in Tanzania (n = 400 baseline, 488 endline, with 100 intervention participants at both) and eight schools in Vietnam (n = 1,036 baseline, 893 endline and 436 in panel). In each country, ~90 qualitative interactions (interviews and focus groups) were held at baseline and endline with adolescents, parents, teachers and service providers (total = ~180). In Tanzania, multivariate analysis indicated significant gains among intervention participants relative to peers. Emotional literacy rose 9.5% (p = 0.007; d = 0.57). Attitudes toward help-seeking (p = 0.021; d = 0.50) and prosocial behaviors (p = 0.043, d = 0.38) also improved Active coping increased 15.6% (p = 0.006; d = 0.55). In Vietnam, emotional literacy increased 5.3% (p = 0.012, η2 = .019), and positively, emotion-focused coping declined 14.4% (p = 0.032, η2 = .015). Qualitative evidence reinforces these findings, and suggested spillover effects for nonparticipants. Overall results indicate that co-created universal SBMH initiatives can improve adolescent well-being and offer viable alternatives to limited adolescent-focused mental health services in LMICs.

This study investigates the English of-NP (noun phrase) evaluation construction (e.g., It’s nice of you to help me plan this wedding), hypothesizing that its constructional meaning encodes socially mediated evaluation and imposes semantic constraints on the NP slot. We adopt a dual methodological approach, combining collostructional analysis to identify lexeme–construction associations with surprisal analysis using a large language model (LLM) (GPT-2) to assess predictive processing difficulty. The two methods complement each other, capturing both static distributional patterns and dynamic expectancy profiles. Three experimental manipulations were implemented: preposition alternation, variation in NP agentivity and variation in NP intentionality. Results show that NPs conforming to the hypothesized slot constraints yield lower surprisal values, whereas constraint-violating NPs trigger higher surprisal, aligning with the observed collostructional strengths. These findings provide empirical support for the view that constructional compatibility shapes predictive processing and contributes to integrating Construction Grammar (CxG) with prediction-based models of language processing.

Anaphora, as an important linguistic phenomenon, represents a cohesive relationship concerning two parts, namely antecedent and anaphor. The choice of anaphoric forms is understudied in previous research. In this study, an annotation framework is built and a machine learning method is employed to analyse the influence of motivators on the choice of anaphoric forms. In addition, the framework of accessibility theory is modified, with causals as the study object. Results indicate that competition-, salience- and distance-related motivators, as well as text type, can significantly influence the variation of anaphoric forms. Among those motivators, predictability emerges as the most significant variable. Under the influence of these motivators, zero pronouns, noun phrases and pronouns exhibit significant differences in distribution. Pronouns have a broader distribution range and fewer restrictions compared to zero pronouns and noun phrases. Based on the results, we also modify the accessibility theory in terms of competition and salience.

We examined how language affects moral judgments in a non-WEIRD population. Tanzanian participants (N = 103) evaluated utilitarian agents in moral dilemmas, either in native Chagga or foreign Swahili. Agents were rated significantly more moral and braver when evaluated in a foreign language. Bravery predicted morality more strongly in the foreign language than in the native language. Indirect sacrifices were judged more moral than direct ones, but equally brave. These findings extend the moral foreign language effect to informally acquired languages and highlight methodological implications for cross-cultural research.

We investigate the synchronization of speech and co-speech actions (i.e., manual game moves) in a dyadic game interaction across different levels of information structure and mutual visibility. We analyze cross-modal synchronization as the temporal distance between co-speech actions and corresponding (1) pitch accent peaks and (2) word onsets. For (1), we find no effect of mutual visibility on cross-modal synchronization. However, pitch accent peaks and co-speech actions are more tightly aligned when game moves are prosodically prominent due to information structural needs. This result is in line with a view of a tightly coupled processing of modalities, where prominence-lending modifications in the prosodic structure attract corresponding manual actions to be realized in a way similar to ‘beat’ gestures. For (2), we do find an effect of mutual visibility, under which co-speech actions are produced earlier and more tightly aligned with word onsets. This result is in line with a view in which co-speech actions act as communicative affordances, which may help an early disambiguation of a message, similar to ‘representational’ co-speech gestures.

Easy Language (EL) presents information in a simplified way and benefits people who have difficulty understanding standard language. The present study evaluates the effects of visual support inclusion, as it is a recurring recommendation in EL guidelines. We examined 52 adults (23 men and 29 women; mean age of 39.9; 26 with intellectual disabilities [ID], 26 neurotypical) in a mixed design study. They read EL texts that presented either no visual support, photographs or illustrations. Their eye movements were recorded, and they answered comprehension, text difficulty and style preference questions. The inclusion of visual support had no effect on comprehension, nor did the type of visual support (photographs/illustrations). The group (ID/neurotypical) and the type of visual support also showed no effects on the perceived difficulty of the text. Neurotypical participants showed a preference for illustrations. Photographs may be more difficult to interpret than illustrations due to longer fixations and shorter saccades in both groups. The group with an ID showed more and longer fixations, especially on text and whitespace, while the neurotypical group tended to explore the image more. Results prompt a discussion on the potential improvements of EL guidelines and highlight the need for similar empirical studies in the area.

The global mental health (GMH) field aims to equitably improve mental health and well-being everywhere. This article reviews persistent common challenges hindering sustained, high-quality delivery of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Our focus is on programming that is funded or implemented by external organizations, typically universities or international non-governmental organizations from high-income countries. It is a consensus statement of MHPSS practitioners, programmers and researchers working for these organizations and some who are locally based who observe these programs in action. We comment on progress to date, barriers and recommendations for change and the importance of promoting sustained integration of MHPSS into health and social service systems through a comprehensive, recovery-oriented system of care. We call for prioritizing often-neglected issues (e.g., stigma, severe mental health conditions and neurodevelopmental conditions), strengthening workforce training and supervision and monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure program quality. The continued dominance of the Global North in shaping GMH programming priorities remains a concern. We advocate for a greater involvement of local workers and communities in agenda-setting for programs, culturally grounded implementation and long-term capacity building. Evidence-based practices must be met with contextual relevance, and comprehensive guidelines for sustained support are needed for development settings. For persistent funding challenges, we recommend clearer funder objectives, investment in in-house mental health expertise and funder coordination with prioritization of complementary programming. These recommendations are essential to realizing equitable, comprehensive, evidence-based and contextually grounded GMH programming.

Dunbar’s framework highlights the challenge of maintaining large, stable social networks given cognitive constraints. Expanding on this, I propose that fractal social networks function as lossy compression algorithms, efficiently reducing the complexity of social storage and retrieval. Rather than tracking all relationships explicitly, individuals rely on hierarchical abstractions and transitive inference, shifting storage complexity from $O\left( {{N^2}} \right)$ to $O\left( {N\log N} \right)$. This insight suggests broader implications for cognitive evolution, institutional organization, and artificial intelligence.

Implementation science plays a crucial role in effectively translating scientific knowledge into sustainable, evidence-based health practices. This perspective article focuses on some Latin American experiences, highlighting the limitations of applying methodologies developed in the Global North to settings marked by structural inequalities, economic constraints and cultural diversity. The included experiences examine a range of programs, such as the national Breastfeeding and Feeding Strategy, the evaluation of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program in Chile and the community component of Mental Health Gap Action Programme in Colombia. Other contributions explore professional training initiatives and offer critical reflections on frameworks, such as the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance. The reflections call for strengthening local capacities, fostering meaningful South–South and South–North collaborations, and advancing a context-sensitive, equity-oriented approach to implementation science that supports the development of more adaptive, effective and just health systems.

Youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and other diverse sexual and gender identities (LGBTQ+) experience disproportionately high rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors compared to heterosexual and cisgender peers, yet many face barriers to care. Data came from a national online survey of 18,663 LGBTQ+ youth aged 13–24 years in the United States (September–December 2023). Analyses focused on participants who reported wanting mental health care in the past year and assessed access, barriers, service modalities and suicidal ideation/attempts. Half of LGBTQ+ youth who wanted mental health care did not receive it. The most common barrier was fear of talking about mental health concerns (42%). Among those who received care, one-on-one therapy was most common (69% in-person and 53% online). Suicidal ideation was lower among youth in therapy (46% in-person and 40% online) compared to those using crisis lines (75%). After adjusting for demographics, hotline use remained strongly associated with elevated risk: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.77 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.11–4.56) for suicidal ideation; aOR = 3.21 (95% CI: 2.62–3.94) for attempts. Despite strong willingness to seek care, structural and identity-related barriers leave many needs unmet. Expanding culturally competent services is essential to reducing suicide risk.

Meta-cognition enhances the social bonding hypothesis for musicality, integrating imagination, episodic simulation, causal inference, and inhibition. Music fosters group cohesion by engaging the endogenous opioid system, supporting intergroup understanding through vivid mental imagery, and facilitating socio-affective fiction. Additionally, causal inference enables contextual interpretation of music, while inhibition refines musical coordination and executive function, reinforcing cognitive flexibility for cooperative social behavior.

While grooming and other forms of physical bonding are crucial for stress management, social play and laughter deserve equal recognition as tools for both stress relief and the reinforcement of social relationships. They play a pivotal role in the development of motor and social skills and serves as a foundational behavior in species that rely on cooperation and alliance-building.

To explain human social sophistication, and proximal phylogenetic steps leading to it, Dunbar claims that mentalising expands to increasingly high levels of recursion. However, the evidential basis for this claim is weak, exposing both a limitation in Dunbar’s account and in the field’s current understanding of social sophistication.

Facial expression has evolved as a solution to the primate group living problem. A growing body of empirical evidence suggests that the evolution of facial expression has been driven by the need to bond. Dunbar’s theories of group cohesion are therefore key to understanding primate (including human) facial expression.

Specialised forms of social cognition enable primates to manage the stresses of group living by allowing for flexible and intentional communication. This is used to increase the predictability of conspecifics’ behaviour for both signallers and receivers. Intentional communication helps to overcome the stimulus-driven processing that may occur due to stress, enhancing attention allocation in receivers.

The current manuscript rightly points out that non-human primates evolved complex social cognitive skills to maintain weaker social ties. However, these capacities are likely more expansive than currently proposed: research shows that apes behave more socially to those with whom they experience similar things, suggesting that they possess some precursor of humans’ capacity to bond through shared experiences.

Dunbar explains primates group cohesion through cognitive and structural mechanisms like grooming and social cognition. We extend this by highlighting collective social niche construction, where emergent social properties arise from feedback loops, selection pressures, and self-organisation. Adaptive social networks evolve through multilevel selection, cultural transmission, and ontogenetic changes, shaping survival, cognition, and collective intelligence across species.