Research on understanding the effects of language experiences upon executive control processes has turned away from static measures of language use to using more continuous measures such as proficiency, language switching and exposure. The present work utilizes language entropy, a measure that indexes the social and linguistic diversity of daily-life contexts (e.g., a classroom, cafeteria, home) of language use, to delineate the mechanisms through which contextual and social effects influence executive control. Results from existing studies utilizing entropy primarily examine bilingual contexts; however, this study focuses on multilingual university students in Ahmedabad, India. Participants (N = 56) provided entropy data from the Language History and Background Questionnaire and executive control measures from the AX-CP Task for proactive control and the n-back Task for working memory. Entropy measures proved very predictive for participants’ current language use patterns, but did not significantly predict any aspect of AX-CPT or n-back Task performance. Implications for context-specific stimulus categorization and the adaptive control hypothesis are discussed.

Gender, as a sociostructural factor, may shape child development through social norms that influence family dynamics. We examined whether more egalitarian parental relationships are associated with better developmental outcomes. Using data from the Pelotas 1993 birth cohort (Brazil), we adapted a population-level gender inequality metric to characterise parental relationships. The Couple’s Gender Inequality Index (CGII) was derived from maternal health, parental education and income. Associations between CGII and educational attainment, quality of life, and depression at age 18 were assessed using linear regression models adjusted for family income, gestational age, birth weight, parental cohabitation and race. The sample comprised 2,852 participants (1,446 women). Higher CGII scores, indicating greater equality within couples, were associated with significantly higher educational attainment in both females and males. Higher quality of life at age 18 was observed in the second and fourth CGII quartiles compared with the most unequal. Greater equality was associated with lower risk of depression at age 18, although this association was not robust to adjustment. Among girls, a similar pattern was observed for emotional symptoms at age 15. Overall, greater couple-level gender inequality was associated with poorer developmental outcomes in offspring.

Mental health legislation across Africa has evolved significantly from colonial-era frameworks. An adapted version of the FOSTREN* (Fostering and Strengthening Approaches to Reducing Coercion in European Mental Health Services) instrument, which is a comprehensive assessment tool based on the World Health Organisation Mental Health Legislation Checklist and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, was used to analyse mental health laws from Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Cabo Verde and Kenya. The comparative analysis showed varying alignment with international human rights standards, reflecting complex interactions between global frameworks and local realities. All the mental health laws analysed show movement towards rights-based approaches, although implementation challenges related to resource constraints, service delivery capacity and cultural integration remain significant barriers. Ghana’s formal integration of complementary and alternative medicine into its mental health framework, which requires cooperation between the Mental Health Authority and Traditional and Alternative Medicine Council, and the inclusion of people with lived experience of mental health conditions in review panels are examples of innovative approaches that show promise for regional adoption. While some form of supported decision-making is available, none of the countries offer advanced care directives. The study highlights that legislative reform alone is insufficient without addressing contextual factors like poverty, healthcare financing and integration of traditional healing practices in developing rights-based mental health care systems.

Scalar words such as warm may give rise to inferences such as warm but not hot. Under standard accounts, such scalar implicatures are derived by negating stronger alternatives. In processing, weaker scale-mates (warm) prime stronger ones (hot), suggesting that the latter are used in implicature processing (De Carvalho et al., 2016. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1500; Ronai & Xiang, 2023. Experiments in Linguistic Meaning, 2, 229–240). We test whether the activation of alternatives holds when no implicature is expected to arise and examine what kinds of alternatives form the basis from which scalar implicature derivation proceeds. We employ two manipulations: negation and antonymy. In line with an account derived from the theoretical treatments of implicature (e.g., Horn, 1972. On the semantic properties of logical operators in English), negating scale-mates cancelled the activation of strong terms (hot). Contrary to these accounts, however, antonyms activated the same targets. In a joint analysis, we found that negation interacted with both scale-mate primes and antonym primes. We explain these findings within the Alternative Activation Account (Gotzner, 2017. Alternative sets in language processing: How focus alternatives are represented in the mind), which assumes an initial activation of a broad cohort of associated expressions and their subsequent grammatical and contextual narrowing.

Healthcare professionals in Iraq are exposed to war-related stressors that may undermine psychological well-being. This study examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression and their association with peace of mind (PoM). In a cross-sectional survey, 174 physicians, nurses, pharmacists and allied health workers from multiple Iraqi regions completed an online questionnaire including demographics and validated Arabic measures of PTSD, depression (BDI) and PoM. Reliability was checked using Cronbach’s alpha, and analyses used descriptive statistics, t-tests, Spearman correlations and stepwise regression. Mild-to-moderate PTSD symptoms were reported by 66.1% of participants, and 39.1% reported at least mild depressive symptoms; 54.0% showed moderate PoM. In regression models, higher PTSD and depression scores significantly predicted lower PoM, whereas years of professional experience predicted higher PoM. These findings indicate a substantial burden of trauma- and depression-related symptoms among Iraqi healthcare workers and suggest that workplace-focused mental health supports and organizational policies are needed to protect well-being in conflict-affected settings.

The study is the first to examine the effects of children’s and therapists’ in-session behaviors on later therapeutic alliance (TA; i.e., relational bond, task collaboration) as rated by children and therapists in an intervention for children with aggressive behavior. One hundred eighty children (ages 9.3–11.8; 69% male; 78% Black), screened as having aggressive behavior by teacher and parent ratings, received a 32-session group-based cognitive-behavioral intervention (Coping Power) at their schools. TA ratings were collected from children and therapists at mid- and end-of-intervention using the Therapeutic Alliance Scale for Children. Children’s and therapists’ behaviors during the first 16 sessions were coded by independent observers. Children’s negative in-session behaviors predicted lower child- and therapist-rated TA (averaged across mid- and end-of-intervention). Children’s in-session positive behaviors, at both the individual and group-wide level, predicted higher later TA. Therapists’ efforts to manage deviant behavior predicted stronger child-reported ratings of the relational bond and of child- and therapist-rated task collaboration. Exploratory analyses indicate that the effect of children’s in-session behaviors on later TA is moderated by therapists’ skills in managing the group and in managing deviant talk and behavior in sessions. Clinical and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Treatment response in pediatric social anxiety disorder (SAD) is highly variable, and symptoms may be maintained by maladaptive attention. A previous study found that youth with SAD scan a more restricted area of faces than healthy controls during emotion recognition, potentially limiting interpretation of social cues. The current study followed up on these results by examining whether restricted face scanning 1) predicts response to psychological treatment, and 2) changes with successful treatment. Youth with SAD (n = 59) were assessed prior to treatment with internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) or supportive therapy (ISUPPORT) and then again three months after treatment. Restricted scanning of faces predicted a smaller symptom reduction, independent of treatment arm. Scanpath distribution was moderately stable from T1 to T2 and did not change with treatment. Restricted scanning of faces may be a risk factor for sustained SAD symptoms after therapy. As the visual scanpath is a key aspect of human visual processing, inflexible scanning could potentially interfere with information processing. Implications for theories of attention in pediatric SAD are discussed.

Previous research reports that offspring of parents with histories of childhood maltreatment are at increased risk for mental health problems, yet the mechanisms remain unclear. This study examines the extent to which parent psychopathology mediates the relationship between parent maltreatment history and offspring psychopathology. Using a prospective cohort design, individuals with documented histories of childhood maltreatment (ages 0 – 11 years) during 1967 – 1971 and demographically matched controls were followed into adulthood and first interviewed in 1989-1995 (N = 1,196). Offspring (N = 697, Mage = 22.8 years) were assessed in 2009 – 2010. A general p-factor structure and a model with specific latent constructs were tested. Structural equation modeling was used for mediation. The results indicated that only minor offspring of maltreated parents exhibited more symptoms of depression than offspring of controls. Parent psychopathology predicted offspring psychopathology. Parent depression and dysthymia predicted greater offspring depression, anxiety, PTSD, alcohol use, drug use, and marijuana use. Parent anxiety and alcohol and drug symptoms also predicted offspring alcohol symptoms. There was no evidence that parent psychopathology explained the relationship between a parent’s history of maltreatment and their offspring’s psychopathology. These new results suggest that reconsideration of some assumptions about the intergeneration impacts of maltreatment may be warranted.