Background Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for the development of body image, eating behaviors, and related health outcomes. Experiences during these years can have a lasting effect on women’s relationships with food, body perceptions, and well-being in adulthood. Objective This study qualitatively examined childhood and adolescent memories that women perceived as influential in shaping their current relationship with food. Design Secondary qualitative data analysis. Methods The study was reported in accordance with the COREQ guidelines. The sample comprises 288 French-Canadian women ( M = 28.51 years, SD = 6.63 years, range = 21–45). Results An inductive thematic analysis identified two overarching themes: (1) triggering events and (2) perceived consequences. Triggering events included body and food-related comments, sociocultural appearance pressures, shared meals, and other life circumstances. Reported consequences primarily involved problematic eating behaviors and body concerns, although some participants described the development of healthier eating habits. Conclusion Findings highlight the central role of body image in women’s youth memories and the enduring positive influence of family meals experiences. These results underscore the value of exploring early memories to better understand adult women’s relationships with food, and to inform research and clinical interventions aimed at promoting positive body image and healthier eating behaviors.

ABSTRACT Dissatisfaction with Institutions, governments, or the status quo can be expressed via normative (e.g., sign a petition) and non‐normative (e.g., destroy public property) political engagement. The type of political engagement endorsed may be influenced by memories rooted in psychological reactance, as chronic memory activation is known to shape cognitions and behaviors. We conducted two studies during the COVID‐19 pandemic to investigate the impact of activating memories characterized by psychological reactance on normative and non‐normative political engagement, while also controlling for psychological reactance traits. Study 1 randomly exposed participants ( N = 141) to one of three vignettes varying in freedom restriction before describing a memory. Analyses showed that memories characterized by psychological reactance predicted higher non‐normative political engagement a week later. Study 2 used an experimental yoked control design ( N = 181) and demonstrated that priming individuals with their own psychological reactance memory situationally heightened their endorsement of non‐normative political engagement compared to individuals primed with a non‐psychological reactance memory or compared to control groups (i.e., individuals not primed with their own personal memory). Psychological reactance memories did not affect normative political engagement in either study. Chronic activation of memories characterized by psychological reactance appears to represent an important motivational element that distinctly facilitates non‐normative political engagement from normative political engagement.

INTRODUCTION:Conspiracy mentality has been associated with various detrimental societal outcomes. However, research on its predictors and consequences has been focused almost exclusively on adults. Guided by Self-Determination Theory, this study examined reciprocal associations between basic psychological need frustration and conspiracy mentality among adolescents. METHODS:A sample of 232 high school students (Mage = 14.6, SD = 1.53; 58% identifying as girls) completed surveys at two time points over a 1-year interval (Spring 2023 and 2024) in the province of Quebec, Canada. RESULTS:Results indicated that frustration of the need for relatedness predicted an increase in conspiracy mentality, whereas conspiracy mentality predicted an increase in relatedness frustration, with small effect sizes. Moreover, conspiracy mentality predicted an increase in frustration of the need for autonomy, with a small effect size. CONCLUSION:Given the negative implications of conspiracy beliefs, schools should implement strategies to address these beliefs and provide adolescents with opportunities to satisfy their needs for autonomy and relatedness.

The current study examined the experiential components of anxiety-related memories, that is, what is experienced during the event of the memory, and how these experiences can shape subjective emotional responses. A total of 76 participants were asked to recall a personal memory of an event that elicited fear or anxiety. Two key experiential components were evaluated: the level of need satisfaction associated with the memory and the physiological reactivity upon memory recall, as indexed by heart rate. Additionally, networked memories were assessed, referring to other memories associated with the anxiety-related memory, along with the need satisfaction component of each. Results highlighted the role of networked memories and the interaction between need satisfaction and physiological reactivity in predicting self-reported subjective experience. Specifically, participants who exhibited a low increase in heart rate during the recall of their anxiety-related memory found that need satisfaction in networked memories predicted self-reported anxiety and negative emotions. However, this relationship was not observed in participants who experienced a high increase in heart rate. These findings suggest that high physiological arousal linked to a memory may limit access to other memory-related cognitions, thereby influencing the formation of subjective emotional experiences.

OBJECTIVE:Memories shape perceptions and decisions in uncertain situations through their encoded levels of autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction or frustration. This research investigated their predictive value on COVID-19 conspiracy theories endorsement, when triggered by freedom-restrictive contexts. METHOD:Study 1 (N = 141) randomly exposed participants to a control, moderate, or high freedom-restrictive vignette before describing a memory. Participants reported their endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracy theories a week later. Study 2 (N = 213) asked participants to describe a memory after reading a freedom-restrictive vignette. A week later, a yoked control design randomly assigned participants to either be primed with their own memory or with someone else's memory before reacting to a bogus conspiracy theory. RESULTS:Study 1 revealed a predictive association specifically between autonomy-frustrating memories triggered by freedom-restrictive vignettes and COVID-19 conspiracy theories endorsement. Study 2 showed that priming autonomy-frustrating memories situationally increased the likelihood of endorsing a bogus conspiracy theory, becoming angered by it, and expressing willingness to disseminate it, compared to a non-primed group and a group primed with autonomy-satisfying memories. CONCLUSIONS:This research highlights the role of autonomy-frustrating memories in endorsing conspiracy theories, suggesting that such endorsement can emerge from the interplay between the individual (memories) and the environment (triggering cues).

Civic engagement, including activities like volunteering, is generally associated with positive developmental outcomes in youth (e.g., sense of belonging), but its associations with mental health remains uncertain. This systematic review explored longitudinal associations between youth civic engagement and mental health. A systematic search of MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and EMBASE was conducted for studies up to November 14, 2024. This review included English peer-reviewed longitudinal studies involving youth aged 15–30 that examined civic engagement and mental health. Risk of bias was assessed with the Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment tool. Thirteen articles were included for this review. Volunteering was the most studied civic activity (n = 5), with depressive symptoms (n = 12) as the primary mental health outcome. Narrative synthesis suggests mixed findings: volunteering was typically associated to positive mental health outcomes, while political behaviors and voting, showed mixed or null associations. Youth with better mental health were more likely to engage in civic activities, though some studies found no significant association. These findings highlight the complex association between civic engagement and mental health, underscoring the need for further exploration of this bidirectional relationship and the importance of creating resources and supportive environments to help youth navigate and cope with negative civic experiences.

INTRODUCTION:Civic engagement is common in youth, yet its longitudinal association with mental health remains understudied. This study aims to document bidirectional associations between civic engagement, depressive symptoms, and suicidality at 20 and 23. METHODS:We included 1451 participants born in 1997/98 from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development in Canada. At 20 and 23, youth self-reported their engagement in five types of civic activities, namely political engagement, volunteering, activism, charitable actions, community involvement, depressive symptoms, and suicidality. Cross-lagged path models adjusted for sex and parental socioeconomic status were used to test associations between civic engagement and mental health outcomes. RESULTS:Concurrently, individuals who engaged in political engagement and activism were more likely to experience increases in depressive symptoms and suicidality at 20, while those who engaged in volunteering tended to report fewer depressive symptoms. At 23, political engagement remained positively associated with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal analyses revealed that individuals who engaged in activism at 20 were more likely to experience increases in depressive symptoms over time (β = 0.17) and those who participated in charitable actions (β = -0.14) and volunteering (β = -0.11) at 20 tended to report fewer depressive symptoms at 23, though these associations were not independent. Mental health at 20 was not associated to later civic engagement. CONCLUSIONS:Types of civic engagement were differentially associated with later depressive symptoms, but not suicidality. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying these associations, including the potential role of engagement frequencies, motivations, and contextual factors.

INTRODUCTION:Civic engagement (CE) in adolescence is associated with a higher level of engagement in adulthood and is reported to be beneficial to youth's development and societal well-being. Parents are among the most influential factors in adolescents' lives. This study examined the associations between parents' own civic participation, their negative beliefs toward youth CE and their child's future CE. While prior research documented positive associations between parental civic behaviors and youth CE, the role of parental negative beliefs has remained unexplored and could act as an additional barrier to adolescents' CE. METHODS:A total of 234 adolescents (65% girls; mean age = 13.77) and their parents (79% mothers; mean age = 44.20), residing in the Canadian province of Quebec from 2016 to 2019, were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Parents completed measures of their civic activities and their negative beliefs regarding youth CE. Adolescents completed measures of future civic attitudes and behaviors. RESULTS:Hierarchical regressions revealed significant positive cross-sectional associations between parental civic behaviors and their child's future civic attitudes and behaviors. However, parental negative beliefs toward youth CE were negatively associated with youths' future civic attitudes and behaviors, even after considering parental civic behaviors and family socioeconomic status. Adolescents' age did not moderate these relationships. CONCLUSION:These findings highlight the significant role that parents could play in shaping CE of future generations. Interventions promoting youth CE should thus target both adolescents and their parents.

AIM:Medical residency training is associated with a range of sociodemographic, lifestyle and mental health factors that may confer higher risk for psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in residents, yet little research has examined this question. Thus, we aimed to document the prevalence and associated factors of PLEs among resident physicians. METHODS:Physicians enrolled in residency programmes in the Province of Québec, Canada (four universities) were recruited in Fall 2022 via their programme coordinators and social media. They completed an online questionnaire assessing PLEs in the past 3 months (the 15-item Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences), as well as sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle and mental health. Analyses included survey weights and gamma regressions. RESULTS:The sample included 502 residents (mean age, 27.6 years; 65.9% women). Only 1.3% (95% CI: 0.5%, 4.0%) of residents met the screening cut-off for psychotic disorder. Factors associated with higher scores for PLEs included racialised minority status (relative difference: +7.5%; 95% CI: +2.2%, +13.2%) and English versus French as preferred language (relative difference: +7.9% 95% CI: +3.1%, +12.9%), as well as each additional point on scales of depression (relative difference: +0.8%; 95% CI: +0.3%, +1.3%) and anxiety (relative difference: +1.3%; 95% CI: +0.8%, +1.7%). In secondary analyses, racialised minority status was associated with persecutory items, but not with other PLEs. Gender, residency programmes and lifestyle variables were not associated with PLEs. CONCLUSIONS:This study found low reports of PLEs in a sample of resident physicians. Associations of PLEs with minoritised status may reflect experiences of discrimination.

The cognitive mechanisms through which specific life events affect the development and maintenance of eating disorders (ED) have received limited attention in the scientific literature. The present research aims to address this gap by adopting a memory perspective to explore the type of life events associated with eating psychopathology and how these events are encoded and reconstructed as memories. Two studies (n = 208 and n = 193) were conducted to investigate the relationship between specific memories and eating disorder psychopathology. Study 1 focused on parent-related memories, while Study 2 examined childhood/adolescence memories. Results from both studies revealed that need thwarting and shame in memories were associated with eating disorder symptoms, but only when individuals drew symbolic connections between these memories and food or eating behavior. Moreover, need thwarting and shame in such memories were associated with other eating and body image outcomes, including uncontrolled eating and body esteem. These results also held after controlling for a host of known predictors of eating disorder psychopathology, such as BMI, perfectionism, or thin ideal internalization. Overall, the present findings suggest that the reprocessing of memories symbolically and idiosyncratically linked to food and eating behavior might be a fruitful clinical intervention.

Social media use has been associated with depression in youth. It remains unclear how individual differences in social media use and depression relate to other health-related behaviors such as physical activity, green space exposure, cannabis use, and eveningness. We aimed to examine these associations and network structure with the Green/Screen Study, a Canadian cohort of 425 adults (82.5% female) aged 18-25 years who completed three online questionnaires between May 2021 and January 2022. Longitudinal analyses showed sex differences in the association of social media use with depression. Although social media use was positively associated with depression after adjusting for other health-related behaviors, it did not predict an increase in depressive symptoms over time. Shorter time intervals and more detailed measures of social media use may be needed to capture social media context- and usage-specific associations with depression.

Social jetlag, the difference between imposed and endogenous sleep schedules, may be detrimental to resident physicians’ health. The current profiles of sleep habits, particularly the differences between workdays and free days, are unknown in that population. This cross-sectional study of Quebec resident physicians aimed at assessing sleep habits on workdays and free days and predictors of social jetlag. Residents were recruited via their residency programs and social media to complete an online questionnaire. Measures included means of sleep duration and timing, chronotype, sleep debt, sleep disturbances, and social jetlag. A range of sociodemographic variables, lifestyle characteristics, and mental health indicators were examined as predictors of severe social jet lag using logistic regressions. A total of 492 residents were included in the study (mean [standard deviation] age, 27.6 [3.6] years; 330 females [67.1

Cultivation of self-care is believed to foster more well-being and to mitigate the psychological difficulties that mental health professionals experience. However, how the well-being and psychological distress of these professionals impact their personal self-care practice is rarely discussed. In fact, studies have yet to investigate whether the use of self-care improves mental health, or whether being in a better place psychologically makes professionals more prone to using self-care (or both). The present study aims to clarify the longitudinal associations between self-care practices and five indicators of psychological adjustment (well-being, posttraumatic growth, anxiety, depression, and compassion fatigue). A sample of 358 mental health professionals were assessed twice (within a 10-month interval). A cross-lagged model tested all associations between self-care and psychological adjustment indicators. Results showed that self-care at T1 predicted increases in well-being and in post-traumatic growth, and a reduction in anxiety and depression at T2. However, only anxiety at T1 significantly predicted greater self-care at T2. No significant cross-lagged associations were found between self-care and compassion fatigue. Overall, findings suggest that implementing self-care is a good way for mental health workers to "take care of themselves." However, more research is needed to understand what leads these workers to use self-care.

Unlike organized activities such as sports and arts, civic activities in adolescence (e.g., volunteering, student government) have been less studied in relation to school success and almost all existing evidence consists of cross-sectional findings. In a longitudinal study, 1035 pupils (64% females, 20% nonwhite, Mage = 14.21 years) from high schools reported their engagement in organized non-civic and civic activities during the school year, dimensions of activity participation (e.g., intensity, duration, motives), and covariables (age, gender, ethnicity, SES, self-esteem, parental relationship, school motivation). Previous and end-of-year grade point average (GPA) were collected from school administrations. Results revealed that both civic and non-civic organized activities independently predicted increases in GPA over the school year, even after adjusting for all covariables.

Abstract This chapter proposes a memory approach to the question of integration in self-determination theory. It suggests that life events are critical to the integrative process, as they represent the success or failure of humans’ interactions with the environment. Their encoding as memories and their cognitive organizations help to reduce uncertainty by providing humans with the capacity to predict what will occur in similar future situations. Three qualities relative to the integration of life events are presented along with empirical evidence supporting them: (1) the encoding and reconstruction of life events in memory as need satisfying, (2) their incorporation as event memories in need-satisfying memory networks, and (3) their integration in higher-level representations, notably through emotion regulation processes. Overall, it is shown that the organismic concept of integration from self-determination theory is in line with other neurocognitive theories on memory and the functioning of the brain. The combination of memory theories with self-determination theory appears as a fruitful research avenue to the study of the integrative process.

There is a growing interest in assessing the benefits of exposure to urban greenspace on mental health due to the increased urbanization of youth and concerns for their mental health. We investigated the prospective associations of residential greenspace in childhood and mental health in adolescence. Use of a well-characterized birth cohort permitted adjustment for a range of potential confounding factors including family and neighborhood characteristics in addition to prior mental health problems, and exploration of moderation effects by sex and family socioeconomic status. We analyzed longitudinal data collected from 742 urban-dwelling participants of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Children Development. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 250, 500, and 1000 m buffer zones surrounding the home residence was used to indicate childhood exposure to greenspace. Six self-reported mental health problems at 15/17 years were examined using the Mental Health and Social Inadaptation questionnaire: inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, conduct, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Childhood urban greenspace was associated with lower inattention problems in both females and males. We observed a 0.14 reduced standard deviation (SD) (β = − 0.14, SE = 0.05, p < 0.01) in relation to an interquartile range (IQR) increase of NDVI (0.15) at the 250 m buffer zone, and similar results were found in 500 m and 1000 m buffer zones. These associations only slightly attenuated after adjustment for individual (sex, childhood mental health), family (family SES, maternal age at birth, parental mental health, family composition), and neighborhood (material and social deprivation) characteristics (β = − 0.13, SE = 0.06, p = 0.03). No association was found for other mental health problems, and no moderation associations of sex or family socioeconomic status were observed. These findings suggest that increasing residential greenspace in cities may be associated with modest benefits in attentional capacities in youth, necessitating further research to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

Determinants of sexual well-being have often been identified as sexual and relational satisfaction, which both include a focus on partner relationship. Such a conceptualization excludes sexually active single individuals, while confusing sexual and relational satisfaction with sexual well-being as both determinant and outcome. In the present research, we propose an intrapersonal perspective focused on cognitive sexual and relational mental representations as determinants of sexual well-being. Based on behavioral systems theory, we suggest that a high level of integration of sexual and relational mental representations should be associated with sexual well-being indicators, whereas a weaker level of integration should correspond to a lower level of sexual well-being. We developed a novel codification scheme to measure the cognitive integration of sexual and relational mental representations in narratives of sexual autobiographical memories. We examined its associations with sexual well-being indicators (satisfaction, passion, and sociosexuality). In a sample of 142 students, results showed that integration of sexual and relational representations in memories was positively associated with sexual satisfaction and harmonious passion, and negatively with obsessive passion and sociosexual desire. Results suggest that an integrated cognitive organization of sexual and relational mental representations in autobiographical memories can reflect a greater sexual wellbeing. Clinical implications are discussed.

Purpose: Digital media use has been associated with psychotic experiences in youth from the community, but the direction of association remains unclear. We aimed to examine between- and within-person associations of digital media use and psychotic experiences in youth.Methods: The sample included 425 participants aged 18-25 years (82.5% female) from the community, followed between May 2021 and January 2022 over 3 time points – of which 263 participants (61.9%) completed at least 2. Digital media use was self-reported as time spent daily on TV and streaming platforms, social media, and video games over the past 3 months. Psychotic experiences in the past 3 months were measured with the 15-item Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences. Associations between digital media use and psychotic experiences were estimated using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model.Results: At the between-person level, greater digital media use was associated with higher levels of psychotic experiences (r=0.34, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.53). However, within-person changes in digital media use were not significantly associated with subsequent changes in psychotic experiences, or vice-versa. Results were similar across TV/streaming, social media and video game use, and after adjusting for age, sex, education, sleep, physical activity, and cannabis use.Conclusion: Individuals with a tendency for higher levels of digital media use also had a tendency for higher levels of psychotic experiences. Understanding this association may help personalize mental health interventions for people with psychotic experiences, which may be offered digitally to promote their accessibility.

Plusieurs études ont démontré que la participation à des activités parascolaires (sports, arts, civiques) contribue au fonctionnement psychologique des adolescents. Cependant, les motivations derrière leur participation ont souvent été négligées. La présente étude a examiné l’association entre la participation à des activités parascolaires, d’une part, et les types de motivation à participer, d’autre part, reliée au fonctionnement psychologique. Étant donné la nature particulière des activités civiques, cette étude a également vérifié si les motivations à s’engager dans des activités civiques étaient associées plus fortement au fonctionnement psychologique que les motivations pour les activités non civiques. Au total, 1622 élèves (64 % de filles) du secondaire ont fait part de leur participation à des activités civiques et non civiques ainsi que leurs motivations (autonome ou contrôlée) à participer. Ils ont également répondu à des mesures de fonctionnement psychologique : estime de soi, satisfaction des besoins psychologiques, qualité des relations interpersonnelles (parents et ami) et attachement envers l’école. Les résultats ont révélé que le fait de participer ou non à des activités parascolaires était faiblement associé au fonctionnement psychologique des adolescents. Cependant, la motivation autonome pour les activités était associée positivement au fonctionnement psychologique, tandis que pour la motivation contrôlée, l’association était négative, et ce, au-delà des variables contrôlées. De plus, chez les adolescents participant aux deux types d’activités, la motivation autonome pour les activités civiques était le meilleur prédicteur du fonctionnement psychologique. Ces résultats suggèrent que les types de motivations à participer doivent être pris en compte au-delà de la simple participation.