Parasite stress promotes homicide and child maltreatment

Researchers using the parasite-stress theory of human values have discovered many cross-cultural behavioural patterns that inform a range of scholarly disciplines. Here, we apply the theory to major categories of interpersonal violence, and the empirical findings are supportive. We hypothesize that the collectivism evoked by high parasite stress is a cause of adult-on-adult interpersonal violence. Across the US states, parasite stress and collectivism each positively predicts rates of men's and women's slaying of a romantic partner, as well as the rate of male-honour homicide and of the motivationally similar felony-related homicide. Of these four types of homicide, wealth inequality has an independent effect only on rates of male-honour and felony-related homicide. Parasite stress and collectivism also positively predict cross-national homicide rates. Child maltreatment by caretakers is caused, in part, by divestment in offspring of low phenotypic quality, and high parasite stress produces more such offspring than low parasite stress. Rates of each of two categories of the child maltreatment--lethal and non-lethal--across the US states are predicted positively by parasite stress, with wealth inequality and collectivism having limited effects. Parasite stress may be the strongest predictor of interpersonal violence to date.     

Mental health policies on reporting child sexual abuse and physician‐patient sexual relationships

The reporting of child sexual abuse (CSA) and physician-patient sexualrelationships (PPSR) are currently the focus of professional, legal and mediaattention in several countries. This paper briefly reviews mental health policieson these issues and reports on a WPA survey of them. While the WPA MadridDeclaration permits breaching confidentiality for mandatory reporting of CSAand clearly prohibits PPSR, it is not known how or to what extent these policiesare implemented in WPA Member Societies’ countries. It is also not knownwhether policies or laws exist on these topics nationally or to what extentpsychiatrists and the public are aware of them. Representatives of WPA MemberSocieties were e-mailed a survey about issues pertaining to CSA and PPSR.Fifty-one percent of 109 countries replied. All reporting countries had lawsor policies regarding the reporting of CSA, but this was often voluntary (63%)and without protection for reporting psychiatrists either by law (29%) orby Member Societies (27%). A substantial number of psychiatric leaders didnot know the law (27%) or their Society’s policy (11%) on these matters.With respect to PPSR, some reporting countries lacked laws or policies aboutPPSR with current (17%) or past (56%) patients. Fewer than half of respondingrepresentatives believed that their Society’s members or the publicwere well informed about the laws and policies pertaining to CSA or PPSR.There is clearly a wide range of laws, policies and practices about CSA andPPSR in WPA Member Societies’ countries. There is a need in some countriesfor laws or supplemental policies to facilitate the protection of vulnerablechild and adult patients through clear, mandatory reporting policies for CSAand PPSR. Mechanisms to protect and support reporting psychiatrists shouldalso be developed where they do not already exist. There is also a need insome countries to develop strategies to improve the education of psychiatrists,trainees, and the public on these issues.     

The impact of civil conflict on child health: Evidence from Colombia

Internal armed conflicts have become more common and more physically destructive since the mid-20th century, with devastating consequences for health and development in low- and middle-income countries. This paper investigates the causal impacts of the long-term internal conflict on child health in Colombia, following an identification strategy based on the temporal and geographic variation of conflict intensity. We estimate the effect of different levels of conflict intensity on height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), and weight-for-height z-scores among children under five years old, and explore the underlying potential mechanisms, through maternal health behavior and health care utilization. We find a harmful effect of exposure to conflict violence in utero and in early childhood for HAZ and WAZ, in the full sample and even more strongly in the rural sample, yet these estimates are smaller than those found for shorter term conflicts. The underlying pathways appear to operate around the time of the pregnancy and birth (in the form of maternal alcohol use, use of antenatal care and skilled birth attendance), rather than during the post-birth period (via breastfeeding or vaccination), and the impacts accumulate over the childhood. The most adverse impacts of conflict violence on child health and utilization of maternal healthcare were observed in municipalities which suffered from intermittent presence of armed groups.     

Perceptions of paternal resemblance predict family violence

Fifty-five men participating in a domestic violence treatment program agreed to complete a questionnaire and rate the degree to which their children looked like them. Ratings of paternal resemblance were positively correlated with the self-reported quality of the men's relationships with their children and inversely proportional to the severity of injuries suffered by their spouses. Analogous results were also found for the men's experience with their parents. We suggest that these results reflect men's use of paternal resemblance to assess paternity.     

Proximity to SNAP-authorized retailers and child maltreatment reports

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been shown to have positive benefits for children. Families may face fewer barriers to accessing food they can purchase with their benefits if more stores in their neighborhoods accept SNAP benefits. We examine whether proximity to stores accepting SNAP benefits is related to child maltreatment (abuse and neglect) reports, particularly those potentially related to food insecurity. We combine geographically identified child maltreatment report data from the state of Connecticut from 2011 through 2015 with state SNAP-authorized retailer data. Using within-Census block group changes in the presence of a SNAP-authorized store, we find that in large, rural areas, one additional SNAP store is associated with a 4.4 percent decrease in the child maltreatment report rate (p < 0.05), and an 11.3 percent decrease in substantiated cases of maltreatment (p < 0.10), even net of changing zip code level factors and time-invariant neighborhood characteristics. The relationship between a neighborhood SNAP store and child maltreatment reports in these rural areas is largely driven by neglect, concentrated among young and school-aged children (ages 0–9), and primarily due to fewer reports by medical personnel. We find no effects of a neighborhood SNAP store on child maltreatment reports in smaller, more densely populated neighborhoods. Sensitivity checks affirm these results. Results indicate the benefits of access to SNAP retailers on the child welfare system and child well-being more broadly, especially in rural areas.     

Political violence and child health: Results from Zimbabwe

This paper examines how the health of Zimbabwean children was affected by political and election-related violence and land reform in Zimbabwe during the period from 2000 to 2005. These events impacted Zimbabwean livelihoods and increased food insecurity in the country. Our study combines individual child data from the Demographic and Health Surveys that bracket these violent events with information on the location and date of violence from the Armed Conflict Location and Event dataset. To understand how the increase in violence impacted children’s health, the empirical analysis exploits temporal and spatial variation in child height across birth cohorts. Children born after the spike in violence in 2000 had lower height-for-age z-scores than children from earlier cohorts. The results are robust to a placebo test for parallel trends, alternative control groups, selective mortality, and migration. The paper adds to the literature on election-related violence, armed conflict, and land reform. Additionally, it provides guidance on differentiating between timing of violence during multiple political and electoral events, and estimating the impact on rural communities.     

Evidence on the impact of child labor on child health in Indonesia, 1993–2000

Despite an abundant literature on child labor in developing countries, few papers have attempted to investigate the consequences of child labor on health. This paper explores whether child labor affects child health using data from the Indonesian Socio-Economic Surveys during the 1990s. For our empirical analysis, we restrict our attention to children currently enrolled in school and we use several discrete indicators for health. Our results show that child labor is associated negatively with health. We obtain this result by introducing labor participation as an exogenous covariate in the different health equations. Similar results are found once the work decision is instrumented.     

Feeding,drug abuse,and the sensitization of reward by metabolic need

The incentive-motivating effects of external stimuli are dependent, in part, upon the internal need state of the organism. The increased rewarding efficacy of food as a function of energy deficit, for example, has obvious adaptive value. The enhancement of food reward extends, however, to drugs of abuse and electrical brain stimulation, probably due to a shared neural substrate. Research reviewed in this paper uses lateral hypothalamic electrical stimulation to probe the sensitivity of the brain reward system and investigate mechanisms through which metabolic need, induced by chronic food restriction and streptozotocin-induced diabetes, sensitizes this system. Results indicate that sensitivity to rewarding brain stimulation varies inversely with declining body weight. The effect is not mimicked by pharmacological glucoprivation or lipoprivation in ad libitum fed animals; sensitization appears to depend on persistent metabolic need or adipose depletion. While the literature suggests elevated plasma corticosterone as a peripheral trigger of reward sensitization, sensitization was not reversed by meal-induced or pharmacological suppression of plasma corticosterone. Centrally, reward sensitization is mediated by opioid receptors, since the effect is reversed by intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) infusion of naltrexone, TCTAP (μ antagonist) and nor-binaltorphimine (κ antagonist). The fact that these same treatments, as well as i.c.v. infusion of dynorphin A antiserum, block the feeding response to lateral hypothalamic stimulation suggests that feeding and reward sensitization are mediated by a common opioid mechanism. Using in vitro autoradiography, radioimmunoassays and a solution hybridization mRNA assay, brain regional μ and κ opioid receptor binding, levels of prodynorphin-derived peptides, and prodynorphin mRNA, respectively, were measured in food-restricted and diabetic rats. Changes that could plausibly be involved in reward sensitization are discussed, with emphasis on the increased dynorphin A_1–8 and prodynorphin mRNA levels in lateral hypothalamic neurons that innervate the pontine parabrachial nucleus, where μ binding decreased and κ binding increased. Finally, the possible linkage between metabolic need and activation of a brain opioid mechanism is discussed, as is evidence supporting the relevance of these findings to drug abuse. Special issue dedicated to Dr. Eric J. Simon.     

Empathy,home environment,and attitudes toward animals in relation to animal abuse

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increase in interest in the social, behavioral, psychological, and developmental correlates of animal abuse. The current study examined the relationships between empathy, family environment, attitudes toward animals and participation in animal abuse using a self-report methodology among a sample of college students. Within a sample of 286 college students, scores on the Attitudes Toward the Treatment of Animals Scale (ATTAS) were significantly correlated with scores on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a measure of empathy. The Caregiving subscale of the ATTAS was found to significantly differentiate abusers from non-abusers, and to differentiate abusers who reported having first engaged in abuse prior to age 13 years from those who reported having first engaged in abuse at age 13 or later. Abusers scored significantly higher on the IRI Fantasy subscale than did non-abusers. Men who reported a history of sexual abuse were more likely to report participating in animal abuse than were those who reported no history of sexual abuse. Finally, the effect of sexual abuse on animal abuse was found to be independent of individual differences in empathy and attitudes toward animals. The potential roles of trauma and fantasy in the genesis of animal abuse are discussed.     

Evolutionary graph theory: breaking the symmetry between interaction and replacement

We study evolutionary dynamics in a population whose structure is given by two graphs: the interaction graph determines who plays with whom in an evolutionary game; the replacement graph specifies the geometry of evolutionary competition and updating. First, we calculate the fixation probabilities of frequency dependent selection between two strategies or phenotypes. We consider three different update mechanisms: birth-death, death-birth and imitation. Then, as a particular example, we explore the evolution of cooperation. Suppose the interaction graph is a regular graph of degree h, the replacement graph is a regular graph of degree g and the overlap between the two graphs is a regular graph of degree l. We show that cooperation is favored by natural selection if b/c>hg/l. Here, b and c denote the benefit and cost of the altruistic act. This result holds for death-birth updating, weak-selection and large population size. Note that the optimum population structure for cooperators is given by maximum overlap between the interaction and the replacement graph (g=h=l), which means that the two graphs are identical. We also prove that a modified replicator equation can describe how the expected values of the frequencies of an arbitrary number of strategies change on replacement and interaction graphs: the two graphs induce a transformation of the payoff matrix.     

Serotonin transporter gene,childhood emotional abuse and cognitive vulnerability to depression

Meta‐analyses evaluating the association between the serotonin transporter polymorphism (5‐HTTLPR) with neuroticism and depression diagnosis as phenotypes have been inconclusive. We examined a gene–environment interaction on a cognitive vulnerability marker of depression, cognitive reactivity (CR) to sad mood. A total of 250 university students of European ancestry were genotyped for the 5‐HTTLPR, including SNP rs25531, a polymorphism of the long allele. Association analysis was performed for neuroticism, CR and depression diagnosis (using a self‐report measure). As an environmental pathogen, self‐reported history of childhood emotional abuse was measured because of its strong relationship with depression. Participants with the homozygous low expressing genotype had high CR if they had experienced childhood emotional maltreatment but low CR if they did not have such experience. This interaction was strongest on the Rumination subscale of the CR measure. The interaction was not significant with neuroticism or depression diagnosis as outcome measures. Our results show that 5‐HTTLPR is related to cognitive vulnerability to depression. Our findings provide evidence for a differential susceptibility genotype rather than a vulnerability genotype, possibly because of the relatively low levels of abuse in our sample. The selection of phenotype and environmental contributor is pivotal in investigating gene–environment interactions in psychiatric disorders.     

Control tactics and partner violence in heterosexual relationships

This study investigated sex-specific predictors of violent and nonviolent mate guarding used by men (n=399) and women (n=951) in heterosexual relationships, using both self-reports and reports on partners. We found, contrary to some previous evolutionary assumptions, that men and women showed similar degrees of controlling behavior, and that this predicted physical aggression to partners in both sexes. We also predicted from evolutionarily based studies that men's and women's control and aggression would vary as a function of female fecundity and mate value (relative to peer group and to partner). Fecundity was associated with men's and women's controlling behavior, but not their physical aggression: relationships where the woman was fecund showed higher rates of control. According to partners' reports, men and women who had lower mate values showed more controlling behavior and (to a lesser extent) more physical aggression. There was no support for the prediction that higher mate-value partners would be guarded more than lower mate-value ones. The following limitations are discussed: the sample and method of data collection, and the lack of information on the women's hormonal status.     

Ethics,evolution and culture

Recent work in the fields of evolutionary ethics and moral psychology appears to be converging on a single empirically- and evolutionary-based science of morality or ethics. To date, however, these fields have failed to provide an adequate conceptualisation of how culture affects the content and distribution of moral norms. This is particularly important for a large class of moral norms relating to rapidly changing technological or social environments, such as norms regarding the acceptability of genetically modified organisms. Here we suggest that a science of morality/ethics can benefit from adopting a cultural evolution or gene-culture coevolution approach, which treats culture as a second, separate evolutionary system that acts in parallel to biological/genetic evolution. This cultural evolution approach brings with it a set of established theoretical concepts (e.g. different cultural transmission mechanisms) and empirical methods (e.g. evolutionary game theory) that can significantly improve our understanding of human morality.

The manipulation of ethnicity: from ethnic cooperation to violence and war in Yugoslavia

The story of the failure of bargaining among ethnic élites and of international diplomacy is well known. What has not been well explained is the spread and support for xenophobic nationalism and ethnic violence among people who had lived cooperatively for thirty-five years. I draw on key ideas of four views on ethnicity and ethnic conflict, and add the concept of cognitive frame in ethnic relations. Yugoslavs possessed two ethnic frames in their minds, an ethnic cooperation and peace frame for normal times, and a crisis frame anchored in World War II memories. Élite contention and mass media propaganda awakened the dormant crisis frame, suppressed the normal frame, and spread insecurity and fear. I explain why ethnic manipulation succeeded, people believed falsehoods, voted for nationalists, how moderates were purged and why men in militias killed innocent civilians.     

Desert locust swarms and child health

This study evaluates how in-utero exposure to an insect pest invasion, particularly, the outbreak of desert locust swarms, affects early childhood health in Africa and Asia over the past three decades (1990–2018). Employing the difference-in-differences model, we find that children being prenatally exposed to the outbreak have their height-for-age, weight-for-height, and weight-for-age z-scores lower by 0.159, 0.148, and 0.155 standard deviations, respectively, compared to unexposed children. Our heterogeneity analyses show that the health setbacks disproportionately fall on children of disadvantaged backgrounds, i.e., those born to lower-educated mothers, poorer mothers, and rural mothers. To the extent that poor health in early life exerts long-lasting irreversible consequences over the life cycle, the study calls for effective measures to minimize the pernicious effects of the desert locust swarm outbreak.     

Major depression and recent physical or sexual abuse increase readmissions among high-utilising primary care patients

Objective To investigate whether current major depression and past physical/sexual victimisation is associated with recurrent general hospital admissions.Method Ninety-six inner-city primary care patients with a history of high medical service utilisation completed the PRIME-MD and the Abuse Assessment Screen; medical records were reviewed to assess reasons for re-hospitalisations. We compared hospitalisation rates over the preceding 12 months between those subjects with and without major depression and those with and without histories of abuse.Results Compared to non-abused subjects, patients with past-year abuse showed significantly increased past-year hospitalisations (3.2 versus 1.8, P = 0.007). Re-admissions were related to chronic disease management and were not because of acute physical effects of trauma. Analysis of variance revealed that major depressive disorder and past-year abuse history interacted to increase an association with re-admissions.Conclusions Past-year abuse was independently associated with increased hospital admissions. Psychological effects of recent abuse combined with depression may particularly increase rates of medical/surgical hospitalisations.     

The patterns of ethnic settlement and violence: a local-level quantitative analysis of the Bosnian War

The debate on the link between ethnicity and violence has been raging in political science literature since the end of the Cold War. Often, cross-country quantitative studies dismissed the importance of ethnic heterogeneity as a source of violent conflict. How the patterns of ethnic settlement within a country affect the severity of violence, though, has not yet been studied through similar techniques. In this essay, we build and analyse a data set of major violence-related variables collected at the local level during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. What emerges is that the local distribution of the population, in terms of the number and relative size of the groups, is a key factor in explaining the intensity of violence in the Bosnian municipalities.     

Parental economic insecurity and child health

We explore the effects of parental economic insecurity on their children’s hyperactivity and anxiety. Our central argument is that even after controlling for current family income and employment status, parents may have legitimate feelings of economic insecurity, and these may be detrimental for their children. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth indicate that the health of 2- to 5-year-old children is worse when parents report themselves to be “worried about having enough money to support the family.” In particular, boys are more hyperactive and girls are more anxious when parents feel less economically secure. Changes in parenting styles appear to be channels through which parental economic insecurity affects their children.     

Stochastic fluctuations in frequency-dependent selection: a one-locus, two-allele and two-phenotype model

Stochastic fluctuations in a simple frequency-dependent selection model with one-locus, two-alleles and two-phenotypes are investigated. The steady-state statistics of allele frequencies for an interior stable phenotypic equilibrium are shown to be similar to the stochastic fluctuations in standard evolutionary game dynamics [Tao, Y., Cressman, R., 2007. Stochastic fluctuations through intrinsic noise in evolutionary game dynamics. Bull. Math. Biol. 69, 1377-1399]. On the other hand, for an interior stable phenotypic or genotypic equilibrium, our main results show that the deterministic model cannot be used to predict the expectation of phenotypic frequency. The variance of phenotypic frequency for an interior stable genotypic equilibrium is more sensitive to the expected population size than for an interior stable phenotypic equilibrium. Furthermore, the stochastic fluctuations of allele frequency and phenotypic frequency can be considered approximately independent of each other for these genotypic equilibria, but not for phenotypic.