Advances in the calculation of minimal important change estimates for patient-reported outcome measures
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A systematic review and meta-analyses of the temporal stability and convergent validity of risk preference measures
Understanding whether risk preference represents a stable, coherent trait is central to efforts aimed at explaining, predicting and preventing risk-related behaviours. We help characterize the nature of the construct by adopting a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analytic approach to summarize the temporal stability of 358 risk preference measures (33 panels, 57 samples, 579,114 respondents). Our findings reveal noteworthy heterogeneity across and within measure categories (propensity, frequency and behaviour), domains (for example, investment, occupational and alcohol consumption) and sample characteristics (for example, age). Specifically, while self-reported propensity and frequency measures of risk preference show a higher degree of stability than behavioural measures, these patterns are moderated by domain and age. Crucially, an analysis of convergent validity reveals a low agreement across measures, questioning the idea that they capture the same underlying phenomena. Our results raise concerns about the coherence and measurement of the risk preference construct.
Language measures correlate with other measures used to study emotion
Researchers are increasingly using language measures to study emotion, yet less is known about whether language relates to other measures often used to study emotion. Building on previous work which focuses on associations between language and self-report, we test associations between language and a broader range of measures (self-report, observer report, facial cues, vocal cues). Furthermore, we examine associations across different dictionaries (LIWC-22, NRC, Lexical Suite, ANEW, VADER) used to estimate valence (i.e., positive versus negative emotion) or discrete emotions (i.e., anger, fear, sadness) in language. Associations were tested in three large, multimodal datasets (Ns = 193–1856; average word count = 316.7–2782.8). Language consistently related to observer report and consistently related to self-report in two of the three datasets. Statistically significant associations between language and facial cues emerged for language measures of valence but not for language measures of discrete emotions. Language did not consistently show significant associations with vocal cues. Results did not tend to significantly vary across dictionaries. The current research suggests that language measures (in particular, language measures of valence) are correlated with a range of other measures used to study emotion. Therefore, researchers may wish to use language to study emotion when other measures are unavailable or impractical for their research question.
Emotions and individual differences shape human foraging under threat
A common behavior in natural environments is foraging for rewards. However, this is often in the presence of predators. Therefore, one of the most fundamental decisions for humans, as for other animals, is how to apportion time between reward-motivated pursuit behavior and threat-motivated checking behavior. To understand what affects how people strike this balance, we developed an ecologically inspired task and looked at both within-participant dynamics (moods) and between-participant individual differences (questionnaires about real-life behaviors) in two large internet samples (n = 374 and n = 702) in a cross-sectional design. For the within-participant dynamics, we found that people regulate task-evoked stress homeostatically by changing behavior (increasing foraging and hiding). Individual differences, even in superficially related traits (apathy–anhedonia and anxiety–compulsive checking) reliably mapped onto unique behaviors. Worse task performance, due to maladaptive checking, was linked to gender (women checked excessively) and specific anxiety-related traits: somatic anxiety (reduced self-reported checking due to worry) and compulsivity (self-reported disorganized checking). While anhedonia decreased self-reported task engagement, apathy, strikingly, improved overall task performance by reducing excessive checking. In summary, we provide a multifaceted paradigm for assessment of checking for threat in a naturalistic task that is sensitive to both moods as they change throughout the task and clinical dimensions. Thus, it could serve as an objective measurement tool for future clinical studies interested in threat, vigilance or behavior–emotion interactions in contexts requiring both reward seeking and threat avoidance.
Personalised estimation of exposure to ambient air pollution and application in a longitudinal cohort analysis of cognitive function in London-dwelling older adults
Accurate estimates of personal exposure to ambient air pollution are difficult to obtain and epidemiological studies generally rely on residence-based estimates, averaged spatially and temporally, derived from monitoring networks or models. Few epidemiological studies have compared the associated health effects of personal exposure and residence-based estimates.
Composite variable bias: causal analysis of weight outcomes
Researchers often use composite variables (e.g., BMI and change scores). By combining multiple variables (e.g., height and weight or follow-up weight and baseline weight) into a single variable it becomes challenging to untangle the causal roles of each component variable. Composite variable bias—an issue previously identified for exposure variables that may yield misleading causal inferences—is illustrated as a similar concern for composite outcomes. We explain how this occurs for composite weight outcomes: BMI, ‘weight change’, their combination ‘BMI change’, and variations involving relative change.
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