Social Isolation

This case study documents the nearly complete consumption of adult human remains by two domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) inside a residence. While scavenging behavior has been observed for coyotes, wolves, hyenas and other canines in natural outdoor environments, little information is available concerning canine scavenging of human remains in an indoor setting. In this case, the dogs were confined with the body inside a residence for approximately 1 month. The impact of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on canine scavenging behavior and the postmortem interval are examined, such as clothing on the body, perimortem trauma, drug ingestion and the availability of alternative food sources. While cases of canine scavenging of their owners are scant in the literature, this phenomenon is probably not uncommon, particularly among the elderly and indigent who live alone with pets and are socially isolated. #

The aim of this study was to investigate the number and type of brain abnormalities and their influence on psychosocial development, criminal history and paraphilias in sexual murderers. We analyzed psychiatric court reports of 166 sexual murderers and compared a group with notable signs of brain abnormalities (N = 50) with those without any signs (N = 116). Sexual murderers with brain abnormalities suffered more from early behavior problems. They were less likely to cohabitate with the victim at the time of the homicide and had more victims at the age of six years or younger. Psychiatric diagnoses revealed a higher total number of paraphilias: Transvestic fetishism and paraphilias not otherwise specified were more frequent in offenders with brain abnormalities. A binary logistic regression identified five predictors that accounted for 46.8% of the variance explaining the presence of brain abnormalities. Our results suggest the importance of a comprehensive neurological and psychological examination of this special offender group.

Web-based communication technologies such as YouTube can provide opportunities for social contact, especially between older and younger people, and help address issues of social isolation. Currently our understanding of the dynamics of social interaction within this context (particularly for older people) is limited. Elaborating upon this understanding will make it possible to proactively facilitate and support this form of intergenerational social contact. This study focuses on the experiences of an eighty year old video blogger (vlogger), Geriatric1927, and a video dialogue that develops between himself and three of his younger viewers on a particular topic.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems were registered in medical and psychotherapeutic practices, counseling centers, and clinics. According to previous stud- ies, younger people and women seemed to be particularly affected. The aim of this study was to describe mental health problems of students and to draw consequences for the fur- ther handling of pandemics and other crises. Method: Stu- dents at the University of Heidelberg, a typical German “full university,” were surveyed online using internationally com- parable screening instruments like the Well-Being Index (WHO-5) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). In ad- dition, the students had the opportunity to describe in a nar- rative form their well-being and to make suggestions how to improve their situation. Results: Out of a population of 27,162 students who were contacted by email, 2,137 stu- dents completed the questionnaire. The salient finding is that according to the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, 72.2% of the
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respondents feel seriously impaired in their well-being. This corresponds to the finding that 75.8% of the respondents in the PHQ-D show indications of at least one syndrome diag- nosis. Depression was found in 41.8% of the respondents in the PHQ-D. Indications of moderate to severe and severe de- pressive syndromes were present in 31.8%. Signs of somato- form syndromes are found in 25.4% and of anxiety syn- dromes in 20.0%. 1,089 students gave narrative reports on how they were feeling and made suggestions for improve- ment. About 75% reported severely reduced well-being. Their main complaints were loneliness and depression and lack of recognition for their specific academic and life situa- tion during the pandemic. By far, the largest proportion of students supposed that their mental health issues were caused and/or intensified by the pandemic-related social contact restrictions. The vast majority of them made reason- able suggestions for controlled relaxation of contact restric- tions. Conclusions: Students suffer severely from the pan- demic-related social restriction. In respect to future pandem- ic outbreaks or other crises leading to social isolation, the dramatic consequences of social lockdowns should be taken into account. Under pandemic conditions, we especially should support persons lacking social networks.

The intensive emotional sharing which transpires during the psychotherapeutic process ranges from basic, complementary understanding and empathy to complex, pathological phenomena such as symbiotic: merger, projective identification, and psychotic transferences (Little, 1981; Shapiro, 1974). Increasing attention is being paid to the ways in which psychoanalytic psychotherapy recapitulates critical aspects of early development in both therapist and patient, deepening our understanding of psychodynamic and object relational qualities of the empathic, interactional process. Perhaps the most important expressions of these interactionaldevelopmental processes are transference and cou ntertransference. Transference and countertransference require additional consideration when treating novel categories of patients which challenge the clinical experience and self-knowledge of the psychotherapist. The religious patient belongs to this category, if only because the determinants of normal and pathological religious experience, and their meaning in therapy, are less well understood. Equally less well explored are those aspects of the therapist's personality that are most vulnerable to potentially distortive interaction with the "religious" aspects of the patient's personality.

The paper compares the experience of unem-ployment in Britain with that in three former state socialist societies – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, countries with relatively recent welfare systems, providing a low level of coverage for the unemployed. The analysis ...

Despite the expansion of Deaf people's use of communication technology little is published about how they use electronic communication in their social and working lives and the implications for their concepts of identity and community. Australia is an ideal research base because the use of a range of technologies is widespread there. To gain access to a wide age range of people who identify as Deaf, members of the national organization, the Australian Association of the Deaf, were surveyed by mail. Results showed that Short Message Service (SMS), telephone typewriters (TTY), voice/TTY relay services, fax, and e-mail were used regularly. Deaf users are discerning of the purposes for which they use each method: SMS for social and personal interactions, TTY for longer communications and (via the relay service) with people and services without TTYs, fax for business and social contact, and computers for personal and business e-mails as well as Web browsing, accessing chat rooms, word processing, games, and study.

To cite this Article Aresti, Andreas, Eatough, Virginia and Brooks-Gordon, Belinda(2010) 'Doing time after time: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of reformed ex-prisoners' experiences of self-change, identity and career opportunities', Psychology, Crime & Law, 16: 3, 169-190 To link to this Article:

Atopic dermatitis (eczema) is an immune-mediated dermatological condition characterized by severe and prolonged itching and rough, red patches of skin. Rash typically occurs on the face, neck, upper trunk, wrists, hands, knees, and elbows. It may form weeping, crusting lesions, which can become infected. Patients with atopic dermatitis may have difficulty sleeping due to the discomfort caused by the rash

We analyze collaborative play in an online video game, World of Warcraft, the most popular personal computer game in the United States, with significant markets in Asia and Europe. Based on an immersive ethnographic study, we describe how the social organization of the game and player culture affect players' enjoyment and learning of the game. We discovered that play is characterized by a multiplicity of collaborations from brief informal encounters to highly organized play in structured groups. The variety of collaborations makes the game more fun and provides rich learning opportunities. We contrast these varied collaborations, including those with strangers, to the "gold standard" of Gemeinschaft-like communities of close relations in tightknit groups. We suggest populations for whom similar games could be designed.

This article reports on a major action research program that experimented with the use of cross -age peer teaching in schools to assist teachers to manage conflict issues in their classrooms, and to reengage disaffected students in learning. The research, which was conducted in a range of elementary and secondary schools in Australia, was part of a larger international project using conflict resolution concepts and techniques combined with drama strategies to address cultural conflict in schools. The use of formal cross-age peer teaching emerged as a highly effective strategy in teaching students to manage a range of conflicts in schools, and especially in learning to deal with bullying. Operating as peer teachers also enabled a number of students in the study with serious behaviour problems to re-engage with their learning. The article therefore evaluates the effectiveness of peer teaching in both conflict management and student re-engagement.

Measurement of salivary cortisol has been used extensively as a non-invasive alternative to blood sampling to assess adrenal activity in ruminants. However, there is evidence suggesting a considerable delay in the transfer of cortisol from plasma into saliva. Previous studies in cattle have used long sampling intervals making it difficult to characterise the relationship between plasma and salivary cortisol (PLCort and SACort, respectively) concentrations at different time points and determine whether or not such a time lag exist in large ruminants. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterise the relationship between plasma and salivary cortisol and determine if there is a significant time lag between reaching peak cortisol concentrations in plasma and saliva across a 4.25 h time-period, using short sampling intervals of 10-15 min, following social separation in dairy cattle.Five cows were separated from their calves at 4 days after calving, and six calves were separa...

Objective: To provide a systematic review of selected experimental studies of psychosocial treatments of behavioral disturbances in dementia. Psychosocial treatments are defined here as strategies derived from one of three psychologically oriented paradigms (learning theory, unmet needs and altered stress thresholds).

The frequency of self-aggressive behavior emitted by partial social isolate and socialized rhesus monkeys was compared under baseline living conditions and a continuous reinforcement-extinction schedule of lever pressing. It was found that under baseline conditions, male isolates showed higher levels of selfaggressive behavior than did the female isolates. Further, frustration produced by extinction of the lever-pressing response produced a significant but transitory intensification of self-aggressive behavior. A theoretical interpretation of this relationship is briefly discussed.

Collaborative design projects are often complex affairs in which a number of resources, concerns, and sources of inspiration are brought into play in the shaping of future design concepts. This paper presents the Design Space Explorer, a framework for managing these multiple sources of information and domain concerns in collaborative design projects. The Design Space Explorer captures and gives an overview of design materials and forms, domain locations and situations, interaction styles, and content types. Furthermore, it provides a platform for designers to combine these aspects into scenarios for design concepts. We present and discuss the use of the Design Space Explorer in two specific design cases in the domain of interactive media façades, part of the emerging field of digital urban living.

Environmental conditions are known to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of affective disorders. In this study, the effects of sertraline, a selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitor, on anxiety-and depressionlike behaviors were investigated in rats reared in different housing conditions. Wistar rats of both sexes were divided into three groups according to their rearing conditions (Enriched = EC, Isolated = IC and Standard = SC), after weaning at postnatal day 21. While animals in control conditions were housed as a group of 4 rats in regular size plexiglass cages, social isolation groups were housed individually in metal cages. Animals in enriched conditions were housed as a group of 12 rats in specially designed cages equipped with different stimulating objects. Six weeks later, activitymeter, elevated plus maze, rotarod, grip, forced swimming and sucrose preference tests were applied to all animals and all of the tests were repeated after i.p. injection of sertraline (10 mg/kg/day) for 7 days. Environmental enrichment reduced the stereotypic behavior, improved the motor coordination and facilitated the learning skills in animals. However, housing conditions affected depression-like parameters, but not anxiety-like parameters. Sertraline treatment reduced the depression-like effect in EC and SC, but not in IC. It decreased anxiety-like behavior in IC while increased in EC. Socially isolated animals preferentially consumed more sucrose and water than the other groups, and interestingly, these differences became more significant following sertraline treatment. These results show that the responses of animals to anti-depressive drugs could be differentially affected by the behavioral consequences of the diverse housing conditions. Thus, to improve the treatment of depression; behavioral consequences of diverse housing conditions should be taken into consideration.

This study explored the perceptions of 12 patients attending a day care unit in June/July 1996, with the purpose of finding out what was important to these people about their day care experiences. It used a phenomenological methodology derived from Paterson and Zderad's Humanistic Nursing Theory. The patients described numerous aspects of the day care service that were important to them. All 12 people interviewed considered the service satisfactory, and a number considered it to be more than anyone could or should expect. Day care was found to help them feel comfortable, to feel of value and to feel less isolated. In addition, the participants were found to be living with cancer in two different ways. All 12 knew they had cancer and might be terminally ill. Yet some seemed to "tolerate" their life with cancer, whereas others saw it as requiring "adaptation". The day care service was supporting both these styles of managing life with cancer. The interpretation of the findings suggests that the reason patients expressed such satisfaction with the service offered was because the care was humanistic. It responded to individual opinions, feelings and understandings of health and well-being, by giving people time and responding to their individual concerns. In this way, it was flexible enough to support people in managing their illness using their own preferred style.

Much of the domestic violence and abuse literature contains reports of quantitative research approaches that quantify the experience, identify those at risk, and recommend interventions. Although important, these approaches often fail to describe the experience and understanding from the perspective of and in the language used by women who have experienced abuse. This article reports a phenomenographic study of six women's understanding of their experiences of domestic violence during their childbearing years, the time period associated with pregnancy and the first twelve months after birth. The women described domestic violence as being experienced as a loss of self, being controlled and destruction. This report presents the women's views of domestic violence as a complex and damaging phenomenon that is experienced by them in a number of qualitatively different ways.

of behavioral inhibition induced by unfamiliar adult male conspecifics in preweanling rats. PHYSIOL BEHAV 52(3) 493-498, 1992.--Previous studies showed that when socially isolated at 22°C, postnatal day 14 rats, but not younger day 7 rats, reduce their emission of ultrasonic vocalizations when exposed to an unfamiliar adult male rat, a naturalistic threat. Because ultrasound production is associated with factors such as age and body temperature, this study examined in ageappropriate thermoneutral temperature ranges whether preweanling rats of different ages are equally capable of inhibiting their emission of ultrasounds when threatened. In Experiment 1, 7-and 14-day-old rats were socially isolated and exposed to unfamiliar anesthetized adult male rats in a thermoneutral environment. Only 14-day-old rats significantly reduced their emission ofultrasounds. This reduction in ultrasound production was accompanied by freezing. In Experiment 2, additional ages were examined under identical test conditions. At 3, 6, and 9 days of age, pups frequently emitted ultrasounds when exposed to the anesthetized male rat. However, at 12 days of age, rat pups responded to the anesthetized male rat by freezing and significantly reducing their emission of ultrasounds. Results indicate clearly that under the present testing conditions the ability of rat pups to inhibit ultrasounds and freeze when threatened is not present at birth but emerges by the end of the second postnatal week.

Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death among individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). In this paper, we examined competing explanations of the high rate of death by suicide among individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). Methods: Nine case reports of individuals with AN who died by suicide were evaluated to determine whether death by suicide occurred a) because physical health was so compromised that what would be a non-lethal suicide attempt in a healthy adult became a fatal suicide attempt, or b) because highly lethal suicide attempts that would have killed any adult, healthy or medically compromised, were made. Results: The findings converged with the latter hypothesis, as predicted by Joiner's [Joiner, T., 2006. Why People Die By Suicide. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA] theory of suicide, which suggests individuals with AN may habituate to the experience of pain during the course of their illness and accordingly die by suicide using methods that are highly lethal. Limitations: This study utilized case reports instead of an experimental design, which impedes its ability to comment on whether there is a causal relationship between Joiner's theory and death by suicide among individuals with AN. Conclusions: Clinicians are encouraged to carefully assess suicidality in AN patients, paying particular attention to issues related to lethality.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in Muslim women in Pakistan. The impact of the initial diagnosis, culture, religion, and psychosocial and psychological aspects of the disease is not well established. This qualitative study examined the experience and coping strategies used by patients with breast cancer in relation to its impact on their physical, mental health, religious, and family issues. Thirty patients with breast cancer were interviewed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The patient's experience of breast cancer focused on the range of emotions felt throughout the illness trajectory, the importance of religion and family support on coping strategies used to manage the adverse effects of chemotherapy, and also the financial concerns. This is the first study to examine Pakistani Muslim women's views on the lived experience of breast cancer. This article provides clarification of the voiced experiences of women with breast cancer. The data not on...

Adolescent cancer survivors face psychological effects that can include isolation, poor peer relations, anxiety, depression, and fear of recurrence, which can increase their risk for psychological late effects and poor health posttreatment. The purpose of this exploratory analysis was to understand the experiences of adolescent cancer survivors, with a particular focus on identity, health promotion, and meaning making. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 adolescent cancer survivors. Constant comparative analysis was used to identify core themes from the data. Findings revealed that adolescent survivors might experience an identity paradox when making the transition to "survivor," which can contribute to their sense of isolation and risk of health-detracting behaviors. Health promotion, prevention, and supportive programs need to be developed for health care professionals to address the isolation and identity transition needs of adolescent cancer survivors.

Over three years, seven hundred and sixty two 14-month-old Bluefaced Leicester crossbred ewe lambs were individually exposed to a 6-min arena test designed to evaluate the behaviour of sheep exposed to a situation of conflicting motivations (to seek flock mates versus avoid a motionless human). The behaviours measured included vocalisation (latency and number of bleats), locomotion (number of squares entered, number of entries to the area close to the observer) and proximity (time spent near to or distant from the observer and time in the centre of the arena). In the first year, 190 lambs were measured three times at ages between 8 and 14 months. Changes in mean levels of behaviour that were consistent with habituation were observed during these repeated tests. The repeatability of traits for vocalisation (0.58-0.71) tended to be higher than for locomotion (0.38-0.40) and for proximity to the human (0.17-0.60) with evidence of an increase in the repeatability of proximity traits between the second and third tests. There were no significant effects of litter size at birth or rearing type on behaviour and only small effects of farm of origin and breed of dam of the lamb (Scottish Blackface and Hardy Speckled Face). Heritability estimates were: latency to bleat (0.13), number of bleats (0.39), number of squares entered (0.29), time spent distant from the observer (0.13), time in the centre of the arena (0.02), time spent near to the observer (0.22) and number of entries to the area near to the observer (0.21). Phenotypic, genetic and environmental correlations were generally of similar magnitude, and indicated a moderate relationship between traits for vocalisation and locomotion, with no significant associations between traits for vocalisation and proximity to the observer. Test behaviours were not significantly correlated to yearling weight. These results demonstrate the existence of considerable genetic variation in behaviour among sheep and indicate that behavioural measures of

Parte della sociologia odierna si è occupata di trattare il contesto postmoderno come foriera di problematiche di vario genere, dallo sfibramento sociale e morale, alla fragilizzazione degli attori sociali. Troviamo in Barry Wellman e nel suo networked individualism una posizione atipica, che ha il merito di occuparsi dell'esperienza individualista senza necessariamente suggerire soluzioni; l'osservazione della realtà sociale di questo autore si combina con le prospettive del recente lavoro etnografico di Klinenberg, "Going Solo". L'idea di base è che la relazionalità abbia assunto fattezze controintuitive. La tendenza latente di molti approcci a sovrapporre il concetto di individualismo a quello di atomizzazione sociale, ne ha reso necessario uno smarcamento teorico e metodologico. Per questo motivo nella seconda parte del lavoro ci occupiamo di come trattare il fenomeno dell'isolamento una volta presa coscienza delle discontinuità teoriche di Wellman e Klinenberg. Utilizzando e riadattando alcuni strumenti e assunti della social network analysis e collegandoli alle intuizioni della loneliness research, cerchiamo di offrire un quadro metodologico che permetta di comprendere cosa significhi e come debba essere studiata la solitudine in ambito postmoderno.

SynopsisWhakama is a psychosocial and behavioural construct in the New Zealand Maori which does not have any exact equivalent in Western societies although shame, self-abasement, feeling inferior, inadequate and with self-doubt, shyness, excessive modesty and withdrawal describe some aspects of the concept. It is an important construct in order to understand the interaction of the Maori with each other and with the Caucasian New Zealander, the behaviour of the Maori in cross-cultural settings, and the clinical presentations of some Maori patients. This paper examines some of the meanings of Whakama, its various behavioural manifestations and its possible causes. The clinical relevance to psychiatry is emphasized.Waiho ma te whakama e patu!‘ Leave him alone he is punished by whakama ’ (Maori saying)

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When children in foster care are reunified with their families of origin they encounter changes that may influence their well-being in both positive and negative ways. We examined the effects of reunification among 218 children in foster care to test an integrative model of the effects of reunification using structural equation modeling. We hypothesized that reunification would exert indirect effects on subsequent child adjustment via changes in adverse life events, perceived social isolation, and mental health service utilization. Results indicated no direct effect of reunification on subsequent internalizing problems, but reunification was related to increased adverse life events that, in turn, were related to elevated symptoms. Second, reunification was negatively associated with mental health service use. Finally, reunification was associated with decreased child perceptions of social isolation. In summary, reunification with biological parents is associated with multiple environmental changes, with most but not all effects indicating negative consequences.

Both copulation and postcopulatory cohabitation with pregnant females reduce infanticide and enhance paternal responsiveness in male CS1 mice. The effectiveness of copulation in this process, however, depends on the number of occasions that males have previously encountered infants. Infanticidal males which have been subordinated in brief encounters with other males are less likely to commit infanticide in subsequent tests than are those which became dominant to other males. Males which copulate and cohabit with a relatively large female are less likely to be infanticidal than are those with a relatively small female. These data suggest that males are subordinated after copulation by their mates and that this subordination is a factor in the reduction of infanticide and the initiation of paternal responsiveness.

We tested special and general explanations of male adolescent sexual offending by conducting a meta-analysis of 59 independent studies comparing male adolescent sex offenders (n ϭ 3,855) with male adolescent non-sex offenders (n ϭ 13,393) on theoretically derived variables reflecting general delinquency risk factors (antisocial tendencies), childhood abuse, exposure to violence, family problems, interpersonal problems, sexuality, psychopathology, and cognitive abilities. The results did not support the notion that adolescent sexual offending can be parsimoniously explained as a simple manifestation of general antisocial tendencies. Adolescent sex offenders had much less extensive criminal histories, fewer antisocial peers, and fewer substance use problems compared with non-sex offenders. Special explanations suggesting a role for sexual abuse history, exposure to sexual violence, other abuse or neglect, social isolation, early exposure to sex or pornography, atypical sexual interests, anxiety, and low self-esteem received support. Explanations focusing on attitudes and beliefs about women or sexual offending, family communication problems or poor parentchild attachment, exposure to nonsexual violence, social incompetence, conventional sexual experience, and low intelligence were not supported. Ranked by effect size, the largest group difference was obtained for atypical sexual interests, followed by sexual abuse history, and, in turn, criminal history, antisocial associations, and substance abuse. We discuss the implications of the findings for theory development, as well as for the assessment, treatment, and prevention of adolescent sexual offending. for checking the results we reported for their studies, and for their comments. We are also grateful to Michael Miner for providing unpublished data and to Dustin Pardini for conducting additional analyses to determine if we could use data from . We apologize to anyone we have missed from this list.

People have a fundamental need for positive and lasting relationships. This need to belong is rooted in evolutionary history and gave rise to the development of traits that enable individuals to gain acceptance and to avoid rejection. Because belongingness is a core component of human functioning, social exclusion should influence many cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes and personality expression. This article summarizes recent evidence that social exclusion causes an assortment of outcomes, many of which depend on whether the excluded can gain acceptance or forestall possible distress. It highlights common overlap in physical and social pain systems and how a physical painkiller can reduce the pain of social exclusion. Finally, it shows how social exclusion moderates the effects of traits on cognition, emotion, and behavior. To appreciate personality processes in social contexts, scientists should consider how people respond to social exclusion and how the need to belong influences personality expression. At the heart of personality is the need to feel a sense of being lovable without having to qualify for that acceptance.-Paul Tournier, Swiss physician The need to belong is among the most fundamental of all personality processes. It is pervasive across situations, cultures, and time periods. Humans evolved in small groups, in which the fulfillment of survival and reproductive needs depended on having close connections with others. Within this context, social rejection could have resulted in

Both among psychiatric inpatients and inmates of prisons and jails, suicide is highly prevalent with alarming rates. In many countries, there has been a call for action to prevent such deaths and to educate staff in the early recognition of suicide risk. A careful MedLine search was used to identify relevant papers dealing with suicide prevention in psychiatric inpatients. This paper reviews this research and the policy recommendations that have been developed for psychiatric hospitals in order to reduce the incidence of suicide in their patients. Results derived from this search indicated that these policy recommendations can be applied to suicide prevention in correctional settings, and it is argued that suicide prevention programs in correctional settings can benefit from the research conducted and the policy recommendations for suicide prevention in psychiatric facilities. In conclusion, the best practices for preventing suicides in jail and prison settings should include the following elements: training programs, screening procedures, communication between staff, documentation, internal resources, and debriefing after a suicide.

A number of interpersonal issues relevant to manned space missions have been identified from the literature. These include crew tension, cohesion, leadership, language and cultural factors, and displacement. Ground-based studies by others and us have clarified some of the parameters of these issues and have indicated ways in which they could be studied during actual space missions. In this paper, we summarize some of our findings related to social and cultural issues from a NASA-funded study conducted during several Shuttle/Mir space missions. We used standardized mood and group climate measures that were completed on a weekly basis by American and Russian crew and mission control subjects who participated in these missions. Our results indicated that American subjects reported more dissatisfaction with their interpersonal environment than their Russian counterparts, especially American astronauts. Mission control personnel were more dysphoric than crewmembers, but both groups were ...

Social play behavior is the most vigorous and characteristic form of social interaction displayed by developing mammals. The laboratory rat is an ideal species to study this behavior, since it shows ample social play that can be easily recognized and quantified. In this chapter, we will first briefly describe the structure of social play behavior in rats. Next, we will discuss studies that used social isolation rearing during the period in life when social play is most abundant to investigate the developmental functions of social play behavior in rats, focusing on the consequences of play deprivation on social, cognitive, emotional, and sensorimotor development. Last, we will discuss the neural substrates of social play behavior in rats, with emphasis on the limbic corticostriatal circuits that underlie emotions and their influence on behavior.

Background: Social isolation during COVID-19 may negatively impact older adults’ wellbeing. To assess its impact, we measured changes in physical activity and sleep among communitydwelling older adults, from pre-to post-pandemic declaration. Method: Physical activity and sleep in
older adults (n = 10, age = 77.3  1.9 years, female = 40%) were remotely assessed within 3-month pre-to 6-month post-pandemic declaration using a pendant-wearable system. Depression was assessed pre-and post-pandemic declaration using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale and was compared with 48 h continuous physical activity monitoring data before and during pandemic. Results: Compared to pre-pandemic, post-pandemic time spent in standing declined
by 32.7% (Cohen’s d = 0.78, p < 0.01), walking by 52.2% (d = 1.1, p < 0.01), step-counts by 55.1% (d = 1.0, p = 0.016), and postural transitions by 44.6% (d = 0.82, p = 0.017) with increase in sitting duration by 20.5% (d = 0.5, p = 0.049). Depression symptoms increased by 150% (d = 0.8, p = 0.046). Interestingly, increase in depression was significantly correlated with unbroken-prolong sitting bout ( = 0.677, p = 0.032), cadence ( = 􀀀0.70, p = 0.024), and sleep duration ( = 􀀀0.72, p = 0.019). Conclusion: This is one of the early longitudinal studies highlighting adverse effect of the pandemic on objectively assessed physical activity and sleep in older adults. Our observations showed need for timely intervention to mitigate hard to reverse consequences of decreased physical activity such
as depression.

The extent and nature of bullying among South Australian primary school children and their self appraisals of peer relations were investigated in a survey of 412 primary school children between the ages of 7 to 13 years. It was found that 10% of boys and 6% of girls were subject to peer group bullying and for 8% of such children the bullying episodes lasted 6 months or more. Factor analysis of styles of interpersonal relating amongst children identified three independent factors including a tendency to bully, to be victimised and to act in a pro-social manner. The tendency to be victimised correlated negatively with self appraisals of the number of friends, popularity, happiness at school and feelings of safety at school. The findings are discussed in relation to research linking negative self appraisals of interpersonal competence with isolation and proneness to depression in later years.

Obesity and being overweight in a child significantly affects his or her healthy development hence there is an understandable focus in the occupational therapy literature on the physical health and difficulties in motor function related to obesity. However, this emphasis somewhat overshadows the psychosocial issues of growing-up obese or overweight. The objective of this paper is to apprise readers of the salient multiple psychosocial sequelae associated with childhood obesity including weight bias and victimization. A conceptual systems framework that supports a multifaceted approach to the occupational and developmental challenges on a population and/or individual level is discussed.