Psychological stress can influence vocal quality. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of stress on female vocal quality. In this experimental study 54 female voices were studied in a stress-inducing and a relaxed condition. In the stress-inducing condition the subjects were asked to read a passage while instructions were used to evoke stress. In the relaxed condition the same reading task but without specific instructions was used. Identical subjective and objective assessment techniques were used to determine vocal quality in the stressed and the relaxed conditions. In stress-inducing and challenging conditions the female voice is more breathy, strained and of a lower objective vocal quality characterized by lower fundamental frequency, lower frequency, intensity and aerodynamic capacity. This study indicates that stress-inducing and challenging conditions change vocal quality and vocal performance. Understanding of the effect of stress on voice production is relevant for clinical diagnostic situations, particularly in patients who present with a functional (nonorganic) voice disorder, as well as those patients who have some organic pathology but who also report exacerbation of symptoms during periods of increased life stress.

Many universal school-based interventions aim to stimulate students’ intrapersonal (e.g., self-esteem) and interpersonal (e.g., school climate) domains. To improve our understanding of why some of these interventions yield stronger effects than others, we identified intervention components that are related to stronger or weaker intervention effects. We systematically searched four databases (i.e., PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC, CENTRAL) for controlled evaluations of universal school-based interventions. In total, 104 included studies (529 included effect sizes) reported on 99 unique interventions. Interventions showed small positive effects on the intrapersonal (d = 0.19) and interpersonal (d = 0.15) domains. Focusing on self-awareness and problem solving, using more active learning approaches, and using more extensive interventions predicted stronger intervention effects on aspects of both domains. In contrast, efforts to improve emotion regulation, assertiveness, cognitive coping, and using group discussions predicted weaker intervention effects. Furthermore, commonly implemented components were not necessarily related to stronger intervention effects and components that were related to stronger effects were not necessarily often implemented. Our findings highlight the need to carefully select components for inclusion in interventions. PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42019137981.

In this study, we test an intervention in which convicted offenders interacted with an age-progressed avatar representing their future selves in virtual reality. During the interaction, they reflected on their current lifestyle, alternating between the perspective of their present self and that of their future self. We hypothesized that this embodied experience would increase their ability to imagine themselves in the future and reduce their engagement in self-defeating behavior, as measured with a self-report survey. In line with expectations, results indicated that the interaction increased vividness of the future self compared to baseline and reduced self-defeating behavior, including alcohol use and overspending, one week later. In addition, increases in vividness were associated with a reduction in self-defeating behavior over and above other concepts relating to the future self, including connectedness, similarity, and valence. The results are based on a small sample and should therefore be considered as indicative of the possibilities of our virtual reality paradigm as an intervention tool to reduce self-defeating behavior.

Multiple studies have shown that Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is, at group level, an effective treatment for adolescents showing serious externalizing problem behavior. The current study expands previous research on MST by, first, examining whether subgroups of participants who respond differently to treatment could be identified. Second, we investigated if the different trajectories of change during MST could be predicted by individual (hostile attributions) and contextual (parental sense of parenting competence and deviant and prosocial peer involvement) pre-treatment factors. Participants were 147 adolescents (mean age = 15.91 years, 104 (71%) boys) and their parents who received MST. Pre-treatment assessment of the predictors and 5 monthly assessments of externalizing behavior during treatment took place using both adolescent and parents’ self-reports. Six distinct subgroups, showing different trajectories of change in externalizing problem behavior during MST, were identified. Two of the 6 trajectories of change showed a poor treatment response, as one class did not change in externalizing problem behavior and the other class even increased. The remaining 4 trajectories displayed a positive effect of MST, by showing a decrease in externalizing behavior. Most of these trajectories could be predicted by parental sense of parenting competence. Additionally, lower involvement with prosocial peers was a predictor of the group that appeared to be resistant to MST. Adolescents do respond differently to MST, which indicates the importance of personalizing treatment. Protective factors, such as parental sense of parenting competence and prosocial peers, seem to require additional attention in the first phase of MST.

The aims of the present meta-analysis were to (1) examine long-term effects of universal secondary school-based interventions on a broad range of competencies and problems and (2) analyze which intervention components were related to stronger or weaker intervention effects at follow-up. Fifty-four studies of controlled evaluations (283 effect sizes) reporting on 52 unique interventions were included. Long-term intervention effects were significant but small; effect sizes ranged from .08 to .23 in the intrapersonal domain (i.e., subjective psychological functioning) and from .10 to .19 in the interpersonal domain (i.e., social functioning). Intervention components were generally related to effects on specific outcomes. Some components (e.g., group discussions) were even related to both stronger and weaker effects depending on the assessed outcome. Moreover, components associated with long-term effects differed from those associated with short-term effects. Our findings underscore the importance of carefully selecting components to foster long-term development on specific outcomes.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42019137981.