Do video games, mental illness drive US massacres?

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Monday tied mass shootings that left 31 dead in 2 US cities over the weekend to hate, violent video games and mental illness.

But with 255 mass shooting events counted so far this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive, analysts say those factors don't explain all the violence.

Not all mass shooters show signs of mental health problems, or play violent video games, or have political grudges. But one factor is omnipresent: the ease of acquiring guns.

VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES 

"We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace," Trump said.

It's true that some recent mass shooters played violent video games obsessively.

Adam Lanza, who killed 26 schoolchildren and school employees at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, spent hours a day playing some of the most violent video games, including one called "School Shooting."

Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018, reportedly played violent video games up to 15 hours a day.

But Chris Ferguson, a psychology professor at Stetson University who has studied the issue, says there is no causal link with real attacks.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world play first-person shooter games such as "Fortnite" and "Call of Duty," and do not turn into mass murderers.

"Violent video games do not contribute to mass shootings, not in whole, not in part," said Ferguson.

"It's probably actively causing harm to the extent it distracts people from real causes of violence," he said on Twitter.

The American Psychological Association has found a link between violent games and films and increased aggression among children, but says it is only one risk factor.

MENTAL ILLNESS 

Trump also tied shootings to "mentally disturbed individuals" who should not have access to firearms.

"Mental illness and hatred pull the trigger -- not the gun," he said.

There is a link in some cases.

Marine Corps veteran Ian David Long, 28, who killed 12 at a country music bar in California in November last year, was believed to have post-traumatic stress disorder.

Twenty-four-year-old Connor Betts, who killed nine on Sunday at a bar in Ohio, reportedly showed dangerous tendencies while in high school.

And Cruz, the Florida high school attacker, had a history of mental health problems.

"On the face of it, somebody that goes out and massacres a bunch of strangers, that's not the act of a healthy mind," Jeffrey Swanson, a professor in psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, told AFP.

Yet, he said, there are 10 million Americans with serious mental illnesses "and the overwhelming majority of them do not engage in violent behavior."

Most mass shooters, he said, "do not have the serious identifiable mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, that impairs the brain's ability to reason or see reality, or bipolar disorder."

DIVISIVE POLITICS AND THE INTERNET 

Some attacks are also linked to divisive politics, which play out online, especially on the 8chan website.

Like two earlier mass murderers, the man who killed 22 at a Walmart in Texas on Saturday, identified in media reports as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, released a "manifesto" on 8chan attacking the "Hispanic invasion" from Mexico, echoing Trump's own political rhetoric.

According to journalist Robert Evans, writing on of Bellingcat, 8chan has turned mass shootings into a video-game-like competition, where body counts are referred to as "high scores." 

"The act of massacring innocents has been gamified," he wrote on Sunday.

AVAILABILITY OF GUNS 

Still, one common thread in all the attacks is the ease of obtaining weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Stephen Paddock, who massacred 58 people and wounded hundreds attending a concert in Las Vegas in 2017, was not apparently mentally ill, ideologically motivated, or a video gamer. He launched his attack using two dozen weapons, mostly AR-15-type assault rifles.

Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at a Pennsylvania synagogue last October, carried 4 guns in his attack and legally owned 21.

And Betts had an assault rifle he ordered online from Texas, equipped with a 100-round drum magazine.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Male brains 'overwhelmed' in multitasking test: study

PARIS - Are women really better at multi-tasking?

A study on Wednesday said a tricky brain-teaser throws off men's walking gait but leaves most women unfazed, reopening an age-old debate about mental gender differences.

On a treadmill, men -- and women over 60 -- started swinging their right arm less while grappling with a complicated language test, researchers found.

Language function and right arm swing are both thought to be controlled mainly by the brain's left hemisphere.

"Women under 60 seemed to be resistant to this effect, as they were able to perform the verbal task with no change in arm swing," said study co-author Tim Killeen, a neuroscientist from the University Hospital Balgrist in Switzerland.

"In men and older women, the verbal task appears to overwhelm the left brain to the extent that the movement of the arm on the right is reduced."

The "unexpected" findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

"We were surprised to find such a consistent gender difference in how two relatively simple behaviours -- cognitive control and arm swing -- interact with one another," Killeen told AFP.

The team had set out to study how people walk under different conditions, aiming to build a database of "normal" gait profiles for treating people with walking disorders.

They used infrared cameras to record the treadmill walking patterns of 83 healthy people, aged 18 to 80.

The participants were asked to walk -- first normally, and then while performing a verbal task called the Stroop test.

Developed in the 1930s, the test involves printing the name of a colour -- such as "red", "green" or "blue" -- in a non-matching colour, then asking a person to say the colour of the ink, not the word itself.

- Better at language? -

This is difficult, explained Killeen, as the human brain "sees" both the written word and the colour of the ink, and must reconcile the two.

During normal walking, the left and right arms swung approximately equally.

"When we added the verbal task, we observed that in men of all ages and women over 60, this symmetry broke down, with a reduction in right arm swing while the left arm carried on swinging normally," said Killeen.

Does this prove women are better multi-taskers?

"Ha ha! I think this shows that younger women may be able to resist interference of these two fairly specific behaviours," she said.

Whether this might apply to other compound activities -- such as driving and talking or walking and texting -- has yet to be shown.

It is also unclear whether a woman's ability to take the verbal brain teaser in her stride confers any advantage over men, said Killeen.

The fact that women over 60 lose the capacity may provide a clue as to its origin, the researchers said.

Brain receptors of the female hormone oestrogen may get a bigger boost in younger women, who have more of it.

"Alternatively, women are often shown to have somewhat better verbal skills than men" and may find the Stroop test easier, Killeen said by email.

"However, this does not explain why older women revert to the 'male pattern' after 60."

Previous studies have disagreed on whether women are actually better than men at doing more than one thing at the same time.

"This may be a paradigm for investigating this further -- maybe someone can finally settle this age-old question!" said Killeen.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Online display of affection: A sign of insecurity?

MANILA -- Everybody is in Facebook right now: your parents, friends, your four-year-old cousin, neighbors, officemates, your boss, even your bosses’ dog. Practically everyone who has taken part in your life belongs to various social media platforms in the web, and whether we like it or not, that includes your exes.

Most people turn to social media to express themselves. The integration of social media in the everyday lives of people is so immense that some people will post almost anything and everything about their lives. Their latest #fitspiration? Posted. Viral kitten videos? Shared. Hotdog sandwich snack? Selfie’d. They express emotions of different varieties like depression, fury, excitement, and of course, love.

Signs of affection are present in everyday life. This includes a mother kissing her child goodbye as she leaves home to go to school, a group of friends placing their arms around each other’s shoulder to celebrate (pag-aakbay), close pals greeting with a kiss on the cheek (beso-beso), among others. Displays of affection between people who are romantically involved are classified as public display of affection (PDA).

Filipinos who are conservative, despite internationally changing norms, accept few public acts of affection such as holding hands, hugs, and pecks on the cheek. However, openly kissing each other on the lips and sexual acts are unwelcome.

"’Yung kultura natin, generally speaking, napakalakas pa rin ng moral pressure ng simbahan," said Far Eastern University (FEU) Prof. Fe Atanacio-Blas.

"If you make it (displays of affection) public, you don't exempt yourselves to the judgments, from their judging eyes, especially those from the older generation."

Despite this, Atanacio-Blas, who focuses on sociology, particularly on Asian studies, explained in an interview with ABS-CBN News, that PDA can make a person feel confident and secure.

"Just like marriage, when you do your wedding vows in the church, you're declaring it publicly. ‘Pag nag-PDA kayo, ‘he's mine, she's mine.’ Nandoon ang element of exclusivity," she said.

Online display of affection and insecurity

In the rising age of social media, PDAs can easily be expressed online where, in a touch of the button, the entire world can discover a blooming relationship. Posting relationship status online may not be problematic. However, excessively updating the relationship status is.

According to a study by Lydia Emery, Amy Muise, Emily Dix, and Benjamin Le in 2014 and published in a US psychology journal, more often than not, people on social media are concerned about how other people see them.

Relationship visibility is a form of impression management or setting of stage where they want to have their relationships appear to be an important aspect to their self-concept. When noticed, it gives them a sense of fulfillment, especially when the reaction is positive.

“When you post a picture, you won't post something that is ugly. May filter pa," Atanacio-Blas shared.

She warned, however: "Those who excessively post in social media, especially pertaining to displays of affection are narcissistic and not normal."

Exorbitant posting of seemingly positive status may be a thin veil to obscure the real problem: insecurity.

"One of those signs of insecurity is you don't know how to address it. And then all of a sudden, there is now an easy platform to cure that insecurity," she said.

"Usually ‘yung mga taong ganun, wala silang ipagmamalaki kundi kung anong meron sila. The more that they show more things in Facebook, that only means that's the only thing that they have, nothing more."

The same study concluded that the more times that a partner feels insecure about his partner’s feelings, he tends to make their relationship more visible online. The goal is to compensate by making others who are online feel that everything in the relationship is going smoothly. The more “likes” and other positive comments people receive with regards to their relationships, the more they feel convinced and reassured of the relationship.

"Yung ego nadagdagan sa kada ‘likes,’ para bang you just fueled the fire and then say 'ay, magpo-post pa ako ng marami because people tend to like it,'” Atanacio-Blas said.

With Facebook now boasting more than a billion users, and other social media platforms gaining popularity, Atanacio-Blas said this paves the way for louder social media presence for couples.

But she reminds them: the more the relationship is secure, the more that the couple would want to keep it private and sacred.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Researchers measure average penis size

PARIS -- What is an "average" size for a penis?

The enduring question now has a scientific answer: 13.12 centimeters (5.16 inches) in length when erect, and 11.66 cm around, according to an analysis of more than 15,000 appendages around the world.

In a flaccid state, it found, the penis of the average Joe is all of 9.16 cm in length and has a girth of 9.31 cm.

The numbers should help "reassure the large majority of men that the size of their penis is in the normal range," said British researchers who had assembled data from studies where participants had their member measured by a professional.

The team then used the collated numbers to devise a graph that doctors can use in counselling men with "small penis anxiety."

In the worst cases, men may be diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder -- a debilitating psychological condition that can lead to obsessive and anti-social behavior, depression and even suicide.

In reality, only 2.28 percent of the male population have an abnormally small penis, said the study -- and the same percentage an unusually large one.

The study participants were men aged 17-91 who had their penises measured in 20 previously published studies conducted in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States.

The team found no evidence for penis size differences linked to race, though most of the study participants were of European and Middle Eastern descent and a full comparison could thus not be made.

Nor did the researchers find any convincing correlation between a man's foot size and the length of his manhood.

They acknowledged their results may have been somewhat skewed by the possibility that men who volunteer to be examined may be more confident in their penis size than the general population.

The team said their work, published in the BJU International journal of urology, was the first to combine all existing data on penis length and girth into a definitive graph.

The information may be useful for reassuring men worried about their size. But it may also have the unintended effect of shriveling the egos of those who thought they were abnormally well-endowed.

Doctors may also use the graph to help men find well-fitting condoms, said the team.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Is your cat making you crazy? Feline feces linked to suicide among women

WASHINGTON - Women infected with a parasite spread by cat feces run a higher risk of attempting suicide, suggests a study of more than 45,000 women in Denmark published in a scientific journal this week.

"We can't say with certainty that T. gondii caused the women to try to kill themselves," said Teodor Postolache of the University of Maryland medical school, senior author of the study in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

"But we did find a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that warrants additional studies. We plan to continue our research into this possible connection."

About one in three people in the world are believed to be infected with T. gondii, which has been linked to schizophrenia and behavior changes, but often produces no symptoms as it lurks in brain and muscle cells.

Human run the risk of infection when they clean out their cats' litter boxes, as well as by consuming unwashed vegetables, undercooked or raw meat, or water from a contaminated source.

"The study found that women infected with T. gondii were one-and-a-half times more likely to attempt suicide compared to those who were not infected, and the risk seemed to rise with increasing levels of the T. gondii antibodies," a summary of the findings said.

"Previous mental illness did not appear to significantly alter these findings. The relative risk was even higher for violent suicide attempts."

The suspected perils of T. gondii featured in The Atlantic magazine in March this year when it ran a widely-read profile of Czech biologist Jaroslav Flegr, who suspects the parasite of literally changing people's minds.

It headlined the article: "How Your Cat is Making You Crazy."

source: interaksyon.com

Spanking increases odds of mental illness - study

WASHINGTON - People who were hit or spanked as children face higher odds of mental ailments as adults, including mood and anxiety disorders and problems with alcohol and drug abuse, researchers said Monday.

The study, led by Canadian researchers, is the first to examine the link between psychological problems and spanking, while excluding more severe physical or sexual abuse in order to better gauge the effect of corporal punishment alone.

Those who were spanked or hit as kids were between two and seven percent more likely to encounter mental issues later, said the research in the US journal Pediatrics, based on a retrospective survey of more than 600 US adults.

That figure may seem low, particularly since about half of the US population recalls being spanked in childhood, but nevertheless shows that physical punishment can raise the risk of problems later on, experts said.

"The study is valuable because it opens the conversation about parenting," said Victor Fornari, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New York.

The rate "is not dramatically higher, but it is higher, just to suggest that physical punishment is a risk factor for developing more mental disturbances as an adult," said Fornari, who was not involved in the study.

Previous research has repeatedly shown that children who were physically abused as youngsters suffer from more mental disturbances as adults, and are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior than kids who were not hit.

But these studies have typically included more serious abuse.

The current study excludes both sexual abuse and physical abuse that left bruises, marks, or caused injury.

Instead it focuses on "harsh physical punishment," defined as pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping or hitting as a form of punishment from elders.

While 32 nations around the world have banned corporal punishment of kids, the United States and Canada are not among them.

Using a nationally representative survey sample of 653 Americans, they found that those who recalled experiencing harsh punishment as children faced higher odds of a range of mental problems.

Between two and five percent of disorders like depression, anxiety, bipolar, anorexia, or bulimia were attributable to physical punishment as a child, the study said.

From four to seven percent of more serious problems including personality disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and intellectual disabilities were associated with such punishments in childhood.

Researchers stressed that the study could not establish that spanking had actually caused these disorders in certain adults, only that there was a link between memories of such punishment and a higher incidence of mental problems.

The survey data came from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions collected between 2004 and 2005, and included adults over age 20.

Participants were asked: "As a child how often were you ever pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped or hit by your parents or any adult living in your house?" Those who answered "sometimes" or greater were included in the analysis.

Roya Samuels, a pediatrician at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York, said the parents' genes may influence both their response to raising an unruly child as well as their likelihood of passing down certain ailments.

"Parents who are resorting to mechanisms of corporal punishment might themselves be at risk for depression and mental disorders; therefore, there might be a hereditary factor going on in these families," she told AFP.

Future research could shed more light on the issue. In the meantime, the study offers a reminder that other disciplinary options such as positive reinforcement and removing rewards are viewed more favorably by doctors.

"The reality is, if 50 percent of the population has experienced being spanked in the past year, most kids are resilient. It is just that there are better ways for parents to discipline kids than spanking," Fornari said.

"And for some vulnerable kids, the spanking may increase their risk for the development of mental disturbances. So for those reasons it is important to really minimize or extinguish physical punishment."

The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes striking children for any cause and the Canadian Pediatric Society recommends that doctors strongly discourage the use of physical punishment.

source: interaksyon.com