DATE: April 01, 2025 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: A demanding work culture could be quietly undermining efforts to raise birth rates

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-demanding-work-culture-could-be-quietly-undermining-efforts-to-raise-birth-rates/

China’s falling birth rate has become a major national concern, and a new study published in Biodemography and Social Biology suggests that the country’s demanding work culture may be partly to blame. The research shows that working more than 40 hours a week significantly reduces people’s desire to have children. Overtime, night shifts, and being constantly on call make it harder for people to imagine balancing work and family life — a finding that has important implications for future population policies.

China’s fertility rate has continued to fall even as the government has introduced a series of policies aimed at encouraging childbirth. After decades of strict population control, including the well-known one-child policy, China has now moved to allow two, and even three children per family.

However, these efforts have had limited success. The birth rate remains low, and the country is now facing the social and economic challenges of an aging population, including a shrinking workforce and increased pressure on social support systems. While financial constraints and housing costs are often cited as obstacles to starting a family, the study’s authors argue that time scarcity — particularly due to long working hours — may be just as important.

To investigate this issue, researchers at Nankai University and Henan University of Technology used data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a large-scale survey of over 20,000 people from across the country. The CFPS collects detailed information on demographics, employment, income, health, and family life. In this study, the researchers focused on respondents’ reported weekly working hours and their responses to a question about whether they intended to have a child within the next two years. People working more than 40 hours per week were classified as doing overtime, based on standards from both international labor guidelines and Chinese labor laws.

The team then analyzed how overtime affected fertility intentions, taking into account a wide range of other factors including age, sex, ethnicity, income, marital status, and region. They used both provincial and city-level data to examine regional variations, and also explored how different kinds of overtime work — such as weekend shifts, night shifts, and on-call duties — might affect people’s willingness to start or expand their families.

The results were clear: overtime work had a strong and statistically significant negative effect on fertility intentions. This pattern held across nearly every province and city analyzed. The more hours people worked beyond the standard 40-hour week, the less likely they were to say they planned to have children in the near future. This trend was especially pronounced for people working 40–50 hours per week, where fertility intentions dropped the most sharply. Those working more than 60 hours a week showed more varied responses, but the overall effect was still negative.

When the researchers broke down working hours into smaller segments, they found that moderate work schedules — especially those between 0 and 20 hours per week — were actually associated with higher fertility intentions. Between 20 and 40 hours, the effect was mixed: some people were more willing to have children as hours increased, while others were not. But once work passed the 40-hour threshold, the negative effects on fertility became much stronger.

The type of overtime also mattered. People who regularly worked on weekends, at night, or were expected to be reachable 24/7 were significantly less likely to plan for children. These types of schedules interfere not just with physical rest, but also with family and social life. Weekend work and night shifts disrupt routines, reduce time with partners, and can create chronic fatigue. Being constantly on-call added another layer of stress, keeping people mentally tethered to their jobs even during off hours. The authors suggest that this erosion of personal time leaves little room for planning or raising a family.

There were also differences based on gender and marital status. Women showed a stronger negative response to overtime than men, suggesting that long hours may be especially burdensome for women who still shoulder more of the childcare and household responsibilities. Unmarried individuals were also more affected than those who were already married, possibly because they are still in the phase of life where fertility decisions are more flexible.

To explore whether certain workplace conditions could ease the conflict between work and family goals, the researchers examined a few potential moderating factors. Flexible working arrangements — where employees could choose their start and end times — had a positive effect on fertility intentions. When people had more control over their schedules, they were more likely to consider having children.

Similarly, satisfaction with career advancement opportunities and wages was linked to stronger fertility intentions. Transparent promotion paths and fair pay may help employees feel that their career won’t be derailed by having children. Another important factor was maternity insurance, which was also associated with greater willingness to have children. These workplace benefits can reduce the financial and psychological burden of childbearing.

But there are limitations to consider. The study is based on cross-sectional data from a single year, so it cannot track changes in fertility intentions over time or definitively prove cause and effect. Fertility intentions do not always translate into actual births, and personal circumstances — such as relationships or health — may also influence family planning decisions. Additionally, although the CFPS is a large and representative survey, it may not capture all forms of informal or unreported work, which is still common in some parts of China.

The study, “Reasons for the continued decline in fertility intentions: explanations from overtime work,” was authored by Jiawei Zhao, Yuxuan Li, and Wenqi Li.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-demanding-work-culture-could-be-quietly-undermining-efforts-to-raise-birth-rates/

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DATE: March 29, 2025 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Regular sauna users report better health, more energy, and greater happiness

URL: https://www.psypost.org/regular-sauna-users-report-better-health-more-energy-and-greater-happiness/

People who regularly use saunas in northern Sweden report better overall health, higher energy levels, and greater happiness than those who do not. They also tend to have lower rates of high blood pressure and experience less physical pain. These findings come from a new population-based study published in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health, which compared people who sauna bathe regularly with those who do not.

Most earlier findings on sauna use and health have been based on Finnish populations, where sauna bathing is deeply embedded in the culture. While northern Sweden also has a strong tradition of sauna use, little was known about how sauna habits relate to health in this population. The researchers wanted to understand whether regular sauna use was associated with measurable differences in physical and mental health and whether these associations held true outside of Finland. To do this, the research team used data from the 2022 Northern Sweden MONICA study, a long-running health survey designed to monitor cardiovascular risk factors in the general population.

“I have done a lot of research on nursing in emergency and intensive care, but in recent years, I have developed a growing interest in health and nature,” said study author Åsa Engström, a professor at the Luleå University of Technology. “In connection with that, I have read about the benefits of sauna bathing, such as its positive effects on cardiovascular health. We then had the opportunity to include questions about sauna bathing habits in the Northern Sweden MONICA Study, which allowed us to compare various health parameters between those who used saunas and those who did not.”

In the spring of 2022, a random sample of 1,180 adults aged 25 to 74 from the northern counties of Norrbotten and Västerbotten were invited to participate. Of these, 971 people (about 82 percent) answered questions about their sauna habits. Participants who reported sauna bathing at least once per month were categorized as “sauna bathers,” a group that made up 66 percent of the sample.

The survey collected a wide range of information, including demographic details, health status, lifestyle habits, and mental well-being. It also included specific questions about sauna use, such as how often participants used a sauna, how long they stayed in, the temperature of the sauna, and whether they bathed alone or with others. Other questions assessed participants’ levels of physical activity, smoking and drinking habits, sleep satisfaction, and experience of pain, anxiety, and depression. Participants also rated their general health, energy levels, and happiness on standard scales.

The results showed several significant differences between people who used saunas regularly and those who did not. Sauna bathers were generally younger, more often male, and more likely to be physically active. They also smoked less, although they tended to drink alcohol more frequently—typically two to three times per week. Despite this, they reported better overall health. Compared to non-sauna bathers, they had lower rates of diagnosed high blood pressure and reported experiencing less physical pain.

Mental health outcomes also differed between the two groups. Sauna bathers reported lower levels of anxiety and depression, and higher levels of energy and happiness. They also expressed greater satisfaction with their sleep patterns. Interestingly, these benefits were most noticeable among those who sauna bathed one to four times per month. Bathing more frequently than that did not lead to additional improvements in mental health or energy, and happiness scores were actually lower among those who used the sauna more than four times per month compared to moderate users.

The majority of sauna users in the study followed fairly typical sauna routines. Most stayed in the sauna for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, usually in one or two bouts per session. The temperature ranged between 60 and 80 degrees Celsius for most users, and electric saunas were the most common type. Most people bathed with others rather than alone, but relatively few combined sauna use with cold-water or ice swimming.

The study also found that the association between sauna use and better health was not strongly tied to socioeconomic status. Sauna bathers and non-sauna bathers did not differ significantly in terms of education, income, or where they lived. This suggests that the benefits seen among sauna bathers may not be explained solely by financial resources or living conditions.

While these results are consistent with previous studies suggesting health benefits from sauna use, the researchers caution that the study has limitations. One key limitation is its cross-sectional design, which means the data were collected at a single point in time. This makes it impossible to say whether sauna use causes better health, or whether healthier people are simply more likely to use saunas. Long-term studies or clinical trials would be needed to determine whether sauna use directly leads to health improvements.

Another limitation is that the group of sauna users tended to be younger and included more men, which may have influenced the results. Age and gender can both affect health outcomes independently of sauna use. Although the researchers compared groups statistically, more detailed analysis adjusting for these factors would be needed in future studies.

“We have begun analyzing more of the parameters in the MONICA data,” Engström said. “Our aim is to better understand the health effects of sauna bathing and how factors such as the environment and social context influence the experience. We have now developed a new survey on sauna bathing to help answer our research questions, and so far we have received nearly 400 responses. I am also conducting interviews with people, not only about sauna bathing but also about cold baths and winter bathing.”

The study, “Sauna bathing in northern Sweden: results from the MONICA study 2022,” was authored by Åsa Engström, Hans Hägglund, Earric Lee, Maria Wennberg, Stefan Söderberg, and Maria Andersson.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/regular-sauna-users-report-better-health-more-energy-and-greater-happiness/

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DATE: March 28, 2025 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Twin study uncovers heritable roots of moral thinking

URL: https://www.psypost.org/twin-study-uncovers-heritable-roots-of-moral-thinking/

A study published in Personality & Individual Differences reports that our fundamental moral orientations may be significantly influenced by our genetics. Conducted by Timothy C. Bates, this research reveals that whether we lean toward utilitarian or Kantian ethical frameworks might be partially written in our DNA.

For centuries, moral philosophers have debated two competing ethical frameworks. Utilitarianism, championed by Jeremy Bentham, holds that the right action is whatever maximizes overall well-being. In contrast, Kantian ethics maintains that certain moral duties are absolute, regardless of consequences.

While these competing viewpoints were long thought to stem from psychological differences, the question remained: are these differences shaped primarily by our upbringing and environment, or do they have deeper biological roots?

To answer this question, Bates analyzed data from the Brisbane Adolescent Twin Study, examining 439 monozygotic (identical) twins, who share 100% of their genetic makeup, and 627 dizygotic (fraternal) twins, who share approximately 50% of their genes.

The participants, representative of the Australian population in terms of socioeconomic background and ethnicity, completed the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale (OUS), which measures two distinct dimensions of utilitarian thinking: Impartial Beneficence (the commitment to maximizing well-being impartially, without favoring any individual or group) and Instrumental Harm (the willingness to use coercion or harm to achieve a greater good).

Impartial Beneficence showed 58% heritability, while Instrumental Harm demonstrated 42% heritability. Overall utilitarian inclination had a heritability estimate of 52%. These two dimensions of utilitarian thinking were largely genetically independent. This means that someone genetically predisposed to care deeply about maximizing well-being for all isn’t necessarily inclined to support causing harm to achieve those goals.

The study found minimal evidence for shared environmental influences, suggesting that growing up in the same household had little impact on developing these moral perspectives. Instead, differences were primarily shaped by genetics and unique environmental experiences.

Bates acknowledges that the focus on Australian twins may limit the generalizability of these findings. Future studies could explore whether these genetic influences remain consistent across different cultural and socio-political contexts.

The study, “Genetic origins of Utilitarian versus Kantian moral philosophy in heritable motivations for egalitarian beneficence and coercive redistribution” was authored by Timothy C. Bates.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/twin-study-uncovers-heritable-roots-of-moral-thinking/

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DATE: March 26, 2025 at 02:18PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Teens in poverty use social media more—but don’t suffer more because of it, study suggests

URL: https://www.psypost.org/teens-in-poverty-use-social-media-more-but-dont-suffer-more-because-of-it-study-suggests/

New research published in Computers in Human Behavior sheds light on how material deprivation influences teenagers’ access to and use of social media, and whether it changes the impact of social media on their emotional well-being. The study found that while teens from deprived households reported lower overall life satisfaction and spent slightly more time on social media, deprivation did not appear to worsen the link between social media use and life satisfaction. In other words, teens experiencing poverty did not seem to suffer more from time spent online compared to their more affluent peers.

The research was motivated by a growing concern over how social media affects adolescents’ well-being. Most studies in this area have treated teenagers as a single, uniform group, overlooking how individual differences—such as socioeconomic background—might shape these effects. Since social media is increasingly embedded in daily life, and teenagers are spending more time on platforms than ever before, it’s important to ask whether some young people are more vulnerable to its harms or more likely to benefit from its potential support. The authors of the study proposed that material deprivation, a measure of whether families can afford basic necessities, could be a key factor influencing how social media relates to adolescent life satisfaction.

“The discussion on the relationship between social media and adolescent wellbeing often overlooks the experiences of adolescents from deprived households. I wanted to address this gap by leveraging existing data to contribute empirical evidence to the debate,” said study author Sebastian Kurten, an assistant professor at Utrecht University.

The researchers analyzed ten years of data collected between 2009 and 2019 from the “Understanding Society” study, which tracks tens of thousands of households across the United Kingdom. This specific analysis included 23,155 adolescents aged 10 to 21, generating nearly 80,000 measurement points. These participants responded to surveys about their social media access and use, while their parents answered questions about the family’s financial situation.

The researchers used established indexes to determine whether families experienced material deprivation. For younger adolescents, this included things like not being able to afford school trips or warm winter coats. For older teens, it included items such as the inability to pay household bills or afford basic furniture.

The team used statistical modeling to sort participants into different deprivation categories and then looked at how these related to social media access, time spent on social media, and self-reported life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was measured annually through age-appropriate survey questions. For social media, they asked whether the adolescent had access to social media platforms and how many hours they typically spent using them on a school day.

The results showed that teens from deprived households were less likely to have access to social media, especially at younger ages. For example, by age 11, 76% of non-deprived adolescents had a social media account, compared to 69% of deprived teens. But by age 18, this gap disappeared—nearly all adolescents, regardless of background, had joined social media. Interestingly, among those with access, teens from deprived households reported spending slightly more time on social media than their wealthier peers.

Across the entire group, spending more time on social media was associated with slightly lower life satisfaction. However, this connection was modest and consistent regardless of socioeconomic background. Deprivation was strongly linked to lower life satisfaction overall, but it did not appear to make the effect of social media use any worse. Even when the researchers used sophisticated longitudinal modeling to track changes within individuals over time, they found no evidence that deprivation influenced how social media use affected life satisfaction in the long term.

The study also tested whether having access to social media—rather than the amount of time spent—was related to emotional well-being. Again, results were mixed. In one analysis, teens from deprived households who had social media access were slightly more likely to report lower life satisfaction, but this finding was weak and not consistent across all models. And in the long-term analysis, there was no sign that deprivation shaped how social media access influenced well-being.

“Poverty poses a significant threat to the wellbeing and development of adolescents,” Kurten told PsyPost. “While there is intense debate about the impact of social media on adolescent mental health, structural issues such as poverty and material deprivation are often overlooked. These factors create lasting disadvantages for adolescents and deserve more attention in public discourse.”

While the research provides some reassurance that social media does not appear to be especially harmful for adolescents growing up in poverty, the authors caution against drawing overly broad conclusions. One limitation is that the study relied on self-reported data about social media use, which may be prone to error. Teenagers may overestimate or underestimate how much time they spend online, and the survey did not distinguish between different types of social media activity.

“We used representative panel data from the UK collected several years ago, but at the time, social media use was assessed with a simple 1-to-5 scale rather than more nuanced measures,” Kurten noted. “Fortunately, research has since advanced, and newer studies use more sophisticated assessments. However, the general trends observed in our data align with findings from studies that employ these improved measures.”

Despite these limitations, the researchers argue that their findings challenge some common assumptions. While it’s often suggested that social media use might be especially harmful for deprived youth, this study did not support that idea. Instead, the authors suggest that material deprivation itself is a more consistent predictor of lower well-being than social media use. This points to the need for policies that address poverty directly, rather than focusing narrowly on social media as a cause of distress.

“My long-term goal is to provide more comprehensive evidence on how structural adversities, such as material deprivation, affect adolescent wellbeing,” Kurten said. “I want to make sure that their perspectives also get heard in the public debate.”

“I would be glad to see the public debate shift from focusing solely on what social media does to children to addressing the far greater impact of poverty. My research highlights that material deprivation is a structural issue with serious consequences for adolescent wellbeing. We need to intensify our efforts to lift children out of poverty and ensure they have the resources to thrive.”

The study, “Deprivation’s role in adolescent social media use and its links to life satisfaction,” was authored by Sebastian Kurten, Sakshi Ghai, Candice Odgers, Rogier A. Kievit, and Amy Orben.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/teens-in-poverty-use-social-media-more-but-dont-suffer-more-because-of-it-study-suggests/

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DATE: March 21, 2025 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: The lifelong impact of early touch

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-lifelong-impact-of-early-touch/

In the 1950s, the American psychologist Harry Harlow provided a stark demonstration of the importance of a mother’s touch. He famously – and controversially – showed that rhesus monkeys would rather cling to a surrogate “mother” made of soft cloth than one made of metal wire that provided milk. A loving touch seemed to be more important than food, Harlow concluded.

Today, the importance of touch has become firmly embedded in infant care. For example, UNICEF and the NHS recommend skin-to-skin contact between a parent and newborn. This involves placing a newborn on a parent’s bare chest, both of them covered in a warm blanket, for at least an hour after birth or until after the first feed.

In fact, feeling the power of touch begins long before a baby is even born. Touch is the first sense to develop. Just eight weeks after conception, a foetus already responds to the sensation of touch in the womb – and it is crucial for people of any age.

By 14 weeks, twins have been observed on ultrasound sucking on each other’s fingers and exploring each other’s faces. And frame-by-frame analyses of ultrasound have shown that, by 20 weeks, foetuses respond to mothers touching their bellies.

The benefits of parental touch become clear at birth. One review of 52 studies involving over 4,000 newborns found that touch interventions – such as skin-to-skin contact and baby massage – was associated with better newborn health, including better regulation of temperature, breathing and heart rate. The review also found that touch was more beneficial when it came from a parent compared to medical staff.

Cuddle up, because there are other benefits of skin-to-skin contact. When a parent holds their baby in skin-to-skin contact after birth, it helps to calm the newborn and stimulates an interest in feeding. In the longer-term, daily skin-to-skin contact with infants improves sleep patterns and pain tolerance, supports healthy weight gain and continued breastfeeding and strengthens brain development.

These benefits are also experienced by infants born prematurely. For example, one review of kangaroo care – skin-to-skin contact for premature or low birth-weight infants – found that it reduced the risk of death, infection and low body temperature, and improved weight gain and rates of breastfeeding.

In both healthy and premature infants, skin-to-skin contact also triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin – the so-called “love hormone” – which encourages bonding between the parent and infant. Skin-to-skin contact also lowers levels of the hormone cortisol, which helps newborns to regulate levels of stress.

In fact, the benefits of skin-to-skin contact are not exclusively experienced by the newborn. Studies have found that daily skin-to-skin contact with their babies can reduce symptoms of postpartum stress, depression and anxiety in mothers. And while most studies have focused on mothers, skin-to-skin contact also seems to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in fathers.

While most of this research has focused the short-term outcomes of touch, scientists are also following infants over time to see what impact early touch has on long-term outcomes. For example, one study found that premature babies who received at least one hour of kangaroo care for two weeks had better mother-child interactions, sleep and brain development when they were ten years old.

Another group of researchers followed infants and their mothers for a period of nine years. When they were only one-month-old, infants who had experienced skin-to-skin contact with their mothers already showed better emotional adjustment and attachment than infants who had no skin-to-skin contact.

Nine years later, these children were also more willing and able to engage in emotive conversations with their mothers.

Some of the effects of touch are more difficult to quantify. In the 1970s, for example, the psychiatrist Donald Winnicott described how a mother’s touch helps infants and young children to experience the body as “the place where one securely lives”. This idea seems to be supported by ethnographic records and anthropological studies of communities where infants are in close contact with a caregiver.

For instance, in many communities – such as the Netsilik, !Kung, and Balinese – infants are pressed skin-to-skin with their mothers for much of the day. This means that infants are more likely to have their needs met quickly – being comforted when they cry or fed when they suckle – while also helping them develop a sensitivity to touch. These forms of “skinship” also help parents and their infants to develop deeper bonds through touch.

While this research shows the benefits of touch in infancy, what about childhood? Studies of young children and adolescents have shown that touch – particularly caring touch like hugging from a parent or other caregivers, such as teachers – can support psychological development and wellbeing. For instance, touch can help children develop a sense of emotional security, belonging and feelings of support, especially in stressful situations.

The anthropologist Marjorie Goodwin has described how “haptic rituals” – such as hugs between a parent and their child over the course of a day – can help the child feel loved and cared for.

Regularly experiencing caring touch can also help children to develop their social interaction skills, including empathy toward others. Caring touch also reduces aggressive behaviour in adolescence.

Unfortunately, even today, many parents hold on to old fashioned ideas – popularised by psychologists like John Watson – that they should avoid caring touch with their children, out of fear that hugging or cuddling will cause their children to become weak willed. The scientific evidence doesn’t support such ideas, so go hug your kids.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-lifelong-impact-of-early-touch/

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