TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Timme, Sinika A1 - Nosrat, Sanaz T1 - When pandemic hits BT - exercise frequency and subjective well-being during COVID-19 pandemic JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - The governmental lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic have forced people to change their behavior in many ways including changes in exercise. We used the brief window of global lockdown in the months of March/April/May 2020 as an opportunity to investigate the effects of externally imposed restrictions on exercise-related routines and related changes in subjective well-being. Statistical analyses are based on data from 13,696 respondents in 18 countries using a cross-sectional online survey. A mixed effects modeling approach was used to analyze data. We tested whether exercise frequency before and during the pandemic would influence mood during the pandemic. Additionally, we used the COVID-19 pandemic data to build a prediction model, while controlling for national differences, to estimate changes in exercise frequency during similar future lockdown conditions depending on prelockdown exercise frequency. According to the prediction model, those who rarely exercise before a lockdown tend to increase their exercise frequency during it, and those who are frequent exercisers before a lockdown tend to maintain it. With regards to subjective well-being, the data show that those who exercised almost every day during this pandemic had the best mood, regardless of whether or not they exercised prepandemic. Those who were inactive prepandemic and slightly increased their exercise frequency during the pandemic, reported no change in mood compared to those who remained inactive during the pandemic. Those who reduced their exercise frequency during the pandemic reported worse mood compared to those who maintained or increased their prepandemic exercise frequency. This study suggests that under similar lockdown conditions, about two thirds of those who never or rarely exercise before a lockdown might adopt an exercise behavior or increase their exercise frequency. However, such changes do not always immediately result in improvement in subjective well-being. These results may inform national policies, as well as health behavior and exercise psychology research on the importance of exercise promotion, and prediction of changes in exercise behavior during future pandemics. KW - mood KW - motivation KW - physical activity KW - habit KW - health Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570567 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 11 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Sandouqa, Yaser A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Using, the simple sample count to estimate the frequency of prescription drug neuroenhancement in a sample of Jordan employees JF - International journal of drug policy N2 - Background: Epidemiological research indicates that the use of prescription drugs to enhance cognitive functioning is prevalent in Western countries, however, research on this phenomenon in Arab countries is lacking. Our study aimed to investigate the frequency of neuroenhancement (NE) using prescription drugs in a sample of employees in Jordan. Methods: A sample of 1186 employees (37.11 +/- 8.37 years old, 495 female), of whom 723 (35.65 +/- 7.53 years old, 396 female) served as teachers, completed a paper-pencil questionnaire. The single sample count technique (SSC) was used in order to secure confidential, self-reporting of prescription drug NE. Results: The 12-month prevalence of NE, estimated with the SSC was 15.43%. At 26.16%, the prevalence estimate was markedly higher in the subsample of teachers compared to non-teachers, 0.29%. Surprisingly, 336 participants did not use the SSC and directly affirmed or denied prescription drug NE. These direct responses yielded a prevalence of 11.57% for the full sample, 9.73% for the teachers and 15.60% for the non-teachers. Conclusion: This is the first study of the frequency of NE in an Arab sample. Results indicate that the use of prescription drug NE is not limited to Western countries and that teachers in Jordan might constitute a high-risk population. Further, participants seem to differ in their use of indirect estimation methods for reporting prescription drug NE. For future research, it might be useful to triangulate standard self reports and indirect estimation methods to assess NE. Possible cultural differences and specific high-risk populations for NE should be investigated further. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Neuroenhancement KW - Jordan KW - Single sample count Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.12.014 SN - 0955-3959 SN - 1873-4758 VL - 31 SP - 51 EP - 55 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Nosrat, Sanaz A1 - Späth, Constantin A1 - Timme, Sinika T1 - Using COVID-19 Pandemic as a Prism: A Systematic Review of Methodological Approaches and the Quality of Empirical Studies on Physical Activity Behavior Change JF - Frontiers in Sports and Active Living N2 - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of scientific endeavors. The goal of this systematic review is to evaluate the quality of the research on physical activity (PA) behavior change and its potential to contribute to policy-making processes in the early days of COVID-19 related restrictions. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of methodological quality of current research according to PRISMA guidelines using Pubmed and Web of Science, of articles on PA behavior change that were published within 365 days after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Items from the JBI checklist and the AXIS tool were used for additional risk of bias assessment. Evidence mapping is used for better visualization of the main results. Conclusions about the significance of published articles are based on hypotheses on PA behavior change in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Among the 1,903 identified articles, there were 36% opinion pieces, 53% empirical studies, and 9% reviews. Of the 332 studies included in the systematic review, 213 used self-report measures to recollect prepandemic behavior in often small convenience samples. Most focused changes in PA volume, whereas changes in PA types were rarely measured. The majority had methodological reporting flaws. Few had very large samples with objective measures using repeated measure design (pre and during the pandemic). In addition to the expected decline in PA duration, these studies show that many of those who were active prepandemic, continued to be active during the pandemic. Conclusions: Research responded quickly at the onset of the pandemic. However, most of the studies lacked robust methodology, and PA behavior change data lacked the accuracy needed to guide policy makers. To improve the field, we propose the implementation of longitudinal cohort studies by larger organizations such as WHO to ease access to data on PA behavior, and suggest those institutions set clear standards for this research. Researchers need to ensure a better fit between the measurement method and the construct being measured, and use both objective and subjective measures where appropriate to complement each other and provide a comprehensive picture of PA behavior. KW - meta-science KW - exercise KW - methods KW - quality KW - study designs KW - standards Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.864468 SN - 2624-9367 VL - 4 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Koch, Helen T1 - Using Caffeine Pills for Performance Enhancement. An Experimental Study Neuroenhancements JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Recent research has indicated that university students sometimes use caffeine pills for neuroenhancement (NE; non-medical use of psychoactive substances or technology to produce a subjective enhancement in psychological functioning and experience), especially during exam preparation. In our factorial survey experiment, we manipulated the evidence participants were given about the prevalence of NE amongst peers and measured the resulting effects on the psychological predictors included in the Prototype-Willingness Model of risk behavior. Two hundred and thirty-one university students were randomized to a high prevalence condition (read faked research results overstating usage of caffeine pills amongst peers by a factor of 5; 50%), low prevalence condition (half the estimated prevalence; 5%) or control condition (no information about peer prevalence). Structural equation modeling confirmed that our participants’ willingness and intention to use caffeine pills in the next exam period could be explained by their past use of neuroenhancers, attitude to NE and subjective norm about use of caffeine pills whilst image of the typical user was a much less important factor. Provision of inaccurate information about prevalence reduced the predictive power of attitude with respect to willingness by 40-45%. This may be because receiving information about peer prevalence which does not fit with their perception of the social norm causes people to question their attitude. Prevalence information might exert a deterrent effect on NE via the attitude-willingness association. We argue that research into NE and deterrence of associated risk behaviors should be informed by psychological theory. KW - attitude KW - prevalence information KW - prototype-willingness-model KW - social reactivity KW - doping Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00101 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Koch, Helen T1 - Using Caffeine Pills for Performance Enhancement BT - An Experimental Study on University Students’ Willingness and Their Intention to Try Neuroenhancements JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Recent research has indicated that university students sometimes use caffeine pills for neuroenhancement (NE; non-medical use of psychoactive substances or technology to produce a subjective enhancement in psychological functioning and experience), especially during exam preparation. In our factorial survey experiment, we manipulated the evidence participants were given about the prevalence of NE amongst peers and measured the resulting effects on the psychological predictors included in the Prototype-Willingness Model of risk behavior. Two hundred and thirty-one university students were randomized to a high prevalence condition (read faked research results overstating usage of caffeine pills amongst peers by a factor of 5; 50%), low prevalence condition (half the estimated prevalence; 5%) or control condition (no information about peer prevalence). Structural equation modeling confirmed that our participants’ willingness and intention to use caffeine pills in the next exam period could be explained by their past use of neuroenhancers, attitude to NE and subjective norm about use of caffeine pills whilst image of the typical user was a much less important factor. Provision of inaccurate information about prevalence reduced the predictive power of attitude with respect to willingness by 40-45%. This may be because receiving information about peer prevalence which does not fit with their perception of the social norm causes people to question their attitude. Prevalence information might exert a deterrent effect on NE via the attitude-willingness association. We argue that research into NE and deterrence of associated risk behaviors should be informed by psychological theory. KW - attitude KW - prevalence information KW - prototype-willingness-model KW - social reactivity KW - doping Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00101 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 7 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Schindler, Sebastian A1 - Englert, Christoph A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Kissler, Johanna T1 - Uninstructed BIAT faking when ego depleted or in normal state: differential effect on brain and behavior JF - BMC neuroscience N2 - Background: Deception can distort psychological tests on socially sensitive topics. Understanding the cerebral processes that are involved in such faking can be useful in detection and prevention of deception. Previous research shows that faking a brief implicit association test (BIAT) evokes a characteristic ERP response. It is not yet known whether temporarily available self-control resources moderate this response. We randomly assigned 22 participants (15 females, 24.23 +/- 2.91 years old) to a counterbalanced repeated-measurements design. Participants first completed a Brief-IAT (BIAT) on doping attitudes as a baseline measure and were then instructed to fake a negative doping attitude both when self-control resources were depleted and non-depleted. Cerebral activity during BIAT performance was assessed using high-density EEG. Conclusions: Results indicate that temporarily available self-control resources do not affect overt faking success on a BIAT. However, differences were found on an electrophysiological level. This indicates that while on a phenotypical level self-control resources play a negligible role in deliberate test faking the underlying cerebral processes are markedly different. KW - EEG/ERP KW - Implicit association test (IAT) KW - Faking KW - Deception KW - Ego depletion KW - Cognitive control Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12868-016-0249-8 SN - 1471-2202 VL - 17 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Timme, Sinika A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Englert, Chris A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Tracking Self-Control – Task Performance and Pupil Size in a Go/No-Go Inhibition Task JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - There is an ongoing debate about how to test and operationalize self-control. This limited understanding is in large part due to a variety of different tests and measures used to assess self-control, as well as the lack of empirical studies examining the temporal dynamics during the exertion of self-control. In order to track changes that occur over the course of exposure to a self-control task, we investigate and compare behavioral, subjective, and physiological indicators during the exertion of self-control. Participants completed both a task requiring inhibitory control (Go/No-Go task) and a control task (two-choice task). Behavioral performance and pupil size were measured during the tasks. Subjective vitality was measured before and after the tasks. While pupil size and subjective vitality showed similar trajectories in the two tasks, behavioral performance decreased in the inhibitory control-demanding task, but not in the control task. However, behavioral, subjective, and physiological measures were not significantly correlated. These results suggest that there is a disconnect between different measures of self-control with high intra- and interindividual variability. Theoretical and methodological implications for self-control theory and future empirical work are discussed. KW - self-control KW - response inhibition KW - psychophysiological KW - behavioral and self-report measures KW - pupil diameter Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.915016 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 13 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Melzer, Marcus A1 - Hagemann, Norbert T1 - Towards an implicit association test (IAT) for measuring doping attitudes in sports. Data-based recommendations developed from two recently published tests JF - Psychology of sport and exercise : PSE ; an official journal of the European Federation of Sport Psychology N2 - Objectives: Today, the doping attitudes of athletes can either be measured by asking athletes directly or with the help of indirect attitude measurement procedures as for example the implicit association test (IAT). Using indirect measures may be helpful for example when psychological effects of doping prevention programs shall be evaluated. In the present study we have analyzed and compared measurement properties of two recently published IATs. Design: The IATs "doping substance vs. tea blend" and "doping substance vs. legal nutritional supplement" were presented to two randomly assigned independent samples of 102 athletes (44 male, 58 female; mean age 23.6 years) from different sports. Both IATs were complemented by a control IAT "word vs. non-word". Methods: In order to test central measurement properties of both IATs, distributions of measured values, correlations with the control IAT, reliability analyses, and analyses of error rates were performed. Results: Results pointed to a rather negative doping attitude in most athletes. Especially the fact that in the "doping vs. supplement" IAT error rates (12%) and adaptational learning effects across test blocks were substantial (eta(2) = .22), indicating that participants had difficulties correctly assigning the word stimuli to the respective category, we see slight advantages for the "doping vs. tea" IAT (e.g. satisfactory internal scale consistency Cronbach's-alpha = .78 among athletes reporting to be regularly involved in competitions). Conclusion: The less satisfactory measurement properties of the "doping vs. supplement" IAT can possibly be explained by the fact that the boundaries between (legal) supplements and (illegal) doping substances have been shifted from time to time so that athletes were not sure whether substances were legal or not. KW - Doping KW - Attitude KW - Implicit association test (IAT) Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.01.002 SN - 1469-0292 VL - 12 IS - 3 SP - 250 EP - 256 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Cheval, Boris T1 - Theories to explain exercise motivation and physical inactivity BT - ways of expanding our current theoretical perspective JF - Frontiers in psychology KW - exercise KW - motivation KW - affect KW - automaticity KW - physical inactivity Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01147 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 10 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Timme, Sinika A1 - Hutchinson, Jasmin A1 - Regorius, Anton A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - The influence of affective priming on the affective response during exercise BT - a replication study JF - Journal of sport & exercise psychology N2 - The affective response during exercise is an important factor for long-term exercise adherence. Pottratz et al. suggested affective priming as a behavioral intervention for the enhancement of exercise-related affect. The present paper aims to replicate and extend upon these findings. We conducted a close replication with 53 participants completing a brisk walking task in two conditions (prime vs. no prime). Affective valence was assessed during exercise, and exercise enjoyment and remembered/forecasted pleasure were assessed postexercise. We could not replicate the findings of Pottratz et al., finding no evidence for positive changes in psychological responses in the priming condition. However, linear mixed models demonstrated significant interindividual differences in how participants responded to priming. These results demonstrate that affective priming during exercise does not work for everyone under every circumstance and, thus, provide an important contribution to the understanding of boundary conditions and moderating factors for priming in exercise psychology. KW - subliminal priming KW - interindividual differences KW - physical activity; KW - affective intervention Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2022-0025 SN - 0895-2779 SN - 1543-2904 SN - 0163-433X VL - 44 IS - 4 SP - 286 EP - 294 PB - Human Kinetics Publishers CY - Champaign ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kanitz, Jenny Lena A1 - Pretzer, Kim A1 - Reif, Marcus A1 - Voss, Andreas A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Laengler, Alfred A1 - Henze, Guenter A1 - Seifert, Georg T1 - The impact of eurythmy therapy on stress coping strategies and health-related quality of life in healthy, moderately stressed adults JF - Complementary therapies in medicine : the journal for all health care professionals. N2 - Background: 'Stress' and 'health-related quality of life' (HRQoL) are two important theoretical constructs for modern therapy evaluation with clinical relevance. Eurythmy therapy (EYT) is a mind-body-therapy derived from anthroposophic medicine with promising effects on heart rate variability (HRV), HRQoL and disease scores. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of EYT on stress coping strategies (SCS) and HRQoL in a controlled study with moderately stressed participants. Methods: 68 healthy, moderately stressed adults (mean age: 42.2; SD: 8.2) performed 10 h of EYT in a group setting over a period of six weeks. A non-randomised control group of 22 healthy adults (mean age: 43.6; SD: 13.7) received no intervention and did only complete the questionnaires at the same data points. Outcomes were measured before and after the intervention (AVEM & SF-36). Results: A significant impact on SCS was found in seven AVEM scales (MANOVA, F (1/74) = 4.59; p = .04). With regard to changes in risk pattern affiliation (AVEM), 24% of the participants receiving EYT (n = 55) changed over time from a risky stress coping pattern to a healthier pattern. Concerning the HRQoL four normally distributed scales of the SF-36 ('vitality', 'social functioning', 'mental health' and 'physical functioning') showed a significant group x time interaction favouring the EYT group (MANOVA, F (1/74) = 17.26; p < .001). Statistically and clinically relevant mean differences over time of at least eight scale points were found for 'role physical', 'bodily pain', 'vitality' and 'mental health', and of at least 15 scale points for 'role emotional' and 'social functioning'. Conclusions: A six-week period of EYT training can result in a significant reduction of stress and consequently improve QoL. Because a significant proportion of participants had high levels of stress at baseline the results suggest a health-enhancing benefit of EYT that may have clinical potential for prevention of stress and associated disorders in healthy individuals and possibly in patients with chronic diseases, for example. KW - Eurythmy therapy KW - Mind-body-therapy KW - Stress KW - Health related quality of life Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2011.06.008 SN - 0965-2299 VL - 19 IS - 5 SP - 247 EP - 255 PB - Churchill Livingstone CY - Edinburgh ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Schindler, Sebastian A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - The Effect of Implicitly Incentivized Faking on Explicit and Implicit Measures of Doping Attitude: When Athletes Want to Pretend an Even More Negative Attitude to Doping JF - PLoS one N2 - The Implicit Association Test (IAT) aims to measure participants' automatic evaluation of an attitude object and is useful especially for the measurement of attitudes related to socially sensitive subjects, e.g. doping in sports. Several studies indicate that IAT scores can be faked on instruction. But fully or semi-instructed research scenarios might not properly reflect what happens in more realistic situations, when participants secretly decide to try faking the test. The present study is the first to investigate IAT faking when there is only an implicit incentive to do so. Sixty-five athletes (22.83 years +/- 2.45; 25 women) were randomly assigned to an incentive-to-fake condition or a control condition. Participants in the incentive-to-fake condition were manipulated to believe that athletes with lenient doping attitudes would be referred to a tedious 45-minute anti-doping program. Attitudes were measured with the pictorial doping brief IAT (BIAT) and with the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS). A one-way MANOVA revealed significant differences between conditions after the manipulation in PEAS scores, but not in the doping BIAT. In the light of our hypothesis this suggests that participants successfully faked an exceedingly negative attitude to doping when completing the PEAS, but were unsuccessful in doing so on the reaction time-based test. This study assessed BIAT faking in a setting that aimed to resemble a situation in which participants want to hide their attempts to cheat. The two measures of attitude were differentially affected by the implicit incentive. Our findings provide evidence that the pictorial doping BIAT is relatively robust against spontaneous and naive faking attempts. (B) IATs might be less prone to faking than implied by previous studies. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118507 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 10 IS - 4 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Subjective stressors in school and their relation to neuroenhancement: a behavioral perspective on students everyday life "doping" Y1 - 2013 UR - http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/pdf/1747-597X-8-23.pdf U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-8-23 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Subjective stressors in school and their relation to neuroenhancement a behavioral perspective on students' everyday life "doping" JF - Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy N2 - Background: The use of psychoactive substances to neuroenhance cognitive performance is prevalent. Neuroenhancement (NE) in everyday life and doping in sport might rest on similar attitudinal representations, and both behaviors can be theoretically modeled by comparable means-to-end relations (substance-performance). A behavioral (not substance-based) definition of NE is proposed, with assumed functionality as its core component. It is empirically tested whether different NE variants (lifestyle drug, prescription drug, and illicit substance) can be regressed to school stressors. Findings: Participants were 519 students (25.8 +/- 8.4 years old, 73.1% female). Logistic regressions indicate that a modified doping attitude scale can predict all three NE variants. Multiple NE substance abuse was frequent. Overwhelming demands in school were associated with lifestyle and prescription drug NE. Conclusions: Researchers should be sensitive for probable structural similarities between enhancement in everyday life and sport and systematically explore where findings from one domain can be adapted for the other. Policy makers should be aware that students might misperceive NE as an acceptable means of coping with stress in school, and help to form societal sensitivity for the topic of NE among our younger ones in general. KW - Neuroenhancement KW - Stress KW - School KW - Doping Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-8-23 SN - 1747-597X VL - 8 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schweizer, Geoffrey A1 - Plessner, Henning A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Studying experts' intuitive decision making online using video stimuli Y1 - 2010 SN - 978-1-8487-2019-0 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heiss, Christian A1 - Engbert, Kai A1 - Groepel, Peter A1 - Ziegler, Matthias A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Self-leadership and volition : distinct and potentially supplemental constructs? N2 - Self-leadership and volition are conceptually similar concepts. Both propose self-influence strategies that aim to improve the motivation and self-direction necessary to perform well. The present study assesses whether self- leadership strategies maintain construct-specific variance when compared with the similar strategies of volition. Results from a questionnaire study (N=320) indicate that self-leadership and volitional strategies are distinguishable and only moderately (r=.33) correlated. Self-leadership, therefore, supplements volition during goal attainment. Findings are discussed in light of the Rubicon model of action phases. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.ammonsscientific.com/search/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.2466/01.03.07.14.Pr0.107.5.447-462 SN - 0033-2941 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Baumgarten, Franz A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Reduced self-control leads to disregard of an unfamiliar behavioral option: an experimental approach to the study of neuroenhancement Y1 - 2013 UR - http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/pdf/1747-597X-8-41.pdf U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-8-41 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Baumgarten, Franz A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Reduced self-control leads to disregard of an unfamiliar behavioral option - an experimental approach to the study of neuroenhancement JF - Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy N2 - Background: Neuroenhancement (NE), the use of psychoactive substances in order to enhance a healthy individual's cognitive functioning from a proficient to an even higher level, is prevalent in student populations. According to the strength model of self-control, people fail to self-regulate and fall back on their dominant behavioral response when finite self-control resources are depleted. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that ego-depletion will prevent students who are unfamiliar with NE from trying it. Findings: 130 undergraduates, who denied having tried NE before (43% female, mean age = 22.76 +/- 4.15 years old), were randomly assigned to either an ego-depletion or a control condition. The dependent variable was taking an "energy-stick" (a legal nutritional supplement, containing low doses of caffeine, taurine and vitamin B), offered as a potential means of enhancing performance on the bogus concentration task that followed. Logistic regression analysis showed that ego-depleted participants were three times less likely to take the substance, OR = 0.37, p = .01. Conclusion: This experiment found that trying NE for the first time was more likely if an individual's cognitive capacities were not depleted. This means that mental exhaustion is not predictive for NE in students for whom NE is not the dominant response. Trying NE for the first time is therefore more likely to occur as a thoughtful attempt at self-regulation than as an automatic behavioral response in stressful situations. We therefore recommend targeting interventions at this inter-individual difference. Students without previous reinforcing NE experience should be provided with information about the possible negative health outcomes of NE. Reconfiguring structural aspects in the academic environment (e.g. lessening workloads) might help to deter current users. KW - Neuroenhancement KW - Self-control KW - Ego-depletion KW - Prevention Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-8-41 SN - 1747-597X VL - 8 IS - 23 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Wolff, Wanja A1 - Hoyer, Jürgen T1 - Psychological Symptoms and Chronic Mood in Representative Samples of Elite Student-Athletes, Deselected Student-Athletes and Comparison Students JF - School mental health : a multidisciplinary research and practice journal N2 - Stress-levels experienced by school-aged elite athletes are pronounced, but data on their mental health status are widely lacking. In our study, we examined self-reported psychological symptoms and chronic mood. Data from a representative sample of 866 elite student-athletes (aged 12-15 years), enrolled in high-performance sport programming in German Elite Schools of Sport, were compared with data from 80 student-athletes from the same schools who have just been deselected from elite sport promotion, and from 432 age-and sex-matched non-sport students from regular schools (without such programming). Anxiety symptoms were least prevalent in female elite student-athletes. In male elite student-athletes, only symptoms of posttraumatic stress were less prevalent than in the other groups. Somatoform symptoms were generally more frequent in athletes, a trend that was significantly pronounced in deselected athletes. Deselected athletes showed an increased risk for psychological symptoms compared with both other groups. Regarding chronic mood, again deselected athletes showed less positive scores. While there was a trend toward high-performance sport being associated with better psychological health at least in girls, preventative programs should take into account that deselection from elite sport programming may be associated with specific risks for mental disorders. KW - School KW - Mental health KW - Mental disorders KW - Competitive sport KW - Forced drop-out Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-012-9095-8 SN - 1866-2625 SN - 1866-2633 VL - 5 IS - 3 SP - 166 EP - 174 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Petzold, Moritz B. A1 - Bischoff, Sophie A1 - Rogoll, Janina A1 - Plag, Jens A1 - Teran, Christina A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Ströhle, Andreas T1 - Physical activity in outpatients with mental disorders: status, measurement and social cognitive determinants of health behavior change JF - European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience : official organ of the German Society for Biological Psychiatry N2 - Physical activity (PA) can play an important role in improving the mental and physical health in patients with mental disorders but is not well studied in this population. The aim of this study was to assess the status of PA in outpatients with mental disorders, compare the convergence of self-rating and accelerometer measurement and examine the influence of social cognitive variables from the Motivation-Volition (MoVo) model and clinical measures on PA. Eighty-four patients were recruited from three psychiatric outpatient clinics and local psychiatrists (Distribution of ICD-10-Diagnoses: F3.x = 59.5%, F4.x = 20.2%, F2.x = 17.9%, F1.x = 2.4%). PA, Self-efficacy, Outcome-expectancies, Intention, Self-concordance, Action- and Coping-planning, Health-related Quality of Life (SF-12) and Psychiatric Symptoms (SCL-27) were assessed through questionnaires. PA was assessed objectively by accelerometers. Most of the participants did not reach PA recommendations. Subjective and objective measurement of PA showed good accordance for total PA on group level but lower accordance on individual level. Motivational and volitional determinants of health behavior change showed a similar pattern of correlations with PA as in populations without mental disorders. Outpatients with mental disorders have the ability and are willing to perform PA but a large proportion of our sample did not meet PA recommendations. To assess group levels of PA, subjective and objective measurement seem equally apt, for individual diagnostics, a combination of both should be considered. Social cognitive determinants of health behavior change seem to be as helpful for the design of PA interventions for patients with mental disorders as they are in other populations. KW - Physical activity KW - Mental disorders KW - Prevalence KW - Assessment KW - Health behavior change KW - MoVo Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-017-0772-3 SN - 0940-1334 SN - 1433-8491 VL - 267 SP - 639 EP - 650 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER -