Faith, purpose and less doomscrolling: study reveals what really protects mental health

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Aaron Cherniak

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Credit: Cherniak

A new study suggests the mental health benefits often associated with religiosity may be attributed to the the habits and mindset it encourages.

Researchers find that meaning in life and healthier digital habits may account for religiosity’s protective effects against addiction and psychological distress.

Why do some people cope better with stress, trauma, and the temptations of the digital age than others? A new study suggests the answer may lie in psychological resources and habits that religiosity can cultivate: a stronger sense of purpose, less time on social media, and reduced exposure to harmful online content.

Conducted while Israel was experiencing ongoing war, the study offers rare insight into how psychological resilience is shaped during periods of prolonged collective trauma and constant exposure to disturbing digital content. The findings may have implications far beyond Israel, offering new clues about how people can better protect their mental health during times of crisis.

Published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, the study was led by Dr. Aaron D. Cherniak, Dr. Dvora Shmulewitz, and Prof. Mario Mikulincer from the Department of Psychology and the Israel Center for Addiction and Mental Health (ICAMH) at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It examined nearly 3,000 Israeli Jewish adults to explore how religiosity, meaning in life, social media use, and exposure to disturbing online content relate to addiction and mental health. The findings reveal that religious participants reported lower rates of substance misuse, behavioral addictions, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, an advantage that can be explained by psychological and digital lifestyle factors that religiosity promotes.

"Our findings suggest that religiosity itself is not the whole story," said Dr. Aaron D. Cherniak. "Much of its protective effect appears to come from the extent it can help people cultivate meaning in life and reduce potentially harmful digital exposure. The encouraging implication is that these are factors anyone can strengthen, regardless of whether they are religious."

Across the study, three factors consistently emerged as the strongest predictors of better mental health:

• A stronger sense that life has meaning and purpose.
• Less time spent on social media.
• Lower exposure to harmful online content, including graphic war-related material and hate speech.

These factors were linked to lower vulnerability to substance misuse, behavioral addictions such as problematic gambling, gaming and pornography use, as well as symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. Meaning in life and healthy digital habits are modifiable and worthwhile targets for interventions, be they therapeutic, psychosocial, or public health in nature.

One of the study's most striking findings is that once researchers accounted for meaning in life and digital habits, religiosity no longer independently predicted better mental health outcomes. Its protective effect remained significant only for problematic substance use, indicating that other aspects of religiosity, such as shared norms and social support within religious communities, may provide additional safeguards against alcohol and drug misuse.

Participants who spent more time on social media and encountered more graphic war-related material or online hate speech reported significantly greater psychological distress, regardless of their religious identity.

Rather than focusing solely on treating individual disorders, the researchers examined common underlying vulnerability across multiple conditions—including addiction, depression, anxiety and PTSD—to better understand the vulnerability and resilience across symptom categories.

"Religion has long been a source of meaning and inspiration for behavior change,” Cherniak added. "Our results show these resources, which are not exclusive to religion, may reduce vulnerability to a variety of psychological difficulties.” 

The findings reinforce the idea that helping people cultivate meaning in life, improve digital wellbeing, and reduce exposure to harmful online content could become an important direction for mental health prevention—not only during periods of conflict, but in everyday life.

Methodology

The researchers analyzed survey responses from 2,907 Jewish adults in Israel collected in February 2025. Participants represented a broad cross-section of Jewish Israeli society, including secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox communities. Using validated psychological assessments, the team measured symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, substance use, behavioral addictions, meaning in life, social media use, and exposure to harmful online content. Advanced statistical modeling allowed the researchers to examine how these factors interact and identify which ones best explain differences in mental health and addiction risk while accounting for demographic characteristics and direct exposure to the ongoing war.

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Journal

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

DOI

10.1007/s11469-026-01699-z 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Association of Religiosity, Meaning in Life, and Social Media Use with Common Mental Health Disorders

 

New global study maps how spe­cial­ist mu­sic pro­grams sup­port mu­si­cally gifted chil­dren

Striv­ing for ex­cel­lence should be the child’s own choice

University of the Arts Helsinki

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Unfortunately, a child’s musical giftedness has not always been solely an advantage. Many gifted figures in classical music, such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and in popular music, such as Michael Jackson and Britney Spears, suffered harsh treatment because of their exceptional abilities as children. These sad examples prompt an important question: have we learned from the mistakes of the past? How are gifted children treated in music education today?

This question was explored extensively in a project funded by the Research Council of Finland and led by Guadalupe López-Íñiguez. The project gathered responses from 81 leaders representing 68 specialist music programmes across 25 countries. Bringing together multidisciplinary perspectives on how specialist music programmes educate and support musically gifted children around the world, the study also provides the most comprehensive international picture to date of how gifted children are educated and supported within these programmes.

Joint research articles by Academy Research Fellow Guadalupe López-Íñiguez and Professor Gary E. McPherson reveal a fundamental tension in specialist music education. Some programmes primarily focus on preparing future professional musicians and advancing institutional or national excellence and prestige. In such cases, there is a risk that the needs of the system take precedence over the needs of the child. Other programmes place greater emphasis on children’s holistic development, psychological needs, wellbeing, and childhood rights.

“Rather than finding a single model of gifted education in music, we found a spectrum of approaches,” says Guadalupe López-Íñiguez from the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.

“Many leaders are striving to balance artistic excellence with genuine care for children, but they also acknowledge that there is considerable room for improvement.”

Limited empirical evidence for wellbeing practices

The first study mapped specialist music programmes worldwide, examining their educational missions, leadership perspectives, and the challenges they face.

Although programme leaders consistently valued high-quality musical training, they also described ongoing dilemmas involving heavy student workloads, performance pressure, inadequate safeguarding measures, mental and physical health concerns, unequal access to opportunities, and the challenge of balancing intensive music studies with children’s broader educational and personal development.

The second study explored what caring leadership looks like within these highly specialised environments. Leaders responsible for developing and running these programmes described initiatives including counselling services, safeguarding policies, stronger communication with families, peer support, teacher development, and greater attention to students’ emotional wellbeing. However, the research also found that these practices remain unevenly distributed across programmes and that evidence of their impact on students’ health and wellbeing remains limited.

Supporting children as whole human beings is fundamental to excellence

“Similarly to other sub-studies within the project, these findings do not suggest that excellence and care are opposing goals,” explains Professor McPherson from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne.

“Instead, they show that the highest-quality programmes increasingly recognise that supporting gifted children as whole human beings is fundamental to sustaining artistic excellence.”

López-Íñiguez adds that this recognition is only part of the solution: “Care for the whole child should be a non-negotiable obligation of every educational environment, whereas artistic excellence should always remain a child’s choice, never something imposed, whether or not they are gifted.” 

Because both articles are published Open Access, educators, researchers, policymakers, families, and music students can freely access the findings. The researchers hope the work will encourage continued international dialogue about how specialist music programmes can balance outstanding artistic training with children’s wellbeing, rights, and long-term development.

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Journal

Gifted Education International

DOI

10.1177/02614294251360614 

Method of Research

Case study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Issues and Approaches to Gifted Education in Specialist Music Programs Globally: Insights From Institutional Leaders

 

New federal designation elevates UofL physician-scientist training program

MSTP award provides MD-PhD program with funding and recognition

University of Louisville

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UofL MD-PhD student Steven Nadakal with program directors Kenneth Palmer, left and Maxwell Boakye, right.

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Credit: University of Louisville photo.

The University of Louisville has received a new federal designation and funding for its physician-scientist training program, placing it among top MD-PhD training programs across the U.S. The designation will enable the UofL School of Medicine to amplify the program’s curriculum and increase the number of physician-researchers trained to bridge laboratory research and patient care.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has designated UofL’s MD-PhD program as a Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), which includes $2 million in funding over five years. The designation places UofL’s program among 58 elite programs of more than 120 dual-degree clinician-scientist programs in the U.S.

“This is a tremendous milestone for us, and we’re especially proud to be the first institution in Kentucky to receive this distinction,” said Jeffrey Bumpous, executive vice president for health affairs and dean of the UofL School of Medicine. “In Kentucky, the need for physician-scientists is particularly profound, given the high burden of cancer, obesity, chronic disease and other health issues among Kentuckians. This designation will help us prepare more and even higher caliber physician-scientists who are uniquely qualified to advance health care and improve outcomes for Kentuckians.”

Physician-scientists earn both a medical doctor (MD) degree and a research doctorate (PhD), giving them expertise to accelerate the path of new therapies and technologies from the lab to the bedside, where they can improve health and well-being for people everywhere. Over its 25-year history, the UofL MD-PhD program has prepared physician-scientists for careers in academic medicine, biomedical research, clinical innovation and leadership.

“The MSTP award acknowledges the quality and caliber of our program's students, faculty, research environment, mentoring and integrated medical and graduate training, while also providing sustained federal support,” said Maxwell Boakye, co-director of the MD-PhD program and professor and chief of spinal neurosurgery. “By enhancing the national visibility and competitiveness of the UofL program, the MSTP designation also has the potential to improve our ability to recruit exceptional students.”

The funding will benefit students directly, supporting stipends, tuition, fees and other training-related expenses, thereby diminishing financial barriers to completion. Funds also will support enhanced program curriculum and mentor training, along with additional community-engaged research and entrepreneurial opportunities.

In addition, networking and career development opportunities available through the MSTP designation, such as program meetings and collaboration with other top physician-scientist training programs, will further position UofL’s graduates for competitive residency, fellowship and faculty positions.

Program leaders estimate these resources will allow the School of Medicine to increase the seven- to eight-year program’s enrollment from 24 to 40 over the next five years.

“The ultimate goal of our program is to ensure that we train physician-scientists who continue to pursue careers conducting high-quality research and clinical care, maximizing the value of their dual-degree education for the benefit of society,” said Kenneth Palmer, program co-director and professor of pharmacology. “MSTP designation allows us to provide outstanding training for even more students who will lead medical progress for decades to come and contribute to improved health for all.”

Steven Nadakal, a current student in the research portion of the MD-PhD program, said the MSTP designation validates the quality of UofL’s training.

“It's definitely a federal stamp of approval that UofL is a research powerhouse,” Nadakal said. “The MSTP designation really means that we are among the best when it comes to research output and clinical output and we're really trying to do good medicine and science, not for our own sakes, but for the community's sake at large.”

Recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as both a Research 1 and Community Engaged university, UofL possesses exceptional infrastructure to provide both basic science and community-relevant research. Nadakal’s research to develop protocols characterizing where HIV lives in the DNA of infected people is an example of work that benefits from engagement with the community. His team is part of an organization that checks in regularly with HIV patients to ensure medical research aligns with their needs.

Daniel Nguyen, a student entering his final year of the MD-PhD program, said UofL already offers high quality training deserving of the MSTP label.

“The MSTP designation formalizes a program that has been operating at that standard for the past few years,” Nguyen said. “Its success is built on many things, including the sheer number of research opportunities offered. However, the strongest component of UofL's program is its integrated approach to student training. Students maintain clinical exposure through graduate school and research continuity throughout their medical training, so the transition from one environment to the other isn't a cold start.”

The NIH’s defined goals for the MSTP program are to help ensure that a pool of highly trained scientists is available in appropriate scientific disciplines to address the nation's biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.

 

Hunting for the axion with a huge magnet

DFG approves €6 million magnet system at the University of Bonn, University of Siegen and TU Dortmund University

University of Bonn

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The large yellow cylinder represents the magnet, which has now secured DFG funding via a proposal for major instrumentation.

 

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Credit: Artwork: IAXO Collaboration

The search for an as-yet undiscovered elementary particle has been given fresh momentum as the German Research Foundation (DFG) has now greenlit the construction of a special €6 million magnet system in the Color meets Flavor Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn, University of Siegen and TU Dortmund University. Dubbed “BabyIAXO,” it is being built to hunt for the axion, a hitherto undetected elementary particle that could unlock one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in particle physics.

Imagine a ten-meter-long magnet that is operated at around minus 270°C and that sits on a moving platform, allowing it to track the Sun through the sky for 12 hours a day. With the DFG having signed off funding, the physicists in the BabyIAXO project can now start putting it in motion. “This is the largest dipole magnet that’s ever been constructed in particle physics,” says a happy Professor Matthias Schott, coordinator of the research proposal and Speaker for the Matter Transdisciplinary Research Area at the University of Bonn. “The magnet is the beating heart of the experiment and is what makes BabyIAXO possible in the first place.”

The system behind BabyIAXO is really quite special: The superconducting magnet has to be operated at around minus 270°C to achieve the necessary magnetic field strengths. A unique design is also called for, because the magnet has to tilt a long way up and down in order to follow the Sun. The system is to be built at the research center DESY in Hamburg.

From a “baby” to a full-grown magnet system

As the name suggests, BabyIAXO represents an intermediate stage on the journey to an even bigger, “full-grown” magnet system, namely the International Axion Observatory (IAXO). This is set to be twice as large, i.e. with a 20-meter-long magnet, making it the biggest helioscope experiment planned in the hunt for the axion. The telescope will study the Sun at an unprecedented level of sensitivity, some 10,000 times more efficiently than the most powerful helioscope employed to date, hopefully enabling it to finally provide proof of the axion’s existence. “IAXO will have eight measuring stations, each of which can be kitted out with various telescopes and detectors,” says IAXO Collaboration Board Chair Professor Klaus Desch from the University of Bonn. “This will let us look for axions with a range of properties and capture as wide a range of potential axions as possible.”

Professor Julia K. Vogel from TU Dortmund University, IAXO’s Deputy Spokesperson, adds: “We first have to create the technologies and instruments that IAXO will need ourselves. This will require intensive research and development as well as extensive experimental testing, and BabyIAXO marks a crucial step on this journey.”

The axion: a solution to a fundamental problem in the Standard Model

Some may wonder why so much money and effort is being invested in the search for a hypothetical elementary particle. Physicists, however, need no convincing: proving the existence of the axion would solve one of the fundamental puzzles of the Standard Model of particle physics, namely the “strong CP problem”.

The problem can be understood as follows: according to the known laws of nature, many physical processes should remain unchanged if particles are replaced by their antiparticles while the system is simultaneously “flipped,” as if viewed in a mirror. Physicists know that the weak interaction violates this “CP symmetry.” The theory of the strong interaction, which binds quarks into protons and neutrons, also allows for such CP violation. “Despite decades of experimenting, however, physicists have never succeeded in actually observing such a violation,” Schott explains. To resolve this contradiction, in 1977 Roberto Peccei and Helen Quinn postulated the axion, a hypothetical elementary particle with an extremely small mass that interacts extraordinarily feebly with ordinary matter. “These properties also make the axion a very good candidate for dark matter,” Desch adds. In other words, physicists have two compelling reasons for running experiments to hunt for signs of its existence.

Institutions involved and funding secured

Twenty universities and research institutions from all over the world are involved in IAXO. As part of its major instrumentation programme, the DFG has approved the construction of a magnet system costing €6 million for the BabyIAXO project. Of this amount, €3 million will be provided by the DFG itself, €2.4 million by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and a further  €600,000 jointly by the University of Bonn, the University of Siegen and TU Dortmund University as part of the “Color meets Flavor” Cluster of Excellence.

Further information:

International Axion Observatory (IAXO): https://iaxo.desy.de/
IAXO’s Instagram channel: https://www.instagram.com/iaxo_official/
The University of Bonn’s IAXO web page: https://www.pi.uni-bonn.de/desch/en/research/iaxo-1
Color meets Flavor: https://color-meets-flavor.de/

 

USF researchers develop new framework for understanding how emotions shape behavior online

Tripartite Reactions to Emotions theory explains how emotional posts and reviews influence perceptions of products, judgments of their authors and readers’ own feelings

University of South Florida

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Dezhi Yin, University of South Florida

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Credit: USF

TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 11, 2026) — Every day, billions of people scroll through social media posts, online reviews and news feeds filled with emotional content — from glowing five-star reviews to rage-inducing social media rants. Those emotions can quietly shape what people buy, what they believe and how they act.

University of South Florida research published in MIS Quarterly introduces a framework for explaining how emotional content affects people online — and why its effects can be so powerful and sometimes contradictory.

The Tripartite Reactions to Emotions theory gives researchers, platform designers, marketers and policymakers a shared framework for understanding how emotional content influences people online and how those effects might be anticipated, measured and managed.

According to the theory, when someone expresses emotion in an online post or review, it can trigger three distinct psychological reactions, sometimes simultaneously:

• People form impressions of the product, place or idea being discussed.
• They make judgments about the person who wrote or posted the content.
• They experience some of the emotion themselves, an effect known as emotional contagion.

“Understanding these three distinct reactions helps explain why emotional content online can be so powerful — and why its effects are often surprising or contradictory,” said Dezhi Yin, lead author and professor at the University of South Florida Muma College of Business.

The three reactions can lead to very different — and sometimes conflicting — behaviors.

One of the theory’s most surprising insights, Yin said, is that an emotional post or review can simultaneously push people toward and away from a product or brand.

For example, an angry review might cause readers to trust the reviewer less and discount the review, while still making them feel negatively about the product being reviewed.

The framework provides a way to distinguish these different reactions and better understand how they interact, helping explain why the same piece of emotional content can have multiple effects on the people who encounter it.

The paper’s other co-authors are Samuel Bond of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Han Zhang of Hong Kong Baptist University.

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Journal

MIS Quarterly

DOI

10.25300/MISQ/2025/18570 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Tripartite Reactions to Emotions (TRE) Theory: The Impact of Emotional Expressions in User-Generated Content

WVU research aims to curb risky loss-chasing in online betting

West Virginia University

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Researchers at the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics are using grant funding from Arnold Ventures to study risky sports betting behavior in West Virginia to help protect gamblers and their families.

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Credit: WVU Photo Illustration/Torre Massie

Because gamblers often up the ante rather than cut their losses when their online bets and parlays are a bust, researchers at the West Virginia University John Chambers College of Business and Economics are studying loss-chasing behavior in West Virginia to help protect Mountain State gamblers and their families from the associated risks.

“Some people are placing hundreds of bets on sporting events in just one month through online gaming operators,” Brad Humphreys, Chambers College economics professor, said. “West Virginians who gamble irresponsibly need help. Our research is going to make it easier to get those people help.”

Arnold Ventures recently awarded WVU a nearly $300,000 grant for research that analyzes real-time data collected from state gaming operators to identify trends in risky betting and the triggers that cause loss-chasing. Experts refer to it as loss-chasing ­when a person places bets to make up for a previous lost wager.

West Virginia is one of 38 states where online sports betting is legal. Two years ago, state lawmakers enacted the Responsible Gaming Research and Industry Development Act, which requires operators to share timely online gaming data with WVU.

That data offers a detailed picture of gamblers’ decision-making for Humphreys, who serves as director of the Chambers College Center for Gaming Research and Development.

“If our research is right, that a near-miss parlay bet causes people to loss-chase and behave irresponsibly, operators can identify those people at the time they experience the loss and take measures like pausing accounts to prevent those people from doing financial harm to themselves,” Humphreys said. “That’s the definition of making life better for West Virginians.”

Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy that supports projects rooted in evidence-based information that can lead to policy changes.

“As more states allow online gaming, the need for evidence-based research is growing,” Milan Puskar Dean Joshua Hall said. “This grant from Arnold Ventures positions Dr. Humphreys and the Center for Gaming Research and Development to generate insights that help policymakers, industry stakeholders, and public health professionals make informed, data-driven decisions. We greatly appreciate the Legislature’s recognition of our expertise in this area and this grant is a testament to their vision.”

In West Virginia, nearly 90% of bets on sporting events are parlay bets. Parlay bets — wagers on two or more outcomes, called “legs” — only pay off when all predictions are correct. For example, a parlay bet that three NFL teams will win their games is a three-leg parlay. There is no payout unless all three teams win.

West Virginia is also among seven states where iGaming is legal. Gamblers can access a variety of internet-based games and betting opportunities. That may include casino-style games such as slots and poker.

“Most bets on sporting events or in iGaming have negative expected values,” Humphreys said. “The shocking thing is the amount of money that’s wagered on iGaming is an order of magnitude larger than the amount of money wagered on sports betting.”

Humphreys has conducted research focused on gambling for more than 20 years. Georgia’s Legislature, the National Council of Gambling Regulators, and lottery commissioners in Colorado are among the policymakers who have recently called upon Humphreys’ expertise.

“That shows we have something starting at WVU that is unique,” he said. “The idea is to become an international leader in this type of research.”

Using information observed before and after bettors experience a triggering loss, researchers can determine the riskiness of the wagers. The goal for researchers like Humphreys is to promote responsible gaming and consumer protection in gaming markets.

The Arnold Ventures grant was awarded through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.