Study finds religion/spirituality may protect against depression among young adult online gamers

American Counseling Association

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Alexandria, Va. (Jan. 21, 2026) — Internet use is part of daily life for many people in work, social interaction, entertainment, shopping, and many other activities. Many people engage in online gaming to facilitate social connection, though the activity can also contribute to other Internet activities that could increase symptoms of internet addiction and depression. Some research suggests that religion and spirituality may act as a protective factor against internet addiction and depression by providing meaning, social support, and reduced feelings of isolation. 

In the new study, “Predicting major depression among diverse online gamers: The role of internet addiction and spirituality,” researchers looked at how internet addiction is affecting online gamers. Researchers Lindsay A. Lundeen, PhD, of the University of Arkansas and John R. McCall, PhD, of Auburn University surveyed 340 diverse gamers aged 18-24. The sample was comprised of individuals who were predominantly Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino(a/e), White, and female who played an online game at least once weekly. The study appeared in the Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, a publication of the American Counseling Association.

“We found that gamers who struggled to limit, cut back, or control their Internet use were 35 percent more likely to experience symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) compared to gamers who did not struggle to control Internet activity,” says Lundeen who, along with her co-author, is an online gamer. “At the same time, gamers in the study who identified as religious or spiritual were 62 percent less likely to experience MDD symptoms, even if they experienced difficulties moderating Internet use.”

The study demonstrates that spiritual or religious affiliation, even beyond religious practices, can buffer against MDD symptoms. Spiritual affiliation, researchers say, can include “meaning-making” (the process of how people interpret, understand, or make sense of life events), engaging in forgiveness, or finding belonging.

“Our research supports other literature about how internet use of any kind can impact mental health, especially if individuals are not intentional about why they are on the internet,” says McCall.

Lundeen and McCall say their research underscores the importance for counselors to understand how people use the internet and the purpose that usage serves for each individual. When tailoring treatment plans for online gamers with symptoms of MDD or internet addiction, they say counselors should consider how religion or spirituality could be helpful or harmful to the client.

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About the American Counseling Association
Founded in 1952, the American Counseling Association (ACA) is a not-for-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession. ACA represents more than 60,000 members and is the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional counselors in various practice settings. Driven by the belief that all people can benefit from the power of counseling, ACA’s mission is to promote the professional development of counselors, advocate for counselors, and ensure that ethical, culturally inclusive practices protect our members’ clients and all people who seek counseling services. For more information, visit the ACA website and follow them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky and YouTube.

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Journal

Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling

DOI

10.1002/jaoc.70005 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Study Finds Religion/Spirituality May Protect Against Depression Among Young Adult Online Gamers

SELF LOVE

Takeaways are used to reward and console – study

Frontiers in Psychology study looks at ‘self-gifting’ after good and bad days at work

Anglia Ruskin University

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A unique study exploring popular ways to “self‑gift” has found that ordering a takeaway meal is a preferred treat regardless of whether people have had a good or a bad day at work.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology and led by Dr Suzanna Forwood and Dr Annelie Harvey of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), the research is the first to compare how likely people are to choose a range of food and non-food options for both self-reward and self-consolation.

The study involved 280 UK participants who were randomly assigned to imagine either a good, bad or average day at work. They were then asked to report whether they would indulge in five different self-gifting options: an alcoholic drink; a takeaway; a chocolate bar; a bubble bath, and an online shopping spree.

The results reveal that participants imagining a bad day at work, and therefore looking to console themselves, were significantly more likely to treat themselves to takeaway food, an alcoholic drink, a bubble bath or a chocolate bar compared to participants imagining an average day at work.

Ordering a takeaway meal, however, was the only self-gifting treat that satisfied both a motivation to self-reward, following a good day at work, and self-console, following a bad day at work. As takeaway meals are typically less healthy than home‑cooked food, this finding has public health implications as emotional self‑gifting may influence dietary health.

The research also suggests that people don’t consider an online shopping spree to be a treat, with those in the control group, who imagined an average day at work, equally as likely to engage in online shopping as those who had a good or bad day.

A self-gift is defined as a special indulgence for intentional pleasure, and it could be that online shopping is now such an everyday occurrence that people consider it routine.

When analysing the results, the researchers controlled for factors such as participants’ self-esteem and demographic variables such as age and gender, as previous research has shown that younger people and females are more likely to self-gift. Responses from people who indicated they would never typically take part in particular self-gifting options were also filtered out.

Co-lead author of the study Dr Suzanna Forwood, Director of the Research Centre for Better Living at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: “We know that we’re motivated to self-gift either to reward ourselves for successes or as therapy to console ourselves following setbacks. Understanding these behaviours is important, particularly from a public health perspective, as managing our mental health on a daily basis is a valuable part of living well.

“Self-gifting can include a whole range of activities, from consuming food and drink, to engaging in sensory experiences such as bathing, reading or listening to music, or taking part in exercise and sport. While all of these can meet our emotional needs, they have varied effects on our health and physical wellbeing.

“Although our study only looked at five specific behaviours, in real life everyone will have a personal preference and it’s possible to opt for something that’s good for your physical health as well as your mental health.

“Some options in our study provide clear benefits for self‑care, but others carry health risks. Consuming takeaways, chocolate bars and alcoholic drinks increases our intake of calories, sugar, salt and alcohol – all of which contribute to health challenges.

“The popularity of takeaway food may reflect a double benefit. The takeaway combines the indulgence of a desired meal with removing the daily chore of preparing and cooking dinner. For many, that combination may feel particularly appealing after either a successful or a difficult day at work.”

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Journal

Frontiers in Psychology

Article Title

Comfort eating or toasting to your success? Self-gifting choices vary between good and bad days

Article Publication Date

21-Jan-2026

 

When scientists build nanoscale architecture to solve textile and pharmaceutical industry challenges

The study highlights a novel engineered crystalline membrane, whose one-nanometre gateways act as a high-precision sieve, enabling the recycling of polluted textile wastewater and improving the purity and cost-efficiency of generic medicines.

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar

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image: 

Ultra-precise “POMbranes” sieve out larger molecules (red) while allowing only 1-nanometer-sized species (green) to pass through its pores, enabling sharp molecular sorting.

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Credit: The graphic has been created by Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute, Gujarat, India.

Scientists from the CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences have collaborated to develop a new class of highly precise filtration membranes. The research, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could significantly reduce energy consumption and enable large-scale water reuse in industry.

Everyday industrial processes, like purifying medicines, cleaning textile dyes, and processing food, rely on “separations.” Currently, these processes are incredibly energy-hungry, accounting for nearly 40% to 50% of all global industrial energy use. Most factories still use old-fashioned methods like distillation and evaporation to separate ingredients, which are expensive and leave a heavy carbon footprint. Although membrane-based technologies are considered cleaner, most polymer membranes currently used in industry have irregularly sized pores that tend to degrade over time, limiting their effectiveness. Thus, they lack the precision and long-term stability needed for demanding industrial applications.

“To address these limitations, we engineered a new class of ultra-selective, crystalline membranes called “POMbranes”, which contain pores that are about one nanometre wide, thousands of times thinner than a human hair,” said Dr Shilpi Kushwaha, Senior Scientist at CSMCRI. This precise pore size results from an intricate molecular design that mimics the action of biological gatekeepers like aquaporins, which use pores of precisely the right size to filter molecules. The team utilised polyoxometalate (POM) clusters, which feature a permanent, naturally occurring hole exactly 1 nanometer wide. According to Ms Priyanka Dobariya, a CSMCRI research scholar and co-first author of the article, “These POMs are tiny, crown-shaped metal clusters that have a permanent, perfect hole in their centre that does not change or lose shape, which is the biggest hurdle with traditional plastic filters.”

To arrange billions of such rings into a continuous, defect-free sheet suitable for use as a membrane, the research team attached flexible chemical chains to the clusters. When placed on water, the clusters naturally spread out and align, forming an ultrathin film over large areas. By adjusting the length of the attached chains, the team could control how tightly the clusters packed together. “This forced molecules to cross the membrane through the only open path, the one-nanometre holes built into each cluster, allowing the membrane to act like a high-tech sieve,” added Dr Raghavan Ranganathan, Associate Professor at IITGN’s Department of Materials Engineering. He and Mr Vinay Thakur, a PhD scholar at IITGN and the co-first author of the article, performed molecular-level simulations that helped explain how the membranes work. 

The research team has tested the membrane to distinguish between molecules that differ by just 100-200 Daltons. Such precision is extremely difficult to achieve with conventional polymer membranes. According to Dr Ketan Patel, Principal Scientist at CSMCRI, this level of control opens new possibilities for sustainable manufacturing. “Our membranes show almost ten times better separation performance compared to existing technologies, while remaining flexible, stable, and scalable,” he said. “Additionally, these membranes are flexible, stable across different acidity levels (pH ranges), and can be manufactured in large sheets. This combination is essential if the membranes are to be adopted widely in industry.”

The technology is highly relevant to India’s textile and pharmaceutical sectors, both critical pillars of the economy. The textile and apparel sector contributes over 2.3% of GDP. It accounts for around 13% of industrial production, with the domestic market valued at USD 160-225 billion and projected to grow to USD 250-350 billion by 2030. However, textile dyeing and finishing generate large volumes of polluted wastewater, making dye removal and water recycling persistent challenges. The new membranes could selectively remove dye molecules while allowing water to be reused, reducing freshwater consumption and chemical discharge. This is particularly significant as India’s wastewater treatment market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

For the pharmaceutical sector, where precise separations are essential for drug purity and cost-effective manufacturing, the technology could offer significant benefits. “Processes like drug purification and solvent recovery are both energy-intensive and quality-sensitive,” noted Mr Vinay Thakur. “Highly selective membranes such as these can lower energy use while maintaining the stringent standards required in pharmaceutical production.”

The versatility of the engineered POMbranes makes them an efficient platform technology. Their tunable structure, high selectivity, and stability under harsh chemical conditions ensure their suitability for a wide range of separation challenges, from wastewater treatment to advanced chemical processing. As industries seek solutions that balance efficiency, durability, and sustainability, molecularly engineered membranes could form the backbone of next-generation manufacturing technologies. By drawing on a core principle from biology—precise control at the molecular scale—and translating it into a scalable materials system, the research shows how nature-inspired design can address real industrial needs.

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Journal

Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI

10.1021/jacs.5c17644 

Article Title

Large-Area Supramolecular Crystalline Thin Films of Polyoxometalates with Controlled 1-nm Pores Enabling Ultra-Selective Molecular Transport

Article Publication Date

13-Jan-2026

MUTUAL  AID

Whales may divide resources to co-exist under pressures from climate change

28 years of data show that three whale species in the Gulf of St Lawrence may be dividing resources to survive in an ecosystem that’s changing under a warming climate and increased human encroachment

Frontiers

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image: 

Aerial view of a minke whale.

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Credit: Fisheries and Oceans Canada

The North Atlantic Ocean is warming up. Higher temperatures and increased human activity in the region can trigger abrupt changes in marine ecosystems, for example how species are distributed and what they eat.

In a long-term study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers in Canada have examined the diet of three rorqual whale species and how these whales might have adapted their feeding habits as climate change and increasing human presence reshape the ecosystem of the Gulf of St Lawrence (GSL), a seasonally important feeding area for many whale species.

“A recent increase in resource partitioning among fin, humpback, and minke whales in the study area may reflect an increased competition level in response to limited resource availability,” said first author Charlotte Tessier-Larivière, who studies changes in rorqual whale diet in the GSL under climate change at the Maurice Lamontagne Institute. “As Arctic krill is consumed less, we see fin and minke whales relying more on pelagic fish, making it an important prey source for all studied species.”

Baleen food chronicles

The study provides a rare glimpse of long-term changes in whale feeding ecology. Over 28 years, researchers collected 1,110 skin samples from fin, humpback, and minke whales. Those samples were analyzed to determine stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios, which can give information about what whales ate and which position they occupy in the food web. The three study periods – from 1992-2000, 2001-2010, and 2011-2019 – correspond to shifts in environmental conditions, from below-average to near-average to higher-than-average water temperatures and sea ice indices.

The results showed that whales’ food in the GSL may be running low, but that whales can and might already have adjusted their diet to what prey is available. “Highly mobile species like baleen whales can use several strategies to reduce competition, for example by shifting their feeding timing or area, or selecting different prey within a feeding area,” said Tessier-Larivière.

Sharing is caring

Minke whales showed the highest niche overlap with the other species, sharing around 65% of their core niche during the 2000s, and 47% during the 2010s. Humpback whales, who naturally occupy a smaller niche, shared around 56% and 9% of their niche with minke whales during the 2000s and 2010s. Fin whales shared their niche only with minke whales, with overlaps of 42% and 29% during the 2000s and 2010s, respectively.

Niche overlap fluctuates with resource availability. If resources are abundant, multiple species can exploit them, which increases overlap. If resources becomes scarce, competition tends to intensify and individuals and species may try to reduce competition, for example by diversifying their diet or by specializing on different prey. As a result, niche width can expand and niche overlap decrease – as it did in the GSL. “This strongly suggests a decline in resource availability and increased competition at both intra- and interspecific levels,” explained Tessier-Larivière. 

Over time, all species included in the study shifted towards more fish-based diets. Fin whales primarily fed on krill in the 1990s, but shifted to feeding more on fish such as capelin, herring, or mackerel in the 2000s, and then to more sand lance and Northern krill in the 2010s. This shift to new food sources may reflect a decrease in Arctic krill abundance in the North Atlantic. Humpback whales largely relied on a few fish species, such as capelin, herring, or mackerel throughout the study period. Minke whales primarily fed on pelagic fish species but also consumed krill more frequently later into the study.

Complete competitive exclusion, where species that compete for the same resource cannot co-exist, wasn’t observed in the GSL. “This ecosystem seems sufficiently productive and offers alternative prey that are partitioned across space and time,” Tessier-Larivière said. “These conditions promote co-existence rather than one species outcompeting and excluding the others.”

Protecting species by protecting food

While nitrogen and carbon isotope analyses make it possible to learn what animals ate, uncertainties regarding time and location of feeding remain. It is possible that zooplankton consumption by some of the studied whale species was underestimated. Determining the contribution of each prey to whales’ meal plans is challenging as isotopic signatures may not differ between prey species, which limited the ability to estimate the relative importance of each fish species.

Protecting species’ habitat and prey sources is just as important in conservation as protecting species themselves, and long-term studies with large sample sizes are vital. “Rapid environmental changes occurring in the GSL seems to have already impacted rorquals,” Tessier-Larivière concluded. “It is crucial to monitor their trophic niche and consider this information for fisheries management and the development of marine protected areas.”

Sampling of a minke whale using a biopsy arrow

Credit

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Journal

Frontiers in Marine Science

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2025.1679523 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

A 28-year record of the isotopic niche of baleen whales in the gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada: a perspective on ecosystem changes and potential for food competition

Article Publication Date

23-Jan-2026