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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/frequent-church-attendance-strongly-predicts-whether-a-woman-will-marry-before-having-a-child/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Frequent church attendance strongly predicts whether a woman will marry before having a child</a>
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<p><p>An analysis of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data investigated the types of family-forming transitions people experience. They found that women who attend religious services frequently or belong to a conservative denomination were the most likely to marry before cohabiting with a partner or giving birth. The paper was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.70016"><em>Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion</em></a>.</p>
<p>Family-forming events are life events through which people create, expand, or redefine a family unit. They usually include marriage, cohabitation, and childbirth. Decades ago, most U.S. women married without ever having cohabited. However, more recently, approximately 75% of young women live with their partner sometime in young adulthood. Many also give birth to a child before entering into a union with a partner.</p>
<p>What a person’s first family-forming event will be depends on many factors. These include cultural norms, personal values, relationship opportunities, education, and various life circumstances. One important factor is religion. Many religions encourage early marriage and discourage cohabitation and nonmarital births.</p>
<p>Study authors Man Xu and Paula England wanted to examine how religion might affect marriage as a first family-forming event. More specifically, they wanted to know whether religiosity (represented by how often one attends religious services) and belonging to a conservative denomination predict marrying as one’s first family-forming event.</p>
<p>The authors analyzed data from waves 1 to 19 (1997 to 2019-2020) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Data came from 4,333 women born between 1980 and 1984 who were followed for a total of 615,451 person-months. From this survey, the researchers used data on participating women’s marital or cohabitation status, childbirth histories, religious service attendance, and religious denomination.</p>
<p>Religious denominations that were considered conservative included Baptist, Holiness (Nazarene, Wesleyan, Free Methodist), Pentecostal (Assembly of God, Pentecostal Holiness), Nondenominational Christian (including Bible Church), Mormon (LDS), Orthodox Jewish, and Muslim.</p>
<p>Results showed that only 14% of participating women had marriage as their first family-forming event. Of the women who married before cohabiting or giving birth, 51% reported attending religious services at least once a week in their youth. Among women who reported cohabiting first, only 20% attended religious services at least once a week. This percentage was 23% among women who had a birth first (i.e., before either marriage or cohabitation).</p>
<p>Of the women who married first, 49% belonged to a conservative denomination, compared to 29% of those who cohabited first. (Interestingly, 47% of women who gave birth first also belonged to a conservative religion). Overall, women belonging to conservative religious denominations and those attending religious services frequently were more likely to marry before cohabiting or giving birth, and to do so at an earlier age—typically around age 22 or 23, compared to ages 24 to 27 for those who cohabited or had a birth first.</p>
<p>Importantly, the researchers found that while religion delays the age of first sexual intercourse, it does not prevent premarital sex for the vast majority of women. Among the women who married first, 82% still had sex before marriage. Overall, more than 90% of highly religious women and 94% of women in conservative denominations reported having premarital sex. Because religion was found to encourage marriage even after women become sexually active, the authors suggest that religious communities instill strong “pro-marriage” cultural ideals that go beyond simply prohibiting premarital sex.</p>
<p>“We showed that religiosity (frequency of service attendance) and adhering to a conservative denomination encourage marrying without having ever cohabited or had a birth, and doing so at a relatively young age,” the study authors concluded. “Religiosity and religious conservatism also discourage premarital sex, which is probably part of how they encourage early marriage. However, most religious and religiously conservative women do have premarital sex, and religion encourages marrying even after women have had sex, suggesting that some of the effect of religiosity and religious conservatism on marriage probably reflects explicit pro-marriage cultural schemas in religious discourse and practice.”</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of factors associated with the ways in which people form families. While the researchers used extensive background controls to make causal inferences plausible, they note that unmeasured factors could still influence both religiosity and marriage, meaning strict causal relationships cannot be definitively proven.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.70016">Religion Affects Whether US Women Marry Early, Without Cohabiting or Having a Nonmarital Birth First</a>,” was authored by Man Xu and Paula England.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/what-computer-simulations-reveal-about-the-evolutionary-purpose-of-gaming/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">What computer simulations reveal about the evolutionary purpose of gaming</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 28th 2026, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2026.106833" target="_blank">Evolution and Human Behavior</a></em> provides evidence that the social benefits of playing games depend heavily on the context, such as the skill levels of the players and the risks present in their environment. Scientists found that while playing games might not immediately forge new friendships in a low-stakes laboratory setting, computer simulations suggest gaming could have evolved as a way for early humans to identify highly skilled allies for dangerous tasks.</p>
<p>Playing and gaming are universal human activities, but they differ in important ways. Playing involves spontaneous activities without specific goals, which is common in human infants and many animals. Gaming consists of trying to overcome rule-bounded challenges, often involving competition in scenarios that resemble warfare or hunting. </p>
<p>Because gaming emerges later in development and appears unique to humans, scientists wanted to understand the selective pressures that drove its origins. The researchers proposed the competition-for-allies hypothesis, suggesting that gaming evolved as a strategic tool for individuals to compete, form, and maintain new relationships. </p>
<p>“I have long been interested in gaming and noticed early on that it is more prevalent among boys and men than among girls and women,” explained lead researcher Yago Lukševičius de Moraes, an assistant professor at Fundação Santo André and author of the <a href="https://psychoandrology.substack.com/" target="_blank">Psychoandrology</a> Substack. “In 2014, I began studying male psychology, and in 2019, during my Master’s, I examined whether gaming contributed to male mating or parenting success. The evidence suggested that gaming is more relevant for friendship formation than for mating, which motivated me to pursue this topic in my PhD.”</p>
<p>To test this hypothesis, the scientists conducted two complementary studies. The first study included 40 individuals aged 18 to 40, who were divided into same-sex pairs of strangers. The scientists used same-sex pairs because the competition-for-allies hypothesis suggests that males might show stronger alliance-oriented gaming dynamics due to ancestral differences in physical competition. </p>
<p>Before interacting, participants completed questionnaires designed to measure two specific concepts. The first concept was the perceived value of their peer, which involved rating their partner on traits like intelligence, charisma, and cooperativeness. In an evolutionary context, a peer’s value refers to attributes that would historically increase a person’s chances of survival or success. </p>
<p>The second concept was relational proximity, which measures the level of closeness and intimacy developing between the strangers. After the initial survey, half of the pairs played a match of Nine Men’s Morris, an ancient abstract board game where players take turns placing and moving pieces to capture their opponent’s pieces. The other half of the pairs engaged in a non-game role-playing activity, acting as two friends with opposite desires who had to reach a consensus. </p>
<p>After completing their assigned activity, the participants filled out the questionnaires again. The pairs returned to the laboratory 14 and 28 days later to complete the activities in a reversed order and take the surveys once more. The scientists expected that playing the board game would accelerate the bonding process, helping participants stabilize their views of each other’s value and grow closer more quickly than the role-playing activity. </p>
<p>However, the data did not support this expectation. While participants did update their impressions of one another over the repeated sessions, these shifts were driven by simply spending time together rather than the specific activity they performed. Gaming did not produce stronger or faster changes in perceived peer value or relational closeness compared to role-playing. </p>
<p>Because laboratory settings often lack the high stakes of ancestral human environments, the researchers conducted a second study using an agent-based evolutionary model. This is a computer simulation that allows scientists to program artificial individuals, or agents, with specific behavioral rules and observe how their interactions unfold over many generations. Each simulated population consisted of 100 agents, featuring 99 native non-gamers and one mutant gamer who carried the specific trait for gaming. </p>
<p>Every generation, the agents sought a single cooperative partner to face a task representing ancestral activities like hunting or warfare. The likelihood of surviving this task depended on the combined skills of the two partners and the environmental hazard level, which represents the deadly risks of failing the task. The simulations revealed that gaming only spread through the population under very specific conditions. </p>
<p>Gaming became a successful evolutionary trait only when the initial gamer possessed above-average skills. If the first gamer had poor skills, the gaming trait consistently disappeared from the population. “One unexpected finding was that simulations showed gaming could evolve even without individuals remembering past partners,” de Moraes told PsyPost. “This suggests that the social benefits of gaming do not necessarily depend on long-term relationships, but can emerge from short-term interactions.”</p>
<p>The simulations also showed that the environmental risks needed to coevolve with the population’s skill level. This means that as the agents became more skilled, the survival tasks had to become more dangerous for gaming to remain advantageous. When the environment remained static and risks did not increase, the gaming behavior tended to drift and fade away. </p>
<p>“Although people report feeling more connected after gaming, this effect is not automatic,” de Moraes noted. “It depends on factors such as the type of game, players’ skill levels, and the interaction context. The simulations support the idea that gaming may have evolved to promote social bonding, but only under specific conditions, such as when skilled individuals are relatively rare and environments involve meaningful levels of risk.”</p>
<p>The researchers noted a few limitations to their work. “This is an initial study, and both the experimental and simulation components require replication and extension,” de Moraes explained. “The experimental design would benefit from larger samples, longer interaction periods, different types of games, and more standardized measures. The simulation results should also be tested across a broader range of parameters and alternative assumptions.”</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers aim to refine their computer models. “I plan to expand the theoretical model to incorporate mechanisms such as social learning and genetic relatedness,” de Moraes said. “Empirically, I plan to address current limitations and test additional hypotheses, including whether gaming functions as a non-violent mechanism for resolving social conflicts.”</p>
<p>“Gaming is a complex and widespread human behavior, yet research on it remains fragmented across disciplines,” de Moraes added. “Progress in this area will require more comparative studies across different types of games, including sports, video games, board games, card games, tabletop RPGs, and games of chance.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2026.106833" target="_blank">Evolutionary and social functions of gaming: Integrating experimental evidence and mathematical modeling</a>,” was authored by Yago Lukševičius de Moraes, Marco Antonio Correa Varella, Leonardo Cezar Silva Costa, Nayara Teles, and Jaroslava Varella Valentova.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/a-simple-blank-screen-test-revealed-a-key-fact-about-the-psychology-of-neuroticism/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">A simple “blank screen” test revealed a key fact about the psychology of neuroticism</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 28th 2026, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2026.113726" target="_blank">Personality and Individual Differences</a> provides evidence that people with higher levels of neuroticism tend to naturally focus their thoughts on life problems and uncertainties when their minds are at rest. This default tendency to dwell on negative topics suggests a reason why these individuals frequently experience unhappiness and distress even without any immediate stressors. By exploring what people think about during idle moments, scientists hope to better understand the mental habits that contribute to everyday anxiety.</p>
<p>Psychologists describe neuroticism as a broad personality trait that predisposes individuals to experience negative emotions like stress, anxiety, and sadness. People who score high in neuroticism tend to experience more mental health issues, including generalized anxiety and depression. </p>
<p>In the past, scientists have usually studied neuroticism by looking at how people react to negative events or external threats. Emotional reactivity means experiencing a larger-than-normal emotional spike in response to a stressful event. However, this focus on emotional reactivity fails to explain why highly neurotic people often feel distressed even when nothing particularly bad is happening to them. </p>
<p>To address this gap, the researchers drew inspiration from older psychological theories and newer neurological findings. Researcher Muhammad R. Asad explained, “In the 1950s-1970s, many personality psychologists explored the idea that personality is most evident in terms of spontaneous forms of thinking, such as daydreams, fantasies, etc.” </p>
<p>Asad noted that recent scientific literature has built on these concepts. “More recently, a literature on mind-wandering and the default mode network, which is a brain network that becomes active when the person is detached from tasks or actions, has converged on earlier ideas, many of which were originally inspired by Freudian frameworks,” he said. </p>
<p>“It struck us that we could develop a ‘thought sampling’ paradigm that was really well structured to examine what people are thinking about when they are doing nothing, but are awake,” Asad added. “From these influences, we created a ‘blank space’ paradigm, where people stare at blank screens for periods of time and then tell us what happened in their minds.” </p>
<p>“Personality traits should be revealed in the types of thoughts that one has when nothing is happening,” Asad continued. “In the present research, it seemed likely that people higher in neuroticism would choose to focus on problems and uncertainties in their lives, with such thought streams likely to give rise to negative affect.”</p>
<p>To test their ideas, the researchers conducted an initial study with 154 college students. First, the students completed a standard questionnaire to measure their levels of neuroticism. After this, they were seated alone in small, unadorned rooms with a computer and asked to simply observe their own thoughts and feelings.</p>
<p>The computer program guided them through six blank periods, ranging from 20 to 140 seconds, where the screen was mostly black. During these periods, the participants had absolutely no task to complete and were free to let their minds wander. After each blank interval, the students answered questions on a seven-point scale about what they had just been thinking about.</p>
<p>The questions asked participants to rate how much they were thinking about themselves, their relationships, good things in their lives, or problems. They also rated how pleasant or unpleasant they felt during that specific time block. This method allowed the scientists to track how emotional states shifted alongside passing thoughts.</p>
<p>The scientists found a direct connection between the content of a person’s thoughts and their emotional state at any given moment. Thinking about good things was linked to pleasant feelings, while thinking about problems was linked to unpleasant feelings. </p>
<p>Participants with higher neuroticism scores reported thinking about life problems more often and good things less often. Because of this thought pattern, highly neurotic individuals experienced more unpleasant feelings overall during the experiment. This pattern provides evidence that a highly neurotic mind naturally defaults to negative and unpleasant topics.</p>
<p>To build on these initial observations, the researchers conducted a second study with a new group of 180 college students. The procedure was nearly identical to the first study, but it included twelve blank intervals instead of six. The researchers also used sliding visual scales from zero to 100 instead of standard numbered options to record answers.</p>
<p>These sliding scales allowed for more precise measurements of how much time the participants spent thinking about specific topics. In this second experiment, the scientists also added two new thought categories to the assessment. Participants were asked to estimate how much time they spent thinking about their goals, which are generally seen as positive, and their uncertainties, which are typically viewed as negative. </p>
<p>Pursuing goals tends to give people a sense of purpose, while facing uncertainties often creates feelings of worry and dread. By including these topics, the scientists hoped to capture a wider range of the thoughts that typically occupy a wandering mind. As in the first study, participants also rated their overall feelings of pleasantness.</p>
<p>The findings from the second study supported the initial observations and provided additional details about how the mind wanders. Thinking about goals and good things predicted pleasant feelings, while dwelling on problems and uncertainties predicted unpleasant feelings. Unlike the first study, the researchers also found that thinking about relationships was linked to pleasant feelings.</p>
<p>Participants who scored higher in neuroticism spent significantly more time thinking about problems and uncertainties. At the same time, they spent much less time thinking about goals, positive aspects of their lives, and their relationships. This tendency to focus on darker topics offers a strong explanation for why neuroticism heavily predicts dissatisfaction with life.</p>
<p>These findings suggest that mental habits play a significant role in shaping a person’s emotional experience. Asad explained that the average person should recognize “that people create their own realities through the types of thoughts that they have.” </p>
<p>“Individuals prone to negative affect seem to be contributing to their negative affect by choosing to think about problems and uncertainties under default conditions,” Asad continued. “Perhaps these findings could point to ways that pessimistic ways of living could be changed.”</p>
<p>While these findings offer a helpful look into the resting mind, the researchers acknowledge that their methods have boundaries. “We need more research of the present type,” Asad noted. </p>
<p>“For example, one could have more trials or even assess spontaneous thoughts over the course of several days to get a thought assessment that reflects more chronic (over time) tendencies,” Asad explained. “We would also like to see research that explores whether recent experiences (e.g., being placed in a negative mood state) change the frequency of problematic thoughts, especially at higher levels of neuroticism.” </p>
<p>Moving forward, the scientists hope to track the ongoing flow of human cognition. “We would like to start examining the ‘stream-of-consciousness’ that William James wrote about so eloquently,” Asad said, referencing the famous philosopher and psychologist. </p>
<p>“For example, does having certain thoughts at time A lead to having other thoughts at time B?” Asad asked. “That is, do thoughts trigger each other in ways that can be tracked and do such thought streams vary by personality?” </p>
<p>By refining their experimental methods, the scientists hope to unlock even deeper insights into human cognition. “To the extent that we can alter the paradigm to be more sensitive, we might be able to really see how people’s minds work,” Asad concluded. </p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2026.113726" target="_blank">Dark thoughts: Default thought tendencies as a function of neuroticism</a>,” was authored by Muhammad R. Asad, Hamidreza Fereidouni, and Michael D. Robinson.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/autism-genetics-overlap-with-microscopic-brain-structure-in-the-general-populati/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Autism genetics linked to reduced brain cell fiber density</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 27th 2026, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>Individuals who carry common genetic variants associated with autism tend to have lower density in the brain’s microscopic wiring, regardless of whether they actually have an autism diagnosis. The research reveals a shared genetic architecture between the likelihood of autism and the microscopic development of the brain. The study was published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-02927-z"><em>Molecular Psychiatry</em></a>.</p>
<p>Autism is a condition influenced by a vast pool of genetic variations spread across human DNA. Each minor genetic difference has only a tiny effect on its own, but combined, they shape a person’s underlying likelihood of developing the condition. This type of genetic architecture is called polygenic inheritance. </p>
<p>Researchers have documented structural brain differences in autistic individuals for many years. However, much less is known about how the multitude of genes linked to autism might affect the physical structure of the brain in the broader public. Genetic traits often influence physical characteristics across an entire population on a sliding scale.</p>
<p>To answer these questions, scientists look for subtle patterns in large databases of health records. Yuanjun Gu and Varun Warrier, researchers based at the University of Cambridge, led a large team of international scientists to investigate these patterns. They wanted to see if a higher genetic likelihood for autism corresponds with specific measurable differences in brain anatomy.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed brain imaging and genetic data from two large, independent sources. They examined information from over thirty thousand adults enrolled in the UK Biobank along with data from nearly five thousand children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. Because the team used these massive datasets, they were able to look at both fully developed adult brains and still-developing adolescent brains.</p>
<p>The team focused on five specific physical characteristics of the brain. Three of these features described the macrostructure, or the large-scale shape, of the brain. These included the surface area of the outer layer, the average thickness of the cortex, and the mean curvature of the brain’s folds. </p>
<p>The researchers also looked at two microscopic features by tracking how water diffuses through brain tissue during magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI scans. One of these microstructural measures is the “intracellular volume fraction,” which scientists often use as a reliable indicator of neurite density. </p>
<p>A neurite is a projection from the body of a brain cell. These projections include axons, which send electrical signals, and dendrites, which receive those signals. Measuring neurite density gives researchers a sense of how densely packed the communication wires of the brain are in any given area. </p>
<p>To bridge the physical brain scans with genetics, the researchers calculated a polygenic score for every participant. A polygenic score is a single number that summarizes a person’s total genetic likelihood for a particular trait based on millions of different genetic markers. The team then used statistical models to see if higher polygenic scores for autism correlated with different brain shapes or densities.</p>
<p>The results showed a consistent negative association between the polygenic score for autism and overall neurite density. In both the adult and children populations, people who carried more of the common genetic variants associated with autism tended to have less densely packed neurites. The association appeared globally across the brain’s outer layer, known as the cortex. </p>
<p>The researchers also observed this relationship deeper inside the brain. They looked at white matter tracts, which act as the long-distance communication highways connecting different brain regions. High polygenic scores for autism were also associated with lower neurite density across the majority of these white matter tracts.</p>
<p>Researchers also analyzed the brain as a networked system. Certain areas act as highly connected hubs, similar to major transit stations in a railway network. The team found that the genetic association with lower neurite density was more pronounced in these highly connected hub regions compared to less connected outer edges. </p>
<p>The team also tested a major question regarding sex differences. In the general population, boys are diagnosed with autism much more frequently than girls. Some researchers have hypothesized that biological differences in brain structure between the sexes might explain this diagnostic gap. </p>
<p>The team ran their statistical models again, looking for differences between males and females. They did not find statistically significant evidence to suggest that the autism genes affected the brain structures of men and women differently. The results indicate that the sex disparity in autism diagnoses likely does not stem from different genetic effects on basic cortical structures.</p>
<p>While the correlation between genetics and brain structure is robust, the researchers stress that correlation is not causation. To test if the autism genes were directly causing the changes in brain density, the team used an advanced statistical technique called Mendelian randomization. </p>
<p>Mendelian randomization uses genetic data to see if a change in one trait causes a change in another, sort of like a naturally occurring randomized clinical trial. The models provided no evidence for a direct causal relationship in either direction. The researchers suggest that the genetic link likely results from shared underlying biological mechanisms that influence both the development of the brain and behavioral traits simultaneously.</p>
<p>The researchers note a few limitations to their findings. They only analyzed genetic data from individuals of European descent, which was done to reduce the chance of statistical errors caused by population differences. Research will need to expand to diverse global populations to see if these patterns hold up among different ancestries. </p>
<p>Additionally, current polygenic scores only capture a very small fraction of the total possible genetic variance for autism. The specific microscopic associations reported in this study account for only minor shifts in the overall structure of the brain. </p>
<p>Future research will also need to investigate if reduced neurite density is entirely specific to the genetics of autism. Similar genetic links to reduced microscopic brain density have been documented in studies of other conditions like schizophrenia. Determining whether this brain structure trait is unique to autism or a broader signal for general brain development will be the next major step for the field.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-02927-z">Polygenic scores for autism are associated with reduced neurite density in adults and children from the general population</a>,” was authored by Yuanjun Gu, Eva Maria-Stauffer, Saashi A. Bedford, APEX consortium, iPSYCH-autism consortium, Rafael Romero-Garcia, Jakob Grove, Anders D. Børglum, Hilary Martin, Simon Baron-Cohen, Richard A. I. Bethlehem, and Varun Warrier.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-study-links-fashion-satisfaction-to-mental-well-being-and-social-confidence-in-middle-aged-women/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">New study links fashion satisfaction to mental well-being and social confidence in middle-aged women</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 27th 2026, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study suggests that finding well-fitting, age-appropriate clothing plays a role in the overall mental health of middle-aged women. The research indicates that when women in this demographic are satisfied with their fashion options, they tend to experience higher levels of well-being and engage in less social avoidance. These findings were recently published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02761467261429834" target="_blank">Journal of Macromarketing</a></em>.</p>
<p>Researchers Jekaterina Rogaten and <a href="https://stylenotfashionofficial.substack.com/" target="_blank">Viviana Rullo</a> conducted this study to explore how the modern fashion industry impacts middle-aged consumers. The fashion market frequently prioritizes youth-oriented styles, leaving older women with fewer choices that fit their changing bodies and professional needs. This demographic wields high spending power and often holds senior career positions, yet these women frequently report feeling invisible to major clothing brands.</p>
<p>“As a woman, I’ve personally experienced how societal expectations shift with age—there’s this strange paradox where you start to feel freer, yet also quite invisible,” explained Rogaten, a senior lecturer at University of the Arts London. “When I shared these feelings with my co-author, Viviana Rullo, she realized her own experiences mirrored mine. We knew we weren’t alone, and that conversation sparked our research.”</p>
<p>The scientists were taken aback by the lack of prior academic attention given to this topic. “What surprised us was how little existing research explores fashion and well-being in middle-aged women,” Rogaten said. “The fashion industry has chased the youth market since the late 1960s, but demographics have shifted dramatically.” </p>
<p>“The median age in the UK is now 57, and that’s a massive, untapped market,” Rogaten continued. “We believe both consumers and businesses stand to gain from understanding how fashion affects well-being at this stage of life.”</p>
<p>Past studies provide evidence that clothing is deeply connected to a person’s sense of self and social identity. What people wear tends to influence their behavior, emotions, and self-esteem through a psychological concept known as enclothed cognition. Enclothed cognition is the idea that the symbolic meaning of clothing can actually change how the wearer thinks and acts.</p>
<p>Because clothes are so intimately tied to social confidence, the scientists wanted to understand what happens when a specific group cannot find suitable garments. They set out to see if a lack of representation in fashion contributes to aging anxiety or appearance-related distress. The scientists also wanted to capture the specific shopping challenges middle-aged women experience today compared to when they were in their twenties.</p>
<p>To investigate these questions, the scientists collected survey responses from exactly 252 women living in the United Kingdom. The participants ranged in age from 38 to 67, with an average age of about 53. The vast majority of the sample identified as white, and most were employed in managerial or skilled roles.</p>
<p>The researchers used a combination of standardized psychological questionnaires and an open-ended question to gather data. They measured fashion satisfaction by asking participants how easily they could find brands that catered to their style preferences. They also assessed the participants’ overall mental well-being, their anxiety about looking older, and their appearance-related anxiety.</p>
<p>Appearance-related anxiety was broken down into two specific behaviors: threat monitoring and social avoidance. Threat monitoring involves obsessively checking one’s appearance in mirrors, while social avoidance involves skipping events due to distress over looks. Finally, participants described their specific shopping challenges in a written response.</p>
<p>The results of the surveys showed that satisfaction with clothing choices was a significant predictor of overall well-being. The mathematical model used by the researchers explained about 19 percent of the variance in the women’s well-being scores. When participants felt satisfied with the fashion available to them, they reported feeling more optimistic about their future.</p>
<p>This positive relationship was partly driven by a reduction in social avoidance. In other words, having access to desirable clothing provides evidence of a protective effect against the urge to withdraw from social situations. When women could find outfits that made them feel comfortable and appropriate, they were less likely to skip social interactions, which in turn boosted their mood.</p>
<p>“Two things,” Rogaten noted regarding the study’s main takeaways. “First, fashion directly impacts mental well-being, not just on its own, but through social interactions. We know social isolation becomes a greater risk as we age, and fashion can either help or hinder connection with others.”</p>
<p>“Second, we want middle-aged women to know they’re seen, and their specific needs have been noted,” Rogaten continued. “In our paper, we outlined their main concerns and how the industry could address them. Our hope is that the fashion industry finally takes notice of this overlooked and very lucrative group.”</p>
<p>The scientists originally suspected that aging anxiety might act as a bridge between fashion satisfaction and mental health. They thought that poor clothing options might make women feel anxious about getting older, which would then lower their well-being. However, the data suggests that aging anxiety did not play this linking role.</p>
<p>Instead, clothing satisfaction predicted well-being regardless of how the women felt about the aging process itself. When middle-aged women found well-fitting attire, they experienced psychological benefits even if they still held negative feelings about getting older. This provides evidence that fashion serves a distinct functional purpose in managing daily emotions and social participation.</p>
<p>The scientists also tested whether other factors changed this relationship, such as the participants’ age, their general interest in fashion, or how much money they were willing to spend on clothes. None of these factors altered the main finding. Regardless of whether a woman was highly interested in style or had a large shopping budget, a lack of satisfying clothing options predicted lower well-being.</p>
<p>Additionally, the researchers analyzed the written responses to understand the specific hurdles these women faced. The most frequent complaint involved limited options and unappealing trends. Many participants felt forced to choose between highly revealing clothing designed for young adults or conservative, frumpy styles intended for much older generations.</p>
<p>The second most common challenge involved fit and sizing. The women noted that their body shapes had changed with age, often due to menopause or childbirth, resulting in broader waists or larger busts. They expressed frustration that standard retail sizing simply scales up youthful proportions without accommodating the distinct physical changes of a middle-aged body.</p>
<p>“We were genuinely surprised by how strongly these women felt overlooked,” Rogaten told PsyPost. “They want to spend money on fashionable clothing, but they simply can’t find suitable options. This isn’t a minor frustration; it has a profound effect on their mental well-being and their sense of belonging in society.”</p>
<p>The participants also highlighted struggles with clothing quality, price, and comfort. As the women aged, they tended to prioritize well-made garments crafted from natural fabrics, but they found these items difficult to afford. They frequently encountered a market saturated with cheap, synthetic fast fashion that did not meet their expectations for durability.</p>
<p>Another prominent theme from the written responses was the changing landscape of retail shopping. Some women lamented the shift toward online shopping, noting the loss of physical stores where they could try garments on and receive guidance. In-store shopping also presented new barriers, with participants citing poor lighting and uncomfortably small fitting rooms as major deterrents.</p>
<p>While this study provides an informative look at consumer psychology, there are some limitations to consider. The sample primarily consisted of employed, white women living in the United Kingdom who had a high interest in fashion. Because of this specific demographic, the findings might not apply to women from different cultural backgrounds or socioeconomic statuses.</p>
<p>Rogaten acknowledged these constraints regarding the sample. “All of our respondents were based in the UK and were white,” she explained. “If we expand this research, we would absolutely include other ethnicities, and it’s also crucial to examine whether cultural differences shape these findings—would we see the same patterns in other countries?”</p>
<p>It is also possible that women in more patriarchal societies might experience the psychological impacts of fashion differently. Another limitation is that the survey relied on self-reported data at a single point in time. This type of research design makes it difficult to establish a permanent cause-and-effect relationship, as well-being is influenced by many complex life factors.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers plan to expand on these findings through several new projects. Rogaten noted that Rullo is currently writing a practical book based on this research. The upcoming book leverages Rullo’s extensive fashion industry experience to help women navigate style, identity, and confidence during midlife. </p>
<p>Rogaten, a senior lecturer in psychology at the London College of Fashion, is continuing her academic work by focusing on the concept of fashion anxiety. She and her colleagues also recently published a book titled <em><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-12271-1" target="_blank">Applied Psychology in Fashion</a></em>, which summarizes current knowledge in the field. A <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/applied-psychology-in-fashion-present-and-future-tickets-1984369145532" target="_blank">book launch event</a>, featuring presentations and a panel discussion, is scheduled for May 6, 2026, at the London College of Fashion and is open to the public. </p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02761467261429834" target="_blank">Invisible Women: The Relationship Between Satisfaction with Fashion Clothing Choices and Well-being in Middle-aged Women</a>,” was authored by Jekaterina Rogaten and Viviana Rullo.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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