Biology subjects

Jacquet, P. O.

Publications and source records attributed to Jacquet, P. O..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Early life adversity is associated with mental health and life histories through short-term mindsets

Early life adversity is associated with increased risk for psychopathology and shifts in life history (LH) strategies, but the psychological mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. Drawing on evolutionary-developmental theory, we examined whether short-term mindsets mediate associations between dimensions of childhood adversity and mental health and LH-related outcomes. In a UK-representative sample of 877 adults, we assessed threat, deprivation, and unpredictability, alongside internalizing and externalizing symptoms, borderline features, and a latent factor capturing reproductive versus somatic maintenance effort. Structural equation models showed that adversity predicted poorer mental health and faster LH strategies. Short-term mindsets, indexed by lower future orientation and higher affective impulsivity, mediated effects of adversity, particularly unpredictability. Further decomposition of unpredictability into short-timescale and long-timescale forms revealed dissociable effects, with short-timescale unpredictability primarily linked to psychopathology and long-timescale unpredictability to reproductive-oriented LH strategies.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Faster adult implicit probabilistic statistical learning following childhood adversity

According to deficit models, early life adversity disrupts normal development, leading to long-term emotional, behavioural, and cognitive difficulties. However, some evidence suggests that certain psychological skills may be preserved or even enhanced by early adversity. We hypothesised that implicit learning and memory would be equally effective in individuals exposed to childhood adversity and those from more favourable backgrounds, and compared the effects of childhood versus adult adversity. To this aim, retrospective childhood harshness and unpredictability measurements and current perceived socio-economic status were collected in a sample of 325 participants at a Hungarian university taking part in an online experiment. They also completed a task allowing the assessment of multiple components of implicit statistical learning, including initial acquisition of regularities, consolidation of established regularities, resistance of established regularities against interference, and acquisition of novel regularities. Results showed that although statistical learning reached the same eventual level, its pace was quicker in individuals with relatively greater early life adversity exposure. Conversely, lower current socio-economic status was linked to reduced learning performance. These findings partially support the hidden talents framework, suggesting that early adversity may promote certain adaptive cognitive skills.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Associations between reproduction-focused life strategy, sex and Borderline Personality Disorder symptom expression: Evidence from the NESARC national study.

IntroductionBorderline personality disorder (BPD) features span internalizing and externalizing dimensions of psychopathology, and their expression varies across biological sexes. Despite substantial research efforts, major gaps remain in our understanding of this heterogeneity, particularly regarding its developmental underpinnings. Life history theory, a leading framework in evolutionary developmental biology, can help make sense of this heterogeneity. MethodsIn a large nationally representative prospective survey (n = 34 653), the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), we used Multi-group MIMIC models to investigate whether and how the degree to which individuals trade off somatic maintenance against short-term reproductive goals relates to severity of BPD at a general and a single symptom level, and whether these associations differ between men and women in the general adult population. ResultsMen and women prioritizing short-term reproductive goals over somatic maintenance were more likely to endorse each of the 9 DSM-IV BPD symptoms through higher BPD severity, and were more likely to express impulsivity (b=0.11; SE, 0.018; p<.001) and suicidal/self-mutilation behavior (b =0.24; SE, 0.026; p< .001) and less likely to endorse stress-related paranoid ideation (b=-0.066; SE, 0.023; p=.004). Finally, females with a reproduction-oriented life history strategy were more likely to endorse affective instability than males (Females: b=0.12; SE, 0.025; p<.001; Males: b=-0.015; SE, 0.044; p=0.73). ConclusionsAn evolutionary-developmental framework, rooted in human life history theory can help make sense of the heterogeneous manifestations of BPD. Our work also opens the door for future research on the interplay of the reproduction/maintenance trade-off with other genetic and environmental factors and developmental processes in explaining the occurrence of BPD symptoms.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Environmental harshness is associated with lower investment in collective actions

Although humans cooperate universally, there is variability across individuals, times and cultures in the amount of resources people invest in cooperative activities. The origins of such variability are not known but recent work highlights that variations in environmental harshness may play a key role. A growing body of experimental work in evolutionary psychology suggests that humans adapt to their specific environment by calibrating their life-history strategy. In this paper, we apply structural equation models to test the association between current and childhood environmental harshness, life-history strategy and adult cooperation in two large-scale datasets (the World Values Survey and the European Values Study). The present study replicates existing research linking a harsher environment (both in adulthood and in childhood) with a modulated reproduction-maintenance trade-off and extends these findings to the domain of collective actions. Specifically, we find that a harsher environment (both in adulthood and in childhood) is associated with decreased involvement in collective action and that this association is mediated by individuals life-history strategy.

animal behavior and cognition↗