The online discussion around the COVID-19 pandemic is multifaceted, and it is important to examine the different ways by which online users express themselves. Since emojis are used as effective vehicles to convey ideas and sentiments, they can offer important insight into the public’s gendered discourses about the pandemic.This study aims at exploring how people of different genders  are discussed in relation to COVID-19 through the study of Twitter emojis.We collected over 50 million tweets referencing the hashtags #Covid-19 and #Covid19 for a period of more than 2 months in early 2020. Using a mixed method, we extracted three data sets containing tweets that reference men, women, and sexual and gender minorities, and we then analyzed emoji use along each gender category. We identified five major themes in our analysis including morbidity fears, health concerns, employment and financial issues, praise for frontline workers, and unique gendered emoji use. The top 600 emojis were manually classified based on their sentiment, indicating how positive, negative, or neutral each emoji is and studying their use frequencies.The findings indicate that the majority of emojis are overwhelmingly positive in nature along the different genders, but sexual and gender minorities, and to a lesser extent women, are discussed more negatively than men. There were also many differences alongside discourses of men, women, and gender minorities when certain topics were discussed, such as death, financial and employment matters, gratitude, and health care, and several unique gendered emojis were used to express specific issues like community support.Emoji research can shed light on the gendered impacts of COVID-19, offering researchers an important source of information on health crises as they happen in real time. These filtered tweets were sent by 367,037 unique users. As for men, the search terms used were “boy*,” “man*,” “men,” “gentlem*,” and “mascul*,” and the total number of English language tweets referencing the aforementioned search terms was 297,155 tweets sent by 231,899 unique users. To gather data related to nonbinary genders and those often marginalized within binary gender constructs, we used the search terms “nonbinary,” “non-binary,” “trans,” “transgender,” “two spirited,” “two-spirited,” “LGBT*,” “gay*,” “homosexual*,” “lesbian,” “bisexual*,” and “queer,” which were classified under the heading “sexual and gender minorities” in the analysis that follows, which we recognized combines a vast range of gender and sexual identities. The total number of English language tweets referencing the aforementioned search terms was 26,048 posted by 20,744 unique users. These search terms were agreed upon after consultation with the research team members, and we recognize that they are not exhaustive, as gender identities and corresponding terms are constantly changing across various cultures.Since the total number of extracted emojis were large in number n=33,705,203) with 1297 different types, we focused on the top 600 emojis along the three data sets (the top 200 emojis representing each gender), using a manual approach in coding the emojis. We used a similar approach to Shahbaz et al  and Chen,705,203 The other strength of this approach to quantifying emojis is that it illustrates significant differences in the number of emojis used to represent the different identified genders see , so it iTo classify emojis into their assigned sentiments, we used the database of emoji sentiment rankings, which is based on Novak et al’s  emoji st), which means “if you are sick, wear a mask,” or , which denotes that “coronavirus has made many people sick around the world.” Other sequences include , which refers to “please wash your hands before eating,” or , indicating “thank you or please wear a mask as an expression of solidarity.” To identify these emoji sequences, we used a customized Python script and searched in the three data sets.[The first one was Unicode.org that lists more than 3300 emojis , and theata sets.thank you  emoji . As for neutral emojis, which neither indicate clear positive or negative sentiments like the neutral face  emoji, the analysis showed that discourses around sexual and gender minorities received the highest percentage , followed by discourses on women , while the lowest use was found around discourses on men . In the following section, we present the five major themes that we qualitatively identified following the semiotic approach, which include morbidity and health fears, economic and employment concerns, health responses, support for frontline workers, and unique gendered emojis.This study is focused on examining the gendered public discourses using emojis. To answer the study’s main research question, we found that gendered sentiments around COVID-19 were overwhelmingly positive alongside all genders, such as the predominant use of the moji see . Emojis In the twitter data set, the total sum of the emoji counts  were as follows: 162,423 for men; 291,838 emojis referencing women; and 13,985 emojis mentioning sexual and gender minorities. The major themes that emerged from studying emojis based on their frequencies and percentages are discussed in the next sections.) and skull  emojis, in reference to death, as well as the ambulance siren  emoji, which often refers to the emergency siren vehicles carrying patients with COVID-19. In terms of gender differences, the coffin emoji was only found alongside discourses on men (n=129). This may be a reflection of how men and women are differentially perceiving the severity of COVID-19 due to sex differences in mortality among males and females, for male patients (in most contexts) are more likely to die due to COVID-19 compared to female patients [) was only found in the men’s data set (n=37), and the emergency emoji sequence  was the 12th most frequent sequence in the men’s data set. Another unique sequence in discussions about men was the following , which is a warning that not wearing a face mask can lead to death.Twitter users employ different emojis to express fear, risk, and concerns that are noticeable in relation to the novel coronavirus, such as the coffin (patients . In addi) and bank  to indicate economic instability, lack of employment opportunities, limited access to money, or financial concerns. Here, we found that the money emoji was not used in the discourses around men, and it was present in the discussions related to sexual and gender minorities  and in those related to women , yet the bank emoji was only found in the discourses around women .Another type of concern expressed online was related to financial matters. As the world experienced an economic crisis with uncounted layoffs and high unemployment rates during the pandemic, several emojis were used like money , which was again mostly used in relation to discourses around women , and much less in relation to discourses around sexual and gender minorities  and men (n=88). Another relevant emoji that was only found in the discourses on women was the working from home emoji . The large difference in the use of these two latter emojis reflects the public discourses on the opportunities and challenges that women are facing during the pandemic. In Canada, for instance, women are more likely than men to hold jobs that can be performed from home during the pandemic [As a significant transition was made from in-person to online operations that entailed a work-from-home dynamic, we found that the emoji that portrayed this phenomenon was the PC (pandemic . These g), sneezing , and fever , in addition to items that can be used to protect oneself from contracting COVID-19, such as the soap bar emoji  and face mask emoji . In relation to the gender differences, the soap emoji was not used in the discourses on men, but was found instead in the discourses around women  and, to a much lesser extent, discourses around sexual and gender minorities , while the face mask emoji was mostly used within discourses around women , followed by men  and sexual and gender minorities .We also examined how online communities responded toward COVID-19 in relation to health considerations. For example, emojis were used to express health concerns like vomiting  and  refer to washing with water and soap, which can help stop the virus, while  refers to “women’s testing” (n=59),  refers to “thank you or please wear a facemask” (n=42), and  refers to “thank you or please stay at home” (n=22). Other sequences were longer, such as , which indicates “testing, wearing a mask, and taking cautious steps can stop the virus” (n=245). Although they were much less frequent, the following emoji sequences were found in the men’s data set: , which signifies the need to wear a mask if you go outside, and  and , each showing solidarity for wearing the mask. Interestingly, the last two emoji sequences represent people from different racial backgrounds based on the skin tones used.In terms of the emoji sequence, we found that the women’s data set contained more health instructions and guidelines than the other two data sets. For example, the following two emojis  that is used to show solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community (see ), the folding hands as a thankful gesture emoji , and the globe or global solidarity  emoji. Here, we found some interesting gender differences in the thankful gesture, which was mostly used in discourses around women  compared to men  and sexual and gender minorities . However, the applause emoji was used in similar percentages along the different genders . Regarding the emoji frequencies, we found expressions of gratitude for hospital workers such as  and  in the women’s data set.There was an interesting positive trend manifested in the emojis that showed support and appreciation for frontline health care workers, including the rainbow emoji (nity see  but has ), weight lifting , or running . These emojis were not found in the top emojis examined in the study in the discourses around men or sexual and gender minorities, possibly indicating a higher concern and attention paid by women to maintain physical health during the pandemic. In addition, there were many public discussions related to pregnant women , breastfeeding , and a milk bottle , representing the unique challenges women face due to their reproductive role. Regarding emoji sequences, we found several combinations referring to the aforementioned activities, such as , in the women’s data set.Finally, gender-specific emojis were often used in relation to women. For example, women were often represented through exercise such as doing yoga (Based on the previously mentioned findings on Twitter emojis, we found different discourses around men, women, and gender and sexual minorities. In general, emojis were positively associated with men while more negatively connected to sexual and gender minorities and women. In addition, there were unique emojis associated with women and the issue of health care workers as well as hygiene and with men and the issue of mortality.Since the Twitter data was collected from different countries around the world, it is not possible to ascribe the aforementioned results to one country or culture, but we did find some familiar findings. For instance, there was a clear tendency to discuss men through positive sentiments, unlike the case of sexual and gender minorities, and to a lesser extent women, which might be related to the male-dominated Twitter platform that is estimated to be used by 62% men versus 38% women , as wellIn addition, emojis offer insight into the COVID-19 impact on different genders. For example, we found a higher number of coffin and skull emojis when men were discussed, and generally, men have a higher mortality rate than women due to COVID-19. In addition, the financial burdens and concerns experienced by women, as well as the experiences of working from home, were reflected in the higher use of these emojis in relation to women. Interestingly, there is a prevalence in using the hand washing emojis in discussions about women, and there is evidence that responsibility for personal and family health and hygiene is most often born by women and that men are less likely to wash their hands or wear a face mask . The morThese findings indicate that the analysis of emoji use offers an innovative methodological approach to analyzing the gendered impacts of health crises like COVID-19. This is particularly important as there are frequent calls for rapid gender analysis of health emergencies , and resThis study examined the gendered use of emojis on Twitter in relation to COVID-19, and the findings showed many differences alongside discourses of men, women, and gender minorities when certain topics were discussed, such as death, financial and employment matters, gratitude, and health care. In addition, there were several unique gendered emojis that were used to express specific issues like community support. In general, emojis are positively associated with men while more negatively connected to sexual and gender minorities and, to a lesser extent, women.Our study is limited to the empirical examination of emoji use on Twitter in the context of COVID-19. It would be interesting to compare the emojified gendered public discourses on other platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Though it was not prominent in our top posts, emojis denoting race and ethnicity need to be incorporated as another important variable to be examined, and it would be interesting to conduct comparative studies on this aspect of emoji use. Subsequent studies might provide greater disaggregation of data related to sex and gender minority groups. Finally, our research is similar to previous studies on sentiment analysis that have limitations in terms of the dictionaries or word lists used  and the


The problem of adolescent online gaming addiction is related to individual-level characteristics and the influence of the family environment. The present study explores the potential role of adolescents’ time management tendency in mediating the relationship between parenting style and adolescent internet gaming disorder (IGD). Responses from a total of 357 Chinese high school students were collected for a Pathological Video-Game Use Questionnaire, Simplified Parenting Styles Scale, and Time Management Tendency Scale. Overall, participants reported moderate use of online games , lower than the median value of 2 on a three-point scale. In terms of the mediating role of adolescents’ time management tendency, full meditation was observed for the relationship between the parenting style factor of “parents’ emotional warmth” for both mothers and fathers and internet gaming disorder. The results highlight the benefits of emotional warmth in supporting self-efficacy, self-control, and autonomy through the promotion of time management, which is an important protective factor for IGD and can serve as a mediating personality variable. Although non-significant in the complete model, over-protection and rejection by parents should also be cautiously considered as potential risk factors related to addiction. Despite the conveniences of the Internet for studying, entertainment, or other daily life activities, the psychological risks associated with inappropriate internet use are receiving increasing attention. Clinical diagnosis of internet addiction includes users’ excessive use, feelings of withdrawal when access is unavailable, and other negative psychological effects, including poor academic achievement, exhaustion, and social isolation . Other nIn the context of the present study, according to the latest survey by the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC), in the first half of 2018, the number of online game users in China reached 486 million  and an aA variety of factors have been investigated as predictors or risk factors for internet addiction, among which are social and family environmental factors and personality factors. In a recent and well-cited systematic review evaluating cross-sectional and longitudinal studies related to IGD, Mihara and Higuchi  highlighThe relationship between parenting and adolescents’ IGD has been investigated by prior studies, including factors such as parental attachment and attitude (acceptance vs. rejection) , parentiParenting style was selected as the social factor for this study is based on a) the extensive use of this predictive or risk/protective factor in the literature on adolescent addiction ,30,31 anConsideration of “time management” as a personality factor has roots in earlier research, such as that of Kelly and Johnson  who founAutonomy and self-control are key protective personality factors in preventing or mitigating adolescents’ addiction to online games. In fact, the construct of time management has been found to be a key aspect of self-regulated learning, with researchers recommending further research into the impacts of time management on other elements of students’ performance and personal well-being . As suchThe potential of time management tendency as a mediator between social-level variables and IGD has precedent in the literature, with research demonstrating how self-efficacy, a related construct, mediates the impact of emotional intelligence  on online gaming addiction . LikewisGiven this increased emphasis on the interplay between personality-level variables and social or family-level variables in the prediction of Internet Gaming Disorder, our study attempts to contribute to the literature by developing a model to evaluate the potential mediating effect of time management tendency  on the relationship between parenting style  and adolescents’ IGD.Both the social/familial-level variable of parenting styles and the individual/personality-level variable of time management tendency have been associated with IGD. However, based on a review of the literature, there are no studies integrating the two factors of parenting styles and adolescents’ time management tendency in developing a model for predicting adolescents’ IGD. In addition, although time management tendency  is logically related to IGD, there is a lack of empirical evidence to directly evaluate the relationship between the two variables. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the nature of the relationships among parenting styles, time management tendency, and adolescents’ IGD. Specifically, we proposed a mediation model. Namely, the social/familial-level variable of parenting style was predicted to have an indirect effect on IGD through the mediation of the individual-level variable of time management tendency. There are two reasons for hypothesizing time management tendency as a mediator. The first is that, since parenting style is related to the development of a child’s personality, parenting style should serve as an explanatory variable for personality characteristics (including time management tendency). The role of parenting style in time management tendency has been evaluated within the context of locus of control, with findings demonstrating that parental criticism, for example, is significantly correlated with procrastination (representing the lack of time management), while conscientiousness, a personality trait strongly associated with time use efficiency , is inveA total of 390 grade 10 and 11 students from two senior high schools in Linyi City, China were selected as participants through cluster sampling. With the assistance of the school’s head teacher, paper-based questionnaires were directly administered at the school by the research team. After excluding questionnaires with incomplete responses, the effective number of responses for statistical analysis was 357 (including 157 from boys and 200 from girls), an effective response rate of 91.5%. This study was approved by the research ethics committee of a local university in Shandong Province (IRB No. 2019QCH0307).The Pathological Video Game Use Questionnaire (PVGUQ)  was adopA Chinese version of the Simplified Parenting Style Scale (CSPSS)  was adopThe Time Management Tendency Scale (TMTS) developed by Huang and Zhang  was usedDescriptive statistics were first provided for all variables and sub-scales, where applicable, . We then computed Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients to examine the associations among the variables. In addition, Chi-squared analysis was used to compare IGD and non-IGD adolescents, categorized according to the criteria established by Yu et al.  and GentNext, we conducted mediation analysis to examine whether time management tendency served as a mediator between parenting style and adolescents’ IGD. Considering the presence of significant correlations among the three parenting styles for both fathers and mothers, it was determined that the indirect effects from each of the parenting styles might cause inflated values due to shared variance with the other two styles. Thus, it was deemed inappropriate to separately analyze each effect. As such, the three parenting styles were simultaneously evaluated by mediation models for fathers and mothers separately See . In this1 × b” was examined to check whether or not this coefficient was statistically significant . If the indirect path was not statistically significant, it was determine that there was no mediation effect. On the other hand, if the indirect path was statistically significant, then the coefficient “c” was evaluated. If “c” was not significant, the mediation type “indirect-only” was supported. If “c” was significant, then the product of “a × b × c” was evaluated as either positive or negative. If “a × b × c” was positive, this indicated “complementary mediation”; while if “a × b × c” was negative, “competitive mediation” was indicated. After confirming the validity of the model, we followed the procedures established by Zhao et al.  to examiAs shown in r = −0.030, p = 0.031; mothers’: r = −0.018, p = 0.040), suggesting that emotional warmth was associated with lower levels of online game addiction. On the other hand, a significant and positive correlation was found for both parents’ rejection and over-protection with IGD , suggesting that these negative parenting styles were associated with greater levels of online game addiction. Considering correlations among the three parenting styles, emotional warmth was negatively correlated with both rejection and over-protection for both fathers  and mothers . There was also a significant positive correlation between both parents’ emotional warmth and time management tendency , suggesting that greater emotional warmth is associated with better time management skills. On the other hand, both parents’ over-protection was negatively correlated with time management tendency , suggesting that these negative parenting styles are associated with lower levels of time management. Finally, time management tendency was significantly correlated negatively with IGD , suggesting that better time management was associated with lower levels of online game addiction.In interpreting the results of the Pearson correlations, both the father’ and mothers’ emotional warmth were negatively correlated with IGD  and whether or not they lived in the school dormitory .As for the difference between online game addicts and non-addicts in terms of key demographic variables see , the resThis research focused on exploring the nature of the mediation effect of time management tendency on the relationship between parenting styles and IGD. We first examined the quality of the mediation model for fathers and mothers separately. 1 × b”, “a2 × b”, and “a3 × b” for both the fathers’ and mothers’ models. Results showed that the indirect effect of “a1 × b”  was significant for both parent’s models , while the coefficients of “a2 × b” and “a3 × b” were not significant in either model. The second step was to examine “c1” for the fathers’ and mothers’ models. The results indicated that “c1” was not significant. Therefore, according to the mediation type classification scheme proposed by Zhao et al. [Following the procedures of Zhao et al. , we condo et al. , there wAccording to the results of this study, 44 out of a total of 357 adolescents were classified as being addicted to online games, according to the criteria of Yu et al.  and GentAs “reactive” factors, the high reported levels of over-protection and rejection could indicate that parents recognize the seriousness of online addiction and have adopted a strict approach to prevent their children from developing IGD. Based on Chinese culture, in particular, we believe that there are two possible reasons for parents adopting strict parenting styles: the first possible reason is that high school students are facing upcoming high-stakes college entrance examinations. Therefore, as compared to junior high school or elementary school, parents hold higher expectations regarding their children’s academic performance. It is reasonable for parents to have strict parenting styles. Another possible reason is that high school students facing academic pressure may lack sufficient resilience , requiriWhile our findings are consistent with previous studies on adolescents in that parenting styles are closely related to online addiction among adolescents ,60,61,62Furthermore, the role of time management tendency as a mediator provides a clearer picture as to how different types of parenting styles can indirectly impact risk and protective factors for adolescent IGD. The finding of an indirect mediating effect of time management tendency in terms of the association of the parenting style of warmth with lower levels of IGD suggests that the social/familial-level variable of parenting style, by encouraging adolescents to engage in time management, requiring greater self-efficacy and self-control ,20,21, cThe results of this study also found a significant negative correlation between time management tendency and adolescents’ IGD. While these findings are consistent with previous studies ,66, a neIn this study, we demonstrated the manner in which time management tendency serves as a mediator of the relationship between parenting styles and IGD. The results indicated that time management tendency indirectly mediated the influence of emotional warmth of both parents on adolescents’ IGD. The unique nature of our analytical approach in simultaneously evaluating the relationships among parenting (using parenting style as a variable), time management tendency, and online game addition contributes to a growing foundation of evidence regarding the interrelationship among family-level and personality-level variables in terms of addiction, such as IGD. More specifically, although the potential of time management tendency as a stable personality trait has attracted the attention of scholars in the field of addiction , few stuOur results demonstrated that approximately 13% of high school students are at risk of IGD, which indicates that the problem of online game addiction still requires further research and the development of new strategies based on a clear understanding of the mechanisms underlying both social/familial and individual/personality factors. Our mediation model including parenting style as an independent variable, time management tendency as a mediating variable, and IGD as the dependent variable has shown the benefits of parents interacting with adolescents in a warm and accepting way, in order to foster self-control, self-efficacy, and autonomy in order to engage in effective time management. Certain limitations of the study should be addressed. First, the use of a cross-sectional study, while informative, cannot capture the nature of the influence of parenting styles directly and indirectly on adolescents’ IGD through the development time management skills. Thus, a longitudinal model would be informative and a logical extension of this research. Another limitation is that most of our participants lived in the school dormitory , which may limit the external validity of this study. In terms of generalizability, the fact that most respondents live on campus may limit the representativeness of the sample. More specifically, since the adolescents in this study mostly live on campus, they may not interact with their parents frequently, which may limit the warmth they perceive in terms of parenting style. The contribution of this study to research is the extension of the paradigm of time management tendency as a personality trait encompassing self-efficacy, self-control, and autonomy, all of which can serve as protective factors for IGD. The proposed mediation model also elucidates the role of time management in mediating the influence of parents through the parenting styles evaluated in this study. Further research using other social or familial variables in order to evaluate the mediating role of time management tendency is recommended in order to expand upon this important factor in preventing the risk of online addictions. In terms of practical implications, the emphasis on parenting styles, and the evident benefit of warm parenting styles as compared to rejection and over-protection parenting styles  can assist in counselling parents of adolescents at risk of internet or online game addiction.


Wendy Havran, Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at Scripps Research, passed away on January 20th, 2020 following a heart attack. She was 64 years old. She will be sorely missed by family, friends, and colleagues throughout the world and will be forever remembered for her kindness and generosity of spirit.Wendy was a world leader in the field of γδ T cell biology. Much of what we know about γδ T cells today is either directly or indirectly a result of Wendy’s pioneering work. Wendy was born in Houston, Texas on 1 September, 1955. A graduate of Duke University, Wendy completed her PhD in Frank Fitch’s lab at the University of Chicago. She then went on to do her postdoctoral studies with Jim Allison at the University of California, Berkeley. It was here that Wendy made the discovery that would shape the rest of her prolific academic career. Wendy identified a unique population of invariant γδ T cells that reside in the epidermal layer of the murine skin. Termed dendritic epidermal T cells, or DETC, for their highly dendritic morphology, these cells became the main focus of Wendy’s research for the next 30 years.Wendy received the prestigious Lucille P. Markey Scholarship in 1989 and moved to the Scripps Research Institute in 1991, where she established her own research group. At Scripps, Wendy’s research characterized DETC function in depth and further discovered similar populations in human skin. Through these and subsequent studies, Wendy described the seminal role these epithelial-resident γδ T cells play during homeostasis and in tissue repair. Wendy went on to characterize the molecular interactions driving these repair processes and, more recently, turned her focus to the role these cells play in cancer. Throughout her career, Wendy’s work was always carefully done, thorough in nature, logical in manner, and so very detailed that it was published in some of the most prestigious journals.Her calm, but firm, leadership style made her the “go-to” person for all manner of programs and committees. She was Associate Dean of the Scripps graduate program, established and ran national and international conferences, served on the editorial board of prominent journals, and was a member of numerous committees for the American Association of Immunologists. She was a leader who was not afraid to say, “we can do it!” She inspired her colleagues at Scripps to walk laps for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society every year, pick up sandwiches and cookies for the International γδ T Cell Conference, and drive to all parts of southern California to deliver seminars for educational purposes. This is why she was honored by Scripps Research for mentorship, by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for fundraising, and by the American Association of Immunologists for distinguished service. Wendy was extremely humble in her receipt of these awards and much more enjoyed celebrating the achievements of others, particularly her students and postdocs. She would organize celebratory lunches or cakes and never missed an opportunity to let others know of each and every accomplishment of her lab family. Recently, the moment she was most proud of was watching her postdoc mentor, Jim Allison, receive the Nobel Prize. One of Wendy’s passions was helping and promoting women in science, both inside and outside of her lab. She had 40 female scientists work in her lab throughout her time at Scripps and so many of these women have gone on to leadership roles in academia, industry, and health care. Wendy always gave the trainees in her lab the scope to pursue an interest or passion outside the lab, whether it be a particular sport or hobby, or raising a family, without having to sacrifice their scientific careers. There was a time when four of the women in Wendy’s lab were pregnant at the same time. Instead of lamenting her unlucky fate, she celebrated at conferences stating that her lab had been very productive that year—and she was not talking about the science. Her openness to a flexible work schedule allowed her trainees to thrive and to learn to be effective at both time and people management.There was a moment on the day after Wendy passed away that we were standing in her lab as students, faculty, and staff came by one after the other to talk about Wendy. All looking for solace. The solace we found was in happy stories about her taming wild cats, mentoring each of us, faculty/students/staff, and remembering friendly chats in her office. Some of the faculty were wondering how they were going to be the mentor that Wendy was, saying that, before giving advice, they would have to ask themselves, “what would Wendy say?” The γδ T cell field has lost a pioneer, a brilliant experimentalist, and an inspirational leader, and we have all lost an extraordinary colleague and friend.


This topic has developed at the crossroads of three scientific paths: (1) physical activity (PA) and cognition research focused on the cognitive challenges involved in PA and motor skill acquisition Pesce, ; (2) devVan der Veer et al. show that in preschool children, individual associations weaken when tested as unitary latent constructs of general MC and core EF. The non-linearity of early child development, as well as the “cool” nature of the EF tested, may be responsible for this dissociation. Indeed, Burns et al. found an association in older children between MC and on-task behavior that relies on “hot” EF. However, the strength of this association may be affected by individual and environmental factors, as it was observed in socially disadvantaged children.Central to this Research Topic is the distinction and integration of “hot” and “cool” EF. Among the top-down neurocognitive control processes that fall under the umbrella term EF and are involved in goal-oriented behavior, the degree of affective and motivational salience have been used to distinguish “hot” and “cool” EFs. The latter are elicited under decontextualized and affectively neutral conditions, as when coping with tasks that require inhibiting interference, playing with ideas in mind, shifting flexibly between cognitive strategies. Instead, “hot” EF processes are performed in affectively salient contexts, as when coping with tasks that involve delaying a gratification/refraining from delay discounting, gambling, or making a risky decision with much to be gained or lost  and the UK (SAMPLE-PE) with preschoolers and first graders. Both have a 2-fold holistic perspective: they bridge efficacy  and effectiveness research  and target holistic development in motor, cognitive and socio-emotional domains.PA enrichment and the contextual salience of motor skill learning are central to the contributions by Vazou et al. pilot study tested the feasibility of an intervention with inherent coordinative and cognitive challenges and addresses factors that may indirectly contribute to linked benefits in the motor and EF domains, such as teacher support and motivational climate generated by peers. The other side of the coin is addressed by Damsgaard et al. and Amico and Schaefer. While Darmsgaard et al. used motor activities of low intensity (gestures) relevant to the learning subject, Amico and Schaefer used non-relevant PA tasks of higher intensity (running and dribbling). Both found that adding PA in the encoding phase improved learning in children regardless of its relevance to the learning subject , or skilled in applying already-learned skills under situational uncertainty and time pressure . Both sport types may be expected to involve predictive and adaptive control with “hot” and “cool” EF components, yet in different ways. Holfelder et al. found some superiority among open skill athletes in “cool” EFs only, that emerges also as early as childhood, as shown by Moratal et al. The inability to find differences in “hot” EF raises the question of whether it is an issue of insufficient ecological validity of assessments, or insufficient stimulation by the PA and sport training.The issue of ecological validity of the assessment tasks used to tap dual-task effects and EF is addressed also by Leshem et al. in their review of neuroscientific evidence on the Quadrato Motor Training, a designed mindful movement training. Since mindful movements have displayed the highest consistency of evidence of EF benefits  to trigger an optimal solution  to accomplish the task goal. “Cool” EFs should be assessed by means of performances that are measured not only on a (milli)seconds time scale . Unfortunately, this lacks an understanding of the contextual specificity of children's movement behaviors  and the related task-specific synaptogenesis pathway in the brain regions involved in the learning task. Indeed, the nature and locus of neural plasticity seem specific to the unique features of the motor experience (Markham and Greenough, To accomplish this, we need to reconceptualize the study and application of developmentally appropriate, holistic movement experiences that promote motor, “hot” and “cool” EF development. This will require a more contextual-specific perspective on emotional and cognitive development promotion, as it exists in the field of psychotherapy outcomes research Wampold, , 2015. TOur Research Topic has highlighted the importance of advancing methods of assessment, both in MC and EF domains, and the design and implementation of targeted interventions, embracing a model that pays greater attention to the intervention context and to both specific and non-specific factors that concomitantly contribute to improved MC and “hot” and “cool” EF.CP developed the initial proposal of the Research Topic. DS and KL provided relevant intellectual content to integrate and refine it. All authors of this Editorial equally contributed to its conception, development and writing, and agree to be accountable for the content of the work.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer SWL declared a past co-authorship with one of the author DS.


Despite a growing interest in the field, scarce narrative studies have delved into adolescents’ psychological experiences related to global emergencies caused by infective diseases. The present study aims to investigate adolescents’ narratives on positive and negative experiences related to COVID-19.SD = 1.43), completed two narrative tasks on their most negative and positive experiences during the COVID-19 emergency. Data were analyzed by modeling an analysis of emergent themes.Italian adolescents, 2,758 (females = 74.8%, mean age = 16.64, “Staying home as a limitation of autonomy,” “School as an educational, not relational environment,” the impact of a “new life routine,” and experiencing “anguish and loss” are the four emergent themes for negative experiences. As for positive experiences, the four themes were “Being part of an extraordinary experience,” “Discovering oneself,” “Re-discovering family,” and “Sharing life at a distance.”Authors discuss the impact of COVID-19 on adolescents’ developmental tasks, such as identity processes and autonomy acquisition. After the first case of COVID-19 in Italy was discovered on the 21st of February, schools and universities were shut down on March 5. On the March 9, the government declared lockdown status in order to hinder the spread of the virus. In order to reduce contagion, citizens were required to stay home except for emergencies and primary needs. Over 8 million children and adolescents stopped their social and educational activities, which were reorganized online. On April 5, the last day of data collection for the present study, out of a global number of 1,133,758 , 128,948The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency that poses questions and dilemmas regarding the psychological well-being of people at varying levels.Currently, several studies have been conducted on how the general population experiences emergencies related to pandemic infectious diseases. Some authors , in analConsidering children and adolescents, several studies have specifically explored psychological experiences related to the global emergency and lockdown experience of COVID-19 , but eviAs for US adolescents, evidence suggests that social trust and greater attitudes toward the severity of COVID-19 are related with more adolescents’ monitoring risk behaviors, performing social distancing, and disinfecting properly. Motivation to perform social distancing is also associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression .A study on Canadian adolescents’ well-being and psychiatric symptoms highlighted that depression and feelings of loneliness are related with great time spent on social media, while family time, physical activity, and schoolwork play a protective role for depression . SimilarAdolescence is connected to certain developmental tasks  related,Considering identity changes, adolescence is characterized by a developmental crisis between the definition of a personal identity and a status of confusion of roles . AdolescA turning point in identity development is the acquisition of personal autonomy. Scholars define autonomy as a multidimensional variable related to a set of phenomena involved in psychosocial development: the separation-individuation task as reported by The main theories on autonomy acquisition during adolescence stress the relation between the desire for autonomy and the development of beliefs about personal capabilities, the need to explore one’s own life goals and reflect on personal desires and preferences. As teenagers gain self-confidence and focus on personal goals and attitudes related to their individual interests and talents, the demand for autonomy in the household increases . At the As a privileged context of peer interaction and acquisition of knowledge and personal maturity, school greatly contributes to the development of adolescent identity and interpersonal relationships . Both cuDuring the COVID-19 emergency and the consequent lockdown in Italy, adolescents experienced a strong change in their personal and social environment, which could have affected the trajectory of their developmental tasks. Nevertheless, currently, there is a lack of knowledge of adolescents’ experience of living with COVID-19 and the main psychological issues related to it. Lockdown and the consequent closing of schools ushered in a new life routine for adolescents, centered on sharing time with family and temporarily interrupting face-to-face peer relationships. In this sense, similar to others, very impacting autobiographical events such as diseases or natural disasters, lockdown, and pandemic might have caused a biographical disruption  interrupConsidering the lack of knowledge in literature and the need to investigate an unexplored topic, we performed a qualitative study to explore adolescents’ feelings and thoughts by means of their narratives. Qualitative research design helps “to generate useful knowledge about health and illness, from individual perceptions to how global systems work” , p. 6 alSD = 1.43; females = 75.2%; Min = 14, Max = 20) exploring emotional and cognitive patterns involved in COVID-19 experience. Since 14 is the Italian minimum age to give individual consent to having one’s online data processed, inclusion criteria for the present study were to be high school students and to be aged between 14 and 20. From the whole sample, we did not include data about adolescents with any missing data on either narrative task.Participants of the present study were part of a broader study involving 5,295 Italian adolescents  was composed by students attending lyceums (76.9%), technical high schools (16.9%), and vocational high schools (5.5%). Participants came from all regions of Italy: considering the impact of COVID-19 spread in Italy during data collection, the 16.8% of participants came from Lombardy (the most impacted region), the 20.7% came from medium impacted regions , and the 62.5% came from other Italian region less impacted. Overall, 2,464 of them reported and narrated their most negative experiences and 2,110 reported their most positive experiences.The final sample of 2,758 adolescents . Of the sample, 38.6% experienced COVID-19 infections within friendship, scholastic, or broader social circles . Ten participants (0.4%) reported to be infected themselves.1, via a pop-up window asking the users to take part in the study. All respondents provided explicit informed consent at the beginning of the survey. It was possible to leave the survey at any point by simply closing the pop-up window. All data collected were anonymous. The contacts of a national helpline  were provided at the end of the survey, inviting participants to get in touch if they need psychological support.After the approval of the ethical committee of the University of Florence, data collection took place from April 1 to April 5, 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, through a popular student website for sharing notes and receiving help with homeworkPlease, think about your memories surrounding COVID-19 and the “quarantine”. Would you please tell us your most negative experience during the last two weeks? Take your time and narrate what happened and how you experienced it. There are no limits of time and space for your narrative”) and a second about their most positive experience of life during COVID-19 pandemic .We invited participants to fill in two narrative tasks: the first on their most negative experience (“The time frame of 2 weeks was referred to time approximately spent between the beginning of lockdown (March 9) and data collection.All narratives were joined in two different full texts, one for the positive experience narratives and one for the negative ones. Then, a modeling emergent themes analysis was run by the T-Lab Software . ModelinThis kind of textual analysis is therefore suggested in studies aiming to deepen unexplored topics in order to identify variables related to a specific kind of experience to be further investigated upon .First, the total word count of both narratives by the participants were analyzed. Adolescents’ negative experience narratives were composed of 76,007 words, with a mean number of 30.84 words per narrative, while 38,452 was the number of words used to narrate the most positive experiences (with a mean of 18.22 words per narrative collected). Looking at word occurrence in the two texts (positive and negative experience), many communalities emerged. Among the 20 most cited words in both texts there are: “Home,” “To See,” “Experience,” “Friend,” “To feel,” “Moment,” “Person,” “School,” “Day,” “Boyfriend,” and “Family.” Overall, 11 words out of 20 are shared between the vocabulary of the two collected narratives.Looking at the modeling emergent themes analysis, The T-Lab software revealed four themes for each text. “I went to my grandmother’s house because she lives next door. I went to hug her and she pushed me away as if I stank, it was so ugly, I felt like a stranger” . In this narrative, social distancing acquired the meaning of loss of intimacy in close relationships; other adolescents narrated their anguish for their parents’ and relatives’ health due to the spread of COVID-19. One participant wrote: “When I heard that both my parents were going to have to go back to work, I got very scared, and I’m still scared for their health. We have a lot of friends who are sick, some are dead and we couldn’t even say goodbye to them” .For negative experiences narratives, the first and most representative theme concerned feelings of “Anguish and Loss” and was explained by 34% of lemmas. Adolescents shared their anguish for having lost physical and emotional contact with relatives due to quarantine: “The most negative experience I had was the death of my grandfather, who died after contracting COVID-19. You will think that I’m only talking about the loss itself, but actually difficulties came later. Not because there were people crying at the funeral and I had to show myself strong in front of my parents; not because when I went to his house I couldn’t find him; not because I won’t get to be spoiled by him just like every other granddaughter is by her grandfather; but because I had to undergo this process with just my mind. I had to imagine a funeral, I had to imagine him, pale and cold, in the coffin and try to feel the dampness of the tears on my cheeks at the moment of burial. There was nothing to help me metabolize the death, to make it happen in my mind. I’m usually a crybaby, but when they told me that my grandfather died I cried only once. When I think about it I feel guilty for how insensitive I’ve been, but he’s still there for me, when I think of him I see him alive. I tried to kill him with my thoughts because that’s the reality, but how hard is it to understand someone’s death when you don’t face it? When you don’t live it?” .The inability to say goodbye to relatives and friends and to experience contact with their deaths is a frequent issue in collected narratives. As shared by a female participant, grief is a process hindered by the inability to experience loss directly: The second theme explained 24% of lemmas and it was labeled “Home as a limitation to autonomy.” Participants narrated their experience of feeling a limitation to their personal autonomy in daily life activities.“Staying at home brings me moments of nervousness and I’m easily irritable. I often have panic attacks, precisely because staying at home for so long is not good for me. One feels alone, like in a cage and suffocated feelings give rise to nervousness that causes tension” . Similarly, the following narrative introduces the difficulty of finding a personal space to give voice to individual needs at home: “It’s very hard for me to concentrate and I can’t stand spending 24 hours a day with my parents arguing. I don’t even have my own bedroom, because the door is missing so I have to be with them all the time. Personally, I’m not afraid of the virus, there have always been cases in history and of course we have always come out of it unscathed; the point is that I just want to go back to having the chance to be away from home, for example at school and possibly soon at university” . The two negative experiences suggested adolescents’ perception of living with COVID-19 as a time to forcibly lose their personal autonomy.A female participant narrated: “It’s bad to wake up in the morning knowing you can’t accomplish anything with your life, you can’t do anything. I look out the window and it’s all deserted, no more sounds of cars, buses or people talking. It’s like a changed world, it’s like being in prison for something that’s not your fault. All I can do is wait and stay at home.” .Another male adolescent shared the sensation of being in prison as the result of having lost an individual identity related to a state of suspension of personal desires and identity: “The worst experience I had was when I went out for the first time to go shopping, wearing a mask and gloves. It was horrible to see used masks and gloves in the street that someone threw on the ground. Across the street someone said goodbye to me. He was my best friend with his dog, but I didn’t recognize him because he was covered by the mask. My best friend!” Narratives reported the adolescents’ difficult impact with a new daily routine in which their closest relationships (best friend) and daily activities (shopping) acquire the meaning of something unusual and perturbing. Similarly, the following extract focused on the feeling of being aware of taking part in a new life routine, which is completely different from one’s wishes about adolescent life: “There is not one episode in particular, but perhaps there is the most negative ‘feeling’ of this period, and it is certainly awareness. It’s being aware that you can’t live your senior year in high school as you would have liked. It’s the awareness of not being able to kiss your mom who just came back from the supermarket with your favorite dessert. It’s the awareness that you can’t go dancing or simply talk with friends about something that isn’t the ‘war bulletin’ or the press conference that resounds in the homes of Italians every night at 6 p.m.” .The third theme, saturating by 24% of lemmas, concerned the impact of “A new life routine.” Adolescents narrated their contact with life in quarantine as well as social distancing. Participant n. 488, a 17-year-old male, narrated his most negative experience of not recognizing his best friend because of the mask: “since there have been positive cases I’ve stayed at home, but with the online lessons and lots of homework I am getting sad and especially stressed. I wanted to talk about Bergamo with the teachers and my classmates, but there is no time and in the online lessons we only talk about school and homework.”The fourth emergent theme was saturated by 18% of lemmas and was labeled “School as educational but not relational environment.” Participants reported the difficulty of being engaged in educational activities, which are perceived as lacking in social opportunities. A male adolescent  reported: “In my opinion this is the saddest thing that this virus has brought: we young people no longer believe in dreams, but above all in hope for a better future. The professors, instead of understanding this situation, blame us, saying that we are ‘slackers’ and that we think we are on holiday, punishing us with millions of tasks, depriving us of everything. […] So, these are the reasons why we young people are exhausted and full of repressed hatred, because we see our peers die before our eyes and teachers often don’t understand us” .A participant expressed his feeling of being unwelcome and misunderstood by teachers due to the relational distance: “I felt agitated because homework and video tutorials have stressed me so much. It’s not the same online. I understand the gravity of the situation, the images we see are terrible, all those coffins. I miss my class, the teacher coming in, everything” .Moreover, homework and online classes work as stressors and increase the lack of relations: Concerning positive experiences, four themes emerged from the modeling analysis.“I read, studied, I’ve cooked various stuff, experimented, relaxed taking time for myself, watched TV series, movies, played chess. Everything that made me feel good. I felt accepted by myself, because I had time to think about myself much more and to reflect, making me feel like a better and acceptable person” .The first theme, the most representative for positive experiences collected, covered 33% of the lemmas and dealt with “Discovering oneself.” Adolescents reported to have discovered the pleasure of spending time with themselves and dedicating time to reading, listening to music, painting, and working out on their own. In this sense, lockdown became an opportunity for self-disclosure and personal growth: “Like never before, I have time to look inside and talk to myself in my bedroom, having more doubts, being able to resolve them, or simply leaving them unresolved, discovering what confuses me and understanding who I am” .Similarly, a girl narrated: “I Hear my friend tell me on the video-call that everything’s going to be okay and we’re going to come out of this even stronger. She said, ‘We’ll come back and watch the sunset on the beach, we’ll come back and eat ice cream together, we’ll come back and hug everybody, have faith’. I felt safe and full of hope” .The second emergent theme was labeled “Sharing life at a distance” (31% of lemmas) and dealt with the opportunity to be in a close relationship even at a distance. A participant narrated his relief in feeling his best friend’s support via video-call: “I felt a big panic inside and I had a video-call with all my friends at 1 am in a tense moment, it helped me a lot!” .Friendship as an anchor is a frequent issue in adolescents’ narratives: “I’m realizing how precious time is, every moment must be enjoyed because we could be deprived of it at any moment. I spend more time with my parents, before they were always at work and I used to see them for a few hours” . Similarly, a boy narrated the positive value of spending time with his grandparents: “I’m spending a lot of time with my grandparents and I’m growing up because they teach me so many things I didn’t know! We’ve rediscovered board games and we often play them all together” .The third emerged theme, named “Re-discovering family,” was saturated by 22% of the lemmas and focused on the positive impact of spending time with family members and discovering the joy of doing things together: “When I’m in class and I see my classmates, even if we do a test or an inquiry, it’s still a unique experience that I will tell my kids about!” . Most of the participants reported their satisfaction in their perception of having an active role in society by following the rules of social distancing and protecting others from contagion: “For once I really felt like a fundamental part of society” .The last theme, “To be part of an extraordinary experience”, was saturated by 14% of the lemmas and concerned participants’ feeling of being part of an unusual experience, which will have an impact on the culture they are living in. A participant narrated: The present study aimed to explore adolescents’ experience of living during the COVID-19 emergency and national lockdown in terms of narratives on positive and negative experiences. In light of a lack of scientific evidence on adolescents’ experience of living with infectious diseases and under national lockdown, the present study brings knowledge on negative and positive issues of such an impactful experience in this peculiar developmental age of adolescence.At first, results show that adolescents were more forthcoming about their negative experiences than about positive ones. This datum is not a surprise: scientific literature defines one’s need to “create coherence out of chaos” , p. 1. SLooking at word occurrence in both texts, results show similarities between terms used to describe the most negative and positive experiences. Nevertheless, emergent themes put in light different issues related to the same words. Overall, results highlight indeed a complex experience of adolescents characterized by a developmental challenge that may entail risk factors, as in the case of loss and anguish related to illness and contagion, or protective factors, such as the possibility of transforming the COVID-19 experience into an opportunity for personal growth.In the case of impacting experiences such as diseases or traumatic events, scholars introduced the construct of biographical disruption , which dAs shown by narratives on positive experiences of living with COVID-19, home acquires a duplex meaning in adolescents’ lives: loss of autonomy, but also the place where re-discovering family as a protective factor thanks to the opportunity to share activities and to spend time together. As argued by As reported by participants, the impossibility of experiencing a direct contact with loss and death may play a traumatic role in adolescents’ lives. In their narratives, grief is forcibly an intimate and individual process in which, as in the case of traumatic events, the disruption is sudden and unexpected. Starting from these results, further investigation on potential posttraumatic disorders and long-term symptoms in adolescents related to COVID-19 is needed.If family plays a protective role in collected narratives, adolescents denounce the absence of school as a place for relationships and emotional sharing. Participants narrate how they feel like receptors of educational contents without being able to play an active role within the educational process. Passivity and the inability to find a space to share concerns and emotions about the impact of the COVID-19 disease on their lives are the base of a feeling of disconnection from the educational environment. In this sense, the current “absence” of school may constitute a risk factor in adolescents’ development, as described in scientific literature .School closing is part of a broader spectrum of the breakdown of the daily routine that participants described as a negative experience. In developmental psychology, routines acquire a pivotal role in fostering the security necessary for the process of autonomy and self-definition, in childhood and adolescence . In thisOn the other hand, narratives on positive experiences also see COVID-19 as an opportunity to make contact and define certain aspects of one’s identity that have not yet been considered. As shown, the discovery of oneself plays a pivotal role in positive experiences narratives saturating 33% of lemmas in analysis.Identity, as described by Although it provides evidence on a topic which is unknown, the present study has some limitations. First, we did not control for narrative task administration order. All participants completed first the narrative on negative memories and, second, the one on positive experiences. For this reason, the present study did not aim to compare negative and positive experience, rather it considers them as separate narratives on autobiographical experience of living with COVID-19 pandemic.Moreover, the sample is composed of a large percentage of females and of high school students and does not consider the portions of adolescents of the Italian population who are not currently involved in education. Further studies should consider adolescents’ varying economic and cultural backgrounds. A second limitation is related to the varying impact of the COVID-19 emergency in the different regions of Italy. Adolescents’ experiences might be related to having or not having personal contacts with the disease in their family or social environment. Future studies should focus on specific developmental challenges due to direct or indirect contact with COVID-19.A third limitation is related to the lack of consideration of the interindividual differences. The study describes a process related to the COVID-19 in the global population without considering possible differential impacts related to personal characteristics and vulnerabilities.To conclude, the results suggest the need to take into account the impact of lockdown in the developmental tasks of adolescence. As for the negative experiences, loss of autonomy and anguish related to death and loss are the most representative topics. Further studies could better investigate the autonomy issue related to COVID-19 emergency considering the role family and different parenting models can play. For instance, very few studies have investigated the role of pre-pandemic maltreatment experience  or otherConversely, school, a pivotal developmental environment according to scientific literature, represented a smaller percentage of words in the narratives we collected for our sample, suggesting the need to debate on the lack of relation adolescents perceive in online didactic activities. Home and family may play a double role, both limiting adolescents’ acquisition of autonomy and providing an enriching setting for their personal growth. The latter, discovering oneself, is the most representative in positive experience narratives. In this sense, the starting hypothesis of the present study was left partially unconfirmed. Lockdown and life during the COVID-19 emergency may activate both a disruption and an empowering process in adolescents’ developmental tasks. Further studies are needed on psychological and social variables promoting or contrasting both processes.In the light of scarce studies exploring narratives on COVID-19 experience, the present research supports the importance of giving language to the autobiographical past by means of methods exploring qualitatively participants’ experience. Results show that a narrative is a tool to collect information on personal experience and to generate insight starting from it. Additionally, a narrative allows narrators emotional disclosure and to give meaning to their life story . This meThe raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Commissione per l’Etica della Ricerca, Università degli Studi di Firenze. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.CF, BP, AN, and EM conceived and performed the study design, data collection, and mastered the data. CF ran the data analysis. BP, AN, and EM discussed the results. CF wrote the manuscript with the support of BP and AN. EM and AN supervised the project and manuscript preparation. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


Via wounds or scratches, the bacterium creates an infection that makes the infected limb swell and, eventually, necrotize. The disease is often mortal in its final stage. Historically, female reindeer were gathered on unfenced milking meadows near herder tents or in small corrals, from early summer onward. When the soil was wet and muddy, the risk of developing digital necrobacillosis was considerable. Our sources included classical Sámi author/herder narratives, ethnographic and veterinary literature, and herder interviews. For this study, we conducted a qualitative review of the literature and carried out individual in-depth interviews with local knowledge holders. Our findings seem consistent: a documented prevention strategy was, in early summer, to move the reindeer to unused grazing land and to avoid staying too long in trampled and dirty grazing land. Contemporary climate change and winter uncertainty due to freeze–thaw cycles and ice-locked pastures challenge this type of strategy. Due to a lack of pasture resources, typical actions today include the increased use of supplementary feeding, which involves more gathering and handling of reindeer, higher animal density, challenging hygienic conditions, and stress, which all contribute to increased risks of contracting and transmitting diseases.This paper inquires whether reindeer herders’ traditional knowledge (TK) provides a reservoir of precaution and adaptation possibilities that may be relevant to counteract climate change. As our core example, we used the milking of reindeer—which, in some areas, was practiced up until the 1950s–1960s—and the risk of getting foot rot disease (digital necrobacillosis;  Rangifer tarandus tarandus) have been exploited for food and other subsistence since the last glaciation  hold thcomment) ) “has deasjärvi”  (p. 20).One example is Ruong’s  statemen”In Sweden it is generally acknowledged that the infection spread more easily with the intensive reindeer herding, when the reindeer during summer are kept under continuous guarding on a restricted room in reindeer corrals for milking”.(p. 29)This statement is very interesting and relevant to the feeding boom we experience today, and is also in line with veterinary sources from the shift between the 19th and 20th centuries ,43,44, wRuong realized that milking-type reindeer husbandry meant a double risk. First, daily roundups of the herd—if the milking places were not in well drained and dry areas—were a source of disease transmission. Second, milking and hard grazing reduced the uptake of food, especially during the first part of the summer as the grazing range of the reindeer is limited to higher lying areas due to disturbances from mosquitoes, warble flies, and heat. The outcome was nutritional deficiencies among both females and calves. In particular, the calves became leaner when access to milk was restricted. This made the calves especially prone to infectious diseases and probably less fit to survive the first winter.Ruong  thereforTypically, in the largescale landscapes of Finnmark, reindeer herders already in the late 1700s and early 1800s brought reindeer to the peninsula and the islands, where the reindeer were (more or less) allowed to spread out and graze freely. Such summer-extensive operations prevented any infectious diseases from flourishing and spreading ,57. This“around the Sámi hut or house, where he has had his animals during summer, was a beautiful meadow grass, lush and long, so one could wonder”. (p. 25)Leaving Ruong’s explanation, we turn to regions with landscapes suitable for milking-type reindeer husbandry, where movement along an altitudinal gradient was important. The first known description of historical milking grounds  is in the Västerbotten taiga, and about forest Sámi , but Holm also described reindeer herding from a location  of more than 1000 m above sea level .This “orda in North Sámi) has an important role in Sámi landscapes, historically both for the hunting of wild reindeer and traditional reindeer husbandry, as well as for modern reindeer husbandry, e.g., both rutting places and calving areas are usually located there. Spring and autumn dwelling sites were places just below the tree line, as they were in shelter but were also strategic  milking ground were shifted many times during the milking season“. (p. 84)Furthermore, in summer, the reindeer were collected in the high mountains for milking. They were collected on a spit on a mountain lake. If it was particularly hot, the milking took place on a snowdrift .“The mijåmo” (jupma) (Rumex)“They had many milking grounds, even up to 30 or 50. They stayed only 3 or 4 days, sometimes only overnight, at one field, as the reindeer managed better when not trampled at the same spot and not destroyed the pasture. Tracks between lakes and fields were marked on trees. The fields were cleaned from windfallen trees etc. [as well as branches]. When much rain, they needed to change after two weeks because of faeces accumulation. Next year this was dried so that the same field could be used……Grounds with   “could not be used before the second year as the roots will be trampled”. (p. 62)Sigrid Drake provided important evidence about traditional reindeer milking practice and site management during the late 1800s and early 1900s . These SFurthermore, Drake stated about milking grounds that: “Good Sámi walk far for milking, they do not herd” (the reindeer) to the dwelling place as it could be unclean” .The Byrkije (Børgefjell) area on the border between Norway and Sweden, which formed part of Drake’s study area, might be the area that is mentioned by Nensén , since t2) is related to milking-type reindeer husbandry alone , while over 50% of the vegetation is more or less affected by reindeer and reindeer herding [What is remarkable is that old milking ground locations, due to fertilizing by reindeer feces, urine, and trampling, are still green 80–90 years later . Origina herding . These r herding ,65.Summing up our information from written sources, we note that the writings of the two herders in the 1930s describe the disease broadly in accordance with veterinary knowledge. That is also the case with most of the descriptions and explanations in In northernmost Sweden, Interviewee 1 (born 1944) knew about herding practice in the 1930s due to family narratives. Calf marking was performed on snow patches in the mountains (like the strategy mentioned by Drake ) or on aAnother form of milk-based reindeer herding occurred in the Vesterålen Islands, in the northernmost west of Nordland County of Norway, from the mid-1800s up until at least World War II. Sámi farmers still kept both reindeer herds and livestock. Interviewee 2, born 1947, remembered this well, having been a child in a herder family. The last milk-based reindeer herding practice took place in the late 1950s.For our purpose, the most important of the memories of Interviewee 2 were that there were no incidents of slubbo/necrobacillosis or other serious infections in his region, and perhaps most importantly, he provided a clear explanation of why—which was clearly related to the herding and milking practice. The herders had relatively small herds, and as milking sites, they used dry hills and rotated the milking site every third week. Furthermore, they chose a new series of milking sites every year and instead used last year’s milking sites for growing potatoes. It seems quite clear that the reindeer herders integrated a very high consciousness of infection risk into their practice.Our last interview at Hinnøya Island, also in Vesterålen, is a quite modern example. A family company, with a history from 2008, is run by wife and husband reindeer herders. Close to cruise ship routes, it has gradually grown to become a major regional tourist destination. Tourists meet reindeer in a corral and catch some glimpses of Sámi culture through food and amusing narratives. The corralled reindeer are a limited part of the total herd, as the majority are free grazing. Interviewee 3 (born 1957) reflected over keeping reindeer in corrals for a long period of time. He told us that reindeer get swollen hooves when they stay in a corral for a long time . Then herders plan to change the corral site for precautionary reasons, and they keep the animals in extra circulation; e.g., they keep them in “quarantine” in a special corral before they can reenter the main herd. In addition, they also circulate the few very tame animals.This is a conscious strategy to prevent disease. Interviewee 3 justified this strategy as an alternative to being super restrictive, which would be demanding in many respects, and provided his main arguments. First, the extra income from tourism reduces the need for having many reindeer and, accordingly, reduces the pressure on land. Second, the prevention of disease is based on intuition, which again is based on experience. Our reflection on this is that it is a clear sign that old learnings are integrated into the Sámi reindeer herder culture and are still alive, brought forward and used whenever needed.In the written reports of reindeer herdsmen, ethnographic literature, and the interviews we conducted, it is stated that reindeer herdsmen have historical experience that keeping reindeer herds too close and too long in the same place increases the risk of disease. This seems to have established itself as part of a (more or less) collective memory, i.e., a part of Sami traditional knowledge that forms part of the basis of reindeer husbandry practices or as an element of good reindeer husbandry practice ,63. For Modern reindeer herding is based on larger herds than historically used. Since the end of the 1960s, reindeer herding in Sápmi has also become increasingly based on the use of various vehicles. However, the landscape, as per Ruong’s distinction, determines which vehicles can be used. Many districts therefore also have a higher degree of tameness than usual, at least for parts of the flock, in order to perform migration through demanding landscapes. Modern communication technology with telemetry, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, and drones is also increasingly used.Despite all the technology use, it is important to be aware that reindeer herding is still based on a comprehensive knowledge of nature and the landscape, social relationships, reindeer and their habitat, and response patterns in various situations. This knowledge is still transmitted between generations—note, e.g., that Interviewee 1 knew well the old family narratives from before, while at the same time was renewed with the young people’s own learning and experience building.suopan) but instead either through the use of binoculars in a special corral or a traditional method with collection on a snow patch. Both methods contribute to a greater degree of tameness.It is also worth noting that many districts in recent decades have undergone changes in work with the herd, causing less stress on the animals, such as calf marking without the use of lasso  and to decrease animal density and stress. However, current multi-stressor pressure, such as pasture encroachment and climate change, is increasingly forcing herders to conduct supplementary feeding on a regular basis, putting reindeer into a similar situation as that in which the milking animals were kept, possibly resulting in subsequent diseases, such as slubbo. This puts reindeer herders in a difficult situation and challenges both the traditional knowledge and the cultural feelings regarding what reindeer husbandry is all about. We started out by asking if the historical and traditional way of managing the disease digital necrobacillosis, also known as