Proneness to hallucinations and delusions in a non‐clinical sample: Exploring associations with metacognition and negative affect

Commonly, individuals prone to hallucinations and delusions hold dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs and report higher levels of negative affect, yet, these associations have not been clearly investigated in non‐clinical samples due to the failure to control for high intercorrelations between variables. The aim of the current study was to investigate how hallucination and delusion proneness are associated with dysfunctional metacognitions and negative affect. A cross‐sectional sample of 715 students free from psychiatric diagnoses (M_age = 28.1 years, SD = 10.9, range 18–65) completed the Launay‐Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS‐R); Peters et al. Delusion Inventory (PDI‐21); Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS‐21); and the Metacognition Questionnaire (MCQ‐30). Findings that participants who were prone to both hallucinations and delusions reported elevated levels of negative affect support the need for targeted mental health treatment for individuals who experience psychological distress related to their hallucinatory and delusional experiences. While metacognition beliefs of need to control thoughts and cognitive self‐consciousness, along with the anxiety and stress DASS‐21 subscales appeared as significant cross‐sectional predictors of proneness to hallucinations and delusions, only metacognitions demonstrated any notable predictive value for delusion proneness. This finding questions the role of metacognitions in determining hallucination and delusion proneness in non‐clinical samples.     

The Relationship among Metacognitions,Attentional Control,and State Anxiety

Abstract

The present study explored the relationship among metacognitions, attentional control, and state anxiety. A convenience sample of 142 undergraduate students completed the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire-30, the Attentional Control Scale, and the State subscale of the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory 3 weeks before end-of-year examinations. A cross-sectional design was adopted, and data analysis consisted of correlation and hierarchical regression analyses. Correlation analyses showed that three dimensions of metacognition (negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger, cognitive confidence, and beliefs about the need to control thoughts) were positively correlated with state anxiety. These same metacognitions were also found to be negatively correlated with attention shifting and, with the exception of cognitive confidence, attention focusing. Both attention focusing and attention shifting were found to be negatively correlated with state anxiety. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger and attention focusing independently predicted state anxiety. Overall, these findings support the hypotheses and are consistent with the metacognitive theory of psychological dysfunction in that they show that metacognitions (in the form of negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger) and executive control (in the form of attention-focusing) individually contribute to state anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Role of Metacognitions in the Association between Children’s Perceptions of Maternal Control and Anxiety

We aimed to bring a developmental perspective to metacognitive theory. The metacognitive model (MCM) was originally developed for adults. However, an increasing number of studies demonstrate the MCM is relevant to child anxiety. Therefore, it is important to understand the origins of anxiety-specific metacognitions. Given the role experiences of controlling parenting play in maintaining and perhaps forming anxious cognitions or a cognitive vulnerability we focused on maternal behavioral and psychological control. Using a cross-sectional design, Danish school children (9–17 years old; N?=?1062) rated their levels of anxiety and anxiety-specific metacognitions, and their mothers' controlling behavior. Child-perceived maternal psychological control was positively correlated with each anxiety specific metacognition (positive and negative worry beliefs, cognitive confidence, need to control, and cognitive self-consciousness). Child-perceived autonomy-granting was negatively correlated with all metacognitions except cognitive self-consciousness. Child perceived maternal psychological control was indirectly associated with anxiety via total metacognitions. Child-perceived autonomy-granting, but not psychological control, was directly related to anxiety. Given the differential findings for psychological control and autonomy-granting, we suggest that specific types of parenting behavior may be related to specific elements of (meta-) cognitive vulnerability. Our findings are theoretically important because they propose maternal psychological control is an environmental factor that may play a role in the development of a metacognitive vulnerability related to anxiety. A potential clinical implication of our findings is that metacognitive therapy for children should include a parental component.     

On the relationship between temperament, metacognition, and anxiety: independent and mediated effects

Abstract The present study examined the relations between temperamental traits distinguished in regulative theory of temperament, state anxiety, and metacognition as postulated in self-regulatory executive function (S-REF) theory of emotional disorder. Data analysis (n=315) consisted of independent and mediated effect analyses. Of the six traits, briskness, emotional reactivity and perseveration correlated significantly with both state anxiety and metacognitions (emotional reactivity and perseveration correlated positively, and briskness - negatively). These traits were predictors of state anxiety. Metacognition predicted state anxiety and relationships were independent of temperament. A mediating effect of metacognition was confirmed for the general index as well as negative and positive belief subscales. The findings support the metacognitive model of psychopathology and suggest that temperament is associated with metacognitions implicated in psychopathology and may have both direct and metacognitively mediated effects on anxiety.     

Prospective Relations Between Dysfunctional Metacognitive Beliefs,Metacognitive Strategies,and Anxiety: Results From a Four-Wave Longitudinal Mediation Model

The metacognitive model of psychological disorders suggests that emotional disorders are related to maladaptive metacognitive strategies corresponding to underlying dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs. There is substantial empirical evidence supporting a role of metacognition in psychopathology, but fewer studies have evaluated the metacognitive model using longitudinal data and taken into consideration its differentiation between components and how they are hypothesized to be related to each other. Thus, more specific model evaluation is important as it relates to identifying mechanisms of disorder with a potential to provide clinical advances. In the present study, 868 participants took part in a 4-wave survey and reported on metacognitive beliefs and strategies and anxiety symptoms. Two longitudinal mediation models (forward and reversed causation) were run to test temporal precedence and bidirectional relations. The results indicated that metacognitive beliefs significantly predicted metacognitive strategies, which further predicted anxiety symptoms and mediated the indirect effect in the relationship between metacognitive beliefs and anxiety over time. The relationship between metacognitive beliefs and anxiety symptoms over time were bidirectional, but this relationship was not accounted for by metacognitive strategies. These findings largely support central predictions set forward by the metacognitive model and indicate that metacognitions play a preceding and maintaining role in anxiety.     

The disturbed caregiving system: Relations among childhood trauma,maternal caregiving,and infant affect and attachment

The interrelations among maternal childhood experiences of physical or sexual abuse, adult trauma-related symptoms, adult caregiving behavior, and infant affect and attachment were investigated among 45 low-income mothers and their 18-month-old infants. A history of physical abuse was associated with increased hostile-intrusive behavior toward the infant, increased infant negative affect, and a decreased tendency to report trauma-related symptoms. A history of sexual abuse was associated with decreased involvement with the infant, more restricted maternal affect, and more active reporting of trauma-related symptoms. Infants of mothers who had experienced childhood violence or abuse were not more likely to display insecure attachment strategies than infants of mothers who had not experienced trauma. However, the form of insecure behavior was significantly different. Insecure infants of violence-exposed mothers displayed predominantly disorganized strategies, whereas insecure infants of mothers with benign childhoods or neglect only displayed predominantly avoidant strategies. Results are discussed in relation to Main and Hesse's (1990) concept of frightened or frightening behavior and to current literature on psychological sequelae of trauma.     

Metacognitive beliefs across the continuum of psychosis: comparisons between patients with psychotic disorders, patients at ultra-high risk and non-patients

BACKGROUND: Recent models of emotional disorders and psychosis implicate metacognitive beliefs in the development and maintenance of psychological distress. We predicted that patients with established psychotic disorders and those meeting at risk mental state (ARMS) criteria (and, thus, at increased risk of developing psychosis) would show higher levels of metacognitive beliefs than non-patient controls. Furthermore, we predicted that patients with psychosis would show higher levels of such beliefs than the at risk group. METHOD: The Metacognitions Questionnaire was administered to 73 patients with psychotic disorders, 43 ARMS patients and 188 non-patients. RESULTS: As predicted, patients with psychotic diagnoses and those at risk scored higher on metacognitive belief dimensions than non-patients. Patients with psychosis showed higher positive metacognitive beliefs than the at risk patients, indicating a greater range of unhelpful metacognitions overall, when compared to non-patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with metacognitive conceptualisations of psychological disorders. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.     

A short form of the metacognitions questionnaire: properties of the MCQ-30

The metacognitions questionnaire (MCQ) measures individual differences in a selection of metacognitive beliefs, judgments and monitoring tendencies considered important in the metacognitive model of psychological disorders. The development and properties of a shortened 30-item version of the MCQ, the MCQ-30, are reported. Construct validity was evaluated by confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. Overall, the fit indices suggested an acceptable fit to a five-factor model consistent with the original MCQ. Exploratory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure, which was almost identical to the original solution obtained in previous studies with the full MCQ. The five factors are cognitive confidence, positive beliefs about worry, cognitive self-consciousness, negative beliefs about uncontrollability of thoughts and danger, and beliefs about need to control thoughts. The MCQ-30 showed good internal consistency and convergent validity, and acceptable to good test-retest reliability. Positive relationships between metacognitions and measures of worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms provided further support for the validity of the measure and the metacognitive theory of intrusive thoughts. The psychometric properties of MCQ-30 suggest that the instrument is a valuable addition to the assessment of metacognitions that has the advantage of being more economical to use compared with the original MCQ.     

Ageing and Death: A Buddhist-Christian Conceptual Framework for Spirituality in Later Life

SUMMARY

This study tested the roles of age, religious beliefs and organizational religiosity in the prediction of depressive symptoms and positive affect. Data provided by 129 younger and older adults were used to test a path model in which both direct and indirect effects of age and beliefs on well being were hypothesized. Both age and religious beliefs were positively and significantly associated with organizational religiosity. Individuals who reported more frequent participation in organizational religiosity reported fewer depressive symptoms and higher positive affect. Neither age nor religious beliefs, however, exerted direct effects on the outcomes. Results of the current investigation suggest that a better understanding of the content and function of religious beliefs may add to our understanding of well being and aging. Moreover, we advocate the further investigation of religiosity and positive emotional experiences.     

Weight-based discrimination,body dissatisfaction and emotional eating: The role of perceived social consensus

Objective: Discrimination can have a negative impact on psychological well-being, attitudes and behaviour. This research evaluates the impact of experiences of weight-based discrimination upon emotional eating and body dissatisfaction, and also explores whether people's beliefs about an ingroup's social consensus concerning how favourably overweight people are regarded can moderate the relationship between experiences of discrimination and negative eating and weight-related cognitions and behaviours.

Research methods and procedures: 197 undergraduate students completed measures about their experiences of weight-based discrimination, emotional eating and body dissatisfaction. Participants also reported their beliefs concerning an ingroup's attitude towards overweight people.

Results: Recollections of weight-based discrimination significantly contributed to emotional eating and body dissatisfaction. However, the relationships between experiencing discrimination and body dissatisfaction and emotional eating were weakest amongst participants who believed that the ingroup held a positive attitude towards overweight people.

Discussion: Beliefs about ingroup social consensus concerning overweight people can influence the relationships between weight-based discrimination and emotional eating and body dissatisfaction. Changing group perceptions to perceive it to be unacceptable to discriminate against overweight people may help to protect victims of discrimination against the negative consequences of weight-based stigma.     

Sports specific metacognitions and competitive state anxiety in athletes: A comparison between different sporting types

This study investigated the relationship between sport related metacognitions with state anxiety dimensions, and compared how sporting categories affected these variables, among an online sample of athletes (N = 187). A MANOVA revealed there were significant differences between sporting types in metacognitive beliefs relating to the utility of rumination and arousal, the need to control thoughts, and levels of somatic anxiety. Correlations and multiple regressions showed that that in contrast to the relationships with self-confidence, cognitive and somatic state anxiety were positively associated with specific dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, but negatively related to metacognitive processes. Overall, these findings highlight that: (a) athletes might adopt metacognitions to meet the different cognitive demands of sport types; and (b) metacognitions are in part responsible for the occurrence of state anxiety and self-confidence during competitions. The findings of this study have implications toward how researchers and sports practitioners approach the comprehensive nature of competitive anxiety.     

To Add Insight to Injury: Childhood Abuse,Abuse Perceptions,and the Emotional and Physical Health of Young Adults

Although childhood abuse is strongly associated with psychological difficulties, survivors may not perceive their experiences as abusive. Depression, anxiety, dissociation, and physical health complaints may decrease perceptions of abuse and may also be exacerbated by individuals' abuse perceptions. The current study examined abuse perceptions, abuse experiences, and current symptoms among 185 university students. Ninety-six participants repeated the study 1–2 years later. At Time 1, self-labeling as “abused” or “maltreated” was not related to psychological or physical health symptoms. At Time 2, self-labeling as “abused” or “maltreated” was positively related to depression, anxiety, and dissociation. Results indicate that abuse perceptions may change over time and may be connected with emotional and physical symptoms.     

Emotion Beliefs,Emotion Regulation,and Emotional Experiences in Daily Life

One potential factor that could influence how individuals with at least moderate symptoms of depression cope with upsetting events in their daily lives is the beliefs that these individuals hold about whether emotions are malleable or fixed. The current study adopted an experience sampling approach to examine how the beliefs about emotion’s malleability related to daily positive and negative affect and daily emotion regulation efforts among individuals with at least moderate symptoms of depression (N = 84). Results demonstrated that individuals having at least moderate symptoms of depression who held more malleable beliefs about emotions reported decreased negative affect both overall during the day and specifically in response to daily upsetting events. Additionally, these individuals who held more malleable beliefs about their emotions also reported more daily use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate their emotions in response to upsetting daily events. Results from the current study extend previous work examining the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs, emotional experiences, and emotion regulation to examine these relationships in people who are moderately depressed as they navigate the emotional landscape of their daily lives.     

The role of emotional maltreatment and looming cognitive style in the development of social anxiety symptoms in late adolescents

Background: Social looming constitutes a specific cognitive vulnerability that acts as a danger schema and biases the processing of threat-related information associated with the development of social anxiety disorder. This model characterizes early negative experiences as critical to the formation of looming cognitive style. Furthermore, research has found links between parental emotional abuse and peer victimization and social anxiety. Design: A three-wave longitudinal design was used to analyze the role of parents’ emotional abuse and peer victimization in the onset of social anxiety symptoms through the development of this cognitive style. Methods: The final sample was made up of 307 females and 243 males (M_age?=?16.97, SD_age?=?.81). Perceived parents’ emotional abuse and peer victimization by participants were measured at Time 1, social looming was measured at Time 1 and 2, and social anxiety symptoms were measured at Times 1, 2, and 3. Results: Parents’ emotional abuse and peer victimization were related to social anxiety cross-sectionally. Longitudinally, social looming acted as a mediator in the relationship between parents’ emotional abuse and social anxiety. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms through which emotional abuse and peer victimization impact social looming and contribute to social anxiety.     

The associations between adult attachment,posttraumatic symptoms,and posttraumatic growth

Background and Objectives: Individual differences after trauma vary considerably and can range from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to posttraumatic growth (PTG). Current theoretical models cannot fully explain this variability. Therefore, we integrated attachment theory with Ehlers and Clark's model of PTSD to understand whether attachment style is associated with negative appraisals of a traumatic event(s), posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS), and PTG. Our aim was to test this integrated model PTSD in an analog sample who had experienced at least one traumatic event. Design: We used structural equation modeling to test the association of adult attachment and posttraumatic cognitions (self and world/others) with PTS and PTG using a cross-sectional, correlational design. Methods: The sample comprised 393 university staff and students (Range_Age= 18–49, 85% females) who completed online measures. Results: Attachment anxiety and negative posttraumatic self-cognitions were positively associated. Negative posttraumatic self-cognitions were positively associated with PTS. Attachment anxiety had an indirect effect (via negative posttraumatic self-cognitions) on PTS, whereas attachment avoidance predicted more negative posttraumatic world cognitions and lower perceived PTG. Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of considering how attachment styles influence posttraumatic emotion regulation and cognitive processing of the trauma to determine posttraumatic mental health.     

The Contribution of Metacognitions and Attentional Control to Decisional Procrastination

Earlier research has implicated metacognitions and attentional control in procrastination and self-regulatory failure. This study tested several hypotheses: (1) that metacognitions would be positively correlated with decisional procrastination; (2) that attentional control would be negatively correlated with decisional procrastination; (3) that metacognitions would be negatively correlated with attentional control; and (4) that metacognitions and attentional control would predict decisional procrastination when controlling for negative affect. One hundred and twenty-nine participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21, the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire 30, the Attentional Control Scale, and the Decisional Procrastination Scale. Significant relationships were found between all three attentional control factors (focusing, shifting, and flexible control of thought) and two metacognitions factors (negative beliefs concerning thoughts about uncontrollability and danger, and cognitive confidence). Results also revealed that decisional procrastination was significantly associated with negative affect, all measured metacognitions factors, and all attentional control factors. In the final step of a hierarchical regression analysis only stress, cognitive confidence, and attention shifting were independent predictors of decisional procrastination. Overall these findings support the hypotheses and are consistent with the Self-Regulatory Executive Function model of psychological dysfunction. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

A comparison of metacognitions in patients with hallucinations,delusions, panic disorder,and non-patient controls

This study tested the hypothesis that metacognitions are a general vulnerability factor for psychological disorder. It was predicted that patients with psychosis (hallucinations or delusions), and patients with panic disorder would score higher than non-patients on measures of metacognition. Moreover, it was hypothesised that patients showing most dysregulation of thinking (voice-hearers) would endorse significantly higher metacognition scores than individuals in the other groups. The Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ: ) was administered to patients who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia spectrum disorders with auditory hallucinations, patients who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia spectrum disorders with persecutory delusions, patients who met DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder and non-patients. The results showed that psychotic patients who experience auditory hallucinations tended to exhibit higher levels of dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs than other patient groups, scoring significantly higher than at least two of the three control groups on positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about uncontrollability and danger, cognitive confidence and negative beliefs including superstition, punishment and responsibility. It was also found that the metacognitive beliefs of patients with persecutory delusions and panic patients were often similar to each other, and elevated in comparison to non-patients, suggesting that such beliefs are generic vulnerability factors. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Psychological correlates of reasons for nonbelief: tolerance of ambiguity,intellectual humility,and attachment

ABSTRACT

The process of acquiring beliefs – including the belief that there is no God–is largely implicit. We propose that psychological factors that function largely outside of conscious awareness make different conscious reasons for nonbelief more plausible to different people. The present study focuses on intellectual humility, tolerance of ambiguity and attachment and how they relate to stated reasons for nonbelief. The survey was distributed online to an international network of over 100 atheist, secular, and freethought organisations. As predicted, emotional reasons for nonbelief were positively related to anxious attachment, and intellectual reasons for nonbelief were inversely related to tolerance of ambiguity. We did not find evidence for our hypotheses that intellectual reasons for belief would be related to intellectual humility, or that uncertainty reasons would be related to tolerance of ambiguity, intellectual humility, and avoidant attachment. We unexpectedly found that early socialisation reasons for nonbelief were negatively related to intellectual humility.     

Metacognitions in Triathletes: Associations With Attention,State Anxiety,and Relative Performance

This study investigated how metacognitive beliefs in triathletes covary with state anxiety dimensions, prior to competition. It also examined how metacognitions relate to concentration, after controlling for state anxiety. Regression analyses revealed that specific metacognitive beliefs were differentially predictive of state anxiety dimensions and concentration. When accounting for the state anxiety variables in a hierarchical model predicting concentration, positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about worry, and cognitive anxiety remained as significant predictors. Metacognitive beliefs were also found to differ across time-to-event intervals. Overall, the results demonstrated that a metacognitive framework is a viable pathway for future sporting research.