Testing the stress-buffering effects of self engagement among soldiers on a military operation

The present research examined whether self engagement moderated the stressor-strain relationship in a sample of U.S. soldiers deployed on a peacekeeping mission to Bosnia. Given that individuals were nested within groups (Army companies), we examined the relationships of interest using multilevel random coefficient models. The results of these analyses revealed that self engagement interacted with three different stressors (lower amounts of sleep, work stress, family stress) in the prediction of psychological distress. In support of self engagement as a buffer against stress, when stressors were low (high amounts of sleep, low levels of work stress, and family stress), soldiers reported relatively low levels of psychological distress and physical symptoms, regardless of whether they were engaged in or disengaged from their job. However, when stressor levels were high, soldiers who were engaged in their job reported less elevation in reports of psychological distress than soldiers who were disengaged from their job. The results are discussed in terms of the potential mechanisms by which self engagement might protect individuals from stressful circumstances.     

Cognitive and Affective Regulation: Scale Validation and Nomological Network Analysis

This research examined the nomological network of cognitive and affective regulation with two scales developed to operationalise these constructs within complex performance domains. Data demonstrated that cognitive and affective regulation were differentially related to self‐regulatory, affective, and achievement variables at the inter‐ and intra‐individual levels. Psychometric properties of each scale were supported via confirmatory factor analyses and multilevel modeling. Study 1 established support for internal consistency, unidimensionality, and construct validity; Study 2 cross‐validated the scales in a different performance context; and Study 3 demonstrated utility for capturing intra‐individual changes in self‐regulation and predicting performance. This research highlights the importance of examining cognitive and affective regulation at the intra‐individual level of analysis; and the new measures provide a valid tool for advancing progress in this area.     

Explaining Differences in Subjective Well‐Being Across 33 Nations Using Multilevel Models: Universal Personality,Cultural Relativity,and National Income

This multinational study simultaneously tested three prominent hypotheses—universal disposition, cultural relativity, and livability—that explained differences in subjective well‐being across nations. We performed multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships at both individual and cultural levels in 33 nations. Participants were 6,753 university students (2,215 men; 4,403 women; 135 did not specify), and the average age of the entire sample was 20.97 years (SD = 2.39). Both individual‐ and cultural‐level analyses supported the universal disposition and cultural relativity hypotheses by revealing significant associations of subjective well‐being with Extraversion, Neuroticism, and independent self‐construal. In addition, interdependent self‐construal was positively related to life satisfaction at the individual level only, whereas aggregated negative affect was positively linked with aggregate levels of Extraversion and interdependent self‐construal at the cultural level only. Consistent with the livability hypothesis, gross national income (GNI) was related to aggregate levels of negative affect and life satisfaction. There was also a quadratic relationship between GNI and aggregated positive affect. Our findings reveal that universal disposition, cultural self‐construal, and national income can elucidate differences in subjective well‐being, but the multilevel analyses advance the literature by yielding new findings that cannot be identified in studies using individual‐level analyses alone.     

A multilevel multitrait‐multimethod analysis of self‐ and peer‐reported daily affective experiences

We examined the psychometric properties of an experience‐sampling measure of affect (PANAS) using data from self‐ and peer reports. A multivariate multilevel model was used to assess the reliability of the latent PANAS scales at the within‐ and between‐person level. Findings suggest satisfying internal consistencies for self‐ and peer reports of affective experiences at both levels of analysis. Convergent and discriminant validity of the two affect scales were examined by means of a multilevel multitrait‐multimethod approach (MLM‐MTMM) indicating distinct findings at the within‐ and between‐person level. These findings provide further insights into the structural relations between the two PANAS scales: Whereas positive and negative affect were unrelated at the between‐person level; they were negatively correlated at the within‐person level. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The emerging self: the convergence of mind,personality and thinking styles

This paper aims to integrate research and theorizing about problem solving, self and personality into a comprehensive theory. With this purpose, the paper attempts to answer three questions: how do humans become aware of themselves and how do the products of self-awareness interrelate to produce an integrated self-system, which includes the domains of cognition and personality? How do persons know and influence each other? How do these processes change with development? The answers given to these questions by self, personality and cognitive developmental psychology are critically examined. It is concluded that an overarching model would have to assume a multilevel and multidimensional architecture. This would involve three main levels: the first includes general-purpose processes and functions, such as processing efficiency and working memory, which define current cognitive potentials; the second includes several domain-specific systems directed to different aspects of the environment; the third includes self-oriented processes that register, represent and regulate processes at the other two levels. Each person’s self-concepts result from the application of the third level on the other two and they differentially reflect their condition. Personality reflects the interaction between these self-concepts and dispositions to act in particular ways. Because humans share this architecture they can negotiate and affect each other’s self- and reflected representations. Thus, the formation of mind, self and personality results from a continuous flow of interactions between the levels and domains of mind within and across persons. The article summarizes a series of studies lending support to this general model.     

Multilevel Perspectives on Community Intervention: An Example from an Indo-US HIV Prevention Project in Mumbai, India

This paper explores the meaning and applicability of multilevel interventions and the role of ethnography in identifying intervention opportunities and accounting for research design limitations. It utilizes as a case example the data and experiences from a 6-year, NIMH-funded, intervention to prevent HIV/STI among married men in urban poor communities in Mumbai, India. The experiences generated by this project illustrate the need for multilevel interventions to include: (1) ethnographically driven formative research to delineate appropriate levels, stakeholders and collaborators; (2) identification of ways to link interventions to the local culture and community context; (3) the development of a model of intervention that is sufficiently flexible to be consistently applied to different intervention levels using comparable culturally congruent concepts and approaches; (4) mechanisms to involve community residents, community based organizations and community-based institutions; and (5) approaches to data collection that can evaluate the impact of the project on multiple intersecting levels.     

Social neuroscience: understanding the pieces fosters understanding the whole and vice versa

Social science and neuroscience perspectives represent two ends of a continuum of levels of organization studied in psychology. Human behavior as a whole unfolds at social levels of organization, whereas much of the research in psychology has focused on cognitive and biological pieces of this whole. Recent evidence underscores the complementary nature of social, cognitive, and biological levels of analysis and how research integrating these levels can foster more comprehensive theories of the mechanisms underlying complex behavior and the mind. This research underscores the unity of psychology and the importance of retaining multilevel integrative research that spans molar and molecular levels of analysis.     

Multilevel integrative analyses of human behavior: social neuroscience and the complementing nature of social and biological approaches

Social and biological explanations traditionally have been cast as incompatible, but advances in recent years have revealed a new view synthesized from these 2 very different levels of analysis. The authors review evidence underscoring the complementing nature of social and biological levels of analysis and how the 2 together can foster understanding of the mechanisms underlying complex behavior and the mind. Specifically, they review the utility of considering social influences on biological processes that are often viewed as outside the social domain including genetic constitution, gene expression, disease, and autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune activity. This research underscores the unity of psychology and the importance of retaining multilevel integrative research that spans molar and molecular levels of analysis. Especially needed in the coming years is more research on the mechanisms linking social and biological events and processes.     

多水平项目反应理论模型在测验发展中的应用

作者简要介绍了多水平项目反应模型,对多水平项目反应理论与通常项目反应理论之间的关系进行了探讨,得到了多水平项目反应模型参数与通常项目反应模型参数之间的关系,并讨论了多水平项目反应模型的推广模型。通过一个实际例子,用多水平项目反应模型对测验中项目的特征进行分析;检验个体水平和组水平预测变量对能力参数的影响;对项目功能差异进行分析。最后文章就多水平项目反应理论模型的优势与不足进行了讨论     

Classroom Interactions,Dyadic Teacher–Child Relationships,and Self–Regulation in Socially Disadvantaged Young Children

This study examined the quality of the classroom climate and dyadic teacher–child relationships as predictors of self–regulation in a sample of socially disadvantaged preschool children (N?=?206; 52 % boys). Children’s self–regulation was observed in preschool at the beginning and at the end of the school year. At the middle of the preschool year, classroom observations of interactions were conducted by trained observers and teachers rated the quality of dyadic teacher–child relationships. Results from multilevel analyses revealed that teacher–child closeness predicted improvements in observed self–regulation skills. Children showed larger gains in self–regulation when they experienced closer teacher–child relationships. Moreover, a moderating effect between classroom instructional quality and observed self–regulation was found such that children with low initial self–regulation skills benefit the most from classrooms with higher classroom quality. Findings have implications for understanding the role of classroom social processes on the development of self–regulation.     

TEMPEST in a gallimaufry: applying multilevel systems theory to person-in-context research

Terminological ambiguity and inattention to personal and contextual multilevel systems undermine personality, self, and identity theories. Hierarchical and heterarchical systems theories are used to describe contents and processes existing within and across three interrelated multilevel systems: levels of organization, representation, and integration. Materially nested levels of organization are used to distinguish persons from contexts and personal from social identity. Functionally nested levels of representation are used to distinguish personal identity from the sense of identity and symbolic (belief) from iconic (schema) systems. Levels of integration are hypothesized to unfold separately but interdependently across levels of representation. Multilevel system configurations clarify alternative conceptualizations of traits and contextualized identity. Methodological implications for measurement and analysis (e.g., integrating variable- and pattern-centered methods) are briefly described.     

Explanatory Multidimensional Multilevel Random Item Response Model: An Application to Simultaneous Investigation of Word and Person Contributions to Multidimensional Lexical Representations

This paper presents an explanatory multidimensional multilevel random item response model and its application to reading data with multilevel item structure. The model includes multilevel random item parameters that allow consideration of variability in item parameters at both item and item group levels. Item-level random item parameters were included to model unexplained variance remaining when item related covariates were used to explain variation in item difficulties. Item group-level random item parameters were included to model dependency in item responses among items having the same item stem. Using the model, this study examined the dimensionality of a person’s word knowledge, termed lexical representation, and how aspects of morphological knowledge contributed to lexical representations for different persons, items, and item groups.     

Parental Personality,Relationship Stress,and Child Development: A Stress Generation Perspective

This study aimed to investigate associations among the parental personality dimensions of self‐criticism and dependency, parental relationship stress, and child development from a stress generation perspective. Data from 79 first‐time parents and their children aged 8–13 months, who were followed up in a two‐wave, 1‐year longitudinal study, were analysed within a multilevel structural equation modelling framework in order to account for within‐couple interdependence. Results revealed that, as hypothesised, both parental self‐criticism and dependency were associated with increased levels of relationship stress, which in turn were negatively related to child development. Hence, parental personality features in combination with relationship stress may be an important target in couple and family‐based interventions. Implications for further research on family dynamics and interventions are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond the “Psychosomatic Family”: A Biobehavioral Family Model of Pediatric Illness

This article proposes a multilevel systems model of the interactive biological, psychological, and social processes in childhood illness. This heuristic model can organize the investigation of pathways and mechanisms by which these levels influence one another. A pivotal feature of this biobehavioral family model is the construct of responsivity, which is conceptualized at both family (interpersonal responsivity) and individual (biobehavioral reactivity) levels. Individual biobehavioral reactivity is proposed as a bidirectional pathway by which family patterns and disease processes influence one another. Illustrative clinical material and relevant research are presented with recommendations for future study. This model integrates individual and family-level theory and thus has the capacity to bridge the fields of psychosomatics, pediatrics, behavioral medicine, and family systems medicine.     

Multilevel Reliability Measures of Latent Scores Within an Item Response Theory Framework

Abstract

This paper evaluated multilevel reliability measures in two-level nested designs (e.g., students nested within teachers) within an item response theory framework. A simulation study was implemented to investigate the behavior of the multilevel reliability measures and the uncertainty associated with the measures in various multilevel designs regarding the number of clusters, cluster sizes, and intraclass correlations (ICCs), and in different test lengths, for two parameterizations of multilevel item response models with separate item discriminations or the same item discrimination over levels. Marginal maximum likelihood estimation (MMLE)-multiple imputation and Bayesian analysis were employed to evaluate the accuracy of the multilevel reliability measures and the empirical coverage rates of Monte Carlo (MC) confidence or credible intervals. Considering the accuracy of the multilevel reliability measures and the empirical coverage rate of the intervals, the results lead us to generally recommend MMLE-multiple imputation. In the model with separate item discriminations over levels, marginally acceptable accuracy of the multilevel reliability measures and empirical coverage rate of the MC confidence intervals were found in a limited condition, 200 clusters, 30 cluster size, .2 ICC, and 40 items, in MMLE-multiple imputation. In the model with the same item discrimination over levels, the accuracy of the multilevel reliability measures and the empirical coverage rate of the MC confidence intervals were acceptable in all multilevel designs we considered with 40 items under MMLE-multiple imputation. We discuss these findings and provide guidelines for reporting multilevel reliability measures.     

Computational models of the “active self” and its disturbances in schizophrenia

The notion that self-disorders are at the root of the emergence of schizophrenia rather than a symptom of the disease, is getting more traction in the cognitive sciences. This is in line with philosophical approaches that consider an enactive self, constituted through action and interaction with the environment. We thereby analyze different definitions of the self and evaluate various computational theories lending to these ideas. Bayesian and predictive processing are promising approaches for computational modeling of the “active self”. We evaluate their implementation and challenges in computational psychiatry and cognitive developmental robotics. We describe how and why embodied robotic systems provide a valuable tool in psychiatry to assess, validate, and simulate mechanisms of self-disorders. Specifically, mechanisms involving sensorimotor learning, prediction, and self-other distinction, can be assessed with artificial agents. This link can provide essential insights to the formation of the self and new avenues in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.     

Social support and postpartum depressive symptomatology: The mediating role of maternal self‐efficacy

Research shows that social support and maternal self‐efficacy are inversely related to postpartum depression; however, little is known about the mechanisms by which these variables impact on depressive symptomatology. This study uses path analysis to examine the proposal that maternal self‐efficacy mediates the effects of social support on postpartum depressive symptomatology. Primiparous women (n=247) completed questionnaires during their last trimester and then again at 4 weeks' postpartum (n=192) . It was hypothesized that higher levels of parental support, partner support, and maternal self‐efficacy would be associated with lower levels of depressive symptomatology postpartum and that the relationship between social support and depressive symptomatology would be mediated by maternal self‐efficacy. Results indicated that as expected, higher parental support and maternal self‐efficacy were associated with lower levels of depressive symptomatology postpartum. Partner support was found to be unrelated to both depressive symptomatology and maternal self‐efficacy. Results from the path analysis supported the mediation model. Findings suggest that parental support lowers depressive symptomatology by the enhancement of maternal self‐efficacy.     

Introduction to Multi-Level Community Based Culturally Situated Interventions

This introduction to a special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychiatry is the result of a symposium at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, 2006, that brought together anthropologists and psychologists involved in community based collaborative intervention studies to examine critically the assumptions, processes and results of their multilevel interventions in local communities with local partners. The papers were an effort to examine context by offering a theoretical framework for the concept of “level” in intervention science, and advocating for “multi‐level” approaches to social/behavioral change. They presented examples of ways in which interventions targeted social “levels” either simultaneously or sequentially by working together with communities across levels, and drawing on and co‐constructing elements of local culture as components of the intervention. The papers raised a number of important issues, for example: (1) How are levels defined and how should collaborators be chosen; (2) does it matter at which level multilevel interventions begin; (3) do multilevel interventions have a greater effect on desired outcomes than level‐specific interventions; (4) are multilevel interventions more sustainable; (5) are multilevel interventions cost effective to run, and evaluate; (6) how can theories of intervention be generated and adapted to each level of a multilevel intervention; (7) how should intervention activities at each level coordinate to facilitate community resident or target population empowerment? Many of these questions were only partially addressed in the papers presented at that time, and are more fully addressed in the theoretical papers, case studies and approach to evaluation included in this collection.     

Longitudinal Model Predicting Self‐Concept in Pediatric Chronic Illness

Although self‐concept has been identified as salient to the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents dealing with a chronic illness (CI), little research has focused on its predictors it. Given that depression and parent–child attachment have been linked to self‐concept in the population at large, the goal of this study was to evaluate these relationships longitudinally in a sample of adolescents with CI. Using participant data from the Mastering Each New Direction (MEND) program, a 3‐month psychosocial, family based intensive outpatient program for adolescents with CI, we employed multilevel modeling to test longitudinal changes in self‐concept, as predicted by depressive symptoms and parent–child attachment, in a sample of 50 youths (M_age = 14.56, SD_age = 1.82) participating in MEND. Both “time spent in the program” and decreases in depressive symptoms were associated with increases in self‐concept over time. Higher baseline levels of avoidant attachment to both mother and father were also associated with greater initial levels of self‐concept. Targeting depressive symptoms and supporting adaptive changes in attachment may be key to promoting a healthy self‐concept in pediatric CI populations. The association between avoidant attachment and higher baseline self‐concept scores may reflect differences in participants’ autonomy, self‐confidence, or depression. Limitations of the study include variability in the amount of time spent in the program, attrition in final time point measures, and the inability to fully examine and model all potential covariates due to a small sample size (e.g. power).     

Does child verbal ability mediate the relationship between maternal sensitivity and later self‐regulation? A longitudinal study from infancy to 4 years

There is a need to further examine the mechanisms by which maternal sensitivity influences the development of child self‐regulation. This study investigated the role of maternal sensitivity when infants were 10 months old and child verbal ability at 18 months, in relation to various aspects of self‐regulation at 48 months, in a sample of 95 typically developing children (46.3% girls). In particular, the study examined, from a Vygotskian perspective, whether child verbal ability, as measured by receptive and expressive language, mediated the relationship between maternal sensitivity and hot and cool aspects of self‐regulation in the child. As hypothesized, maternal sensitivity predicted child verbal ability, as well as working memory, set shifting, and delay of gratification. Child receptive language predicted set shifting, inhibition, and delay of gratification. In addition, receptive language mediated the relationship between maternal sensitivity and inhibition only. Additive effects of maternal sensitivity and child receptive language in relation to set shifting were found, and a main effect of maternal sensitivity on child delay of gratification. The results add to the body of research suggesting that responsive parenting and child verbal ability are important for the development of self‐regulation, and suggest that different mechanisms may be at work for different aspects of self‐regulation.