Upsetting social interactions and distress among Alzheimer's disease family care-givers: A replication and extension

Although several studies have suggested that negative aspects of relationships have a greater impact on mood than positive elements, the individuals in these studies have been victims of life crises. To assess the generality of these findings, social support and mood data were collected from two well-matched groups that differed with respect to the presence of a chronic stressor in their lives. The 34 family care-givers for Alzheimer's disease victims and 34 comparison persons (non-care-givers) did not differ in the frequency of contacts, the closeness of their relationships, or ratings of the helpfulness or upset associated with the relationships. However, while upset accounted for a significant portion of the variance in care-givers' depressive symptoms in regression equations, neither upset nor helpfulness was significantly related to mood in non-care-givers. Care-givers whose relatives had more symptomatic Alzheimer's disease behaviors were more distressed and described their relationships with others as more upsetting. Implications for interventions and for the contextual importance of upsetting or negative support are discussed.     

Selective bias in retrospective self-reports of negative mood states

Retrospective self-report questionnaires of negative mood states experienced in the past (e.g., the most recent two weeks) tend to be exaggerated in a negative direction relative to the average ratings given to the moods contemporaneously. The present study used three measures that decomposed mood states into their constituent elements to examine whether certain components selectively contributed to this negative bias or all components contributed to this bias equally. Fifty-three participants responded to the questionnaires via the Internet every evening for two weeks. On the final day, participants recalled and retrospectively evaluated their mood state over the previous two weeks as a whole. The results revealed that memory bias occurred selectively for negative mood states. Anxiety, depression, and helplessness were exaggerated in the global compared with the daily ratings. None of the positive mood components showed any bias in the retrospective global ratings. A regression analysis indicated that the difference in daily and global ratings for negative mood was partly explained by peak and final scores. Higher peak scores led to greater overestimation whereas final scores had smaller effects; the higher the final score was, the less participants overestimated their negative mood in the global ratings.     

Aggregation, acquiescence, and the assessment of trait affectivity

General affect ratings are subject to problems that lessen their validity. Some critics therefore have argued that aggregated on-line ratings provide better measures of trait affectivity. However, aggregated mood ratings suffer from two significant problems. First, correlations among same-valenced affects are substantially higher, indicating poorer discriminant validity. Second, cross-valence correlations are much weaker, reflecting a virtual absence of bipolarity. We show how both of these effects are due to an inflated acquiescence component in aggregated data. We also demonstrate that (a) these effects are a direct result of the aggregation process itself and (b) controlling for acquiescence counteracts these effects. These results indicate that the validity of aggregated mood ratings is lessened by an augmented acquiescence component.     

Clinical Validity of a Dimensional Assessment of Self- and Interpersonal Functioning in Adolescent Inpatients

The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale–Global Version (SCORS–G) is a clinical rating system assessing 8 domains of self- and interpersonal relational experience that can be applied to narrative response data (e.g., Thematic Apperception Test [TAT; Murray, 1943], early memories narratives) or oral data (e.g., psychotherapy narratives, relationship anecdotal paradigms). In this study, 72 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents consented and were rated by their individual and group therapist using the SCORS–G. Clinicians also rated therapy engagement, personality functioning, quality of peer relationships, school functioning, global assessment of functioning (GAF), history of eating-disordered behavior, and history of nonsuicidal self-injury. SCORS–G composite ratings achieved an acceptable level of interrater reliability and were associated with theoretically predicted variables (e.g., engagement in therapy, history of nonsuicidal self-injury). SCORS–G ratings also incrementally improved the prediction of therapy engagement and global functioning beyond what was accounted for by GAF scores. This study further demonstrates the clinical utility of the SCORS–G with adolescents.     

Behavioral and psychological traits of weight-conscious teenagers: a comparison of eating-disordered patients and high- and low-risk groups

The present study was designed to test the clinical hunch that members of high-risk groups, such as athletes, have psychological traits similar to persons with eating disorders. Three groups of adolescent females (eating-disordered, athletes, and students) were studied to determine their menstrual, dieting, and exercise patterns and their self-images. Although the three groups fell on a continuum of anorexic-like behaviors, their self-images were not on a similar continuum. Eating-disordered females had the poorest self-images while athletes were the best adjusted of all three groups. Eating-disordered subjects exhibited extremely low scores on emotional tone and social relationships, suggesting that these dimensions of self-image may be characteristic which clearly distinguish the eating-disordered from so-called high-risk persons.     

Family relationships, leaving home, and adjustment to military service

Associations between family relationships and individual adjustment were studied within a sample of 19-year-old soldiers during their first weeks of basic training. Results showed that family relationships partly explained soldiers' closeness to best friends, number of social nominations, and commanders' ratings of soldiers' military and social competence. In addition, family relations explained soldiers' perceived social competence as assessed via closeness to best friends and number of sociometric nominations. Together, the results reiterate the role played by the family and attitudes toward offspring leaving home and toward their adjustment to military service.     

Do Obese Women Have Poorer Social Relationships Than Nonobese Women? Reports by Self,Friends, and Coworkers

Both theory and research suggest that obese women may have relatively poor social relationships even if their self-reports about their relationships do not differ from the reports of nonobese women. Seventy-seven obese and 78 nonobese women completed self-report measures of social anxiety, social self-esteem, social competence, social network size, and perceived social support from friends and family. Friends and coworkers also rated these women on the same measures. The self-reports of obese and nonobese women did not differ significantly on any of these social measures, and ratings from friends and coworkers of obese women were not different from ratings of nonobese women by friends and coworkers. These results suggest that obese women may be able to overcome prejudice against obese people in their relationships with others.     

'Paradoxical' Mood Effects on Creative Problem-solving

Two studies examined the influence of various affective states on creative problem-solving. In Study 1, individual differences in mood were measured using an adjective checklist immediately prior to task performance. Insight problems were then employed to measure creative problem-solving. Performance was compared with that obtained for analytic problem-solving tasks that were included as contrast variables. Results showed that positive mood led to significantly poorer creative problem-solving performance. No link was found between negative mood and general arousal. Performance on the contrasting analytic problem-solving tasks was negatively related to anxiety, but not to positive or negative mood states. In Study 2, the procedure was followed with the addition of experimentally induced mood states. The results obtained in Study 1 for mood ratings were replicated. In the induced mood conditions, negative mood significantly facilitated creative problemsolving performance relative to induced neutral mood, which in turn was better than the control condition. The poorest performance was obtained in the positive mood condition. The results are discussed in the context of contrasting theories of the relationships between mood and problem-solving performance.     

Family Relationships,Leaving Home,and Adjustment to Military Service

Associations between family relationships and individual adjustment were studied within a sample of 19-year-old soldiers during their first weeks of basic training. Results showed that family relationships partly explained soldiers' closeness to best friends, number of social nominations, and commanders' ratings of soldiers' military and social competence. In addition, family relations explained soldiers' perceived social competence as assessed via closeness to best friends and number of sociometric nominations. Together, the results reiterate the role played by the family and attitudes toward offspring leaving home and toward their adjustment to military service.     

Mood and realism of confidence judgements of one''s own answers to general knowledge questions

This study examines the effect of a depressed mood on the realism of subjects' confidence judgements of the correctness of answers to general knowledge questions. Research conducted on how mood influences cognitive processes gives reason to expect that a depressed mood might increase the realism of individuals' confidence ratings. Sixty subjects were divided into three conditions, two of which were given mood induction, one condition into an elated-happy mood and one condition into a depressed-sad mood. As evidenced by subjects' responses to mood scales only the depressed condition was affected by the mood induction. All subjects answered 93 general knowledge questions and rated their confidence in the correctness of the answer given. Subjects were instructed to think aloud when answering the last 31 questions. The conditions did not differ with respect to the proportion of questions answered correctly, mean level of confidence, nor with respect to three measures of the realism in subjects' confidence ratings (calibration, over/underconfidence and resolution). The results were the same when questions answered with and without think aloud instructions were analysed separately.     

Familiality of mood repair responses among youth with and without histories of depression

Affect regulation skills develop in the context of the family environment, wherein youths are influenced by their parents', and possibly their siblings', regulatory responses and styles. Regulatory responses to sadness (mood repair) that exacerbate or prolong dysphoria (maladaptive mood repair) may represent one way in which depression is transmitted within families. We examined self-reported adaptive and maladaptive mood repair responses across cognitive, social and behavioural domains in Hungarian 11- to 19-year-old youth and their parents. Offspring included 214 probands with a history of childhood-onset depressive disorder, 200 never depressed siblings and 161 control peers. Probands reported the most problematic mood repair responses, with siblings reporting more modest differences from controls. Mood repair responses of parents and their offspring, as well as within sib-pairs, were related, although results differed as a function of the regulatory response domain. Results demonstrate familiality of maladaptive and adaptive mood repair responses in multiple samples. These familial associations suggest that relationships with parents and siblings within families may impact the development of affect regulation in youth.     

Intra- and interindividual relationships between elation-depression and desire for excitement

This study examined the relationship between elation-depression and desire for excitement on both intra- and interindividual levels. It was hypothesized that there would be a positive linear relationship between elation and desire for tranquillity These intraindividual hypotheses received strong support. This support would suggest that radical incongruities between activity demands and mood preparedness are often painful and would imply that in order for mood alteration to be successful it must take place gradually It was also hypothesized that characteristic level of elation-depression would be positively related to mean ratings of desire for excitement, positively related to score on a desire for excitement test, and negatively related to mean ratings of desire for tranquillity These interindividual hypotheses were not supported. Although it is probably most reasonable to accept the lack of correspondence between intra- and interindividual results, the operation of social comparison effects and social desirability bias may have obscured the predicted interindividual relationships     

Improvements in self-concept associated with reductions in negative mood in preadolescents enrolled in an after-school physical activity program

Preadolescents enrolled in either a 3 times per week, 12-week exercise program (n = 50) or a no-exercise program control condition (n = 42) during their after-school care, were assessed for indication of whether exercise-induced changes in self-concept and overall negative mood were negatively correlated. Significant improvements in ratings of self-concept and of negative mood were found over 12 wk. Inverse relationships were found between changes in physical self-concept with overall self-concept and negative mood (r = -.40 and -.36, respectively). Results supported the positive effect of exercise on the assessed psychological factors in preadolescents. Cognitive behavioral theory-based explanations of the findings were discussed.     

Level validity of self-report whole-family measures

This article introduces an approach to testing the level validity of family assessment instruments (i.e., whether a family instrument measures family functioning at the level of the system it purports to assess). Two parents and 2 adolescents in 69 families rated the warmth in each of their family relationships and in the family as a whole. Family members' ratings of whole-family warmth assessed family functioning not only at the family level (i.e., characteristics of the family as a whole) but also at the individual level of analysis (i.e., characteristics of family members as raters), indicating a lack of level validity. Evidence was provided for the level validity of a latent variable based on family members' ratings of whole-family warmth. The findings underscore the importance of assessing the level validity of individual ratings of whole-family functioning.     

The measurement of core affect: a Swedish self-report measure derived from the affect circumplex

Three studies were conducted with the aim of developing a new Swedish self-report measure of core affect (the Swedish Core Affect Scale or SCAS). In Study 1,122 participants rated their current mood on 24 unipolar adjective scales. A revised set of 12 bipolar adjective scales was evaluated in Study 2 employing 96 participants who rated their current mood before and after a mood-inducing naturally occurring event. A slightly revised set of adjective scales was used in Study 3, in which another 96 participants rated several induced moods. The results showed that the adjective scale ratings could be aggregated as reliable measures of the independent valence and activation dimensions proposed in the affect circumplex, and that the aggregated measures discriminated mood differences within and between individuals.     

Self-criticism in adulthood and recalled childhood experience.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.     

Perceptions of the therapist in family therapy

Thirty-five families completed ratings describing their perceptions of their therapists. These ratings were then correlated with measures of outcome to assess whether there was a relationship between experiences of the therapist and treatment outcome. Further, the study addresses whether some family members' perceptions are more influential in affecting the course of treatment. The results showed that family members' perception of the therapist does have an impact on treatment outcome, but not all members affect the outcome equally. Further results and their implications are discussed.     

Personal versus interpersonal contributions to depressive symptoms among Hong Kong adolescents

Cross‐cultural theory proposes that an essential distinction between cultures lies in the extent to which individual members see themselves as either independent agents preferentially valuing agency and efficacy, or as embedded within a social context preferentially valuing interpersonal relationships. A nonreferred sample of 605 boys and 503 girls from Hong Kong provided information regarding: (1) perceptions of their personal self‐efficacy or beliefs regarding their own ability to master challenges they face; (2) the degree of harmony in their interpersonal (peer and family) relationships; and (3) depressive symptoms as an assessment of their mood. Cognitive theories of emotions propose that both the individual's assessment of his/her self‐efficacy and of his/her relationships influence mood. Hypotheses, based on cross‐cultural theory, were that in this collective culture, interpersonal evaluations would predict more of the variance in mood than would personal self‐efficacy. Contrary to Western sex‐differences literature, it was predicted that the effect of interpersonal harmony on mood would be equally pronounced for girls and for boys. Structural equation modelling was used to test causal models. Consistent with findings from the West, evaluations of personal self‐efficacy as well as interpersonal relationship harmony were significantly associated with depressed mood. Consistent with cultural theory, interpersonal relationship harmony was more strongly associated with mood than was personal self‐efficacy for the entire sample of adolescents. In contrast to findings of sex differences in the salience of relationships in the West, the prediction of interpersonal relationships to mood was equal for boys and girls in Hong Kong. This preliminary study extends models of cognitive concomitants of mood disruption to a non‐Western culture, and provides a framework to understand relative contnbutors to mood in adolescence. The findings tentatively suggest that treatment for depressive mood in Chinese populations should prioritize enhancement of the perceived quality of interpersonal relationships over increasing a sense of mastery.     

Personality and Parenting: Exploring the Mediating Role of Transient Mood and Daily Hassles

ABSTRACT In order to explore the role that transient mood and daily hassles might play in mediating the impact of enduring personality on parenting, naturalistic home observations of mothering and fathering were conducted when firstborn sons were 15 and 21 months of age. Observationally based, behavioral ratings of mothering and fathering were related to three self-report personality scales (Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Extraversion), administered to parents when their children were 10 months of age, and to self-reports of transient mood (positive and negative) and daily hassles obtained prior to each observation of family interaction. Results indicated that (a) mothering was more consistently predicted by personality and mood/hassles than fathering; (b) Extraversion played a larger role in predicting fathering than mothering, with the reverse being true of Agreeableness; (c) Neuroticism was the most consistent predictor of men's and women's parenting; and (d) there was little support for affect-specific linkages between personality, mood/hassles, and parenting. Finally, some evidence of mediation by transient mood and daily hassles emerged, more consistently for mothers than fathers, though more strongly for fathers than mothers. These results are discussed in terms of the primacy of the role of parenting for men and women.     

Postpartum maternal mood,feeding practices,and infant temperament in Barbados

Maternal mood, infant feeding practices, and infant temperament, using the Carey-R scales, were assessed in 226 healthy, well-nourished Barbadian mothers and their infants during the first 6 months of life. Maternal moods were assessed by self-report using the Zung depression and anxiety scales and a morale scale. Even after correcting for background variables, maternal depression and anxiety ratings and reports of despair at 6 months postpartum were significantly associated with infant temperament ratings at 6 months, using the original Carey-R scales, with factors derived from principal components analysis of the Carey items, and with summary difficulty scores. Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with decreased infant adaptability, reduced approach, negative mood and an increased sensory threshold. Infants of depressed and anxious mothers were more resistant to change and preferred constancy. These significant relationships were linear across the range of maternal mood scores and were not limited to diagnosed cases of depression or anxiety. In contrast, feeding practices were not significantly correlated with infant temperament, although infant difficulty on the temperament scales was associated with an increase in difficult feeding behaviors and with fathers’ involvement in the feeding of their infants. We conclude that interventions focused on improving maternal mood in the postpartum period are likely to impact positively upon maternal perceptions of their infants, with implications for improving child behavioral development and health in this underserved population.