Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, psychological distress, personal resources, and quality of life in four groups of Holocaust child survivors

The objective of the present study was to inquire into the long-term effects of child survivors' Holocaust experience. To this end, 170 Holocaust survivors who were born after 1926 completed questionnaires with regard to psychological distress, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Quality of Life (QoL), Self-identity, and Potency. The survivors were divided into four groups based on the setting of their experience during the Holocaust: Catholic Institutions, Christian foster families, concentration camps, and hiding in the woods and/or with partisans. Results showed that survivors who had been with foster families scored significantly higher on several of the measures of distress, whereas survivors who had been in the woods and/or with partisans scored significantly higher on several of the positive measures, QoL, potency, and self-identity. The discussion focuses on understanding the different experiences according to developmental theory and sense of control. It was concluded that there are group differences between child survivors according to their Holocaust experience.     

Bullying and victimisation in school children: the role of social identity, problem-solving style, and family and school context

The relationship between social identity, family and school context, problem-solving style, self-esteem, health behaviour, psychological distress, and victimisation, was explored in a quasi-experimental survey of 461 children aged between 11 and 15 years old. There was a high prevalence of victimisation (29%) in the group and 44% of those victimised scored above the clinical cut-off on the GHQ. Victims exhibited higher levels of psychological distress, lower self-esteem, more unhealthy behaviours, less support from parents and teachers, poorer problem-solving styles, and lower perceived social identity. Girls had a higher prevalence of victimisation than boys. The best predictors of victimisation were sex, family situation, social identity and problem-solving style. Some implications for interventions are discussed.

Partner Violence, Social Support, and Distress Among Inner-City African American Women

This study examined the role of social support in the partner violence–psychological distress relation in a sample of African American women seeking medical care at a large, urban hospital (n = 138). Results from bivariate correlational analyses revealed that partner violence was related to lower perceived social support and greater psychological distress, and lower social support was related to more distress. Furthermore, findings based on path analysis indicated that low levels of social support helped account for battered women's increased distress. Findings point to the need for service providers to screen for partner violence in nontraditional sites, such as hospital emergency rooms, and to address the role of social support resources in preventive interventions with African American battered women.     

Social Skills,Social Support,and Psychological Distress: A Test of the Social Skills Deficit Vulnerability Model

The social skills deficit vulnerability model predicts that poor social skills minimize opportunities to acquire social support, in turn, leading to the proliferation of psychological distress. This prediction was tested in a 2‐wave longitudinal study that assessed 211 emerging adults at Time 1 (T1), with a 70% response rate 1 year later at Time 2 (T2). The results indicated that, after controlling for psychological distress at T1, social skills at T1 had an indirect effect on lower psychological distress at T2, through higher social support. Thus, people with poor social skills may be vulnerable to the development of psychological distress because they have less access the protective effects of social support.     

Implications of fear of negative evaluation,state anxiety,and implied level of target-dominance on perceptions of personality traits

ABSTRACT

Fear of negative evaluation (FNE), state anxiety (SA), and dominance have consequences for social functioning. The present study assessed how FNE, SA, and a target’s dominance-relevant label are related to perceptions of personality. One hundred seventy-eight participants who scored high or low on FNE underwent a laboratory manipulation of SA, viewed a photograph of a target with a high or low dominance-relevant label, and rated the target on the Big Five personality traits and dominance. FNE and SA were unrelated to perceptions, but the high-dominance label was associated with perceptions of higher dominance, conscientiousness, and openness. In conclusion, judges did use information about others when making initial judgments of personality, but these judgments were not impacted by trait or state psychological distress.     

Creation and validation of the personal blogging style scale

A review of blog literature suggests that blogs may have many social and emotional benefits. In particular, there is the suggestion that blogging may have benefits in the forms of coping, insight and growth, catharsis, as a free space to communicate, through feedback, through recognition, and in social support. However, while there have been numerous studies on the potential motivations for and effects of blogging, little quantitative research has been conducted on defining the manner in which one experiences blogging. Thus rather than focusing on motivation for blogging, the present study examined the way in which bloggers perceived and experienced their activity, that is, their blogging style. A 16-item Personal Blogging Style Scale (PBSS) was created after a factor analysis of 25 sample items. Participants were 182 experienced bloggers. The PBSS classifies user experiences by four independent and unique subscales: Therapeutic Blogging, Self-Censoring Blogging, Connected Blogging, and Substitution Blogging. Reliability and validity evidence were presented for the subscales of the measure.     

Social conflict, social support, and psychological distress: evidence of cross-domain buffering effects.

A longitudinal study examined the relative and joint effects of perceived social support and social conflict on psychological distress in 228 college students. Women had higher perceived social support from roommates and friends and less conflict with roommates than did men; there were no gender differences in level of conflict with friends or psychological distress. Roommate conflict predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from friends. Friend conflict also predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from roommates. These results show the importance of negative and positive aspects of social experiences to emotional functioning and the importance of compensatory social support for individuals facing social conflicts.     

Social Support, Social Undermining, and Coping in Underemployed and Unemployed Persons

Participants (94 unemployed, 77 underemployed) were administered scales tapping social support, social undermining, coping, and distress. We hypothesised that the unemployed would exhibit less social support but more social undermining and distress than the underemployed; females would report more social support but less social undermining; social support would better predict coping than social undermining; social undermining would better predict distress than social support. The unemployed reported less social support, more distress, and poorer coping. Males reported less social support and more emotion-focused coping. Social support significantly predicted distress and coping. No group or gender differences were identified for social undermining, which did not predict distress or coping. We discuss the role of social undermining and distress in the unemployed.     

Self-disclosure among bloggers: re-examination of social penetration theory

Based on Social Penetration theory, this study explores the topics that bloggers disclose on their blogs, and in the real world. A total of 1,027 Taiwanese bloggers participated in this online survey, which revealed that bloggers self-disclosed nine topics (attitude, body, money, work, feelings, personal, interests, experiences, and unclassified). Further, we examined the depth and width of what bloggers self-disclosed to three target audiences (online audience, best friend, and parents), confirming that their disclosure is significantly different for each of these target audiences. Bloggers seemingly express themselves to their best friends the most, followed by parents and online audiences, both in depth and in width. The "wedge model," proposed by Altman and Taylor (1973), has been extended to online relationships in this study. In comparison to male bloggers, female bloggers seemed to disclose more to their best friends and parents in their daily lives; however, no significant difference was observed in their disclosure to online audiences. Younger bloggers (<20 years old) seemed to disclose a wider range of topics; however, there was no significant difference in the depth of their disclosure on their blogs. Discussions of these results are also presented.     

Sensed presence as a correlate of sleep paralysis distress, social anxiety and waking state social imagery

Isolated sleep paralysis (ISP) is a common parasomnia characterized by an inability to move or speak and often accompanied by hallucinations of a sensed presence nearby. Recent research has linked ISP, and sensed presence more particularly, with social anxiety and other psychopathologies. The present study used a large sample of respondents to an internet questionnaire (N=193) to test whether these associations are due to a general personality factor, affect distress, which is implicated in nightmare suffering and hypothesized to involve dysfunctional social imagery processes. A new measure, ISP distress, was examined in relation to features of ISP experiences, to self-reported psychopathological diagnosis, to scores on the Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale and to scores on a new questionnaire subscale assessing social imagery in a variety of waking states. Three main results were found: (1) ISP experiences are only weakly associated with a prior diagnosis of mental disorder, (2) sensed presence during ISP is associated preferentially with ISP distress, and (3) ISP distress is associated with dysfunctional social imagery. A general predisposition to affective distress may influence the distress associated with ISP experiences; overly passive social imagery may, in turn, be implicated in this affect distress influence.     

Neuroticism,Extraversion, Perceived Social Support,and Escape Television Viewing as Determinants of Psychological Distress in Crime Victims

This study describes a longitudinal analysis of the relationship among neuroticism, extraversion, educational level, perceived social support, escape viewing, and psychological distress in crime victims. A sample of 170 crime victims completed self-report measures of these concepts. Personality traits, educational level, and baseline rates at 3 months postcrime of perceived social support and escape television viewing were modeled as predictors of psychological distress at 6 and 9 months postcrime. Neuroticism and extraversion significantly predicted psychological distress following victimization. Escape viewing had direct effects on distress and mediated the relationship between neuroticism and distress. Distress symptoms at 3 months were the strongest predictors of distress at 6 and 9 months postcrime.     

Psychological distress and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Presence of psychological distress and poor quality of life (QoL) may affect the outcome of HIV/AIDS. One hundred and seventeen consecutive and consenting participants were interviewed using a Socio-demographic questionnaire, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and World Health Organization Quality of Life-HIV Bref. Fifty-six (47.9%) participants scored 20 and above on K10 Scale. QoL was significantly higher in married participants, those who perceived their state of health as being good, asymptomatic participants and those who scored well–mild on K10. The older age group scored higher on QoL Scale than the younger age group in the physical health domain while the married participants scored higher in the domains of physical health, psychological health, environment and spiritual/religion. The participants who perceived their state of health as being good scored higher than those who perceived their health as poor in all domains. There is a high level of psychological distress and poor QoL in people living with HIV/AIDS.     

Coping,life stress,and psychological and somatic distress

Theory and research have focused on the relationships among coping processes, stressful life events, and psychological and physical distress. This study was designed to examine the relationship of stressful life events and three styles of coping—emotion oriented, task oriented, and avoidance oriented—to physical and psychological distress. Questionnaires measuring coping styles, recent life stressors, and both physical symptoms and psychological symptoms were completed by 205 undergraduates (101 males and 104 females). It was hypothesized that task-oriented coping would negatively predict distress and that emotion-oriented coping would positively predict distress. The relationships of two types of avoidance-oriented coping (distraction and social diversion) to distress were also examined. Multiple regression analyses revealed that task-oriented coping was negatively related to distress, but only for males. Emotion-oriented coping was significantly positively predictive of distress for both males and females. The two subcomponents of avoidance-oriented coping—distraction and social diversion—were differentially related to measures of distress. Life event stress positively predicted distress, both as an independent contributor of variance and in interaction with several coping styles.     

Science Blogging: Networks,Boundaries and Limitations

There is limited research into the realities of science blogging, how science bloggers themselves view their activity and what bloggers can achieve. The ‘badscience’ blogs analysed here show a number of interesting developments, with significant implications for understandings of science blogging and scientific cultures more broadly. A functioning and diverse online community (with offline elements) has been constructed, with a number of non-professional and anonymous members and with boundary work being used to establish a recognisable outgroup. The community has developed distinct norms alongside a type of distributed authority and has negotiated the authority, anonymity and varying status of many community members in some interesting and novel ways. Activist norms and initiatives have been actioned, with some prominent community campaigns and action. There are questions about what science blogging—both in the UK and internationally—may be able to achieve in future and about the fragility of the ‘badscience’ community. Some of the highly optimistic hopes which have been associated with science blogging have not been realised. Nonetheless, the small group of bloggers focused on here have produced significant achievements with limited resources, especially when one considers this in the context of community values as opposed to some of the expectations attached to science blogging within scientific cultures more broadly. While the impacts of this science blogging community remain uncertain, the novel and potentially significant practices analysed here do merit serious consideration.     

A threshold model of social support, adjustment, and distress after breast cancer treatment

This study examined a threshold model that proposes that social support exhibits a curvilinear association with adjustment and distress, such that support in excess of a critical threshold level has decreasing incremental benefits. Women diagnosed with a first occurrence of breast cancer (N = 154) completed survey measures of perceived support (Social Provisions Scale), quality of life (Functional Living Index--Cancer), adjustment (Psychological Adjustment to Illness Scale) and psychological distress (Brief Symptom Inventory) approximately 3 weeks after surgical treatment and 8-16 months later. Consistent with a threshold model, multiple regression analyses suggested a significant curvilinear relationship between social support and distress at Time 1 and Time 2 and between social support and adjustment at Time 2. Consistent with this model, the significant bivariate correlations between social support and outcomes were accounted for almost entirely by women in the lowest quartile of support. Social support among women in the highest 3 quartiles was unrelated or only marginally related to adjustment and distress.     

Effects of induced mood on self-reported life events and perceived and received social support

This study tested the relation between mood (depressed [D], elated [E], or neutral [N]), induced by the Velten (1968) procedure, and college students' responses on a subjectively scored life events questionnaire and measures of perceived and received social support. A manipulation check showed that the mood manipulation was successful. There was a significant mood effect on the number of self-reported negative life events, with E subjects reporting the fewest. However, mood had no significant effect on the number of self-reported positive life events or the rated intensity of negative and positive events. Mood had a significant effect on perceived social support, with D subjects scoring the lowest. Self-report of received social support, however, was not affected by the mood manipulation. The findings challenge the widespread use of life event and perceived social support questionnaires whose independence from a mood-related response bias has not been adequately demonstrated. The findings also challenge causal interpretation of significant effects for self-reported life stress and perceived social support obtained in cross-sectional prediction studies of concurrent psychological distress.     

The "cost of caring" in youths' friendships: considering associations among social perspective taking, co-rumination, and empathetic distress

The current research considered the costs of caring in youths' friendships. The development of a new construct, empathetic distress, allowed for a direct test of the commonly held belief that females suffer greater vicarious distress in response to close others' stressors and problems than do males. Empathetic distress refers to one's strongly sharing a relationship partner's distress over problems to the point of taking on the partner's distress and experiencing it as one's own. This new construct was examined in an ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents who responded to a series of questionnaires in their classrooms. Results indicated that girls did experience greater empathetic distress in friendships than did boys. In addition, the current research revealed that social perspective taking in friendships (i.e., the social-cognitive ability to infer and understand the friend's perspective) had adjustment trade-offs in that it predicted greater positive friendship quality but also greater empathetic distress in the friendship. Interestingly, the associations of social perspective taking with both positive friendship quality and empathetic distress were partially mediated by co-rumination or excessive discussion of problems. Applied implications of the findings that girls' greater social perspective taking and associated co-rumination contributed both to their greater positive friendship quality but also to greater costs of caring in the form of empathetic distress are discussed.     

Research and Theory: Relationships Among Spirituality,Social Support and Childhood Maltreatment in University Students

The authors investigated relationships among spirituality, social support, childhood maltreatment, and symptoms of distress. One hundred and fifty‐eight upper‐level university students completed questionnaires related to childhood maltreatment, distress symptomatology, spirituality, and social support. Significant associations were found for (a) maltreatment with high symptoms of distress, low existential spiritual well‐being, and low social support from family; (b) symptoms of distress with low existential spiritual well‐being and low social support from family; and (c) receiving counseling for maltreatment with high symptoms of distress and low support from family.     

Personal relationships,personal attributes,and stress resistance: Mothers' reactions to their child's illness

The contribution to emotional distress of mastery, intimacy, received social support, and discomfort in seeking support was examined over a year period among 107 Israeli mothers of well, acutely ill, or chronically ill children. The following was found: (a) Women initially high in mastery experienced less psychological distress and benefited more from social support than did women low in mastery. (b) The greater social support women generally received the lower their psychological distress. (c) Independent of the level of generally received support, women who experienced greater distress received greater social support at the time of crisis. (d) Intimacy with spouse was related to better stress resistance, but the opposite was found for intimacy with family. (e) Women who felt uncomfortable seeking support were more distressed at the time of initial crisis than women who were more comfortable seeking support and became less intimate with significant others.     

Ethnic differences in adolescents' mental distress, social stress, and resources

Limited data on ethnic group differences among young adolescents exist regarding the prevalence of mental distress, social stress, and resources. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine ethnic differences among African American (AA), European American (EA), Hispanic American (HA), and Asian American adolescents in mental distress, social stress, and resources. A total of 316 adolescents completed the self-administered questionnaire: The DSD, Somatic Symptom Scale, SAFE-C, FES, Coping, and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale. The findings revealed that (1) Asian Americans and HAs reported significantly higher scores on social stress and mental distress and lower scores on resources than EAs; (2) Compared to EAs, AAs and HAs were more likely to experience social stress (2.2 < or = OR < or = 4.3), and HAs are more likely to have suicidal ideation (OR = 2.04; 95% CI = 1.04-3.98). Findings highlighted the importance of understanding the role of social stress in the development of adolescents' mental distress. Identified ethnic minority adolescents are vulnerable groups who require additional research and attention from health care providers.