Five-Factor Model and alcohol outcomes: Mediating and moderating role of alcohol expectancies

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between the Five-Factor Model of personality and alcohol expectancies (AEs) with different alcohol outcomes. The sample was composed of 738 participants (63.7% females). Path and regression analyses were performed to test the mediation and moderation effects. The results indicated that Neuroticism was related to alcohol consumption through Positive Alcohol Expectancies, and that Negative Alcohol Expectancies, but also Positive Alcohol Expectancies, partially mediated the relationship of Neuroticism to alcohol-related problems. In addition, Positive Alcohol Expectancies partially mediated the associations of extraversion and low conscientiousness with weekend Standard Drink Units (SDUs), and they completely mediated the associations of these personality variables with alcohol-related problems. Additional direct paths were found from low agreeableness to weekly SDUs and alcohol-related problems; and from low openness to weekend SDUs. Moderation effects of alcohol expectancies on personality and both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems were also found. The present research contributes new evidence on the influence of the five factors of personality on alcohol outcomes, and the mediation/moderation role of alcohol expectancies. These findings can be useful to develop prevention/intervention programmes.     

The Early Risers Preventive Intervention: Testing for Six-year Outcomes and Mediational Processes

We examined effects of the Early Risers “Skills for Success” early-age-targeted prevention program on serious conduct problems following 5 years of continuous intervention and one year of follow-up. We also examined if intervention effects on proximally-targeted variables found after 3 years mediated intervention effects on conduct problems found after 6 years. Participants included 151 at-risk children (106 males and 45 females) followed from first through sixth-grade, from 23 semi-rural schools in Minnesota. After 6 years, program children showed fewer oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms than control children. Program children did not significantly differ from controls on number of conduct disorder (CD) symptoms, DSM-IV diagnoses of ODD and CD, or drug use involvement. Results of the mediation analysis indicated that fewer ODD symptoms among program youth after 6 years were partially mediated by social skills and effective discipline. The study provides support for the early-starter model of conduct problems development that provides the framework for the Early Risers intervention. The study’s implications for prevention and limitations are discussed.     

Ethnic pride and self-control related to protective and risk factors: test of the theoretical model for the strong African American families program.

OBJECTIVE: To test a theoretical model of how ethnic pride and self-control are related to risk and protective factors. DESIGN: A community sample of 670 African American youth (mean age = 11.2 years) were interviewed in households. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measures of cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and sexual behavior (lifetime to past month). RESULTS: Structural modeling analyses indicated parenting was related to self-control and self-esteem, and racial socialization was related to ethnic pride. Self-control and self-esteem variables were related to levels of deviance-prone attitudes and to perceptions of engagers in, or abstainers from, substance use and sexual behavior. The proximal factors (behavioral willingness, resistance efficacy, and peer behavior) had substantial relations to the criterion variables. Participant gender and parental education also had several paths in the model. Results were generally similar for the 2 outcome behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: In this population, self-esteem and self-control are related to parenting approaches and have pathways to attitudes and social perceptions that are significant factors for predisposing to, or protecting against, early involvement in substance use and sexual behavior.     

Family risk factors and adolescent substance use: moderation effects for temperament dimensions

This research tested for moderation in the relation of family risk factors (parent-child conflict, family life events, and parental substance use) to adolescent substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana). A sample of 1,810 participants was surveyed at the mean age of 11.5 years and followed with 2 yearly assessments. Temperament dimensions were assessed with the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey and the Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability Inventory. Multiple-group latent growth analyses indicated moderation occurred through (a) alteration of effects of parental variables on the adolescent substance use intercept and on the peer substance use intercept and slope and (b) alteration of the effect of the peer substance use intercept on the adolescent substance use slope. The impact of parental risk factors was decreased among participants with higher task attentional orientation and positive emotionality (resilience effect) and was increased among participants with higher activity level and negative emotionality (vulnerability effect). Results from self-report data were corroborated by independent teacher reports.     

Protection and vulnerability processes relevant for early onset of substance use: a test among African American children.

This research tested predictions from a self-regulation model of factors relevant for early onset of tobacco and alcohol use with a community sample of 889 African American children (mean age = 10.5 years). Criterion variables were peer substance use, willingness to use substances, and resistance efficacy (intention to refuse substance offers). Structural modeling indicated effects of temperament dimensions were mediated through self-control and risk-taking constructs, which were related to school involvement, life events, and perceived vulnerability to harmful effects of substances. Peer use was predicted by life events, poor self-control, and parent-child conflict; willingness was predicted by life events, risk taking, and (inversely) parental support; and resistance efficacy was predicted by perceived vulnerability and (inversely) poor self-control. Findings are discussed with reference to theoretical models of early protection and vulnerability processes.     

An Examination of Triarchic Psychopathy Constructs in Female Offenders

This study sought to expand scientific knowledge on psychopathic personality traits in female offenders by evaluating the relationship between MMPI–2–RF triarchic scales and self-reported external variables in a sample of 205 female offenders. Results indicated that boldness was inversely related to internalizing dysfunction, including suicidal behavior, psychosis, youth conduct problems, problems stemming from alcohol use, and a history of outpatient mental health treatment. Meanness was positively related to internalizing dysfunction as well as youth conduct problems, anger, prison disciplinary reports, and psychosis. Disinhibition was associated with a history of abuse in childhood, suicidal behavior, internalizing dysfunction, problems associated with alcohol and drug use, family history of mental illness, prison disciplinary reports for violence, number of previous criminal charges, and anger. Consistent with views of psychopathy as a configural condition, interactive effects of boldness with disinhibition and meanness were observed for multiple key external variables (e.g., conduct problems, substance use, nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior). This study provides further evidence for the triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy in female offenders and lends additional support for the validity of MMPI–2–RF triarchic psychopathy scales.     

Antecedents of counterproductive behavior at work: a general perspective

Counterproductive work behaviors have predominantly been investigated at relatively narrow levels, with the focus limited to subsets of the behavioral domain as well as to specific explanatory approaches. This study took a broader perspective with respect to both dependent and independent variables. A sample of German employees from 2 organizations reported on their levels of general counterproductive behavior (GCB). In predicting GCB, M. R. Gottfredson and T. Hirschi's (1990) theory of self-control as a general explanation for deviant acts was tested and compared with several alternative approaches. Results from simple and moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses involving 24 predictors of GCB strongly support hypotheses derived from self-control theory. Little support is found for any effects on individual differences in GCB beyond the direct and conditional impact of internal control.     

Protective behavioral strategies as a mediator and moderator of the relationship between self-regulation and alcohol-related consequences in first-year college students

This study examined protective behavioral strategies (PBS) as a potential mediator and moderator of the relationship between self-regulation and alcohol-related consequences. Participants were 249 first-year undergraduate men and women. The use of PBS partially mediated the relationship between self-regulation and alcohol-related problems (i.e., supporting the "self-control equals drinking control" hypothesis). However, use of PBS appeared more important for those with poorer self-regulation abilities (supporting the "PBS protect the impaired" hypothesis). Because both mediation and moderation were supported, a moderated mediation model was tested. The moderated mediation model demonstrated that the negative relationship between self-regulation and alcohol-related consequences could be explained by use of PBS for individuals with poor-to-average self-regulation but not for individuals with above-average, self-regulation abilities. Implications of the study's findings are discussed.     

Self-Compassion and Predictors of Criminality

The main focus of this article is to conduct an exploratory investigation of self-compassion, a positive indicator of mental health, as a predictor of violence and criminality within a sample of prisoners. Correlation and regression analyses were used to explore the relationship that self-compassion has with self-control, self-esteem, and social connectedness. Associations between self-compassion and the subscales of self-control were also examined. Results from both correlational analysis and regression indicate that self-compassion is correlated with all 3 variables. Correlations revealed that self-compassion was related to all 6 subscales of self-control. Regression, however, revealed that impulsivity was the only predictor of self-compassion. Further analysis revealed problems with multicollinearity. Implications and limitations of these results are discussed.     

Keep calm and carry on: Maintaining self-control when intoxicated,upset, or depleted

This study tested within-person associations between intoxication, negative affect, and self-control demands and two forms of self-control failure, interpersonal conflict, and neglecting responsibilities. Effortful control was hypothesised to act as a buffer, reducing individual susceptibility to these within-person effects. In contrast, reactivity was hypothesised to potentiate the within-person associations. 274 young adults aged 18–27 (56% women, 93% white) completed experience sampling assessments for up to 49 days over the course of 1.3 years. Results indicated independent within-person effects of intoxication, negative affect, and self-control demands on the outcomes. Hypothesised moderating effects of reactivity were not supported. Effortful control did not moderate the effects of self-control demands as expected. However, effortful control exhibited a protective effect when individuals were intoxicated or upset to reduce the likelihood of maladaptive behavioural outcomes.     

The erosive effects of racism: reduced self-control mediates the relation between perceived racial discrimination and substance use in African American adolescents

Perceived racial discrimination, self-control, anger, and either substance use or use cognitions were assessed in 2 studies conducted with samples of African American adolescents. The primary goal was to examine the relation between discrimination and self-control over time; a 2nd goal was to determine whether that relation mediates the link between discrimination and substance use found in previous research. Study 1, which included a latent growth curve analysis with 3 waves of data, indicated that experience with discrimination (from age 10 years to age 18 years) was associated with reduced self-control, which then predicted increased substance use. Additional analyses indicated anger was also a mediator of this discrimination to use relation. Study 2, which was experimental, showed that envisioning an experience involving discrimination was associated with an increase in substance-related responses to double entendre words (e.g., pot, roach) in a word association task, especially for participants who were low in dispositional self-control. The effect was again mediated by reports of anger. Thus, the "double mediation" pattern was discrimination → more anger and reduced self-control → increased substance use and/or substance cognitions. Results are discussed in terms of the long-term impact of discrimination on self-control and health behavior. Implications for interventions aimed at ameliorating the negative effects of discrimination and low self-control on health are also discussed.     

Methods for integrating moderation and mediation: a general analytical framework using moderated path analysis

Studies that combine moderation and mediation are prevalent in basic and applied psychology research. Typically, these studies are framed in terms of moderated mediation or mediated moderation, both of which involve similar analytical approaches. Unfortunately, these approaches have important shortcomings that conceal the nature of the moderated and the mediated effects under investigation. This article presents a general analytical framework for combining moderation and mediation that integrates moderated regression analysis and path analysis. This framework clarifies how moderator variables influence the paths that constitute the direct, indirect, and total effects of mediated models. The authors empirically illustrate this framework and give step-by-step instructions for estimation and interpretation. They summarize the advantages of their framework over current approaches, explain how it subsumes moderated mediation and mediated moderation, and describe how it can accommodate additional moderator and mediator variables, curvilinear relationships, and structural equation models with latent variables.     

Demonstration and evaluation of a method for assessing mediated moderation

Mediated moderation occurs when the interaction between two variables affects a mediator, which then affects a dependent variable. In this article, we describe the mediated moderation model and evaluate it with a statistical simulation using an adaptation of product-of-coefficients methods to assess mediation. We also demonstrate the use of this method with a substantive example from the adolescent tobacco literature. In the simulation, relative bias (RB) in point estimates and standard errors did not exceed problematic levels of ±10%, although systematic variability in RB was accounted for by parameter size, sample size, and nonzero direct effects. Power to detect mediated moderation effects appears to be severely compromised under one particular combination of conditions: when the component variables that make up the interaction terms are correlated and partial mediated moderation exists. Implications for the estimation of mediated moderation effects in experimental and nonexperimental research are discussed.     

自我控制资源与认知资源相互影响的机制:整合模型

尽管有学者认为自我控制资源和认知资源应该是两种独立的资源,但近期的研究却表明两种资源是互相影响的.以往研究从执行控制的角度解释两种资源为什么相互影响,但却没有指出两种资源如何影响执行控制,以及缺乏考虑神经机制和自我控制资源调节变量在其中的作用.为更系统地解释两种资源相互影响的机制,作者提出了一个整合模型,该模型指出:(1)两种资源相互影响的主要原因是两者都受到执行控制和前额叶皮层的影响;(2)个体进行自我控制或认知加工会消耗能量,产生心理疲劳,降低执行任务的动机,表现为前额叶皮层激活水平下降;(3)前额叶皮层激活不足进一步限制了执行控制在随后的自我控制和认知加工任务中的作用,因而影响后续自我控制或认知加工任务的表现;(4)自我控制资源调节变量通过提高个体对疲劳的耐受性、补充能量和提高动机等方法,使前额叶皮层和执行控制在完成前一阶段任务后仍然能够正常发挥作用,从而维持个体在后续自我控制或认知加工任务上的表现.未来的研究可考察自我控制资源与其他认知加工的关系;用动态的认知神经研究方法,建立前额叶皮层激活水平在前后两阶段任务之间的中介作用模型,以及研究自我控制资源调节变量的神经机制.     

Further analysis of variables that affect self-control with aversive events

The purpose of this study was to examine variables that affect self-control in the context of academic task completion by elementary school children with autism. In the baseline assessment of Study 1, mathematics problem completion was shown to be an aversive event, and sensitivity to task magnitude, task difficulty, and delay to task completion were measured. The effects of manipulating values of those parameters on self-control then were assessed. For all participants, self-control increased as a function of one or more changes in task parameter values. In Study 2, the effects of a commitment response on self-control was assessed. Results indicated that for all participants, levels of self-control were higher when the opportunity to commit to the immediate aversive event was available.     

两类常见的类别变量调节效应分析

类别变量在心理学和其他社科研究领域经常遇到,当自变量或调节变量为类别变量时,应当如何分析调节效应呢？详述了多类别变量的被试间设计和两水平被试内设计（因变量重复测量2次）的调节效应分析方法,并给出了分析流程。先进行调节效应的显著性检验,后用选点法或Johnson-Neyman法进行简单斜率检验。多类别变量被试间设计的简单斜率检验是先进行整体检验,后进行配对检验。用两个实际例子演示如何进行类别变量的调节效应分析,最后展望了两类设计的类别变量调节研究的拓展方向,例如更复杂的类别变量的调节模型等。     

自我同情和睡眠质量的关系：积极和消极情绪与自我控制的中介作用

为探究积极和消极情绪与自我控制在自我同情与睡眠质量间的中介机制,采用问卷法对477名成人进行调查,建立结构方程模型对中介效应进行检验。结果发现：（1）自我同情、积极情绪、自我控制和睡眠质量两两之间均为显著正相关,而上述变量与消极情绪均为显著负相关;（2）自我同情可分别以积极情绪、消极情绪和自我控制为中介来预测睡眠质量;还可依靠消极情绪与自我控制的链式中介效应来间接预测睡眠质量,但自我同情对睡眠质量的直接效应不显著。该研究结果为改善睡眠质量提供了新的干预视角。     

Prospective Association of Childhood Receptive Vocabulary and Conduct Problems with Self-Reported Adolescent Delinquency: Tests of Mediation and Moderation in Sibling-Comparison Analyses

Associations among receptive vocabulary measured at 4–9 years, mother-reported childhood conduct problems at 4–9 years, and self-reported adolescent delinquency at 14–17 years were assessed using data from a prospective study of the offspring of a large U.S. nationally representative sample of women. A novel quasi-experimental strategy was used to rule out family-level confounding by estimating path-analytic associations within families in a sibling comparison design. This allowed simultaneous tests of the direct and indirect effects of receptive vocabulary and childhood conduct problems, and of their joint moderation, on adolescent delinquency without family-level environmental confounding. The significant association of receptive vocabulary with later adolescent delinquency was indirect, mediated by childhood conduct problems. Furthermore, a significant interaction between receptive vocabulary and childhood conduct problems reflected a steeper slope for the predictive association between childhood conduct problems and adolescent delinquency when receptive vocabulary scores were higher. These findings of significant indirect association were qualitatively identical in both population-level and within-family analyses, suggesting that they are not the result of family-level confounds.     

睡眠时间参数对学前儿童问题行为的影响:消极情绪性的调节作用

本研究以338名学前儿童为被试,采用母亲报告法探究了学前儿童睡眠时间与问题行为之间的关系,以及儿童消极情绪性的调节作用。结果发现：（1）睡眠总时长对儿童内化和外化问题行为的主效应显著,而睡眠总时长与消极情绪性对儿童内化和外化问题行为的交互作用不显著;（2）夜间睡眠比对儿童内化问题行为的主效应显著,对儿童外化问题行为的主效应不显著;夜间睡眠比与消极情绪性对儿童内化问题行为的交互作用显著,即对高消极情绪性的儿童,夜间睡眠比能够显著负向预测其内化问题行为,而对低消极情绪性的儿童,夜间睡眠比对其内化问题行为的预测并不显著;夜间睡眠比与消极情绪性对儿童外化问题行为的交互作用不显著。