Coping strategies and quality of life in women with advanced breast cancer and their family caregivers

Abstract

This study examines the effects of personal resources of both heart patients and their close social partners on patients' coping and quality of life. Generalized personal resources (self-efficacy beliefs, dispositional optimism, self-regulation competence) and outcomes were assessed by questionnaire 1–3 days before surgery (n = 122) and again six months later (n= 50). Outcome variables were coping styles, social resources (social support and social integration), emotional states, and further measures of quality of life. Patients' personal resources were dominant in the prediction of most of the outcomes. Partners' resources were uniquely related to social support, social integration, and quality of life as perceived by the patients. Further, partners' personality resources predicted changes in patients' loneliness and energy levels during the six-month interval.     

Extraversion and neuroticism: Investigation of resting electrodermal activity

In 1967 Eysenck published his biological account of extraversion and neuroticism. In the same year Claridge identified several problems with this theory. More recently Robinson has detailed a promising modification to Eysenck's theory which addresses many of the issues raised by Claridge. Drawing on Robinson's theory it was hypothesised that differences in resting electrodermal activity (EDA) would contrast extraverted‐neurotics (low arousal) and introverted‐neurotics (high arousal). The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) was used to identify four extreme groups of female participants: extraverted‐stable (n = 16), extraverted‐neurotic (n = 15), introverted‐stable (n = 8) and introverted‐neurotic (n = 16). EDA measures of skin conductance level (SCL) and non‐specific skin conductance response (NS‐SCR) were collected during two rest periods. Planned contrasts between the extraverted‐neurotic and introverted‐neurotic groups provided support for Robinson's theory on SCL but not NS‐SCR. It was argued that the results for NS‐SCR frequency could be accommodated by Robinson's theory if NS‐SCR was conceptualised as a measure of cortical reactivity to unspecified stimuli rather than as a measure of tonic arousal.     

The Moderating Role of Ethnic Identity and Social Support on Relations Between Well‐Being and Academic Performance1

The role of social support and ethnic identity in moderating the effects of factors that may emanate from stereotype threat on academic performance was examined. Depressive and anxiety symptoms of ethnic minority (n = 65) and Euro‐Caucasian students (n = 198) were tracked through their first year of university. Although students' symptoms did not differ at the outset of the year, higher symptoms uniquely evident among ethnic minority students at midyear were associated with poorer final grades, and reduced well‐being was sustained at the end of the year. Social support from friends and fewer unsupportive interactions predicted greater success among ethnic minority students. Although both groups benefited from academic support, such support was perceived as less available to minority students.     

Mother–Child Book‐Sharing and Children's Storytelling Skills in Ethnically Diverse,Low‐Income Families

The present study examined book‐sharing interactions between mothers and their 4‐year‐old children from African American (n = 62), Dominican (n = 67), Mexican (n = 59) and Chinese (n = 82) low‐income U.S. families, and children's independent storytelling skills one year later. Mothers' book‐sharing style was analysed in terms of how much storyline information they provided (story components), the extent to which they asked children about the story (dialogic emphasis) and which features of the story they highlighted (story content). African American mothers referred to more story components than did Dominican mothers, and Mexican mothers surpassed Dominican and Chinese mothers. Mothers of all groups were low in dialogic emphasis; they predominantly narrated rather than asked about the story, although Mexican mothers asked relatively more questions than did African American and Dominican mothers. In terms of content, compared with other groups, African American mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘individual goals’, and Chinese mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘negative consequences’. Latino mothers were more likely to emphasize ‘emotions’ than were Chinese mothers. Children's storytelling styles partially mirrored those seen in their mothers. Mothers' dialogic emphasis related to children's contributions to book‐sharing, which in turn predicted children's later independent storytelling skills. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attention Bias for Threatening Information in Children Following a Distressing Medical Procedure

Attention bias is common in adults with post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but is less studied in children. Children (n = 22) who experienced a potentially distressing procedure in an outpatient clinic (removal of K‐wires from orthopaedic fractures) and a group of medically unwell children (illness group; n = 27) were compared with healthy controls (n = 32). Children's baseline level of PTS symptoms were indexed prior to the medical procedure, and again at 1‐week follow‐up. Immediately after the K‐wire removal, children completed a dot probe task using two categories of target words (medical threatening and emotionally threatening). While K‐wire children showed an overall bias away from negative words relative to healthy controls, the illness group did not significantly differ from healthy controls. Attention bias in K‐wire and illness groups was unrelated to later PTS symptoms.     

Characteristics of intrusive memories in a community sample of depressed, recovered depressed and never-depressed individuals

An accumulating body of evidence has revealed that intrusive autobiographical memories of negative events play a role in depression. Despite increasing understanding of the phenomenological experience of these memories, previous research in this area has been conducted in either nonclinical samples, or in clinical samples without an adequate control group. This study aimed to replicate and extend findings with dysphoric samples by comparing the content and characteristics of intrusive memories in clinically depressed (n = 25), recovered (n = 30) and never-depressed (n = 30) participants. Participants completed mood measures, and a battery of self-report questionnaires that indexed intrusive memory frequency, avoidance and characteristics. Intrusive memories were common and shared strikingly similar characteristics across the three groups. The key finding was that depressed participants reported higher levels of intrusion-related distress, associated emotions (especially sadness and helplessness), interference as a result of the memories and memory vividness compared to the never-depressed group. Despite similar levels of intrusion, there were group differences in avoidance such that depressed participants reported higher levels of avoidance than the never-depressed group. These results provide further support for the proposal that clinical interventions for depression could usefully incorporate components that aim to reduce intrusive autobiographical memories and target avoidance strategies.     

The Effects of Age,Sex and Alzheimer's Disease on Strategy Use During Verbal Fluency Tasks

ABSTRACT

Clustering and switching strategies during phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks were investigated in healthy adults (n = 193, 86 males, 20–90 years) in young, middle-aged, young–old, and old–old age groups (Study 1). Older groups produced fewer total words and lower switching scores; males relied more on clustering and females on switching to produce equivalent output. In Study 2, early Alzheimer's disease participants, compared to healthy older adults, (n = 26 per group) produced fewer total words and smaller average clusters. Sex, age, and clinical differences on switching and clustering strategies support a dual processing model of verbal fluency.     

Perceived Social Support,Perceived Community Functioning,and Civic Participation Across the Life Span: Evidence from the Former East Germany

Are social contexts as important to civic participation in adulthood as they are in adolescence? And does their significance for civic participation vary across adulthood? Using data from a cross-sectional sample of German adults aged 18 to 75 who were surveyed in 2013 by mail, the authors investigated the relationships of perceived family support, perceived support from friends, place attachment, social cohesion, and organizational collective efficacy with three indicators of civic participation. The authors split the sample into four age groups: 18 to 29 (n₁ = 442), 30 to 44 (n₂ = 596), 45 to 59 (n₃ = 1,095), and 60 to 75 (n₄ = 931). Perceived support from family was negatively associated with the breadth (i.e., the number of domains) of civic participation in the youngest group and with future intentions for civic participation in three age groups. Perceived support from friends had positive relationships with the intensity (i.e., frequency) of civic participation and with future intentions at age 30 to 44. Place attachment and organizational collective efficacy were positively related to all indicators of civic participation, and some of these associations held across age groups. In contrast, social cohesion had no significant effects. The authors discuss implications for fostering civic participation across adulthood.     

Prenatal maternal representations: Mothers at psychosocial risk

The aim of the study was to explore differences in the content of prenatal mental representations between a risk group (n = 84) and a low‐risk group (n = 296) of pregnant women, enrolled from maternity care centers in southwestern Finland. The method used was semantic differentials of IRMAG (Interview of Maternal Representations During Pregnancy). The risk group was defined by means of questionnaire screens that concerned chemical dependency, depression, difficulties in social environment, and low social support. The ratings on all target subjects, i.e., child, self, partner, self‐as‐mother and own mother‐as‐mother, were significantly more negative in the risk group. The representation profiles of the groups differed: especially the ratings of partner and own mother‐as‐mother were more consistently and strongly negative among the risk mothers. © 2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Accurately Imagining Suicide: Imagine-Self,Imagine-Person,Observer Instructions1

To see if actor versus observer instructions influenced students' perceptions of social support during a suicidal crisis, 80 students completed social support, interpersonal reactivity, and suicidal behaviors questionnaires. In a yoked design, students who had been suicidal were matched with those who were instructed to imagine themselves being suicidal, to imagine that another person was suicidal, or to observe a person who was suicidal. Those who had been suicidal in the past (n= 20) were more suicidal than the other 3 groups (ns= 20). The suicidal group perceived high social support (belonging and appraisal), compared to the others, who perceived moderate support. Overall, nonsuicidal college students consistently underestimated their suicidal peer's social support, regardless of the instructions they were given.     

Sluggish cognitive tempo in children and adolescents with higher functioning autism spectrum disorders: Social impairments and internalizing symptoms

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) was introduced in 1980s in the field of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies indicate that symptoms of SCT are separate from symptoms of ADHD and independently associated with multiple domains of functioning in clinical groups and in typical development. We assessed whether similar pattern would apply to higher functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Children with higher functioning ASD (N = 55; 5?15 years) were divided into the ASD+High SCT (n = 17), the ASD+Medium SCT (n = 18) and the ASD+Low SCT (n = 20) groups based on parent‐rated daydreaming and slowness on the Five to Fifteen questionnaire (FTF). The groups were compared on SCT‐related impairments found in previous studies: social skills, academic functioning, psychiatric symptoms, and processing speed. Assessment methods were the FTF, the Development and Well‐Being Assessment, and the Coding subtest of the WISC‐III. The ADHD symptoms were statistically controlled due to the overlap between SCT and ADHD. The ASD+High SCT and ASD+Medium SCT groups were significantly more likely to have the most pronounced social impairments, and the ASD+High SCT group had significantly higher rate of internalizing disorders compared to the ASD+Low SCT group. Our results suggest that children with higher functioning ASD and high or medium levels of SCT symptoms could be at higher risk for psychosocial impairments than children with higher functioning ASD with low levels of SCT symptoms. Co‐occurring ADHD symptoms do not explain the finding. Recognizing SCT symptoms in higher functioning ASD would be important to targeting preventive support.     

Suicidal Behaviors in Surviving Monozygotic and Dizygotic Co‐Twins: Is the Nature of the Co‐Twin's Cause of Death a Factor?

Genetically informative samples can address hereditary and experiential influences on suicide‐related behaviors. The frequency of suicide‐related behaviors was compared in twins from two survivor groups: (1) those whose co‐twins' deaths were suicides (monozygotic [MZ]: n = 47; dizygotic [DZ]: n = 31), and (2) those whose co‐twins' deaths were nonsuicides (MZ: n = 347; DZ: n = 170). The frequency of suicide attempts among suicide survivors was significantly higher in MZ than DZ twins, while the frequency of suicide attempts among nonsuicide twin survivors did not differ between MZ and DZ twins. Twin concordance for suicide attempts more likely reflects a genetic predisposition than a behavioral reaction to the loss.     

Stroop effects for masked threat words: Pre‐attentive bias or selective awareness?

The single‐trial emotional Stroop effect for masked threat words, and its association with anxiety, anger, and depression was studied in a group of men (n = 24) and women (n = 24) while controlling for possible differential thresholds for threat words versus neutral words. Stroop interference for masked threat words was found to correlate with trait anxiety, and the effect could not be explained by any differences in thresholds due to valence, neither at a subjective (conscious identification task) nor at an objective (lexical decision task) level of awareness. Jacoby's exclusion task was explored as an alternative measure of conscious awareness, and the results corroborated the conclusion that the Stroop effect for masked threat words was the result of preattentive processes. Unexpectedly, however, the correlation between Stroop interference for masked threat words and trait anxiety was found only among the men.     

Social group norms,school norms,and children's aggressive intentions

This study examined whether the effect of social group norms on 7‐ and 10‐year‐old children's aggression can be moderated or extinguished by contrary school norms. Children (n=384) participated in a simulation in which they were assigned membership in a social group for a drawing competition against an outgroup. Participants learnt that their group had a norm of inclusion, exclusion, or exclusion‐plus‐relational aggression, toward non‐group members, and that the school either had a norm of inclusion, or no such norm. Findings indicated that group norms influenced the participants' direct and indirect aggressive intentions, but that the school norm moderated the group norm effect, with the school's norm effect tending to be greater for indirect vs. direct aggression, males vs. females, and younger vs. older participants. Discussion focused on how school norms can be developed, endorsed, and presented so that they have their most lasting effect on children. Aggr. Behav. 36:195–204, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Dynamics of perceived social network support for same‐sex versus mixed‐sex relationships

Individuals in mixed‐sex (n = 248) and same‐sex (n = 159) romantic relationships completed several online questions for each member of their social network, including the member's perceived support for their romantic relationship. Those in same‐sex relationships perceived less support for their relationship, but only from family members, not from friends. Levels of relationship support were lower among subjectively more distant network members than among closer network members. As hypothesized, associations between perceived support for the relationship and relationship, mental, and physical well‐being were weaker for those in same‐sex compared to mixed‐sex relationships. Principles of social network management and attributional ambiguity were used to explain the findings.     

Effects of quantity and quality of home proximal processes on Dutch,Surinamese–Dutch and Turkish–Dutch pre‐schoolers’ cognitive development

This study examines the effects of mother–child literacy and problem solving interactions on 3–4‐year‐old children's cognitive development in a sample of Dutch middle‐class, Dutch lower‐class, Surinamese and Turkish immigrant families (n=130). Following the bioecological model of Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, mother–child book reading and problem solving interactions are viewed as proximal processes actualizing genetic cognitive potential. Interactions are studied from a quantitative perspective, based on questionnaire data, concerning frequency of exposure to these interactions, and a qualitative perspective, based on observational data, concerning affective quality and cognitive content. The study was designed as a 1 year longitudinal study. It was found that effects of mother–child interactions on cognitive development differed across the groups, controlling for earlier cognitive competence and family's SES. The findings are interpreted within the frame of the bioecological model and the behavioral genetic research paradigm. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Approach/Positive Anticipation,Frustration/Anger,and Overt Aggression in Childhood

ABSTRACT We examined mothers' ratings of children's affective and behavioral aspects of approach tendencies and links with overt aggressive behavior problems while considering the genetic etiology of these processes. Approach/positive anticipation (AP), frustration/anger (FA), and overt aggression in 4–9‐year‐olds were assessed using mothers' reports in a diverse national sample (n=992) and a sample of same‐sex twins (n=195 pairs). AP and FA were positively correlated with each other and with overt aggression (r from .2 to .5), and these associations were very similar for boys and girls. AP and FA provided overlapping as well as independent statistical prediction of aggression. AP statistical prediction of aggression was substantially mediated by FA, an effect that was accounted for by underlying genetic and nonshared environmental influences.     

Nie Wieder: Group‐Based Emotions for In‐Group Wrongdoing Affect Attitudes toward Unrelated Minorities

This article focuses on the effects of group‐based emotions for in‐group wrongdoing on attitudes towards seemingly unrelated groups. Two forms of shame are distinguished from one another and from guilt and linked to positive and negative attitudes towards an unrelated minority. In Study 1 (N = 203), Germans' feelings of moral shame—arising from the belief that the in‐group's Nazi past violates an important moral value—are associated with increased support for Turks living in Germany. Image shame—arising from a threatened social image—is associated with increased social distance. In Study 2 (N = 301), Britons' emotions regarding atrocities committed by in‐group members during the war in Iraq have similar links with attitudes towards Pakistani immigrants. We extend the findings of Study 1 by demonstrating that the effects are mediated by a sense of moral obligation and observed more strongly when the unrelated group is perceived as similar to the harmed group. Guilt was unrelated to any outcome variable across both studies. Theoretical and practical implications about the nature of group‐based emotions and their potential for affecting wider intergroup relations are discussed.     

Political ideology,helping mechanisms and empowerment of mental health self‐help/mutual aid groups

Self‐help/mutual aid groups share common attributes such as they are peer‐led, address a common problem or condition, have a voluntary character and little or no connection with professionals. However, these groups may vary according to their political ideology and focus on personal or/and societal change. This study examines the role of political ideology of self‐help/mutual aid groups and differences in psychosocial characteristics of group members. Fourteen mental health self‐help/mutual aid groups in England were studied. On the basis of stated aims and principles and following semi‐structured interviews with group leaders (facilitators/chairpersons), these were classified according to Emerick's typology as conservative (eight groups), combined (three groups), and radical (three groups). Group members (n = 67) completed questionnaires to assess personal empowerment, mental wellbeing, social networks and support, group identification and helping processes in the groups. Findings suggested that all self‐help group members experienced a large number of naturally occurring helping process and felt empowered whilst they shared limited social networks and support and marginal mental wellbeing. Different ideological types of self‐help groups may be related to specific helping processes and particular aspects of personal empowerment. Specifically, members of conservative and combined groups reported more expressive group processes like sharing of feelings and self‐disclosure, while radical group members reported more optimism/control over their lives. Furthermore, group identification was associated with specific helping processes and aspects of personal empowerment in the three group categories. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mass communication,social influence,and consumer behavior: two field experiments

The present article connects advertising by means of mass communication with social influence processes. Predictions derived from a theoretical model on the impact of mass communication on consumers who were not directly exposed to the message (distant consumers) were tested with two field experiments (Experiment 1: n = 77 participants, n = 261 peers; Experiment 2: n = 97 participants, n = 289 peers). Both studies addressed consumer behavior in the media sector. The results suggest that mass communication changes the behavior of distant consumers, that recipients' opinion leadership enhances the indirect impact of mass communication, and that recipients' consumer behavior mediates the influence of mass communicated messages on distant consumers. The role of word‐of‐mouth is also examined.