Cognitive performance inconsistency: intraindividual change and variability

Although many studies have examined inconsistency of cognitive performance, few have examined how inconsistency changes over time. 91 older adults (age 52 to 79) were tested weekly for 36 consecutive weeks on a series of multitrial memory speed (i.e., letter recognition) tasks. A number of multivariate techniques were used to examine how individuals' level of inconsistency changed across weeks and how this change was related to interindividual differences in age and intelligence. Results indicated that (a) inconsistency of performance is a construct separate from the underlying performance ability (i.e., memory speed); (b) inconsistency reduces exponentially with practice; (c) individuals with higher scores on tests of fluid general intelligence (G-sub(f)) reached lower asymptotic levels of inconsistency compared to lower scorers; and (d) after controlling for the systematic effects of practice, variability in inconsistency from week-to-week was more pronounced for individuals with lower G-sub(f) scores compared to individuals with higher scores.     

The emotional sequelae of nonmarital relationship dissolution: Analysis of change and intraindividual variability over time

This paper examined the emotional sequelae of nonmarital relationship dissolution among 58 young adults. Participants were recruited while in a serious dating relationship, and when it ended, were signaled randomly with beepers for 28 days to complete an emotions diary. Compared to participants in intact dating relationships, dissolution participants reported more emotional volatility, especially immediately following the breakup. Multilevel growth modeling showed a linear decline in love and curvilinear patterns for sadness, anger, and relief. Contact with a former partner slowed the decline for love and sadness, and attachment style and the impact of the breakup predicted the emotional start‐points and rate(s) of change over time. The results are discussed in terms of the functional role of postrelationship emotions as well as the importance of understanding patterns of intraindividual variability and differential predictors of emotional change.     

Persistence and remission of incipient stuttering among high-risk children

This investigation concerns the persistence of stuttering and recovery from it among high-risk children. At the end of the second year of a 6-year prospective study, 26 of 93 preschool children with a parental history of stuttering were classified as stutterers. Four years later, seven of these children were classified as persistent stutterers, and 16 children were classified as recovered stutterers. The articulatory and linguistic skills of these two groups of children and the communicative and speaking behaviors of their mothers, were measured before and after the onset of stuttering. The analysis of these measures revealed that the articulatory skills of the children and the communicative style and language complexity of the mothers differentiated the incipient stutters whose stuttering subsequently became chronic from those who recovered.     

Developmental change and intraindividual variability: relating cognitive aging to cognitive plasticity, cardiovascular lability, and emotional diversity

Repeated assessments obtained over years can be used to measure individuals' developmental change, whereas repeated assessments obtained over a few weeks can be used to measure individuals' dynamic characteristics. Using data from a burst of measurement embedded in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE; Baltes & Mayer, 1999), we illustrate and examine how long-term changes in cognitive ability are related to short-term changes in cognitive performance, cardiovascular function, and emotional experience. Our findings suggest that "better" cognitive aging over approximately 13 years was associated with greater cognitive plasticity, less cardiovascular lability, and less emotional diversity over approximately 2 weeks at age 90 years. The study highlights the potential benefits of multi-time scale longitudinal designs for the study of individual function and development.     

Physical self-concept, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem in children with cancer and healthy children without cancer history

The main purpose of this study is to test if children with cancer receiving chemotherapy show a poorer physical self-concept, less self-esteem and more anxiety and depression than healthy children (with no cancer history) within the same age range (9-16 years old) and social condition. Furthermore, the capacity of self-concept and self-esteem to predict emotional distress is analyzed. The Spanish versions of PSDQ, CDI and STAIC were administered to 30 children with cancer and 90 healthy children. Except for the health and flexibility dimensions in the PSDQ, no significant differences between groups were found. Self-esteem was the best predictor of depression, whereas health and self-concept predicted anxiety.     

Implicit and explicit self-esteem discrepancies in paranoia and depression

The main purpose of the present study was to examine implicit and explicit self-esteem (SE) in patients with persecutory delusions. In samples of paranoid patients, depressed patients, and healthy controls, implicit SE was assessed using the experimental go/no-go association task, whereas explicit SE was measured using 2 self-reporting questionnaires: the self-worth subscale of the World Assumption Scale (Janoff-Bulman, 1989) and the self-acceptance subscale of the Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff & Keyes, 1995). Our analysis revealed that depressed patients showed lower explicit SE than did paranoid and healthy control participants. However, participants with persecutory delusions had significantly lower implicit SE scores than did healthy controls. We interpret the discrepancies observed between overt and covert measures in the paranoid group as psychological defense mechanisms. The present study stresses the clinical and theoretical importance of the use of implicit measures in psychopathology.     

Aging and intraindividual variability in performance: analyses of response time distributions

It has been suggested that older adults are more variable in their performance because they are more prone to lapses of either attention or intention. In the present experiment, 9 young and 9 older adults each performed nearly 2000 trials of a same-different judgment task. As expected, older adults were slower and more variable than young adults. When the age-related difference in speed was taken into account, however, the older adults were, if anything, less variable than the young adults. When younger and older adults' RT distributions were analyzed using quantile-quantile plots and by fitting ex-Gaussian and Weibull functions, there was no consistent evidence that older adults' distributions were more skewed than young adults', as would be predicted by age-related increases in lapses of attention or intention. Importantly, there was a positive, linear relation between RT and intraindividual variability, and the same relation was observed both within subjects (practice increased speed and reduced variability) as well as between subjects (regardless of age, slower individuals were more variable). Thus, the present results suggest that there may be a general law governing the relation between average RT and variability, and that the greater performance variability of older adults primarily reflects their greater average RTs.     

Sex differences in reaction time mean and intraindividual variability across the life span

Men are often found to have faster and less variable reaction times (RTs) than do women. However, it has not been established whether these differences occur in children. One suggestion is that sex differences in RT variability may be due to the effect of sex hormones on the brain and, by implication, may be expected in adults but not in children. The present study investigates sex differences in RT mean and intraindividual variability in a sample that includes both children and adults (age range = 4-75 years). Mean and intraindividual variability of simple RT (SRT) and 4-choice RT (CRT) were measured in 1,994 visitors to science festivals held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2008 and 2009 and in Cheltenham and Cambridge, England, in 2008. The commonly reported pattern of decreasing RT mean and variability in childhood and adolescence, followed by an increase in mean and variability through adulthood and into old age, was confirmed. Greater intraindividual variability for females in SRT and CRT was observed in adults but not in children. Males had significantly faster mean SRT than did females across the life span, but there were no sex differences in mean CRT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Social relationships and intraindividual variability in interpersonal behavior: correlates of interpersonal spin

Personality constructs are typically conceptualized as central tendencies of the individual. We explore whether dynamic personality constructs that quantify the within-individual variability of behavior across situations and over time predict the closeness of social relationships. We focused on interpersonal spin, defined as the degree of dispersion in a person's interpersonal behaviors around the interpersonal circumplex across situations and over time. We predicted that individuals with high spin would have social relationships that are less close than individuals with low spin. In 3 studies with different measures of relationship closeness, we found that (a) higher spinners reported that a larger proportion of their contacts in their workplace social networks were distant (Study 1); (b) co-workers were less satisfied and less often engaged in pleasant activities with higher spinners (Study 2); and (c) co-workers avoided higher spinners with whom they were well acquainted (Study 3). Moderated mediation analyses in Study 3 revealed that co-workers avoided well-acquainted higher spinners because they felt more negative affect when interacting with these individuals. The findings suggest the potential of dynamic personality constructs for improving our understanding of the characteristics of individuals' social relationships.     

Self-talk in upper elementary school children: Its relationship with irrational beliefs,self-esteem,and depression

Self-talk, irrational beliefs, self-esteem and depression were measured in a sample of 105 elementary school children in Grades 4 to 7. Sex and grade differences in positive self-talk were found. The pattern of correlation coefficients for positive self-talk supported the substantive position that positive self-talk is positively related to self-esteem and negatively related to irrational beliefs and depression in a non-clinical sample of children. However, the same support was not forthcoming for the reverse relationships for negative self-talk. Therapeutic implications are outlined as are suggestions for future research in the area of children's self-talk.     

The relationship between individual differences in intraindividual variability in core affect and interpersonal behaviour

How people's feelings and interpersonal behaviour change across time can be represented as movements within a core affect and an interpersonal space. To gain insight into the relationship between affect and behaviour dynamics, the present study examined how individual differences in intraindividual variability in core affect relate to those in interpersonal behaviour, and how both are related to personality traits. In an experience sampling study, 63 participants were asked to monitor their core affect during one week and their interpersonal behaviour during another one. The results demonstrated a fairly consistent correspondence between several indices of people's variability in core affect and interpersonal behaviour, indicating that emotional lability also signals behavioural volatility and vice versa. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of response styles in the assessment of intraindividual personality variability

Although personality psychologists often focus on between-person differences, understanding intraindividual variability is also a critical focus of the subdiscipline. Despite the fact that non-self-report techniques exist for assessing variability, questionnaire-based measures are still the norm. In two studies (N = 149 and N = 202) we examine the possibility that intraindividual variability measures derived from repeated self-report assessments are affected by certain response styles. These studies, which use a variety of techniques for assessing within-person variability, show that standard measures are moderately to strongly correlated with theoretically unrelated variability measures, including those based on ratings of satisfaction with neutral objects or the personality of cartoon characters. These results raise questions about the validity and utility of widely used measures for assessing intraindividual variability.     

Body weight, self-esteem, and depression in Korean female

The purpose of this study was to examine whether body mass index (BMI) and perception of a body weight problem predict level of self-esteem and depression in Korean female adolescents. The sample consisted of 303 females, ranging in age from 15 to 19 years, who were attending four high schools located in Seoul, Korea. BMI and desired BMI were calculated based on self-reported weight and height. Self-perception of having a weight problem was evaluated by one question: "Do you see yourself as having a weight problem?" Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Based on BMI, 18.2% of the females were underweight, 79.2% were of normal weight, and 2.6% were overweight. Based on desired BMI, 78.5% of the females desired to be underweight. Results showed that perception of a weight problem, but not BMI, contributed significantly to the prediction of level of self-esteem and depression. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between BMI and perception of a weight problem.