Accounting for fluctuations in body dissatisfaction

The present study evaluated whether the strength of relationship between contextual cues (presence of company and mood) and state body dissatisfaction varied as a function of individual differences in key trait measures (body shame, body surveillance tendencies, internalization of appearance standards, and trait affect) which have been linked to trait body dissatisfaction. Fifty-five undergraduate women completed a questionnaire containing the trait-based measures and then carried a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) for a 7-day period. The PDA prompted participants six times daily to self-report their current mood and state body dissatisfaction. Multi-level modeling revealed that individual differences in body shame predicted inter-individual variability in the strength of the relationships between presence of company and state body dissatisfaction, and positive mood and state body dissatisfaction. Trait positive affect also explained variance in the positive mood state-body dissatisfaction relationship. The implications of the findings for prevention of body image disturbances are discussed.     

A nonparametric item analysis of a selected item subset of the Learning Process Questionnaire

Background: Although there have been numerous studies conducted on the psychometric properties of Biggs' Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ), these have involved the use of traditional omnibus measures of scale quality such as corrected item total correlations, internal consistency estimates of reliability, and factor analysis. However, these omnibus measures of scale quality are sample dependent and fail to model item responses as a function of trait level. And since the item trait relationship is typically nonlinear, traditional factor analytic methods are inappropriate. Aims: The purpose of this study was to identify a unidimensional subset of LPQ items and examine the effectiveness of these items and their options in discriminating between changes in the underlying trait level. In addition to assessing item quality, we were interested in assessing overall scale quality with non‐sample dependent measures. Method: The sample was split into two nearly equal halves, and a undimensional subset of items was identified in one of these samples and cross‐validated in the other. The nonlinear relationship between the probability of endorsing an item option and the underlying trait level was modelled using a nonparametric latent trait technique known as kernel smoothing and implemented with the program TestGraf. After item and scale quality were established, maximum likelihood estimates of participants' trait level were obtained and used to examine grade and gender differences. Results: A undimensional subset of 16 deep and achieving items was identified. Slightly more than half of these items needed some of their options combined so that the probability of endorsing an item option as a function of increasing trait level corresponded to the ideal rank ordering of the item options. With this adjustment, scale quality as measured by the information function and standard error function was found to be good. However, no statistically significant gender differences were observed and, although statistically significant grade differences were observed, they were not substantively meaningful. Conclusions: The use of nonparametric kernel‐smoothing techniques is advocated over parametric latent trait methods for the analysis of attitudinal and psychological measures involving polychotomous ordered‐response categories. It is also suggested that latent trait methods are more appropriate than traditional test‐based measures for studying differential item functioning both within and between cultures. Nonparametric kernel‐smoothing techniques hold particular promise in identifying and understanding cross‐cultural differences in student approaches to learning at both the item and scale level.     

Sex differences in emotion recognition ability: The mediating role of trait emotional awareness

Although previous research on emotion recognition ability (ERA) has found consistent evidence for a female advantage, the explanation for this sex difference remains incompletely understood. This study compared males and females on four emotion recognition tasks, using a community sample of 379 adults drawn from two regions of the United States (stratified with respect to age, sex, and socioeconomic status). Participants also completed the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), a measure of trait emotional awareness (EA) thought to primarily reflect individual differences in emotion concept learning. We observed that individual differences in LEAS scores mediated the relationship between sex and ERA; in addition, we observed that ERA distributions were noticeably non-normal, and that—similar to findings with other cognitive performance measures—males had more variability in ERA than females. These results further characterize sex differences in ERA and suggest that these differences may be explained by differences in EA—a trait variable linked primarily to early learning.     

Electroencephalographic and autonomic alterations in subjects with frequent nightmares during pre-and post-REM periods

Abnormal arousal processes, sympathetic influences, as well as wake-like alpha activity during sleep were reported as pathophysiological features of Nightmare Disorder. We hypothesized that in Nightmare Disorder, wake-like cortical activity and peripheral measures linked to arousals would be triggered by physiological processes related to the initiation of REM periods. Therefore, we examined electroencephalographic (EEG), motor and autonomous (cardiac) activity in a group of nightmare (NM) and healthy control (CTL) subjects during sleep-state-transitions while controlling for the confounding effects of trait anxiety. Based on the second-nights’ polysomnographic recordings of 19 Nightmare Disordered (NM) and 21 control (CTL) subjects, we examined the absolute power spectra focusing on the alpha range, measures of heart rate variability (HRV) and motor (muscle tone) activity during pre-REM and post-REM periods, separately. According to our results, the NM group exhibited increased alpha power during pre-REM, but not in post-REM, or stable, non-transitory periods. While CTL subjects showed increased HRV during pre-REM periods in contrast to post-REM ones, NM subjects did not exhibit such sleep state-specific differences in HRV, but showed more stable values across the examined sleep stages and less overall variability reflecting generally attenuated parasympathetic activity during sleep-state-transitions and during stable, non-transitory NREM states. These differences were not mediated by waking levels of trait anxiety. Moreover, in both groups, significant differences emerged regarding cortical and motor (muscle tone) activity between pre-REM and post-REM conditions, reflecting the heterogeneity of NREM sleep. Our findings indicate that NM subjects’ sleep is compromised during NREM–REM transitions, but relatively stabilized after REM periods. The coexistence of sleep-like and wake-like cortical activity in NM subjects seems to be triggered by REM/WAKE promoting neural activity. We propose that increased arousal-related phenomena in NREM–REM transitions might reflect altered emotional processing in NM subjects.     

Sex differences in psychological effects of exercise

The purpose of this study was to investigate sex differences in psychological effects of exercise on university students. University students (73 female and 65 male) were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups by equating sex in each group. The experimental group participated in step dance sessions of 50 min per day, 3 days per week for 10 weeks with 60-80% of their heart rate reserves. Throughout the 10-week period, the lecture control group was told not to participate in any organized or structured exercise and participated in a lecture that was about the physiological and psychological benefits of exercise. Self-concept, belief in external control, and trait anxiety of the groups were measured before and after the exercise program. A significant improvement in the psychological variables after the exercise program and more improvement for female exercise participants were expected. Analysis revealed no significant initial differences in self-concept, belief in external control, and trait anxiety between the two groups or between males and females, other than family and moral/ethical self. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that exercise led to less belief in external control and significant improvement in physical self and identity dimensions of self-concept for the experimental group compared to the control group. However, there was no significant difference in trait anxiety between the two groups after exercise (p>.05). Analysis also revealed that changes in belief in external control, trait anxiety, and self-concept did not differ with regard to sex. Males and females showed no difference in their improvement on trait anxiety, belief in external control, and most dimensions of self-concept during the 10 weeks. Only changes in personal and physical self throughout 10-week period were different for males and females. Exerciser males improved their personal self and physical self scores more than female exercisers and male and female nonexercisers throughout the 10-week period (p<.05).     

Are synesthetes exceptional beyond their synesthetic associations? A systematic comparison of creativity,personality, cognition,and mental imagery in synesthetes and controls

Synesthesia has historically been linked with enhanced creativity, but this had never been demonstrated in a systematically recruited sample. The current study offers a broad examination of creativity, personality, cognition, and mental imagery in a small sample of systematically recruited synesthetes and controls (n = 65). Synesthetes scored higher on some measures of creativity, personality traits of absorption and openness, and cognitive abilities of verbal comprehension and mental imagery. The differences were smaller than those reported in the literature, indicating that previous studies may have overestimated group differences, perhaps due to biased recruitment procedures. Nonetheless, most of our results replicated literature findings, yielding two possibilities: (1) our study was influenced by similar biases, or (2) differences between synesthetes and controls, though modest, are robust across recruitment methods. The covariance among our measures warrants interpretation of these differences as a pattern of associations with synesthesia, leaving open the possibility that this pattern could be explained by differences on a single measured trait, or even a hidden, untested trait. More generally, this study highlights the difficulty of comparing groups of people in psychology, not to mention neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies. The requirements discussed here – systematic recruitment procedures, large battery of tests, and large cohorts – are best fulfilled through collaborative efforts and cumulative science.     

Did curiosity kill the cat? Evidence from subjective well-being in adolescents

The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between trait curiosity and the well-being of adolescents. The differences between adolescents with high, average and low trait curiosity on a number of subjective well-being (SWB) and distress measures have been examined. The sample consisted of 408 high school students, with an average age of 16.6 years. The results showed that adolescents high in trait curiosity have higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect and greater sense of purpose in life and hope than adolescents with both low and average curiosity. Contrary to significant differences on positive well-being measures, there were no robust differences between adolescents with high, average and low curiosity in distress. The findings of this research indicated that curiosity is a specific predictor of positive well-being and gave support to the two continua model of mental health, which view positive and negative well-being as relatively independent constructs.     

Predicting preferences for sex acts: Which traits matter most, and why?

Several dispositional traits have been examined in mating contexts by evolutionary psychologists. Such traits include life history strategy, sociosexuality, and the Big Five. Recently, scholars have examined the validity and predictive utility of mating intelligence, a new construct designed to capture the cognitive processes that underlie mating psychology. The current research employed a battery of dispositional traits that include all these constructs in an effort to predict preferences for different kinds of sex acts. Sexual acts vary wildly, and the ability to predict this variability may well hold an important key to underlying sexual strategies. A sample of 607 young adults (144 males and 463 females) completed measures of each of these traits as well as a measure of preference for specific sex acts (along with providing information on their sexual orientation). The traits predicted variability in preference for sex acts - with mating intelligence being the most predictive (for instance, mating intelligence was positively related to preference for vaginal intercourse across the sexes). Sex differences emerged (e.g., males show a stronger preference for anal sex than do females). Discussion focuses on (a) sex differences in preference for sex acts along with (b) why the trait variables predicted preferences in sex acts.     

Individual differences in core affect variability and their relationship to personality and psychological adjustment

How people's feelings change across time can be represented as trajectories in a core affect space defined by the dimensions of valence and activation. In this article, the authors analyzed individual differences in within-person affective variability defined as characteristics of core affect trajectories, introducing new ways to conceptualize affective variability. In 2 studies, participants provided multiple reports across time describing how they were feeling in terms of core affect. From these data, characteristics of participants' core affect trajectories were derived. Across both studies, core affect variability was negatively related to average valence, self-esteem, and agreeableness, and it was positively related to neuroticism and depression. Moreover, spin, a measure of how much people experienced qualitatively different feelings within the core affect space, was related more consistently to trait measures of adjustment and personality than other measures of within-person variability, including widely used measures of within-person single-dimension standard deviations.     

Cognitive correlates of emotional traits: perceptions of self and others

Two studies examined how individuals' perceptions of self and others are associated with different emotional traits. Study 1 (N = 386) used structural equation modeling of questionnaire data to examine the relations between emotional traits (i.e., affect intensity, affect variability, and trait pleasant and unpleasant affect) and self- and other-perceptions (i.e., self-instability, self-esteem, other-instability, and perceived treatment by others). Study 2 (N = 99) used path analyses of data collected using an event sampling method in which online measures of emotional experiences (i.e., intensity, frequency, and variability of pleasant and unpleasant affect) as well as perceptions of self and others (i.e., self-instability, self-esteem, other-instability, perceived treatment by others) were collected. The strongest and most consistent finding was that affect variability was associated with both self- and other-instability. The results linking affect intensity with self- and other-instability were limited to negative intensity. There was also evidence of pleasant affect being associated with both self-esteem and perceived treatment by others, and unpleasant affect being associated with self-esteem and other-instability.     

Intraindividual Variability of Neuromotor Function Predicts Falls Risk in Older Adults and those with Type 2 Diabetes

This study was designed to examine the effect of increasing age and type 2 diabetes on the average responses and inter- and intraindividual variability of falls risk, reaction time, strength, and walking speed for healthy older adults and older persons with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Seventy-five older individuals (controls) and 75 persons with T2DM aged between 50 and 79 years participated in the study. Assessments of falls risk, reaction time (RT), knee extension strength, and walking speed were conducted. The results revealed that advancing age for both control and T2DM groups was reflected by a progressive increase in falls risk, decreased leg strength and a decline (i.e., slowing) of reactions and gait speed. Conversely, the level of intraindividual variability for the RT, strength and gait measures increased with increasing age for both groups, with T2DM persons tending to be more variable compared to the healthy controls of similar age. In contrast to the intraindividual changes, measures of interindividual variability revealed few differences between the healthy elderly and T2DM individuals. Taken together, the findings support the proposition that intraindividual variability of neuromotor measures may be useful as a biomarker for the early detection of decline in physiological function due to age or disease.     

Differentiating avoidant and depressive personality disorders

The purpose of this study was to test a priori predictions about the way in which avoidant personality disorder (APD) can be differentiated from depressive personality disorder (DPD) in a clinical population. Psychiatric outpatients were administered two measures of DPD, including the SCID-II for other DSM-IV Axis II personality disorders, along with criterion measures upon which the two disorders would be differentiated. APD was found to be most strongly associated with state and trait measures of anxiety, while DPD was most strongly associated with state and trait measures of hostility. Individuals with DPD had higher mean scores on measures of hostility than those without DPD, and individuals with APD had higher mean scores on measures of anxiety than those without APD. However, DPD measures were also significantly correlated with state and trait measures of anxiety and APD with measures of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, anxiety was found to be higher in some groups of individuals with DPD than those with APD. It is concluded that the level of hostility in this DPD population appears to be an important symptom by which to differentiate the two disorders and that a reconsideration of including DPD criterion #4 -- prone to brooding and worrying -- may be justified. Furthermore, the SCID-II interview may be better at differentiating DPD and APD than a self-report measure of DPD.     

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.     

The multidimensionality of state and trait anxiety

Abstract.— The two major problems investigated were ( a ) the multidimensionality of trait (A-Trait) and state (A-State) anxiety, and ( b ) the relationship between A-Trait and A-State under neutral conditions, using two measures of A-Trait (SR-GTA and STAI-T) and two measures of A-State (BRQ and STAI-S). These scales were administered to a sample of Swedish university students (54 males and 105 females). Factor analyses of the GTA situational scales yielded an interpersonal ego threat A-Trait factor and a physical danger A-Trait factor. Factor analyses of the GTA reaction scales and STAI-T reaction scales yielded, respectively, two and three factors providing evidence for the multidimensionality of A-Trait. Results of variance components analyses of the GTA scales provided further evidence for the multidimensionality of A-Trait. Factor analyses of the BRQand STAI-S measures yielded four and three factors, respectively, indicating the multidimensionality of A-State. The correlations between trait and state measures were higher than the correlations between the two state measures, and a factor analysis of the trait and state scales did not yield separate state and trait factors, questioning the proposition that A-Trait and A-State are distinct concepts. Via latent profile analysis, it was possible to compare A-State differences for different A-Trait profiles. Problems for further research were discussed.     

Discounting of food and water in rats shows trait- and state-like characteristics

Delay discounting is the loss in value of an outcome as a function of its delay. The present study focused on examining a trait-like characteristic of delay discounting in a preclinical animal model. Specifically, we were interested in whether there was a positive relation between discounting of 2 different outcomes in rats. That is, would rats that discount delayed food steeply also discount delayed water steeply? In addition, we examined how session-to-session variability in discounting could be attributed to differences between subjects (trait variability) and to differences within subjects (state variability). Finally, we measured discounting from early- to mid-adulthood, allowing us to examine changes in discounting as a function of age. Overall, we found a moderate, positive correlation between discounting of food and discounting of water in rats, providing further evidence that the relative consistency with which individuals discount different outcomes is a trait-like characteristic. In addition, we found a high degree of within-subject variability in discounting, indicating strong state-like differences from session to session. Finally, overall, discounting decreased as a function of age; however, individual-subject data showed variability in how discounting changed across time. Overall, our results show that differences in delay discounting between individuals reflect variability in both trait- and state-like characteristics.     

Individual differences in preschool children: temperament or personality?

Individual differences among adults have generally been conceptualized in terms of personality theory and traits. In contrast, individual differences among very young children (birth to kindergarten) have generally been conceptualized in terms of temperament theory and traits. The present study compares and contrasts measures of temperament and personality in a sample of preschool children. Temperament traits were assessed with a well‐established measure (the Rothbart CBQ), and a new preschool rating instrument was used to assess personality traits from the five‐factor framework (M5‐PS). Indeed, a key purpose of this study was to further the development of the M5‐PS. Data were gathered on 122 preschool children who were rated by their teachers. Significant correlations were found between the temperament trait Surgency and the personality trait Extraversion, between the temperament trait Negative Affect and the personality trait Neuroticism, and between the temperament trait Effortful Control and the personality trait Conscientiousness. The overall pattern of correlational data suggests that individual differences in preschool children can be adequately described using the five‐factor theory, and that this framework may effectively subsume traditional theories of temperament. Preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the M5‐PS is offered. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The stability of self-esteem variability: A real-time assessment

The present study investigates stability and variability as distinct features of state self-esteem change. The amount of variance attributable to stable individual differences, the association between successive self-esteem experiences, and situational and/or person × situation interaction effects were estimated in repeated measures of self-esteem whilst considering measurement invariance. N = 160 adolescents reported momentary self-esteem in an experience sampling study, (i.e., three assessments a day, over a 2-day period). Latent state-trait analysis indicate that change in state self-esteem is a stable process largely determined by interindividual differences in trait self-esteem, while the impact of occasion-specific influences is small. These intrinsic dynamics ensure consistent self-referential experiences. Results reveal experience sampling as a suitable method to track short-term changes of self-esteem.     

The conceptual commonality between impulsiveness as a personality trait and as an ego development stage

This research was an attempt to demonstrate the conceptual commonality between impulsiveness as a trait and as an ego development stage through correlations on measures of both. An Eysenckian measure of broad trait impulsiveness (Imp_B) consisting of four impulsiveness subscales, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT) of ego development were administered to 62 male students and 101 female students distributed across three different educational levels (Junior High, Senior High and College). Significant correlations between Imp_B and the WUSCT (-0.23 for the males and -0.31 for the females) supported the hypothesized commonality. Correlations between the WUSCT and the four impulsiveness subscales indicated that Narrow Impulsiveness and Risk-taking were more indicative of ego development than Non-planning or Liveliness. Age trends in the patterns of correlations demonstrated that the commonality between trait impulsiveness and ego development was limited to the early stages of ego development. Sex differences on a number of trait measures and on the WUSCT indicated that males lag behind females in ego development during adolescence. It was hypothesized that the aspect of impulsiveness most indicative of ego development was an unsocialized aspect which might be captured by Eysenck's dimension of psychoticism (P). Correlations between P and WUSCT supported this hypothesis (-0.49 for the males and -0.29 for the females). P apparently has more concept commonality with ego development than has trait impulsiveness. Age trends and sex differences in impulsiveness, psychoticism, and aggressiveness were discussed. It was argued that these personality characteristics would be better understood if explored within a developmental framework such as ego development.