Gender differences in the interplay between exposure to trauma and parental disturbances within the home,stress-sensitivity and reported false confessions in adolescents

The principal aim of this study is to investigate the interplay between the reported experience of physical/psychological trauma and disturbances involving parents within the home, latent stress-sensitivity, and the likelihood of reporting false confessions in females. This study also investigates gender differences by fitting the hypothesised partial mediation model to the male data. A multiple group structural equation model was fitted to data obtained from both female (N = 5426) and male (N = 5394) further education students in Iceland. The direct effect from reported physical/psychological trauma to reported false confessions emerged as the only significant effect in females. In males, the direct effect of latent stress-sensitivity on false confessions is significant, but also the indirect effect from both reported experience of physical/psychological trauma and disturbances involving parents through latent stress-sensitivity to false confessions is significant. This study has solidified the notion that a history of physical violence in particular at home may be a critical susceptibility factor amongst females. In males, self-report stress-sensitivity may be the critical susceptibility factor, both explaining the effect of physical/psychological trauma in the home on false confessions, and increasing sensitivity to exogenous interview pressure.     

The origins of height fear: an evaluation of neoconditioning explanations

The present research sought to establish a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the relevance of neoconditioning factors (e.g. latent inhibition, UCS inflation/revaluation, prior fear levels, prior expectancies of harm, fear and pain levels experienced during supposed learning events), in the development of human fear. Fifty-four undergraduate height-fearful students completed the new origins instrument (OQ-II), while 54 matched controls completed a modified version (OQM-II) that examined their prior experiences with heights. In general, few differences between groups were found. Height-fearful and control subjects did not differ on trait anxiety, the frequency of negative encounters with heights, the age at which these events had occurred, prior fear levels, prior expectancies of harm, or reports of UCS inflation/revaluation procedures. However, in a finding directly opposite to that expected from a conditioning account, the mean fear and pain scores reported by subjects who had experienced direct conditioning events were significantly higher in the non-fearful group than in the height-fearful group. These findings are discussed in terms of associative and non-associative models of fear.     

The relationship between false confessions and perceptions of parental rearing practices

The main aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between a history of having made a false confession and reported parental rearing practices. It was hypothesized that the reporting of rejection and absence of warmth by parents would be associated with the making of a false confession. The participants were 804 college students in Iceland. Each was asked about false confessions made to teachers and parents in the past, as well as about false confessions made to the police during questioning. The participants completed questionnaires relating to perceived parental rearing practices (EMBU), proneness to antisocial behavior (the Gough Socialization Scale), personality (EPQ), self-esteem (Rosenberg), and compliance (GCS). Only eight participants (1% of those interrogated) claimed to have made false confessions to the police, whereas 10% claimed to have made false confessions to teachers or parents. False confessions were significantly associated with proneness to antisocial behavior and the EMBU Rejection and Warmth scales for both fathers and mothers.     

Stress, self-esteem, and suicidal ideation in late adolescents

The relationships among stress, self-esteem, and suicidal ideation in late adolescents were examined in a group of college students. Multiple regression analysis indicated that both stress and self-esteem were significantly related to suicidal ideation; low self-esteem and stressful life events significantly predicted suicidal ideation. The hypothesis that self-esteem would moderate the effects of life stressors on suicidal ideation was supported at the .06 level. A significant minority of the sample indicated having thoughts severe enough to be classified as clinical suicidal ideation. In general, participants who had experienced negative life events in the 6 to 12 months prior to participating in the study had lower self-esteem than those who had similar stresses within the prior six months. However, the opposite was true for clinical suicidal ideators; those who experienced negative life stressors recently had lower self-esteem than those who experienced negative life events six months to a year in the past.     

Prevalence of auditory verbal hallucinations in a general population: A group comparison study

The present study was specifically designed to investigate the prevalence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in the general population, and sought to compare similarities and differences regarding socio‐demographics, mental health and severe life events between individuals who have never experienced AVH with those who had. The study also aimed to compare those who sought professional help for their experience of AVH with those who had not sought help. Through a postal questionnaire, 2,533 participants ages 18 and over from a national survey completed the Launay‐Slade Hallucinations Scale and other measures examining AVH characteristics and other areas related to AVH. In total, 7.3% of the sample reported a life‐time prevalence of AVH. Those with AVH were more likely to be single and unemployed, reported higher levels of depression and anxiety, and experienced a higher number of severe life events compared with those without AVH. Only 16% of those who experienced AVH in the general population sought professional help for these experiences. Compared to those who did not seek professional help, participants that had were more likely to experience AVH with a negative content, experience them on a daily basis, undergo negative reactions when experiencing AVH, and resist AVH. In conclusion, the prevalence of AVH was found to be relatively high. The results also revealed higher levels of reduced mental health for individuals who sought professional help, followed by those who did not, compared with those who had never experienced AVH.     

The Moderating Effect of the Negative Impact of Recent Life Events on the Relation between Intrinsic Religiosity and Death Ideation in Older Adults

Researchers tested the hypothesis that the negative impact of recent life events would moderate the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and death ideation in older adults. Participants (n = 272) completed assessments of death ideation, intrinsic religiosity, and negative impact of recent life events. We confirmed the presence of concurrent moderation and found that older adults with greater negative impact of recent life events and high intrinsic religiosity reported greater death ideation. These relatively surprising findings may be due to reduced fear of death in intrinsically religious older adults, an explanation consistent with previous research.     

Infant–mother attachment security and children's anxiety and aggression at first grade

With a large and diverse sample of children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the role of infant–mother attachment security as a protective factor against the development of children's anxious and aggressive behaviors at first grade was examined. When child's sex, family income, maternal sensitivity, and prior levels of anxiety and aggression were controlled for, attachment security at 15 months of age was found to moderate the effects of negative life events families experienced, thereby protecting children from experiencing symptoms of anxiety, but not aggression, at 4.5 years of age. Children classified as insecurely attached at 15 months of age who experienced many stressful life events exhibited more anxiety symptoms in first grade than children classified as securely attached who similarly experienced many negative life events. These findings are interpreted within attachment theory, which predicts that early attachment security has a unique role in children's anxiety experiences later in childhood.     

Falsche Geständnisse

Although false confessions would seem to run counter to their own interests, innocent suspects do occasionally admit to having committed even serious crimes. This article describes individual differences in susceptibility to interrogative influence and mechanisms through which interrogation tactics can induce false confessions. It will also show that there is no simple way of distinguishing false from true confessions, which is partly due to the lack of verbatim records of interviews with suspects. In some cases false confessions can even negatively impact on the gathering and evaluation of further evidence and in turn this seemingly independent evidence seems to validate the false confession if this is later retracted. Psychological expertise may well help to clarify individual cases; however, any uncritical transfer of the credibility assessment developed to evaluate witness testimony, without taking the specific conditions of interviews with suspects into account, may well lead to false results.     

An exploratory investigation of the origin and maintenance of phobias

Phobies were asked to relate past events which they believed caused or contributed to their fear, and to describe cognitive events experienced while imagining phobic interactions. Approximately half the subjects were able to recall relevant learning experiences, with direct experiences far more common than vicarious experiences or learning based on verbal instruction. Almost all of the subjects reported self-verbalizations while imagining the phobic situation, in every case phobic relevant. However, in a minority of instances were the verbalizations ‘catastrophic’ in nature. In only about half the cases did the phobies report that, in vivo, thoughts preceeded fear in the phobic situation (in contrast to a comparison group of less fearful subjects for which thoughts did preceed fear to a significant degree). Results are discussed in terms of possible limitations of a cognitive interpretation of phobic behavior.     

Rumination, fear, and cortisol: an in vivo study of interpersonal transgressions.

The authors sought to examine whether rumination about psychologically painful, though nontraumatic, interpersonal transgressions is associated with increased salivary cortisol. They measured salivary cortisol, rumination about a transgression, fear and anger regarding the transgressor, perceived painfulness of the transgression, and positive and negative mood in 115 undergraduates who had experienced an interpersonal transgression during the previous 7 days. They obtained measurements on as many as 5 occasions separated by approximately 14 days each. On occasions when participants reported that they had been ruminating to a degree that was greater than was typical for them, they had higher levels of salivary cortisol than was typical for them. The rumination- cortisol association appeared to be mediated by fear of the transgressor. Rumination about even moderately painful but nontraumatic life events and associated emotions are related to biological changes that may subserve social goals such as avoiding social threats. Items from the rumination scale are appended.     

Life events,predisposing cognitive strategies and well‐being

To investigate the extent to which the cognitive strategies people apply in various situations, and their subjective well‐being, predispose them to certain life events, 210 students filled in questionnaires measuring their strategy use, self‐esteem, and depression at the beginning of their studies. Self‐esteem and depression were also measured four and five years later. The participants also filled in a life‐event questionnaire yearly between the first and last measurements. Four groups were identified based on the patterns of positive and negative life events. Moreover, the cognitive strategies young adults reported at the beginning of their studies, and their well‐being, were found to predict group membership. Those who had experienced many positive and only few negative life events showed high well‐being and adaptive strategies, whereas those who had faced many negative but only few positive events reported low well‐being and self‐protective strategies. Groups that experienced many positive and many negative, or only few positive and few negative events, were in between these two extremes. Life event patterning was also found to influence later well‐being. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ruminative self-focus, negative life events, and negative affect

Ruminative thinking is believed to exacerbate the psychological distress that follows stressful life events. An experience-sampling study was conducted in which participants recorded negative life events, ruminative self-focus, and negative affect eight times daily over one week. Occasions when participants reported a negative event were marked by higher levels of negative affect. Additionally, negative events were prospectively associated with higher levels of negative affect at the next sampling occasion, and this relationship was partially mediated by momentary ruminative self-focus. Depressive symptoms were associated with more frequent negative events, but not with increased reactivity to negative events. Trait rumination was associated with reports of more severe negative events and increased reactivity to negative events. These results suggest that the extent to which a person engages in ruminative self-focus after everyday stressors is an important determinant of the degree of distress experienced after such events. Further, dispositional measures of rumination predict mood reactivity to everyday stressors in a non-clinical sample.     

Response biases and the relation between negative life events and psychological symptoms

This research was an investigation of whether reporting biases can account for the correlation between negative life events (as measured via life events questionnaires) and subclinical psychological symptoms. Subjects completed two life events scales, a measure of psychological symptoms, a measure of depression, and a measure of social desirability. Friends were asked to report about life events experienced by the subjects. No evidence was found for a subject reporting bias associated with social desirability, depression, or symptoms. In fact, for one of the life events scales, depression was significantly associated with a higher rate of agreement between subjects and friends as to which negative events occurred to subjects. Moreover, there were significant correlations between symptom and depression measures and life events measures that were free of subject-reporting biases (subjects' negative life events reported by both subjects and their significant others, as well as subjects' negative life events as reported by significant others alone). These data suggest that response biases may not be able to account for the relation between negative events and psychological symptoms. Thus the hypothesis that negative life events play a significant role in symptom development remains plausible.     

Social problem solving: A moderator of the relation between negative life stress and depression symptoms in children

The social problem-solving skill of generating effective alternative solutions was tested as a moderator of the relation between negative life stress and depressed mood in children. Boys ( n= 25) and girls ( n= 25), ages 8 to 12 years, from inner-city, lower socioeconomic group families, completed measures of depression symptoms, negative impact of life events, and quantity and effectiveness of alternative solutions to social problems. Results indicated that the effectiveness of alternative solutions children generate in response to peer social problems moderates the relation between stress and depression. Children who experienced a high impact of negative life events, with less effective social problem-solving skills, reported higher levels of depression compared to children who experienced a high impact of negative life events but exhibited more effective social problem-solving skills. Results are discussed in terms of alternative theoretical models for the mechanisms whereby effective social problem-solving skills moderate stress-related depression.     

The indirect effects of emotion regulation on the association between attachment style,depression, and meaning made among undergraduates who experienced stressful events

Undergraduates frequently report exposure to stressful life events which may negatively impact mental health. The current study examined associations among attachment style, depression, and meaning made, and tested both direct effects and indirect effects through emotion regulation difficulties. Undergraduates (N?=?336) who reported having experienced stressful and/or potentially traumatic events completed measures through an online survey. More than half of participants (64%) were female, with a mean age of 19.26 years. In both models, higher attachment anxiety and higher attachment avoidance were significantly associated with greater difficulties with accessing emotion regulation strategies, which in turn were related to higher depression symptom severity and lower meaning made. Lack of emotional awareness also partially explained the associations between attachment avoidance and outcomes in both models. Difficulties in engaging in goal-directed behavior partially explained the associations between attachment anxiety and meaning made, but not depression symptom severity. Our results suggest certain emotion regulation strategies may be key mechanisms through which individuals with high attachment anxiety or avoidance may reduce the potential negative mental health impact that stressful life events may have.     

Life‐events and post‐traumatic stress in a sample of English adolescents

The aim of the present study was to investigate the lifetime prevalence of negative life‐events and their association with post‐traumatic stress in English adolescents. Of the 427 adolescents surveyed, 360 (84%) endorsed at least one negative event. Respondents were asked to complete the Impact of Event Scale (IES: Horowitz, Wilner and Alvarez, 1979) for each event that they endorsed. For boys, highest levels of post‐traumatic stress were found in those who had experience of a ‘family member with a drink or drugs problem’, followed by ‘parental separation or divorce’, ‘life threat to family member’, and ‘life‐threat to self ’. For girls, highest levels of post‐traumatic stress were found in those who had experienced ‘attack or physical assault to self ’, followed by ‘family member with drink or drugs problem’, ‘parental separation or divorce’, and ‘life threat to family member’. These data suggest that moderate levels of post‐traumatic stress are present in around one fifth of adolescents who have experienced one of these events and that community levels of post‐traumatic stress in adolescents may be higher than previously thought. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When Good Feelings Turn Mixed: Affective Dynamics and Big Five Trait Predictors of Mixed Emotions in Daily Life

In this study, we examine how daily life fluctuations in positive affect (PA) and negative afect (NA) relate to mixed emotions—that is, simultaneous positive and negative feelings. We utilised three experience sampling studies (total N = 275), in which participants reported their affect 10 times each day for up to 14 days. Because people generally experience fairly stable moderate levels of PA in daily life, we proposed that mixed emotions would typically occur when NA increases and overlaps with, but does not entirely eliminate, PA. Accordingly, within individuals, we found that mixed emotions in daily life were more strongly predicted by changes in NA and the occurrence of negative events than by changes in PA and positive events. At the between-person level, individuals with more variable NA, more stable PA, and higher trait Neuroticism scores experienced higher average levels of mixed emotions. Further, we found evidence that the average magnitude of NA increases may partially mediate the association between Neuroticism and mixed emotions. We also found that positive predictors of mixed emotions are negative predictors of individuals' within-person PA/NA correlations—that is, affective synchrony. Our findings elucidate trait predictors and affective dynamics of daily life mixed emotions, which appear closely intertwined with NA variability. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Laughter and Stress in Daily Life: Relation to Positive and Negative Affect

The present study investigated the proposal that increased laughter can serve to moderate the affective impact of negative life events. Community participants kept a record of their actual frequency of laughter for a 3-day period, and completed a measure of stressful life events each evening. Current levels of positive and negative affect were also obtained in the morning and evening of each day. A series of simple correlations, computed on a daily basis, provided little evidence for any direct relationships between amount of daily laughter and either positive or negative affect. Instead, more complex moderator analyses revealed that greater negative affect was clearly associated with a higher number of stressful life events, but only for those individuals with a lower frequency of actual laughter. In contrast, and in support of a stress buffering hypothesis, it was found that individuals with a higher frequency of laughter did not show greater levels of negative affect as stressful life events increased. When considering positive affect, it was found that only males showed a significant moderating effect of laughter. For males who laughed more frequently, a greater number of stressful life events was associated with higher levels of positive affect. These findings are discussed in terms of several possible mechanisms which may account for the moderating effects of laughter on affect, including the use of cognitive appraisals and emotion-focused coping strategies.     

Sex differences in domain-specific depressogenic cognitive responses to negative and positive life events

Maladaptive cognitive responses to stressful life events represent well-replicated risk factors for depression. Research indicates that stressful life events that are dependent on the individual to occur or are interpersonal may generate more maladaptive cognitive responses than those that are independent and/or non-interpersonal. The current study examined the roles of sex and life event domains in eliciting depressogenic cognitive responses. Participants were 212 (71% female) undergraduate students who completed seven weekly questionnaires on participant-identified most negative and most positive life events over the previous 7 days. Additionally, participants reported levels of brooding and cognitive style in response to the most negative event and levels of positive rumination and dampening in response to the most positive event. Data were analyzed using mixed ANOVAs. Results indicated that females engaged in greater brooding regardless of event dependency. In addition, dependent and interpersonal life events generated greater brooding while dependent and non-interpersonal negative events generated greater negative cognitive style. An interaction between sex and domain was observed for dampening positive life events, such that males did not differ between interpersonal and non-interpersonal life events while females were more likely to dampen following interpersonal life events than non-interpersonal events.