Situational Dimensions of Self-Reported Nervousness

Endler, Hunt, and Rosenstein's systematic application of the stimulus-response model in their psychometric study of anxiety provided the impetus and rationale for this work, investigation of the situational dimensions of self-reported nervousness. Factor analysis of a nervousness inventory revealed three broad dimensions, characterized by social situations, situations of physical discomfort or potential bodily harm, and situations of disorder or disruption. The first two of these dimensions have been observed before. The third has not been conspicuously noted and may especially merit further study.     

Interrelating Behavioral Measures of Distress Tolerance with Self-Reported Experiential Avoidance

Experiential avoidance and distress intolerance play a central role in novel behavior therapies, yet they appear to overlap considerably the REBT concept of low frustration tolerance. Using baseline data from 100 adult cigarette smokers enrolled in a clinical trial of smoking cessation therapies, the present study evaluated the convergent validity of common questionnaire measures of experiential avoidance (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire; AAQ; Hayes et al. 2004, and Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale: AIS; Gifford et al. 2004) and behavioral measures of distress tolerance (computerized Mirror Tracing Persistence Task: MTPT-C: Strong et al. 2003; computerized Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task; PASAT-C; Lejuez et al. 2003). The distress tolerance measures correlated significantly (r = .29) with one another. However, the questionnaire measures of experiential avoidance did not correlate with each other, nor with the behavioral measures. Further research is needed on the validity of measuring experiential avoidance by self-report and of the overlap versus distinctiveness of seemingly similar constructs such as experiential avoidance, distress tolerance, and frustration tolerance.     

Interparty Attitudes in Chile: Coalitions as Superordinate Social Identities

This paper reports a survey (N  =  1,465) conducted in Chile that was conceived to understand the role of coalition identification as an important sociopsychological mechanism for promoting positive affects toward own-coalition party members in a multiparty system, above and beyond interparty political differences. Participants judged their own political party, parties within coalitions (fellow coalition members and opposing parties), and political coalitions as a whole on affective dimensions (trust, liking, and admiration). The results provide substantial support for the five hypotheses addressed in the study. Overall, perceived interparty distance and political identity threat had a negative impact on affect toward coalition party members. Above and beyond these effects, identification with the coalition positively predicted affect toward allies. Ingroup party affect was positively correlated with affect toward own-coalition party members and own coalition as a whole, but was not negatively associated with affect toward opposing-coalition parties. Moreover, the relationship between own-party affect and affect toward own-coalition party members was mediated by affect toward own coalition. Overall, evidence for the benefits of promoting coalition identification in a multiparty system is provided and discussed alongside the limitations and practical implications derived from the study.     

Dimensions of Pediatric Procedural Distress: Children's Anxiety and Pain During Immunizations

The purpose of this study was to isolate and compare children's procedural anxiety and pain. The study was conducted in a school-based pediatric health clinic with 39 fourth graders receiving 3 injection vaccinations over a 6-month period. Child and nurse ratings and an observational scale assessed anxiety and pain. Results suggest that anxiety and pain are highly correlated, however self-report and an observational measure discriminate between these constructs. Self-report and observational measurement indicated more pediatric pain than anxiety, whereas nurse reports did not indicate differences between children's pain and anxiety.     

Decisions Under Distress: Stress Profiles Influence Anchoring and Adjustment

ABSTRACT— People frequently make decisions under stress. Understanding how stress affects decision making is complicated by the fact that not all stress responses are created equal. Challenge states, for example, occur when individuals appraise a stressful situation as demanding, but believe they have the personal resources to cope, and are characterized by efficient cardiovascular reactivity and approach motivation. Threat states, in contrast, occur when situational demands are perceived to outweigh resources and are characterized by less efficient cardiovascular reactivity and withdrawal motivation. We randomly assigned participants to social-feedback conditions (i.e., positive or negative feedback) designed to engender challenge or threat, or a no-stress condition. Participants then completed an anchoring-and-adjustment questionnaire. Those assigned to the challenge condition adjusted more from self-generated anchors than those assigned to the threat condition. Cardiovascular responses mediated the relationship between condition and adjustment. This study demonstrates the importance of considering profiles of cardiovascular reactivity when examining the influence of stress on decision making.     

Common and Specific Dimensions of Self-Reported Anxiety and Depression in Adolescent Outpatients

To investigate the common and specific dimensions of anxiety and depression in adolescents, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation 1993a) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. Manual for Beck Depression Inventory (2nd Ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation 1996) were administered to 840 adolescent (13–17 years old) outpatients who were diagnosed with various types of psychiatric disorders. A Schmid-Leiman transformation was used with the iterated-principal-factor pattern matrix of the BAI and the BDI-II loadings. The amounts of orthogonalized common variance that were explained by the one second-order (56%), one first-order depression (22%), and two first-order anxiety (22%) dimensions were comparable to those previously reported for adult psychiatric outpatients. The results were discussed as supporting the construct of negative affectivity that is proposed in L. A. Clark and Watson’s (1991) tripartite model of anxiety and depression.

Adolescent Adjustment to Parental Divorce: An Investigation from the Perspective of Basic Dimensions of Structural Family Therapy Theory

This study, conducted within the framework of concepts of structural family therapy, examined the relationship of four family-based, clinical dimensions to the adjustment of 45 adolescents during the first 18 months of parental separation. There were two samples of mother-custody families: an Aided group that applied for treatment, and an Unaided group of paid volunteers. The inclusion of this variable addressed a major methodological deficit of previous studies. There was a significant association between perceived postseparation family structure and adolescent adjustment, demonstrating that individual adolescent adjustment is contingent on structural features of the contemporary postseparation family. Further, Aided families were perceived as more chaotic, disengaged, and enmeshed than Unaided families, while Aided adolescents were characterized by more behavior problems than Unaided adolescents. This suggests that divorce, as an unscheduled transition, might be within the realm of adaptation for many families and adolescents and is not necessarily "disastrous."     

Understanding the Ageing Process: A Developmental Perspective of the Psychosocial and Spiritual Dimensions

SUMMARY

This chapter describes a perspective of psychosocial and spiritual development in the later years of life. It outlines a study of nurses conducted in six nursing homes using pre and post workshop tests to identify changes in nurses' assignment of a list of behaviours as psychosocial or spiritual. Use of SPSS found significant changes between the pre and post tests. Pre workshop tests only identified items as spiritual if they included the word God, or Bible. Results from this study highlight the potential role for nurses in aged care to provide spiritual care as part of holistic care. It also highlights the fact that many nurses feel ill prepared for this role.     

Life Satisfaction and Positive Adjustment as Predictors of Emotional Distress in Men With Coronary Heart Disease

This two-wave longitudinal study examines the ability of life satisfaction and adjustment strategies to predict anxious and depressive symptoms in coronary heart disease male patients. Studies have shown that most heart attack survivors report these symptoms, which may worsen the prognosis of the disease. At Time 1, immediately after the first cardiac episode, eighty-eight men reported their life satisfaction levels, adjustment strategies used, and anxious and depressive symptoms experienced. At Time 2, six months later, sixty-three of those patients reported only their anxious and depressive symptoms again. The results showed that, after controlling for demographic variables, anxious and depressive symptoms at Time 1 were predicted by positive adjustment and life satisfaction. At Time 2, after controlling for both demographic variables and Time 1-emotional symptoms, none of the psychological variables predicted anxious symptoms, while depressive symptoms were only predicted by life satisfaction. It is concluded that an adequate level of life satisfaction may help to decrease emotional distress, both short and long term, while the use of positive adjustment strategies is especially important immediately after diagnosis.     

Menstrual Reactivity: The Role of Gender-Specificity,Anxiety Sensitivity,and Somatic Concerns in Self-Reported Menstrual Distress

To determine the impact of gender roles, anxiety sensitivity, and somatic concerns on self-reported menstrual distress, two studies were conducted. In the first study using 278 primarily Caucasian college females, anxiety-sensitivity level, not current menstrual cycle phase, influenced reports of menstrual symptom severity and depression. Regardless of cycle phase at the time of self-report, women high in anxiety sensitivity reported significantly more depressed mood, trait anxiety, and retrospective menstrual symptoms. In the second study of 158 primarily Caucasian college females varying in anxiety sensitivity levels, adherence to sex role stereotypes, feminist beliefs, and illness attitudes were examined. Participants also completed measures of general premenstrual, most-recent premenstrual, and current menstrual symptoms. Women high in anxiety sensitivity reported the highest levels of sex-specificity, feminist embeddedness, and illness attitudes, with sex-specificity accounting for significant variance in current menstrual symptoms. Results are discussed within the context of the menstrual reactivity hypothesis, which proposes that beliefs surrounding the menstrual cycle and body sensations expectancies contribute to self-reports of greater menstrual distress. Women high in anxiety sensitivity appear to represent one subgroup vulnerable to menstrual reactivity.     

Superordinate identities and intergroup conflict: The ingroup projection model

This chapter summarises results from a research programme on the psychological basis of tolerance and discrimination in intergroup relations, with particular consideration of the role of superordinate identities. According to the ingroup projection model, a relevant superordinate group provides dimensions and norms for comparisons between ingroup and outgroup. Groups gain positive value or status when they are considered prototypical for the (positively valued) superordinate group. Group members tend to generalise (project) distinct ingroup characteristics onto the superordinate category, implying the relative prototypicality of their ingroup. To the extent that outgroup difference is regarded as a deviation from the ethnocentrically construed prototype it is evaluated negatively. Our research studied consequences and determinants of ingroup projection, as well as moderators of its implications. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the processes involved in intergroup discrimination and indicate new pathways for the reduction of prejudice, towards mutual intergroup appreciation and tolerance.     

The Role of Contextual Threat in Predicting Self-Reported Distress among Siblings of Children with Cancer

Each year, 14,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States. Prolonged, intensive treatment regimens disrupt the entire family system, but effects on siblings are poorly understood. In this preliminary investigation, we employed a risk and resistance framework to study adjustment among 30 siblings (aged 10–17) of children undergoing cancer treatment. We examined whether or not objective stress associated with the cancer experience (contextual threat) predicted sibling distress and explored demographic and disease-related predictors of sibling adjustment. Contextual threat was positively associated with sibling-reported distress, independent of sibling age, gender, birth order relative to the child with cancer, and cancer treatment intensity. From among the demographic and disease-related factors, only younger birth order relative to the child with cancer was independently associated with sibling distress. These results suggest that a subset of siblings may be at increased risk for elevated distress in the face of their brother’s or sister’s illness.     

The Struggle of Behavioral Therapists With Exposure: Self-Reported Practicability,Negative Beliefs,and Therapist Distress About Exposure-Based Interventions

Exposure-based interventions are a core ingredient of evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, previous research has documented that exposure is rarely utilized in routine care, highlighting an ongoing lack of dissemination. The present study examined barriers for the dissemination of exposure from the perspective of behavioral psychotherapists working in outpatient routine care (N = 684). A postal survey assessed three categories of barriers: (a) practicability of exposure-based intervention in an outpatient private practice setting, (b) negative beliefs about exposure, and (c) therapist distress related to the use of exposure. In addition, self-reported competence to conduct exposure for different anxiety disorders, PTSD, and OCD was assessed. High rates of agreement were found for single barriers within each of the three categories (e.g., unpredictable time management, risk of uncompensated absence of the patient, risk of decompensation of the patient, superficial effectiveness, or exposure being very strenuous for the therapist). Separately, average agreement to each category negatively correlated with self-reported utilization of exposure to a moderate degree (-.35 ≤ r ≤ -.27). In a multiple regression model, only average agreement to barriers of practicability and negative beliefs were significantly associated with utilization rates. Findings illustrate that a multilevel approach targeting individual, practical, and systemic barriers is necessary to optimize the dissemination of exposure-based interventions. Dissemination efforts may therefore benefit from incorporating strategies such as modifying negative beliefs, adaptive stress management for therapists, or increasing practicability of exposure-based interventions.     

Big Five Personality Dimensions and Job Performance in Army and Civil Occupations: A European Perspective

This article reports three meta-analyses on the relation between the Big Five personality dimensions and job performance using exclusively European samples. Also, the incremental validity of Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability over General Mental Ability is reported. The results show that Conscientiousness (p = .23) and Emotional Stability (p = .23) generalized validity across criteria and civil and military occupations. The results also showed that Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability had incremental validity and added to total validity a percentage around 10% to 11 %. Implications for the international generalizability of validity and the practice of personnel selection are commented on.     

Distress and help-seeking as a function of person-environment fit and self-efficacy: A causal model

Self-efficacy, indicators of distress (state anxiety and frequency of physical symptoms), help-seeking (visits to the campus health center, an outside physician, and a counselor), and two measures of person-environment (P-E) fit were assessed on 152 college students and examined in a LISREL model. The two P-E fit measures were perceived discrepancy, the profile difference score between how each student would like their residence floor and how each viewed it as being, and actual discrepancy, the profile difference score between how each would like the floor to be and the mean rating for how floor residents viewed the floor. It was found that self-efficacy and perceived discrepancy had independent and moderate effects on distress but not on help-seeking, whereas actual discrepancy was found to have a strong effect on help-seeking and no direct effect on distress. Help-seeking was found to have a strong negative effect on distress.     

Identity Coping in the First Years of University: Identity Diffusion,Adjustment and Identity Distress

In today’s advanced post-capitalist societies, consolidating identity with a view to acquiring adult roles is more complex than in the past. In Italy, the changes in the educational system are also associated with changes in the labor market characterized by lack of opportunity and instability. Therefore, young people on the threshold of university are discouraged from making long-term decisions and developing a coherent identity. The aim of the study was to explore what modalities Italian students adopt in order to cope with developmental tasks and how they proceed to negotiate and resolve identity-related concerns. The participants were 332 Italian students, balanced by gender, attending the first 2 years of university and aged 18–25. We used six self-report measures: Dimensions of Identity Development Scale; Identity Stage Resolution Index; Identity Distress Scale; Locus of Control Scale; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale; and Depressive Symptom Subscale and Anxiety Symptom Subscale. Participation was voluntary, and anonymity was guaranteed. Findings indicate that identity processes, identity distress and sense of adulthood are related dimensions. We find five different modalities of identity coping (clusters) that identify different subjects. These retained clusters have also an effect on psychosocial correlates. Results advance the literature linking identity, sense of adulthood and coping with developmental tasks in emerging adulthood. Findings also support previous literature suggesting that coping with identity during first years of university is an important target of prevention efforts aimed at improving academic performance and identification of developmental path, particularly for individuals who exhibit identity diffusion and distress.     

Distress,Loss, and Adjustment Following the Birth of a Baby: A Qualitative Exploration of One New Father's Experiences

In contrast with the vast literature on the postnatal psychological difficulties experienced by some mothers, there have been few attempts to study the mental health of fathers in and around the time of the birth of a baby. Using an interpretive phenomenological analysis, this study attempts to map the experience of fathers following the birth of a child. A male consultation group was employed to guide the study, and the results feature an in-depth analysis of one new father. The findings were consistent with Kelly's notion of constructs of transition in revealing powerful emotional themes regarding loss and difficulties with adjustment. These are explored within the context of contemporary fathering, relational patterns, and male identity. The findings suggest that men's experience of distress may be linked to prevalent yet contradictory discourse directly linked to expectations about their roles following childbirth. They also suggest the clinical importance of this area, as men's well-being appears to impact that of the mother and baby.     

Social Achievement Goals and Social Adjustment in Adolescence: A Multiple‐Goal Perspective

Adolescents approach social situations with different social achievement goals (i.e., social development goals, demonstration‐approach goals, and demonstration‐avoid goals). Applying a latent profile analysis (LPA), a person‐centered approach, this study identified four groups of adolescents with distinct social goal profiles: approach‐oriented, undifferentiated high, demonstration‐oriented, and undifferentiated low. Observed differences in various indicators of social adjustment, including social anxiety, friendship quality, prosocial behavior as well as aggressive behavior, indicated that the approach‐oriented and undifferentiated high profiles showed most adaptive outcomes, whereas the demonstration‐oriented and undifferentiated low profiles showed maladaptive patterns of social outcomes. Profiles with high levels of social development goals showed the most adaptive social outcomes regardless of the level of demonstration‐oriented goals (i.e., demonstration‐approach and demonstration‐avoid goals). These findings suggest that focusing on high‐quality relationships and developing social competence leads to adequately contending with social challenges, and it provides protection against the negative effects of demonstration‐oriented social goals.