Perceived stress management skill mediates the relationship between optimism and positive mood following radical prostatectomy.

This study evaluated relations among optimism, perceived stress management skills (PSMS),and positive mood in 46 men who had surgical treatment for localized prostate cancer. The authors found that optimism, PSMS, and positive mood scores were positively correlated. Positive mood was unrelated to demographic and disease-related control variables. In a hierarchical regression model controlling for PSMS, the relationship between optimism and positive mood became nonsignificant, whereas PSMS remained a correlate of positive mood. Results suggest that the relationship between optimism and positive mood may be mediated by belief in being able to use stress management techniques effectively.     

BRIEF REPORT

Fascination for extremely negative scenes was examined by exposing 152 students to pictures of September 11 attacks 8 months after their occurrence. Participants rated their orientation toward the pictures, their felt emotions, and their self and world views. Factor analysis of the orientation items yielded three clusters. Fascination characterized 32.9% of respondents; it was related only to attention and interest. Rejection (23%) involved aversion for the pictures and related thoughts; it was correlated to dysphoric emotions and to motivational depletion. Ambivalence (20.4%) was related to attention and interest, to most specific negative emotions, to an inclination to process the pictures cognitively and interpersonally, and to indices of enhanced social reliance and personal growth. These results are discussed in reference to various relevant theoretical models.