Associations between childhood adversity and daily suppression and avoidance in response to stress in adulthood: can neurobiological sensitivity help explain this relationship?

Background and objectives: Although it has been postulated that psychological responses to stress in adulthood are grounded in childhood experiences in the family environment, evidence has been inconsistent. This study tested whether two putative measures of neurobiological sensitivity (vagal flexibility and attentional capacity) moderated the relation between women’s reported exposure to a risky childhood environment and current engagement in suppressive or avoidant coping in response to daily stress.

Design and methods: Adult women (N?=?158) recruited for a study of stress, coping, and aging reported on early adversity (EA) in their childhood family environment and completed a week-long daily diary in which they described their most stressful event of the day and indicated the degree to which they used suppression or avoidance in response to that event. In addition, women completed a visual tracking task during which heart rate variability and attentional capacity were assessed.

Results: Multilevel mixed modeling analyses revealed that greater EA predicted greater suppression and avoidance only among women with higher attentional capacity. Similarly, greater EA predicted greater use of suppression, but only among women with greater vagal flexibility.

Conclusion: Childhood adversity may predispose individuals with high neurobiological sensitivity to a lifetime of maladaptive coping.     

Suicide and blacks: a conceptual framework.

Suicide among black Americans has risen sharply in this decade. The suicide pattern differs from that of white Americans in that black suicide is mainly a youth phenomenon and the rates between black females and black males are relatively equal. The lack of research into these phenomena is highlighted along with an exploration of current explanations. A specific conceptual framework is proposed that includes extragroup pressure, intragroup pressure, and value orientation. The framework is extended into the area of mental health planning, as well as behavioral science practice.     

Comparison of Suicide Attempters and Decedents in the U.S. Army: A Latent Class Analysis

A clearer understanding of risk factors for suicidal behavior among soldiers is of principal importance to military suicide prevention. It is unclear whether soldiers who attempt suicide and those who die by suicide have different patterns of risk factors. As such, preventive efforts aimed toward reducing suicide attempts and suicides, respectively, may require different strategies. We conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) to examine classes of risk factors among suicide attempters (n = 1,433) and decedents (n = 424). Both groups were represented by three classes: (1) External/Antisocial Risk Factors, (2) Mental Health Risk Factors, and (3) No Pattern. These findings support the conceptualization that military suicide attempters and decedents represent a single population.     

Horribly Wrong

Moral horror is an extreme emotional response to that which violates things we regard as sacred. In Robert Merrihew Adams's view, horror is a response to badness and not to wrongness, and so one could properly regard some actions as horrible but not wrong. In contrast, I argue that horror, when directed toward actions, is only appropriate for wrong actions. The reason is that horror involves moral disgust, and agents who committed a horrible action would have self‐disgust, that is, they would be repulsive to themselves. I argue, with reference to killing in combat and in self‐defense, that those who have done no wrong should not be in such a state.     

Adolescents' Possible Selves and Their Relationship to Global Self-Esteem

Recent research indicates that adolescent girls'self-esteem is lower than that of boys, and adolescence has been identified as a particularly problematic period for female self-esteem. However, many studies use global self-esteem measures that mask important differences within the domains of self-concept that contribute to self-esteem. Further, some self-esteem measures assess components of male self-esteem but overlook aspects of female self-esteem. The possible selves approach was used to identify categories of adolescent male and female self-concept that correlate with self-esteem. Subjects were 212 high-school students. The sample was primarily (96%)Caucasian. Results indicate that female self-esteem is related to perceived likelihood of hoped-for and feared possible selves in multiple domains, whereas male self-esteem is related only to the likelihood of one domain of hoped-for possible selves.     

Discouraging unethicality versus encouraging ethicality: Unraveling the differential effects of prevention‐ and promotion‐focused ethical leadership

Theory on the impact of ethical leadership has traditionally been based on a deontological approach to morality. Underlying this perspective is the assumption that all leader behaviors that encourage “normatively appropriate conduct” will influence followers in a similar fashion. Put differently, the current consensus seems to suggest that actions that focus on preventing unethical behavior—attending to “the wrong”—will have the same impact as actions that focus on promoting ethical behavior—attending to “the right.” Taking a within‐person approach, we draw upon social exchange theory to challenge this consensus and build theory that suggests a follower's felt trust from their leader will be differentially impacted by prevention‐ versus promotion‐focused ethical leadership. We also explore how these different types of ethical leadership may indirectly, through felt trust, impact citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior. Finally, we consider how the role of the “moral manager” may interact with the “moral person” by identifying leader moral hypocrisy as an important between‐person moderator of these effects. Given the importance of ethical decision‐making in organizations and the calls for increased ethical leadership, our findings have important implications for both theory and practice.     

Psychological skills and mindfulness training effects on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students: An exploratory study

This study explored the efficacy of psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students. Participants were undergraduate music students (n = 36) from the Department of Music at a South African university, 21 of whom were elected to take the psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention. Data on their self-reported psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety levels were collected pre-and post-intervention. The analysis applied non-parametric procedures to determine changes in students’ psychological wellbeing after the seven-week intervention programme. Findings suggest improvements in psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety with training. Psychological skills and mindfulness training may have benefits to the psychological wellbeing of music students.     

Mother-child patterns of coping with anticipatory medical stress

Maternal influences on children's fear and coping behaviors during a medical examination were studied in a pediatric outpatient clinic using the Dyadic Prestressor Interaction Scale (DPIS) to measure anticipatory reactions just prior to contact with the physician. Analysis of 50 mother-child dyads, including children from 4 to 10 years of age, revealed that the behaviors emitted by mother and child are likely to influence the child's ability to tolerate the medical experience. Maternal use of distraction and low rates of ignoring were associated with lower child distress and increased prosocial behaviors. Children's active exploration of the situation was more likely to occur when mothers provided their children with information, and was less likely when mothers reassured their children. Maternal reassurance of children and overt maternal agitation were associated with more maladaptive child responses. Age trends were also found in interactive patterns. Younger children were more likely to receive reassurance from mothers when they showed attachment. There was a stronger association between mother's information giving and child's exploring for children under 5 years, 9 months of age. Results supported the usefulness of the DPIS for investigation of child management techniques in this situation. Theoretical extension to attachment and stranger-approach situations was made. Suggestions for future studies to clarify the reciprocity of interactions or to determine causal direction between mother and child behaviors, as well as to evaluate the specificity or generality of these findings, were provided.     

A controlled evaluation of paraspinal EMG biofeedback in the treatment of chronic low back pain

Sixty-six chronic low back pain sufferers were randomly divided into three groups. Following individual assessments consisting of psychological questionnaires, pain monitoring, and measurement of paraspinal electromyogram (EMG), one group received paraspinal EMG biofeedback and another a placebo treatment. The third group received no intervention. Two further assessments were carried out on all groups immediately after treatment and at a 3-month follow-up. All groups showed significant reduction in pain, anxiety, depression, and paraspinal EMG following treatment and at follow-up, but there were no differences between groups. A regression analysis failed to identify subjects' characteristics that predicted positive outcome in the biofeedback group. However, high scores on the Evaluative scale of the McGill Pain Questionnaire and high hypnotizability were significant predictors of positive outcome for the placebo group. It is concluded that paraspinal EMG biofeedback is not a specific treatment for chronic low back pain in a nonhospitalized population.