Using Temporal Profiles and a Deviation from Balanced Approach to Understand Alcohol and Mental Health Problems

Abstract

The present study examined how multiple operationalizations of Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) scores (raw scores; temporal profiles, based on cluster analysis; and the Deviation from a Balanced Time Perspective, or ‘transformed’ methodology) were related to both alcohol-related problems and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Participants were a large (N?=?816) university sample in the United Kingdom. A total of four time perspective profiles were observed: Futures, Presents, Past Negative-Futures, and Fatalists. Having a Present profile was associated with the worst alcohol-related outcomes. With regard to psychopathology, individuals with a Future profile reported the least anxious and depressive symptoms, and individuals with a Fatalistic profile reported the highest levels of depression. The effect of transformed scores was less robust, though greater deviation from a balanced perspective was associated with somewhat higher symptoms of anxiety and depression. Further, models using raw ZTPI dimension scores explained a greater amount of variance than models using the transformed scores. This study suggests that operationalizing the ZTPI in different ways produces results, which differ both in magnitude and statistical significance. We recommend that future studies using the ZTPI employ these various operationalizations in order that consensus on the optimal approach can be reached.     

Hunger-related intrusive thoughts reflect increased accessibility of food items

The elaborated intrusion model (Kavanagh, Andrade, & May, 2005) argues that a craving episode begins with a desire-related intrusive thought. This study tests the assumption that such intrusive thoughts, during hunger, reflect an increase in accessibility of food-related information in memory. Fifty-six undergraduates were randomly assigned to hungry or satiated conditions. Hunger was manipulated by asking the “hungry” group to abstain from eating breakfast and snacks prior to testing before lunch, while the “satiated” group was asked to eat normally and attend testing after lunch. Participants completed a lexical decision task containing food-related and neutral words, an intrusive thoughts questionnaire and a hunger questionnaire. Priming for food-related items relative to neutral on the lexical decision task was higher for hungry participants than satiated participants. Priming correlated strongly with frequency of food-related intrusive thoughts during the task. We conclude that desire-related lexical decision priming could provide a useful objective correlate of proneness to desire-related intrusions.     

Relationship Between Psychological Skill Profiles and Soldier Physical Fitness Performance

We examine the structure of soldier's psychological skills and assess the relationship between psychological skills profiles and physical performance with data from 427 soldiers from a Stryker Brigade. Exploratory factor analyses results provided empirical support for a three-factor structure that included foundation skills, psychosomatic skills, and cognitive skills. Cluster analysis revealed three emergent psychological skills profile groups: (a) strong skills, (b) weak skills, and (c) fearful focus clusters. Soldiers in the strong psychological skill profile group performed better than their peers in the other profile groups on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) performance measure. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, research, and practice.     

Training Analysts to Work With Unconscious Embodied Expressions: Theoretical Underpinnings and Practical Guidelines

In this paper it is suggested that by incorporating embodied practices from bodywork and the performing arts analytic training could be enriched and promote the development of countertransference awareness for body sensations and movement. The historical background and theoretical underpinnings of an analytical training program focusing on embodied subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and objectivity, aimed at integrating experiences of self, other, and interaction, is outlined. The paper describes and discusses the training program developed at the Norwegian Character Analytic Institute over a 10-year period, featuring nonverbal, embodied ways of presenting and working with cases at seminars and in connection with supervision.     

The Relationships Among Grief Experience,Problem-Solving Appraisal,and Depression: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Research has consistently shown a relationship between problem-solving appraisal and depressive symptoms. This study expands that research by including grief symptomatology as a variable. A college student sample completed the Problem-Solving inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Revised Grief Experience Inventory. Consistent with hypotheses, those individuals who had experienced the death of a close loved one within the previous 5 years reported significantly higher levels of grief and depression than those who had not experienced such a loss. However, the group that had experienced the death of a close loved one did not report significantly worse problem-solving scores than the group that did not. This study also examined the relationships among problem-solving appraisal, depressive symptoms, and grief symptoms within the subsample that had experienced the loss of a close loved one within the previous 5 years. Consistent with predictions, grief symptoms were associated with depressive symptoms and self-appraised ineffective problem solving. The results of this study extend the research on grief and mourning. Also, the results expand our understanding of the grief process by providing preliminary evidence for the role of problem solving in this process     

Childhood Maltreatment,Adult Attachment,and Depression as Predictors of Parental Self-Efficacy in At-Risk Mothers

Childhood abuse and neglect can have far-reaching effects on adult relationships, mental health, and parenting. This study examined relations between maltreatment types, anxious and avoidant adult attachment, maternal depression, and parental self-efficacy in a community sample of 76 at-risk mothers. After controlling for other forms of maltreatment, emotional abuse uniquely predicted higher levels of anxious attachment and maternal depression. Structural equation modeling revealed that childhood maltreatment predicted lower parental self-efficacy through indirect pathways involving anxious attachment and depression. Specifically, maltreatment's influence on maternal depression was mediated by attachment anxiety, while its influence on parental self-efficacy was mediated by depressive symptoms. Results are discussed in terms of attachment theory and ways in which parental self-efficacy contributes to adaptive caregiving behavior.     

Eye movements when reading words with $YMβOL$ and NUM83R5: There is a cost

Recent evidence from masked priming experiments has revealed that readers regularize letter-like symbols and letter-like numbers into their corresponding base letters with minimal processing cost. However, one open question is whether the same pattern occurs when these items are presented during normal silent reading. In the present study, we respond to this question in an eye-movement experiment that included sentences with words that had symbols and numbers as letters, as in “YESTERDAY I SAW THE SECRE74RY WORKING VERY HARD”. Results revealed that there is a greater reading cost associated with letter-by-number replacements than with letter-by-symbol replacements, especially when the replaced letters occur at the beginning of the word. We examine the implications of these findings for models of visual word recognition and reading.