When self-help materials help: Examining the effects of self-discrepancy and modes of delivery of positive self-statements

Self-help materials inculcating individuals with positive self-statements are popular in recent years, although the effectiveness of such self-statements on improving individuals’ psychological well-being has not yet been confirmed. Using a control-group pre-test/post-test design, we examined how positive self-statements may or may not benefit individuals’ mood. Individual characteristics and modes of delivery were found to moderate mood changes resulting from positive self-statements. Specifically, we found that participants experienced negative mood change after reading positive self-statements, if they have low level of need satisfaction. However, we also found that participants experienced a mood boost after listening to positive self-statements, and this effect was unrelated to self-esteem or need satisfaction. These findings suggest that self-help materials with a focus on positive self-statements should be used with caution.     

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Connections With Self-Reported Attachment

Even though generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common of the anxiety disorders, relatively little is known about its precursors. Bowlby's attachment theory provides a framework within which these precursors can be considered. According to Bowlby, adult anxiety may be rooted in childhood experiences that leave a child uncertain of the availability of a protective figure in times of trouble. Furthermore, adult “current state of mind with respect to attachment” is thought to relate to adult anxiety. Both attachment-related components were assessed with 8 subscales of the Perceptions of Adult Attachment Questionnaire (PAAQ). Clinically severe GAD clients who were about to begin therapy reported experiencing less maternal love in childhood, greater maternal rejection/neglect, and more maternal role-reversal/enmeshment than did control participants. In keeping with a cumulative risk model, risk for GAD increased as indices of poor childhood attachment experience increased. GAD clients, in contrast to controls, also reported greater current vulnerability in relation to their mothers as well as more difficulty accessing childhood memories. Logistic regression analyses revealed that elevations on PAAQ subscales could significantly predict GAD vs. non-GAD status. Results and the implications for advancing the theory and treatment of GAD are discussed.     

Children's differentiation between beliefs about matters of fact and matters of opinion

Two experiments investigated children's implicit and explicit differentiation between beliefs about matters of fact and matters of opinion. In Experiment 1, 8- to 9-year-olds' (n = 88) explicit understanding of the subjectivity of opinions was found to be limited, but their conformity to others' judgments on a matter of opinion was considerably lower than their conformity to others' views regarding an ambiguous fact. In Experiment 2, children aged 6, 8, or 10 years (n = 81) were asked to make judgments either about ambiguous matters of fact or about matters of opinion and then heard an opposing judgment from an expert. All age groups conformed to the opposing judgments on factual matters more than they did to the experts' views on matters of opinion. However, only the oldest children explicitly recognized that opinions are subjective and cannot be "wrong." Implications of these results for models of children's reasoning about epistemic states are discussed.     

Effects on Youth of Exposure to Retail Tobacco Advertising1

The absence of significant restrictions on tobacco advertising in stores has prompted concern about the proliferation of these messages and their impact on youth. This is among the first studies to investigate the effects of adolescents’ exposure to retail tobacco advertising. Under the guise of testing teen‐interest news stories, 8th and 9th graders (n= 385) saw photographs of a convenience store that was either dominated by or devoid of tobacco advertising while listening to a story about a proposed tobacco control law or one about teen food purchases. Regardless of the news story they heard, students exposed to the tobacco‐saturated store perceived significantly easier access to cigarettes, believed more peers tried and approved of smoking, and expressed weaker support for tobacco‐control policies than did the comparison group. The study results suggest that widespread tobacco advertising in stores might distort adolescents’ perceptions about the availability, use, and popularity of this product.     

Lament as a Contributor to the Healing of Trauma: an Application of Poetry in the Form of Biblical Lament

Pastoral Psychology - Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians begins with exuberant praise to the “God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction.” Many today suffer...