Catastrophizing,locus of control,pain, and disability in chinese chronic low back pain patients

Abstract

The present study examined the associations of locus of control (LOC) and catastrophizing with pain intensity and disability in Chinese chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. In the study, 56 respondents (21 men and 35 women) with a mean age of 36.98 years (SD= 12.22) completed measures assessing locus of control, catastrophizing tendency, pain intensity, disability, and psychological distress. Results showed that after partialling out the effects of gender, duration of pain, and psychological distress, internal LOC significantly explained the variance of disability. For pain intensity, only catastrophizing accounted for a large portion of the variance. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future work were discussed.     

Evaluation of key points in the sit-to-stand movement using two force platforms

Three key points of the sit-to-stand (STS) movement were confirmed as aspects of the ground reaction force (GRF): the onset, maximum GRF, and seat-off. 46 healthy subjects (M age = 22.2 yr., SD = 4.4) participated. During the STS movement, two vertical force platforms were used to measure the resultant GRF, defined as the whole-body force, and its two components, the buttock and leg GRFs. The onsets of the component GRFs identified the sequence of the important time points in the STS movement more precisely than the onset of the resultant GRF. Data showed that the maximum whole-body GRF, the maximum GRF of both legs, and seat-off appeared in sequence and not simultaneously.     

Multilevel factor analysis and structural equation modeling of daily diary coping data: Modeling trait and state variation

The current study used multilevel modeling of daily diary data to model within-person (state) and between-person (trait) components of coping variables. This application included the introduction of multilevel factor analysis (MFA) and a comparison of the predictive ability of these trait/state factors. Daily diary data was collected on a large (n = 366) multiethnic sample over the course of five days. Intraclass correlation coefficient for the derived factors suggested approximately equal amounts of variability in coping usage at the state and trait levels. MFAs showed that Problem-Focused Coping and Social Support emerged as stable factors at both the within-person and between-person levels. Other factors (Minimization, Emotional Rumination, Avoidance, Distraction) were specific to the within-person or between-person levels, but not both. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) showed that the prediction of daily positive and negative affect differed as a function of outcome and level of coping factor. The Discussion section focuses primarily on a conceptual and methodological understanding of modeling state and trait coping using daily diary data with MFA and MSEM to examine covariation among coping variables and predicting outcomes of interest.     

The cultural dynamics of rewarding honesty and punishing deception

Recent research suggests that individuals reward honesty more than they punish deception. Five experiments showed that different patterns of rewards and punishments emerge for North American and East Asian cultures. Experiment 1 demonstrated that Americans rewarded more than they punished, whereas East Asians rewarded and punished in equivalent amounts. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that these divergent patterns by culture could be explained by greater social mobility experienced by Americans. Experiments 4 and 5 examined how certain consequences of social mobility, approach-avoidance behavioral motivations and trust and felt obligation, can lead to disparate reward and punishment decisions within the two cultures. Moreover, Experiment 4 revealed that Americans exhibited stronger evaluative reactions toward deception but stronger behavioral intentions toward honesty; East Asians did not exhibit this evaluative-behavioral asymmetry. The cross-cultural implications for understanding rewards and punishments in an increasingly globalized world are discussed.     

Experts see it all: configural effects in action observation

Biological motion perception is influenced by observers’ familiarity with the observed action. Here, we used classical dance as a means to investigate how visual and motor experience modulates perceptual mechanism for configural processing of actions. Although some ballet moves are performed by only one gender, male and female dancers train together and acquire visual knowledge of all ballet moves. Twenty-four expert ballet dancers (12 female) and matched non-expert participants viewed pairs of upright and inverted point light female and common dance movements. Visual discrimination between different exemplars of the same movement presented upright was significantly better in experts than controls, whilst no differences were found when the same stimuli were presented upside down. These results suggest expertise influences configural action processing. Within the expert group, effects were stronger for female participants than for males, whilst no differences were found between movement types. This observer gender effect could suggest an additional role for motor familiarity in action perception, over and above the visual experience. Our results are consistent with a specific motor contribution to configural processing of action.     

Communicating stereotype‐relevant information: How readily can people individuate?

It is often suggested that people automatically form an impression of a target by using stereotypes. However, people can flexibly deploy different types of individuating processes, depending on the communicative context. We showed that people can individuate targets from their social category by communicating stereotype‐inconsistent information (person–group individuation) when they are required to reproduce information about the targets and people can individuate targets from other individuals by communicating information that is distinctive about the targets (person–person individuation) when required to identify the targets. The participants' performance is unrelated to information memorability (Experiment 1) and is not affected by time pressure (Experiment 2). Humans' adaptive capacity for individuation is discussed.     

Exploring the roles of narcissism,uses of,and gratifications from microblogs on affinity‐seeking and social capital

The purpose of this study is to examine how the uses and gratifications of microblogs (i.e. Sina Weibo) can influence interpersonal relationships, especially in affinity‐seeking and perceived social capital. Data were gathered through an online questionnaire with a sample of 431 Weibo users surveyed throughout mainland China. Results show that (i) narcissism, content‐, and social‐gratification were positively related to intensity of Weibo use, (ii) intensity of Weibo use and process‐gratification were positively related to strategic performance, whereas only content‐gratification positively predicted affinity competence. (iii) content‐ and social‐gratification positively predicted bridging social capital, whereas convenience‐gratification and affinity‐seeking predicted bonding social capital, and (iv) intensity of Weibo use was positively related to both types of social capital only when Weibo gratifications were not included in the regression equations. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Probing item social desirability by correlating personality items with Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR): A validity examination

Researchers often include a social desirability measure in personality measures, commonly the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR), and correlate it with personality items to probe for social desirability of the items. A strong correlation between BIDR scores and a personality item would indicate high item social desirability. The current research assesses the validity of this practice. Results showed that these correlations have high validity only when BIDR scores are calculated as a continuous variable rather than as dichotomized item scores. In addition, self-deception scores have higher validity for detecting item social desirability than do impression management scores. The current research supported the use of the self-deception scores, in particular, to detect highly desirable or undesirable items.