The Relationship Between Automatic Thoughts and Irrational Beliefs Predicting Anxiety and Depression

Cognitive behavioral approaches differ in their views on core cognitions and their hypothesized role in the etiology of depression and anxiety. The present study provides empirical evidence regarding the relationship between irrational beliefs and components of automatic thoughts and their role in the etiology of depression and anxiety. The present study utilized newer and improved questionnaires to assess components of irrational belief. Based on prior research by Safren et al. (Cogn Ther Res 24(3):327–344, 2000), a three-factor structure of the combined automatic thought questionnaires were utilized to measure components of automatic thoughts as they relate to depression and anxiety. Factor analytical methods were utilized to confirm the factor structure of the irrational beliefs and automatic thoughts components. Advanced path modeling was utilized to model the relationship between irrational beliefs and automatic thoughts in predicting anxiety and depression. The study used a sample of N = 542 undergraduate psychology students during stressful exam times. Results indicated that the irrational belief Demandingness represents a primary factor, followed by the secondary irrational beliefs as proposed by Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory. Selfdowning beliefs were fully mediated by depressive automatic thoughts in the case of depressive affect. Low frustration tolerance contributed unique variance to anxious and depressive affect that was not fully mediated by automatic thoughts. Results from the present study add empirical evidence that irrational beliefs indeed represent core and intermediary beliefs that lead to specific automatic thoughts, which is congruent with cognitive behavioral theory as proposed by Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy.     

Possible selves and academic outcomes: How and when possible selves impel action

Puzzled by the gap between academic attainment and academic possible selves (APSs) among low-income and minority teens, the authors hypothesized that APSs alone are not enough unless linked with plausible strategies, made to feel like "true" selves and connected with social identity. A brief intervention to link APSs with strategies, create a context in which social and personal identities felt congruent, and change the meaning associated with difficulty in pursuing APSs (n = 141 experimental, n = 123 control low-income 8th graders) increased success in moving toward APS goals: academic initiative, standardized test scores, and grades improved; and depression, absences, and in-school misbehavior declined. Effects were sustained over a 2-year follow-up and were mediated by change in possible selves.     

Childhood physical and emotional abuse by a parent: transference effects in adult interpersonal relations

Extending research on transference and the relational self (Andersen & Chen, 2002), female undergraduates with or without a history of physical and emotional abuse by a loved parent participated in an experiment manipulating parental resemblance and threat-relevant interpersonal context in a new person. Transference elicited differences not evident in the control condition between abused and nonabused participants' responses, with greater rejection expectancy, mistrust, dislike, and emotional indifference reported by abused participants. Immediate implicit affect was more positive in transference than in the control condition regardless of abuse history. Yet, abused participants in transference also reported increased dysphoria that was markedly attenuated when interpersonal threat was primed, and no such pattern occurred among nonabused participants. Evidence that interpersonally guarded and affectively complex responses are triggered in transference among previously abused individuals suggests that this social-cognitive process may underlie long-term interpersonal difficulties associated with parental abuse.     

Rejection Sensitivity and the Rejection–Hostility Link in Romantic Relationships

ABSTRACT Rejection sensitivity is the disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to rejection. In response to perceived social exclusion, highly rejection sensitive people react with increased hostile feelings toward others and are more likely to show reactive aggression than less rejection sensitive people in the same situation. This paper summarizes work on rejection sensitivity that has provided evidence for the link between anxious expectations of rejection and hostility after rejection. We review evidence that rejection sensitivity functions as a defensive motivational system. Thus, we link rejection sensitivity to attentional and perceptual processes that underlie the processing of social information. A range of experimental and diary studies shows that perceiving rejection triggers hostility and aggressive behavior in rejection sensitive people. We review studies that show that this hostility and reactive aggression can perpetuate a vicious cycle by eliciting rejection from those who rejection sensitive people value most. Finally, we summarize recent work suggesting that this cycle can be interrupted with generalized self-regulatory skills and the experience of positive, supportive relationships.     

Partner Enabling of Substance Use Disorders: Critical Review and Future Directions

Substance use disorders affect not only the identified client but significant others as well. Dyadic and family dysfunction is typically associated with a family member's alcohol or drug abuse. One area of research interest based on clinical conceptions of these families is that of partner support or coping in response to the addiction. Female partners of male alcoholics have received much of this clinical and research attention, and have alternatively been labeled as codependents, co-alcoholics, or enablers. Broadening the therapeutic emphasis beyond the impaired individual underscores the systemic notion that a loved one's addiction necessarily affects spouses and partners, and that partner responses may in turn affect drinking or drug behaviors. The present article contrasts the enabling and codependency constructs, reviews empirical studies of enabling, and offers a conceptualization of partner responses to addiction that could enhance future research efforts and clinical applications in this area.     

Effects of Unimodal and Multimodal Cues About Threat Locations on Target Acquisition and Workload

Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of unimodal and multimodal cueing techniques for indicating the location of threats on target acquisition, the recall of information from concurrent communications, and perceived workload. One visual, two auditory (i.e., nonspatial speech and spatial tones [3-D]), and one tactile cue were assessed in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 examined the effects of combinations of the cues assessed in the first investigation: visual + nonspatial speech, visual + spatial tones, visual + tactile, and nonspatial speech + tactile. A unimodal, “visual only” condition was included as a baseline to determine the extent to which a supplementary cue might influence changes in performance and workload. The results of the studies indicated that time to first shot and the percentage of hits can be improved and workload reduced by providing cues about target location. The multimodal cues did not yield significant improvements in performance or workload beyond that achieved by the unimodal visual cue.     

Prologue: Introduction and Overview to Special Volume

Abstract

The editors provide an overview of the obstacles that prevent us from ending child abuse in the United States and briefly summarize the various articles in this volume that address these obstacles from multiple points of view.     

Assessing volunteer motives: a comparison of an open‐ended probe and Likert rating scales

The purpose of the present study was to compare the motives of volunteers (career, esteem, protective, social, understanding, and value) as assessed by an open‐ended probe and the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) which employs a Likert rating scale. One‐hundred‐and‐twenty‐nine individuals, who volunteered for an organization that focuses on episodic volunteering in the community, completed both measures of volunteer motives and reported their frequency of volunteering for the organization. The Spearman rank correlation between the rankings of the six volunteer motives in the two distributions was 0.71. The maximum variance shared between the same motive as assessed by the two methods was 0.14. Frequency of volunteering for the organization was predicted by the value (positive predictor) and social (negative predictor) VFI scale scores. A post hoc analysis of the data from the open‐ended probe revealed three additional motives for volunteering—enjoyment, religiosity, and team building. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.