Differential Susceptibility to Parenting in Middle Childhood: Do Impulsivity,Effortful Control and Negative Emotionality Indicate Susceptibility or Vulnerability?

In this longitudinal study, we examined whether children differ in their susceptibility to harsh and responsive parenting as reflected in their externalizing and prosocial behaviour two years later. We focused on three potential susceptibility markers assessed during middle childhood: Negative emotionality, impulsivity, and effortful control. Participants were 120 Dutch children (6–11 years old; 54% girls). Parenting was assessed using both observations and self‐report questionnaires. Parental responsiveness predicted decreased externalizing behaviour two years later among children high on impulsivity (in case of observed responsiveness) or low on effortful control (in case of observed and self‐reported responsiveness) but not among children low on impulsivity or high on effortful control. Observed harsh parenting predicted decreased prosocial behaviour, especially among children with average or high negative emotionality. The findings support a diathesis–stress model more than they do a differential susceptibility model. High impulsivity seemed to be a vulnerability factor, predicting increased externalizing behaviour when parents lacked responsiveness. Also, high negative emotionality served as a vulnerability factor, predicting decreased prosocial behaviour when parents were harsh, while low negative emotionality served as a protective factor, buffering against decreased prosocial behaviour. Finally, low effortful control might operate as a vantage‐sensitivity factor, predicting decreased externalizing behaviour when parents were responsive. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A longitudinal test of the bi-directional relations between avoidance coping and PTSD severity during and after PTSD treatment

Avoidance coping and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) covary. However, relatively little research has examined the bi-directional relation between these constructs among individuals in treatment for PTSD. The current longitudinal study examined the reciprocal associations between avoidance coping and PTSD symptom severity during and after residential PTSD treatment among a sample of 1073 military veterans (88.9% male; M_age = 52.39 years) with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD. Greater avoidance coping at intake predicted more severe PTSD symptoms at discharge, and severity of PTSD symptoms at discharge predicted increased avoidance at follow-up. Conversely, PTSD symptom severity at intake was not related to avoidance coping at discharge, and in turn avoidance coping at discharge was not related to PTSD symptom severity at follow-up. These findings offer a number of important clinical implications including evidence suggesting avoidance may predict poorer treatment response among individuals seeking treatment for chronic PTSD, and that greater end-of-treatment PTSD symptom severity may predict increased avoidance following treatment.     

When Thinking About Work Makes Employees Reach for Their Devices: A Longitudinal Autoregressive Diary Study

Based on the stressor-detachment model, previous research has assumed that work-related ICT use in the evening impairs psychological detachment. However, since most of the studies to date have assessed cross-sectional relationships, little is known about the actual direction of effects. In this 5-day diary study, we implemented a day-level longitudinal model to shed light on the causal relationships between work-related ICT use, detachment, and task progress (N?=?340 employees, N?=?1289 day-level cases). We also investigated the role of unfinished work tasks because we assumed, based on boundary theory, that they are a driving force leading to impaired detachment and work-related ICT use in the evening. Contrary to current research consensus but in line with our expectations, we found that low psychological detachment increased work-related ICT use and task progress. We found no evidence for reversed lagged effects. These results applied both to planned and unplanned ICT use. Furthermore, our results support the notion that unfinished work tasks precede ICT use and detachment. Thus, our findings suggest that work-related ICT use should not be treated as a stressor in its own right in the stressor-detachment model. Instead, it needs to be investigated as a behavioral outcome that employees engage in when they cannot detach from work.

     

Overcoming action crises in personal goals – Longitudinal evidence on a mediating mechanism between action orientation and well-being

An action crisis is defined as an intra-psychic conflict between further goal pursuit and disengagement from the goal and frequently signifies the beginning of disengagement processes. By analyzing dispositional predictors of the development of goal-related action crises over time, we applied a process-based approach to goal disengagement. In two longitudinal studies, we evaluated the effect of action (vs. state) orientation on the development of action crises. Using change-regression models, the hypothesis could be confirmed that action orientation enables individuals to overcome action crises in personal goals. Furthermore, in two cross-sectional studies, previously reported effects of action orientation on health and well-being could be replicated and shown to be partially mediated by a decreased overall prevalence of action crises.     

Warding off the evil eye: when the fear of being envied increases prosocial behavior

The fear of being envied makes people act prosocially, in an attempt to ward off the potentially destructive effects of envy. In three experiments, people who were in a superior position and could be envied were more likely than control participants to give time-consuming advice to a potentially envious person or to help a potentially envious person pick up erasers she had accidentally scattered. However, helping behavior increased only if envy was likely to be malicious rather than benign. People who were better off did not increase their helping behavior toward people in general, but increased their helping only toward the potentially envious. This finding is consistent with the idea that the better off act more prosocially as an appeasement strategy. The fear of being envied serves useful group functions, because it triggers prosocial behavior that is likely to dampen the potentially destructive effects of envy and simultaneously helps to improve the situation of people who are worse off.     

Compulsive perseveration: empirical criticism on the mood-as-input model

It has been proposed that the "Mood as Input" model provides an explanation of the perseverative nature of Obsessive Compulsive (OC) behaviour (MacDonald, B. C., & Davey, G. C. L. (2005). A mood-as-input account of perseverative checking: The relationship between stop rules, mood and confidence in having checked successfully. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 69-91). The model implies that task perseveration occurs when individuals (a) experience a bad mood and (b) ask themselves "did I do as much as I can?" In two earlier experiments with healthy participants (MacDonald, B. C., & Davey, G. C. L. (2005). A mood-as-input account of perseverative checking: The relationship between stop rules, mood and confidence in having checked successfully. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 69-91) it was found that when the allegedly critical conditions were met (negative mood and "did I as much as I can?" stop rule) perseveration occurred on a complex text-correction task. This finding was held to support a "mood as input" explanation of compulsive perseveration. It is important to note, however, that perseveration in clinical samples occurs for very simple "tasks" (e.g. closing a door or washing ones hands) and perseveration does not increase efficacy of performance. In the present study we compared the effects of the original task to effects of text correction tasks that were simpler and more OCD-like. The original effects were replicated: the combination of negative mood and the "did I do as much as I can" stop rule provoked perseveration. Meanwhile, "perseveration" was highly functional: the more "perseveration" the more text-errors were detected. Secondly, to the degree that tasks became simpler and more OCD-like, less checking occurred and the effects of the "did I do as much as I can?" stop rule on detection of errors became smaller. The findings raise questions about the validity of the paradigm as a model of OC perseveration.     

Fluency,disfluency, dysfluency,and stuttering

The appropriate use of words, particularly certain words, is a persisting problem in the field of stuttering. This paper discusses some of the misuse involving four words basic to the field.