Discrepancies in parents' and children's reports of child emotion regulation

The ability to regulate one’s emotions effectively has been linked with many aspects of well-being. The current study examined discrepancies between mothers’ and children’s reports of child emotion regulation. This investigation examined patterns of discrepancies for key aspects of emotion regulation (i.e., inhibition and dysregulated expression) and for three emotions (anger, sadness, worry). A total of 61 mother-child dyads (mean children’s age = 9.3 years) participated. As hypothesized, discrepancies for inhibition subscales were of a larger magnitude than those for dysregulated expression subscales. Furthermore, age was related to discrepancies in both anger subscales, parent reports of child externalizing symptoms were related to anger dysregulated expression discrepancies, and child reports of internalizing symptoms were related to sadness dysregulated expression discrepancies. Overall, the findings suggest that patterns of discrepant reports are not random but rather may provide meaningful and useful information about the nature of emotion regulation.     

Five-factor measure of borderline personality traits

This study provides psychometric data for a new self-report measure of borderline personality traits from the perspective of the Five-factor model (FFM) of general personality. Subscales were constructed in an undergraduate sample (n = 109) to assess maladaptive variants of 12 FFM traits (e.g., Affective Dysregulation as a maladaptive variant of FFM Vulnerability). On the basis of data from a second undergraduate sample (n = 111), the Five Factor Borderline Inventory (FFBI) subscales were shown to have good internal consistency, convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. These psychometric results were replicated in a clinical sample of female residents at a substance abuse treatment facility (n = 94).     

Longitudinal Assessment of Sleep–Wake Regulation and Attachment Security with Parents

The development of sleep–wake regulation occurs within the context of the infant–parent relationship. The present study investigated (1) patterns of change in night waking across infancy and attachment to parents and (2) if dependency, a characteristic of secure subgroup B4 and insecure‐resistant infants, accounted for differences in night waking. Forty‐six families reported on the number of infant night wakings at 7, 12, and 14 months of age. Attachment was measured at 12 (infant–mother) and 14 (infant–father) months. Findings suggest that infants with a secure (including the dependent‐secure, B4) pattern of attachment with mothers decreased in the number of night wakings over time, whereas infants with an insecure‐resistant pattern of attachment with mothers continued to wake at night into the second year. Attachment dependency did not account for differences in night waking. These findings are important to understanding the mechanism(s) underlying the relation between attachment and sleep–wake regulation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Body Image Resilience Model for First-Year College Women

The purpose of this study was to investigate Choate’s (2005) theoretical model of body image resilience by examining the association among protective factors and body image. First-year college women (N?=?301) from two universities in the United States (one in the South and one in the Northeast) completed questionnaires assessing five protective factors. The hypothesized model fit the data well. As predicted, high family support; low levels of perceived sociocultural pressure from family, friends, and media regarding the importance of achieving a thin-and beautiful ideal; rejection of the superwoman ideal; positive physical self-concept; and active coping skills contributed to a woman’s overall wellness, which was associated with a more positive body image. Results can inform prevention for young women at risk for eating disorders and suggest specific counseling interventions to improve body dissatisfaction and initial maladaptive eating practices.     

A critical eye: Praise directed toward traits increases children’s eye fixations on errors and decreases motivation

Although there is evidence that praise of different types (i.e., generic vs. nongeneric) influences motivation, it is unclear how this occurs. Generic praise (e.g., ??You are smart??) conveys that a child possesses a trait responsible for their performance, whereas nongeneric praise (e.g., ??You worked hard??) conveys that performance is effort-based. Because praise conveys the basis for success, praise may change the interpretation and salience of errors. Specifically, generic praise may highlight the threatening nature of error (i.e., the child does not possess this trait). Because attention is drawn to threats in the environment, we expected generic praise to increase attention to error. We used eyetracking to measure implicit responses to errors (i.e., visual attention: fixation counts and durations) in order to determine the relation between visual attention and verbal reports of motivation (persistence and self-evaluations) in 30 four- to seven-year-old children. Children first saw pictures attributed to them, for which they received either generic or nongeneric praise. The children then saw pictures attributed to them that contained errors??that is, missing features. As a pretest and posttest, the children saw pictures that were ??drawn by other children,?? half of which contained errors. The results indicated that children who received generic praise (??you are a good drawer??) produced more and longer fixations on errors, both their ??own?? and on ??other children??s,?? than did children who received nongeneric praise (??you did a good job drawing??). More fixations on errors were related to lower persistence and lower self-evaluations. These results suggest that generic praise increases attention to errors because error threatens the possession of a positive trait.     

The Hearts and Guts of White People

Beginning with the experience of a white woman's stomach seizing up in fear of a black man, this essay examines some of the ethical and epistemological issues connected to white ignorance. In conversation with Charles Mills on the epistemology of ignorance, I argue that white ignorance primarily operates physiologically, not cognitively. Drawing critically from psychology, neurocardiology, and other medical sciences, I examine some of the biological effects of racism on white people's stomachs and hearts. I argue for a nonideal medical theory focused on improving wellness in a society that systematically has damaged the health of people of color. The essay concludes that to be fully successful, critical philosophy of race must examine not just the financial, legal, political, and other forms of racism, but also its biological and physiological operations.     

Speech perception and vocal expression of emotion

Two experiments using identical stimuli were run to determine whether the vocal expression of emotion affects the speed with which listeners can identify emotion words. Sentences were spoken in an emotional tone of voice (Happy, Disgusted, or Petrified), or in a Neutral tone of voice. Participants made speeded lexical decisions about the word or pseudoword in sentence-final position. Critical stimuli were emotion words that were either semantically congruent or incongruent with the tone of voice of the sentence. Experiment 1, with randomised presentation of tone of voice, showed no effect of congruence or incongruence. Experiment 2, with blocked presentation of tone of voice, did show such effects: Reaction times for congruent trials were faster than those for baseline trials and incongruent trials. Results are discussed in terms of expectation (e.g., Kitayama, 1990, 1991, 1996) and emotional connotation, and implications for models of word recognition are considered.     

The Mitigating Role of Trait Core Confidence on Psychological Distress in Entrepreneurship

We conceptualize the mitigating role of trait core confidence on psychological distress in entrepreneurship manifested by occupational stress, anxiety, and depression. To facilitate field research, we first developed a short trait core confidence scale and validated it in six independent samples (N = 2,434). To test our hypothesis that trait core confidence negatively relates to base-line levels of psychological distress as well as reduces fluctuations of distress in entrepreneurship, we collected data from a 3-day entrepreneurial event called Startup Weekend across seven occasions in the United States. High trait core confidence was related to lower psychological distress both at the start of the event on Friday and at the end of it on Sunday. Core confidence remained stable from Friday to Sunday, as well as 1 month following the event, affirming its trait properties. Additionally, we measured team confidence during the event and found that high team confidence reduced psychological distress of team members. This research contributes to the research on the role of dispositions in occupational health psychology and to a better understanding of how distress of aspiring entrepreneurs is mitigated by trait core confidence.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Positive Work Experiences and Women's Sense of Self in the Context of Partner Abuse

In this study we examined the relationships among partner abuse, work quality, and women's sense of self. In particular, we explored the potential for women's work to serve as an alternative source of feedback for the self in the context of partner abuse. The sample consisted of 100 working women who reported experiencing a range of partner abuse. Relationships among partner abuse, work quality, and three self constructs were tested using multivariate multiple regression. Work quality was significantly and positively associated with self at work and general self-esteem and approached significance for self at home. There were no significant associations between partner abuse and self at work. Partner abuse was negatively and significantly associated with self at home and approached significance for self-esteem. These varied results support the importance of assessing multiple aspects of the self and the potential of women's work to be a resource in the context of partner abuse.