Effects of Electromyostimulation on Knee Extensors and Flexors Strength and Steadiness in Older Adults

It is known that electromyostimulation (EMS) alone or superimposed over voluntary contraction (EV) can effectively improve muscle strength. However, the effect of this type of training on the ability to control force production at submaximal levels is unknown. The authors examined the effects of EV training on steadiness in force production of knee extensors and flexors in older adults. Forty participants, including 20 men and 20 women, 60–77 years of age, were randomly allocated into a control group (CG) and an electromyostimulation superimposed over voluntary contraction (EVG) group. The EVG performed 30 bilateral isometric knee extension and flexion contractions per session, 3 training sessions per week, for 6 weeks. The variations in force production, expressed in absolute (standard deviation [SD]) and relative (coefficient of variation [CV]) terms, were assessed in isometric contractions at 5%, 15% and 25% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) levels. Results indicated that MVC increased in knee extension and flexion in EVG (p < .05) after the training; steadiness CV also improved at 15% MVC in knee flexion (p < .05) but no significant changes were found in knee extension and steadiness SD. The training-induced changes in MVC were not correlated to steadiness CV that might indicate different mechanisms underlying these adaptations.     

Bidirectional Mediating Role of Loneliness in the Association Between Shyness and Generalized Pathological Internet Use in Chinese University Students: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Analysis

Abstract

This 1-year longitudinal study examined the bidirectional mediating role of loneliness in the association between shyness and generalized pathological Internet use (GPIU) in a sample of 291 Chinese university students (143 men, mean age =?19.07?years). A fully cross-lagged panel design was used in which shyness, loneliness, and GPIU were assessed at 3 time points separated by 6-month intervals (named T1, T2, and T3). The results indicated that relationships among shyness, loneliness, and GPIU were dynamic and bidirectional. Specifically, T1 shyness positively predicted increased T2 loneliness, T2 shyness positively predicted increased T3 loneliness, and T2 loneliness positively predicted increased T3 shyness. Additionally, T1 GPIU positively predicted increased T2 loneliness, T2 GPIU positively predicted increased T3 loneliness, and T2 loneliness positively predicted increased T3 GPIU. Loneliness was found to play a bidirectional mediating role in the association between shyness and GPIU. Specifically, T1 shyness and T3 GPIU were mediated through increased loneliness at T2, and T1 GPIU and T3 shyness were mediated through increased loneliness at T2. Furthermore, relationships among shyness, loneliness, and GPIU were the same across the 2 groups, with the strength of relationships being stronger for men.     

Learning to Live with OCD: Labeling,the Self,and Stigma

Researchers have long questioned relationships among self-conceptions, “mental illness,” and stigma. This article looks at these issues through the lens of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), as minimal research has focused on the lived experience of OCD. We examine the impact of OCD on constructions of identity and the management/resistance of stigma. We do this through in-depth interviews with an untraditional Internet-based sample. We find respondents experience a crisis of self that leads them to a variety of strategies to deal with self-stigma, experienced stigma, and anticipated stigma.     

Childhood Abuse and Neglect in an Outpatient Clinical Sample: Prevalence and Impact

The study examined the prevalence of five types of childhood trauma in a sample of adult clients (n = 497) as well as their long-term relation to trauma symptoms in adulthood. Results showed a high prevalence of abuse and neglect with emotional abuse and neglect being the most common ones. Emotional abuse was the best and strongest predictor of trauma symptoms in adulthood, including anxiety, depression, defensive avoidance, as well as internal confusion and emptiness. The results indicated that experience of emotional abuse is no less significant than that of physical and sexual abuse in its long-term impact. Clinical implication was provided.     

The Association Between Adult Attachment Styles and Conflict Resolution in Romantic Relationships

This study examined whether adult attachment was predictive of conflict resolution behaviors and satisfaction in romantic relationships. It adopted a two-dimensional conceptualization for both adult attachment style (model of self, model of others) and conflict resolution behaviors (concern for self, concern for others). Both adult attachment dimensions, Avoidance and Anxiety, were predictive of conflict resolution behaviors and relationship satisfaction. Gender differences existed in conflict resolution behaviors, but they were not as strong a predictor as attachment characteristics of conflict resolution and relationship satisfaction. No gender differences were found in attachment styles.     

The language of worry: Examining linguistic elements of worry models

Despite strong evidence that worry is a verbal process, studies examining linguistic features in individuals with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) are lacking. The aim of the present study is to investigate language use in individuals with GAD and controls based on GAD and worry theoretical models. More specifically, the degree to which linguistic elements of the avoidance and intolerance of uncertainty worry models can predict diagnostic status was analysed. Participants were 19 women diagnosed with GAD and 22 control women and their children. After participating in a diagnostic semi-structured interview, dyads engaged in a free-play interaction where mothers' language sample was collected. Overall, the findings provided evidence for distinctive linguistic features of individuals with GAD. That is, after controlling for the effect of demographic variables, present tense, future tense, prepositions and number of questions correctly classified those with GAD and controls such that a considerable amount of the variance in diagnostic status was explained uniquely by language use. Linguistic confirmation of worry models is discussed.     

Team–Member Exchange and Work Engagement: Does Personality Make a Difference?

Purpose

Adopting a person–situation interactionist framework, this study examined the joint effects of employee personality (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness) and social exchange relationships with peers (i.e., team–member exchange; TMX) in predicting work engagement.

Methodology

This study is based on survey responses from 235 Chinese employees collected at two time points with 3 months in between. We conducted moderated regression analyses to test the hypotheses that employees higher in extraversion or conscientiousness or lower in neuroticism would demonstrate a stronger TMX–work engagement relation.

Findings

Results from this study showed that the three focal personality traits moderated the TMX–engagement relation simultaneously. Specifically, the positive TMX–engagement relation was stronger for employees with higher extraversion or lower neuroticism than that for their counterparts. Interestingly, the TMX–engagement relation was positive for employees lower in conscientiousness but negative for those higher in conscientiousness.

Implications

These findings support the notion that lateral social exchange relationships in the workplace (i.e., TMX) are an important antecedent of work engagement and, more importantly, their beneficial effects on work engagement are contingent on certain types and/or levels of personality traits.

Originality/Value

This study not only advances our understanding of presumed antecedents of work engagement but also opens a new door for future research on work engagement by highlighting the importance of a person–situation interactionist framework.     

When message tailoring backfires: The role of initial attitudes in affect–cognition matching

This research explores when and how tailoring messages to attitudinal bases backfires. Study 1 demonstrated that for attitudes (toward education subsidies) that were based more on beliefs than emotions, recipients whose initial attitudes were incongruent with the message position (i.e., message opponents) showed mismatching effects, such that the affective message was more persuasive than the cognitive message. Study 2 replicated these mismatching effects among message opponents for attitudes (toward a rival university) that were primarily affective. Study 3 controlled for effects of initial attitude certainty and replicated the mismatching effects of Study 2 for affective attitudes toward an increase in tuition. Finally, Study 4 suggested a potential mechanism for mismatching effects, revealing that for attitudes (toward an online course management system) that were based more on beliefs than emotions, message opponents counter‐argued with the cognitive appeal more intensely than the affective appeal. Contrary to the notion in the extant literature that mismatching effects are relatively rare compared with matching effects, the current research suggests that mismatching effects occur for both primarily affective and cognitive attitudes when the recipient is highly opposed to the message position. The present findings also demonstrate the utility of examining attitudinal bases at the object level in the context of message tailoring. Implications for message tailoring and for affective versus cognitive attitudes are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.