The Influence of Major Life Events and Personality Traits on the Stability of Affective Well-Being

The current study examines the influence of major life events compared to personality traits on the stability of affective well-being (AWB). It is shown how the decomposition of autocovariances can be used to estimate the degree of stability that is due to life events and personality traits. The approach is illustrated by an analysis of data from a nationally representative Australian sample with four consecutive waves of measurement. The autocovariances of positive and negative mood served as indicators of the stability of AWB. Big five personality traits as well as 21 major life events were used as predictor variables in a path analysis. In comparison to previous studies, this allowed to directly compare the effects of multiple events to the influence of personality traits in a longitudinal design. Results indicated medium stability coefficients for AWB. Ca. 10 % of the autocovariances could be accounted for by life events and about 20 % by personality traits. Both types of predictors together accounted for about 30 %. Among personality traits, emotional stability followed by extraversion had the highest effects. Among life events “financial worsening” and “serious personal injury/illness” had the highest effects. Additionally, life events were significantly correlated with personality traits as well as with other life events. In a next step, it might be interesting to compare the influence of Big Five personality traits and stable life circumstances on the stability of the cognitive well-being component, using a similar statistical procedure. Also, as the number of variables in large panel studies is limited, results should be complemented by more in-depth studies, favourably using multi-method approaches.     

Integrated cross-network connectivity of amygdala,insula, and subgenual cingulate associated with facial emotion perception in healthy controls and remitted major depressive disorder

Emotion perception deficits could be due to disrupted connectivity of key nodes in the salience and emotion network (SEN), including the amygdala, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), and insula. We examined SEN resting-state (rs-)fMRI connectivity in rMDD in relation to Facial Emotion Perception Test (FEPT) performance. Fifty-two medication-free people ages 18 to 23 years participated. Twenty-seven had major depressive disorder (MDD) in remission (rMDD, 10 males), as MDD is associated with emotion perception deficits and alterations in rsfMRI. Twenty-five healthy controls (10 males) also participated. Participants completed the FEPT during fMRI, in addition to an 8-minute eyes-open resting-state scan. Seed regions of interest were defined in the amygdala, anterior insula and sgACC. Multiple regression analyses co-varied diagnostic group, sex and movement parameters. Emotion perception accuracy was positively associated with connectivity between amygdala seeds and regions primarily in the SEN and cognitive control network (CCN), and also the default mode network (DMN). Accuracy was also positively associated with connectivity between the sgACC seeds and other SEN regions, and the DMN, particularly for the right sgACC. Connectivity negatively associated with emotion perception was mostly with regions outside of these three networks, other than the left insula and part of the DMN. This study is the first to our knowledge to demonstrate relationships between facial emotion processing and resting-state connectivity with SEN nodes and between SEN nodes and regions located within other neural networks.     

Competition between rhythmic and linguistic meaning revisited: the effect of task demands

This paper revisits the conclusion of our previous work regarding the dominance of meaning in the competition between rhythmic parsing and linguistic parsing. We played five-note rhythm patterns in which each sound is a spoken word of a five-word sentence. We asked listeners to indicate the starting point of the rhythm while disregarding which word would normally be heard as the first word of the sentence. In four studies, we varied task demands by introducing differences in rhythm complexity, rhythm ambiguity, rhythm pairing, and semantic coherence. We found that task complexity affects the dominance of meaning. We therefore amend our previous conclusion: when processing resources are taxed, listeners do not always primarily attend to meaning; instead, they primarily attend to the aspect of the pattern (rhythm or meaning) that is more salient.     

Understanding the ‘blind spot’ when children move from foster care into adoption‡

Current social work practice in the UK dictates that when children move from foster care into adoption, the transition takes place within 7 and 14 days, and usually there is no contact between the child and their former carer for several months after the move, if at all. Very little attention or research has been aimed at understanding the rationale for these procedures, or their impact on the children. Joining forces with social work colleagues in a Looked After Children’s team, two child psychotherapists carried out a piece of qualitative research to look at these moves in more detail, and try to tease out how and why these key decisions are made. Analysing data from interviews with foster carers, adopters and social workers, the researchers found that the emotional experience of the child, particularly their experience of losing their foster carer, loses centre stage in people’s minds during this transition, leading to what is described as a ‘blind spot’ across the network. A significant reason for this emerged, in that the children tended to be very compliant both during and after the move and lacking in any obvious distress at losing their former carers, despite having previously been described as passionately attached to them. The research showed that adults across the network, all struggling with intense anxieties of their own, tended to interpret this as evidence that the children were ‘fine’ rather than questioning what might be going on at a deeper level. These research findings are explored in the light of a knowledge base accumulated from a working understanding of attachment and loss in early childhood, and of the psychoanalytical phenomena of individual and organisational defences against loss. Implications for future practice are suggested.     

Profiling Perceptual Learning Styles of Chinese as a Second Language Learners in University Settings

This study revisited Reid’s (1987) perceptual learning style preference questionnaire (PLSPQ) in an attempt to answer whether the PLSPQ fits in the Chinese-as-a-second-language (CSL) context. If not, what are CSL learners’ learning styles drawing on the PLSPQ? The PLSPQ was first re-examined through reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with 224 CSL learners. The results showed that Reid’s six-factor PLSPQ could not satisfactorily explain the CSL learners’ learning styles. Exploratory factor analyses were, therefore, performed to explore the dimensionality of the PLSPQ in the CSL context. A four-factor PLSPQ was successfully constructed including auditory/visual, kinaesthetic/tactile, group, and individual styles. Such a measurement model was cross-validated through CFAs with 118 CSL learners. The study not only lends evidence to the literature that Reid’s PLSPQ lacks construct validity, but also provides CSL teachers and learners with insightful and practical guidance concerning learning styles. Implications and limitations of the present study are discussed.     

Subjective age and sleep in middle-aged and older adults

Objective: Chronological age is commonly used to explain change in sleep. The present study examines whether subjective age is associated with change in sleep difficulties across middle adulthood and old age.

Design: Participants were drawn from the second (2004–2005) and third (2013–2014) waves of the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS, N = 2350; Mean Age: 55.54 years), the 2008 and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 4066; Mean Age: 67.59 years) and the first (2011) and fourth (2014) waves of the National Health and Aging Trends Survey (NHATS, N = 3541; Mean Age: 76.46). In each sample, subjective age, sleep difficulties, depressive symptoms, anxiety and chronic conditions were assessed at baseline. Sleep difficulties was assessed again at follow-up.

Main outcome measures: Sleep difficulties.

Results: An older subjective age at baseline was related to an increase in sleep difficulties over time in the three samples, and was mediated, in part, through more depressive symptoms, anxiety and chronic conditions. Feeling older was associated with an increased likelihood of major sleeping difficulties at follow-up in the three samples.

Conclusion: Subjective age is a salient marker of individuals’ at risk for poor sleep quality, beyond chronological age.     

The role of stressful life events on the cortisol reactivity patterns of breast cancer survivors

Objective: Atypical patterns of cortisol secretion following an acute stressor have been commonly reported in breast cancer survivors. Stressful life events have been associated with blunted acute cortisol levels in other populations. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of stressful life events on cortisol secretion patterns of breast cancer survivors following an acute stressor.

Design: The Trier Social Stress (TSST) was used to elicit a moderate stress response in breast cancer survivors (n = 19) and a control group (n = 17). Saliva samples were collected before, during and after the TSST to provide cortisol concentrations. During recovery, we recorded the frequency and subjective impact of stressful life events in the past year using the Life Experience Survey.

Results: Simple regressions analyses were performed; results suggest no group differences between the total number of stressful life events and their subjective impact. However, the total number of stressful life events as well as their subjective impact correlated negatively with the peak cortisol concentration in breast cancer survivors.

Conclusions: The cumulative effect of stressful life events, positive and negative, may impact the endocrine stress system of breast cancer survivors more so than that of women with no history of cancer.     

‘Sacralising’ Sacred Space in Public Institutions: A Case Study of the Prayer Space at the Millennium Dome

Many public institutions in British society provide facilities for worship and contemplation. Historically, chapels were at the heart of many gaols and hospitals, but in recent times, other kinds of institution, such as airports, shopping centres, and more recently, the Millennium Dome, have provided a ‘Prayer Space’, ‘Place of Worship’, ‘Quiet Room’ or ‘Multi-Faith Room’. This article looks at the diverse range of physical activities that take place in such facilities and the various meanings that they appear to have for their users, using the Prayer Space at the Millennium Dome as an example. I suggest that these spaces in many ways reflect a society that is moving away from formal, dogmatic, institutional ‘religion’ towards increasingly self-mediated, informal ‘spirituality’ and that, as a result, sacred space in public institutions becomes ‘sacralised’ in ways that are distinctive, compared to conventional places of worship.     

Sensory and Postural input in the Occurrence of a Gender Difference in Orienting Liquid Surfaces

The Psychological Record - In the water-level task, both spatial skill and physical knowledge contribute to representing the surface of a liquid as horizontal irrespective of the container’s...     

Capital social et vie associative de quartier en contexte multiethnique: Quelques réflexion à partir de recherches Montréalaises

This article employs the dichotomy between bonding and binding social capital put forward by Robert Putnam to query some of the assumptions underlying calls to use social capital as a public policy tool in the immigration field: Drawing on this concept to revisit a series of studies on associational life in Montreal’s multiethnic neighborhoods, the author highlights the importance of the immigrant’s role in neighborhood associational life as well as the malaise provoked by certain immigrant associational networks—expressions of bonding social capital—among local, municipal, and community bodies. Not all types of immigrant social capital are equally valued at the local level.