The Role of Fear-Avoidance Cognitions and Behaviors in Patients with Chronic Tinnitus

The current study investigated the role of fear-avoidance—a concept from chronic pain research—in chronic tinnitus. A self-report measure the “Tinnitus Fear-Avoidance Cognitions and Behaviors Scale (T-FAS)” was developed and validated. Furthermore, the role of fear-avoidance behavior as mediator of the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and tinnitus handicap was investigated. From a clinical setting, N = 373 patients with chronic tinnitus completed questionnaires assessing tinnitus handicap (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory), anxiety, depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), anxiety sensitivity (Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3), personality factors (Big Five Inventory-10), and fear-avoidance. To analyze the psychometric properties, principal component analysis with parallel component extraction and correlational analyses were used. To examine a possible mediating effect, hierarchical regression analysis was applied. The principal component analysis resulted in a three-factor solution: Fear-avoidance Cognitions, Tinnitus-related Fear-Avoidance Behavior, and Ear-related Fear-Avoidance Behavior. Internal consistency was satisfactory for the total scale and all subscales. High correlations between tinnitus-related handicap scales, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and the T-FAS were found, whereas associations with personality factors were low. Moreover, results indicate a significant partial mediation of fear-avoidance behaviors in the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and the cognitive dimension of tinnitus handicap. Results show that fear-avoidance behavior plays an important role in tinnitus handicap. More attention should be paid to this concept in research and clinical practice of psychotherapy for chronic tinnitus.     

The Effects of Social Anxiety and State Anxiety on Visual Attention: Testing the Vigilance–Avoidance Hypothesis

A growing theoretical and research literature suggests that trait and state social anxiety can predict attentional patterns in the presence of emotional stimuli. The current study adds to this literature by examining the effects of state anxiety on visual attention and testing the vigilance–avoidance hypothesis, using a method of continuous visual attentional assessment. Participants were 91 undergraduate college students with high or low trait fear of negative evaluation (FNE), a core aspect of social anxiety, who were randomly assigned to either a high or low state anxiety condition. Participants engaged in a free view task in which pairs of emotional facial stimuli were presented and eye movements were continuously monitored. Overall, participants with high FNE avoided angry stimuli and participants with high state anxiety attended to positive stimuli. Participants with high state anxiety and high FNE were avoidant of angry faces, whereas participants with low state and low FNE exhibited a bias toward angry faces. The study provided partial support for the vigilance–avoidance hypothesis. The findings add to the mixed results in the literature that suggest that both positive and negative emotional stimuli may be important in understanding the complex attention patterns associated with social anxiety. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Observed Attachment and Self-Report Affect Within Romantic Relationships

Adult attachment provides unique insights that help researchers and clinicians understand the complexities of individuals and relationships. In romantic relationships, individual attachment can explain partners' abilities for closeness and autonomy as well as how they experience affect within the relationship. These affective experiences during couple interactions have been shown to influence both proximal and distal relationship outcomes. Thus, the authors explore the impact of partners' observed attachment behaviors—coded using the AABQ—on continuous reports of their affective experiences during both difficult and positive marital conversations. Variables examining couple affective negativity and flexibility were developed using state space grids, and data were analyzed using GridWare. Results showed that observed female attachment behaviors significantly impacted a couple's affective experiences of negativity and flexibility during conversations, while there were no significant associations between male observed attachment behaviors and the couple affective experience. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The impact of experiential avoidance on the relations between illness representations,pain catastrophising and pain interference in chronic pain

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of experiential avoidance (EA) on the indirect relationship of chronic pain patients’ illness representations to pain interference, through pain catastrophising

Design and main outcome measure: The sample consisted of 162 patients diagnosed with an arthritis-related or a musculoskeletal disorder. The effects of EA on the pathway between illness representations, pain catastrophising and pain interference were examined with PROCESS, a computational tool for SPSS

Results: After controlling for patient and illness-related variables and pain severity, the ‘illness representations–pain catastrophising–pain interference’ pathway was interrupted at the higher levels of EA. The reason was that, at the high levels of EA, either the relation of illness representations to pain catastrophising or the relation of pain catastrophising to pain interference was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that EA is not a generalised negative response to highly aversive conditions, at least as far as the factors examined in this study are concerned. EA may rather reflect a coping reaction, the impact of which depends on its specific interactions with the other aspects of the self-regulation mechanism. At least in chronic pain, EA should become the focus of potential intervention only when its interaction with the illness-related self-regulation mechanism results in negative outcomes.     

Longitudinal Linkages Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Violent Behaviors Among Chinese Adolescents Following the Wenchuan Earthquake

This study was conducted to examine the longitudinal relations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and violent behaviors. In this study, 415 adolescent survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake in China (May 12, 2008) were assessed by using self-report questionnaires 1 year (T1), 1.5 years (T2), and 2 years (T3) after the earthquake. The findings suggested that from 1 to 1.5 years after the earthquake, only intrusive symptoms of PTSD were a risk factor for violent behaviors, whereas violent behaviors were a risk factor for all 3 PTSD symptom clusters. Furthermore, 1.5 to 2 years after the earthquake, avoidance symptoms of PTSD were a risk factor for violent behaviors and hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD had no significant relation with violent behaviors.     

信念-愿望推理中的抑制加工

在Leslie的心理理论机制选择加工模型(ToMM-SP)理论的基础上,本研究探讨信念-愿望推理任务中抑制是如何加工的,并验证Leslie提出的两个抑制模型。采用三地点双重抑制任务,对216名4~6岁儿童实施两个实验。分别考察心理定势及三个地点公平性这两个因素对儿童选择偏好的影响。结果表明,两种因素都对儿童的表现有影响。消除了这两个因素的影响后,儿童的表现符合返回抑制模型的假说,即儿童在回避愿望的错误信念任务中的抑制加工是系列的。     

图形表征的物理突显性对风险回避行为的影响

摘 要 本研究针对星号图这种离散图形,通过操纵星号图的面积大小及其相对面积比例来改变星号图的物理特征,并设数字条件为对照组,以进一步检验图形效应（即图形会比数字激发个体更强的风险回避行为）并探讨图形物理特征的突显性对风险回避行为的影响。结果发现,○1星号图普遍比会数字激发个体更强的风险回避行为;○2无论是否突显星号图的整体面积,其面积大小对个体的风险回避行为均无显著影响;○3当突显星号图的整体面积时,其相对面积比例对个体的风险回避行为具有显著影响。结果表明,信息的表征方式对个体的风险回避行为具有重要影响,相关结果可用决策与判断领域中的双系统模型加以解释。     

Depressive symptoms predict inflexibly high levels of experiential avoidance in response to daily negative affect: a daily diary study

Experiential avoidance (EA) is an emotion-regulation strategy used to control or avoid unpleasant internal experiences. Despite the important role of avoidance in depressive disorders, there is relatively little research directly examining the role of EA in the development and maintenance of depression, and most of this research relies on measurement of EA as a global and stable personality trait. In this study we sought to extend the research on EA and depression by using a daily diary design and multilevel analysis to examine how the daily relationship between EA and negative affect (NA) varies as a function of baseline depressive symptoms. In order to achieve this goal we created a new state measure of EA assessing several avoidant behaviors. The findings revealed that participants with more depressive symptoms used more daily EA overall. Additionally, the difference in daily EA between those with higher versus lower depressive symptoms was greater on days when participants experienced less NA. This moderation effect was found only concurrently whereas one-day lagged analysis failed to reveal this effect. These findings provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that depression is associated with an inflexibly high level of avoidant emotion regulation.     

A longitudinal analysis of self-regulation and well-being: avoidance personal goals, avoidance coping, stress generation, and subjective well-being

We conducted 2 longitudinal meditational studies to test an integrative model of goals, stress and coping, and well-being. Study 1 documented avoidance personal goals as an antecedent of life stressors and life stressors as a partial mediator of the relation between avoidance goals and longitudinal change in subjective well-being (SWB). Study 2 fully replicated Study 1 and likewise validated avoidance goals as an antecedent of avoidance coping and avoidance coping as a partial mediator of the relation between avoidance goals and longitudinal change in SWB. It also showed that avoidance coping partially mediates the link between avoidance goals and life stressors and validated a sequential meditational model involving both avoidance coping and life stressors. The aforementioned results held when controlling for social desirability, basic traits, and general motivational dispositions. The findings are discussed with regard to the integration of various strands of research on self-regulation.