A meta-analysis of the association between forgiveness of others and physical health

Objective: This meta-analysis tested the relation between forgiveness of others and physical health (PH) with age, gender, race, education level, employment status, sample type, research design, type of PH variables, and publication status as the potential moderators.

Design: Eligible studies had participants with or without physical or mental health problems and had quantitative data on forgiveness of others and PH. The random-effects model was used to aggregate Fisher’s z effect sizes, which were converted back to correlation coefficients.

Main Outcome Measures: State forgiveness (forgiving an offense or offender) measures, trait forgiveness (a disposition to forgive) measures and physical health measures were included in the meta-analysis.

Results: A hundred and twenty-eight studies (N?=?58,531) were retrieved, in which the mean effect sizes showed a significant positive relationship between forgiveness of others and PH (r?=?0.14, p?<?0.001, 95% CI [0.11, 0.17]). Further, no moderators showed a significant relation between forgiveness of others and PH.

Conclusions: The positive relation between forgiveness of others and PH was not affected by potential moderators. Because the results are correlational, more forgiveness interventions may be needed to examine the causal effect of the relation between forgiveness of others and PH.     

Big Five personality traits and allostatic load in midlife

Objective: To examine the cross-sectional associations of Big Five personality traits with midlife allostatic load, including the role of sex, socio-demographic factors and health-related behaviours.

Design: Cross-sectional analyses of 5512 members of the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank, aged 49–63 years, 69% men.

Main outcome measure: Allostatic load (AL) based on 14 biomarkers representing the inflammatory, cardiovascular and metabolic system.

Results: Due to significant sex?×?trait interactions, analyses were stratified by sex. Openness and Conscientiousness were inversely associated with AL in both sexes, and Extraversion was positively associated with AL in men. Adjusting for socio-demographic factors significantly attenuated the association of Openness in both sexes and of Extraversion in men, for whom the inverse association of Agreeableness with AL was strengthened. Further adjusting for health-related behaviours, the Conscientiousness-AL association was attenuated but remained significant, and Agreeableness remained significantly associated with AL in men.

Conclusion: Results imply that higher levels of Agreeableness (in men) and Conscientiousness are associated with lower levels of AL above and beyond socio-demographic factors and health-related behaviours. The study further contributes by demonstrating the relevance of sex?×?trait and trait?×?trait interactions in the personality-health literature.     

Psychometric properties and factor analyses of the achievement motivation measure

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically-driven instrument of achievement motivation and determine its validation. The Achievement Motivation Measure (AMM) is closely aligned with Atkinson and McClelland's (1948, 1953, 1961) theoretical constructs of achievement thoughts and behaviours. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis (CFA and EFA) methods evaluated the structural validity of a newly developed instrument, the AMM, by assessing achievement thoughts and behaviours. Participants included 632 graduate and undergraduate university students. EFA supported two factors (Achievement Thoughts and Achievement Behaviours) with 13 items. Findings of a CFA supported the modified two-factor model as fitting the data. The theoretically supported AMM effectively measured achievement motivation by assessing achievement thoughts and behaviours.     

Trajectories of public psycho-behavioural responses relating to influenza A(H7N9) over the winter of 2014-15 in Hong Kong

Objective: To explore trajectories of public psycho-behavioural responses over one influenza A(H7N9) epidemic wave, and examine the interplays among social norm influence, disease worry and protective behaviours.

Methods: Participants were 464 adults who completed the baseline and at least two follow-up assessments on their H7N9-related Perceived Susceptibility, Perceived Severity, Perceived Efficacy, Worry, Social Norms influence and Protective Behaviours in a five-phase longitudinal survey over one H7N9 epidemic wave. Latent growth modelling (LGM) identified trajectories of these psycho-behavioural responses while multi-process LGM examined the inter-relationships among trajectories of Social Norms influence, Worry and Protective Behaviours.

Results: Trajectories of Perceived Susceptibility, Worry, Social Norms and Protective Behaviours increased initially but declined as the epidemic decayed, while Perceived Severity increased linearly and Perceived Efficacy remained stable across the epidemic. Change in Social Norms influence was significantly associated with change in Worry (β?=?0.65) which was significantly associated with change in Protective Behaviours (β?=?0.62).

Conclusion: The public’s threat appraisal but not efficacy appraisal may have been well-informed by epidemic-related information. Social Norms may be important contributors of public emotional response to an epidemic. Communication via social networks during an epidemic could be important for regulating public emotional response and guiding their behavioural change.