Activated or deactivated? Understanding how cognitive appraisals can drive emotional activation in the aftermath of daily work events

Introduction

Past research has highlighted the relevance of cognitive appraisals in the link events-emotions (e.g., appraisal of an event's importance and its pleasant or unpleasant valence). We hypothesized a 3-way interaction between affective events (hassles and uplifts), cognitive appraisals of importance and intrinsic pleasantness on emotional activation.

Eyes on the road,hands upon the wheel? Reciprocal dynamics between smartphone use while driving and job crafting

Smartphones are essential tools for communications and information management in organizational settings. However, smartphone use is a risky behavior when used while driving to and from work. As work experiences have been found to influence risky commuting behaviors, we hypothesized that job crafting, i.e., a set of proactive work behaviors through which employees change their job demands and resources, influences and is influenced by risky commuting behaviors. We argued that employees' smartphone use during driving commutes is related to how employees proactively choose to transform their demands and resources at work. A quantitative diary study was designed to investigate the process linking smartphone use during driving commutes to and from work and job crafting. A sample of 128 office employees completed two short daily questionnaires for five consecutive workdays (N = 627 observations). Results from multilevel analyses showed that daily talking on the phone while driving to work was positively associated with the proactive optimization of job demands, while daily proactive pursuing of challenging stimuli at work (i.e., seeking challenges) was positively related to looking at the phone when employees drove back from work. Furthermore, on days when employees reduced their hindering job demands, they reported less frequent talking on the phone while driving back from work. Results provide practical implications for the prevention of distracted driving and other risky driving behaviors.     

Work-family balance and energy: A day-level study on recovery conditions

The present study examines whether daily recovery inhibiting and enhancing conditions predict day-levels of work-family conflict (WFC), work-family facilitation (WFF), exhaustion and vigor. Forty-nine individuals from various professional backgrounds in Spain provided questionnaire and daily survey measures over a period of five working days. Multilevel analyses showed that day-levels of work pressure and recovery after breaks at work significantly predicted WFC and exhaustion, and WFF and vigor, respectively. Moreover, daily fluctuations in expression of emotions had different effects depending on the expressed content (negative or positive) and the setting where it took place (work or home). Furthermore, additional analyses provided some evidence for a moderating role of expression of emotions at work on the relationship between recovery inhibiting and enhancing conditions and exhaustion. These findings reveal practical implications for individuals and organizations and suggest possible avenues for future research.     

Couples' Perceptions of Each Other's Daily Affect: Empathic Accuracy,Assumed Similarity,and Indirect Accuracy

This study examined couples' perceptions of each other's daily affect, using a daily diary methodology. Specifically, we tested the extent to which couples accurately inferred how their partner was feeling (empathic accuracy) and the extent to which spouses used their own feelings as a gauge for how their partner was feeling (assumed similarity). We also tested for indirect accuracy in couples' perceptions; that is, that assumed similarity in the context of actual similarity leads to empathic accuracy. Participants were 51 couples who completed daily diaries for seven consecutive nights. Results based on the Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model indicated that couples showed both empathic accuracy and assumed similarity in their perception of their partner's positive affect; however, they used assumed similarity in rating their partner's hard negative (anger, hostility) and soft negative (sadness, fear) affect. Furthermore, tests of indirect accuracy found that wives were indirectly accurate in perceiving their husbands' positive affect and both husbands and wives were indirectly accurate in perceiving each other's hard negative affect because they were biased. Complementing laboratory studies, the present study highlights that examining couples' perceptions of each other's feelings in contexts of daily life, and differentiating positive and negative emotions, can further our understanding of the role of emotions for healthy relationship functioning.     

The Dynamic Interplay Between Satisfaction With Intimate Relationship Functioning and Daily Mood in Low‐Income Outpatients

Substantial research supports bidirectional links between intimate relationship discord and individual psychopathology, including depressive symptoms. However, few studies have utilized daily diary methods to capture the micro‐level processes underlying the association between couple discord and depression, particularly among populations that are at elevated risk for both interpersonal and individual dysfunction. To address this gap, we examined whether daily changes in satisfaction with relationship functioning were associated with daily changes in negative affect and positive affect over the span of 2 weeks among mental health outpatients of low socioeconomic status. Participants were 53 low‐income outpatients from community mental health clinics who completed a semi‐structured interview about the quality of their intimate relationships followed by 14 daily reports of positive and negative mood and satisfaction with relationship functioning across several domains. Growth curve analytic techniques revealed the hypothesized bidirectional relations. Decline in satisfaction with relationship functioning predicted escalation in negative affect and deterioration in positive affect over 2 weeks, and deterioration of mood predicted declining satisfaction with relationship functioning. This study extends existing knowledge about couple dysfunction and individual psychopathology by highlighting the immediate nature of this dynamic process as it unfolds over time.     

Studying caregiver-infant co-regulation in dynamic,diverse cultural contexts: A call to action

Caregivers and infants co-regulate their physiology, emotions, and behavior in a way that is dynamically responsive to each other and the contexts in which they live. This paper is an introduction and call to action for researchers interested in understanding how to study caregiver-infant interactions in the home and diverse cultural contexts, including marginalized communities. We argue that research will be more valid, culturally relevant, and tapped-in to the daily lives of caregivers and infants if there is partnership and collaboration with the caregivers in the design of the questions, data collection and analysis, and distribution of the findings. We recommend dynamically assessing emotions, behaviors, and physiology using repeated sampling methods including ecological momentary assessments (EMA), salivary bioscience, and actigraphy. We aim to extend current practices of studying caregiver-infant co-regulation by measuring fluctuations of daily life and considering sociocultural factors that shape naturalistic caregiver-infant interactions. Using methodological advancements and community-based participatory research approaches can enable developmental scientists to measure life as it is actually lived.     

Optimising daily diary questionnaires about fatigue,psychological flexibility and well-being: perspectives of people with rheumatic disease

Objectives: The aim of this study was to understand the perspectives of people with rheumatic disease have about completing a pilot daily diary questionnaire on fatigue and well-being, with the objective of incorporating these perspectives into future daily studies.

Methods: Twenty-two participants with experience of rheumatic disease-related fatigue attended a focus group and/or an individual interview. Before the focus group or interview, participants completed a one-off quantitative diary about their fatigue and well-being that day. In the focus groups and interviews, participants were asked about their experience completing the questionnaire. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results: Three themes were identified. ‘Concerns about Misinterpretation and Ambiguity’ addressed the elements of the diary questionnaire that were confusing or unclear to participants. ‘Desire to Provide Useful and Accurate Information’ outlined participants’ uncertainty about how to report complex daily experiences. ‘Gaining Personal Insight through Diaries’ revealed the personal benefits participants gained, particularly the development of insight into their fatigue.

Conclusions: People with rheumatic disease are willing to complete a daily diary questionnaire, but emphasise it is important for diary questionnaires to have clear instructions, questionnaire items and response scales. Addressing these concerns will ensure the reliability and validity of quantitative diary data.     

Dynamic awareness of age-related losses predict concurrent and subsequent changes in daily inductive reasoning performance

To address gaps in previous research, we examined daily within-person associations between awareness of age-related change (AARC) and cognitive performance in older adults. One hundred twelve adults aged 60–90 participated in an online daily diary study for nine consecutive days. On Day 1, they reported demographic information. On Days 2–9, they reported daily AARC, subjective age, and stressors and completed three tasks that gauged memory (word recall), perceptual speed (number comparison), and reasoning (letter series), respectively, once per day. Unconditional multilevel models revealed significant within-person fluctuations in daily cognitive performance and daily AARC. Controlling for age, education, health, and daily stressors, daily awareness of age-related losses was negatively associated with letter series scores of the same day and changes from one day to the next. The effects held over and above AARC gains and subjective age. Dynamic, naturally occurring perceptions of ageing may influence within-person concurrent and subsequent changes in reasoning performance on a daily basis and point to a promising avenue of intervention.     

Extraverts categorize their daily experiences by specific social relationships

How an event is categorized may reflect the constructs that are cognitively accessible to a person. The present study examined whether extraverts categorized their daily experiences by general sociality (social versus nonsocial), specific relationships, valence, and academics/leisure. After reporting events during a one-month diary study, participants sorted their events into meaningful groupings. Extraverts tended to categorize their events by sociality and more specifically by the nature of their relationships with others. No other effects were found. Thus, what may be salient to extraverts is not just the time they spend socializing, but whom they are socializing with. This finding suggests the need to move beyond affiliation to study more specific social motives that extraverts may pursue.     

Cognition and daily activities in a general population sample aged +55

ABSTRACT

Objective: We tested the association of individual cognitive domains measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and disability.

Method: Cross-sectional study in a population-based cohort aged ≥55 years (n = 4,803). Sample was divided into two groups: individuals with cognition within the normal range (CNR) (n = 4,057) and those with cognitive impairment (CI) (n = 746). Main outcome measures: The MMSE, the Katz Index (Basic Activities of Daily Living, bADL), the Lawton and Brody Scale (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, iADL), and the Geriatric Mental State (GMS-AGECAT).

Results: MMSE-orientation was associated with disability in bADL, iADL and a decrease in social participation, regardless of cognitive status. MMSE-attention was associated with disability in iADL, but only in CNR. MMSE-language was associated with disability in bADL, iADL and with reduced social participation, but only in CI. Conclusions: The associations observed between disability and orientation may have clinical and public health implications.