Personality and coping in life challenge narratives

BackgroundSelf-reported personality traits are known to correlate with self-reported coping strategies. However, these correlations may be inflated by common method variance. The current study examined personality traits and coping strategies in autobiographical narratives.MethodIn open-ended interviews, 122 late-midlife participants described their single greatest life challenge. Participants’ responses were content coded for various coping strategies. We examined correlations between narrated coping strategies and self-reported personality traits assessed by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory.ResultsExtraversion was associated with narrated engagement coping. Neuroticism was associated with narrated disengagement coping. A trend suggested that conscientiousness was negatively associated with narrated disengagement coping. Surprisingly, openness was negatively associated with narrated problem-solving.ConclusionsThe current study replicates and extends the personality and coping literature into the domain of life narrative. Associations between extraversion, neuroticism, and coping styles appear to be robust outside the context of self-report coping questionnaires.     

Patterns of marijuana use and physical health indicators among Canadian youth

We examine how trajectories of marijuana use in Canadian youth (ages 15 to 28) are related to physical health indicators in adolescence and young adulthood. Youth were initially recruited in 2003 (N = 662; 48% male; ages 12 to 18) and followed for six waves. Five trajectories of marijuana use (Abstainers-29%, Occasional users-27%, Decreasers-14%, Increasers-20% and Chronic users-11%) were identified. Chronic users reported more physical symptoms, poorer physical self-concept, less physical activity, poorer eating practices, less sleep, and higher number of sexual partners during adolescence than other classes. Decreasers also reported poorer physical self-concept and poorer eating practices than abstainers. Other trajectory classes showed few significant health problems. Chronic users also reported more acute health problems (i.e. serious injuries, early sexual debut, higher number of sexual partners, greater likelihood of having a STI) in young adulthood than all other classes contributing to costs of healthcare. Youth who engage in early, frequent and continued use of marijuana from adolescence to young adulthood are at-risk of physical health problems in adolescence and young adulthood.     

Black Lives Matter: We are in the Same Storm but we are not in the Same Boat

Black Lives Matter is a clarion call for racial equality and racial justice. With the arrival of Africans as slaves in 1619, a racial hierarchy was formed in the United States. However, slavery is commonly dismissed as that less than noble aspect of the United States’ history without really confronting the legacies of racial inequality and racial injustice left in its wake. White supremacy, based on the myths of white superiority and Black inferiority, have obscured racial inequality and racial injustice, resulting in blaming the victims. Using Black Lives Matter as a platform, we focus on some key considerations for theory, research, education, training, and practice in clinical, community, and larger systems contexts. Broadly, we focus on Black Lives Matter, literally; Black dehumanization; historical oppression; healing; and implications for the field of family therapy. More specifically, we draw attention to health disparities, mass incarceration and aggressive policing, intergenerational racial trauma, restorative justice, and antiracist work.     

The Critical Need to Recognize That Families Matter for Adult Health: A Systematic Review of the Literature

A systemic approach to researching families and health should capture the complex network within which family members are embedded, including multiple family relationships and larger systems of health care. However, much of the families and health research focused on adult family members has focused solely on intimate partnerships, usually the marital relationship. This neglects the remainder of the powerfully influencing family relationships adults retain, and may increasingly focus on as they age. We conducted a systematic review of the families and adult health literature, retaining 72 articles which were subsequently thematically coded to highlight main foci of this area of research. Results highlight six themes, which include family relationship quality, family composition, behavioral factors in health and health care, psychophysiological mediators, caregiving, and aging health. Findings support an underrepresentation of family members, other than the intimate partner, in research on adult health.     

How Does Family Connectedness Contribute to Youths’ Health? The Mediating Role of Coping Strategies

Family connectedness has important implications for adolescents’ well-being, contributing to their physical, psychological, and social health. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying these effects. The present longitudinal study examined the process by which family connectedness, as perceived by adolescents, predicted greater positive and fewer negative health behaviors in adolescents over time. In particular, we sought to determine whether adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies mediated the link between family connectedness and adolescents’ self-reported health status. Data were obtained from 1,774 New Zealand adolescents aged 10–17 years, who completed a self-report survey three times at one-year intervals. With longitudinal mediation path models, we tested whether maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies at T2 functioned as mediators between family connectedness at T1 and overall health, vitality, sleep sufficiency, body satisfaction, substance use, and self-harm at T3. Findings revealed that family connectedness predicted greater levels of adaptive coping, which, in turn, predicted better health indicators but not decreases in ill-health indicators. Furthermore, family connectedness predicted lower maladaptive coping, which, in turn, predicted higher levels of positive health outcomes and fewer negative health outcomes. Results showed that the positive effect of family connectedness on adolescents’ health occurred through increased use of adaptive coping strategies, decreased use of maladaptive coping strategies, or both. These results have important implications for practitioners working with adolescents and parents, as well as for health promotion program developers.     

朋友的学业成就会影响我的学业成就吗？——成对友谊关系中成就目标取向的中介作用

尽管朋友是影响青少年学业成就的重要因素,但对于朋友之间双向影响的方式和途径尚缺乏研究。本研究采用同伴提名和自我报告问卷收集了8年级青少年在两个学期末的数据,获得在一个学期中稳定的同性别朋友对216对;使用主客体互倚性模型,探究朋友之间学业成就的影响效应,以及成就目标取向在朋友相互影响间的中介作用以及性别差异。结果发现：（1）青少年朋友之间在学业成就上的相似性既源于选择效应,也源于影响效应;（2）掌握目标取向不仅在个体自身当前和后续学业成就的关系中发挥中介作用,而且朋友一方的学业成就还能通过自身或对方的掌握目标取向影响对方或自己后续的学业成就,男生的中介路径多于女生;（3）对于男生而言,表现-接近目标取向在个体当下学业成就和自己后续学业成就的关系中发挥负向中介作用,但对朋友后续的学业成就有积极影响。研究结果支持了成对友谊关系是青少年学业发展的重要情境之一,并突显了成就目标取向在朋友之间学业成就相互影响中的关键作用和性别差异模式。     

Prevalence and treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and co-morbid severe health anxiety

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a debilitating condition that affects 0.2–0.4% of the population. Health focussed anxiety is common across medical conditions, and may be relevant in CFS/ME. This study sought to identify the prevalence and impact of health anxiety (HA) in CFS/ME and evaluate the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for HA in CFS/ME. Cross-sectional questionnaire methods and case-series design were used to achieve study aims. Analysis indicated that 41.9% of the CFS/ME clinic sample experienced threshold levels of health anxiety, which was associated with elevated symptom severity across several dimensions. Stepwise multiple regression indicated physical functioning and depression accounted for 23.8% of variance in fatigue; depression, fatigue and HA, accounted for 32.9% of variance in physical functioning. Large effect sizes and clinically significant changes were generated in the treatment study. HA is common in CFS/ME and likely to exacerbate fatigue and physical functioning. This study identifies HA as an important target for treatment, trial findings should be further replicated on a larger scale.     

从征求到反应：建言行为链中的管理者角色

在建言行为发生链中,管理者扮演着征求者和反应者的不同角色。在管理实践中,管理者却罕于从员工处征求建言,或未能对员工建言做出有效反应。在学术界,目前有关管理者征求建言、纳谏和建言/建言者评估的研究日益丰富,但不成系统。为解决这些实践和理论上的不足,提出并整合建言行为链框架;并基于输入-过程-输出模型,从管理者角色入手,系统分析和归纳管理者征求建言、采纳建言、评估建言(者)的前提和结果,以诠释管理者在员工建言行为链中发挥的作用及其机制,并为管理者更好履行建言管理职能提供实践参考。     

意义维持模型:理论发展与研究挑战

意义维持模型是近年来兴起的社会心理学理论。它主张将意义维持作为个体最基本的社会动机,认为个体在遭受意义违反后,会激起厌恶性情绪,而缓解厌恶情绪成为意义维持的动力,促使个体采取补偿行为修补意义系统。该理论对认知失调等理论进行了一定程度的整合,并且具有强大而广泛的解释力。研究者对其意义违反、厌恶激起和行为补偿三个基本过程的理论阐述日臻完善,同时其主要观点也得到较多实证研究的支持。在意义维持模型的研究中,也存在意义等概念边界模糊、厌恶激起的中介作用论证不充分、启动和补偿的竞争解释等问题。今后的研究一方面需要进一步检验意义维持的基本过程,另一方面也可以讨论行为补偿的运作、主动的意义维持等问题。