Relations between a ruminative thinking style and obsessive–compulsive symptoms in non-clinical samples

Abstract

There is tremendous interest in understanding the cognitive processes behind obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Whereas previous research on cognitive OCD models has focused on the dysfunctional content of obsessional thinking, processes and styles of thinking have not yet been investigated. The present study investigated the relationship between a ruminative response style and obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptomatology in two non-clinical samples. In Sample 1, 261 students completed the Ruminative Response Scale, the Padua-Inventory, Revised, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Tendency to ruminate was positively correlated with the severity of OC symptoms and particularly with obsessive rumination, even after controlling for depression. Results were replicated in Sample 2 (211 students). Data indicate that a ruminative response style and obsessive rumination share common processual features. Understanding the interaction between rumination and obsessional thinking might help to further elucidate the role of cognitive vulnerability factors in OCD and to expand cognitive and metacognitive models of OCD.     

Parenting Styles Affecting the Social Behaviour of Five-Year Olds

The main aim of the study was to explore the relationship between parenting styles as a correlate of social behaviour among five-year olds. Participants were 30 parents of 25 pre-primary students of a school in Northern Province of South Africa, and the children's teacher. The participants were mostly of the indigenous African ethnic background. The parents completed the Parental Styles Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ: Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen & Hart, 2001). The teacher rated the five-year olds' social behaviour using the Behavioural Questionnaire (BQ: Latouf, 2008). These results indicated primarily that an authoritative parenting style was most endorsed by the parents of the five-year olds. Parents self-rating on parenting style were significantly associated with teacher ratings of the student's social behaviour.     

Regulatory Focus and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Coping Styles and the Moderating Role of Gender

Abstract

Although previous research has suggested that regulatory focus may exert considerable impacts on individuals’ subjective well-being (SWB), little research has explored the mechanism for this relation and the potential gender difference. The current study investigated the potential mediating effects of coping styles on the relationship between regulatory focus and three aspects of SWB (indicated by life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) among Chinese adolescents. Total of 2943 Chinese adolescents participated in this cross-sectional survey and completed self-reported questionnaires (M_age = 14.47, SD?=?1.59, 44.50% boys). Hypothesized pathways were tested by structural equation models. Results showed that regulatory foci were significantly associated with SWB. Promotion focus predicted SWB mainly through problem-focused coping, and the mediating effects of emotion-focused coping were also observed; Prevention focus predicted SWB mainly through emotion-focused coping, and the mediating effects of problem-focused coping were observed. Furthermore, relative to boys, the prediction of problem-focused coping on life satisfaction was stronger and the prediction of promotion focus on life satisfaction was weaker for girls. These findings provide a new approach to understand the mechanism for the relationship between regulatory foci and SWB, and indicate the gender differences of this process.     

Personality Profiles of Homosexual Men and Women

There has been surprisingly little research on possible differences between homosexual and heterosexual personalities, although the few studies that have been conducted suggest some interesting differences. We devised two hypothesis that may account for these differences. First, differences appear to reflect generalized social nonconformity and alienation due to the social stigmatization of the homosexual. Second, these differences seem to express a more specific tendency to deviation from socially normative sex roles. The two hypotheses imply a number of predictions concerning specific personality traits, which were tested by comparing the 16PF (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970) personality profiles of a group of male (N = 34) and female (N = 31) homosexuals with those obtained from the two large student samples (male, N = 899 and female, N = 912) whose scores are commonly used as norms for the South African version of the 16PF. The findings suggested reasonably good support for the two hypotheses, particularly considering the limitations of the study with respect to the adequacy of the comparison groups used and the relative heterogeneity of the 16PF scale content.     

Coping with Negative Emotions: Connections with Adolescents’ Academic Performance and Stress

The authors assessed connections among adolescents’ emotional dispositions, negative academic affect, coping strategies, academic stress, and overall grade point average (GPA). A total of 119 ninth through 12th-grade students completed assessments for (a) overall positive and negative moods, (b) GPA, and (c) academically related variables involving stress, negative emotions, and engaged and disengaged coping strategies. Greater negative academic affect and disengaged coping were related to lower GPAs, and disengaged coping mediated the connection between negative academic affect and GPA. By contrast, higher academic stress was related to students’ overall moods, negative academic affect, and disengaged coping; disengaged coping mediated the connection between academic stress and negative overall moods. Discussion focused on the especially problematic nature of disengaged academic coping.     

Values and love styles in Turkey and Great Britain: An intercultural and intracultural comparison

Little previous research has examined the relationship between values and love styles, and none has done so across cultures or intracultural regions. This research was the first attempt to explore the correlation between individual‐level values and love styles, and examined both within‐ and between‐cultural variations in love styles. In this study 224 participants from Turkey and Britain, from urban or rural locations, completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the Love Attitudes Scale measure of love styles. Pancultural analyses demonstrated significant correlations between certain value dimensions and love styles. In particular, agape (selfless love) was positively correlated with self‐transcendence, ludus (game‐playing love) was positively correlated with self‐enhancement, and pragma (realistic love) was positively correlated with conservation. The inclusion of location and nationality and their interactions with values in the multiple regression analyses significantly increased the variance explained by values for five of the six love styles. Multivariate analyses indicated that ludus, storge, mania, and pragma were all significantly higher among Turkish respondents; pragma, mania, and agape all higher amongst rural respondents. Eros was highest among rural British respondents; storge, pragma, and agape highest among rural Turks. When these culture effects were explored, conservation significantly mediated the relationship between the groups of more conservative rural Turks (versus other participants) and both pragmatic and storgic love styles. Findings are discussed in the light of disparities in values and relationship styles within cultures, and the need to include both intracultural and intercultural variations in cross cultural research.     

Lift Up Your Hearts: Humour and Despair in Later Life

SUMMARY

According to Erikson, the homework of later life is integrity versus despair. The work of integrity is difficult, especially when faced with loss and grief, with the pain, suffering and anxiety that often accompany later life. However, it is also the case that humour accompanies the ageing process, and that elderly people laugh at all things associated with ageing right through to death. This paper explores the relationship between humour and despair in the task of integrity. It does so from the work of Kierkegaard, who argued that despair is a sign that we are spiritual beings. Humour comes from our responses to despair–either as giving in too easily and not attempting integrity at all, or as a willful defiance and denial of this task. Ageing humour is used to illustrate Kierkegaard's argument. Humour is then shown to function in various ways. It raises our sights when we too easily retreat into our perishing bodies. It earths us when we attempt to get too spiritual, and it gives us a glimpse of the larger framework of God's future out of which we are invited to live, and to “lift up our hearts.”     

Do humor styles matter in the relationship between personality and subjective well‐being?

The primary goal of this research was to examine the role of humor styles in the relationships between personality (extraversion and neuroticism) and two components of subjective well-being: life satisfaction and affective well-being. The sample consisted of 225 young adults, with mean age 23.61 years. Results indicated that the relationship between both extraversion and neuroticism and satisfaction with life could be partially explained by the mediating role of self-enhancing humor. Additionally, affiliative humor proved to be a partial mediator of the relationship between neuroticism and affective well-being. The findings of this research suggested that adaptive humor styles might be one of the mechanisms linking personality and subjective well-being.     

The effects of humor and depression labels on reactions to social comments

Humor is generally considered to facilitate social relationships, whereas depression has been related to difficulties in relationships. This study investigated the effects of labeling social comments as humorous, as well as labeling the presenter of the comments as feeling depressed, on recipients' reactions to these comments. To this end, 350 university students were presented with vignettes describing four styles of comments (i.e., affiliative, self-enhancing, self-defeating, and aggressive) made by a casual acquaintance. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. These conditions varied in terms of whether the four styles of comments were described as humorous or not, and whether the acquaintance making the comments was described as feeling depressed or not. Findings indicated that humor led to more positive reactions. Labeling the acquaintance as depressed led to more negative reactions than when the acquaintance was labeled non-depressed, particularly when the comments were self-defeating. Interestingly, when the acquaintance was described as feeling depressed, affiliative comments made in a humorous fashion led to more positive reactions than did non-humorous affiliative comments. These findings are discussed in terms of the effects of humor and depression on interpersonal interactions.