Post-traumatic growth as positive personality change: Developing a measure to assess within-person variability

Earlier work has defined post-traumatic growth (PTG) as positive personality change, but measurement of this construct has relied almost exclusively on cross-sectional and retrospective assessments. The aim of this study was to use an experience-sampling procedure to measure the extent to which PTG manifested in individuals’ everyday lives after a recent highly stressful or traumatic adverse event (compared to a control group). In doing so, we developed a state measure of PTG. The factor structure of state PTG was comparable to trait PTG, there was significant variability in individuals’ PTG from moment-to-moment, but individuals’ trait PTG was unrelated to their state PTG. Moreover, individuals who had experienced a recent adversity did not differ from control participants on state PTG.     

Loneliness as Moderator Between Trauma and Posttraumatic Growth

This study investigated the association between loneliness, trauma symptomatology, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in undergraduate students (N = 362). The study also explored whether loneliness moderated the relationship between experiences of trauma and PTG. The results demonstrated that both loneliness and trauma symptoms predicted levels of PTG, and loneliness moderated the relationship between trauma and PTG. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for counseling are discussed.     

Dendrite growth velocity in the undercooled melt of glass forming Ni50Zr50 compound

Glass-forming Ni₅₀Zr₅₀ intermetallic compound is containerless undercooled and solidified using electrostatic levitation. Large undercoolings up to ?T = 300 K are achieved. The dendrite growth velocity of the congruently melting alloy is measured as a function of undercooling using a high-speed camera technique. The experimental data is analysed within a sharp interface theory. It is found that the driving force of crystallisation is controlling the growth kinetics at ?T < 250 K but at larger undercoolings the growth kinetics is progressively controlled by atomic diffusion. This leads to a slowing down of the growth velocity. The maximum velocity and the temperature at which the maximum occurs (T_max) are inferred from the dendrite growth velocity – undercooling relation. The relation of the temperature T_max and the glass temperature fits into a general classification scheme for glass-forming systems. The kinetic and thermal undercooling terms are calculated within dendrite growth theory as a function of the total undercooling. At ?T > 126 K, the kinetic undercooling dominates and increases rapidly with the undercooling ?T. The maximum prefactor of the kinetic undercooling is plotted vs. the reciprocal temperature. Its temperature dependence is discussed.     

Reminiscence functions over time: consistency of self functions and variation of prosocial functions

The current study examines the temporal stability of the tripartite model of reminiscence functions in which eight separate reminiscence functions map onto three second-order factors which contribute significantly to measurement of an overarching reminiscence latent construct. We collected online responses from 411 adults 50+ years of age. Confirmatory factor analytic models were computed at three points of data collection over 16 months. Invariance analyses were next undertaken to simultaneously compare the measurement properties to assess within-person stability of reminiscence functions over time. The tripartite structure of reminiscence functions was replicated at each point of data collection. As hypothesised, self-positive and self-negative functions are consistent across points of data collection, whereas prosocial functions vary over time. The temporal stability of the self functions may be attributed to enduring characteristics of the individual such as personality traits and life attitudes, as well as their solitary nature. Previous research indicates that consistency of self-positive reminiscence functions has ensuing benefits for physical health and psychological well-being; the opposite is true for self-negative functions. The temporal variation of prosocial functions may be due to the varying availability of others to share memories and their responsiveness to the emotional context.     

Thank goodness it’s Friday: weekly pattern of workplace incivility

Background and objectives: Recent research has shown day-level differences in an individual’s experience of uncivil behavior; however, it is unknown if that experience follows a consistent weekly change pattern. This study extends incivility theory and research by applying latent growth curve (LGC) modeling to diary study data to understand day-to-day changes in incivility.

Design: The authors took a theory-driven approach, reviewing both mood and recovery theory that would support a decrease in incivility over the working week.

Methods: Diary survey methodology was used, with a morning and evening survey completed on five consecutive workdays by 171 (73% of the 235 who initially volunteered, 95% of those who completed any surveys) employees in the legal industry. LGC analysis was used to identify patterns of experienced incivility, mood (both measured after work), and recovery (assessed the following morning).

Results: Regardless of job demands and gender, a weekly pattern was identified with the likelihood of experiencing incivility (coded as 0?=?none, 1?=?some) decreasing from Monday to Friday by .78 each day (p?<?.001) in a relatively linear fashion with a slope factor of .34 (SE?=?0.23; p?>?.05), indicating invariance between individuals. This weekly pattern was not explained by changes in mood or recovery.

Conclusions: Results emphasize the impact of contextual factors such as time on workplace incivility and the need to consider weekly rhythms of other behaviors that are likely to affect employee well-being and productivity. Although limited to one week of data per person, the findings are likely to be relevant to studies of other forms of interpersonal mistreatment, such as social undermining and interpersonal conflict.     

大学新生主观社会地位与抑郁的变化轨迹:一项多元潜变量增长模型分析

采用整群取样的方法在全国按东部、中部和西部共抽取了7所高校的1983名新生,进行了历时四个月的四次追踪测试。使用潜变量增长模型建模,分别考察了新生主观社会地位和抑郁的变化轨迹,并就两者间的变化关系进行了分析。结果发现新生入学后四个月内：（1）主观社会地位呈阶段化线性增长,其起始水平和第一阶段的增长速度存在显著个体间差异;（2）抑郁呈二次方增长,其起始水平和增长速度存在显著个体间差异;（3）入学后主观社会地位的下滑速度能有效预测新生抑郁水平的上升速度。研究基于情绪压制理论,对主观社会地位与抑郁间的变化关系进行了分析。     

药价“虚高”:成因、结果分析与对策探讨

药品价格“虚高”已成为近年来药品市场中的一个突出问题。通过考量药价“虚高”的成因,并从实证的角度分析药价“虚高”的结果———“有效需求人数”和“消费者剩余”的减少,提出一些建议。     

Scientific Peer Review: A Case Study From Local And Global Analyses.

The dialog between Staddon (2001, 2004) and Baum (2004) raises general questions about the nature of scientific peer review. Their dialog displays effects on peer review of differences of opinion about the relative merits of local and global analyses. Baum (1995, 1997, 2001, 2002) favors global analyses as a paradigm different, newer, and better than the local, dynamic, real‐time approach that plays a significant role in Staddon (2001). According to the Kuhnian perspective (Kuhn, 1996) Baum advocates, we can better understand his review of Staddon (2001) by considering the implications for it of his commitment to the idea that a global analysis is a superior scientific paradigm. This commentary examines some characteristics of local and global analyses, as well as some of their possible implications for peer review in the context of a reviewer's belief in the Kuhnian idea of incommensurability: According to this idea, a reviewer who either is, or who believes he is, from one paradigm is unlikely, for better or worse, to understand or perhaps even tolerate work from a different paradigm. It is recommended that a process be developed to encourage “truth in peer reviewing” to reduce possible conflicts of interest embedded in the current conception of scientific peer review.     

Capturing the interplay among within- and between-person processes using multilevel modeling techniques

Multilevel modeling is an excellent way to analyze nested or clustered data of the type commonly collected through investigations into the linkages between psychological functioning and relationship processes. This article describes two especially relevant applications of multilevel modeling. The first application, growth curve analysis, is already familiar to many researchers and involves modeling individuals’ change trajectories over time and relating the derived change parameters to person-level characteristics or phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize a second application, multilevel process analysis, which involves modeling within-subject characteristics other than change over a representation of time. Multilevel analysis of within-subject processes is particularly well-suited for hypotheses common to clinical psychology investigations, yet has received substantially less attention in the literature than its growth curve counterpart. Types of research questions and methodologies that can be addressed within the multilevel process analysis framework are described. Finally, aspects of multilevel process analysis are demonstrated with daily diary data collected from wives who reported on their marital happiness and depressed mood for 3 weeks.     

Posttraumatic Growth in the Context of Heart Disease

The concept of positive consequences arising as a result of coping with traumatic experiences, such as life-threatening illness, represents an emerging area of empirical study in the stress and health literature. This study investigates three specific psychosocial variables (personality, social support, and coping) in relation to posttraumatic growth in a population of individuals coping with heart disease. The results indicate that Extraversion was the most significant predictor of growth, and there is evidence that Problem-Focused Coping partially mediated this relationship between Extraversion and posttraumatic growth. The role of Social Support Satisfaction in predicting growth remains unclear. Findings emphasize the importance of personal and environmental factors in psychological interventions aimed at improving the adjustment and posttraumatic growth of heart patients. Directions for future research are proposed.