Trainee Perceptions of Drill Sergeant Qualities During Basic Combat Training

Basic combat training plays an important role in military service with approximately 72,000 soldiers participating in the United States annually. Although Drill Sergeant qualities have been widely portrayed in popular media, there is very little empirical research that documents the characteristics of Drill Sergeants and the impact these characteristics may have on trainees. In this study we evaluated a measure of perceived Drill Sergeant qualities and the degree to which these qualities related to mental health symptoms and job-related outcomes of trainees. Three types of perceived Drill Sergeant qualities were found from factor analyses: motivation, respect, and toughness. Using latent growth curve analyses, higher initial scores on motivation and respect, but not toughness, were associated with greater decreases in mental health symptoms over time. Further, changes in perceived Drill Sergeant qualities related to changes in depressive symptoms, unit cohesion, and citizen behaviors assessed over the course of basic combat training.     

Linguistic Analysis of Communication in Therapist-Assisted Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

In spite of a growth in cognitive conceptualizations of obsessive‐compulsive symptoms, relatively little has been done to extend such concepts to childhood. This study investigated the relationship between responsibility attitudes and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms in normal children. A measure of responsibility attitudes in children was constructed on the basis of Salkovskis' Responsibility Attitudes Scale. This measure (Responsibility Attitudes Scale for Children) was administered together with the Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version and the Children's Depression Inventory to a sample of two hundred and two 10–14‐year‐old schoolchildren in Iceland. The responsibility measure correlated moderately and similarly with the Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version and the Children's Depression Inventory. In a hierarchical regression analysis predicting Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version scores, age and gender were entered in the equation first, followed by Children's Depression Inventory scores and, finally, Responsibility Attitudes Scale for Children scores. It was shown that Responsibility Attitudes Scale for Children scores added significantly to the prediction of Leyton Obsessive Inventory Child Version over and above the other variables. It is concluded that the study of the role of responsibility attitudes in children's obsessive‐compulsive symptoms is at least promising.     

Parental Depression and Child Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms: Unique Effects of Fathers’ Symptoms and Perceived Conflict as a Mediator

Although a developing body of literature suggests that depressive symptoms in fathers are related to child psychopathology, little evidence suggests that paternal depression plays a unique role in children’s symptoms. We used a high-risk design involving children of mothers with and without histories of depression to test the unique mediating role of father–child conflict in the relations between fathers’ depressive symptoms and child externalizing and internalizing symptoms. In all regression analyses, mothers’ history of depression and current depressive symptoms were controlled. Depressive symptoms in fathers were associated with child externalizing and internalizing symptoms, and father–child conflict. Father–child conflict mediated relations between fathers’ depressive symptoms and child externalizing symptoms above and beyond the effects of maternal depression history and depressive symptoms. The results suggest that negative interpersonal consequences of parental depression on child psychopathology may not be limited to mothers.     

Engaging in imagery versus verbal processing of worry: Impact on negative intrusions in high worriers

Chronic, excessive, and uncontrollable worry is the defining characteristic of generalised anxiety disorder. Worry largely consists of verbal thought and it has been postulated that this predominance of verbal thought in worry may contribute to its perseveration. In an investigation of this issue, high worriers were trained to engage in either imagery or verbal processing. Mentation was sampled before and after a five-minute period of worry during which participants engaged in either imagery of the worry topic or verbal processing of the worry topic. Verbal worry resulted in a significant increase in negative intrusions, consistent with previous research. Furthermore, imagery was associated with a decrease in negative intrusions. The results support the theory that the predominantly verbal nature of worry may be responsible for the uncontrollability and maintenance of worry.     

Holistic representation of negative numbers is formed when needed for the task

Past research suggested that negative numbers are represented in terms of their components—the polarity marker and the number (e.g., Fischer & Rottmann, 2005 Fischer, M. and Rottmann, J. 2005. Do negative numbers have a place on the mental number line?. Psychology Science, 47(1): 22–32.  [Google Scholar]; Ganor-Stern & Tzelgov, 2008 Ganor-Stern, D. and Tzelgov, J. 2008. Negative numbers are generated in the mind. Experimental Psychology, 55(3): 157–163.  [Google Scholar]). The present study shows that a holistic representation is formed when needed for the task requirement. Specifically, performing the numerical comparison task on positive and negative numbers presented sequentially required participants to hold both the polarity and the number magnitude in memory. Such a condition resulted in a holistic representation of negative numbers, as indicated by the distance and semantic congruity effects. This holistic representation was added to the initial components representation, thus producing a hybrid holistic-components representation.     

Resilience as the ability to bounce back from stress: A neglected personal resource?

The purpose of this study was to examine resilience, as the ability to bounce back from stress, in predicting health-related measures when controlling for other positive characteristics and resources. We assessed resilience, optimism, social support, mood clarity, spirituality, purpose in life, and health-related measures in two large undergraduate samples. In Study 1, resilience was related to both health-related measures (less negative affect and more positive affect) when controlling for demographics and other positive characteristics. In Study 2, resilience was related to all four health-related measures (less negative affect, more positive affect, less physical symptoms, and less perceived stress) when controlling for the other variables. None of the other positive characteristics were related to more than three of the six possible health-related measures when controlling for the other variables. Resilience, as the ability to bounce back, may be an important personal resource to examine in future studies and target in interventions.     

How do humility prototypes affect the association between perceptions of spouse’s humility and depressive symptoms and couple conflict?

ABSTRACT

Relational humility (RH) is associated with positive outcomes (e.g., fewer depressive symptoms; less couple conflict). Traditional conceptualizations of RH rely on other-report measures, but do not account for how one’s perception of another’s humility relates to one’s RH prototype (i.e., one’s expectations of how humble others, such as a spouse, should be). The current study (N = 69 couples; mean age = 30.80 years; 71% white) analyzed the effect of RH prototypes on the association between participants’ perception of their spouse’s RH and their reports of depressive symptoms and couple conflict. RH prototype was tested as both a moderator and a mediator to these associations. Actor-partner independence moderation and mediation models indicated that RH prototype functions as a moderator in the association between perceived spousal RH and both depressive symptoms and couple conflict, wherein greater discrepancies between spousal RH and RH prototype was associated with more depressive symptoms and conflict.     

Effects of Religiosity and Spirituality on Depressive Symptoms and Prosocial Behaviors

SUMMARY

Evidence demonstrates salubrious effects of religious participation on health-related outcomes. Results from studies relating its effects to psychosocial outcomes have been equivocal. However, many psychosocial outcomes have not been examined. The current study sought to address these limitations by testing the degree to which religious behaviors and subjective spirituality are associated with depressive symptoms and prosocial behaviors. Data from 68 older adults were used to test two linear regression models in which public religious behaviors, private religious behaviors, and subjective spirituality were used to predict depressive symptoms and prosocial behavior. This set of regressors accounted for significant amounts of variance in both outcomes, although a divergent pattern of prediction emerged. More public religious behaviors and fewer private religious behaviors were associated with lower levels of depressive affect, whereas higher reports of subjective spirituality were associated with increased prosocial behavior. The need to broaden the investigation of the effects of religiosity to include more specific predictors and an inclusion of psychosocial outcomes are both discussed.     

The distinctiveness of hardiness, positive emotionality, and negative emotionality in National Guard soldiers

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to investigate the distinctiveness of hardiness (using the Short Hardiness Scale; Bartone, 1995) from the broader personality traits of negative emotionality and positive emotionality (NEM and PEM; assessed with items from the MMPI-2 PSY-5 scales); in a sample of 981 Army National Guard soldiers. Exploratory factor analyses demonstrated that hardiness items loaded on a separate factor from PEM and NEM items, and confirmatory factor analysis suggested that hardiness is not simply a sub-facet of either PEM or NEM. However, subsequent regression analyses found that hardiness did not predict symptoms of PTSD or depression beyond the effects of PEM and NEM among combat exposed soldiers.     

Authenticity in relationships and depressive symptoms: A gender analysis

The current study examined authenticity in relationships, defined as the ability to be open and honest in meaningful relationships, in multiple contexts (i.e., with parents, peers). The goal of the study was to examine and compare the relation between authenticity in relationships and depressive symptoms in a sample of 435 14-year-old adolescent girls and boys. Structural equation modeling results indicated that the model predicted approximately one-third of the variance in depressive symptoms for girls, and almost half of the variance in depressive symptoms for boys. In addition, the strength of the relation between authenticity with parents and depressive symptoms was statistically equivalent for boys and girls. These results indicate the importance of authenticity with parents in predicting depressive symptoms, for both boys and girls.