Temperament,coping, and involuntary stress responses in preadolescent children: the moderating role of achievement goal orientation

Background and objectives: Developmental theorists posit that temperament contributes to preadolescent’s stress response styles. Findings from empirical studies, however, have yielded mixed results, thus indicating a need to consider moderators of this relation. Utilizing an analytic framework guided by resiliency theory [Zimmerman, M. A. (2013). Resiliency theory: A strengths-based approach to research and practice for adolescent health. Health Education &; Behavior, 40, 381–383], this study examined achievement goal orientation as a moderator of the relation between temperament and stress response styles.

Methods: 96 preadolescent–parent dyads (M_age?=?10.30 years, range?=?9–12 years) participated in the study. Preadolescents reported on their achievement goal orientation, coping and involuntary stress responses (ISRs) styles and a parent reported on children’s temperament.

Results: Multiple regressions revealed that effortful control positively predicted preadolescent’s predominant use of engagement coping and negatively predicted predominance of ISRs, but only for children with a predominant mastery goal orientation. For preadolescents with a predominant performance goal orientation, effortful control negatively predicted the predominant use of engagement coping and positively predicted predominance of ISRs. Negative affectivity and its interaction with goal orientation did not predict coping or ISR styles.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that a predominant mastery goal orientation may function as a promotive factor by enhancing the contribution of effortful control to engagement coping styles and buffering against unmanaged reactivity.     

Self-reported stress and psychophysiological reactivity in paramedics

Background: As an important group of health care professionals, paramedics accomplish sophisticated and frequently stressful tasks.

Design: The study investigated self-reported stress burden, self-reported health status, coping strategies, personality traits and psychophysiological reactivity in paramedics.

Methods: 30 paramedics were compared with 30 professionals from other disciplines, in terms of self-reported stress, physical complaints, coping strategies, personality traits and psychophysiological reactivity during aversive visual and acoustic stimuli, and cognitive challenge. Regression analyses were performed for the prediction of stress burden and physical complaints in paramedics according to coping and personality factors.

Results: Paramedics reported lower stress and less somatic complaints, and exhibited reduced electrodermal activity and heart rate responses to experimental stimuli, as well as higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia. They indicated less negative coping strategies, reduced empathy, and higher conscientiousness and sensation seeking. Higher self-reported stress burden and more physical symptoms were associated inter alia with more negative coping strategies, less conscientiousness and lower empathy.

Conclusion: The findings support the notion of reduced self-reported stress burden, and improved general health and stress resistance in paramedics. In addition to health benefits, stress tolerance may contribute to the prevention of performance decline during situations in which health and life are at stake.     

Prospective Associations of Coping Styles With Depression and Suicide Risk Among Psychiatric Emergency Patients

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for those ages 13–25 in the United States. Coping is a mediator between stressful life events and adverse outcomes, and coping skills have been incorporated into interventions (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, safety-planning interventions) for suicidal populations. However, longitudinal research has not directly examined the prospective associations between multiple coping styles and suicide-related outcomes in high-risk samples. This study identified cross-sectional and 4-month longitudinal associations of coping styles with suicide risk factors (i.e., depression, suicidal ideation, suicidal behavior) in a sample of 286 adolescent and young adult psychiatric emergency patients. Positive reframing was the coping style most consistently associated with positive outcomes, whereas self-blame and disengagement were consistently associated with negative outcomes. Active coping protected against suicidal behavior for males, but not for females. This was the first study to examine longitudinal relationships between coping and suicide-related outcomes in a high-risk clinical sample. Findings suggest that clinical interventions with suicidal adolescents and young adults may benefit from a specific focus on increasing positive reframing and reducing self-blame.     

Specificity of relations between adolescents’ cognitive emotion regulation strategies and symptoms of depression and anxiety

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which cognitive emotion regulation strategies were “common or transdiagnostic correlates” of symptoms of depression and anxiety and/or “specific correlates” distinguishing one problem category from the other. The sample comprised 582 13- to 16-year-old secondary school students. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured by the SCL-90, and cognitive emotion regulation strategies were measured by the CERQ, in a cross-sectional design. Multivariate regression analyses were performed. Before controlling for comorbidity, the same cognitive emotion regulation strategies that were related to symptoms of depression were also related to symptoms of anxiety. However, after controlling for comorbid anxiety symptoms, rumination, self-blame (only girls), positive reappraisal, and positive refocusing (the latter two inversely) were uniquely (and significantly) associated with depression symptoms; and after controlling for comorbid depression symptoms, catastrophising and other-blame were uniquely related to anxiety symptoms. The results supported the cognitive content-specificity model, in which anxiety is supposed to be uniquely characterised by thoughts concerning the overestimation of threats and harm, and depression is supposed to be uniquely characterised by negative evaluations of self, and of past and future events.     

Asian American Women Sexual Assault Survivors’ Choice of Coping Strategies: The Role of Post-Assault Cognitive Responses

ABSTRACT

Even though approximately one in three Asian American (AA) and Pacific Islander women experience sexual assault victimization, there is a dearth of literature examining how AA women sexual assault survivors cope with this traumatic experience. This study examined AA female sexual assault survivors’ choice of coping strategies post-assault and how their cognitive responses toward sexual assault victimization (e.g., attributions of self-blame, perceived control over the recovery process) relate to their use of coping strategies. Using the AA subsets of two large community studies, a total of 64 AA women ages 18 to 58 with unwanted sexual experiences after the age of 14 years were included in the analyses. Results indicated that AA survivors used Acceptance and Self-Distraction the most to cope with sexual assault. In addition, those who perceived they had less control over their recovery process tended to use more maladaptive coping strategies, such as substance abuse and behavioral disengagement (e.g., giving up). The discussion includes clinical implications and recommendations for using language, modalities, and foci of interventions that are consistent with clients’ and their families’ worldviews (e.g., indirect inquiries, solution-focused).     

Reducing behavioural risk factors for cancer: An affect regulation perspective

Nearly half of all cancer deaths are attributable to preventable causes, primarily unhealthy behaviours such as tobacco use, alcohol use and overeating. In this review, we argue that people engage in these behaviours, at least in part, as a means of regulating their affective states. To better understand why people engage in these behaviours and how researchers might design interventions to promote the selection of healthier methods for regulating affect, we propose a conceptual model of affect regulation. We synthesise research from both the stress and coping tradition as well as the emotion and emotion regulation tradition, two literatures that are not typically integrated. In so doing, we indicate where researchers have made headway in understanding these behaviours as affect regulation and note how our model could be used to structure future work in a way that would be particularly advantageous to cancer control efforts.     

Stress reactions following acute situations involving moral challenges among health care professionals

Many health care professionals have to make morally difficult decisions during acute, stressful situations. The aim was to explore the applicability of an existing qualitatively developed model of individual reactions among professional first responders following such situations using a quantitative approach. According to the model, the interaction of antecedent individual and contextual characteristics affect the immediate emotional reactions to acute, stressful events involving a moral dilemma. Continuous coping efforts and the quality of social support will also affect the long‐term positive and negative reactions to the event. The participants (n = 204, about 50% response rate) represented three Swedish health care professions stationed at a university hospital and a regional hospital: Physicians (n = 50), nurses (n = 94) and “others” (n =60, mainly social welfare officers and assistant nurses). Except for the personality dimension emotional stability which was measured using an established instrument, all measurement scales were operationalizations of codes and categories from the qualitative study (ten scales altogether). Four multiple regression analyses were performed with long‐term positive and negative reactions in everyday acute and morally extremely taxing situations respectively as dependent variables. The outcome showed that long‐term positive reactions covaried with much use of the coping strategies Emotional distancing and Constructive emotional confrontation and a perception of a well‐functioning Formal social support. Regarding long‐term negative reactions, higher age and little use of Emotional distancing accounted for much of the variance. Immediate emotional reactions also contributed significantly. Conclusion: the results largely supported the model concepts and their assumed relationships.     

高中生感恩与心理一致感的关系:积极情感与积极应对的中介效应

采用整群抽样法对449名高中生进行了感恩,积极情感,积极应对以及心理一致感的测量,通过结构方程模型分析了积极情感与积极应对在感恩与心理一致感之间的中介作用,结果如下:(1)感恩既对心理一致感有直接预测作用,占总效应的46%,又可以通过积极情感与积极应对间接作用于心理一致感,占总效应的54%,总中介效应要大于直接效应;(2)感恩到积极应对作用路径的差异值临界比(CRD)存在性别差异,男生的路径系数(γ=.43,p.01)显著高于女生(γ=-.01,p.05)。     

The Influence of Spirituality and Religion on Coping for Combat‐Deployed Military Personnel

A paucity of research exists examining the role of spirituality/religion (S/R) as a protective factor for combat‐deployed military personnel. The purpose of this study is to (a) define the underlying structure of items from an author‐developed instrument measuring coping, beliefs, and support; and (b) examine how S/R affiliation, activities, and practices affect coping responses for 279 combat‐deployed military personnel. Significant predictors of coping included support, age, Christian affiliation, and frequency of S/R practices. The authors found that beliefs, S/R practices prior to deployment, previous combat deployments, and first deployment were not significant predictors of coping. Implications for counselors and future research are addressed.     

The Role of Religious Coping and Resilience in Individuals With Dissociative Identity Disorder

Survivors with dissociative identity disorder (DID) often report a history of traumatic events in their lives. Past studies indicated a link between trauma, resilience, and spiritual coping in both positive and negative aspects of a survivor's life. This article includes a review of existing literature salient to these constructs in relation to i ndividuals with DID, as well as results from a study examining the relationships between these constructs and individuals with DID (N = 52). Implications are discussed based on the findings for counselors treating individuals with DID.