Dynamic models of well-being: implications of affective events theory for expanding current views on personality and climate

Research investigations into employee well-being (EWB) have tended to take a between-individual approach, which highlights differences among people. This traditional paradigm has been complemented by examinations of intraindividual EWB, which explores within-person variation over periods of time. Drawing on affective events theory (AET), we further elaborate the implications of intraindividual EWB for two reasonably stable sets of constructs—personality traits and affective climates. We argue that the intraindividual paradigm challenges scholars to rethink what they mean by stability, concluding that stability can be conceptualized in two ways—as reasonably consistent levels of affect and predictable patterns of affective change.     

The validation of a religiosity measure for individuals with schizophrenia

Measures of religiosity validated for psychotic patients do not exist. This study sought to examine the psychometric properties of a modified version of the Religious Life Inventory (RLI) in this population. It was anticipated that religiosity would be affected by psychotic symptoms. The religiosity of patients with schizophrenia was assessed while symptoms were more evident and again after treatment, to evaluate changes in religiosity. Four factors were found which characterized the religiosity of people with schizophrenia. These factors were found to have good construct validity. Patient's responses indicated a reduced need for religion when re-assessed once symptom scores were reduced.     

Advanced Brief Strategic Therapy: An overview of interventions with eating disorders to exemplify how theory and practice work

This paper aims at introducing some of the central aspects of the evolution that brief strategic therapy has undergone at the Centro di Terapia Strategica of Arezzo, Italy, towards advanced therapeutic strategies which differ from the original Palo Alto model. (Fisch, Weakland, &; Segal, 1982; Watzlawick, 1978 Watzlawick, P. 1978. The language of change: Elements of therapeutic communication, New York: Basic Books.  [Google Scholar]; Watzlawick, Beavin, &; Jackson, 1967; Watzlawick, Weakland, &; Fisch, 1974). We will focus on how the concept of self-deception is central to the formation and the persistence of psychological disorders; and how the usage of non-ordinary logics and the understanding of the individual's perceptive-reactive system are of key importance in unravelling such disorders, allowing the therapist to guide the patient towards an efficacious and efficient solution. Rather than attempting to describe and enlist the theoretical corpus that underlies brief strategic therapy, we have chosen to exemplify some focal concepts that connect theory to practice, and vice versa, by presenting the outline of some therapeutic protocols devised for solving eating disorders which can be specifically tailored for each individual patient.     

What members of Alcoholics Anonymous really believe

Many mental health professionals work with people who are members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or may benefit from AA attendance. This article provides practical information about AA that professionals can use to understand and work with people in AA. It is a summary of a survey of 187 members of AA as well as synthesising the literature on AA. Specifically, it describes what AA is, the twelve steps and principles that underlie them, common AA expressions and how they can be used in therapy, common concerns about AA, and how to get more information about AA. Implications of how AA's steps and language can be incorporated into therapy, how therapy can facilitate working the steps of AA, and how to address consumers’ (or professionals’) concerns about AA are addressed.     

Self-Reported Cognitive Inconsistency in Older Adults

ABSTRACT

Insight into one's own cognitive abilities, or metacognition, has been widely studied in developmental psychology. Relevance to the clinician is high, as memory complaints in older adults show an association with impending dementia, even after controlling for likely confounds. Another candidate marker of impending dementia under study is inconsistency in cognitive performance over short time intervals. Although there has been a recent proliferation of studies of cognitive inconsistency in older adults, to date, no one has examined adults' self-perceptions of cognitive inconsistency. Ninety-four community-dwelling older adults (aged 70–91) were randomly selected from a parent longitudinal study of short-term inconsistency and long-term cognitive change in aging. Participants completed a novel 40-item self-report measure of everyday cognitive inconsistency, including parallel scales indexing perceived inconsistency 5 years ago and at present, yielding measures of past, present, and 5-year change in inconsistency. The questionnaire showed acceptable psychometric characteristics. The sample reported an increase in perceived inconsistency over time. Higher reported present inconsistency and greater 5-year increase in inconsistency were associated with noncognitive (e.g., older age, poorer ADLs, poorer health, higher depression), metacognitive (e.g., poorer self-rated memory) and neuropsychological (e.g., poorer performance and greater 5-year decline in global cognitive status, vocabulary, and memory) measures. Correlations between self-reported inconsistency and neuropsychological performance were attenuated, but largely persisted when self-rated memory and age were controlled. Observed relationships between self-reported inconsistency and measures of neuropsychological (including memory) status and decline suggest that self-perceived inconsistency may be an area of relevance in evaluating older adults for memory disorders.     

Impact de la motivation autodéterminée et de l’engagement affectif sur l’intention de rester : une étude chez les militaires

Conducted within the Canadian Forces (N=652), this study explores the role of self-determined motivation and affective commitment in relation to personnel retention within the military. Three groupings of variables are used in order to shed light on the mechanisms underlying personnel retention: a) distal antecedents (i.e. leadership styles), b) proximal antecedents (i.e. group cohesion and work climate) and c) mediators (i.e. self-determined motivation and affective commitment). Illustrated through a structural model, results demonstrate the existence of a partial mediator effect from affective commitment in the relationship between self-determined motivation and intention to stay. These findings are discussed in regards of their implications from theoretical and practical perspectives.     

Early and persistent motor difficulties in infants at-risk of developing autism spectrum disorder: A prospective study

Analyses were conducted in order to investigate motor development in younger siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Infants at familial risk and low risk of developing ASD were tested longitudinally between the ages of 7 and 36 months. Data were analysed from motor scales on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales at each age point. Significantly lower motor scores in at-risk infants were evident from the age of 7 months compared to the low-risk group. Infants who were later diagnosed with ASD demonstrated significantly poorer Fine Motor skills at 36 months than at-risk infants without any developmental difficulties. In addition, Gross Motor scores were highly correlated across the two measures for low-risk infants and infants who later developed ASD. Early motor difficulties may be an early indicator of a number of neurodevelopmental disorders, including ASD.     

Attentional capture by emotional faces in adolescence

Poor decision making during adolescence occurs most frequently when situations are emotionally charged. However, relatively few studies have measured the development of cognitive control in response to emotional stimuli in this population. This study used both affective (emotional faces) and non-affective (letter) stimuli in two different flanker tasks to assess the ability to ignore task-irrelevant but distracting information, in 25 adults and 25 adolescents. On the non-emotional (letter) flanker task, the presence of incongruent flanking letters increased the number of errors, and also slowed participants’ ability to identify a central letter. Adolescents committed more errors than adults, but there were no age-related differences for the reaction time interference effect in the letter condition. Post-hoc testing revealed that age-related differences on the task were driven by the younger adolescents (11-14 years); adults and older adolescents (15-17 years) were equally accurate in the letter condition. In contrast, on the emotional face flanker task, not only were adolescents less accurate than adults but they were also more distracted by task-irrelevant fearful faces as evidenced by greater reaction time interference effects. Our findings suggest that the ability to self-regulate in adolescents, as evidenced by the ability to suppress irrelevant information on a flanker task, is more difficult when stimuli are affective in nature. The ability to ignore irrelevant flankers appears to mature earlier for non-affective stimuli than for affective stimuli.     

The role of body image in the prevention of eating disorders

This article reviews theory and research pertaining to prevention of negative body image and eating disorders. Research derived from the social cognitive model (SCM) and non-specific vulnerability-stressor (NSVS) model indicates that sustained prevention effects for attitudes and behaviors are possible, but not easy to achieve or explain. These limitations are considered in the context of promising research derived from a third model, critical social perspectives (CSP). We conclude that (1) research on practice should aim beyond the examination of efficacy in order to clarify the active ingredients contributing to prevention; and (2) research informed by each of the divergent perspectives can be used to enrich theory and practice in the field of eating disorders prevention.     

Overcoming Barriers to Collaboration Between Basic Behavioral Scientists and Public Health Scientists in Research on Mental Disorders

The behavioral and public health sciences both have a long and rich history supporting basic, translational, and applied research aimed at improving human lives and reducing human suffering. Through the complementary expertise of these disciplines, investigators have contributed to significant, worldwide improvements in mental and physical health. Further gains can be achieved through collaborative research among scientists in these 2 fields. Unfortunately, there are a number of barriers to such collaboration originating in different intellectual traditions, research methods, and the structure and values of academia. We identify these barriers and potential strategies for overcoming them. Several areas for future collaborative research appear promising, especially comorbid mental and physical disorders, adherence to interventions, stigma, and emotional processes. Theory-guided preventive interventions may represent especially fertile areas of collaborative effort.