Threats to communion and agency mediate associations between stressor type and daily coping

Background and Objectives: Basic human values have been categorized into two dimensions: those that are self or agentically focused, and those that are other or communally focused. We apply this model to cognitive appraisals of stress and argue that threat appraisals also fall into these two dimensions. The mediating roles of communal and agentic threats in linking stressors with coping responses were examined. Design: A daily process methodology was used. Methods: Three-hundred and fifty undergraduate students were followed midday and evening over one week, completing structured electronic diaries regarding their experiences of the past half-day. Participants described stressors in open-ended format, which were then coded into social stress, achievement stress, and other stress categories. They also completed scales measuring stress appraisals and coping. Results: Communal threat mediated links between social stressors and empathic responding, support seeking, and confrontation. Agentic threat mediated links between achievement stressors and empathic responding, support seeking, confrontation, and problem solving. Conclusions: Individuals tend to cope in ways that maintain communion when they perceive communion to be threatened; they tend to cope in ways that maintain agency when they perceive agency to be threatened.     

When and how did you go wrong? Characterizing mild functional difficulties in older adults during an everyday task

ABSTRACT

Mild functional difficulties associated with cognitive aging may be reliably measured by coding “micro-errors” during everyday tasks, like meal preparation. Micro-errors made by 25 older adult and 48 younger adults were coded on four dimensions to evaluate the influence of: 1) poor error monitoring; 2) goal decay; 3) competition for response selection when switching to a new subtask; and 4) interference from distractor objects. Micro-errors made by young adults under a dual task load also were analyzed to determine the influence of overall performance level. Older adults’ micro-errors were observed when switching to a new subtask and to unrelated distractors. Slowed error monitoring and goal decay also influenced micro-errors in older adults, but not significantly more so than younger adults under the dual task. Interventions to reduce interference from distractors and to increase attention at critical choice points during tasks may optimize everyday functioning and preclude decline in older adults.     

The Daily Mile™: Acute effects on children’s cognitive function and factors affecting their enjoyment

The Daily Mile™ is a widely implemented school-based physical activity initiative. However, only two studies have explored the acute effects of participation in The Daily Mile on children’s cognitive functioning, reporting conflicting findings. Moreover, enjoyment of exercise is a determining factor in children’s motivation for, and adherence to, initiatives. However, factors affecting children’s enjoyment of The Daily Mile are unknown. Therefore, this study examined the acute effects of The Daily Mile on cognition and explored children’s enjoyment of participation in the initiative. Following familiarisation, 104 children (10.4 ± 0.7 years) completed a Daily Mile and resting control trial in a randomised, counterbalanced order. Prior to, immediately following and 45 min following The Daily Mile and resting, children completed the Stroop test (inhibitory control), Sternberg paradigm (visual working memory) and Flanker task (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility). Additionally, 87 children took part in focus groups to explore factors affecting enjoyment. Cognitive data were analysed using two-way (trial*time) and three-way (trial*time*sex; trial*time*fitness) repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Focus group data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. There were no statistically significant effects of The Daily Mile on cognition, compared to rest (all p > 0.05). However, accuracy on the one-item level of Sternberg paradigm (p = 0.073, η_p² = 0.028) and complex level of the Stroop test (p = 0.057; η_p² = 0.031) tended to improve immediately following The Daily Mile, compared to resting; though this did not reach statistical significance. Children enjoyed participating in The Daily Mile, particularly due to its outdoor location, social context, and self-paced nature. However, some children found The Daily Mile boring due to its repetitive nature. Findings suggest that The Daily Mile does not significantly influence children’s immediate or delayed (45 min) cognition. However, there was a tendency for improved accuracy in visual working memory and inhibitory control immediately following The Daily Mile. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that The Daily Mile promotes enjoyment, particularly through social relatedness and autonomy. However, future research could consider whether adding variety into the initiative may help to sustain engagement in the children experiencing boredom.     

The effects of negative affectivity on self-reported activity limitations in stroke patients: Testing the Symptom Perception,Disability and Psychosomatic Hypotheses

This study investigated whether Negative Affectivity (NA) causes bias in self-report measures of activity limitations or whether NA has a real, non-artifactual association with activity limitations. The Symptom Perception Hypothesis (NA negatively biases self-reporting), Disability Hypothesis (activity limitations cause NA) and Psychosomatic Hypothesis (NA causes activity limitations) were examined longitudinally using both self-report and objective activity limitations measures. Participants were 101 stroke patients and their caregivers interviewed within two weeks of discharge, six weeks later and six months post-discharge. NA and self-report, proxy-report and observed performance activity (walking) limitations were assessed at each interview. NA was associated with activity limitations across measures. Both the Disability and Psychosomatic Hypotheses were supported: initial NA predicted objective activity limitations at six weeks but, additionally, activity limitations at six weeks predicted NA at six months. These results suggest that NA both affects and is affected by activity limitations and does not simply influence reporting.     

Salutary effect of daily coping self-efficacy: impact on day-by-day coping to mood effects within dyads following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: Little is known how coping self-efficacy (CSE) interacts with coping in dyad everyday life. The present study examined the moderating role of daily CSE in the relationship between coping and the next-day positive (PA) or negative (NA) affect in patient-caregiver dyads, following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Design: This intensive longitudinal study was conducted during the first 28 days after post-transplant discharge.

Methods: Patients and their caregivers (N?=?200) maintained daily diaries on CSE, coping strategies, and affect.

Results: Daily CSE moderated daily coping–affect relationship: Positive emotion-focused coping increased PA in patients with higher than usual emotion-related CSE, whereas a buffering effect was found at lower than usual emotion-related CSE. A positive association between negative emotion-focused coping and NA in both patients and caregivers was stronger among those with lower than usual levels of emotion-related CSE. Higher than usual instrumental coping reduced NA in patients whose caregivers had higher than usual problem-related CSE, but increased NA for those whose caregivers had lower than usual instrumental CSE.

Conclusion: The findings show that daily CSE contributes to the effectiveness of daily coping within dyad, confirming its significance in effective adaptation and the role in the dyadic coping process.     

Demand Characteristics and Self-Report Measures of Imaginary Audience Sensitivity: Implications for Interpreting Age Differences in Adolescent Egocentrism

Self-consciousness during early adolescence has been explained as an outcome of adolescent egocentrism, in which adolescents create an imaginary audience (IA) of attentive, critical peers. The possibility that such self-consciousness might result from contact with peers who are more attentive and critical than those encountered during childhood or adulthood has not been considered. Study I tested whether young adults, who are not theoretically susceptible to IA, could be made to receive high scores on IA and self-consciousness measures by having them complete a procedure in 1 of 3 laboratory conditions—a critical audience, a noncritical audience, or no audience. However, participants in the critical-audience condition received significantly lower IA and self-consciousness scores than participants in the no-audience condition did. Study 2 tested whether the directions given to Study I participants might have been responsible for the unexpected findings. Results indicated that participants instructed to give mature-sounding responses received lower IA/self-consciousness scores than did those asked to report their honest opinions. Together, the results of Studies 1 and 2 indicated that survey measures of IA are subject to demand characteristics and highlighted the need to interpret with caution age differences in IA as traditionally assessed.     

Different perspectives on measuring lifestyle engagement: a comparison of activity measures and their relation with cognitive performance in older adults

Given the limitations associated with assessing activity engagement via the frequency of specific activities, it may be valuable to consider the characteristics of an activity. The method of asking individuals to report the amount of time spent engaging in activities that have certain characteristics was compared to a specific activity questionnaire, and a daily diary regarding their relation to cognitive functioning. Participants 60–90 years old (n = 187) completed the activity measurement methods and a series of cognitive tasks. Structural equation models showed that all three activity methods were predictive of adults’ cognitive performance, but no measure predicted all outcomes. Each activity measure provided unique information. Notably, the combination of the measurement types predicted more variance than any of the measures alone. There is additional power to predict cognition when multiple activity measurement methods are used, and daily assessment can be a valuable tool to augment traditional specific activity questionnaires.     

Reductive and Emergent Views on Motor Learning in Rehabilitation Practice

To allow different views on motor learning to inform rehabilitation research, the authors aimed to explicate a frequently missed yet fundamental difference in starting point of such views. By considering how rehabilitation in practice answers the question of what parts an activity consists of, reductive and emergent approaches to motor learning are identified and traced throughout rehabilitation practice. The authors show that when a task is cut up along reductive dimensions while also apparently relying on emergent components, this unequally favors the reductive approach and acts to limit the views on motor learning available. By showing the approaches in practice, the authors hope to inspire an awareness that brings both approaches the opportunity to independently inform research so that new theories and practices can proliferate.     

农村留守儿童的抑郁和反社会行为:日常积极事件的保护作用

以来自河南省农村的410名农村留守儿童(双亲外出和单亲外出)和非留守儿童为被试,考察了日常烦恼这一危险因素与儿童抑郁、反社会行为的关系,并探讨了日常积极事件在其中的保护作用。结果表明,儿童经历的日常烦恼越多,其抑郁和反社会行为水平越高。日常积极事件表现出了对儿童抑郁和反社会行为的改善效应,但是因儿童留守类别的不同而不同:日常积极事件对单亲外出儿童和非留守儿童抑郁的改善效应较强,对双亲外出儿童反社会行为的改善效应较强。此外,日常积极事件还可以有效抵抗日常烦恼对儿童反社会行为的不利影响。