Predictors of Child Maltreatment Potential in a National Sample of Mothers of Young Children

Although previous studies have furthered our broad ability to predict child maltreatment potential, young children remain at the highest risk for experiencing maltreatment. Thus, several variables of relevance for this population were examined. A national community sample of 158 mothers with young children between ages 1.5 and 5 years rated their young children’s temperament as well as their own temperament, emotion regulation, stress, coping, and child maltreatment potential. Young children’s mood quality as well as mothers’ mood quality, flexibility/rigidity, emotion dysregulation, parenting stress, cumulated severity of stress, and emotion-focused coping added unique incremental variance to the prediction of child maltreatment potential, accounting for 67% of the variance overall. Further, mothers’ emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between mothers’ flexibility/rigidity and child maltreatment potential. Consequently, emotion regulation skills represent an important point of intervention for mothers of young children who are at increased risk for child maltreatment due to difficult temperament characteristics.     

Exhausted,mistreated, or indifferent? Explaining deviance from emotional display rules at work

This article explores different theoretical explanations for deviance from display rules (DDR), which occurs when employees consciously display emotions to customers that are unsanctioned by the organization. DDR is an important outcome in service organizations because it triggers strong negative reactions from customers, such as negative reputation and business losses. To better explain why DDR occurs, the author compared predictors drawn from organizational justice theory, conservation of resources theory and goal-setting theory in a comprehensive model to explore complementary and competing effects. The model was tested using hierarchical linear modelling with data from 1146 transactions performed by 51 service employees who participated in an experience sampling study over several weeks. Results demonstrated that emotional valence mediated the transaction-level relationship between customer interpersonal injustice and DDR. Similarly, negative emotions mediated the transaction-level relationship between mental exhaustion and DDR. However, person-level differences in goal commitment to organizational display rules had a buffering effect on the relationship between negative emotions and DDR. Overall, the results demonstrate that unfair treatment from customers and mental exhaustion can promote the expression of unsanctioned emotions to customers via negative emotional experiences, but employees who are committed to emotional labour goals are more resistant to engaging in DDR.     

Emotional prosody effects on verbal memory in older and younger adults

Prosody, or the way things are said, can modify the meaning of utterances making qualitatively different affective prosodies useful for understanding how auditory affective information is processed and remembered. In this study, we collected behavioral data from 225 younger (M age = 20.8 years, SD = 2.5 years; 119 males) and 225 older adults (M age = 71.6 years, SD = 6.5 years; 119 males) in order to examine age differences in emotional prosody effects on verbal memory. Participants were randomly divided into three subgroups according to different prosody listening conditions (positive, negative, and neutral) and prosody effects on a yes–no recognition memory task were investigated. The results showed how older adults who listened to the story read with a neutral prosody remembered more words than those who listened to the same story with a positive or negative prosody. Younger adults showed no valence effects. Our findings highlighted an age and affective prosody interaction that affects remembering in older adults alone.     

Maternal Emotion Socialization: The Contribution of Inhibited Behaviour and Mothers' Dissatisfaction with the Parent–Child Relationship

In the present study, we examined the associations between children's inhibited behaviour, mothers' dissatisfaction with the parent–child relationship and mothers' self‐reported reactions to children's emotions. Fifty‐three mother–child dyads visited the laboratory, and mothers completed questionnaires about child temperament and emotion socialization. Maternal stress stemming from dissatisfaction with the parent–child relationship was negatively predictive of mothers' supportive reactions to happiness. In addition, the interaction between children's inhibited behaviour and parent–child relationship dissatisfaction significantly predicted mothers' supportive reactions to children's fear; specifically, mothers who reported the highest levels of dissatisfaction in their relationship with their children and had children who exhibited low levels of inhibition reported the lowest levels of supportive responses to their children's fear. Importantly, mothers reported the highest levels of supportive reactions to children's fear when their children were low in inhibition, and they reported low levels of dissatisfaction in their relationship with their child. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

群体共享情绪的放大效应

相比独自经历情绪事件,在群体中与他人共享情绪事件会放大个体的情绪体验,该效应被称之为群体共享情绪的放大效应。以往研究为群体共享情绪放大效应提供了部分间接的实验证据,但以往的理论,如群体共同关注理论和情绪传染理论,并不能对该效应做出很好的解释。基于社会评估理论和共享现实理论提出的评估–证实–放大模型可较好地解释群体共享情绪的放大效应。未来研究可在真实互动的群体情境中检验群体共享情绪放大效应及评估–证实–放大模型。     

拖延的认知神经机制与基因:行为-脑-基因的多角度研究

拖延是一种普遍存在,具有跨时间和跨情景稳定性的问题行为,严重的拖延甚至会危害到人们的工作、学习及身心健康。鉴于目前对于拖延的认知神经机制仍不清楚,研究模态较为单一,本研究拟从行为-脑-基因的系统研究思路出发,以多模态MRI(Task、Resting、VBM和DTI)为主要技术手段,将HTR2B基因多态性作为突破口,系统考察拖延的认知机制、神经基础和遗传基础,并试图制定拖延的应对与干预方案。研究分为4个部分:(1)从行为上,结合预期恐惧范式和跨期选择范式探索其拖延决策的机制;(2)在神经层面上,采用MRI多模态技术系统考察拖延行为的神经基础;(3)在基因层面上,采用分子遗传学方法,将HTR2B设定为靶基因以深入研究拖延的遗传基础,并考察脑结构和脑功能在基因与行为间的中介作用;(4)最后从行为干预与脑的可塑性的角度,设计拖延的干预方法来改善拖延行为并验证拖延的神经机制。     

儿童早期亲子间情绪谈话的影响因素

作为父母情绪社会化的一种重要途径,亲子间有关情绪的谈话对儿童个性和社会性的发展意义重大。研究发现,包括文化、种族、社会经济地位在内的外部社会环境,儿童的年龄、性别和依恋等特点,以及父母的依恋、养育观念和心理健康状况等因素,都会对父母与儿童之间有关情绪的谈话产生影响。未来亲子间有关情绪的谈话研究应更多考虑儿童长远发展的社会文化适应性视角,加强对非言语信息、亲子间交互回应行为的分析,拓展儿童中期和青春期的探讨,并进一步细化各项研究指标的差异水平、考虑中介因素的作用。     

情绪调节灵活性的研究进展

情绪调节是个体适应现实的主要方式之一。由于情境和策略均会影响情绪调节效果,近期研究不仅关注个体在特定情境下使用特定的情绪调节策略,而且更加关注个体在变化情境下灵活地使用不同的情绪调节策略,即强调情绪调节灵活性的作用。基于情绪调节灵活性是个体随着情境的改变而同步改变策略,本文提出了情境改变、策略改变以及情境和策略的同步改变三个要素,介绍了情绪调节灵活性的三水平模型和三成分模型,区分了情绪调节灵活性的三类研究范式,讨论了情绪调节灵活性及其适应性,并指出了未来值得关注的研究方向。