Myth Information and Bizarre Beliefs of Male Juvenile Sex Offenders

The author describes mythical beliefs, thinking errors, and faulty attitudes collected from a group of male juvenile sex offenders. Therapists need this information to develop effective treatment strategies for replacing distortions and misperceptions with correct and moral information as a foundation for change.     

A preventive,psychoeducational approach to increase perceived social support

Investigated the effects of a 13-week preventive, psychoeducational intervention program to improve perceived social support. Fifty-one, low-perceived support, community residents were randomly assigned to an intervention or wait-list control condition. Intervention subjects received training in social skills and cognitive reframing regarding the self and social relations. The intervention led to increased perceived social support from family, but not from friends. As hypothesized by social cognition models, increases in perceived support appeared to be mediated by changes in self-esteem and frequency of self-reinforcement. Further, such changes in cognition about the self were larger than the changes observed for perceived support, suggesting that it may be easier to change cognition about the self than perceptions of support.     

The relative contribution of trait and social influences to the links among perceived social support, affect, and self-esteem

Although perceived support is influenced by both the personality traits of support recipients as well as various social factors, it is unknown to what extent these two types of influences account for perceived support's link to mental health. We investigated these relations using multivariate generalizability analyses. In three samples, both the trait and social influence components of perceived support were related to favorable affect and to self-esteem. The magnitude of the correlations between perceived support and mental health was similar for both the trait and social influence components. Similar findings were obtained for social conflict, although the links between conflict and mental health varied somewhat depending upon the level of analysis. These findings suggest that social support theories and interventions should include both trait and social mechanisms to explain and modify perceived support and mental health.     

Trait and social processes in the link between social support and affect: an experimental, laboratory investigation

This study investigated the extent to which the link between perceived social support and affect reflected support recipients' trait perceived support as well as three distinct social processes: the objective supportiveness of providers, the unique relationships among recipients and providers that were stable over occasions, as well as the unique relationships that varied across occasions. Ten recipients interacted with each of the same four providers on five separate occasions, for a total of 200 interactions. Recipients and independent observers rated recipient affect and provider support. Greater perceived support was related to greater positive affect for recipients' trait perceived support, as well as for relationships that were stable over occasions and relationships that varied across occasions. No social support effects were found for negative affect. Perceived similarity was a consistent predictor of recipients' support perceptions. Implications for social support models and interventions were discussed.     

Examining the Relations Among Narcissism, Impulsivity, and Self-Defeating Behaviors

ABSTRACT A recent meta-analysis ( S. Vazire & D. C. Funder, 2006 ) suggested that narcissism and impulsivity are related and that impulsivity partially accounts for the relation between narcissism and self-defeating behaviors (SDB). This research examines these hypotheses in two studies and tests a competing hypothesis that Extraversion and Agreeableness account for this relation. In Study 1 , we examined the relations among narcissism, impulsivity, and aggression. Both narcissism and impulsivity predicted aggression, but impulsivity did not mediate the narcissism–aggression relation. In Study 2 , narcissism was related to a measure of SDB and manifested divergent relations with a range of impulsivity traits from three measures. None of the impulsivity models accounted for the narcissism–SDB relation, although there were unique mediating paths for traits related to sensation and fun seeking. The domains of Extraversion and low Agreeableness successfully mediated the entire narcissism–SDB relation. We address the discrepancy between the current and meta-analytic findings.     

Exposure to Major Stressors May Reduce Dysfunctional Cognition About Them1

Exposure to a given stressor may enhance future resistance to that specific event as well as to stressful events more generally. One mechanism may be that prior exposure decreases dysfunctional beliefs about the specific event or to events in general (i. e., general dysfunctional attitudes). The research described here examined whether exposure to divorce was related to fewer divorce‐specific and general dysfunctional attitudes. Divorced participants reported fewer divorce‐specific dysfunctional attitudes than did happily married participants or married participants considering divorce. Similarly, adult children of divorced parents had fewer divorce‐specific dysfunctional attitudes than did adult children of happily married parents. A different pattern was observed for general dysfunctional attitudes.     

Links among attachment dimensions, affect, the self, and perceived support for broadly generalized attachment styles and specific bonds

Measures of adult attachment reflect both respondents' broadly generalized styles as well as bonds with specific attachment figures. Using Cronbach, Gleser, Nanda, and Rajaratnam's (1972) Multivariate Generalizability analyses, the authors estimated the extent to which correlations among attachment, affect, the self, and perceived social support occurred for both styles and bonds. In two studies, participants rated attachment, affect, the self, and perceived support when thinking about their mothers, fathers, and romantic partners. In both studies, attachment dimensions reflected specific bonds much more so than generalized styles. When correlations reflected specific bonds, both anxious and avoidant dimensions were strongly linked to high negative affect, low positive affect, and low perceived support. In contrast, evidence for links between attachment and affect was inconclusive when correlations reflected generalized styles. Links between attachment and the self depended on the type of self-construct and whether styles or bonds were analyzed.     

The role of ordinary conversation and shared activity in the main effect between perceived support and affect

People with high perceived support have better mental health, but how this occurs is not well understood. We tested hypotheses from relational regulation theory that the main effect between perceived support and affect primarily reflects ordinary conversation and shared activity. In two studies (n = 193; n = 149), students rated three important network members and psychological reactions to each. In a third study (n = 72) strangers shared an activity in a round‐robin design. Affect was strongly determined by with who participants were interacting or thinking about. Perceived support, ordinary conversation, and shared activity were strongly linked, and each was related to high positive affect, low negative affect, perceived similarity, and few negative thoughts. Perceived support's link to affect emerged when strangers shared a brief activity. Thus, much of perceived support's main effect with affect could be explained as resulting from ordinary conversation and shared activity.