Savoring interventions for mothers of young children: Mechanisms linking relational savoring and personal savoring to reflective functioning

Parenting interventions can improve parenting outcomes, with widespread implications for children's developmental trajectories. Relational savoring (RS) is a brief attachment-based intervention with high potential for dissemination. Here we examine data from a recent intervention trial in order to isolate the mechanisms by which savoring predicts reflective functioning (RF) at treatment follow-up through an examination of the content of savoring sessions (specificity, positivity, connectedness, safe haven/secure base, self-focus, child-focus). Mothers (N = 147, M_age = 30.84 years, SD_age = 5.13; Race: 67.3% White/Caucasian, 12.9% other or declined to state; 10.9% biracial/multiracial, 5.4% Asian, 1.4% Native American/Alaska Native, 2.0% Black/African American; Ethnicity: 41.5% Latina) of toddlers (M_age = 20.96 months, SD_age = 2.50; 53.5% female) were randomized to four sessions of RS or personal savoring (PS). Both RS and PS predicted higher RF, but through different means. RS was indirectly associated with higher RF through greater connectedness and specificity of savoring content, while PS was indirectly associated with higher RF through greater self-focus in savoring content. We discuss the implications of these findings for treatment development and for our understanding of the emotional experience of mothers of toddlers.     

Adults’ self-reported attachment influences their savoring ability

Positive affect is important for well-being, yet little is known about individual differences in the ability to up-regulate (savor) positive emotions. In a sample of 120 adults (ages 18–94; 62.5% female), this study extends correlational work by examining how attachment relates to self-reported savoring and to an experimentally-induced behavioral savoring task where participants were randomly assigned to reflect on a positive event (or complete a control task). Avoidance was related to lower trait savoring, and the effects of attachment on experimentally-induced savoring differed by the type of event participants savored. Avoidance was related to poorer affective outcomes after savoring interpersonal events but was unrelated to affective outcomes for non-interpersonal events. Anxiety was related to better outcomes after savoring non-interpersonal events but was unrelated to savoring interpersonal events. Overall, effects suggest that more insecurely attached adults may not savor as often, and may have difficulty savoring interpersonal events but not non-interpersonal events.     

品味:主动用心地感受积极体验

品味(savoring)是积极心理学中的一个重要概念,它主要指个体延长和增强积极体验的过程。本文在介绍Bryant和Veroff的品味理论基础上,结合最新研究进一步对品味的概念、结构、机制、测量进行系统论述,并探讨了品味和幸福感的关系以及提高品味能力的方法。除了需要在品味的神经生理机制、品味的毕生发展研究、品位的文化差异等一些研究领域继续努力外,品味的测量以及应用等问题也都值得未来研究注意。     

The relationship of children's hope to pediatric asthma treatment adherence

This study investigated the relationship between hope and adherence to a daily inhaled steroid regimen among 48 asthma patients ages 8–12 years old who participated in a 14 day adherence assessment. Participants completed the Children's Hope Scale, and parents completed a questionnaire aimed at demographic and disease-related information. Adherence was measured by electronic monitoring of the use of the participant's metered-dose inhaler. A multivariate model predicting nonadherence was built, including FEV₁ in the first step and children's hope level in the second step. This model was a significant predictor of adherence (Nagelkerke R ²?=?0.24, p?=?0.01). No other demographic or psychosocial variables were significant predictors of adherence. These findings highlight the need to attend to psychosocial predictors of adherence, specifically hope, and may help practitioners target these factors in their efforts to increase adherence among pediatric asthma patients.     

跨期决策中的负折扣现象及其机制

主流跨期决策模型认为, 跨期决策存在一个时间折扣过程。时间折扣是指人们会根据将来获益或损失的延迟时间对其效用进行折扣, 折扣后的效用小于原来的效用, 而负折扣现象违背了时间折扣过程。负折扣现象出现在金钱、非金钱的获益与损失领域, 其可能的解释机制为预期情绪。目前关于负折扣现象的研究, 较少验证其影响机制, 未来的研究可以结合眼动追踪和fMRI技术探讨其机制, 并丰富对负折扣现象的影响因素研究。     

Psychological distress with relationship satisfaction is moderated by anticipatory relational savoring among non-deployed military partners

This study recruited participants whose partners were deployed for active-duty military service to examine whether anticipatory relational savoring moderated the association of psychological distress with relationship satisfaction. Two weeks prior to their partner's deployment (T1), participants (N = 73) completed a self-report measure of relationship satisfaction. Then, 2 weeks into their partner's deployment (T2), participants completed self-report measures of stress, loneliness, and depression (combined into a composite index of psychological distress), and relationship satisfaction. Participants also completed a stream-of-consciousness task at T2 in which they imagined and discussed their partner's return from deployment. We coded the stream-of-consciousness task for anticipatory relational savoring regarding their upcoming reunion with their deployed partner. We found that anticipatory relational savoring moderated the association of psychological distress with during-deployment relationship satisfaction after adjusting for demographics, interpersonal variables, and deployment-specific variables; the association did not hold after adjusting for pre-deployment relationship satisfaction, and thus was robust when considering the distress-satisfaction association during the deployment but was not when considering changes in relationship satisfaction from pre- to during-deployment. We discuss the potential importance of anticipatory relational savoring for this unique population.     

Reframing the ordinary: Imagining time as scarce increases well-being

We explored a counterintuitive approach to increasing happiness: Imagining time as scarce. Participants were randomly assigned to try to live this month (LTM) like it was their last in their current city (time scarcity intervention; n = 69) or to keep track of their daily activities (neutral control; n = 70). Each group reported their activities and their psychological need satisfaction (connectedness, competence, and autonomy) weekly for 4 weeks. At baseline, post-intervention, and 2-week follow-up, participants reported their well-being – a composite of life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions. Participants in the LTM condition increased in well-being over time compared to the control group. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that these differences in well-being were explained by greater connectedness, competence, and autonomy. Thus, imagining time as scarce prompted people to seize the moment and extract greater well-being from their lives.     

When Times Get Tough: Savoring and Relationship Satisfaction in Couples Coping with a Stressful Life Event

Background and Objectives: When couples face a stressful life event, this can adversely impact relationship satisfaction. Because savoring positive experiences is thought to enhance intimate relationships and there is evidence that savoring buffers the negative effects of stress at the intrapersonal level, this study examined savoring as an interpersonal resource for couples who experienced a stressful life event.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-eight opposite-sex couples completed measures of impact of event, savoring, positive affect, and relationship satisfaction.

Results: Results from actor-partner interdependence models found that: (1) For couple members who reported a relatively low impact of event, their own savoring was positively predicted by their partner’s impact of event; (2) For women, their own savoring the moment predicted their own and their partner’s greater relationship satisfaction; (3) The relationship between one’s own impact of event and relationship satisfaction was buffered by one’s partner’s savoring the moment; and (4) The relationship between one’s own savoring and relationship satisfaction was mediated by one’s own positive affect.

Conclusions: The findings support the study of savoring as an interpersonal resource in times of stress and have implications for couples-based interventions.