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Social anxiety, depressive symptoms, and post-event rumination: Affective consequences and social contextual influences
Abstract
Using a self-presentation perspective, we hypothesized that during social interactions in which social attractiveness could be easily appraised by others, more socially anxious individuals would be more prone to ruminate and rumination would have more adverse emotional consequences. After assessing social anxiety and depressive symptoms, unacquainted college students participated in 45-min structured social interactions manipulated to induce personal self-disclosure or mimic superficial, small-talk. Affective experiences were assessed immediately after and 24h after social interactions. Results found that social anxiety was associated with negative post-event rumination more strongly among those with elevated depressive symptoms. Further, at higher levels of social anxiety, post-event rumination was associated with increases in NA following personal disclosure interactions and decreases in NA following small-talk interactions. Individuals with more depressive symptoms experienced increases in NA following small-talk interactions, but not personal disclosure interactions. Contrary to expectation, positive relations between social anxiety and rumination were not mediated by self-presentation concerns during interactions. Fitting with relevant theory, findings implicated symptom and social contextual variables that moderate the affective consequences of rumination.
... These effects were maintained even one week after experimentally induced confrontations 36 , as well as in naturalistic reports of diary-based studies 37 . When stressorinduced ruminative processes are compared in depressed patients and socially anxious individuals, studies found the latter to be more strongly 38 and both uniquely associated with negative post-event rumination 35 . However, it remains unclear in how far momentary ruminative responses represent a construct associated with depressive rumination as defined by Nolen-Hoeksema 9 and/or social anxiety. ...
... This is crucial as the TSST has recently been used to elicit state ruminative responses as life stress has been shown to be one trigger of rumination and the latter to be a mediating factor of stress and psychopathology 59,60 . In addition, previous findings suggest that social anxiety and depression appear to be uniquely associated with stress induced ruminative processes, although the underlying mechanisms seem to be of a similar manner 35,38 . We analyzed behavioral, neurobiological and autonomous correlates of trait rumination and social anxiety as predictors of the stress response. ...
We aimed to investigate stress-reactive rumination in response to social stress and its association with social anxiety and trait rumination. From previous investigations we know that people with a certain vulnerability to rumination show increased stress-reactive rumination. However, up to date the possible influence of social anxiety on this relationship is still unclear. Therefore, we reanalyzed the data of two of our previous studies assessing healthy low and high trait ruminators and depressed patients performing the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). We measured cortical oxygenation using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) as well as different behavioral outcome measures (subjective stress levels, negative affect, state rumination). On a behavioral level, we found an influence of both, social anxiety and trait rumination, on state rumination, even when correcting for the other factor, respectively, implying two potentially independent factors of influence. On a neural level, we observed reduced activation in brain regions of the cognitive control network (CCN) for higher social anxiety and trait rumination, which might be a result of reduced cognitive and attentional control. Results indicate a specific role of social anxiety, at least on a behavioral level, and therefore implicate a crucial factor to be considered in the treatment of depression.
... These effects were maintained even one week after experimentally induced confrontations 33 , as well as in naturalistic reports of diary-based studies 34 . When stressor-induced ruminative processes are compared in depressed patients and socially anxious individuals, studies found the latter to be more strongly 35 and both uniquely associated with negative post-event rumination 32 . However, it remains unclear in how far momentary ruminative responses represent a construct associated with depressive rumination as de ned by Nolen-Hoeksema 9 and/or social anxiety. ...
... This is crucial as the TSST has recently been used to elicit state ruminative responses as life stress has been shown to be one trigger of rumination and the latter to be a mediating factor of stress and psychopathology 88,89 . In addition, previous ndings suggest that social anxiety and depression appear to be uniquely associated with stress induced ruminative processes, although the underlying mechanisms seem to be of a similar manner 32,35 . We analyzed behavioral, neurobiological and autonomous correlates of trait rumination and social anxiety as predictors of the stress response. ...
We aimed to investigate the stress-reactive rumination response to social stress and its association with social anxiety and trait rumination. From previous investigations we know that people with a certain vulnerability to rumination show increased stress-reactive rumination. However, up to date the possible influence of social anxiety to this relationship is still unclear. Therefore, we reanalyzed the data of two of our previous studies assessing healthy low and high trait ruminators and depressed patients performing the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). We measured cortical oxygenation using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) as well as different behavioral outcome measures (subjective stress levels, negative affect, state rumination). On a behavioral level, we found an influence of both, social anxiety and trait rumination, on state rumination, even when correcting for the other factor, respectively, implying two potentially independent factors of influence. On a neural level, we observed reduced activation in socially anxious subjects in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), as well as time-dependent changes in the left IFG and in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Results indicate a specific role of social anxiety, at least on a behavioral level, and therefore implicate a crucial factor to be considered in the treatment of depression.
... This is also in line with the findings of previous research using fear of negative and positive evaluation, depression, worry, and anxiety sensitivity measures [20,25,30].. Further, we also demonstrated that certain maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies such as self-blame and rumination can facilitate social anxiety. Previous studies [36,[70][71][72] identified emotion regulation difficulties characterizing socially anxious individuals. For instance, rumination is frequently used by socially anxious individuals [70][71][72], as well as they have difficulties with the acceptance of emotional responses and controlling their impulsive reactions [40]. ...
... Previous studies [36,[70][71][72] identified emotion regulation difficulties characterizing socially anxious individuals. For instance, rumination is frequently used by socially anxious individuals [70][71][72], as well as they have difficulties with the acceptance of emotional responses and controlling their impulsive reactions [40]. Further, socially anxious individuals are more prompt to blame themselves [40], probably because their attention is more self-focused [73]. ...
Background
Although social anxiety disorder is one of the most frequent disorders, it often remained unrecognized. Utilizing brief, yet reliable screening tools, such as the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS-6) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS-6) are helping to solve this problem in parts of Western Europe and the US. Still some countries, like Hungary, lag behind. For this purpose, previous studies call for further evidence on the applicability of the scales in various populations and cultures, as well as the elaborative validity of the short forms. Here, we aimed to provide a thorough analysis of the scales in five studies. We employed item response theory (IRT) to explore the psychometric properties of the SIAS-6 and the SPS-6 in Hungarian adults ( n = 3213, age range:19–80) and adolescents ( n = 292, age range:14–18).
Results
In both samples, IRT analyses demonstrated that the items of SIAS-6 and SPS-6 had high discriminative power and cover a wide range of the latent trait. Using various subsamples, we showed that (1) the scales had excellent convergent and divergent validity in relation to domains of anxiety, depression, and cognitive emotion regulation in both samples. Further, that (2) the scales discriminated those with a history of fainting or avoidance from those without such history. Lastly, (3) the questionnaires can discriminate people diagnosed with social anxiety disorder ( n = 30, age range:13–71) and controls.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that the questionnaires are suitable for screening for SAD in adults and adolescents. Although the confirmation of the two-factor structure may be indicative of the validity of the “performance only” specifier of SAD in DSM-V, the high correlation between the factors and the similar patter of convergent validity might indicate that it is not a discrete entity but rather a part of SAD; and that SAD is latently continuous.
... Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies are ineffective at modifying the negative affective states caused by being socially anxious Rusch et al., 2012). Previous studies (Brozovich & Heimberg, 2008;Jazaieri et al., 2014;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007;Perini et al., 2006) identified the specific emotion regulation difficulties characterizing socially anxious individuals. Specifically, rumination, as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, is frequently used by socially anxious individuals (Brozovich & Heimberg, 2008;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007;Perini et al., 2006), as well as they have difficulties with the acceptance of emotional responses and controlling their impulsive reactions (Rusch et al., 2012). ...
... Previous studies (Brozovich & Heimberg, 2008;Jazaieri et al., 2014;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007;Perini et al., 2006) identified the specific emotion regulation difficulties characterizing socially anxious individuals. Specifically, rumination, as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, is frequently used by socially anxious individuals (Brozovich & Heimberg, 2008;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007;Perini et al., 2006), as well as they have difficulties with the acceptance of emotional responses and controlling their impulsive reactions (Rusch et al., 2012). Also, according to our results, the effects of the different maladaptive emotion regulation strategies leading to problematic smartphone and SNS use in socially anxious individuals were different. ...
It has been shown that individuals who are highly socially anxious prefer computer-mediated communication over face-to-face communication possibly due to the control and social liberation that it provides. Yet, little is known about transdiagnostic psychopathology constructs as mediators that may help understand this relationship. In the present study, our goal was to investigate the extent to which maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies mediate the relationship between social anxiety, problematic social networking (SNS) site and smartphone use (PSU). A total of 499 participants filled out our survey including measures of social anxiety, emotion regulation strategies, social media and smartphone addiction. We used structural equation modeling to test the indirect and direct effects between the variables. We found that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (rumination, catastrophizing, self-blame and other blame) mediated the relationship between social anxiety and both problematic SNS use and PSU. The direct effect between social anxiety and problematic SNS use was also significant. We show that emotion regulation is a key factor in developing problematic and SNS use. Further, we argue that a smartphone could serve as an external tool for emotion regulation which could, in turn, lead to problematic SNS use. Theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed.
... Due to the high co-occurrence of SA and depression (Pini et al. 1997), as well as the strong relationship between depression and AUD (Grant et al. 2005), depression may also be implicated in the mechanisms linking SA and alcohol use. Specifically, there is evidence that the relationship between SA and negative post-event rumination is not only stronger in, but perhaps uniquely observed among, individuals with elevated depressive symptoms (Kashdan and Roberts 2007). Additional evidence suggests that for individuals with depressive symptoms, ruminative thinking is associated with increased coping motived drinking and subsequent alcohol-related problems (Bravo et al. 2018). ...
... Thus, it is possible that the PEP-Q captures variance at the ends of the range that the TQ does not, and thus may be more sensitive to between-group differences in high levels of postevent rumination and related distress. However, consistent with prior work linking depression to negative post-event rumination (Kashdan and Roberts 2007), those with higher depressive symptoms in the present study reported significantly more negative post-event rumination, as hypothesized. This shows that the TQ negative scale is sufficiently sensitive to detect differences in depressive symptoms, suggesting that it does indeed tap into transdiagnostic rumination as it was intended to do. ...
Background
Social anxiety (SA) is highly comorbid with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Alcohol may be negatively reinforcing for SA individuals by dampening post-event rumination (i.e., negative rumination following social interactions). Prior research has supported this hypothesis with negative rumination. Depression, commonly comorbid with SA and AUD, also features rumination.Method
Through secondary analyses, we examined the effects of alcohol consumption before an in-lab social interaction and depressive symptoms on both negative and positive post-event rumination about the interaction. Ninety-four high SA undergraduates were randomized to consume alcohol or no alcohol before the interaction; depressive symptoms were measured. Post-event rumination was measured three days later.ResultsThose higher (vs lower) in depressive symptoms reported more negative rumination. Those randomized to the alcohol (vs no alcohol) condition reported more positive rumination after the interaction.Conclusions
Individuals with SA may find alcohol positively reinforcing by increasing positive post-event rumination, independent of negative reinforcement effects. Clinical implications are discussed.
... Another important transdiagnostic psychopathology construct is rumination, which involves repetitive focusing on one's negative thoughts (Mennin & Fresco, 2013). In social relationships, those who ruminate tend to do so about aspects of the relationship (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). While rumination can represent the cognitive aspect of anxiety in social relationships, habitually checking SNS for notifications can represent the behavioral aspect of the anxiety . ...
... We included rumination as a mediating variable, which should be positively related to depression and social anxiety, and inversely related to life satisfaction (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007;Mennin & Fresco, 2013). We also included FoMO as a mediating variable, positively related to depression and social anxiety, and inversely related to life satisfaction Przybylski et al., 2013;Wolniewicz, Tiamiyu, Weeks, & Elhai, 2018). ...
Introduction:
Prior research has found that psychopathology constructs such as depression and anxiety are associated with problematic use of Facebook (PFU). In the present study, we examined a structural equation model whereby depression, social anxiety and lower life satisfaction predicted PFU severity, while analyzing mediating variables including rumination, fear of missing out (FoMO), and frequency of Facebook use, as well as age and gender as covariates.
Method:
Participants were 296 college students administered a web survey of instruments measuring these constructs.
Results:
Modeling results demonstrate that FoMO and rumination were significantly related to PFU severity. Facebook use frequency was related to PFU severity. FoMO and rumination each mediated relations between social anxiety and PFU severity.
Conclusions:
Results are discussed in the context of prior work on FoMO and excessive technology use, as well as several relevant theoretical frameworks.
... In the context of SAD, rumination has been conceptualized as a self-regulatory mechanism during the course of social activity (i.e., self-appraisals and external evaluations of partners and other details involving the event) and has been proposed to play a role in the generation and maintenance of social anxiety (Clark & Wells, 1995). In fact, individuals with SAD use worry and rumination with the illusory aim to rehearse safety-behaviors and increase feelings of preparedness (Clark & Wells, 1995;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007); again, however, these strategies are ineffective and ultimately exacerbate avoidance of upcoming social interactions (Hofmann, 2007). ...
... The DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) clearly states that symptoms of MDD "cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social area of functioning", whereas in SAD "social interaction will consistently provoke distress, social interactions are either avoided, or painfully and reluctantly endured". To our knowledge, only one study examined the effects of social interaction on perseverative cognition in relation to both symptoms of depression and social anxiety (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). Interestingly, the authors showed that social anxiety was associated with greater negative post-event rumination following social interactions with strangers, but the effect was largely limited to those individuals with elevated depressive symptoms. ...
Background and objectives:
Major depression disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are characterized by the use of perseverative cognition (PC) as a dysfunctional coping strategy. We sought to investigate the dysfunctional physiological and psychological consequences of PC and how the valence of social interactions moderates such consequences in these psychopathological conditions.
Design/methods:
The study combined 24-hour heart rate variability (HRV) and ecological momentary assessments in 48 individuals with MDD, SAD, and sex-matched controls.
Results:
In all participants, PC was associated with mood worsening and reduced ability of the parasympathetic nervous system, mainly the vagus, to inhibit sympathetic arousal (i.e., reduced HRV). Individuals with SAD had the highest frequency of daily PC, while those with MDD reported that PC interfered more with their ongoing activities. In SAD, daily PC was associated with significantly lower HRV after negative social interactions. Individuals with MDD reported higher levels of sadness during PC irrespective of the valence of the preceding social interaction but higher levels of anxiety and efforts to inhibit PC following positive interactions.
Conclusions:
Results highlight the need to account for important moderators like the valence of social interaction when looking at the physiological consequences of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies.
... Por último, en las manifestaciones cognitivas, se encuentra que la persona tiene constantes pensamientos negativos de autoevaluación, se adelanta a la conclusión de los hechos y les da una connotación negativa. Estos síntomas generan consecuencias que afectan todas las áreas de desarrollo de las personas, ya que provocan aislamiento social, deterioro de los vínculos y relaciones ya establecidas, consecuencias académicas y laborales, e impactan en variables que disminuyen el bienestar general, tales como autoestima, depresión entre otros (Adams et al., 2016;Hur et al., 2019;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). ...
Resumen Abstract Tabla de Contenido La detección temprana y el diagnóstico clínico de la ansiedad social son esenciales para la prevención y tratamiento de esta patología. Por ello en Argentina se ha adaptado la versión breve de la Escala de Fobia y Ansiedad Social (SPAI-B) para su utilización en adultos. Si bien este instrumento permitió ampliar el campo de investigación en este país, hasta el momento no se cuentan con datos normativos que den utilidad como herramienta diagnóstica. El objetivo de este trabajo fue construir los baremos de interpretación del SPAI-B en adultos argentinos a partir de una muestra de 1513 personas de entre 18 y 80 años. Se establecieron baremos según edad y sexo utilizando valores percentilares y puntajes T. Los resultados evidenciaron que los puntos de corte establecidos como criterio diagnóstico presentan buena precisión y poder discriminativo satisfactorio, dando cuenta de la utilidad de la escala para la investigación y la evaluación clínica.
... In generalized anxiety disorder, along with the repetition of negative thoughts about uncontrollable situations is given as an example of rumination, it is also stated that there is a parallel relationship between rumination and anxiety (Yılmaz, 2014). As for in social fobia, rumination is seen as the person's evaluation of their own acceptability in social environments and thinking over and over again about the events in the mind after the events experienced (Kashdan and Roberts, 2007). The evaluation of rumination, which is seen as a joint sign in most diagnoses, as a transdiagnostic symptom was explained by Watkins as being effective in the onset, persistence, and relapse of multiple diseases and comorbidities (Watkins, 2015). ...
Transdiagnostic, in other words ‘beyond diagnosis’ is a term that which is generated as an alternative to some negative situations which are caused by diagnostic approach. Transdiagnostic approach is a comprehensive perspective which adopts diagnosis as a tool and crossover rather than the main purpose. Rumination means that repetitive and compulsory thoughts which provokes a lot of negative cicumstances. Runimation is seen in many psychopathologic diagnosis as symptom even it is not mentioned as an exact diagnosis in the literature. Some notions like rumination which are not described as exact diagnosis but provide some criterias which are seen as general psychopathologic symptoms qualified as transdiagnostic. The aim of this study is evaluating rumination in the concept of transdiagnostic view by reviewing literature and discussing its advantages. Studies show that ruminations effects on many diagnoses persistence, occurance and relapse like depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol addiction and substance addiction helps to understand transdiagnostic feature of itself. At the same time, factors like adding a meaning to evaluation of the relationship between diagnoses, occuring important effects on consistence of diagnosis as being mediator role and implicit role provide a view to understand transdiagnostic charasteristic of rumination. To sum up, by handling rumination as a transdiagnostic notion some criterias are aimed such as influencing to symptoms and diagnosis which are caused and continued by rumination.
... In particular, MW as a cognitive phenomenon has been associated with negative cognitive, behavioral, autonomic (Ottaviani and Couyoumdjian, 2013;Ottaviani et al., 2015) and moods (Smallwood et al., 2009;Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010), not unlike rumination and worry as a clinical phenomenon a point of convergence that mirrors clinical phenomena of rumination (see Watkins and Roberts, 2020 for a review), post-event processing (Kashdan and Roberts, 2007), and worry (see Brosschot et al., 2006 for a review). This in turn raises a critical question: Could repetitive negative thoughts (RNTs) as studied in the clinical domain explain or mediate the relationship between MW and negative moods as observed in the cognitive domain? ...
Inattention to one’s on-going task leads to well-documented cognitive, behavioral, and physiological consequences. At the same time, the reliable association between mind-wandering and negative mood has suggested that there are affective consequences to task inattention as well. We examined this potential relationship between inattention and mood in the following study. Six hundred and fifty-five participants completed self-report questionnaires related to inattentive thinking (i.e., attentional lapses, daydreaming, mindfulness, rumination, reflection, worry, postevent processing, inattentiveness, and counterfactual thinking), a questionnaire about depressive symptoms, and a questionnaire about anxiety symptoms. First, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify potential underlying constructs of types of inattentive thinking. Using ordinary least squares extraction and Oblimin rotation, a three-factor model demonstrated suitable fit, broadly representing mind-wandering/inattentive consequences, repetitive negative thinking, and reflective/introspective thinking. Second, after eliminating measures that did not strongly load on any factor, structural equation modeling was conducted and found that the relationship between mind-wandering and depression was partially explained by repetitive negative thinking, whereas the relationship between mind-wandering and anxiety was fully explained by repetitive negative thinking. The present findings suggest that understanding how inattentive thoughts are interrelated not only influences mood and affect but also reveals important considerations of intentionality, executive functioning, and qualitative styles of these thoughts.
... Некоторые работы указывают на положительный эффект рефлексии в отношении самооценки и резилентности [Cowden R.G., Meyer-Weitz A., 2016], самопознания [Trapnell, Campbell, 1999], личностного роста и самопринятия [Harrington, Loffredo, 2011]. Есть также исследования, где описана дезадаптивная роль рефлексии в генезе социальнотревожного расстройства [Falon S. et al. 2021] и депрессии [Kashdan, Roberts, 2007]. Таким образом, мы понимаем, что развитость рефлексии совсем не означает ее продуктивности [Карпов, 2008]. ...
The article discusses the role of reflection and time perspective in reactive-proactive coping behavior in early adulthood. The role of reflexivity and reflection of past experience in reactive-proactive coping is discussed, taking into account the described functions of reflexive processes in the genesis of coping behavior. Empirical study using the method of individual measure of reflexivity (A.V. Karpov, V.V. Ponomareva), questionnaire of proactive coping behavior (adapted by Starchenkova E.S.), Ways of Coping Questionnaire by R. Lazarus and S. Folkman (adapted by T .L. Kryukova, E.V. Kuftyak, M.S. Zamyshlyaeva, 2005); Time Perspective Inventory by F. Zimbardo (adapted by A. Syrtsova et al.) showed that reflexivity and ontogenetic reflection are not associated with reactive-proactive strategies and time perspective parameters. To a greater extent, orientation to the future is associated with reactive strategies that have a proactive potential; attitudes towards the past are associated with reactive strategies aimed at flight-avoidance; orientation to the present - to different reactive strategies. The dendrogram using the Ward method showed that only reflexivity is combined with reactive-proactive strategies in one of the clusters, ontogenetic reflection forms a separate cluster, as well as proactive strategies with time perspective indicators. The findings suggest that reflexivity may be a mechanism that facilitates the integration of different strategies into reactive-proactive coping.
Keywords: reactive-proactive coping, reflexivity, ontogenetic reflection, time perspective, young age (early adulthood)
... When this anxiety is high, there is an effort to hide these concerned situations as much as possible or avoid such social environments (Kashdan et al., 2011). It is noted that people with social interaction anxiety constantly relive disturbing experiences in their minds and experience negative emotions (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). Studies have shown that social interaction anxiety represents the subjective social anxiety that individuals experience regardless of the accompanying behaviors (Leary, 1983), and it has a strong correlation with perceived social support (Konan & Celik, 2019) and low self-esteem (Gumus, 2016;Leary & Kowalski, 1995). ...
In this research, the serial mediating effect of interaction anxiety and insight in the relationship between self-esteem and approval dependence in university students was examined. The study group of the research consists of 511 university students. Research data was collected via “Two-Dimensional Self-Esteem Scale”, “the Scale of Interpersonal Relationship Dimensions”, “Interaction Anxiousness Scale” and “Insight Scale”. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of the data, while Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used in determining the relationship between the variables, and Bootstrap method was used to test the mediation model. According to the mediation analysis results, it was revealed that interaction anxiousness and insight functioned as mediation variables in the relationship between self-esteem and approval dependence. According to the findings, increase in self-esteem causes a decline in interaction anxiousness, which causes an increase in insight, which in turn leads to a decline in approval dependence. Findings related to the model that was tested were discussed in accordance with the literature. Suggestions for researchers and field practitioners were listed. here to enter text.
... Anger, a negative feeling state with specific cognitive appraisals, physiological changes and action tendencies [5], is associated with several mental disorders, many of which do not include anger as a key symptom, for example mood disorders, disrupted eating, and substance-related disorders [6,7]. Research shows a close relationship between anger and depression in community [8,9] and patient populations [10,11], with depressed people experiencing more anger [12] and using more anger suppression (concealment of angry feelings) than non-depressed people [9]. Although anger is generally perceived as maladaptive [13,14], it can be adaptive (i.e., protective against psychopathology), especially when it is communicated in a helpful manner [15]. ...
Background
Depression and other forms of psychological distress are common among Vietnamese adolescents and increase the risk of mental health problems in adulthood. As anger coping is a robust predictor of adolescent mental health difficulties, and there appear to be cultural variations in anger coping, a measure of adolescent anger coping styles that has been validated using a non-Western adolescent sample is required to inform and support early intervention to prevent or treat mental health difficulties in Vietnamese adolescents. This study examined the construct validity (structural and external) of the Behavioral Anger Response Questionnaire for Children in Vietnam (BARQC-V).
Methods
Baseline data sourced from a recent randomised control trial conducted with Grade 10 Vietnamese adolescents aged 14 to 16 (N = 1084) were used to examine multiple aspects of construct validity: factorial structure (evaluated using factor analysis); internal consistency (tested using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient); and external aspect (assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients between the BARQC-V and Vietnamese translations of the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised, Mental Health Continuum Short Form, and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale).
Results
Evaluating factorial structure using confirmatory factor analysis failed to converge on a solution. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 5-factor structure model that explained 49.32% of the BARQC-V’s total variance and was deemed to be a good fit by the final confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the 5 factors demonstrated acceptable internal reliability for the BARQC-V’s sub-scales. Concerning concurrent validity, three sub-scales predicted well-being and mental health difficulties: the maladaptive anger coping styles Rumination and Direct Anger-out were positively associated with depression and distress, and negatively associated with coping self-efficacy and mental well-being; and the adaptive anger coping style Assertion was positively associated with coping self-efficacy and mental well-being, and negatively associated with depression.
Conclusions
The BARQC-V provides a validated measure of three anger coping strategies used by adolescents in Vietnam (Rumination, Direct Anger-out, and Assertion) that can be used to improve detection and treatment of mental health difficulties in this population, and as a starting point by future research to develop a much-needed gold standard measure of anger coping for adults, adolescents and children world-wide.
... There are numerous studies that have identified a variety of specific factors that have been reported to cause stress, and some of these include the following; academic examinations (Orbach, Shiloach, & Lamb, 2007), course contents (Pan & Tang, 2005), religious background (Miller & Keller, 2000), social interaction (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007) only to mention a few. ...
The study examined causes and effects of stress, coping mechanisms and academic
performance among theology students. The study site was Uganda Christian University main campus, Mukono. This site was easily accessible and the theology faculty is well organized in academic schedules. Uganda Christian University is termed as a centre for excellence and has both internal and external affiliations. The study was carried out to investigate and generate information on the role that stress, its effects and the different coping mechanisms that play in perceiving the students’ academic performance in the context of Uganda Christian University.
The significance of the study was to generate new knowledge and extend boundaries if research at Uganda Christian University. The information generated could in turn guide policy makers and administrators in the most effective and efficient stress coping mechanisms that can be utilized by university students to cope with stress. Additionally, administrators can implement programs to create stress management skills at Uganda Christian University. The research findings were based on the responses obtained from the undergraduate students of theology at Uganda Christian University, Mukono. This study was based on the specific objectives which in turn converted into research questions. Furthermore the findings revealed stress is a factor and that greatly impacts on students’ performance either as a booster or detriment. The research focused on 73 Theology students in all the three academic years of study that were selected purposefully, a self-administered questionnaire given after seeking their consent and explanation of what the research was about. Data collected was coded and entered into Statistical Package for Social Scientists ver.17 (SPSS) to generate statistics. The research was guided by a transactional model of stress, and stress coping strategies conceptual framework for evaluating the process of coping with stressful events (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008). The model identified primary appraisals of the stressful events such as environment, financial status, marital status and demand from studies. The coping effort included problem management, emotion regulation, revised goals, spiritual beliefs and positive events. While effects of stress as a whole ranged from physical to emotional, social and spiritual amongst others. Findings of the research indicate that most of the respondents were male who were most dominant in the program (60.27%). Majority
of the respondents (71.2%) identified a concern about poor grades as the biggest cause of stress, followed by the load in the course syllabus and lack of rest. In conclusion, the prevalence of stress seems to be high among theology students, which tends to affect not only their academic performances but also all aspects of health. Review of academics, and exam schedules, better interaction with the faculty professors, proper guidance, and peer counseling at the university can help alleviate the stress.
... When this anxiety is high, there is an effort to hide these concerned situations as much as possible or avoid such social environments (Kashdan et al., 2011). It is noted that people with social interaction anxiety constantly relive disturbing experiences in their minds and experience negative emotions (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). Studies have shown that social interaction anxiety represents the subjective social anxiety that individuals experience regardless of the accompanying behaviors (Leary, 1983), and it has a strong correlation with perceived social support (Konan & Celik, 2019) and low self-esteem (Gumus, 2016;Leary & Kowalski, 1995). ...
AR TICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History Re ce ived 11.08.2021 Re ce ived in re vised form 08.01.2022 Acce pte d 11.02.2022 Article Type : Research Article This re search e xamined the serial me diating e ffe ct of inte raction anxiety and insight in to the re lationship be tween self-esteem and approval de pendence in unive rsity stude nts. The research group comprise d 511 volunteer university stude nts, of whom 78,7% were females and 21,3% were male s. Re search data was collected via "The Two-Dimensional Se lf-Esteem Scale", "The Scale of Inte rpe rsonal Re lationship Dimensions", "Inte raction Anxiousness Scale", and "Insight Scale". In analysing the data, descriptive statistics were examined and the relationship between variables was calculated using the Pe arson correlation coefficient. The bootstrap me thod was used to te st the me diation mode l.The me diation analysis re sults re ve aled that inte raction anxiety and insight functione d as mediation variables in the relationship between self-esteem and approval dependence. According to the findings, an incre ase in se lf-esteem causes a decline in inte raction anxiousness, which causes an increase in insight, which in turn le ads to a de cline in approval de pe ndence. Findings re lated to the model that was tested were discussed following the lite rature. Sugge stions for re se arche rs and fie ld practitione rs we re liste d. © 2022 IJPES. All rights re se rved Ke ywords: Se lf-e steem, inte rpersonal re lationships, approval de pendence, inte raction anxiety, insight, serial me diator mode l.
... For instance, extensive research demonstrates that positive emotions create a broadened focus, which in turn promotes greater self-other overlap (Waugh & Fredrickson, 2006), enhanced social support during challenging times (Don, Algoe, et al., 2021;Don et al., 2021b), and the general building of social bonds (Fredrickson et al., 2008). Negative emotions, conversely, tend to create a narrowed attention, self-focus, and rigid self-absorption that can hamper the building of social bonds (e.g., Farmer & Kashdan, 2012;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). Although prior research has primarily examined how mean levels of affective experiences contribute to social connectedness, there is reason to suspect reductions in affective variability may mediate the association between meditation training and lower variability in social connectedness. ...
Objectives
Research demonstrates that meditation interventions tend to positively influence social well-being. Yet, prior research has exclusively examined meditation in relation to average levels of social outcomes (e.g., social connectedness), despite other work demonstrating variability or fluctuations in social functioning play a distinct role in contributing to well-being. This study examined the hypothesis that training in mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation would predict lower variability in social connectedness, even accounting for their positive influence on average levels of social connectedness. Moreover, this study also examined the hypothesis that lower variability in positive and negative emotions would mediate the link between training in meditation and reduced variability in social connectedness.
Methods
These hypotheses were tested using a randomized study of 224 mid-life adults. Participants received training in either mindfulness or loving-kindness meditation for 6 weeks. They reported their daily social connectedness and emotions for 2 weeks prior to the training, 6 weeks during the training, and 3 weeks after the training.
Results
Consistent with hypotheses, results demonstrated that participants in both meditation groups reported lower variability in social connectedness across the course of the intervention, even accounting for average levels of connectedness. Moreover, lower positive and negative affective variability partially mediated the association between time (training in meditation) and reduced variability in social connectedness.
Conclusions
These results suggest that (a) meditation may help to smooth social ups and downs across time and that (b) it may do so via its association with reduced affective variability.
... Negative emotions, conversely, tend to create a narrowed attention, self-focus, and rigid selfabsorption that can hamper the building of social bonds (e.g., Farmer & Kashdan, 2012;Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). Although prior research has primarily examined how mean levels of affective experiences contribute to social connectedness, there is reason to suspect reductions in affective variability may mediate the association between meditation training and lower variability in social connectedness. ...
... Moreover, individuals with MDD-SAD also tend to experience more psychiatric hospitalizations, substance abuse, social and occupational dysfunction, as well as suicidality (Dalrymple & Zimmerman, 2007;Adams et al, 2016). Several other additive effects were also observed, such as negative post-social event rumination (Kashdan and Roberts, 2007), general rumination (e.g., brooding, reflection) (Arditte Hall et al., 2019), social dysfunction (Saris et al., 2017), unhappiness and poor well-being (Spinhoven et al., 2015;Wersebe et al., 2018), peer and family alienation (Starr and Davila, 2008), and emotional variability (Thompson et al., 2017). Overall, the high co-occurrence of MDD-SAD is particularly concerning given the clear implications on general functioning and the additive effects of the disorders. ...
Background
: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are commonly occurring conditions, either alone or together (MDD-SAD). Recent research linked insecure attachment and alexithymia to MDD and/or SAD, indicating that the way affected individuals relate interpersonally and their ability to identify and communicate emotions are pertinent issues. The current study investigated the mediating role of alexithymia in the relationship between insecure attachment and severity of MDD and SAD symptoms.
Method
: Using the SCID-I, participants (N=159) were identified as MDD-only (n=43), MDD-SAD (n=56), or a healthy control (n=60). Participants completed measures of adult attachment, depression, social anxiety and alexithymia (defined as difficulty identifying and describing feelings). A two-step mediation analysis approach recommended by Shrout and Bolger determined if alexithymia mediates the relationship between attachment-depression and attachment-social anxiety.
Results
: While alexithymia was high in MDD-only and MDD-SAD groups, individuals with MDD-SAD had significantly greater difficulty describing feelings. Alexithymia was a full mediator between attachment avoidance and depression, but only a partial mediator between attachment anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, alexithymia was a partial mediator for both attachment dimensions and social anxiety.
Limitations
: Causal inferences regarding insecure attachment, alexithymia, and MDD and SAD cannot be assumed given the cross-sectional data. The ‘externally oriented thinking’ component in alexithymia was also excluded from analyses due to low reliability.
Conclusion
: The results suggest emotional awareness and expression play a role in the illness severity for MDD and SAD—particularly in those with high attachment avoidance, offering a possible target for treatment and prevention strategies.
... The increase in research on rumination is remarkable. Rumination has been defined in different forms, especially in the historical context, and has been fed from different theoretical structures (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007;Martin & Tesser, 1996;Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004;Trapnell & Campbell, 1999). These theories define rumination in different ways and rumination is measured differently in different structures . ...
The present study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of Turkish adaptation of the Mistake Rumination Scale (MRS) in university students. The study group consisted of 372 participants from different faculties, aged between 17 and 39 years and mainly female. We first translated Turkish of the MRS. Then, we analyzed the scale in terms of reliability and validity. The findings indicated that the MRS–Turkish Form confirmed seven items in one factor with good factor loadings. Good fit values were determined with the MRS–Turkish Form. The MRS–TF has good reliability coefficients. The mistake rumination was moderately positively correlated with ruminative thought styles and moderately negatively correlated with cognitive control and flexibility. These results demonstrated that the MRS–Turkish Form can be validly and reliably performed to Turkish culture.
... Worry is associated with anxiety disorders [9][10][11][12] and major depressive disorder [13][14][15]. Rumination is associated with both the development and persistence of mood and anxiety disorders [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24], addictive behaviours [25,26], and schizophrenia [27]. ...
The role of worry and rumination in eating disorders (EDs) is controversial. This meta-analysis of the literature is aimed at clarifying the relationship between repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and EDs. In accordance with the PRISMA criteria, a comprehensive search of the literature was conducted on PubMed and PsycInfo from inception to March 2021. Search terms: “eating disorder/anorexia/bulimia/binge eating disorder” AND “worry/rumination/brooding/repetitive thinking”. A manual search of reference lists was also run. Forty-three studies were included. RNT was found to be associated with anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. A moderating effect was found for “presence/absence ED diagnosis” and “subtype of ED symptom”. ED patients showed higher RNT than the general population. No differences were observed for age or between worry and rumination in the magnitude of their association with EDs.
... Second, individuals with SP possibly engage more in constant monitoring of threat and anxiety during social interactions, which can disrupt recognition and acknowledgment of rewards during this time [64]. Constant monitoring might arise due to a tendency to engage more in negative self-referent and self-evaluative thoughts [65][66][67], perceiving the interaction partner as more dominant [59], interpreting ambiguous social events in a negative way and mildly negative events in a catastrophic fashion [68], ruminating about possible social failures and possible devaluation by others after social interactions [69,70], which maintain distress and negative self-appraisals [26], or seeing social outcomes as information about expectations that others might have, rather than information about one's own competence [71]. Additionally, the reported social interactions might or might not include performance situations, since we enquired about meaningful social interactions. ...
Humans need meaningful social interactions, but little is known about the consequences of not having them. We examined meaningful social interactions and the lack thereof in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) or social phobia (SP) and compared them to a control group (CG). Using event-sampling methodology, we sampled participants’ everyday social behavior 6 times per day for 1 week in participants’ natural environment. We investigated the quality and the proportion of meaningful social interactions (when they had meaningful social interactions) and degree of wishing for and avoidance of meaningful social interactions (when they did not have meaningful social interactions). Groups differed on the quality and avoidance of meaningful social interactions: Participants with MDD and SP reported perceiving their meaningful social interactions as lower quality (in terms of subjective meaningfulness) than the CG, with SP patients reporting even lower quality than the MDD patients. Further, both MDD and SP patients reported avoiding meaningful social interactions significantly more often than the CG. Although the proportion of meaningful social interactions was similar in all groups, the subjective quality of meaningful social interactions was perceived to be lower in MDD and SP patients. Future research might further identify what variables influenced the reinforcement of the MDD and SP patients so that they engaged in the same number of meaningful social interactions even though the quality of their meaningful social interactions was lower. Increasing awareness of what happens when patients do or do not have meaningful social interactions will help elucidate a potentially exacerbating or maintaining factor of the disorders.
... Indeed, some forms of self-reflection (e.g., brooding) may actually be harmful for overall human functioning (Takano & Tanno, 2009;Trapnell & Campbell, 1999;Treynor et al., 2003), particularly in cases when a person's self-reflection is characterized by repetitive and uncontrollable thoughts about the causes, negative consequences and symptoms of current negative affect (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991) or a preoccupation with perceived threats, losses, shortcomings or injustices to the self (Takano & Tanno, 2009). Evidence points to the maladaptive role of post-event processing in the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (Clark & Wells, 1995), negative selfperceptions (Makkar & Grisham, 2011), and negative affect (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). ...
Background
Recent theoretical work suggests that self-reflection on daily stressors and the efficacy of coping strategies and resources is beneficial for the enhancement of resilient capacities. However, coping insights emerging from self-reflection, and their relationship to resilient capacities, is an existing gap in our understanding.
Objectives
Given that insights come in many forms, the objective of this paper is to delineate exemplar coping insights that strengthen the capacity for resilience.
Methods
After providing an overview of self-reflection and insight, we extend the Systematic Self-Reflection model of resilience strengthening by introducing the Self-Reflection and Coping Insight Framework to articulate how the emergence of coping insights may mediate the relationship between five self-reflective practices and the enhancement of resilient capacities.
Results
We explore the potential for coping insights to convey complex ideas about the self in the context of stressor exposure, an awareness of response patterns to stressors, and principles about the nature of stress and coping across time and contexts.
Conclusions
This framework adds to existing scholarship by providing a characterization of how coping insight may strengthen resilient capacities, allowing for a guided exploration of coping insight during future research.
... Against the backdrop of the above outlined close association of attachment style and emotion regulation ability it is important to gain further insight into the relationship between the experience and expression of anger and insecure attachment. Within this framework we assumed that difficulties in anger regulation in SAD basically derive from preoccupied attachment style and partially mediate the association between this attachment pattern and social anxiety [18,7]. No previous study investigated the relationship between anger expression and attachment in SAD. ...
Background
There is evidence for the relevance of attachment style and anger expression for the manifestation of social anxiety disorder (SAD).
Method
In a cross-sectional study 321 individuals with social anxiety disorder (41% men, age 38.8 ± 13.9) were compared with 94 healthy controls (37% men, age 35.8 ± 15.1) on several questionnaires (Attachment Styles Questionnaire, State Trait Anger Inventory, Social Phobia Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory).
Results
Individuals with SAD showed moderate-sized reduced levels of secure and large-sized increased levels of fearful and preoccupied attachment style compared to healthy controls (all p < 0.001) as well as small-sized increased levels of trait anger (p = 0.03) and moderate-sized increased levels of anger-in (p < 0.001). Attachment style and anger regulation could predict 21% (R² = 0.21, p < 0.001) of the extent of social anxiety (SPIN) in SAD; secure (β = − 0.196, p < 0.01) and preoccupied attachment style (β = 0.117, p < 0.05), as well as anger-in (β = 0.199, p < 0.01) were significant cross-sectional predictors. Further analysis revealed that the relationship between preoccupied attachment and social anxiety is partially mediated by anger-in.
Conclusion
Study findings confirm the relevance of preoccupied attachment style and anger suppression for social anxiety. Disentangling the role of anger regulation in early attachment patterns has significant therapeutic implications in SAD.
... Thus, H2 was accepted from the study hypotheses. Rumination which is an individual's insistent thinking over his/her emotions and problems without using active problemsolving skills (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008) is a component of Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS), and it was defined as repetitive thinkings about subjective experience during a final social interaction including selfassessment, external assessment of partners and other details of the event in the context of social concern (Kashdan and Roberts, 2007). According to Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model which is used for explaining rumination process, it is required to focus on the mechanisms that produce, follow and maintain the challenging thinkings and experience rather that these thinkings and experience themselves (Wells, 2011). ...
Nursing education is a difficult process with both theoretical and clinical practice. This difficult process creates pressure and stress in nursing students. Therefore, students cannot notice emotions and thinking and may experience rumination. In this case, it can occur in burnout in addition to many mental illnesses. The aim of this study was to investigate whether metacognition and rumination had a predictive effect on burnout. The sample of the study consisted of 280 nursing students who volunteered to participate in the study, and it was completed with 261 nursing students who completed the measurement tools completely. Data were collected using an introductory information form, Ruminative Thinking Style Scale, Metacognitions Questionnaire 30, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. It was determined Ruminative Thinking averages of the participants was 87.61 ± 2.59, Total Metacognitions averages 73.96 ± 11.80, Emotional Exhaustion averages 24.63 ± 5.55, Depersonalization averages 9.58 ± 2.79, Personal average 28.54 ± 5.34. In this study, it is seen that high metacognitions and ruminative thinking styles of students affect burnout. But ruminative thinking has not a mediating role in the relationship between metacognitions and burnout.
... There is some evidence that negatively valenced post-event rumination predicts negative outcomes. These include increased anticipatory anxiety (Brozovich and Heimberg, 2013;Blackie and Kocovski, 2016), more negative effect (Kashdan and Roberts, 2007), more socially anxious interpretations of ambiguous social situations (Brozovich and Heimberg, 2013), increased recall of negative self-related information, and negative self-judgments when anticipating further social interactions (Mellings and Alden, 2000). Whether positively and negatively valenced post-event cognitions differently affect physiological processes such as the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the activity of the sympathoadrenal medullary (SAM) system is largely unknown. ...
Psychophysiological research on music performance has focused on musicians' short-term affective, cognitive, and physiological responses. Much less attention has been devoted to the investigation of musicians' psychophysiological activity beyond the performance situation. Musicians report having both positive and negative performance-related thoughts (e.g., "My concert was good" and "I made a lot of mistakes") for days following performances. The potential physiological implications of this post-performance cognitive processing are largely unknown. Salivary cortisol (sC) and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) are markers of the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathoadrenal medullary (SAM) system, respectively. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether self-reported positive and negative post performance-related thoughts predict the daily sC output and the daily sAA activity at the between-and within-person levels during a 2-day period following a solo music performance. Seventy-two university music students collected saliva samples six times per day and reported their positive and negative performance-related thoughts for 2 days after a solo performance. We tested between-person and within-person components of positive and negative post performance-related thoughts as predictors of the diurnal area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg) for sC and sAA while adjusting for relevant person-level and day-level variables. Negative post performance-related thoughts were positively associated with sC AUCg both at the between-and within-person levels, whereas positive post performance-related thoughts were negatively associated with sC AUCg at the between-person level. Post performance-related thoughts did not significantly predict sAA AUCg. These findings provide evidence for a relationship between affectively valenced cognitive processing of a recent music performance and the activity of the HPA axis. Although the directionality of this relationship remains to be established more conclusively, the study makes a significant contribution to the literature on the prolonged psychophysiological effects of music performance situations and more broadly of social-evaluative stressors. Integrating the topic of post-performance cognitive processing and its optimal management into performance training programs would likely have positive effects on music students.
... E. Taylor, Pham, Rivkin, & Armor, 1998;S. E. Taylor & Schneider, 1989), counterfactual thinking (Mandel, 2003;Roese, 1994Roese, , 1997Roese & Olson, 1993), defensive pessimism (Norem & Cantor, 1986a, 1986bNorem & Chang, 2002;Spencer & Norem, 1996), reflection (Trapnell & Campbell, 1999), mind wandering (Smallwood, Fitzgerald, Miles, & Phillips, 2009;Smallwood, O'Connor, Sudbery, & Obonsawin, 2007), post-event rumination (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007), positive rumination (Feldman, Joormann, & Johnson, 2008;Johnson, McKenzie, & McMurrich, 2008), and habitual negative self-thinking ( Verplanken, Friborg, Wang, Trafimow, & Woolf, 2007). ...
... The mechanism underlying this reduction remains to be examined. For example, the decreased reactivity could be related to use of automatic reappraisal (that is not captured by the labbased task) or to improvements in other regulation strategies that are known to be impaired in SAD such as rumination (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007) and avoidance (Heur, Rinck, & Becker, 2007). ...
Background: Contemporary models of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) emphasize emotion dysregulation as a core impairment whose reduction may play a causal role in psychotherapy. The current study examined changes in use of emotion regulation strategies as possible mechanisms of change in CBT for SAD. Specifically, we examined changes in expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal during CBT whether these changes predict treatment outcome.
Methods: Patients (n = 34; 13 females; Mean age = 28.36 (6.97)) were allocated to 16-20 sessions of CBT. An electrocortical measure of emotion regulation and a clinician-rated measure of SAD were administered monthly. Self-report measures of emotion regulation and social anxiety were administered weekly. Multilevel models were used to examine changes in emotion regulation during treatment and cross-lagged associations between emotion regulation and anxiety.
Results: CBT led to decreased suppression frequency, increased reappraisal self-efficacy, and decreased unpleasantness for SAD-related pictures (ps < .05). At post-treatment, patients were equivalent to healthy controls in terms of suppression frequency and subjective reactivity to SAD-related stimuli. Gains were maintained a 3-months follow-up. Decreases in suppression frequency and electrocortical reactivity to SAD-related stimuli predicted lower subsequent anxiety but not the other way around (ps < .05). Lower anxiety predicted greater subsequent increases in reappraisal self-efficacy.
Limitations: the lack of a control group precludes conclusions regarding mechanisms specificity. Conclusions: Decreased frequency of suppression is a potential mechanism of change in CBT for SAD.
... Rumination includes a negative self-thought focus (Samtani and Moulds 2017). Many people ruminate about their interpersonal relationships (Kashdan and Roberts 2007), and engage in frequent phone checking for related notifications (Billieux et al. 2015b). Habit formation (of phone checking) has been found key in developing problematic smartphone use (Oulasvirta et al. 2012). ...
Problematic smartphone use (PSU) symptoms are related to mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. However, less investigated are current psychopathology-related processes in mediating these relationships. We analyzed boredom proneness and rumination, two variables involving negative affectivity, as possible mediators between mental health and PSU severity. We recruited 1097 Chinese university students to complete online questionnaires measuring levels of PSU, smartphone use frequency (SUF), depressive and anxious symptoms, boredom proneness and rumination. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that boredom proneness and rumination were significantly related to both SUF and PSU severity. SUF inversely mediated relations between boredom proneness and PSU severity, but positively accounted for relations between rumination and PSU levels. This is one of few studies testing boredom proneness or rumination in relation to PSU severity. Boredom proneness and rumination may be important variables involving negative affectivity, explaining why some depressed or anxious individuals overuse their smartphones.
... Anger is a basic emotion (Shaver et al., 1987) which can be adaptive or maladaptive, depending on the context in which anger occurs and how it is regulated (Mauss et al., 2007). Nevertheless, numerous studies have documented the existence of a positive relationship between anger and mood disorder (Kashdan and Roberts, 2007;Rusting and Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998). Studies have found that depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders are significantly correlated with chronic emotion dysregulation (Aldao et al., 2010;Berking et al., 2014;Mennin et al., 2007;Pandey et al., 2011). ...
Background
The capacity to regulate emotion is important for individuals' ability to adapt to society, the long-term lack of which can lead to related emotional disorders. However, evaluating whether an emotion-regulation strategy is appropriate requires consideration of the individual's distinct culture and situation. In this study, we compared the anger regulation strategies employed in various interpersonal situations by psychiatric outpatients and a community control group in Taiwan.
Methods
We surveyed 150 psychiatric outpatients (mean age = 45.30, SD = 12.48, 73.3% female) and 150 community controls (mean age = 45.05, SD = 12.24, 73.3% female) congruent in age and sex. Participants evaluated their emotion regulation in two interpersonal contexts by completing a set of questionnaires related to a recent incident of anger they experienced with family and friends, respectively.
Results
Outpatients used the emotion-regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression equally in various relationships; while the community control group made more use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate anger, which arose in their relationships with both family and friends. Relationship intimacy influenced the strategy adopted, and the community control group was more likely to use suppression to regulate anger towards friends than family members, which reflected a cultural belief—maintaining harmony in social relationships.
Limitations
Context-specific emotion regulation was assessed via a retrospective self-report measure, which is subject to recall bias.
Conclusions
Our findings highlight the importance of considering interpersonal contexts when studying emotion regulation and developing psychological interventions that target anger or other negative emotion regulation.
... Because some individuals have social anxiety, they may sometimes have trouble creating social relationships. It is seen that there is a positive relationship between rumination and social anxiety (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). In addition, another study found a positive relationship between rumination and shyness (Palmieri et al., 2018). ...
In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationships between rumination about an interpersonal offense, interpersonal competence and life satisfaction. The dependent variable of this research is rumination about an interpersonal offense, and its independent variables are interpersonal competence and life satisfaction. The study was conducted on a total of 434 (340 females, 78.3%, and 94 males, 21.7%) individuals, whose ages range between 21 and 59 (= 30.61). Participants completed the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire, the Rumination About an Interpersonal Offense Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale in accordance with the volunteering principles. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis techniques. According to the results of the t-test, women's average points of rumination about an interpersonal offense is significantly higher than that of men. As a result of the correlation analysis, significant negative relationships were found between the scores of the rumination about an interpersonal offense, interpersonal competence and life satisfaction. Regarding the regression analysis result, independent variables significantly predict the rumination about interpersonal offense scale.
... The increased SW-FW coupling in individuals with SAD is similar to conclusions of some fMRI studies, which found that the cortical and subcortical regions are more identical in individuals with GAD and even more so in individuals with SAD (Miskovic and Schmidt, 2012). The imbalance between the cortical layer and the subcortical layer is also consistent with the post-event procession bias found in psychotherapy studies (Kashdan and Roberts, 2007). Another significant finding is that the neural aggrandizement of the limbic (subcortical) and paralimbic (cortical) layers appear to be related to the functional mechanism (including more attentiveness toward the affective processing) of the social threats (Miskovic and Schmidt, 2012). ...
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by a fear of negative evaluation, negative self-belief and extreme avoidance of social situations. These recurrent symptoms are thought to maintain the severity and substantial impairment in social and cognitive thoughts. SAD is associated with a disruption in neuronal networks implicated in emotional regulation, perceptual stimulus functions, and emotion processing, suggesting a network system to delineate the electrocortical endophenotypes of SAD. This paper seeks to provide a comprehensive review of the most frequently studied electroencephalographic (EEG) spectral coupling, event-related potential (ERP), visual-event potential (VEP), and other connectivity estimators in social anxiety during rest, anticipation, stimulus processing, and recovery states. A search on Web of Science provided 97 studies that document electrocortical biomarkers and relevant constructs pertaining to individuals with SAD. This study aims to identify SAD neuronal biomarkers and provide insight into the differences in these biomarkers based on EEG, ERPs, VEP, and brain connectivity networks in SAD patients and healthy controls (HC). Furthermore, we proposed recommendations to improve methods of delineating the electrocortical endophenotypes of SAD, e.g., a fusion of EEG with other modalities such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalograms (MEG), to realize better effectiveness than EEG alone, in order to ultimately evolve the treatment selection process, and to review the possibility of using electrocortical measures in the early diagnosis and endophenotype examination of SAD.
... We found that 23% of their Weibo posts contained rumination contents. Our finding aligns well with the literature on depression symptoms and post-event rumination (38,39). Although their rumination often focused on negative attributes, we also found evidence of problem-solving coping strategies (40). ...
Affect describes a person’s feelings or emotions in reaction to stimuli, and affective expressions were found to be related to depression in social media. This study examined the longitudinal pattern of affect on a popular Chinese social media platform: Weibo. We collected 1,664 Chinese Weibo users’ self-reported CES-D scores via surveys and 3 years’ worth of Weibo posts preceding the surveys. First, we visualized participants’ social media affect and found evidence of cognitive vulnerability indicated by affect patterns: Users with high depression symptoms tended to use not only more negative affective words but also more positive affective words long before they developed early depression symptoms. Second, to identify the type of language that is directly predictive of depression symptoms, we observed ruminations from users who experienced specific life events close to the time of survey completion, and we found that: increased use of negative affective words on social media posts, together with the presence of specific stressful life events, increased a person’s risk of developing high depression symptoms; and meanwhile, though tending to focus on negative attributes, participants also incorporated problem-solving skills in their ruminations. These findings expand our understanding of social media affect and its relationship with individuals’ risks of developing depression symptoms.
... Moreover, it has been demonstrated that anxiety influences arterial pressure, pain resistance threshold, that it increases stress levels and reduces the activity of the immune system [8][9][10]. Other research states that anxiety is a predictor for depression, it influences high alcohol consumption, it influences the decisional process, it is associated with migraines, it correlates with skin conditions (especially psoriasis and atypical dermatitis) and it correlates with post-event negative rumination [11][12][13][14][15][16]. On the other hand, the anxiety levels are influenced by the cultural and social environment, by defensive mechanisms -denial, for instance, by physical exercise, rest or psychotherapy [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. ...
Our intention has been to review the literature addressing the anxiety phenomenon from as many points of view as possible. By searching in PubMed and Web of Science and by using multiple filters, we have included, of the over 1800 results, 93 studies with the aim of covering more aspects of life anxiety exerts its influence upon. We have discussed the connection between anxiety and physiological and psychological functioning, or its connection with the areas of family, religion, social life and behavior, as well as the cultural side, childhood, pregnancy and many others.
... Twenty-four disgusted, happy, and neutral models (12 men and 12 women depicting each of the three emotions) were selected from the Radboud Faces database (RaFD; Langner et al., 2010), based on data from a previous validation (Langner et al., 2010). We relied on the use of disgusted faces, since previous research has shown that such emotional expressions are related to a large degree of social-threat perception compared to angry faces (Amir et al., 2005), and problems in the processing of this kind of information is thought to contribute to both sustained negative affect and post-event rumination (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007). Moreover, previous research using the engagement-disengagement task (Sanchez et al., 2017) has shown that individuals with higher depression levels are characterized by longer times to disengage gaze from both sad and disgusted faces, and that they are characterized by sustained attention to disgusted over happy facial expressions, with these biases predicting poor stress regulation. ...
Brooding is considered a maladaptive form of emotion regulation linking adverse events to increases in depressive symptoms. The “Impaired Disengagement Hypothesis” (Koster, De Lissnyder, Derakshan & De Raedt, 2011) proposes that attentional disengagement processes are a main mechanism involved in the emergence and maintenance of brooding responses. In this study we tested prospective predictions derived from this framework, relying on eye-tracking to assess direct processes of attentional disengagement from emotional faces (i.e., time to move gaze away from either positive or negative faces when prompted to fixate a different face). A sample of undergraduates (n = 89) completed measures of depression, brooding, and the attentional disengagement task at baseline (beginning of the semester) and five months later (immediately after a stressful period: examination). The results supported a moderated mediation model where slower disengagement from positive faces at baseline (predictor) predicted decreases in brooding during the follow-up period (mediator), indirectly predicting decreased depressive symptoms at follow-up (outcome) in individuals encountering more adverse events during the follow-up period (moderator). Furthermore, analyses also supported a moderation model where more habitual brooding at baseline (predictor) predicted slower disengagement from negative faces at follow-up (outcome) in individuals encountering more adverse events (moderator). Our findings support bidirectional influences between attentional disengagement and brooding and highlight protective attention patterns with implications for the development of efficient strategies for the prevention of depression.
... When exposed to a mega-threat, group members are also likely to engage in cognitive rumination in an attempt to understand the event. Rumination-repetitive, intrusive thoughts-is a common response to significant events, from interpersonal interactions to noteworthy personal life experiences (Kashdan & Roberts, 2007;Weick, 1993). We argue that, similar to personally threatening events, mega-threats cause postevent cognitive rumination, in which individuals ruminate about the relevance of the event to themselves as individuals as well as their social identity groups. ...
Despite recognizing the importance of events, researchers have rarely explored the influence of broader societal events on employee experiences and behaviors at work. We integrate perspectives on events and social identities to develop a cross-level theoretical model of the spillover effects of mega-threats, defined as negative large-scale diversity-related episodes that receive significant media attention. With a focus on highly publicized instances of violence enacted against Black Americans by law enforcement as the mega-threat under study, we propose that the coupling of intrapsychic and group level-processes that occur as a result of a mega-threat leads minorities to experience identity fusion that involves the blurring of organizational and social identities, through both affective and cognitive pathways. We further propose that identity fusion compels minorities to engage in task and relational positively deviant behaviors – pro-group voice and relational bridging. We also propose that factors within the organizational context including leader compassion, organizational climate for inclusion, and organizational demography serve to empower minority employees, heightening the functional outcomes of mega-threats.
... Post-event processing (PEP) can be conceptualized as a negative rumination following anxiety-provoking social events and has been implicated in the maintenance of social anxiety (e.g., Clark and Wells 1995;Rapee and Heimberg 1997). PEP includes a variety of negative characteristics, such as thoughts that are recurring, preoccupying, and judgmental, and is associated with negative outcomes, such as negative performance appraisals (Dannahy and Stopa 2007;Zou and Abbott 2012), increased negative affect (Kashdan and Roberts 2007), and increased state anxiety for subsequent social situations (Blackie and Kocovski 2016). ...
Post-event processing (PEP) refers to a prolonged and negative rumination following anxiety-provoking social events. Because PEP may maintain social anxiety over time, it is important to reduce this repetitive, negative thinking. Past research has shown that PEP can be reduced through self-compassion. As such, the primary purpose of the present study was to examine the circumstances under which self-compassion buffers against PEP. Given that PEP may be exacerbated by negative performance feedback, we examined whether self-compassion would buffer against PEP under these circumstances (i.e., receiving negative performance feedback). Participants (N = 66) provided an impromptu speech and were randomly assigned to receive either positive or negative speech feedback. As expected, negative performance feedback led to significantly more PEP than positive feedback. However, whereas this effect was particularly pronounced amongst those low on self-compassion, there were no significant differences between conditions on PEP amongst those high on self-compassion. The findings from the present study suggest that trait self-compassion serves to limit PEP in situations where negative performance feedback is provided. This work builds on the benefits of self-compassion in the context of social stress.
Social impairments are common across many psychiatric conditions. Standardized dyadic assessments intended to elicit social affiliation between unacquainted partners are used to elucidate mechanisms that disrupt relationship formation and inform possible treatment targets; however, the psychometric properties of such paradigms remain poorly understood. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of a controlled social affiliation paradigm intended to induce connectedness between a target participant and trained confederate. Individuals with an anxiety or depressive disorder diagnosis (clinical group; n = 132) and those without (control group; n = 35) interacted face-to-face with a trained confederate; partners took turns answering a series of increasingly intimate questions about themselves. Social connectedness, affect, and affiliative behavior measures were collected during the interaction. Participant symptom and social functioning measures were collected to examine validity. The paradigm elicited escalating social connectedness throughout the task for both participants and confederates. Parallel forms (i.e., different question sets) elicited similar affiliation outcomes. Self-reported (but not behavioral) affiliation differed across some demographic variables (e.g., participant gender, Hispanic ethnicity). Within-task affiliation measures were associated with one another and with global social connectedness and social anxiety symptom measures, but not with somatic anxiety measures. Clinical participants reported lower social affiliation and positive affect reactivity and higher negative affect reactivity than healthy participants. These findings provide initial psychometric support for a standardized and controlled dyadic affiliation paradigm that could be used to reliably probe social disconnection mechanisms across psychopathology.
Background
Social anxiety caused by the presence of an evaluator can impair balance performance in older women. However, it is unknown whether co-performing balance tasks with a partner mitigates this effect.
Research question
Does the presence of a partner mitigate the effect of social anxiety on static and dynamic balance assessment in older women?.
Methods
Twenty-one older women (mean age 66.5 (SD = 5.2) years) performed nine balance tasks under three conditions: (a) Alone (no evaluator present); (b) Evaluator (male evaluator present); (c) Partner (evaluator + performing tasks in parallel with partner). Participants were split into two groups post-hoc: Affected (n = 10) and Unaffected (n = 11), based on their emotional response to the presence of the evaluator (increased self-reported anxiety and fear).
Results
The affected group took longer time to complete tandem walking with eyes open in the Evaluator vs. Alone condition, but not in the Partner condition. Both groups increased anterior-posterior trunk angular velocity during tandem walking with eyes closed in the Evaluator vs. Alone condition, but not in the Partner condition.
Significance
Social anxiety impairs the balance performance of older women, particularly in those most affected by the evaluator, and during more dynamic modified gait tasks that challenge balance while walking. However, co-performing balance tasks with a partner reduced the effects of social anxiety, suggesting that social support may help to mitigate some of the potential ‘white coat’ effects experienced during clinical balance assessments.
Although task-unrelated thinking (often conceptualised as “mind-wandering”) has been increasingly investigated in recent years, the content and correlates of everyday off-task thought in clinical disorders, particularly anxiety disorders, remain poorly understood. We aimed to address this gap by using ecological momentary assessment to assess off-task and on-task thoughts in adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and demographically matched controls. Findings showed that individuals with SAD more frequently engaged in internally oriented off-task thinking than healthy controls, but not externally oriented off-task thinking. Compared to thoughts focused on the task at hand, adults with SAD rated their internal off-task thoughts as less controllable, more self-focused, and as associated with worse mood than controls. However, when the SAD group was focused on the task at hand, group differences disappeared. Daily findings were paralleled by higher scores in SAD on a trait measure of unintentional, but not intentional, mind-wandering. In sum, the content and mood correlate of internally oriented off-task thoughts depended on the presence of clinical anxiety. In addition, focusing on the task at hand normalised thought content and mood in SAD, highlighting a window for intervention.
Dedicated athletes, coaches, and exercisers are often referred to as being passionate toward their sport or activity. This chapter reviews the available literature in sport and physical activity to describe the role of passion for sport and physical activity in adaptive and less adaptive outcomes, as well as look at the determinants of passion. In line with self‐determination theory, the dualistic model of passion (DMP) proposes that people engage in various activities throughout life in hope of growing psychologically and satisfying the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Furthermore, the DMP proposes that there are two types of passion, obsessive and harmonious, that can be distinguished in terms of how the activity has been internalized into one's identity. Passion can also influence the quality of the self‐regulating processes at play in sport and exercise and their resulting consequences.
Abstract
The aim of the current study was to determine the effectiveness of
acceptance/commitment training to decrease experiential avoidance and
psychological distress in teenagers with specific learning disorder. This
research is an experimental study with a pre and post-test with a control group
design. Statistical population of this study included all of male guidance grade
students with special learning disabilities who studied in Ardabil city in the
year 2017-2018. The study sample included 44 students with special learning
disabilities (22 experimental group and 22 control group) who were selected by
multistage cluster sampling and randomly divided into the experimental and
control groups. The data was collected using experiential avoidance
questionnaire, psychological distress assessment questionnaire and learning
difficulties questionnaire. The acceptance/ commitment training was held for
the experimental group in eight 90-minute sessions. The results of covariance
(ANCOVA) indicated that acceptance/ commitment training significantly
decrease experiential avoidance and psychological distress in teenagers with
specific learning disorder (P<0.01). These findings suggest that the
acceptance/commitment training is an effective method for the use of
specialists in educational and therapeutic centers to improve the mental health
of students with special learning disabilities.
Key words: special learning disorder, acceptance and commitment training,
experiential avoidance, psychological distress
Background
While the literature frequently highlighted an association between social anxiety disorder (SAD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), few studies investigated the overlapping features of these conditions. The presented work evaluated the relationship between SAD and OCD spectrum in a clinical population and in healthy controls (HC).
Methods
Fifty-six patients with OCD, 51 with SAD, 43 with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 59 HC ( N = 209) were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Social Phobia Spectrum (SCI-SHY), and the Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum (SCI-OBS).
Results
SAD patients scored significantly higher than other groups on all SCI-SHY domains and total score; OCD patients scored significantly higher than HC. MDD patients scored significantly higher than HC on the SCI-SHY total , Behavioral inhibition , and Interpersonal sensitivity domains. OCD patients scored significantly higher than other groups on all SCI-OBS domains except Doubt , for which OCD and SAD scored equally high. SAD patients scored significantly higher than HC on the SCI-OBS total, Childhood/adolescence , Doubt , and Hypercontrol domains. MDD patients scored significantly higher than HC on the Hypercontrol domain. SCI-OBS and SCI-SHY were widely correlated among groups, although lower correlations were found among OCD patients. Stronger correlations were observed between SCI-SHY Interpersonal sensitivity and SCI-OBS Doubt, Obsessive-compulsive themes, and Hypercontrol ; between SCI-SHY Specific anxieties/phobic features and SCI-OBS Obsessive-compulsive themes; and between SCI-SHY Behavioral inhibition and SCI-OBS Doubt , with slightly different patterns among groups.
Conclusion
OCD and SAD spectrums widely overlap in clinical samples and in the general population. Interpersonal sensitivity and obsessive doubts might represent a common cognitive core for these conditions.
Background
Social anxiety lies on a continuum, and young adults with elevated symptoms are at risk for developing a range of psychiatric disorders. Yet relatively little is known about the factors that govern the hour-by-hour experience and expression of social anxiety in the real world.
Methods
Here we used smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to intensively sample emotional experience across different social contexts in the daily lives of 228 young adults selectively recruited to represent a broad spectrum of social anxiety symptoms.
Results
Leveraging data from over 11 000 real-world assessments, our results highlight the central role of close friends, family members, and romantic partners. The presence of such close companions was associated with enhanced mood, yet socially anxious individuals had fewer confidants and spent less time with the close companions that they do have. Although higher levels of social anxiety were associated with a general worsening of mood, socially anxious individuals appear to derive larger benefits – lower levels of negative affect, anxiety, and depression – from their close companions. In contrast, variation in social anxiety was unrelated to the amount of time spent with strangers, co-workers, and acquaintances; and we uncovered no evidence of emotional hypersensitivity to these less-familiar individuals.
Conclusions
These findings provide a framework for understanding the deleterious consequences of social anxiety in emerging adulthood and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.
Social anxiety lies on a continuum, and young adults with elevated symptoms are at risk for developing a range of debilitating psychiatric disorders. Yet, relatively little is known about the factors that govern the momentary expression of social anxiety in daily life, close to clinically significant end-points. Here, we used smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment to intensively sample emotional experience across different social contexts in the daily lives of 228 young adults selectively recruited to represent a broad spectrum of social anxiety symptoms. Leveraging data from over 11,000 assessments, results highlight the vital role of close friends, family members, and romantic partners. Socially anxious individuals report smaller confidant networks and spend significantly less time with their close companions. As a consequence, they are less frequent beneficiaries of close companions’ mood-enhancing effects. Although higher levels of social anxiety are associated with a general reduction in the quality of momentary emotional experience, socially anxious individuals derived significantly larger benefits—lower levels of negative affect, anxiety, and depression—from the company of close companions. Collectively, these findings provide a novel framework for understanding the deleterious consequences of social anxiety and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.
A more dynamic perspective of threats to the self may contribute to an enhanced understanding of the processes that develop and maintain anxiety and thus, potentially inform psychological interventions. This article presents the looming vulnerability of anxiety, which stresses the threat or risk prospection and dynamic mental simulation of the course of threat. Individuals do not become anxious simply because they picture distant or static possible threats that represent threats to the self. Rather, their anxiety results from interpreting potential threats as dynamic, growing and approaching. Following a review of a wide range of literature from clinical, personality, and social psychology, we present the looming vulnerability and its underpinnings in evolution and examine its applications to cognitive vulnerability to anxiety and its therapeutic alleviation. We also address the associations of the model to other self‐related concepts that are involved in anxiety.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
AIM
To explore the association between metacognitive beliefs, rumination and shyness in a non-clinical sample of adults.
METHODS
One hundred and three healthy subjects from the general population were enrolled in the study. Shyness was evaluated using the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale, rumination was assessed using the Ruminative Response Scale, metacognition was evaluated using the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire 30, and anxiety levels were measured using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory form Y. Correlation analyses, mediation models and 95% bias-corrected and accelerated (BCaCI) bootstrapped analyses were performed. Mediation analyses were adjusted for sex and anxiety.
RESULTS
Shyness, rumination and metacognition were significantly correlated (P < 0.05). The relationship between metacognition and shyness was fully mediated by rumination (Indirect effect: 0.20; 95% BCaCI: 0.08-0.33).
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest an association between metacognition and shyness. Rumination mediated the relationship between metacognition and shyness, suggesting that rumination could be a cognitive strategy for shy people. Future research should explore the relationship between these constructs in more depth.
Socially anxious and depressed individuals tend to evaluate their social interactions negatively, but little is known about the specific real-time contributors to these negative perceptions. The current study examined how affect ratings during social interactions predict later perceptions of those interactions, and whether this differs by social anxiety and depression severity. Undergraduate participants (N = 60) responded to a smartphone application that prompted participants to answer short questions about their current affect and social context up to 6 times a day for 2 weeks. At the end of each day, participants answered questions about their perceptions of their social interactions from that day. Results indicated that the link between negative affective experiences reported during social interactions and the end-of-day report of enjoyment (but not effectiveness) of those experiences was more negative when social anxiety was more severe. The link between negative affective experiences rated during social interactions and the end-of-day report of effectiveness (but not enjoyment) during those social encounters was more negative when depression was more severe. These findings demonstrate the importance of examining self-perceptions of social interactions based both on the extent to which individuals think that they met the objective demands of an interaction (i.e., effectiveness, mastery) and the extent to which they liked or disliked that interaction (i.e., enjoyment, pleasure). These findings also highlight how real-time assessments of daily social interactions may reveal the key experiences that contribute to negative self-evaluations across disorders, potentially identifying critical targets for therapy.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Mildly-to-moderately depressed and nondepressed subjects were randomly assigned to spend 8 minutes focusing their attention on their current feeling states and personal characteristics (rumination condition) or on descriptions of geographic locations and objects (distraction condition). Depressed subjects in the rumination condition became significantly more depressed, whereas depressed subjects in the distraction condition became significantly less depressed. Rumination and distraction did not affect the moods of nondepressed subjects. These results support the hypothesis that ruminative responses to depressed mood exacerbate and prolong depressed mood. whereas distracting response shorten depressed mood.
The psychometric adequacy of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; R. P. Mattick & J. C. Clark, 1989), a measure of social interaction anxiety, and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS; R. P. Mattick & J. C. Clark, 1989), a measure of anxiety while being observed by others, was evaluated in anxious patients and normal controls. Social phobia patients scored higher on both scales and were more likely to be identified as having social phobia than other anxious patients (except for agoraphobic patients on the SPS) or controls. Clinician-rated severity of social phobia was moderately related to SIAS and SPS scores. Additional diagnoses of mood or panic disorder did not affect SIAS or SPS scores among social phobia patients, but an additional diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder was associated with SIAS scores. Number of reported feared social interaction situations was more highly correlated with scores on the SIAS, whereas number of reported feared performance situations was more highly correlated with scores on the SPS. These scales appear to be useful in screening, designing individualized treatments, and evaluating the outcomes of treatments for social phobia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Probability and emotional impact estimates of intense positive and negative social events were examined in individuals with generalized social phobia (GSPs), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCDs), and nonanxious controls (NACs). Participants completed a questionnaire containing 20 event descriptions. For each event, they indicated the probability that the event would happen to them and rated aspects of their reactions to the event: magnitude, duration, self-esteem change, and strength of bodily reaction. Compared to NACs, GSPs estimated positive events as less likely and negative events as more likely to happen to them. GSPs rated the impact of both negative and positive social events higher than did NACs. Moreover, GSPs anticipated experiencing more frequent and intense negative reactions to positive social events than did NACs. On most measures, GSPs also differed from OCDs. Although evaluation biases of social events may be more characteristic of anxious individuals than of nonanxious individuals, they appear to be particularly related to social phobia.
The effects of different types of responses to a depressed mood on the duration and severity of the mood were examined. On the basis of Nolen-Hoeksema's (1987) response styles theory of depression, it was hypothesized that distracting, active responses would be more effective in alleviating a depressed mood than would ruminative, passive responses. A depressed mood was induced in 35 male and 34 female Ss, and subjects were randomly assigned to engage in 1 of 4 types of responses: an active task that distracted them from their mood; a passive, distracting task; an active task designed to lead to ruminations about their mood; or a passive, ruminative task. As predicted, the greatest remediation of depressed mood was found in Ss in the distracting-active response condition, followed in order by the distracting-passive, ruminative-active, and ruminative-passive response conditions. Degree of rumination had a greater impact on remediation of depressive affect than level of activity, with greater rumination leading to lesser remediation of depressive affect. In addition, the effects of the response tasks were limited to depressed mood. The implications of these results for interventions with depressed persons are discussed.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.
Self-focused attention has been linked to social anxiety and poor social performance, but the causal direction of this relationship has not been established. For this study, focus of attention was manipulated during a speech task, conducted in pairs for 38 individuals with generalized social phobia. Results indicated that intensifying self-focused attention increased anticipated anxiety and anxious appearance, regardless of whether the individual was giving a speech or passively standing before the audience. The self-focus manipulation also increased self-reported anxiety during the task, but only for individuals assigned to a passive role. Contrary to expectation, self-focused attention did not affect any measure of social performance. These results indicate that self-focused attention may play a causal role in exacerbating social anxiety.
Interpersonal approaches to depression are surveyed; it is suggested that interpersonal inhibition, as opposed to interpersonal excess, has been underemphasized as an antecedent of depression. It is proposed that shyness is a vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms in the absence but not in the presence of social support and that loneliness mediates the relation between shyness and depressive symptom increases. Undergraduates ( N = 172) reported on their levels of shyness, social support, loneliness, positive and negative affect, and depressive symptoms, and returned 5 weeks later to complete a similar set of assessments. Results supported hypotheses. Participants who were shy and unsupported were likely to experience increases in depressive symptoms and decreases in positive affect, whereas other students were not. This effect was partially mediated by increases in loneliness and was specific to depressive symptoms and low positive affect; it did not apply to negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article reviews existing empirical research on the peak-and-end rule. This rule states that people's global evaluations of past affective episodes can be well predicted by the affect experienced during just two moments: the moment of peak affect intensity and the ending. One consequence of the peak-and-end rule is that the duration of affective episodes is largely neglected. Evidence supporting the peak-and-end rule is robust, but qualified. New directions for future work in this emerging area of study are outlined. In particular, the personal meanings associated with specific moments and with specific emotions should be assessed. It is hypothesised that moments rich with self-relevant information will dominate people's global evaluations of past affective episodes. The article concludes with a discussion of ways to measure and optimise objective happiness.
On the basis of previous theory and research, it was predicted that socially anxious individuals would utilize verbal response modes that would allow them to adopt a passive interaction style and/or to convey positive yet “sate” images of themselves during dyadic encounters. A group of 30 male and 30 female subjects completed self-report measures of social anxiety and self-presentational concern, and each interacted with another same-sex subject for 5 minutes. Verbal response analyses of the conversations revealed that, as expected, social insecurity was associated with increased use of Questions, Acknowledgments, and Confirmations, but with decreased use of utterances that expressed objective information (Edifications). In addition, social anxiety was associated with a “familiar” interpersonal style among women, and unexpected sex differences were obtained on some measures.
Response styles theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987) provided the impetus for recent research efforts investigating the effects of rumination and distraction on depressed mood. This study elaborates on previous research by examining the sequential effects of engaging in ruminating and distracting tasks. Results from two studies indicated that initially engaging in a ruminating task maintained postinduction levels of dysphoric mood, whereas initially engaging in a distracting task reduced levels of dysphoric mood. More important, however, were the effects of task order on mood. When participants engaged in a distracting task following aruminating task, dysphoric mood, which had been maintained with a ruminating task, was reduced to premoodinduction levels. Of equal importance, individuals who ruminated after distracting maintained their current mood and did not report an increase in depressed mood. In the second study, engaging in sequential rumination tasks further prolonged depressed mood, whereas engaging in sequential distraction tasks reduced depressed mood. The results suggest that, although engaging in a rumination task maintains depressed mood and engaging in a distraction task reduces it, the order in which these tasks are performed is also important. The implications of these results for response styles theory are discussed.
This article reviews existing empirical research on the peak-and-end rule. This rule states that people's global evaluations of past affective episodes can be well predicted by the affect experienced during just two moments: the moment of peak affect intensity and the ending. One consequence of the peak-and-end rule is that the duration of affective episodes is largely neglected. Evidence supporting the peak-and-end rule is robust, but qualified. New directions for future work in this emerging area of study are outlined. In particular, the personal meanings associated with specific moments and with specific emotions should be assessed. It is hypothesised that moments rich with self-relevant information will dominate people's global evaluations of past affective episodes. The article concludes with a discussion of ways to measure and optimise objective happiness.
Several investigations have demonstrated thatneuroticism and ruminative response style are associatedwith increased risk for depression. The current studyexamined the effects of neuroticism and ruminative response style on changes in depressivesymptoms over an 8- to 10-week interval. Analysesindicated that the effects of neuroticism and ruminativeresponse style were moderated by initial level ofdepressive symptomatology. Specifically, neuroticism andruminative response style predicted changes indepressive symptoms more strongly in individuals whowere initially higher in levels of depression than they did in those with lower initial levels ofdepressive symptoms. These data were consistent with apath model in which ruminative response style mediatedthe effect of neuroticism on depression.
Response styles theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987)provided the impetus for recent research effortsinvestigating the effects of rumination and distractionon depressed mood. This study elaborates on previous research by examining the sequential effects ofengaging in ruminating and distracting tasks. Resultsfrom two studies indicated that initially engaging in aruminating task maintained postinduction levels of dysphoric mood, whereas initially engagingin a distracting task reduced levels of dysphoric mood.More important, however, were the effects of task orderon mood. When participants engaged in a distracting taskfollowing aruminating task, dysphoric mood, which had been maintainedwith a ruminating task, was reduced to premoodinductionlevels. Of equal importance, individuals who ruminatedafter distracting maintained their current mood and did not report an increase in depressedmood. In the second study, engaging in sequentialrumination tasks further prolonged depressed mood,whereas engaging in sequential distraction tasks reduceddepressed mood. The results suggest that, althoughengaging in a rumination task maintains depressed moodand engaging in a distraction task reduces it, the orderin which these tasks are performed is also important. The implications of these results for responsestyles theory are discussed.
A number of recent laboratory and prospectivefield studies suggest that the tendency to ruminateabout dysphoric moods is associated with more severe andpersistent negative emotional experiences (e.g., Morrow & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1990;Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991). The current paperreports two studies that tested the hypotheses that (a)ruminative response styles act as a trait vulnerabilityto dysphoria, particularly to relativelypersistent episodes of dysphoria; (b) aspects ofrumination that are not likely to be contaminated withthe presence and severity of previous symptomatology(introspection/self-isolation, self-blame) demonstrate vulnerability effects;and (c) rumination mediates the effects of gender andneuroticism on vulnerability to dysphoria. Consistentsupport was found for each of these hypotheses. Overall, our data suggest that rumination mightreflect an important cognitive manifestation ofneuroticism that increases vulnerability to episodes ofpersistent dysphoria.
The reciprocal relationship between social anxiety and the communication of information about the self is examined. Social anxiety appears to arise from people's concerns about the impressions others are forming of them. Specifically, it is proposed that social anxiety occurs when people are motivated to create a desired impression on audiences but doubt they will do so. High social anxiety, in turn, is associated with qualitative and quantitative changes in how people communicate. It is argued that the combination of an important goal (i.e. to create a desired impression) and low expectations of goal achievement produces negative affect, physical or psychological withdrawal from the situation, and self-preoccupation with one's limitations. These distracting concomitants of high social anxiety impede optimally effective self-monitoring and control. A protective self-presentational style, in which the focus is on avoiding blatant failures rather than achieving major successes, is engaged. The result is a lowered level of participation in interactions (e.g. initiating fewer conversations, talking less frequently), the avoidance of topics that might reveal one's ignorance (e.g. factual matters), minimal disclosure of information about the self, cautious self-descriptions that are less positive and less likely to assert unique qualities that draw attention to the self, and a passive yet pleasant interaction style that avoids disagreement (e.g. reflective listening, agreeing with others, smiling).
A practical methodology is presented for creating closeness in an experimental context. Whether or not an individual is in a relationship, particular pairings of individuals in the relationship, and circumstances of relationship development become manipulated variables. Over a 45-min period subject pairs carry out self-disclosure and relationship-building tasks that gradually escalate in intensity. Study 1 found greater postinteraction closeness with these tasks versus comparable small-talk tasks. Studies 2 and 3 found no significant closeness effects, inspite of adequate power, for (a) whether pairs were matched for nondisagreement on important attitudes, (b) whether pairs were led to expect mutual liking, or (c) whether getting close was made an explicit goal. These studies also illustrated applications for addressing theoretical issues, yielding provocative tentative findings relating to attachment style and introversion/extraversion.
Social phobia has become a focus of increased research since its inclusion in DSM-III. However, assessment of social phobia has remained an underdeveloped area, especially self-report assessment. Clinical researchers have relied on measures that were developed on college populations, and these measures may not provide sufficient coverage of the range of situations feared by social phobic individuals. There is a need for additional instruments that consider differences in the types of situations (social interaction vs. situations involving observation by others) that may be feared by social phobics and between subgroups of social phobic patients. This study provides validational data on two instruments developed by Mattick and Clarke (1989): the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), a measure of anxiety in social interactional situations, and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS), a measure of anxiety in situations involving observation by others. These data support the use of the SIAS and SPS in the assessment of individuals with social phobia.
The development and validation of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) two companion measures for assessing social phobia fears is described. The SPS assesses fears of being scrutinised during routine activities (eating, drinking, writing, etc.), while the SIAS assesses fears of more general social interaction, the scales corresponding to the DSM-III-R descriptions of Social Phobia—Circumscribed and Generalised types, respectively. Both scales were shown to possess high levels of internal consistency and test–retest reliability. They discriminated between social phobia, agoraphobia and simple phobia samples, and between social phobia and normal samples. The scales correlated well with established measures of social anxiety, but were found to have low or non-significant (partial) correlations with established measures of depression, state and trait anxiety, locus of control, and social desirability. The scales were found to change with treatment and to remain stable in the face of no-treatment. It appears that these scales are valid, useful, and easily scored measures for clinical and research applications, and that they represent an improvement over existing measures of social phobia.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
This study investigated 3 broad classes of individual-differences variables (job-search motives, competencies, and constraints) as predictors of job-search intensity among 292 unemployed job seekers. Also assessed was the relationship between job-search intensity and reemployment success in a longitudinal context. Results show significant relationships between the predictors employment commitment, financial hardship, job-search self-efficacy, and motivation control and the outcome job-search intensity. Support was not found for a relationship between perceived job-search constraints and job-search intensity. Motivation control was highlighted as the only lagged predictor of job-search intensity over time for those who were continuously unemployed. Job-search intensity predicted Time 2 reemployment status for the sample as a whole, but not reemployment quality for those who found jobs over the study's duration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The study this article is based on investigated the role of self-directed attention in the maintenance of depressive episodes. Measures of rumination and self-consciousness were used to predict response to treatment for depression. Further, the study investigated the potential interplay between self-directed attention and negative cognition. Thirty-two participants completed measures of rumination, private self-consciousness, and negative cognition prior to receiving group psychoeducational treatment for depression. Analyses revealed that although the main effects of measures of self-directed attention and negative cognition were not statistically significant, the interaction between self-directed thought (particularly rumination) and negative cognitive style predicted change in severity of depressive symptoms over the course of the treatment program. These findings suggest that the degree to which heightened self-directed attention contributes to poor treatment outcome for depression varies as a function of cognitive style.
ABSTRACT In this study, the correlates of embarrassability, or chronic susceptibility to embarrassment, were examined. Competing theoretical models suggest either that embarrassable people should be especially concerned about others' evaluations of them or that they should lack social skills. Further, shyness and embarrassment are typically considered to be closely related states. To test these propositions, 310 participants provided extensive self-reports of social skill, fear of negative evaluation, self-esteem, self-consciousness, and negative affectivity. Regression and factor analyses indicated that, compared to those of low embarrassability, highly embarrassable people are particularly concerned with the normative appropriateness of behavior and are more motivated to avoid rejection from others. In contrast, shyness was best predicted by low social self-confidence and low social skill. The data best support a social-evaluation model of embarrassment and argue that embarrassability is linked to the appropriateness of social behavior, and shyness to its effectiveness.
Current theories predict that following a social–evaluative performance, people high in social anxiety will ruminate about the negative features of the event and, in turn, will show a bias toward recalling the negative aspects of the event. In this study participants presented an impromptu speech and were then provided with half positive and half negative feedback on their performance. A free-recall task was used to test immediate recall for the feedback. Participants returned 1 week later and were again tested on recall for the feedback as well as completing a questionnaire indicating the extent to which they engaged in both positive and negative rumination regarding the speech task during the preceding week. Evidence for a negative memory bias in the high socially anxious group (HI) was found at both times, however this negative bias did not increase over time. The hypothesis that the HI group would spend more time than the low socially anxious group ruminating over perceived negative aspects of the speech task was also supported. Social anxiety and depression scores were both uniquely associated with negative rumination, however when controlling for depression the Group Rumination–Valence interaction became nonsignificant. The HI group did engage in greater levels of overall rumination however, even when depression scores were statistically controlled. There was no significant relationship shown between negative recall bias and negative rumination.
This study examined the discrepancy between self-established standards and self-efficacy in social situations. Socially anxious and nonanxious men rated a series of standards for judging the adequacy of their performance in an upcoming social interaction; subjects also rated their social self-efficacy, or perceived ability to handle the interaction. Nonanxious subjects expected their ability to equal or exceed all standards of evaluation. Anxious subjects expected their ability to equal that of the average subject and also believed their performance would match their personal standard. However, anxious subjects believed their social behavior would fall short of what they believed the experimenter expected of them. No support was found for the idea that socially anxious men establish perfectionistic standards. Rather, they believed that others held standards for them that they could not achieve. The results are congruent with cognitive theories of social anxiety.
Many psychotherapeutic traditions have conceptualized clinical levels of anxiety as resulting from the avoidance of threatening or emotional material. In this paper, we examine behavioral models of avoidance of emotions and emotional material, integrating findings that support established behavioral theories of emotional avoidance and anxiety, and that extend these theories to further explain the intense, intrusive,
and interfering nature of clinical anxiety. Research on the suppression and avoidance of emotional material suggests that emotional avoidance and thought suppression may not only hinder the learning process and maintain anxious responding, but may also (a) paradoxically heighten anxious responding to threatening cues and (b) interfere with emotion functionality, thereby further impeding adaptive responding. Findings are discussed in terms of future research and implications for clinical treatment of anxiety disorders.