Latanoprost for uncontrolled glaucoma in a compassionate case protocol

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effects of change in interpersonal stress on disease activity among 41 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: Measures of everyday stressful events and perceived stress were collected weekly for twelve weeks and related to disease activity in a series of pooled time-series regression analyses. RESULTS: Increases in the number of interpersonal stressors in the same week and one week prior were associated with increases in disease activity. Pain from joint tenderness also was significantly related to a decrease in stressful events one week later. A subgroup of 20 patients showed a significant increase in interpersonal stress from baseline during the course of the study. For this group, significant elevations in DR + CD3 cells, sIL-2R, clinician's rating of disease, and self-reports of joint tenderness were found during the week of increased interpersonal stress. CONCLUSIONS: Interpersonal stress appears to be associated with increases in disease activity among RA patients.     

Interpersonal workplace stressors and well-being: A multi-wave study of employees with and without arthritis.

The within-person influence of interpersonal stressors on affective well-being and physical well-being was investigated for 109 women with and without arthritis. Participants were interviewed on a weekly basis for 12 consecutive weeks, and the prospective data were analyzed by using hierarchical linear modeling. Overall, interpersonal workplace stressors independently predicted both well-being outcomes. Interpersonal stressors outside the workplace were related to negative affect but not to arthritis symptoms. Compared with healthy controls, arthritis patients' ratings of negative affect were equally reactive to workplace stressors. Neuroticism did not moderate stressor reactivity for either dependent variable but did predict mean levels of negative affect. The data support the hypothesis that the psychosocial environment of the workplace contributes unique effects on well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It takes one to know one: Interpersonal sensitivity is related to accurate assessments of others' interpersonal sensitivity.

Interpersonal sensitivity (emotional and social) is the ability to accurately assess others' abilities, states, and traits from nonverbal cues. The authors predicted that individuals' interpersonal sensitivity would be related to accurate judgments of friends' interpersonal sensitivity. Fifty participants were recruited, each bringing a friend to participate in performance-based, self-report, and other-rating measures of emotional and social sensitivity. Interpersonal sensitivity was related to accurate judgments of others' interpersonal sensitivity (the "it-takes-one-to-know-one effect"). Neither gender nor acquaintanceship was directly related to accurate judgments of interpersonal sensitivity, nor did either variable moderate the it-takes-one-to-know-one effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal Control Strivings and Vulnerability to Negative Social Exchanges in Later Life.

Although negative social exchanges detract from well-being, little is known about the factors that influence older adults' vulnerability to such exchanges. Interpersonal control strivings were examined as predictors of 2 dimensions of vulnerability to negative social exchanges, exposure and reactivity, in a nationally representative sample of older adults (N = 916). Interpersonal control strivings refer to people's efforts to maintain harmony in their relationships and, when unsuccessful, to preserve their emotional health. The results revealed that interpersonal control strivings directed toward maintaining harmony were associated with less exposure, whereas interpersonal control strivings directed toward preserving emotional health when harmony is threatened were associated with less reactivity. Thus, complementary control processes play an important role in older adults' vulnerability to negative social exchanges. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactions in predicting mood from extraversion and neuroticism.

Many researchers have found evidence that, when only marginal distributions are examined, extraversion is related primarily to positive affect, whereas neuroticism is related primarily to negative affect. Recent findings have suggested that extraversion and neuroticism interact in predicting mood so that marginal relations could be misleading. The present study used extraversion (and its components, sociability and impulsivity) along with neuroticism in regression equations including interactive and curvilinear components to predict measures of positive and negative affect among 384 undergraduates. Results confirm earlier findings that extraversion and neuroticism interact in predicting both positive and negative affect. The interaction pattern was similar to previous findings: Both positive and negative affect were strongly related to extraversion only among neurotic Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily interpersonal experiences, context, and alcohol consumption: Crying in your beer and toasting good times.

The authors explored a multidimensional view of drinking, whereby social and solitary drinking represent distinct behaviors associated with positive and negative experiences, respectively. Using daily diary methodology and multilevel analytic strategy, the authors examined, over 30 days, the within-person association of negative and positive experiences and alcohol consumption in different contexts and focused on interpersonal experiences. On days with more negative interpersonal experiences, participants engaged in more solitary drinking (i.e., drinking at home and alone), whereas on days with more positive interpersonal experiences they drank more in social contexts. The authors also demonstrated that individuals high on neuroticism drank more in solitary contexts on days with more negative interpersonal experiences, relative to those with lower neuroticism. These findings lend support to models linking daily drinking motivation and context-dependent drinking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shyness and low social support as interactive diatheses, with loneliness as mediator: Testing an interpersonal-personality view of vulnerability to depressive symptoms.

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) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years.

Positive and negative affect, measured by the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale, were studied in a longitudinal sample spanning from 1971 to 1994. The sample (N?=?2,804) represented 4 generations of families. Linear trend analyses compared generations over time for positive and negative affect and also examined the possible influences of neuroticism and extraversion on initial levels of affect and patterns of change in affect. Negative affect decreased with age for all generations, although the rate was attenuated among the oldest adults. Higher neuroticism scores also attenuated the decrease in negative affect across time. For positive affect, the younger and middle-aged adults showed marked stability, but the older group evidenced a small decrease over time. Higher levels of extraversion were related to more stability in positive affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: A quantitative review of 30 years of investigations.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 135(5) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2009-12487-006). There is an error in Table 1. On p. 840 the entry for Hill et al. 1987 should be Masters et al. 2004.] This meta-analysis included 729 studies from 161 articles investigating how acute stress responsivity (including stress reactivity and recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis, autonomic, and cardiovascular systems) changes with various chronic psychosocial exposures (job stress; general life stress; depression or hopelessness; anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect; hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior; fatigue, burnout, or exhaustion; positive psychological states or traits) in healthy populations. In either the overall meta-analysis or the methodologically strong subanalysis, positive psychological states or traits were associated with reduced HPA reactivity. Hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior was associated with increased cardiovascular (heart rate or blood pressure) reactivity, whereas anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect was associated with decreased cardiovascular reactivity. General life stress and anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect were associated with poorer cardiovascular recovery. However, regarding the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, there were no associations between the chronic psychosocial factors and stress reactivity or recovery. The results largely reflect an integrated stress response pattern of hypo- or hyperactivity depending on the specific nature of the psychosocial background. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: A quantitative review of 30 years of investigations": Correction to Chida and Hamer (2008).

Reports an error in "Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: A quantitative review of 30 years of investigations" by Yoichi Chida and Mark Hamer (Psychological Bulletin, 2008[Nov], Vol 134[6], 829-885). There is an error in Table 1. On p. 840 the entry for Hill et al. 1987 should be Masters et al. 2004. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-14745-003.) This meta-analysis included 729 studies from 161 articles investigating how acute stress responsivity (including stress reactivity and recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis, autonomic, and cardiovascular systems) changes with various chronic psychosocial exposures (job stress; general life stress; depression or hopelessness; anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect; hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior; fatigue, burnout, or exhaustion; positive psychological states or traits) in healthy populations. In either the overall meta-analysis or the methodologically strong subanalysis, positive psychological states or traits were associated with reduced HPA reactivity. Hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior was associated with increased cardiovascular (heart rate or blood pressure) reactivity, whereas anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect was associated with decreased cardiovascular reactivity. General life stress and anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect were associated with poorer cardiovascular recovery. However, regarding the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, there were no associations between the chronic psychosocial factors and stress reactivity or recovery. The results largely reflect an integrated stress response pattern of hypo- or hyperactivity depending on the specific nature of the psychosocial background. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Valence focus and self-esteem lability: Reacting to hedonic cues in the social environment.

Individuals differ in the extent to which they emphasize feelings of pleasure or displeasure in their verbal reports of emotional experience, termed valence focus (VF). Two event-contingent, experience-sampling studies examined the relationship between VF and sensitivity to pleasant and unpleasant social cues. It was predicted, and found, that individuals with greater VF (i.e., who emphasized feelings of pleasure/displeasure in reports of emotional experience) demonstrated greater self-esteem lability (i.e., larger changes in self-esteem) to pleasant and unpleasant information contained in social interactions than did those lower in VF. These effects held even after statistically controlling for possible confounding variables (neuroticism, affect intensity). Implications for understanding the psychological impact of valenced interpersonal events are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative affect, absorption, and immunity

Relationships between the psychological characteristics absorption and neuroticism, and in vitro and in vivo measures of cell-mediated immunity were examined. Thirty-nine female subjects responded to questionnaires, donated blood for analysis of T-cell numbers, and were tested for delayed hypersensitivity skin responses. Consistent with the experimental hypothesis, subjects classified as repressors of negative affect (low absorption/low neuroticism), or extreme expressors of negative affect (high absorption/high neuroticism), showed lower immune responses than other groups of subjects. For the in vitro T-cell measures and the in vivo skin induration measures, there were also pervasive main effects of neuroticism, with subjects higher in neuroticism showing higher immunity than subjects lower in neuroticism.     

Interpersonal subtypes and change of interpersonal problems in the treatment of patients with generalized anxiety disorder: A pilot study.

Interpersonal problems are highly relevant to the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients. Previous studies using the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems identified several interpersonal subtypes in GAD patients. In this study, we wanted to replicate earlier findings of interpersonal subtypes in GAD. We investigated whether these interpersonal subtypes are characterized by different types of interpersonal problems and different levels of interpersonal distress, and we further examined whether they differed with regard to improvement of interpersonal problems after short-term treatment. This study is based on results from a randomized controlled trial that investigated short-term treatments in GAD outpatients. For secondary analysis, interpersonal subtypes were identified by cluster analysis and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems profiles were calculated for both the total sample (N = 52) and the interpersonal subtypes using the Structural Summary Method for Circumplex Data. This study confirmed previous results demonstrating the existence of interpersonal subtypes in GAD. Four interpersonal subtypes were identified: Overly Nurturant, Intrusive, Socially Avoidant, and Nonassertive. Short-term treatment significantly improved interpersonal problems (d = 0.46) within the total GAD sample. Interestingly, the effect sizes of the four clusters differed considerably (d = 0.19–1.24) and the clusters displayed different changes in the two circumplex axes Dominance and Nurturance. Our study indicates that change of interpersonal problems needs to be specifically analyzed, even within homogenous diagnostic groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuroticism and the pain-mood relation in rheumatoid arthritis: Insights from a prospective daily study.

For 75 consecutive days, 54 Ss with rheumatoid arthritis supplied daily reports of their mood and joint pain. After aggregating daily reports, the relation between chronic mood and chronic pain remained statistically significant when controlling for neuroticism, depression, disease activity, disability, and characteristic responses to increasing pain. Findings of a path analysis suggest that (1) individuals higher in neuroticism experience more chronic distress regardless of their responses to pain, their pain intensity, and depressive symptomatology, and (2) the relation between neuroticism and chronic pain is mediated by the propensity of high-neuroticism individuals to catastrophize their pain. Within-S analyses that controlled for autocorrelation and linear trends in the time series revealed that 40% of the Ss experienced significantly worse moods on more painful days. Although individuals higher in neuroticism reported more intense pain and more negative mood, their daily mood was less strongly linked to their daily pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arthritis and perceptions of quality of life: An examination of positive and negative affect in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

The utility of measuring both positive and negative affective states for assessing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients was examined in 3 independent samples of male and female RA patients (Sample A: 179 women, 48 men; Sample B: 177 women, 24 men; Sample C: 134 women, 38 men). Confirmatory factor analyses of each sample indicated that positive and negative affect constituted separate, negatively correlated factors. The relations among disease variables, coping, and affects were consistent with a model in which coping mediates the relationship between disease variables and positive and negative affect. Patients with higher pain and limitation from RA had higher levels of maladaptive coping, and maladaptive coping was associated with lower positive affect and higher negative affect. Those RAs with higher activity limitation also reported less adaptive coping, which was associated with less positive affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological impact of illness downturns: A comparison of new and chronic conditions.

Older adults (N?=?166) who had chronic arthritis, a chronic vision problem, new arthritis symptoms, or a new vision problem were compared with older adult controls on psychological distress and well-being. The psychological impacts of new versus chronic illness stressors, and stressors associated with arthritis versus vision loss, were examined. The chronic arthritis group had the greatest psychological distress, the least well-being, and the greatest self-reported pain. Results supported an additivity theory approach to chronic illness and not an anticipatory coping approach. Differences in level of pain accounted in part for elevations in distress but did not explain differences between groups in psychological well-being. Positive affect was found to be the indicator of well-being that best differentiated groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of a measure of interpersonal strengths: The Inventory of Interpersonal Strengths.

An Inventory of Interpersonal Strengths (IIS) was developed and validated in a series of large college student samples. Based on interpersonal theory and associated methods, the IIS was designed to assess positive characteristics representing the full range of interpersonal domains, including those generally thought to have negative qualities (e.g., introversion, coldness, submissiveness). The 8 subscales (octants) of the 64-item IIS demonstrated good circumplex features and reliability. Tests comparing Big 5 interpersonal factors, Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP), Battery of Interpersonal Capabilities (BIC), and other interpersonal measures demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity and shared interpersonal structure. The IIS accounted for significant additional variance in life satisfaction and quality of personal relationships beyond the IIP and the BIC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress-induced asymmetric frontal brain activity and aggression risk.

Impersonal stressors, not only interpersonal provocation, can instigate aggression through an associative network linking negative emotions to behavioral activation (L. Berkowitz, 1990). Research has not examined the brain mechanisms that are engaged by different types of stress and serve to promote hostility and aggression. The present study examined whether stress exposure elicits more left than right frontal brain activity implicated in behavioral approach motivation and whether this lateralized brain activity predicts stress-induced aggression and hostile/aggressive tendencies. Results showed that (a) participants in the impersonal (assigned to stress by a computer) and interpersonal (assigned to stress by a provoking confederate) stress conditions both showed more left than right frontal electroencephalogram activity after condition assignment and stress exposure and (b) the 2 stress groups exhibited subsequent increases in aggression relative to the no-stress group. Importantly, left frontal asymmetry in response to stress exposure predicted increases in subsequent aggressive behavior, a finding that did not emerge in the no-stress condition. Thus, both the interpersonal and impersonal stressors impacted state changes in brain activity related to behavioral approach, suggesting that stress reactivity involving approach activation represents risk for behavioral dysregulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuroticism and depressive symptoms among spouse caregivers: Do health behaviors mediate this relationship?

This study examined the mediating role of health behaviors in the relationship between neuroticism and depressive symptoms among spouse caregivers. Path analysis was used to test a model of the caregiver stress process among 233 caregivers of people with dementia. Results indicate that neuroticism has a significant direct effect on depressive symptoms and also indirectly influences depressive symptoms through health behaviors and perceived stress. When individual health behaviors were examined in the path model, only physical activity served a significant mediating role. These findings suggest that neuroticism may lead to depressive symptoms among caregivers partly through declines in physical activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of neuroticism in daily stress and coping.

The authors examined the influence of neuroticism (N) on the occurrence of different types of daily events, primary and secondary appraisals of those events, use of specific coping strategies, and end-of-day negative mood. College students completed questionnaires at the end of every day for 14 consecutive days. When reporting their most stressful event of each day, high-N individuals, compared with low-N individuals, reported more interpersonal stressors and had more negative primary and secondary appraisals and reacted with more distress in response to increasingly negative primary and secondary appraisals. Compared with low-N individuals, high-N individuals used less-adaptive coping strategies (e.g., hostile reaction) and reacted with more distress in response to some types of coping strategies. The appraisal findings, in particular, help to explain the chronic negative affectivity associated with neuroticism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)