Desire for control, felt control, and stress inoculation training during dental treatment.

Coping style research has typically assessed Ss' desire for a coping resource, but ignored whether Ss possess that resource. In this study 110 dental patients were categorized as to their desire for and feelings of control and were randomly assigned, just prior to dental treatment, to a 20 min Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) session or a Filler condition. SIT significantly reduced pain and increased control only for patients who initially reported a high desire for control coupled with low perceived control. This finding supports the view that the discrepancy between high desire for control and low perceived control plays a causal role in the elevated distress and pain initially reported by patients with such control perceptions. These data indicate that consideration of patients' perceived coping resources as well as their coping preferences adds to our ability to predict reactions to stress reduction manipulations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disordered gambling among university-based medical and dental patients: A focus on Internet gambling.

The authors evaluated gambling behaviors, including Internet gambling, among patients seeking free or reduced-cost dental or health care. Three hundred eighty-nine patients at university health clinics completed a questionnaire that included the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; H. R. Lesieur & S. Blume, 1987). All respondents had gambled in their lifetimes, with 70% gambling in the past 2 months. On the basis of SOGS scores, 10.6% were problem gamblers, and 15.4% were pathological gamblers. The most common forms of gambling were lottery, slot machines, and scratch tickets. Internet gambling was reported by 8.1% of participants. Compared to non-Internet gamblers, Internet gamblers were more likely to be younger, non-Caucasian, and have higher SOGS scores. This study is among the first to evaluate the prevalence of Internet gambling and suggests that people who gamble on the Internet are likely to have a gambling problem. Results also illuminate the need to screen patients seeking health care services for gambling problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and perceived control: Cognitive mediators of pain tolerance.

The cold-pressor task was used with 102 female undergraduates in 2 experiments to determine (a) whether self-efficacy has validity as a true causal determinant of behavior change or is a correlate of change that has already occurred and (b) how perceptions of control and self-efficacy interact to determine choice behavior, persistence, and the impact of an aversive stimulus. Results of Experiment 1 indicate that self-efficacy expectations affected performance beyond what would have been expected from past performance alone. Changes in self-efficacy expectations predicted changes in cold-pressor tolerance. These findings suggest that self-efficacy expectations can be causal determinants of behavior in an aversive situation. Results of Experiment 2 indicate that self-efficacy was separable from control and that performance was best if both high levels of perceived control and self-efficacy were present. These findings support the notion that self-efficacy expectations can mediate the desirability of providing control, in that those who benefit most from control are those who are most confident they can exercise it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional responses to goal attainment: Strength of regulatory focus as moderator.

Goals with a promotion focus versus a prevention focus are distinguished. Chronic ideal goals (hopes and aspirations) have a promotion focus, whereas ought goals (duties and responsibilities) have a prevention focus. The hypothesis that emotional responses to goal attainment vary as a function of promotion versus prevention goal strength (conceptualized as goal accessibility) was tested in correlational studies relating chronic goal attainment (self-congruencies or self-discrepancies) to emotional frequency and intensity (Studies 1–3) and in an experimental study relating immediate goal attainment (i.e., success or failure) to emotional intensity (Study 4). All studies found that goal attainment yielded greater cheerfulness–dejection responses when promotion focus was stronger and greater quiescence–agitation responses when prevention focus was stronger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social density and perceived control as mediators of crowding stress in high-density residential neighborhoods.

In this study we examined the relation of social density and perceptions of control with stress symptomology in high-density urban environments. We hypothesized that social density and perceived control would account for much of the stress associated with densely populated urban environments. Fifty-seven residents of an urban community participated in this field study. Differences in social density were obtained by comparing residents of blocks with commercial establishments with residents of blocks with no commercial establishments. Questionnaires were used to measure perceived control and neighborhood characteristics including social density. We used a multidimensional stress-measurement strategy that included self-report, behavioral, and biochemical indices. Relative to residents on blocks without stores, residents of blocks with stores reported more crowding, less ability to regulate social interactions, and lower perceptions of control. In addition, they evidenced higher stress levels across domains of measurement, including more somatic and emotional distress and less persistence on a behavioral task, and they showed elevations in urinary catecholamines. Social density and perceived control accounted for a significant amount of the variance in each stress measure. These findings underscore the important role of psychological factors, particularly perceived control, in mediating stress associated with high-density environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental behaviors and adolescents' achievement goals at the beginning of middle school: Emotional problems as potential mediators.

Recent literature on the determinants of academic motivation has shown that parenting and emotions are central elements in understanding students' achievement goals. The authors of this study set out to examine the predictive relationship between parental behaviors during the last year of elementary school and adolescents' achievement goals at the end of their first year of middle school. Manifestations of anxiety and depression in Grade 6 were examined as explanatory mechanisms for this relationship. A total of 498 early adolescents participated in the study. The results of structural equation modeling analyses demonstrated that parental involvement predicted mastery goals, whereas parental control predicted performance goals among these adolescents. This relationship was mediated by the adolescents' symptoms of anxiety. These results underscore the need for educators and clinicians to consider parental behaviors and emotional problems among elementary school students when seeking to understand the behaviors and learning strategies adopted by these students in middle school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of locus of desired control in two samples of elderly persons: Community residents and hospitalized patients.

Describes the correlates of a new measure of desired control in 2 groups of elderly persons. Study 1 examined the desired control correlates for 88 elderly community residents (mean age 75 yrs). As predicted, desired control was significantly negatively correlated with depression and positively correlated with health, knowledge of services for the elderly, and use of services for the elderly. Study 2 examined the correlates of desired control for 77 male patients in a chronic care hospital ward (mean age 72 yrs). Desired control was significantly correlated with 4 of 5 indices of psychological adjustment. The 2 studies together indicate the breadth of relationships of desired control to diverse aspects of psychological well-being, including a measure of subjective senescence. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological problems of spinal cord injury patients: Emotional distress as a function of time and locus of control.

A scale assessing psychological problems was developed and administered to 136 male VA hospital spinal cord injury (SCI) patients (under 30 yrs of age). Results suggest that reaction to SCI was dominated by emotional distress and was best predicted by external locus of control and by recent injury. The scale was correlated with self-reports of anxiety, adjustment, affiliation, and sociability in a college population. Results do not support a simple stage theory of reaction to SCI but are consistent with other studies of coping patterns in SCI patients. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression as a function of levels of desired and obtained pleasure.

120 paid volunteer adults, equally divided into a depressed group and nondepressed and psychiatric control groups (from scores on the MMPI), were administered the Pleasant Events Schedule. Mean scores of the 3 groups were computed on scales purporting to measure obtained pleasure, activity level, and potential for being reinforced by a wide variety of events. As predicted, the depressed group scored significantly lower on these scales than the control groups, which did not differ significantly from each other. A minor hypothesis, derived from the neoanalytic theory of W. Bonime (1966), that depressed Ss would have higher scores on a scale purporting to measure the level of desired gratification was disconfirmed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional, cognitive, and family systems mediators of children's adjustment to interparental conflict.

Emotional, cognitive, and family systems processes have been identified as mediators of the association between interparental conflict and children's adjustment. However, little is known about how they function in relation to one another because they have not all been assessed in the same study. This investigation examined the relations among children's exposure to parental conflict, their appraisals of threat and blame, their emotional reaction, and triangulation into parental disagreements. One hundred fifty ethnically diverse 8- to 12-year-old children and both of their parents participated in the study. Comparisons of 3 models proposing different relations among these processes indicated that they function as parallel and independent mediators of children's adjustment. Specifically, children's self-blaming attributions and emotional distress were uniquely associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas perceived threat uniquely predicted internalizing problems and triangulation uniquely predicted externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pain-related correlates of MMPI profile subgroups among back pain patients.

96 17–80 yr old male and 218 16–83 yr old female outpatients at a back pain clinic were administered the Cornell Medical Index, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the McGill Pain Assessment Questionnaire—Revised, and the Shipley Institute of Living Scale. Analysis showed greater disruption of daily activities and affective disturbance and poorer adjustment to pain among subgroups with elevated neurotic scales. Results are consistent with those of similar studies of chronic pain patients showing that MMPI profile subgroups may be identified that are associated with relatively unique pain-related correlates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping strategies and collective efficacy as mediators between stress appraisal and quality of life among rescue workers.

Fire-fighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians routinely confront potentially traumatic events in the course of their jobs. The mediation role of coping strategies and collective efficacy in the relationship between stress appraisal and quality of life was examined (compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout) in a correlational study. Participants were 463 Italian rescue workers (fire fighters and different categories of emergency health care professionals). Participants filled out measures of stress appraisal, collective efficacy, coping strategies, and quality of life. The results showed that emotion and support coping, self-blame coping, and self-distraction mediated the relationship between stress appraisal and compassion fatigue. Moreover, collective efficacy, self-blame coping, and religious coping mediated the relationship between stress appraisal and burnout. Finally, collective efficacy, self-blame coping, and problem-focused coping mediated the relationship between stress appraisal and compassion satisfaction. Cognitive restructuring and denial did not mediate the relation between stress appraisal and any of the quality of life dimensions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depleted parental psychological resources as mediators of the association of income with adherence and metabolic control.

For adolescents with Type 1 diabetes, lower family income may be associated with poorer diabetes management through depleted parental psychological resources (i.e., higher parental depressive symptoms, lower parental acceptance). Adolescents (N = 252; 46% male) aged 10–14 years with Type 1 diabetes assessed the acceptance of their mother and father (e.g., “gives me the feeling that she likes me as I am”; “she doesn't feel she has to make me over into someone else”). Mothers provided information on family income and demographics. Both mothers and fathers reported their depressive symptoms. HbA1c scores were indexed via medical records. Lower family income was associated with higher (i.e., worse) HbA1c, more mother and father depressive symptoms, and less acceptance from both parents. Mediation analyses revealed that the relationship of lower family income with metabolic control occurred indirectly through lower maternal and paternal acceptance and lower adherence. Lower family income may impair the quality of parent—adolescent relationships that are beneficial for good diabetes management. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of self-efficacy in rehabilitation outcome among chronic low back pain patients.

Examined the role of self-efficacy beliefs in the rehabilitation of 45 low back pain patients participating in a 3-wk rehabilitation program. Increments in self-efficacy beliefs during the rehabilitation program were not associated with improved patient functioning at discharge from the program. However, in support of the theorized role of self-efficacy in behavior change, these increments in self-efficacy significantly predicted better patient functioning and less reported pain at the 6-mo follow-up assessment. Implications of these findings for the rehabilitation of low back pain patients are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-regulatory effects of monitoring sensory and affective dimensions of pain.

Examined the differential effectiveness of focused attention on either affective discomfort or sensory components of electric-shock-induced pain experiences in 30 undergraduates. In addition, the impact of models displaying tolerance or intolerance for pain was examined on reports of these different components of the experience. Attention to sensory components led to lower pain tolerance, avoidance of shocks at lower current levels, and characterizations of the shocks as more painful than stronger current intensities accepted during the discomfort rating task. The strategy of modeling tolerance was effective in influencing both sensory and affective reports of the experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal knowledge and speed of information processing as mediators of age differences in verbal fluency performance among older adults.

Age-related declines in verbal fluency among a large sample of older adults were investigated. Background variables, verbal knowledge, and speed of processing were examined as predictors of verbal fluency and as mediators of age effects. As expected, age-related declines were greater on the excluded letter fluency task than on the initial letter fluency task. Verbal knowledge was a better predictor of initial letter fluency than speed of processing, whereas the reverse was true for excluded letter fluency. However, speed of processing-accounted for more of the age-related variance in both fluency measures than the other predictors. There was no evidence of verbal knowledge compensating for age-related declines in verbal fluency. Results suggest that verbal fluency performance is well maintained in late life and that any age-related decline appears to be mainly due to declines in speed of information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Providing help and desired relationship type as determinants of changes in moods and self-evaluations.

Observed in 2 initial studies was converging evidence that helping improves the helpers' moods and self-evaluations. In these studies Ss induced to help showed improved moods and self-evaluations relative to Ss not given an opportunity to help. A 3rd study examined the moderating effects of desired relationship type on reactions to having helped. In this study Ss were led to desire either a communal or an exchange relationship with another. They then helped the other or were not allowed to help. Among Ss led to desire a communal relationship, but not among those led to desire an exchange relationship, helping was associated with greater improvements in moods than not helping. Helping tended to improve self-evaluations regardless of desired relationship type. However, this effect reached statistical significance only among subjects led to desire a communal relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of anger suppression on pain severity and pain behaviors among chronic pain patients: Evaluation of an ironic process model.

Objective: Evidence for links between anger inhibition or suppression and chronic pain severity is based mostly on studies with correlation designs. Following from ironic process theory, we proposed that attempts to suppress angry thoughts during provocation would increase subsequent pain intensity among chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients, and do so through paradoxically enhanced accessibility of anger. Design: CLBP patients (N = 58) were assigned to suppression and nonsuppression conditions while performing a computer maze task with a harassing confederate. A structured pain behavior task (SPBT) followed. Main outcome measures: Self-reported anger, anxiety, and sadness following maze task. Self-reported pain severity and number of observed pain behaviors during SPBT. Results: Patients told to suppress during provocation: (a) reported greater anger following the maze task, reported greater pain intensity during the SPBT, and exhibited more pain behaviors than patients not suppressing; (b) postmaze anger levels significantly mediated group differences on pain behaviors. Conclusion: Attempts by CLBP patients to suppress anger may aggravate pain related to their clinical condition through ironically increased feelings of anger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health practices and hardiness as mediators in the stress-illness relationship.

Two stress and illness models that included the joint mediating effects of health practices and hardiness were tested prospectively over a 2-mo period. 86 undergraduates completed 5 subscales indexing hardiness. Stress, health practices, and illness for the prior month were assessed at this time as well as 1 and 2 mo later. In the 1st model, illness was measured by the severity of physical symptoms. In the 2nd model, it was measured by the number of symptoms reported. In both models, path analyses revealed that stress acted directly to affect illness as well as indirectly by changing health practices. Hardiness also had a direct effect on illness as well as an indirect effect through health practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-persuasion and self-presentation as mediators of anticipatory attitude change.

Three experiments with 197 undergraduates determined when anticipatory attitude change occurs via self-persuasion or self-presentation and identified the implications for attitude persistence of a shift by either process. In Exp I, Ss' thoughts and attitudes were assessed while they expected either a counterattitudinal or a proattitudinal message. Ss generated thoughts and reported attitudes consistent with the direction of the anticipated message, even though their responses were anonymous. In the final 2 experiments, the publicness of Ss' attitudes was varied to examine the impact of self-presentational concerns on thoughts and attitudes. In Exp II, Ss in the private condition spontaneously generated more thoughts relevant to the anticipated counterattitudinal message than did Ss in the public condition. In Exp III, some Ss were told that the anticipated counterattitudinal message was not forthcoming. When the message was canceled in the public condition, Ss failed to show an anticipatory shift in attitude; in the private condition, however, anticipatory attitude change was obtained. It is concluded that when self-presentation concerns are manifest, temporary changes in attitude occur in response to these concerns. In contrast, when pressures to self-present are low, anticipatory changes reflect genuine shifts in attitude resulting from an active consideration of the merits of the counterattitudinal position. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)