Interpersonal self-support and attentional disengagement from emotional faces

Association of loneliness and grey matter volume in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: the mediating role of interpersonal self-support traits

As a social and public health concern, loneliness is associated with an abundance of negative life outcomes such as depressive symptomatology, mortality, and sleep disturbance. Nevertheless, the neural basis underlying loneliness remains elusive; in addition, previous neuroimaging studies about loneliness mainly focused on the elderly and were limited by small sample sizes. Here, utilizing the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach via structural magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the association between brain GMV and loneliness in 462 young adults (67.7% females, age = 18.59 ± 1.14 years). Results from whole-brain VBM analyses revealed that individuals with higher loneliness tended to have greater GMV in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which was thought to be associated with emotional regulation deficits and executive dysfunction. Importantly, the GMV-based predictive models (a machine-learning method) demonstrated that the correlation between loneliness and GMV in the DLPFC was robust. Further, interpersonal self-support traits (ISS), a Chinese indigenous personality construct and pivotal personality factor for resisting negative life outcomes, mediated the relationship between the GMV in the right DLPFC and loneliness. Taken together, the present study reveals that the GMV in right DLPFC acts as an underlying neurostructural correlate of loneliness in the healthy brain, and further provides a brain-personality-symptom pathway for protection against loneliness in which GMV of DLPFC affects loneliness through ISS traits. Future intervention procedures aiming to decrease loneliness and enhance mental health levels among young adults should be developed through improving interpersonal relationships such as social skills training.

Does interpersonal self-support matter for freshman nursing students' professional identity? Evidence from mainland China

Background

Many studies have focused on undergraduate nursing students' professional identity (PI), but freshman nursing students (FNSs) have been ignored, and the relationship between interpersonal self-support (ISS) and PI is unknown. This study was designed to determine the patterns of ISS and its association with PI among Chinese FNSs.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 358 FNSs recruited from two nursing colleges in southeast China. Students completed the Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire, the Interpersonal Self-Support Scale for Adolescent Students, and the Professional Identity Questionnaire for Nurse Students. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to determine the patterns of ISS among freshmen. The Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars method was used to examine the influencing role of ISS in PI.

Results

LPA indicated that ISS could be classified into three subgroups: the ISS-Individualist group (7.54% of the total sample), ISS-Dependent group (63.13% of the total sample), and ISS-Extrovert group (29.33% of the total sample). Overall, these three profiles differed significantly in the five dimensions of ISS and PI (p < 0.05). The results of pairwise comparisons examined the positive role of the ISS-Extrovert group on the promotion of PI among FNSs.

Conclusion

These findings emphasize the need for the promotion of PI and ISS among Chinese FNSs. Freshman students need more confidence and general communication knowledge to maintain harmonious social relationships with others. Parent-teacher association could be applied to nursing education to guide FNSs' positive development of ISS.

The longitudinal relationships of interpersonal openness trait, hostility, and hostile attribution bias

While the relationship between personality, hostility, and hostile attribution bias (HAB) has been explored in previous studies, their longitudinal relationship is unclear, and no related study has utilized the indigenous Chinese personality. This research explored the longitudinal relationships of interpersonal openness (IO; an indigenous Chinese personality construct), hostility, and HAB. The 942 valid participants (38.5% male, mean age = 20.83, standard deviation =  1.04) were from six different provinces in China. Measurements were completed on two separate occasions (Times 1 and 2), with a 6-month interval. Results showed that IO has longitudinal effects on hostility, after controlling for the Big Five, and HAB could be longitudinally predicted by IO and hostility as well. Moreover, hostility served as a mediator in the relationship between IO and HAB. These results suggest that IO can affect the development of hostility and HAB, and some indigenous Chinese personality factors may complement Western personality theories.