Examination of the paths between personality, current mood, its evaluation, and emotion regulation

In an ongoing longitudinal study, a Big Five Personality Inventory was completed by 122 men and 126 women at age 33. At age 36, the Brief Mood Introspection Scale, the Meta‐Evaluation Scale, and the Meta‐Regulation Scale were administered to 140 men and 127 women. The results, based on path analyses, lent support to a hypothesized model, according to which current mood (Negative, Positive, Active, Calm) and mood evaluation (Mood Influence, Typicality and Acceptance, Clarity) mediate the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and emotion regulation strategies (Repair, Dampening, Maintenance). For both sexes, Neuroticism was the most significant trait in terms of emotion regulation. A sex difference emerged: in general, personality traits and mood variables explained emotion regulation more significantly in men. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Extraversion and Neuroticism as antecedents of emotion regulation and dysregulation in adulthood

This longitudinal study examined the role of Extraversion and Neuroticism as antecedents of emotion regulation and dysregulation among 89 women and 81 men. When participants were 27 years old, their Extraversion and Neuroticism were assessed with the standardized version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. At age 33, they completed the Big‐Five Personality Inventory, an authorized adaptation of the NEO Personality Inventory. Emotion regulation, operationalized as an active attempt to turn a negative emotion toward a more positive direction, and measured by the Repair subscale of the Meta‐Regulation Scale, and emotional social support, as measured by the Life Situation Questionnaire, were assessed when participants reached 36 years of age. Emotional ambivalence, a type of emotion dysregulation, was also assessed in this wave. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that prior Neuroticism led to higher emotional ambivalence and lowered use of Repair at age 36. Prior Extraversion, on the other hand, was linked to lower emotional ambivalence at age 36. Extraversion also led to higher attempts to rely on emotional social support to regulate emotions, but less interest in using Repair. Correlational findings revealed that Extraversion and Neuroticism showed differential continuity between ages 27 and 33. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[A role of personality and stress in the development of depressive symptoms in students]

AIM

To study a role of personality and stress as a mediator between personality and depression in university first-year students.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Sixty-four students (76.6% female, mean age 18.7±1.02 years), including 30 first year- and 34 second-year students, were studied.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The first-year students experienced more stress and more frequently had depressive symptoms compared to second-year students. Neuroticism mainly contributed to depression in the first-year students and extroversion was a protective factor against all depressive symptoms, whereas extraversion and conscientiousness were significant unique predictors for depression in the second-year students. Neuroticism was strongly associated with somatic symptoms, while consciousness was linked to cognitive-affective symptoms. The role of stress as a mediator of the relationship between personality and depression was confirmed for consciousness in the first-year students; other personality traits and stress contributed directly to depressive symptoms.

Reliability and Validity of Five-Level Response Continua for the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale

The present study, based on three samples of college students totaling 1,832 participants, resulted in the conclusion that a 5-level response continuum for the short form of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE)1 proved at least as reliable and valid as the 10-level continua used in normative studies. Values of coefficient alpha ranged from .78 to .87 for the 5-level continuum, in contrast to .69 to .83 for the 10-level continuum. Criterion-related validity correlations with career indecision and vocational identity were comparable for the two response continua. Validity with respect to the scales of the Career Decision Profile was examined, as was construct validity with respect to measures of hope, goal stability, and positive and negative affect. Overall, the study suggests the psychometric quality of the CDSE when 5-level response continua are used and adds to knowledge of the nomological network of the construct.1

Problem-Solving Appraisal and Human Adjustment

This article reviews and synthesizes more than 120 studies from 20 years (1982-2002) of research that has examined problem-solving appraisal as measured by the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI). The goals of the article are fourfold: (a) introduce the construct of problem-solving appraisal and the PSI within the applied problem-solving literature, (b) summarize and integrate existing findings using the PSI within and across four major content areas (psychological adjustment, physical health, coping, and educational and vocational issues), (c) identify promising research directions that might stimulate future research and promote theory development, and (d) identify implications for practitioners in the helping professions. We conclude that problem-solving appraisal as measured by the PSI is a useful psychological construct with implications for theory and many applications to build on peoples' strengths to enhance their life satisfaction and well-being.

Self-appraised problem-solving skills and the prediction of secondary complications among persons with spinal cord injuries

Secondary complications following spinal cord injury (SCI) include decubitus ulcers and recurrent urinary tract infections. These conditions can significantly impair quality of life and prove life-threatening; it is also believed that these conditions are mediated by behavioral pathways. According to the social problem-solving model, persons who report effective problem-solving skills should be capable of adhering to long-term therapeutic regimens of self-care necessary to prevent these complications. We tested this assumption in the present study. Discriminant function analyses revealed self-appraised skills in approaching and defining problems contributed to the prediction of secondary complications among 53 persons with SCI. Results are discussed in light of the social problem-solving model, and the utility of problem-solving interventions in rehabilitation is explored.

Towards an idiothetic understanding of the role of social problem solving in daily event, mood and health experiences: A prospective daily diary approach

OBJECTIVES

Utilising D'Zurilla's (1986, 1990) transactional social problem solving model as the theoretical framework, the present study sought to examine the dynamics of the social problem solving process in relation to intraindividual experiences of events, mood, and physical health in daily life.

DESIGN

The study incorporated both idiographic and nomothetic strategies, combining a daily diary approach within a prospective design. As such, each individual's experience of events, mood, and health were assessed on a daily basis, and the prospective relations between social problem solving and these day-to-day experiences examined.

METHODS

Participants' (university students) completed a measure of social problem solving at baseline followed, approximately 5 weeks later, by daily self-reports of mood (positive & negative), events (hassles & uplifts), and physical health (health status & URI symptoms) for a period of 14 days. The data were analysed using multilevel hierarchical modelling.

RESULTS

Days on which individuals had greater than their average hassles were associated with higher negative and lower positive mood (i.e. domain specific & cross-over effects), whilst greater uplifts were linked to positive mood only. With regard to health, individuals reported worse status and more URI symptoms on days with greater than their average negative (hassles, negative mood) but not positive influences (uplifts, positive mood). Both social problem solving orientations and skills dimensions were associated prospectively with daily health outcomes, and these relationships were not moderated by day-to-day experiences of mood or events.

CONCLUSIONS

The data clarify the importance of social problem solving to within-person daily event, mood, and health experiences. The implications of these findings for contemporary transactional social problem solving models are discussed.

Resilient, undercontrolled, and overcontrolled personality prototypes among persons with spinal cord injury

A sample of 199 persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) were assessed on Big Five personality dimensions using the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992) at admission to an inpatient medical rehabilitation program. A cluster analysis of the baseline NEO-FFI yielded 3 cluster prototypes that resemble resilient, undercontrolled, and overcontrolled prototypes identified in many previous studies of children and adult community samples. Compared with normative samples, this sample had significantly fewer resilient prototypes and significantly more overcontrolled and undercontrolled prototypes. Undercontrolled individuals were the modal prototype. The resilient and undercontrolled types were better adjusted than the overcontrolled types, showing lower levels of depression at admission and higher acceptance of disability at discharge. The resilient type at admission predicted the most effective reports of social problem-solving abilities at discharge and the overcontrolled type the least. We discuss the implications of these results for assessment and interventions in rehabilitation settings.

Neuroticism as Mental Noise: A Relation Between Neuroticism and Reaction Time Standard Deviations

Those higher in neuroticism are often more variable in their behavior and experience. On the basis of this observation, the authors hypothesized that the trait of neuroticism might be correlated with the variability of performance pertaining to relatively basic cognitive operations. Three studies involving 242 college undergraduates supported this prediction in that neuroticism correlated positively with the variability of performance across trials of reaction time tasks. These results link neuroticism to cognitive noise that intervenes between stimulus and response. Such noise has been associated with executive dysfunctions (e.g., frontal lobe injury) in previous research. The present findings are potentially useful for understanding why neuroticism often correlates with variations in the functionality of cognition and behavior.

Knowing Good From Bad: The Paradox of Neuroticism, Negative Affect, and Evaluative Processing

There are pragmatic benefits to trait-consistent mood states, especially when people are evaluating new objects within the environment (M. Tamir, M. D. Robinson, & G. L. Clore, 2002). The present studies, involving both naturally occurring (Studies 1 and 2) and manipulated (Study 3) mood states, demonstrated such trait-consistent interactions within the context of neuroticism and negative mood states. Individuals high in neuroticism were faster to make evaluations when in a negative mood state like sadness. By contrast, individuals low in neuroticism were faster to make evaluations when in a neutral mood state. The present studies demonstrate that although negative mood states are hedonically unpleasant, they can be beneficial in some ways for individuals high in neuroticism.

Einfluß symptombezogener vs. ablenkender Aufmerksamkeit auf die Problemorientierung subklinisch Depressiver in interpersonalen Situationen

Zusammenfassung.Theoretischer Hintergrund: Aspekte der Problemorientierung depressiver Personen gegenüber interpersonalen Problemsituationen wurden vor dem Hintergrund des Prozeßmodells von Nezu, Nezu und Perri (1989) und unter Bezugnahme auf den Reaktionsstil-Ansatz von Nolen-Hoeksema (1991) untersucht. Fragestellung: Es wurde die Annahme überprüft, daß die bei depressiven Probanden zu erwartenden Defizite in der Problemorientierung insbesondere bei ruminierendem Aufmerksamkeitsfokus auftreten und durch einen ablenkenden Aufmerksamkeitsfokus abgemildert werden können. Methode: Bei jeweils der Hälfte der subklinisch depressiven (n = 30) bzw. nicht depressiven Probanden (n = 40) wurde ein ruminierender bzw. ablenkender Aufmerksamkeitsfokus induziert. Die Probanden wurden dann aufgefordert, sich in fünf aversive/mehrdeutige interpersonale Problemsituationen hineinzuversetzen. Für jede Problemsituation wurden verschiedene Aspekte der Problemorientierung anhand eines Fragebogens erfaßt. Ergebnisse: Für Problemattribution, Problembewertung, Kontrollerwartung und Annäherungstendenz, nicht aber für subjektive Wichtigkeit, Kontrollierbarkeitserwartung und Vermeidenstendenz zeigten sich die erwarteten Unterschiede zwischen subklinisch depressiven und nicht depressiven Probanden. Entgegen den Annahmen von Nolen-Hoeksema (1991) veränderten sich die Ergebnisse nicht in Abhängigkeit von der Art der Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierung. Schlußfolgerungen: Es zeigten sich die erwarteten Defizite in der Problemorientierung depressiver Probanden. Daß sich die Ergebnisse nicht in Abhängigkeit vom induzierten Aufmerksamkeitsfokus verändern, wird u.a. darauf zurückgeführt, daß es sich bei ruminierender vs. ablenkender Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierung möglicherweise eher um habituelle Reaktionsstile handelt, die nur schwer durch kurzfristige experimentelle Manipulationen zu verändern sind.

Social problem-solving abilities and personality disorder characteristics among dual-diagnosed persons in substance abuse treatment

We examined the relation of self-appraised social problem-solving abilities and personality-disorder characteristics to the adjustment and compliance of persons with dual diagnoses in substance-abuse treatment. It was hypothesized that elements of the problem-orientation component would remain predictive of depressive behavior and distress after considering personality-disorder characteristics among 117 persons receiving inpatient-substance-abuse treatment. Furthermore, self-appraised problem-solving abilities were expected to predict the occurrence of "dirty" drug and alcohol screens during treatment and compliance with the first scheduled community follow-up visit. Results supported predictions concerning the relation of problem-solving confidence to depressive behavior, distress, and substance-use screens; however, a paradoxical relation was observed between the problem-orientation variables and compliance with the first outpatient visit. The results are interpreted within the context of contemporary models of social problem solving and the implications for cognitive-behavioral assessment and intervention are considered.

Self-appraised social problem solving abilities, emotional reactions and actual problem solving performance

Self-report measures of social problem solving abilities have yet to be associated with objective problem solving performance in any consistent manner. In the present study, we investigated the relation of social problem solving abilities--as measured by the Social Problem Solving Skills Inventory--Revised (SPSI-R [Maydeu-Olivares, A. & D'Zurilla, T. J. (1996). A factor analytic study of the Social Problem Solving Inventory: an integration of theory and data. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 20, 115-133])--to performance on a structured problem solving task. Unlike previous studies, we examined the relation of problem solving skills to performance curves observed in repeated trials, while controlling for affective reactions to each trial. Using hierarchical modeling techniques, a negative problem orientation was significantly predictive of performance and this effect was not mediated by negative affectivity. Results are discussed as they pertain to contemporary models of social problem solving.