Bullying at school negatively affects the class environment as well as all young people who participate in the bullying. One of the most important factors related to bullying is family. In the ...current study, the effect of family atmosphere and parenting style on different roles in bullying (bullies, victims, defenders) was examined in 155 adolescents (aged 13-15). The participants completed three self-reported scales measuring bullying, parenting style, and family atmosphere. For data analysis, Bayesian logistic regression was used. It was found that the family of bullies had less cohesion and control, more conflicts and fathers who demonstrated desultory parenting. Victims had higher family control, less family cohesion, fewer fathers with positive parenting and slightly higher positive parenting of mothers. Defenders had families with higher expressivity and organization, fewer conflicts, more fathers with positive parenting, fewer fathers with directive parenting and fewer mothers with autonomous parenting. Defenders were also predicted by the hostile parenting of fathers. Knowledge about the factors related to family atmosphere and parenting styles can be very useful in preparing bullying prevention and intervention programs.
There is a lively debate about the effect of maximizing and satisficing tendencies on well-being. The question is, whether maximizing and satisficing have an adaptive or maladaptive effect on ...well-being. There are also issues regarding the conceptualization and measurement of maximizing and satisficing tendencies. In a sample of 514 subjects from the general population in Slovakia, a two-component model of maximizing was examined. Satisficing tendency was measured as a separate construct. The results show the usefulness of a two-component model (maximizing as a strategy and maximizing as a goal) in measuring maximizing tendency. Maximizing as a strategy (measured as alternative search) turned out to be maladaptive (positively related to depression and negatively related to happiness), whereas maximizing as a goal (measured as high standards) had no maladaptive effect (no relation with well-being). In addition, the two components were differently associated with personality factors, which strengthens the need to distinguish between them. However, the satisficing tendency measured separately from maximizing tendency was not related to anything which raises a question about the conceptualization and validity of this tendency. The results of the current study, therefore, indicate that the (mal)adaptive effect of these tendencies depends on their conceptualization as well as on how these tendencies are measured, and also on their different relationship with personality factors. However, results also point to the importance of considering the cultural context that may have an effect on the relationship between maximizing and well-being. Therefore, the results may vary due to different cultures.
Objectives
Cancer is a serious event in a person’s life. However, certain coping strategies in relation to selected social, emotional, and personality factors appear to manage the disease.
Methods
...Sources of social support were tested in cancer survivors (
N
= 696) using hierarchical linear regression. Selected personality variables in terms of sociodemographic, clinical, and emotional factors were used as predictors of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies.
Results
It was found that adaptive coping strategies were more frequent in younger patients, in patients who attended cancer support groups and those with a greater level of optimism. Maladaptive coping was related to the higher level of experience of pain and sadness, neuroticism, and pessimism. The absence of a relapse and the time since the disease had been diagnosed were also important factors in coping with cancer.
Conclusions
The results point to the importance of considering various individual factors in the process of intervention to facilitate adaptive coping and to reduce maladaptive coping.
Purpose
Cancer is a stressful life event that can lead to specific posttraumatic reactions. Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) are two main posttraumatic reactions ...that are related to each other, and both have different correlates.
Methods
The linearity of the relationship between PTG and PTSS and the different socio-demographic, cancer-related, emotional, and psychological correlates were analyzed in patients with cancer (
N
= 126).
Results
The relationship between PTG and PTSS was found to be more curvilinear than linear. PTSS was more strongly related to psychological factors (e.g., anxious preoccupation, hope-helplessness, and resilience) while PTG was strongly related to existential factors (e.g., self-transcendence and religiosity).
Conclusion
The results show that cancer-related PTSS and PTG are specifically related constructs which are related differently to particular correlates. Specifically, the greatest differences were observed in the psychological variables. In the early phases, therapeutic interventions focused on variables related to PTSS can lead to the reduction of PTSS. In follow-up phases, the therapeutic intervention focused on the increase of the level of variables related to PTG can help the development of PTG.
•Comprehensive synthesis of risk and protective factors of (internet) gaming disorder.•Strongest risk factors: internet addiction, escape motive, internet time, depression.•Strongest protective ...factors: self-esteem, intelligence, life satisfaction, education.•No evidence for the role of age and social support.•Results provide empirical foundations for theoretical models and prevention strategies.
This large-scale meta-analysis aimed to provide the most comprehensive synthesis to date of the available evidence from the pre-COVID period on risk and protective factors for (internet) gaming disorder (as defined in the DSM-5 or ICD-11) across all studied populations. The risk/protective factors included demographic characteristics, psychological, psychopathological, social, and gaming-related factors. In total, we have included 1,586 effects from 253 different studies, summarizing data from 210,557 participants. Apart from estimating these predictive associations and relevant moderating effects, we implemented state-of-the-art adjustments for publication bias, psychometric artifacts, and other forms of bias arising from the publication process. Additionally, we carried out an in-depth assessment of the quality of underlying evidence by examining indications of selective reporting, statistical inconsistencies, the typical power of utilized study designs to detect theoretically relevant effects, and performed various sensitivity analyses. The available evidence suggests the existence of numerous moderately strong and highly heterogeneous risk factors (e.g., male gender, depression, impulsivity, anxiety, stress, gaming time, escape motivation, or excessive use of social networks) but only a few empirically robust protective factors (self-esteem, intelligence, life satisfaction, and education; all having markedly smaller effect sizes). We discuss the theoretical implications of our results for prominent theoretical models of gaming disorder and for the existing and future prevention strategies. The impact of various examined biasing factors on the available evidence seemed to be modest, yet we identified shortcomings in the measurement and reporting practices.
Voluntary isolation is one of the most effective methods for individuals to help prevent the transmission of diseases such as COVID-19. Understanding why people leave their homes when advised not to ...do so and identifying what contextual factors predict this non-compliant behavior is essential for policymakers and public health officials. To provide insight on these factors, we collected data from 42,169 individuals across 16 countries. Participants responded to items inquiring about their socio-cultural environment, such as the adherence of fellow citizens, as well as their mental states, such as their level of loneliness and boredom. We trained random forest models to predict whether someone had left their home during a one week period during which they were asked to voluntarily isolate themselves. The analyses indicated that overall, an increase in the feeling of being caged leads to an increased probability of leaving home. In addition, an increased feeling of responsibility and an increased fear of getting infected decreased the probability of leaving home. The models predicted compliance behavior with between 54% and 91% accuracy within each country's sample. In addition, we modeled factors leading to risky behavior in the pandemic context. We observed an increased probability of visiting risky places as both the anticipated number of people and the importance of the activity increased. Conversely, the probability of visiting risky places increased as the perceived putative effectiveness of social distancing decreased. The variance explained in our models predicting risk ranged from < .01 to .54 by country. Together, our findings can inform behavioral interventions to increase adherence to lockdown recommendations in pandemic conditions.
Purpose
Studies conducted in the USA, Canada and Denmark have supported the existence of the dissociative PTSD subtype, characterized primarily by symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. The ...current study aimed to examine the dissociative PTSD subtype in an Eastern European, predominantly female (83.16%) sample, using an extended set of dissociative symptoms.
Methods
A latent profile analysis was applied to the PTSD and dissociation data from 689 trauma-exposed university students from Slovakia.
Results
Four latent profiles of varying PTSD and dissociation symptomatology were uncovered. They were named non-symptomatic, moderate PTSD, high PTSD and dissociative PTSD. The dissociative PTSD profile showed elevations on depersonalization and derealization, but also the alternative dissociative indicators of gaps in awareness and memory, sensory misperceptions and cognitive and behavioural re-experiencing. The core PTSD symptoms of ‘memory impairment’ and ‘reckless or self-destructive behaviour’ were also significantly elevated in the dissociative PTSD profile. Moreover, anxiety and anger predicted membership in the dissociative PTSD profile.
Conclusion
The results provide support for the proposal that the dissociative PTSD subtype can be characterized by a variety of dissociative symptoms.
The study is focused on the selection of coping strategies and their relationship with the meaning of religion and spirituality in cancer survivors. The individual coping strategies were measured ...using the Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer questionnaire (Mini-MAC; Watson et al. 1994), and spirituality was measured using the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS-5; Huber and Huber 2012). In total 126 people participated in the study, out of whom 100 were female. The average age of the participants was 64 years (SD = 8.74). The results showed that the use of strategies such as helplessness/hopelessness and anxious preoccupation correlated negatively with public as well as private practice of spirituality. Cancer survivors with ideological, intellectual spiritual experience and with the experience of faith use adaptive coping strategies, namely fighting spirit and fatalism.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, understanding and describing the changes in experiences related to the pandemic and its correlates have become crucial. The current study aims to provide a ...psychometric evaluation and examination of the relationship of two COVID-related anxiety scales through the latent and network approach. The data was collected from the same participants at two time points (Nwave 1 = 1283; Nwave 2 = 1326). The study examined the psychometric properties of the Pandemic Anxiety Scale and Coronaphobia scale. It also examined the factor structure, invariance and relationship with selected variables through both the latent and network approach. The results revealed that both scales provided good fit and psychometric properties—PAS (wave1: CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.05 0.04, 0.07, SRMR = 0.048; wave2: CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.05 0.04, 0.07, SRMR = 0.049), and Coronaphobia scale (wave1: CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05 0.03, 0.07, SRMR = 0.027; wave2: CFI ~ 1, TLI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.03 0.002, 0.06, SRMR = 0.015). The results also indicated that distinguishing between them is crucial as they were related differently to various variables. The global network models provided a more complex insight in their connections with the set of selected variables. The PAS and Coronaphobia scales are brief and valid measures that can be used in research looking at mental health issues related to the pandemic. The present study shows a unique pattern of relationships of these scales with other variables, extending previous studies into the topic of COVID-related anxiety.
The study is focused on the level of posttraumatic growth and its relation to the importance of spirituality and practicing of religious belief in cancer survivors. The level of posttraumatic growth ...was measured using PTGI (Posttraumatic Growth Inventory; Tedeschi and Calhoun 1996); the spirituality was measured by two simple items: 1) Spirituality is important in my life; 2) Practicing of spirituality is important in my life. Results of the study showed positive correlations between the importance of spirituality in lives of cancer survivors and the overall posttraumatic growth. Strong positive correlations between spirituality and the dimension of spiritual change were confirmed. Cancer survivors practicing Christian faith achieved higher levels of posttraumatic growth as opposed to unbelieving cancer survivors. Christian cancer survivors achieved higher levels of posttraumatic development in the domain of relating to others as opposed to patients professing other religions.
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