Investigating adverse daily life effects following a psychosocial laboratory stress task, and the moderating role of Psychopathology.

Laboratory stress tasks are necessary to closely investigate the stress response in a controlled environment. However, to our knowledge, no study has tested whether participating in such tasks can pose any daily life adverse effect. Fifty-three healthy participants (46 women) took part in a laboratory session where stress was induced using a typical psychosocial stressor: the repeated Montreal Imaging Stress Task (rMIST). Average levels of negative affect (NA), heart rate (HR), root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), and skin conductance level (SCL), as well as reactivity across all these parameters as measured with the experience sampling method (ESM) in the four days prior to the laboratory session were compared with the four days following the session. We also assessed whether vulnerability to psychopathology moderated these associations. Findings showed that the task did not pose any significant adverse effect on participants. However, there was an unexpected increase in average RMSSD and a decrease in average SCL pre- to post- task. In addition, more vulnerable individuals were more likely to experience an increase in average levels of NA in the days following the task compared to the days preceding it. Our findings suggest that laboratory stress tasks may pose a significant risk to more vulnerable individuals.

Is daily-life stress reactivity a measure of stress recovery? An investigation of laboratory and daily-life stress.

Typical measures of laboratory reactivity (i.e. difference between control and stress) and recovery (i.e. difference between stress and post-stress) were compared with a conventional measure of daily-life reactivity, best known as event-related stress. Fifty-three healthy individuals between 19 and 35 years of age took part in a laboratory session where stress was induced using the repeated Montreal Imaging Stress Task and 8 days of experience sampling method. Measures of negative affect, heart rate (HR), HR variability, and skin conductance level were collected. Findings show no strong associations between laboratory and daily life measures with the exception of laboratory affective recovery and daily life reactivity. Findings and their implications are discussed.

Designing daily-life research combining experience sampling method with parallel data.

BACKGROUND: Ambulatory monitoring is gaining popularity in mental and somatic health care to capture an individual's wellbeing or treatment course in daily-life. Experience sampling method collects subjective time-series data of patients' experiences, behavior, and context. At the same time, digital devices allow for less intrusive collection of more objective time-series data with higher sampling frequencies and for prolonged sampling periods. We refer to these data as parallel data. Combining these two data types holds the promise to revolutionize health care. However, existing ambulatory monitoring guidelines are too specific to each data type, and lack overall directions on how to effectively combine them. METHODS: Literature and expert opinions were integrated to formulate relevant guiding principles. RESULTS: Experience sampling and parallel data must be approached as one holistic time series right from the start, at the study design stage. The fluctuation pattern and volatility of the different variables of interest must be well understood to ensure that these data are compatible. Data have to be collected and operationalized in a manner that the minimal common denominator is able to answer the research question with regard to temporal and disease severity resolution. Furthermore, recommendations are provided for device selection, data management, and analysis. Open science practices are also highlighted throughout. Finally, we provide a practical checklist with the delineated considerations and an open-source example demonstrating how to apply it. CONCLUSIONS: The provided considerations aim to structure and support researchers as they undertake the new challenges presented by this exciting multidisciplinary research field.

The repeated Montreal Imaging Stress Test (rMIST): Testing habituation, sensitization, and anticipation effects to repeated stress induction.

BACKGROUND: A psychosocial task that can induce comparable levels of stress repeatedly is fundamental to effectively study changes in stress reactivity over time or as a result of an intervention. However, existing tasks have struggled to provide consistent stress responses across repeated trials. AIM: The goal was to assess the efficacy of two different designs of the repeated Montreal Imaging Stress Test (rMIST) in reproducing the same pattern of reactivity over two separate sessions. METHODS: In two different studies, stress was induced using the rMIST on two separate sessions, one week apart. Each study used a different task design. In the first study (53 participants [45 women]; mean age=24.16 [SD=3.29]), the rMIST consisted of a single-longer stress exposure, while the second study (30 participants [27 women]; mean age=21.81 [SD=2.09]) consisted of several shorter stress exposures per session. Self-reported (i.e perceived stress [PS] and negative affect [NA]), physiological (i.e heart rate [HR], root mean square of successive differences [RMSSD]) and hormonal (i.e. salivary cortisol) measures of stress were used. RESULTS: Stress reactivity was comparable across the two repeated stress sessions in both studies. However, baseline HR in the second session increased relative to the first session in the first study, and there was no cortisol response. Additionally, there was a decrease in HR and HRV reactivity within the session on the second study, suggesting a habituation effect not between but within the session itself. CONCLUSION: The rMIST overcomes some of the challenges associated with repeated stress induction. However, an anticipation effect and a lack of cortisol response indicate that further adjustments to the task are necessary. Finally, task design is important for repeated stress reactivity.

Psycho-social factors associated with mental resilience in the Corona lockdown.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not only a threat to physical health but is also having severe impacts on mental health. Although increases in stress-related symptomatology and other adverse psycho-social outcomes, as well as their most important risk factors have been described, hardly anything is known about potential protective factors. Resilience refers to the maintenance of mental health despite adversity. To gain mechanistic insights about the relationship between described psycho-social resilience factors and resilience specifically in the current crisis, we assessed resilience factors, exposure to Corona crisis-specific and general stressors, as well as internalizing symptoms in a cross-sectional online survey conducted in 24 languages during the most intense phase of the lockdown in Europe (22 March to 19 April) in a convenience sample of N = 15,970 adults. Resilience, as an outcome, was conceptualized as good mental health despite stressor exposure and measured as the inverse residual between actual and predicted symptom total score. Preregistered hypotheses (osf.io/r6btn) were tested with multiple regression models and mediation analyses. Results confirmed our primary hypothesis that positive appraisal style (PAS) is positively associated with resilience (p < 0.0001). The resilience factor PAS also partly mediated the positive association between perceived social support and resilience, and its association with resilience was in turn partly mediated by the ability to easily recover from stress (both p < 0.0001). In comparison with other resilience factors, good stress response recovery and positive appraisal specifically of the consequences of the Corona crisis were the strongest factors. Preregistered exploratory subgroup analyses (osf.io/thka9) showed that all tested resilience factors generalize across major socio-demographic categories. This research identifies modifiable protective factors that can be targeted by public mental health efforts in this and in future pandemics.

Why do emotional labor strategies differentially predict exhaustion? Comparing psychological effort, authenticity, and relational mechanisms.

Surface acting has repeatedly been found to harm employee well-being, but weak or inconsistent findings have been reported for deep acting. A theoretical explanation put forth by researchers to explain this is that opponent processes may be involved in deep acting. Accordingly, there are countering processes in place for deep acting, effectively yielding a weak or null relationship with indicators of strain or well-being. Although often cited, this claim has never been tested empirically. The current study addresses this question by exploring the relationship between deep acting and emotional exhaustion via 3 underlying mechanisms: (a) psychological effort, (b) feelings of authenticity, and (c) rewarding interactions. Specifically, we expected that although being effortful, deep acting also results in feelings of authenticity and rewarding interactions with customers. However, contrary to expectations, results from an experience-sampling study (involving 3 daily surveys over the course of 7 days) revealed that deep acting did not relate to any of these mechanisms, nor was it directly or indirectly related to emotional exhaustion. These findings challenge previous suggestions that there are countering processes in place for deep acting. In addition, analyses revealed significant indirect relationships of surface acting with emotional exhaustion that were mediated by psychological effort and felt authenticity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the conclusion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The interplay of gender, parental behaviors, and child maltreatment in relation to psychopathic traits.

Many studies have reported an effect of childhood maltreatment and parenting behavior with the future development of psychopathic traits. However, there is a limited amount of research on parenting behavior and adult psychopathic traits as possible identifiers of childhood maltreatment. The aim of this study is three-fold (1) identify specific parenting behaviors and adult psychopathic traits that predict forms of childhood maltreatment, (2) explore gender differences, and (3) expand on other studies on psychopathy by focusing on a representative sample of the community. There are significant associations between recalled childhood maltreatment and parenting behavior, and psychopathic traits. Parental rejection was the most recurrent predictor of childhood maltreatment with a significant positive relation to almost all its forms. Paternal overprotection was positively associated with sexual abuse, while the opposite was true for maternal overprotection. Psychopathic traits displayed in adulthood were also strong indicators of childhood maltreatment; females with high levels of boldness were more likely to have experienced sexual abuse in childhood, and those high in disinhibition were more likely to have experienced physical neglect and sexual abuse. While males were generally higher in terms of psychopathic traits, females reported more childhood abuse and negative parental behaviors. These findings provide support for using parenting behavior and psychopathic traits as markers of childhood maltreatment.