Threat and benign interpretation bias might not be a unidimensional construct.

The tendency for individuals to interpret ambiguous information in a threatening way is theorised to maintain anxiety disorders. Recent findings suggest that positive and negative interpretation biases may have unique effects. This study tested the relationships between threat and benign biases with state and trait anxiety and quality of life, and whether individual differences moderate these relationships. N = 699 individuals with elevated trait anxiety symptoms completed web-based measures of interpretation bias, trait anxiety, state anxiety, and quality of life. Results demonstrated that threat interpretations predicted state anxiety, trait anxiety, and quality of life. Benign interpretations also predicted quality of life. However, benign interpretations only weakly (or not at all) predicted state and trait anxiety. Individual differences (e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, age) did not moderate findings. Results emphasise the need to consider benign and threat biases separately, both in cognitive models of anxiety and experimental designs.

Comorbid interpretation and expectancy bias in social anxiety and alcohol use.

BACKGROUND: In two studies, the present research examined whether being high in both social anxiety and alcohol use disorder symptoms is associated with a comorbid interpretation and expectancy bias that reflects their bidirectional relationship. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, quantitative surveys. METHODS: Measures of social anxiety and alcohol use disorder symptoms, as well as an interpretation and expectancy bias task assessing biases for social anxiety, drinking, and comorbid social anxiety and drinking. RESULTS: In Study 1 (N = 447), individuals high (vs. low) in social anxiety had stronger social threat bias and individuals high (vs. low) in alcohol use disorder symptoms had stronger drinking bias. Those high in both social anxiety and alcohol use disorder symptoms endorsed interpretations and expectancies linking social interaction with alcohol use. Comorbid bias predicted membership into the high social anxiety/drinking group, even after taking into account single-disorder biases. In Study 2 (N = 325), alcohol use disorder symptoms predicted drinking bias and social anxiety symptoms predicted social anxiety bias. Alcohol use disorder symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and their interaction predicted comorbid interpretation and expectancy bias. CONCLUSION: Results indicate unique cognitive vulnerability markers for persons with comorbid social anxiety and alcohol use disorder symptoms, which may improve detection and treatment of this serious comorbidity.

Reductions in aggressive behavior within the context of a universal, social emotional learning program: Classroom- and student-level mechanisms.

The present study uses data from 35 third through fifth-grade urban classrooms and 531 students to examine the extent to which student-level social and emotional skills (e.g., low hostile attribution bias and low aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies) and emotionally supportive learning environments predict aggressive behavior over the course of a school year. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that across teacher-reported measures of aggressive behavior, more classroom emotional support over the course of the school year predicted less aggressive behavior in spring, particularly for children whose hostile attribution bias decreased over the course of the year. According to a child-reported measure of aggressive behavior, declines in aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies over the course of the year also predicted less aggressive behavior in spring. Moreover, these results operated similarly across all children. Implications for SEL programs are discussed.

Income and Cognitive Stimulation: A Reanalysis of the Minnesota Family Investment Program.

Correlational research suggests that parents engage in more cognitive stimulation with their children when their income increases as reported by Votruba-Drzal (Journal of Marriage and Family 65:341-355, 2003). The present study uses data from an evaluation of the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), a welfare program that allows families to combine their work payments with their welfare benefits. We used the dataset in order to assess the causal impact of income on how often mothers engage their young children (N = 69) in cognitively stimulating activities. Results indicated that single mothers, who were long-term welfare recipients and received the financial benefits of the MFIP without employment training services, engaged in more cognitively stimulating activities with their children, relative to mothers who received traditional Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Contrary to expectations, an increase in income did not appear to cause the increase in cognitive stimulation. Rather, a reduction in work hours, without a drastic loss of income, appeared to cause the increase in cognitive stimulation. Implications for future work and policy are discussed.

Pleasure Now, Pain Later: Positive Fantasies About the Future Predict Symptoms of Depression.

Though common sense suggests that positive thinking shelters people from depression, the four studies reported here showed that this intuition needs to be qualified: Positive thinking in the form of fantasies about the future did indeed relate to decreased symptoms of depression when measured concurrently; however, positive fantasies predicted more depressive symptoms when measured longitudinally. The pattern of results was observed for different indicators of fantasies and depression, in adults and in schoolchildren, and for periods of up to 7 months (Studies 1-4). In college students, low academic success partially mediated the predictive relation between positive fantasies and symptoms of depression (Study 4). Results add to existing research on the problematic effects of positive fantasies on performance by suggesting that indulging in positive fantasies predicts problems in mental health.