Enduring stress: A quantitative analysis on coping profiles and sport well-being in amateur endurance athletes.

Endurance athletes experience physical and psychological stress during training and competition that can inhibit performance and promote negative health implications (i.e., lower well-being) without proper coping mechanisms (McCormick et al., 2018; Sakar & Fletcher, 2014). Additionally, these athletes that train at an amateur level have received limited attention regarding coping with stress and how it impacts well-being (McCormick et al., 2018). The purpose of this study was threefold: to (a) determine common coping profiles of trained amateur endurance athletes, (b) explore the relationship between sport well-being and these coping profiles, and (c) examine the potential roles that appraisals might play in the coping-well-being relationship. The results yielded five distinct coping profiles: Mixed Adaptive Copers (MAC), Mixed Maladaptive Copers (MMC), Engaged Copers (EC), Avoidant Copers (AC), and Social Copers (SC). Coping profiles differed across various variables including sport well-being, appraisals, and demographic factors. Overall, MAC and EC had higher levels of sport well-being. MAC viewed stressors as a challenge (i.e., opportunity) compared to EC and AC. These findings suggest the complex nature of coping in sport and that athletes should develop an assortment of coping strategies that provide different strategies for various stressful situations.

The daily association between affect and alcohol use: A meta-analysis of individual participant data.

Influential psychological theories hypothesize that people consume alcohol in response to the experience of both negative and positive emotions. Despite two decades of daily diary and ecological momentary assessment research, it remains unclear whether people consume more alcohol on days they experience higher negative and positive affect in everyday life. In this preregistered meta-analysis, we synthesized the evidence for these daily associations between affect and alcohol use. We included individual participant data from 69 studies (N = 12,394), which used daily and momentary surveys to assess affect and the number of alcoholic drinks consumed. Results indicate that people are not more likely to drink on days they experience high negative affect, but are more likely to drink and drink heavily on days high in positive affect. People self-reporting a motivational tendency to drink-to-cope and drink-to-enhance consumed more alcohol, but not on days they experienced higher negative and positive affect. Results were robust across different operationalizations of affect, study designs, study populations, and individual characteristics. These findings challenge the long-held belief that people drink more alcohol following increases in negative affect. Integrating these findings under different theoretical models and limitations of this field of research, we collectively propose an agenda for future research to explore open questions surrounding affect and alcohol use.

Age and Sex Differences in the Associations Among Socioeconomic Status, Affective Reactivity to Daily Stressors, and Physical Health in the MIDUS Study.

BACKGROUND: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is robustly associated with increased risks of morbidity and mortality. Affective reactivity to daily stressors has been proposed to be a mediator for this association. However, few longitudinal studies have empirically tested the indirect effect of SES on health through affective reactivity to daily stressors. PURPOSE: This study aimed to test the indirect effect of SES on physical health via affective reactivity to daily stressors over a 10-year period and to explore age and sex differences in such indirect effect. METHODS: Data were drawn from a subsample of 1,522 middle-aged and older adults (34-83 years of age, 57.2% female, 83.5% White) from the Midlife in the United States study. SES (i.e., education, household income, indicators of financial distress) was assessed in 2004-2006. Affective reactivity to daily stressors was computed using data collected during the 8-day daily stress assessment in 2004-2009. Self-reported physical health conditions were assessed in 2004-2006 and 2013-2014. RESULTS: There was a significant indirect effect of lower SES on more physical health conditions via elevated negative affective reactivity to daily stressors among women but not men. The indirect effect of SES on physical health conditions via negative affective reactivity to daily stressors was consistent across the middle and older adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that negative affective reactivity to daily stressors might be a key intermediate process contributing to persistent SES disparities in physical health, particularly among women.

Individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds tend to experience poor physical health, partially because they might be more vulnerable to stress exposure due to limited resources to cope with stress than those from high socioeconomic backgrounds. This study examined the indirect link between socioeconomic status (SES) and physical health through emotional responses following exposure to stress. We also explored whether there were age and sex differences in this indirect link. We analyzed the survey and daily diary data from 1,522 middle-aged and older adults. Individuals reported indicators of SES and a count of medical health conditions. Individuals also reported their experiences of stressors and negative and positive emotions each day over 8 days to capture changes in negative and positive emotions on stressor days versus non-stressor days. We found that among women, but not men, lower SES was related to larger increases in negative emotions on stressor days, which, in turn, was related to more chronic health conditions. Differences in individuals' negative emotions following exposure to daily stressors may be a critical indirect pathway linking SES to physical health.

Effect of a Multi-Ingredient Supplement Designed to Regulate Mood on Physiological and Psychological Outcomes: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Stress is inevitable in college, and many students utilize alternatives to professional help such as supplements to manage stress, anxiety, or depression. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a multi-ingredient supplement (MIS) in supporting optimal mood balance and reducing daily stress among healthy collegiate-aged students (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05109923). Participants (age 18-22) were randomly assigned to a placebo (PLA; n = 29) or MIS (n = 27) group and were asked to consume 2 capsules upon waking and before bed. Resting heart rate, blood pressure and salivary cortisol awakening response (CAR) were measured at weeks 2, 5 and 8. Depression, anxiety, stress, and affect were assessed weekly. There was a significant negative linear change in CAR, depression, stress, positive and negative affect throughout the study although only CAR differed by group. From week 2 to 5, MIS decreased, on average, from 0.22 µg/dL to 0.14 µg/dL (-0.8 µg/dL), whereas PLA, on average, increased from 0.11 µg/dL to 0.17 µg/dL. MIS continued to experience a decline in CAR, ending the study with an average CAR of 0.08 µg/dL. These results suggest that MIS may help maintain a healthy physiological response during stressful life events.

Client attachment and change in mental health during psychotherapy.

In the current study, we used a naturalistic design to examine how client attachment orientations affect changes in client mental health over the course of treatment. We evaluated session-by-session changes in overall maladjustment levels (derived from the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2) in a sample of 105 adult clients who were seeking therapy at a large, university-based, outpatient psychology training clinic. The primary goal of this study was to investigate how client attachment orientations affected patterns of change in client overall maladjustment scores across time. Because previous findings have suggested that client attachment orientations may be associated with different patterns or differential rates of change, beyond linear changes, we also extended previous research by testing more complex models involving quadratic and cubic changes over the course of therapy. Multilevel modeling analysis revealed that client overall maladjustment scores significantly improved throughout therapy. Results further indicated that client attachment anxiety predicted change in maladjustment during therapy. Attachment avoidance did not predict change in symptoms. With respect to attachment anxiety, we found different patterns of recovery or symptom change throughout therapy for clients with high versus low attachment anxiety. Clients low in attachment anxiety showed consistent improvements and those high in attachment anxiety exhibited low levels of therapeutic change throughout the middle of therapy despite their overall improvements. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Client perfectionism and psychological symptoms throughout psychotherapy.

Objective: Given the psychological issues experienced by individuals high in perfectionistic concerns (maladaptive perfectionism), or a feeling as if one is never good enough, and discrepancies in the literature as to whether these individuals experience benefits from therapy, it is imperative that research examine whether perfectionism actually improves throughout therapy. The current study improves upon past research by examining changes in perfectionism (both perfectionistic concerns and strivings) throughout therapy, rather than simply measuring perfectionism at pre- and post-therapy. This study also investigates how these changes in perfectionism, if they exist, impact changes in psychological symptoms. Methods: In total, 153 clients at a psychology training clinic in which a general treatment paradigm was implemented completed the Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS; Rice et al., 2014) and Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2; Lambert et al., 1996) prior to intake and sessions 1, 3, and 5. Results and Conclusions: Multilevel modeling results revealed that there were significant improvements in perfectionistic concerns and symptoms although, as expected, no significant changes in perfectionistic strivings were observed. Additionally, there was a trend effect for changes in perfectionistic concerns being associated with changes in symptoms. Further, results of latent difference score analyses revealed that changes in symptoms throughout therapy preceded changes in perfectionistic concerns. Clinical and methodological significance of this article: This study uses multilevel modeling (MLM) and latent difference score analyses to assess changes in perfectionism throughout therapy, whether they are associated with changes in symptoms, and whether changes in perfectionism precede changes in symptoms, or vice versa. To date, there have been discrepancies in the literature as to whether perfectionism improves throughout therapy, and most of these have only measured perfectionism at pre- and post-therapy. This study is an improvement over past studies as it measures perfectionism throughout therapy which has implications for therapy work with perfectionistic clients.

Self-critical perfectionism, daily stress, and disclosure of daily emotional events.

Although disclosure of stressful events can alleviate distress, self-critical perfectionism may pose an especially strong impediment to disclosure during stress, likely contributing to poorer psychological well-being. In the current study, after completing a measure of self-critical perfectionism (the Discrepancy subscale of the Almost Perfect Scale--Revised; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001), 396 undergraduates completed measures of stress and disclosure at the end of each day for 1 week. Consistent with hypotheses and previous research, multilevel modeling results indicated significant intraindividual coupling of daily stress and daily disclosure where disclosure was more likely when experiencing high stress than low stress. As hypothesized, Discrepancy moderated the relationship between daily stress and daily disclosure. Individuals higher in self-critical perfectionism (Discrepancy) were less likely to engage in disclosure under high stress, when disclosure is often most beneficial, than those with lower Discrepancy scores. These results have implications for understanding the role of stress and coping in the daily lives of self-critical perfectionists.

Perfectionism affects change in psychological symptoms.

The primary goal of this study was to examine how perfectionism affects psychological symptoms during the course of treatment. We examined session-by-session symptom changes in a sample of 105 adult clients who presented for counseling at a psychology training clinic housed at a large Midwestern university in the United States. Using a recently developed measure of perfectionism (Short Almost Perfect Scale [SAPS]) that possesses good psychometric features, we were able to investigate effects of both maladaptive (high self-criticism) and adaptive (high standards with low self-criticism) perfectionistic characteristics on indicators of personal and interpersonal psychological distress across time. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that both symptomatic distress and interpersonal problems improved over the course of therapy. Maladaptive perfectionism was associated with higher levels of interpersonal problems and distress at the outset of therapy, and related differentially to change patterns in symptom distress and interpersonal problems over the course of treatment. Maladaptive perfectionism, however, was not related to level of symptoms at the end of therapy. Adaptive perfectionistic characteristics were associated with fewer interpersonal problems at the beginning and end of therapy. Results suggest the value of assessing perfectionistic characteristics at the onset of treatment, even for clients not presenting with obvious concerns linked to such individual differences.

Classification challenges in perfectionism.

High performance expectations are central to perfectionism, but because most participants endorse high standards, it becomes difficult for practitioners and researchers to accurately screen for perfectionists. We addressed problems linked to the measurement and classification of perfectionism by testing various strategies aimed at broadening the range and skew of scores on the Standards subscale from the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, & Johnson, 1996). Randomly assigned participants (N = 506) completed the APS-R following standard instructions or 1 of 2 variations, one prompting participants to consider their responses in light of a normal distribution of scores and another in which participants used a visual analog (slider) scale. The visual analog scale produced more differentiated scores, but range restrictions and skewed distributions remained for all 3 variations. Statistical transformations improved skew. Factor mixture modeling was conducted using transformed and nontransformed perfectionism scores along with criterion indicators of emotion regulation (reappraisal or suppression), perceived stress, and depression. Results supported a 3-class model, although more balanced distributions of classes emerged than were previously reported. Perfectionists were differentiated from nonperfectionists by their higher standards scores. Maladaptive perfectionists scored highest among the classes on most self-critical perfectionism indicators, suppression, perceived stress, and depression. Adaptive perfectionists had the lowest levels of perceived stress and depression and scored highest on reappraisal. Both perfectionist classes had generally comparable concerns about mistakes, but criterion indicators suggested those were more problematic for maladaptive perfectionists. Results supported the value of incorporating adaptive and maladaptive criterion indicators in classification models.

Perfectionism, emotion regulation, and the cortisol stress response.

To provide counseling psychologists with a greater understanding of patterns of personality, stress, and emotion regulation, the present study examined perfectionists' typical emotion regulation patterns and physiological reactivity (salivary cortisol concentration) to a social-evaluative stress experience. An initially large sample (N = 421) completed measures of perfectionism, higher order personality factors, and emotion regulation. A subset of the larger sample (N = 61) completed the Trier Social Stress Test. Latent profile analysis revealed typologies consistent with more and less adaptively perfectionistic groups, as reflected in different stress reactivity and emotion regulation patterns. The results have implications for further understanding the positive and negative effects of perfectionism and physiological reactivity to performance stress among individuals with high performance expectations. In addition, the results may inform counseling psychologists about viable targets for therapeutic interventions for stress and emotion regulation.

The short form of the revised almost perfect scale.

We created a shorter and more refined item set from the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, & Johnson, 1996; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) to measure 2 major dimensions of perfectionism: standards (high performance expectations) and discrepancy (self-critical performance evaluations). In Study 1, after testing the internal structure of the measure (N = 749), a subset of the current APS-R items was derived (Short Almost Perfect Scale [SAPS]) that possessed good psychometric features, such as strong item-factor loadings, score reliability, measurement invariance between women and men, and criterion-related validity through associations with neuroticism, conscientiousness, academic performance, and depression. Controlling for neuroticism and conscientiousness, factor mixture modeling supported a 2-factor, 3-class model of perfectionism, and results were consistent with labeling the classes as nonperfectionists and adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists. Measurement results were cross-validated in a separate sample (N = 335). Study 2 also provided substantial evidence for the convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity of SAPS scores. Both studies supported the SAPS as a brief and psychometrically strong measure of major perfectionism factors and classes of perfectionists.

Perfectionism moderates stereotype threat effects on STEM majors' academic performance.

Using a randomized, between-subjects experimental design, we tested hypotheses that self-critical perfectionism would moderate the effects of subtle stereotype threat (ST) for women and students in underrepresented racial/ethnic groups who are pursuing traditional degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). A diverse sample of freshmen students (N = 294) was recruited from 2 major universities. Students were blocked by gender and race/ethnicity and randomly assigned to experience subtle ST or no ST. Participants in the subtle ST condition were primed to consider their gender, race, and ethnicity prior to completing measures of science self-efficacy. Those in the control condition completed the measures without such priming. Controlling for prior academic performance and university context, ST priming significantly interacted (a) with self-critical perfectionism to predict coping self-efficacy scores and (b) with race/ethnicity to predict end-of-semester STEM grades. A 3-way interaction of ST priming, sex, and self-critical perfectionism also predicted students' grades in courses wherein women and men were more proportionally represented. The Sex × Self-Critical Perfectionism interaction was not significant for those in the ST group but was for those in the control group. Men in the control group had higher grade-point averages (GPAs) at low levels of self-critical perfectionism than they had at higher levels of perfectionism. In contrast, women had lower GPAs when self-critical perfectionism was low, but their GPAs were higher when self-critical perfectionism was high. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for self-efficacy and performance in the pursuit of a STEM major.

Perfectionism, procrastination, and psychological distress.

Using a cross-panel design and data from 2 successive cohorts of college students (N = 357), we examined the stability of maladaptive perfectionism, procrastination, and psychological distress across 3 time points within a college semester. Each construct was substantially stable over time, with procrastination being especially stable. We also tested, but failed to support, a mediational model with Time 2 (mid-semester) procrastination as a hypothesized mechanism through which Time 1 (early-semester) perfectionism would affect Time 3 (end-semester) psychological distress. An alternative model with Time 2 perfectionism as a mediator of the procrastination-distress association also was not supported. Within-time analyses revealed generally consistent strength of effects in the correlations between the 3 constructs over the course of the semester. A significant interaction effect also emerged. Time 1 procrastination had no effect on otherwise high levels of psychological distress at the end of the semester for highly perfectionistic students, but at low levels of Time 1 perfectionism, the most distressed students by the end of the term were those who were more likely to have procrastinated earlier in the semester. Implications of the stability of the constructs and their association over time, as well as the moderating effects of procrastination, are discussed in the context of maladaptive perfectionism and problematic procrastination.