Religious Coping and Mental Adjustment to Cancer Among Polish Adolescents.

Adults suffering from chronic illnesses are more likely to look to God for support (positive religious coping; PRC) than to fight against God (negative religious coping; NRC). What about when cancer occurs during adolescence-a period of questioning the worldview and values, and at the same time searching for the sacred? Our study aimed to establish the relationships between PRC, NRC, and mental adjustment to cancer among youth and determine support's role in these relationships. The study was conducted in Poland and included 88 adolescent cancer patients who completed the Brief RCOPE and the Mini-MAC. Additionally, general well-being and support were assessed. We found that PRC was positively related to constructive adjustment style (CAS), whereas NCR was related to destructive adjustment style (DAS). Adolescents with cancer were higher in PRC than in NRC and were higher in CAS than in DAS. In young women, CAS was higher than in men. Finally, at a level of received support rated as very high, PRC promoted fighting spirit and well-being.

Can Religious and Spiritual Struggle Enhance Well-Being? Exploring the Mediating Effects of Internal Dialogues.

Although a number of studies have demonstrated links between religious/spiritual struggle and well-being, only a few have examined what makes religious/spiritual struggle increase or decrease well-being. The present paper aims to examine different forms of internal dialogues (IDs) as potential mediators of the relationship between religious/spiritual struggle and well-being among Roman Catholics. There were 143 respondents (81 female) who participated in the study. We applied the Religious and Spiritual Struggle Scale, the Internal Dialogical Activity Scale, and the Psychological Well-Being Scale. The results showed that religious/spiritual struggle triggers IDs. Three types of IDs-ruminative, supportive, and social simulation dialogues-were mediators in the relationship between religious/spiritual struggle and well-being. Although religious/spiritual struggle decreased well-being through its effect on ruminative dialogues, it improved well-being through its effects on supportive and social simulation dialogues.

Internal Dialogue as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Prayer and Well-Being.

When people are praying, they are not only communicating with God (upward prayer), but also they are exploring their relationships with themselves (inward prayer) and with other people (outward prayer). Internal dialogical activity includes areas which correspond to upward, inward, and outward prayer. Therefore, the aim of this article is to examine whether and how internal dialogues can be mediators in the relationship between these three types of prayer and well-being. Data from 193 respondents (143 females) were analyzed in the study. We used: the Prayer Thoughts Scale, the Internal Dialogical Activity Scale, and the Psychological Well-Being Scale. The results showed that internal dialogue served as a mediator of the relationship between upward, inward, and outward prayer and well-being.

Can imagined intergroup contact change (internal) dialogues on differences between ingroup and outgroup?

Several positive functions have been ascribed to integrative internal dialogues (IDs), which are based on mutual openness to a partner's viewpoint and a readiness to consider his/her arguments in order to potentially modify one's own stance. As the technique of imagined intergroup contact (IIC) favorably influences attitudes towards outgroup members, it was hypothesized that IIC would have a beneficial impact on IDs with an outgroup member when the dialogue is focused on differences between ingroup and outgroup. In the experiment, 151 people (80 women) participated. It revealed that after IIC, both the dialogue author's confrontational attitude and the interlocutor's integrative attitude decreased. Thus, IIC made participants less inclined to gain an advantage over their imagined outgroup interlocutors and more inclined to give them freedom in IDs. However, the effect was significant only when the author's involvement in ID was high or medium.

Similarity to imagined interlocutor and integration of viewpoints in internal dialogues.

Numerous positive functions are ascribed to integrative internal dialogues (IDs). Additionally, IDs simulating social relationships are thought to serve as "prototypes" for interpersonal communication. Therefore, it would be useful to know how to increase the frequency of integrative IDs. Previous studies exploring the relationship between similarity to an imagined interlocutor and the integration in ID have produced inconsistent results. The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating and mediating factors in this relationship. Data from 119 people (mostly students) were analysed. Before the participants conducted IDs, they had written down 3 characteristics common to them and to their interlocutor. Finally, the Integration-Confrontation questionnaire was completed. Plausibility of ID was a moderator of the relationship between similarity to imagined interlocutor and integration in IDs; this relationship was significantly positive at lower plausibility, but non-significant at high plausibility. Perceived similarity in ID exerted an indirect effect on ID's integration in 2 ways. The first pathway was through identifying with the interlocutor and the author's integrative attitude, suggesting a mechanism in line with social identity theory. The second potential mechanism, which seems to be consistent with similarity-attraction theory, was connected with the wishfulness of IDs and the interlocutor's integrative attitude.

The impact of psychological distance on integrative internal dialogs.

Negotiators more distanced from the negotiated goal more often exhibit integrative behavior, which maximizes both their individual and joint outcomes. Based on the assumption of an analogy between interpersonal negotiations and internal dialogs simulating social relationships, an experiment was carried out. It aimed to verify if psychological distance (proximal vs. distant perspective on the situation enacted in an internal dialog) affects the processes of integration and confrontation and, consequently, increases the frequency of integrative dialogs. Data from 115 participants (56 women) were analyzed. An increase in psychological distance was found to reduce the intensity of the confrontation process and to cause an increase in the number of integrative internal dialogs.

Relationship of personality with integration and confrontation in internal dialogues.

Interest in confrontational and integrative internal dialogues (IDs) has been growing, as they perform numerous important functions. This study aimed to identify the personality-related determinants of integration and confrontation processes in ID that simulates social relationships. The test group comprised 125 students (62 men). Participants were given a description of a fictional problem facing a young married couple and they were to imagine a dialogue between the characters. Additionally three instruments were administered: the NEO Five Factor Inventory, the Experiences in Close Relationships - Revised Questionnaire and the Integration-Confrontation Questionnaire. Using canonical correlation analysis it was found that intense neuroticism and anxious or avoidant attachments, combined with low openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness, are conducive to confrontational attitude in the author of a dialogue, whereas the opposite combination of personality characteristics is associated with integrative attitudes in both parties to the dialogue.

The functions of internal dialogs and their connection with personality.

In previous studies, seven key functions in internal dialogs were identified: Support, Substitution, Exploration, Bond, Self-improvement, Insight, and Self-guiding. It was also established that internal dialogs vary in the intensity of these functions. The presented research aimed to test if there are configurations of personality variables that allow us to predict specific patterns of functions performed by internal dialogs. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that the higher the intensity of neuroticism and anxious attachment and the lower the intensity of openness and the tendency to spontaneously adopt the viewpoints of others, the more strongly a person's internal dialogs perform the Substitution function and the weaker the Insight and Support functions are. The reverse configuration of personality characteristics intensifies Insight and Support and minimized Substitution. The results are presented in the context of the status of dialogicality and discussed in the light of other studies on internal dialogs.

Self-talk: conversation with oneself? On the types of internal interlocutors.

The two studies presented in the article aimed to empirically verify the tentative typology of internal interlocutors in self-talk proposed in a previous research project. The typology comprised four emotional types: Faithful Friend, Ambivalent Parent, Proud Rival, and Helpless Child. Study 1 involved 98 participants (49 women) and Study 2 involved 114 (55 women), mostly students. In both studies, the names of internal interlocutors were generated by participants as qualitative data, quantified by reference to the standard set of affect terms, and, as affective patterns, subjected to clustering. Study 2 fully confirmed the recent results, whereas Study 1 revealed a new interlocutor type instead of Helpless Child - Calm Optimist. The conducted studies confirm the existence of four main types of inner interlocutors and provide a reason to verify the existence of Calm Optimist.