A Metascientific Review of the Evidential Value of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression.

In the past three-and-a-half decades, nearly 500 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have examined Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for a range of health problems, including depression. However, emerging concerns regarding the replicability of scientific findings across psychology and mental health treatment outcome research highlight a need to re-examine the strength of evidence for treatment efficacy. Therefore, we conducted a metascientific review of the evidential value of ACT in treating depression. Whereas reporting accuracy was generally high across all trials, we found important differences in evidential value metrics corresponding to the types of control conditions used. RCTs of ACT compared to weaker controls (e.g., no treatment, waitlist) were well-powered, with sample sizes appropriate for detecting plausible effect sizes. They typically yielded stronger Bayesian evidence for (and larger posterior estimates of) ACT efficacy, though there was some evidence of significance inflation among these effects. RCTs of ACT against stronger controls (e.g., other psychotherapies), meanwhile, were poorly powered, designed to detect implausibly large effect sizes, and yielded ambiguous-if not contradicting-Bayesian evidence and estimates of efficacy. Although our review supports a view of ACT as efficacious for treating depression compared to weaker controls, future RCTs must provide more transparent reporting with larger groups of participants to properly assess the difference between ACT and competitor treatments such as behavioral activation and other forms of cognitive behavioral therapy. Clinicians and health organizations should reassess the use of ACT for depression if costs and resources are higher than for other efficacious treatments. Clinical trials contributing effects to our synthesis can be found at https://osf.io/qky35.

Sameness and Difference in Psychological Research on Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships: The Need for Invariance and Equivalence Testing.

Comparative research involving consensually non-monogamous (CNM) relationships and outcomes related to well-being continues to grow as an area of interest within sexual science. However, claims of sameness and/or difference between groups rely on two critical, yet widely under-appreciated assumptions: that the concepts being compared between groups are the same (i.e., measurement invariance), and that logically and statistically coherent procedures are used for evaluating sameness (i.e., equivalence testing). We evaluated the state of measurement invariance and equivalence across three studies, involving different types of CNM comparisons (i.e., relationship types, partner types) and designs (analysis of primary individual data, primary dyadic data, and secondary data). Our invariance tests of CNM compared to monogamous individuals (Study 1) and "primary" compared to "secondary" partners in dyadic appraisal of CNM individuals (Study 2) revealed that many measures of well-being failed to replicate their measurement models and were not generalizable across relationship types or partner types. Our reanalyses of existing comparative CNM effects using individual and meta-analyzed equivalence tests (Study 3), meanwhile, indicated that this literature requires more consistent reporting practices and larger samples, as most studies produced uninformative tests of equivalence. Our results illustrate the importance of auxiliary hypothesis evaluation and statistical procedure selection for generating informative comparative tests. Our findings also highlight potential divergences in social construction of well-being. We offer suggestions for researchers, reviewers, and editors in terms of needed methodological reforms for future comparative CNM research.

The link between sacrifice and relational and personal well-being: A meta-analysis.

Prosocial behavior is often thought to bring benefits to individuals and relationships. Do such benefits exist when prosocial behavior is costly for the individual, such as when people are sacrificing for their partner or relationship? Although different theoretical accounts would predict that sacrifice is either positively or negatively associated with personal and relational well-being, empirical work in this regard has been inconclusive. We conducted a meta-analytic synthesis of 82 data sets and 9,547 effect sizes (N = 32,053) to test the link between sacrifice and both personal and relationship well-being for both the individual who performs the sacrifice and their romantic partner. We examined four different facets of sacrifice (i.e., willingness to sacrifice, behavioral sacrifice, satisfaction with sacrifice, and costs of sacrifice). Results revealed that these facets were differently associated with well-being. Specifically, an individual's willingness to sacrifice was positively associated with their own personal and relationship well-being and with their partner's relationship well-being (.09 < rs < .27). However, behavioral sacrifice was negatively associated with own personal well-being (r = -.07). Satisfaction with sacrifice was positively associated with individual and partner well-being (.11 < rs < .43). Costs of sacrifice were negatively related to one's own personal and relationship well-being and to the partner's relationship well-being (-.10 < rs < -.26). Some moderators were also identified. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on prosocial behavior and relationships, address the implications of the methodologies used to study prosocial behavior, and suggest directions for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

When Tonight Is Not the Night: Sexual Rejection Behaviors and Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships.

In most long-term romantic relationships, partners experience sexual conflicts of interest in which one partner declines the other partner's sexual advances. We investigated the distinct ways people reject a partner's advances (i.e., with reassuring, hostile, assertive, and deflecting behaviors) in Studies 1 and 2. Using cross-sectional (Study 3) and daily experience methods (Study 4), we investigated how perceptions of a partner's rejection behaviors are linked with the rejected partner's relationship and sexual satisfaction. We found robust evidence that perceived partner reassuring behaviors were associated with greater satisfaction, whereas perceived partner hostile behaviors were associated with lower levels of satisfaction. Perceived partner responsiveness was a key mechanism underlying the effects. Findings for assertive and deflecting behaviors were limited, but the effect of deflecting behaviors was qualified by levels of hostile behaviors for sexual satisfaction. Findings provide the first empirical investigation of the specific ways partners can decline one another's advances to preserve satisfaction.

Self-esteem and sexual health: a multilevel meta-analytic review.

Sexual health reflects physical, emotional, mental, and social elements of sexual well-being. Researchers often position self-esteem (i.e., global or domain-specific evaluations of self) as a key correlate of sexual health. We present the first comprehensive meta-analysis of correlations between self-esteem and sexual health. Our synthesis includes 305 samples from 255 articles, containing 870 correlations from 191,161 unique participants. The overall correlation between self-esteem and sexual health was positive and small (r = .12, 95% CI: .09, .15), characterised by considerable heterogeneity and robust to different corrections. Sexual functioning (r = .27, 95% CI: .21, .34) was more strongly associated with self-esteem than were safe sex (r = .10, 95% CI: .07, .13) and sexual consent (r = .19, 95% CI: .13, .24), and sexual permissiveness was unassociated with self-esteem (r = -.02, 95% CI: -.05, .008). Most moderators were nonsignificant, although moderator data were inconsistently available, and samples were North American-centric. Evidence of publication bias was inconsistent, and study quality, theory usage, and background research were not reliably associated with study outcomes. Our synthesis suggests a need for more specific theories of self-esteem corresponding to unique domains of sexual, highlighting a need for future theorising and research.

Deriving an Adolescent Executive Behavior Screener from the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2.

OBJECTIVE: Typical executive functioning (EF) measurements do not reflect the complexity of daily life. We derived an executive behavior screener from the BASC-2-PRS-A using a previously derived four-component model of EF and provided support for the use of the screener in adolescent populations. METHODS: A total of 2,722 census-matched American adolescents were sampled. We assigned 25 items a priori to four executive factors (problem solving, attentional control, behavioral control, and emotional control) and evaluated via confirmatory factor analysis, invariance testing and differential item functioning (DIF) models. RESULTS: We found acceptable-to-good reliability and that the four-factor model had the best fit. We showed DIF for age and socioeconomic status (SES). While groups were invariant based on sex, latent mean comparisons showed significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Construct validity of the adolescent four-factor model as measured through the screener was supported. Females demonstrated fewer executive behavior problems. Standardized norms are available and split by age and sex. SES may influence the interpretation of T-scores. Continued exploration and development of the screener is suggested.

Correlates and Predictors of New Mothers' Responses to Postpartum Thoughts of Accidental and Intentional Harm and Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Unwanted, intrusive thoughts of infant-related harm are a normal, albeit distressing experience for most new mothers. The occurrence of these thoughts can represent a risk factor for the development of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). As the early postpartum period represents a time of increased risk for OCD development, the transition to parenthood provides a unique opportunity to better understand OCD development. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to assess components of cognitive behavioural conceptualizations of postpartum OCD in relation to new mothers' thoughts of infant-related harm. METHOD: English-speaking pregnant women (n = 100) participated. Questionnaires were completed at approximately 36 weeks of gestation, and at 4 and 12 weeks postpartum. An interview to assess postpartum harm thoughts was administered at 4 and 12 weeks postpartum. Questionnaires assessed OC symptoms, OC-related beliefs, fatigue, sleep difficulties and negative mood. RESULTS: Prenatal OC-related beliefs predicted postpartum OC symptoms, as well as harm thought characteristics and behavioural responses to harm thoughts. The severity of behavioural responses to early postpartum harm thoughts did not predict later postpartum OC symptoms, but did predict frequency and time occupation of accidental harm thoughts, and interference in parenting by intentional harm thoughts. Strong relationships between OC symptoms and harm thought characteristics, and concurrent sleep difficulties, negative mood and fatigue were also found. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide support for cognitive behavioural conceptualizations of postpartum OCD and emphasize the importance of maternal sleep, fatigue and negative mood in the relationship between OC-related beliefs and maternal cognitive and behavioural responses to postpartum harm thoughts.

A Methodological Review of Exploratory Factor Analysis in Sexuality Research: Used Practices, Best Practices, and Data Analysis Resources.

Sexuality researchers frequently use exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to illuminate the distinguishable theoretical constructs assessed by a set of variables. EFA entails a substantive number of analytic decisions to be made with respect to sample size determination, and how factors are extracted, rotated, and retained. The available analytic options, however, are not all equally empirically rigorous. We discuss the commonly available options for conducting EFA and which options constitute best practices for EFA. We also present the results of a methodological review of the analytic options for EFA used by sexuality researchers in more than 200 EFAs, published in more than 160 articles and chapters from 1974 to 2014, in a sample of sexuality research journals. Our review reveals that best practices for EFA are actually those least frequently used by sexuality researchers. We introduce freely available analytic resources to help make it easier for sexuality researchers to adhere to best practices when conducting EFAs in their own research.

Dominant heterosexual sexual scripts in emerging adulthood: conceptualization and measurement.

Sexual script research (Simon & Gagnon 1969 , 1986 ) bourgeoned following Simon and Gagnon's groundbreaking work. Empirical measurement of sexual script adherence has been limited, however, as no measures exist that have undergone rigorous development and validation. We conducted three studies to examine current dominant sexual scripts of heterosexual adults and to develop a measure of endorsement of these scripts. In Study 1, we conducted three focus groups of men ( n = 19) and four of women ( n = 20) to discuss the current scripts governing sexual behavior. Results supported scripts for sex drive, physical and emotional sex, sexual performance, initiation and gatekeeping, and evaluation of sexual others. In Study 2, we used these qualitative findings to develop a measure of script endorsement, the Sexual Script Scale. Factor analysis of data from 721 participants revealed six interrelated factors demonstrating initial construct validity. In Study 3, confirmatory factor analysis of a separate sample of 289 participants supported the model from Study 2, and evidence of factorial invariance and test-retest reliability was obtained. This article presents the results of these studies, documenting the process of scale development from formative research through to confirmatory testing, and suggests future directions for the continued development of sexual scripting theory.

Premarital sexual standards and sociosexuality: gender, ethnicity, and cohort differences.

In this article, we present results from a "cohort-longitudinal" analysis of sexual attitudes and behaviors based on a large sample of young adults (N = 7,777) obtained from a university setting over a 23-year period. We investigated gender, ethnicity, and cohort differences in sexual permissiveness, endorsement of the double standard, and sociosexuality. Compared to women, men had more permissive attitudes, particularly about sex in casual relationships, endorsed the double standard to a greater degree, and had a more unrestricted sociosexuality. Black men were generally more permissive than White, Hispanic, and Asian men, whereas ethnic differences were not found among women. Participants from the 1995-1999 cohort were slightly less permissive than those from the 1990-1994 and 2005-2012 cohorts. Although prior meta-analytic studies (e.g., Petersen & Hyde, 2010) found reduced gender differences in sexuality over time, our cohort analyses suggest that gender differences in sexual permissiveness have not changed over the past two decades among college students.

Factors influencing university students' explicit and implicit sexual double standards.

Quantitative research has resulted in inconsistent evidence for the existence of a sexual double standard, leading Crawford and Popp ( 2003 ) to issue a call for methodological innovation. The implicit association test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998 ) is a measure that may provide a means to examine the double standard without the contamination of the demand characteristics and social desirability biases that plague self-report research (Marks & Fraley, 2005 ). The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing explicit and implicit double standards, and to examine the relationship between these explicit and implicit double standards, and levels of socially desirable responding. One hundred and three university students completed a sexual double standard IAT, an explicit measure of the double standard, and measures of socially desirable responding. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that levels of socially desirable responding were not related to implicit or explicit double standards. Men endorsed a stronger explicit traditional double standard than women, whereas for implicit sexual standards, men demonstrated a relatively gender-neutral evaluation and women demonstrated a strong reverse double standard. These results suggest the existence of a complex double standard, and indicate that more research of sexual attitudes should include implicit measures.