Assessing Between- and Within-Person Reliabilities of Items and Scale for Daily Procrastination: A Multilevel and Dynamic Approach.

Intensive longitudinal data (ILD) has been collected to capture the dynamic fluctuations of procrastination; however, researchers have typically measured daily procrastination by modifying trait measures (e.g., adding a time reference "today") without adequately testing their reliabilities. The main purpose of this study was to use an advanced approach, dynamic structural equation modeling, to assess the between- and within-person reliabilities of a widely used six-item measure of daily procrastination. A total of 252 participants completed retrospective measures of various types of trait procrastination and daily measures of procrastination over 34 consecutive days. The results showed that the entire scale for daily procrastination and five of its six items had high between- and within-person reliabilities, but one item had much lower reliabilities, suggesting that this item may be inappropriate in everyday contexts. Furthermore, we found moderate to strong associations between the latent trait factor of procrastination and trait measures of procrastination. In addition, we identified substantial between-person variation in person-specific reliabilities and explored its relevant factors. Overall, this study assessed the reliabilities of a daily measure of procrastination, which facilitated future studies to obtain more reliable and consistent results and to better estimate the reliability of ILD.

A Dynamical Systems Investigation of the Co-regulation between Perceived Daily Parental Warmth and Adolescent Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms.

Longitudinal research demonstrates that child ADHD symptoms and behaviors exhibit reciprocal associations with parenting behaviors over time. However, minimal research has investigated these associations and their dynamic links at the daily level. Intensive longitudinal data can disentangle stable between-person differences from within-person fluctuations and reveal nuanced short-term family dynamics on a micro timescale. Using 30-day daily diary data from a community sample of 86 adolescents (Mage = 14.5, 55% female, 56% White, 22% Asian) and latent differential equation modeling, this study examined the links between perceived daily parental warmth and ADHD symptoms as coupled dynamical systems. The results show that the magnitude of fluctuations in perceived daily parental warmth generally remains stable, while elevated ADHD symptoms return to their normal level over time. Perceived parental warmth is sensitive to change in ADHD symptoms such that adolescents feel that their parents will fine-tune their warmth with gradual changes when adolescents demonstrate heightened symptoms. There are substantial between-family differences in these regulating system dynamics. Among families with more baseline parental non-harsh discipline, both perceived parental warmth and ADHD symptoms tend to be more stable and fluctuate less often. Intensive longitudinal data and dynamical systems approaches offer a new lens to uncover short-term family dynamics and adolescent adjustment at a refined micro level. Future research should explore antecedents and consequences of between-family differences in these short-term family dynamics on multiple timescales.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) dynamics matter for children's emotion regulation: RSA inertia and instability within a stress task.

The present study employed two key dynamic indicators (i.e., inertia and instability) to the psychophysiological research of child emotion regulation (ER) and examined whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) dynamics were associated with child ER during a stress task. Eighty-nine Chinese school-age children (Mage = 8.77 years, SD = 1.80 years; 46.1% girls) and their primary caregivers participated in the study. After controlling for RSA static reactivity, multiple regression analyses indicated that lower RSA inertia was related to fewer in-task negative emotions rated by children and their caregivers, and higher RSA instability was associated with better child trait ER. This study introduces physiological indicators of the dynamic aspects of parasympathetic activity to the study of child ER.

From cross-lagged effects to feedback effects: Further insights into the estimation and interpretation of bidirectional relations.

Bidirectional relations have long been of interest in psychology and other social behavioral sciences. In recent years, the widespread use of intensive longitudinal data has provided new opportunities to examine dynamic bidirectional relations between variables. However, most previous studies have focused on the effect of one variable on the other (i.e., cross-lagged effects) rather than the overall effect representing the dynamic interplay between two variables (i.e., feedback effects), which we believe may be due to a lack of relevant methodological guidance. To quantify bidirectional relations as a whole, this study attempted to provide guidance for the estimation and interpretation of feedback effects based on dynamic structural equation models. First, we illustrated the estimation procedure for the average and person-specific feedback effects. Then, to facilitate the interpretation of feedback effects, we established an empirical benchmark by quantitatively synthesizing the results of relevant empirical studies. Finally, we used a set of empirical data to demonstrate how feedback effects can help (a) test theories based on bidirectional relations and (b) reveal correlates of individual differences in bidirectional relations. We also discussed the broad application prospects of feedback effects from a dynamic systems perspective. This study provides guidance for applied researchers interested in further examining feedback effects in bidirectional relations, and the shift from focusing on cross-lagged effects only to a comprehensive consideration of feedback effects may provide new insights into the study of bidirectional relations.

Pneumonia due to Mycobacterium cosmeticum in a patient with systemic sclerosis: A case report.

Pulmonary infection due to Mycobacterium cosmeticum was reported in only two patients previously. More studies are warranted to define its characteristics and treatments. We report a systemic sclerosis patient who had a pulmonary infection due to M. cosmeticum and then successfully recovered after treatment with combination antibiotic regimen.

Eating healthy under work stress: A gene stress interaction model.

OBJECTIVE: Some employees tend to eat less healthy food when under work stress, while others tend to maintain a healthy diet. The factors underlying these different dietary choices are not yet clear. Individual differences in people's reactions to environmental stress may help explain this phenomenon. This study proposed a Gene × Stress interaction model of dietary choice, suggesting that different dietary choices under stress may be related to DRD2 genes, which moderate the reward circuitry and have been associated with habitual use of alcohol, obesity, and eating behaviors. METHOD: 12,269 employees completed genotyping of their saliva samples and questionnaires on work stress, healthy dietary intentions, and healthy dietary behaviors. Nonlinear multiple regressions were used to test the hypothesized interaction of DRD2 genes and work stress on healthy dietary intentions and healthy dietary behaviors. RESULTS: Individuals with higher work stress reported lower healthy dietary intentions, whereas healthy dietary behaviors exhibited an inverted U shape. DRD2 genes significantly moderated this relationship, and the above relationship was only detected among C allele carriers, whereas for the AA genotype, work stress was not associated with healthy dietary intentions or behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy dietary intentions and healthy dietary behaviors showed different patterns of association with work stress. The DRD2 genes helped explain the individual differences in dietary choice under work stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Relations among family, peer, and academic stress and adjustment in Chinese adolescents: A daily diary analysis.

Family, peers, and academics are three central sources of stress for Chinese adolescents, which have potential negative implications for youth's adjustment. This study investigated how within-person fluctuations in daily domains of stress (i.e., family, peer, and academic) and between-person differences in average stress levels were associated with four Chinese adolescent adjustment indicators (i.e., positive and negative emotions, sleep quality, and subjective vitality). Participants included 315 Chinese adolescents (48.3% girls; Mage = 13.05 years, SD = 0.77 years) who completed a 10-day diary on each domain of stress and indicators of adjustment. Multilevel models revealed that peer stress had the most detrimental association with Chinese adolescents' adjustment at both within-person (i.e., higher same-day and next-day negative emotions) and between-person (i.e., higher negative emotions, worse sleep quality, and lower subjective vitality) levels. Academic stress was only significant at the between-person level, corresponding to worse sleep quality and increased levels of negative emotions. Family stress exhibited mixed associations and was positively associated with positive and negative emotions and subjective vitality. These findings underscore the need to examine the impact of multiple domains of stress on Chinese adolescent adjustment. Further, identification and intervention for adolescents with elevated peer stress may be particularly helpful for increasing healthy adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding Rumor Sharing Behavior During COVID-19: The Dominant Motivation and the Potential Consequences for Life Satisfaction.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, rumors were shared widely and quickly, leading to unfortunate consequences. To explore the dominant motivation underlying such rumor sharing behavior and the potential consequences for sharers' life satisfaction, two studies were conducted. Study 1 was based on representative popular rumors that circulated throughout Chinese society during the pandemic to examine the dominant motivation underlying rumor sharing behavior. Study 2 employed a longitudinal design to further test the dominant motivation underlying rumor sharing behavior and its effects on life satisfaction. The results of these two studies generally supported our hypotheses that people chose to share rumors during the pandemic mainly for the purpose of fact-finding. Regarding the effects of rumor sharing behavior on life satisfaction, although sharing wish rumors (i.e., rumors expressing hopes) had no effect on sharers' life satisfaction, sharing dread rumors (i.e., rumors reflecting fears) and aggression rumors (i.e., rumors implying aggression and hatred) reduced sharers' life satisfaction. This research lends support to the integrative model of rumor and provides practical implications for mitigating the spread of rumors.

Stress and emotion in a locked campus: the moderating effects of resilience and loneliness.

The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamic relationship between Chinese students' emotions and stress during a strict lockdown period in a university setting and the context of a global pandemic. Dynamic structural equation modeling was used to investigate the moderating role of resilience and loneliness in this relationship. The participants consisted of 112 students. Based on loneliness and resilience measures and the intensive tracking of emotional stress over a 21-day period, the results of data analysis indicated that the students' overall levels of positive emotions were low and relatively independent of negative emotions. Negative emotions were significantly autoregressive and their baseline was closely related to the individual's overall feelings of stress and loneliness levels, fluctuating with feelings of stress. The results confirm the hypothesis that resilience helps to stabilize emotions. Individuals with low resilience may be more emotionally sensitive in confined environments, while receiving social support may help to alleviate low moods.

Protective effects of tanshinone â against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in mice.

Objectives: Cisplatin (CDDP) is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent, but its clinical application has been limited by nephrotoxicity. Tanshinone Ⅰ (T-I), a phenanthrenequinone compound extracted from the Chinese herb Danshen, has been used to improve circulation and treat cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of T-I on CDDP-induced nephrotoxicity in mice. Materials and Methods: The BALB/c mouse models of nephrotoxicity were established by a single intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/kg CDDP on the first day of the experiment. Three hours prior to CDDP administration, the mice were dosed with 10 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg T-I for 3 consecutive days intraperitoneally to explore nephroprotection of T-I. Results: Treatment with T-I significantly reduced blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels in serum observed in CDDP-administered mice, especially at a dose of 30 mg/kg. T-I at 30 mg/kg significantly decreased malondialdehyde levels and increased glutathione levels and the enzymatic activity of catalase in kidney tissue compared to CDDP. Additionally, T-I (30 mg/kg) significantly reversed the CDDP-decreased expression level of superoxide dismutase 2 protein in renal tissue. Histopathological evaluation of the kidneys further confirmed the protective effect of T-I. Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate that T-I can protect against CDDP-induced nephrotoxicity through suppression of oxidative stress.

Weight stigma is associated with provider-patient relationship factors and adherence for individuals with hypothyroidism.

The goal of this study was to examine weight stigma experiences during medical visits as related to provider-patient relationship factors and adherence among individuals with hypothyroidism. A total of 362 participants recruited via social media participated in an online survey. Regression and mediation analyses indicated that weight stigma was negatively associated with adherence; this relationship was mediated by decreased trust in provider, less perceived provider empathy, and lower provider-patient depth-of-relationship. Structural equation modeling with BMI controlled revealed that weight stigma is associated with worsened provider-patient relationship and adherence. Findings suggest the importance of eliminating weight stigma experiences for patients.

Ethnic-Racial Socialization, Ethnic-Racial Identity, and Depressive Symptoms in Korean Adolescents in the United States and China.

The United States and China are top two receiving countries of Korean immigrants in modern history. Minority families in ethnically-racially diverse societies, such as the US and China, use various ethnic-racial socialization practices (cultural socialization, promotion of mistrust, preparation for bias) to help their children navigate the world, yet research in non-U.S. contexts is scarce. To examine the specificity versus generalizability of ethnic-racial socialization and its implications, this study compared the prevalence of ethnic-racial socialization reported by Korean American (n = 408; Mage = 14.76, SD = 1.91; 48.30% female) and Korean Chinese (n = 267; Mage = 15.24, SD = 1.66; 58.90% female) youth. Moreover, this study examined how various ethnic-racial socialization practices relate to the youth's ethnic-racial identity, and subsequently, depressive symptoms. Although Korean American youth reported more frequent ethnic-racial socialization compared to their Korean Chinese counterparts, cultural socialization (but not preparation for bias nor promotion of mistrust) had a comparable negative indirect association with depressive symptoms via ethnic-racial identity across both groups. Thus, although the rates of parental ethnic-racial socialization are context-specific, parental cultural socialization may be similarly beneficial for Korean ethnic-racial minority youth's identity development, and in turn, psychological outcomes, whether in a Western individualistic society or an Eastern collectivistic society.

Daily interventions and assessments: The effect of online self-compassion meditation on psychological health.

Traditional self-compassion-based interventions have been shown to be beneficial for improving psychological health. With the development of technology, online interventions accessible via smart phones start to emerge. The current study aimed to use daily assessments to investigate the effect of online daily self-compassion interventions and its improvement pattern. Sixty-five employees were recruited and completed a 4-week study. The first week was the control period; the second week and the third week were the intervention period and the fourth week was the follow-up period. Online self-compassion meditation significantly improved daily self-compassion and reduced perceived stress and emotional exhaustion, with varied changing patterns. Daily self-compassion and perceived stress did not change in the control period, then started to increase/decline with time during the intervention period, and remained stable in the follow-up period. Daily emotional exhaustion declined with time in the control period and remained stable in the intervention and follow-up period. The intervention effects did not differ for individuals with different levels of trait self-compassion. This study shows that daily online self-compassion meditation is effective and reveals how it works. Future studies can apply this method to examine the effectiveness of other daily online interventions.

Family socioeconomic status amplifies unique environmental influences on the dynamics of adolescent daily positive affective process.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Affective processes as complex dynamical systems happen in people's daily lives. Affective dynamics characterizing unique features of individual affective systems are linked with long-term developmental outcomes. This study investigated genetic and environmental contributions, and the moderation by family socioeconomic status (SES), to two affective dynamics characterizing affective system sensitivity to the relative levels and change in affect, respectively. METHODS: Using a sample of 490 17-year-old twins (41.1% males, 93.9% White) in a 40-day-long daily diary design, dynamical systems modeling estimated individual affective dynamics of positive and negative affect. Twin modeling examined genetic and environmental contributions to affective dynamics as well as the moderation of SES. RESULTS: For both positive and negative affect, system sensitivity to the relative levels of affect was predominantly under unique environmental influences with negligible genetic influences; system sensitivity to the change in affect was affected by both genetic and unique environmental influences. SES amplifies unique environmental influences on sensitivity to the change in positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight different genetic and environmental origins of different adolescent affective dynamics in their daily lives, and suggest that macro contexts could influence micro timescale affective dynamics.

The dynamic relationship between daily caffeine intake and sleep duration in middle-aged and older adults.

The effect of caffeine on sleep has been well documented. However, most studies examined this relationship in laboratories or used a cross-sectional design analysing between-person differences. This study investigated the within-person relationship between caffeine intake and sleep duration at home. In a national database, 377 participants (aged 35-85 years) completed a 7-day diary study. Sleep duration was measured by Actigraphy and caffeine intake was self-reported in sleep logs. Three analytic strategies were used. The average sleep duration and the average caffeine intake were not significantly correlated. Multilevel regressions using daytime caffeine intake to predict night-time sleep, and using night-time sleep to predict next day caffeine intake, also did not detect any significant effect. Then dynamical systems analysis was performed, where the daily change rate and change tendency of caffeine and sleep were estimated, and the relationship among these momentums was examined. Results revealed a significant effect of sleep duration on the change tendency of caffeine use: a shorter sleep duration predicted a stronger tendency to consume caffeine, and this phenomenon was only found in middle-aged adults (aged 35-55 years) not in older adults (aged 55+). This study did not detect any effect of daily caffeine intake on sleep duration, implying that habitual use of caffeine in real life may not coincide with laboratory findings, and that using caffeine to compensate for sleep loss is the habit of middle-aged adults, not the elderly. The advantage of using a dynamic approach to analyse interrelated processes with uncertain time lags is also highlighted.

Perceived Stress and Sleep Quality in Midlife and Later: Controlling for Genetic and Environmental Influences.

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Stress is a strong predictor for poor sleep quality. However, little is known about the mechanism of this association or the respective contribution of genetic and environmental factors. This study aims to investigate general distress as a mediator and cognitive/emotional control as a moderator in the stress-sleep relationship and estimate the influence of gene and environment in this mechanism using a national representative sample. PARTICIPANTS: 1,255 middle-aged and elderly Americans and a subset of 296 twins. METHODS: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire and the Self-Control Scale assessed sleep quality, perceived stress, general distress, and emotional/cognitive control. Structural equation modeling was used to test the mediating and moderating effect. ACE models on MZ and DZ twins were used to separate the contribution of genetic and environmental factors. Finally, a co-twin design was nested in the SEM to control for the genetic and familial confounds in the stress-sleep relationship. RESULTS: General distress mediated the relationship between stress and sleep while emotional/cognitive control buffered the impact of stress on general distress. 7.69% of the variance in sleep quality was explained by genetic and familial factors and 8.26% was explained by individual-specific factors. Emotional/cognitive control only moderated the individual-specific association between stress and sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Gene/family factors and individual factors explained an equivalent proportion of the stress-sleep relationship. The genetic and familial association between stress and sleep is more robust, whereas the individual-specific association can be buffered by regulation strategies.

A one-step method for modelling longitudinal data with differential equations.

Differential equation models are frequently used to describe non-linear trajectories of longitudinal data. This study proposes a new approach to estimate the parameters in differential equation models. Instead of estimating derivatives from the observed data first and then fitting a differential equation to the derivatives, our new approach directly fits the analytic solution of a differential equation to the observed data, and therefore simplifies the procedure and avoids bias from derivative estimations. A simulation study indicates that the analytic solutions of differential equations (ASDE) approach obtains unbiased estimates of parameters and their standard errors. Compared with other approaches that estimate derivatives first, ASDE has smaller standard error, larger statistical power and accurate Type I error. Although ASDE obtains biased estimation when the system has sudden phase change, the bias is not serious and a solution is also provided to solve the phase problem. The ASDE method is illustrated and applied to a two-week study on consumers' shopping behaviour after a sale promotion, and to a set of public data tracking participants' grammatical facial expression in sign language. R codes for ASDE, recommendations for sample size and starting values are provided. Limitations and several possible expansions of ASDE are also discussed.

Measurement invariance of language brokering extent and attitudes in linguistic minority adolescents: Item response theory analyses.

OBJECTIVE: Using item response theory, we sought to evaluate measurement invariance of language brokering extent and attitudes in 3 linguistic minority groups of adolescents. METHOD: The sample included 765 (302 Chinese American, 327 Korean American, and 136 Mexican American; 57% females) ninth graders from immigrant families. RESULTS: Differential item functioning was detected for several items, and we retained items with equivalent parameters across 3 groups. The final items showed adequate internal consistency reliability and criterion validity. CONCLUSION: The refined scale is cross-ethnically invariant and appropriate for use with Chinese-American, Korean-American, and Mexican-American adolescents to compare their language brokering experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Influences on Catered Event Ordering in a University Workplace: Development and Validation of the Understanding Food Ordering Survey.

PURPOSE: To develop and validate an instrument to identify factors that influence what is ordered for catered events for employees at a large university. DESIGN: Themes derived from focus groups were used to develop a survey. SETTING: A large public university in central Texas. SUBJECTS: Twenty-seven administrative assistants who order food participated in focus groups, 138 completed the survey, and 31 completed the survey a second time. MEASURES: One hundred fourteen-question, 5-point Likert scale survey. ANALYSIS: Principal component analyses explored constructs. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed structure validity. Test -retest analyses assessed reliability. RESULTS: The final survey, the Understanding Food Ordering Survey (UFO), included 19 items within 3 factors; all factor loadings were above 0.3, with no cross-loadings. Three factors explained 55.5% of the variance. Cronbach α values of .846 for social influences from supervisors/coworkers, .838 for restrictions on ordering due to policies/vendors/attendee feedback, .893 for personal views about nutrition, and .831 for the total affirmed reliability. Test-retest reliability was acceptable ( r = 0.780), and paired samples t test indicated no differences between assessments, mean difference = -0.062, standard deviation = 0.29, t (30) = -1.18, P = .247. Structure equation modeling indicated a good fit between the proposed 3-factor model and observed data, with comparative fit index = 0.921 and root means square error of approximation = 0.074. CONCLUSION: Interventions to improve the nutritional quality of foods selected for catering may benefit from addressing contributory factors while considering a top-down approach to changing the workplace culture.