Everyday Sexual and Gender Minority Stress and Health: A Systematic Review of Experience Sampling Studies.

Sexual and gender minority stress is associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes, such as hypertension and depression. Expanding on previous reviews of the literature on cross-sectional and long-term prospective associations between sexual and gender minority stress and health outcomes, the current systematic review synthesizes the evidence on how everyday sexual and gender minority stress relates to momentary changes in health. The findings of 53 experience sampling studies published between 2007 and 2022 suggest that daily and momentary within-persons fluctuations in minority stressors are associated with cognitive-emotional (e.g., affect, suicidality), behavioral (e.g., substance use), social (e.g., relationship satisfaction), and physical health outcomes (e.g., somatic symptoms). These findings suggest that sexual and gender minority stress is a dynamic process that can vary within individuals over time and significantly impact everyday mental and physical health. We discuss the implications of these findings for minority stress theory, LGBTQ+ health research, LGBTQ+ affirming therapy, and prevention initiatives. The current experience sampling literature is limited by a lack of attention to gender minority stress and a focus on a limited range of health outcomes. Methodological and theoretical considerations for future experience sampling research are discussed in light of these limitations.

Eyes of the beholders: Multi-method relationships between internalizing and externalizing symptom dimensions and aggression risk.

Although aggression occurs across a range of disorders, associations between dimensions of psychopathology and self- and other-directed aggression are not well understood. Investigating associations between psychopathology dimensions and aggression helps further understanding about the etiology of aggression, and ultimately, can inform intervention and prevention strategies. This study adopted a multi-method approach to examine associations between internalizing and externalizing dimensions of psychopathology and self- and other-directed aggression as a function of reporter (participant and informant) and modality of aggression measurement (subjective and objective). Participants were an unselected sample of 151 racially diverse adults recruited from the community. Dimensions of psychopathology were assessed using interview and questionnaire reports from participants and collateral informants, and forms of aggression were measured via subjective reports and an objective, laboratory aggression paradigm. Analyses of participant-reported psychological symptom data consistently linked externalizing symptoms to other-directed aggression, and internalizing symptoms to self-directed aggression. Results across informant and participant reporters replicated prior findings showing a significant interaction between internalizing and externalizing dimensions in predicting intimate partner violence. Most other effects in informant models were nonsignificant. The findings uncover consistency in and replicability of relationships between dimensions of psychopathology and certain manifestations of aggression and highlight the importance of examining multiple forms of aggression in etiological research. Examining aggression through a transdiagnostic lens can help us better understand and intervene upon processes implicated in devasting forms of self- and other-directed aggression.

Predicting aggressive behaviors: Examining unique and interactive roles of PTSD and emotion dysregulation in a minority sample.

Aggression is a costly public health problem with severe and multi-faceted negative consequences and thus, identifying factors that contribute to aggression, particularly in understudied populations, is necessary to develop more effective interventions to reduce the public health cost of aggression. The goal this study was to test whether difficulties regulating emotions moderated the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and aggression in a community sample of predominantly Black females with high levels of trauma exposure. Furthermore, we explored unique relations between PTSD symptom clusters and distinct subscales of difficulties regulating emotions and aggression. The sample included 601 community participants recruited from an urban public hospital. Symptoms were assessed using self-report measures including the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and Behavioral Questionnaire-Short. Regression analyses were conducted using PTSD symptoms and total DERS to test their interaction as predictors for aggression (using BQ-Short). We found that higher levels of PTSD arousal symptoms and difficulty controlling impulses when upset were positively related to aggression. We also conducted an exploratory analysis to examine the association between PTSD symptom clusters using the Alternative Symptom Clusters hybrid model. The results suggest that some PTSD symptoms (externalizing behavior) and some emotion dysregulation processes (difficulties controlling impulses when upset), relate to aggression in independent, rather than multiplicative ways. These results offer insights for new directions of research that focuses on the independent association between specific emotion dysregulation processes and PTSD symptoms on aggression.

Dyadic effects of minority stress and problematic alcohol use on sexual intimate partner violence in same sex couples.

Little is known about the factors that facilitate the perpetration of sexual violence within the context of same-sex romantic relationships (sexual intimate partner violence perpetration [S-IPV]). The present study sought to identify the effects of external and internal minority stress and problematic drinking on perpetration of S-IPV within a dyadic framework. A community-based sample of 137 sexual and gender minority (SGM) couples (N = 274; 59 male assigned at birth and 78 female assigned at birth couples) completed self-report surveys about minority stressors, alcohol use, and S-IPV perpetration. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were conducted within an actor-partner interdependence framework. This approach accounted for both actor effects (e.g., how much one's S-IPV perpetration is predicted by their own risk factors) and partner effects (e.g., how much one's S-IPV perpetration is influenced by their partner's risk factors). Both Actor external minority stress and internal minority stress were positively associated with Actor S-IPV perpetration. Actor problematic drinking was not associated with Actor S-IPV perpetration; however, Partner problematic drinking was positively associated with Actor S-IPV perpetration. Observed effects were robust above the addition of other risk factors. This research innovatively extricates S-IPV perpetration from other forms of IPV and indicates that Actor minority stress and Partner problematic drinking increase S-IPV likelihood. Results serve as a starting point for development of etiological models to inform the design of culturally-informed interventions to reduce S-IPV among SGM couples.

Unpacking the Construct of Dysregulated Behaviors Using Variable-Centered and Person-Centered Analytic Approaches.

Dysregulated behaviors (e.g., alcohol and drug use, aggression, self-harm, gambling, binge eating) occur frequently and can be severely costly to individuals and society. Yet, little is known about the construct of dysregulated behaviors, including (a) whether it is distinct from related constructs such as compulsive behaviors and sensation-seeking, (b) whether its components share common correlates (e.g., impulsigenic traits, reward sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation), and (c) identify and describe patterns of dysregulated behaviors. To address these gaps in the literature, this study used variable-centered and person-centered analyses in a racially diverse sample of undergraduates (n = 338). In support of evidence distinguishing dysregulated behaviors from related constructs, correlational analysis indicated that the associations with compulsive behaviors were small and nonsignificant. In terms of construct validity, we found relatively strong and consistent evidence for impulsigenic traits across dysregulated behaviors but relatively inconsistent evidence for associations with reward sensitivity and emotion dysregulation. Finally, person-centered analysis indicated the presence of three classes characterized by high dysregulated behavior, low dysregulated behavior, and aggressive self-harm behavior. The likelihood of being classified in these classes differed considerably based on impulsigenic traits and emotion dysregulation. These results may have implications for the classification and treatment of dysregulated behaviors. Taken together, this study advances our understanding of dysregulated behaviors and sets the stage for further theory development and hypothesis testing regarding the onset, maintenance, and treatment of dysregulated behaviors.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2022.2026966 .

Impulsivity and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Aggression: The Moderating Effects of Negative Affective State and Alcohol.

Background: The goal of this study was to test the interactive effects of negative urgency, state negative affect, and alcohol intoxication on intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration. Methods: Heavy drinkers who recently perpetrated IPA completed self-report measures of impulsivity, were administered an alcohol or control beverage, and completed a laboratory aggression task. State negative affect was assessed unobtrusively via the Facial Action Coding System. Results: Consistent with our prediction, negative urgency was significantly and positively related to IPA when state negative affect was also high, but this relation was not significant when state negative affect was low. Conclusions: These results have implications for understanding the role of negative affect and impulsivity in IPA perpetration and for understanding trait models of impulsivity in general.

From alcohol to aggression: Examining the structure and nomological network of dysregulated behaviors in a trauma-exposed community sample.

OBJECTIVE: A large body of research has shown that alcohol use, drug use, aggression, and self-harm often co-occur within the same individuals, suggesting the possibility of shared etiologies. Research has yet to determine the factor structure of these dysregulated behaviors. METHODS: Participants (Mage = 40.33; 74% women) completed self-report and interview-based measures of dysregulated behaviors (alcohol use, drug use, aggression, and self-harm), emotion dysregulation, maladaptive personality traits, and symptoms of DSM disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder [BPD], depression). RESULTS: Results showed support for a bifactor model (i.e., all indicators load on a common dysregulated behavior factor and on unique alcohol, drug, aggression, and self-harm factors), which provided a better fit to the data than other models. In line with our hypotheses, the general dysregulated behavior factor was positively associated with emotion regulation difficulties, negative affect, and BPD symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These results have implications for several areas of psychopathology and intervention research.

The "Why" of Drinking Matters: A Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Drinking Motives and Drinking Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of how drinking motives are differentially associated with alcohol use (e.g., frequency, quantity) and drinking problems is critical in understanding risky drinking and the development of alcohol use disorder. The purpose of this paper was to use meta-analytic techniques to answer 2 overarching questions: (a) Which types of drinking motives (i.e., enhancement, coping, social, conformity) are most strongly associated with alcohol use and drinking problems? and (b) What are the most likely mechanisms (alcohol use or drinking problems) through which motives may be indirectly associated with outcomes? METHOD: A comprehensive literature search identified 229 studies that met inclusion criteria (254 samples; N = 130,705) with a subset containing longitudinal data (k = 5; N = 6283). Data were analyzed using 2-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Results showed that both enhancement and coping motives were the strongest predictors of drinking problems, but only enhancement motives were the strongest predictor of alcohol use. Enhancement and social motives were indirectly associated with alcohol use through drinking problems and with drinking problems through alcohol use, whereas coping motives were only indirectly associated with alcohol use through drinking problems, although the results differed for cross-sectional and longitudinal data. CONCLUSION: Overall, findings from this meta-analysis provide evidence that drinking motives differentially predict alcohol use outcomes through unique direct and indirect pathways.

The effect of rumination on recall of emotional words: comparison of dysphoric individuals with and without a history of nonsuicidal self-injury.

Prior research and theory has suggested that rumination plays a role in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and rumination increases recall of negative autobiographical information in dysphoric individuals. Across two studies, we investigated whether rumination (versus distraction) differentially influences the recall of emotional words among dysphoric persons with and without a history of NSSI. Participants encoded unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant words and then were randomly assigned to either focus on the meaning and consequences of their emotions (i.e. rumination) or unrelated thoughts (i.e. distraction) before they were asked to recall encoded words. Across the two studies, we did not find a significant effect of rumination on memory for emotional words among dysphoric people with (Studies 1 and 2) or without a history of NSSI (Study 1). We did find that people were more likely to remember neutral words as opposed to unpleasant or pleasant words across studies, regardless of rumination condition. Together, results from these two well-powered studies provide fairly compelling evidence that rumination after encoding has little to no effect on recall for emotional words in people elevated on symptoms of depression or with NSSI history. These findings can be used to refine theories of rumination and NSSI.

The Impact of Alcohol and Social Context on the Startle Eyeblink Reflex.

BACKGROUND: Researchers have long sought to understand how individuals respond to alcohol in social settings with the aim of elucidating pathways of risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). But studies that incorporate a social context are still outnumbered by those that examine alcohol's subjective effects among participants drinking alcohol in isolation. Further, perhaps due to the challenges of capturing automatic affective processes in these settings, prior studies of alcohol response in social context have relied mainly on self-report measures, and so relatively little is known about alcohol's psychophysiological effects in social settings. METHODS: Using a novel paradigm that integrated alcohol-administration procedures, startle methodology, and social context, this study examined the impact of alcohol and social context on startle eyeblink reflex among 40 social drinkers. RESULTS: Results indicated that there was a significant effect of group presence, indicating that startle magnitude was larger when people were alone than with others. There was a significant group presence-by-alcoholic beverage interaction, with the effect of alcohol being significantly larger when people were alone versus with others. These effects were found both for the startle habituation data and during the picture-viewing task. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study highlight the importance of considering the presence of other individuals for understanding alcohol response and mechanisms of AUD risk. Findings are discussed in light of both emotional and cognitive correlates of startle reflex magnitude. Future research should examine these effects within larger samples of participants and further explore mechanisms that might underlie these effects.

Deconvolving the input to random abstract parabolic systems: a population model-based approach to estimating blood/breath alcohol concentration from transdermal alcohol biosensor data.

The distribution of random parameters in, and the input signal to, a distributed parameter model with unbounded input and output operators for the transdermal transport of ethanol are estimated. The model takes the form of a diffusion equation with the input, which is on the boundary of the domain, being the blood or breath alcohol concentration (BAC/BrAC), and the output, also on the boundary, being the transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC). Our approach is based on the reformulation of the underlying dynamical system in such a way that the random parameters are treated as additional spatial variables. When the distribution to be estimated is assumed to be defined in terms of a joint density, estimating the distribution is equivalent to estimating a functional diffusivity in a multi-dimensional diffusion equation. The resulting system is referred to as a population model, and well-established finite dimensional approximation schemes, functional analytic based convergence arguments, optimization techniques, and computational methods can be used to fit it to population data and to analyze the resulting fit. Once the forward population model has been identified or trained based on a sample from the population, the resulting distribution can then be used to deconvolve the BAC/BrAC input signal from the biosensor observed TAC output signal formulated as either a quadratic programming or linear quadratic tracking problem. In addition, our approach allows for the direct computation of corresponding credible bands without simulation. We use our technique to estimate bivariate normal distributions and deconvolve BAC/BrAC from TAC based on data from a population that consists of multiple drinking episodes from a single subject and a population consisting of single drinking episodes from multiple subjects.

A brief assessment tool for investigating facets of moral judgment from realistic vignettes.

Humans make moral judgments every day, and research demonstrates that these evaluations are based on a host of related event features (e.g., harm, legality). In order to acquire systematic data on how moral judgments are made, our assessments need to be expanded to include real-life, ecologically valid stimuli that take into account the numerous event features that are known to influence moral judgment. To facilitate this, Knutson et al. (in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(4), 378-384, 2010) developed vignettes based on real-life episodic memories rated concurrently on key moral features; however, the method is time intensive (~1.4-3.4 h) and the stimuli and ratings require further validation and characterization. The present study addresses these limitations by: (i) validating three short subsets of these vignettes (39 per subset) that are time-efficient (10-25 min per subset) yet representative of the ratings and factor structure of the full set, (ii) norming ratings of moral features in a larger sample (total N = 661, each subset N = ~220 vs. Knutson et al. N = 30), (iii) examining the generalizability of the original factor structure by replicating it in a larger sample across vignette subsets, sex, and political ideology, and (iv) using latent profile analysis to empirically characterize vignette groupings based on event feature ratings profiles and vignette content. This study therefore provides researchers with a core battery of well-characterized and realistic vignettes, concurrently rated on key moral features that can be administered in a brief, time-efficient manner to advance research on the nature of moral judgment.

White fear, dehumanization, and low empathy: Lethal combinations for shooting biases.

OBJECTIVES: A growing number of studies have documented the existence racial shooting biases against Black versus White targets (Correll et al., 2002). Little is known about individual differences that may moderate these biases. The goals of this study were to examine (a) whether White participants' fear of racial/ethnic minorities is associated with racial shooting biases, and (b) whether dehumanization and empathy moderate this effect. METHOD: Participants (N = 290) completed a dehumanization implicit association test and simulated shooting task, then reported their fear of racial minorities (i.e., White fear) and empathic ability. RESULTS: We found that (a) individuals high in White fear showed a shooting bias, such that they had a lower threshold for shooting Black relative to White and East Asian targets, (b) Dehumanization moderated the White fear and shooting bias relation, such that individuals high in White fear and high in dehumanization had a significantly more liberal shooting threshold for Black versus White targets, and (c) Empathy moderated the White fear and shooting bias relation, such that people who were high in White fear and low in empathic ability had a more liberal shooting threshold for Black versus White targets. In sum, fearing racial/ethnic minorities can have devastating shooting bias outcomes for Black individuals, but this effect is stronger when people also dehumanize Black individuals, and weaker when people have high empathy. CONCLUSIONS: These findings contribute to the literature by identifying theory driven moderators that identify both risk and protective factors in predicting racial shooting biases. (PsycINFO Database Record

You Are What You See and Choose: Agreeableness and Situation Selection.

Agreeableness positively predicts subjective well-being, but why does it do so? Recent theorizing has highlighted possible substrates related to emotion regulation. Following suit, the present studies focus on the situation selection stage of the emotion regulation sequence. Undergraduate participants reported on their agreeableness levels and completed a picture-viewing task (Studies 1 and 2) or a media choice task (Study 3). Studies 1 and 2 found that the tendency to view negative pictures for a longer period of time than positive pictures was evident at low levels of agreeableness and absent at high levels. The Study 3 paradigm asked individuals whether they typically choose to expose themselves to positive or negative stimuli across diverse media sources. Preferences for positive media were more pronounced at higher levels of agreeableness. The results have systematic implications for understanding the emotional lives of disagreeable versus agreeable people.

Impulsivity, risk taking, and cortisol reactivity as a function of psychosocial stress and personality in adolescents.

Although adolescence is characterized by hormonal changes and increased disinhibited behaviors, explanations for these developmental changes that include personality and environmental factors have not been fully elucidated. We examined the interactions between psychosocial stress and the traits of negative emotionality and constraint on impulsive and risk-taking behaviors as well as salivary cortisol reactivity in 88 adolescents. In terms of behavioral outcomes, analyses revealed that negative emotionality and constraint were protective of impulsivity and risk taking, respectively, for adolescents in the no-stress condition; personality did not relate to either behavior in the stress condition. Low-constraint adolescents in the stress condition engaged in less risk taking than low-constraint adolescents in the no-stress condition, whereas there was no effect of stress group for high-constraint adolescents. In terms of cortisol reactivity, analyses revealed that low-constraint adolescents in the stress condition exhibited greater cortisol reactivity compared to high-constraint adolescents, which suggests that low-constraint adolescents mobilize greater resources (e.g., increased cognitive control, heightened attention to threat) in stressful situations relative to nonstressful ones. These results demonstrate that two facets of disinhibition and cortisol reactivity are differentially affected by psychosocial stress and personality (and their interactions) in adolescents.

The self's symbolic role in implicit approach/avoidance: movement time evidence.

Theories of self-regulation emphasize the special role that the symbolic self may play in approach and avoidance movements, but experimental evidence is lacking. In two experiments (total N = 157), participants moved either a self-relevant (e.g., "me") or non-self (e.g., "not me") agent to one of two locations, one occupied by a positive word and the other occupied by a negative word. In both experiments, the movement agent interacted with the destination valence such that it was only the symbolic self that moved more quickly to positive rather than negative locations. These results established a role for the symbolic self in approach/avoidance that had been questioned, thereby supporting both classic and contemporary self-related theories of approach and avoidance.

The Role of Positive and Negative Affect in Illicit Substance Use and Alcohol Use: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

BACKGROUND: Theories suggest that experiences of negative and positive affect are important precursors to alcohol and illicit substance use. Research utilizing ecological momentary assessments (EMA) has generally supported the relation between momentary experiences of positive affect, but not negative affect, and subsequent substance use. Unfortunately, most of these studies have focused on alcohol use and not other substance use. The goal of this paper was to further explore the relation between momentary affect and use of both alcohol and illicit substances within a population of individuals with a history of substance use. Additionally, this study aimed to understand whether the relations between affect and substance use would vary depending on the timing of EMA assessments of affect prior to substance use. METHOD: Participants with a history of heavy substance use (N = 59) completed EMA's measuring affect and substance use using random prompts 4 times a day for 14 days. RESULTS: We found that positive affect was significantly related to later engagement in drinking, illicit substance use, and marijuana use. Moreover, timing of the affect was important. When affect was assessed in the last hour prior to substance use, relative to 7 hours prior, the relation between positive affect and illicit substance use was stronger. Negative affect was related to a lower likelihood of subsequent marijuana use, but more so when it was measured a few hours versus several hours before the use. CONCLUSION: This study further supported the relation between positive affect and both alcohol and illicit substance use.

Losing control, literally: relations between anger control, trait anger, and motor control.

Self-control perspectives of multiple traits have been proposed, perhaps most particularly so in the anger realm. Four studies sought to examine potential relations between anger control, trait anger, and motor control. Across the four studies, individuals (total N=366) were asked to hold a joystick cursor on a spatial target as accurately and steadily as possible and two indices of motor control were quantified. Studies 1 and 2 found that higher levels of (trait) anger control were predictive of better motor control. Studies 3 and 4 then showed that higher levels of trait anger were predictive of worse motor control. All studies also examined possible state-related influences on motor control (e.g., as a function of aversive noise), but no such effects were found. Thus, the trait-related findings were basic in nature and informative for this reason. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding personality variations in anger control and anger and the value of motoric probes of self-control.

Appetitive and Aversive Motivation in Dysregulated Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis.

Appetitive and aversive motivation are prominent in theories of dysregulated behaviors. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of the association between individual differences in appetitive and aversive motivation and several dysregulated behaviors (i.e., alcohol use, marijuana use, tobacco use, binge eating, aggression, gambling, and nonsuicidal self-injury). Alcohol use (r = .17, k = 141), marijuana use (r = .13, k = 23), aggression (r = .22, k = 52), and gambling (r = .08, k = 55) were all significantly positively related to appetitive motivation. Binge eating (r = .28, k = 34) and self-injury (r = .17, k = 10) were significantly positively related to aversive motivation. Effect sizes were similar to the median effect size in personality research. Together, these results provide some evidence that some dysregulated behaviors are more correlated with approach motivation, whereas others are more correlated with aversive motivation, which may indicate distinct etiological pathways.