Empowering self-critical perfectionistic students: A waitlist controlled feasibility trial of an explanatory feedback intervention on daily coping processes.

This study of 176 university students tested a single-session explanatory feedback intervention (EFI), derived from the perfectionism coping processes model. Participants with higher self-critical perfectionism completed daily measures of stress appraisals, coping, and affect for 7 days. A randomized control design was used to compare an EFI condition with a waitlist control condition over 4 weeks with individualized feedback delivered one-on-one by student trainees in-person or remotely through videoconferencing. The feasibility of the individualized analyses of each participant's daily data was supported by identifying daily trigger patterns, maintenance tendencies, strengths, common triggers, and best targets for reducing negative mood and increasing positive mood across several stressors for each participant. Participant ratings indicated that the comprehensive feedback was coherent and functional. Participants in the EFI condition, compared to those in the control condition, reported increases in empowerment, coping self-efficacy, and problem-focused coping, as well as decreases in depressive and anxious symptoms. Between-group effect sizes were moderate-to-large. There were reliable improvements in empowerment and depressive symptoms for 56% and 36%, respectively, of participants in the EFI condition. These findings demonstrate the broad applicability, conceptual utility, and effectiveness of the EFI for self-critical perfectionistic individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Variation in the µ-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) and experiences of felt security in response to a romantic partner's quarrelsome behavior.

Research suggests that endogenous opioids play a key role in the creation and maintenance of attachment bonds. Opioids acting at the µ-opioid receptor mediate reward and analgesia and are thus thought to underlie feelings of comfort and warmth experienced in the presence of close others. Disruption of µ-opioidergic activity increases separation distress in animals, suggesting that low opioid states may contribute to social pain. Accordingly, a functional µ-opioid receptor (OPRM1) polymorphism (C77G in primates, A118G in humans) affecting opioidergic signaling has been associated with separation distress and attachment behavior in nonhuman primates, and social pain sensitivity in humans. However, no research has examined the effects of this polymorphism on socioemotional experience, and specifically felt security, in daily interactions between romantic partners. Using an event-contingent recording method, members of 92 cohabiting romantic couples reported their felt security and quarrelsome behavior in daily interactions with each other for 20 days. Consistent with prior work, findings suggested that, relative to AA homozygotes, G allele carriers were more sensitive to their partners' self-reported quarrelsome behaviors (e.g., criticism), showing a greater decline in felt security when their partners reported higher quarrelsome behavior than usual. This is the first study to link variation in OPRM1 with felt security toward romantic partners in everyday social interactions. More generally, this research supports the theory that the attachment system incorporated evolutionarily primitive pain-regulating opioidergic pathways. We also discuss implications of this work for understanding of differential vulnerability to health risks posed by social stress.

Emotional and interpersonal mechanisms in community SSRI treatment of social anxiety disorder.

BACKGROUND: Affective and interpersonal behavioural patterns characteristic of social anxiety disorder show improvement during treatment with serotonin agonists (e.g., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), commonly used in the treatment of social anxiety disorder. The present study sought to establish whether, during community psychopharmacological treatment of social anxiety disorder, changes in positive or negative affect and agreeable or quarrelsome behaviour mediate improvement in social anxiety symptom severity or follow from it. METHODS: Adults diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (n = 48) recorded their interpersonal behaviour and affect naturalistically in an event-contingent recording procedure for 1-week periods before and during the first 4 months of treatment with paroxetine. Participants and treating psychiatrists assessed the severity of social anxiety symptoms monthly. A multivariate latent change score framework examined temporally lagged associations of change in affect and interpersonal behaviour with change in social anxiety symptom severity. RESULTS: Elevated agreeable behaviour and positive affect predicted greater subsequent reduction in social anxiety symptom severity over the following month of treatment. Elevated negative affect, but not quarrelsome behaviour, predicted less subsequent reduction in symptom severity. LIMITATIONS: Limitations included limited assessment of extreme behaviour (e.g., violence) that may have precluded examining the efficacy of paroxetine because of the lack of a placebo control group. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that interpersonal behaviour and affect may be putative mechanisms of action for serotonergic treatment of social anxiety disorder. Prosocial behaviour and positive affect increase during serotonergic treatment of social anxiety disorder. Specifically, modulating agreeable behaviour, positive affect and negative affect in individuals' daily lives may partially explain and refine clinical intervention.

Interpersonal perception and interpersonal spin.

INTRODUCTION: Interpersonal spin is an indicator of intraindividual variability in social behavior. Spin is positively related to Neuroticism and is maladaptive, with well-documented deleterious effects on social functioning. The perceptual processes associated with spin and how spin emerges are less well-understood. The present research examines the interpersonal perception of individuals with higher spin and tests whether these perceptual processes explain the association of spin with Neuroticism. METHOD: 267 students participated in a 20-day event contingent recording procedure, reporting on social interactions via mobile application. Participants' perceptions of others' behavior, their own affect, and their own behavior were measured within and across interactions. RESULTS: We examined the affective and behavioral responses of individuals with higher spin to perceptions of others' behaviors. Individuals with higher spin showed greater affective and behavioral reactivity to perceptions of others' communal (agreeable-quarrelsome) behavior. Neuroticism predicted greater affective reactivity (i.e., steeper slopes between event-level perceived communion and negative affect), which in turn predicted higher spin. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with higher spin may have an interpersonal style characterized by greater reactivity to perceptions of others' communal behavior. These individuals' behavioral lability may reflect underlying emotional dysregulation. These processes may ultimately interfere with the formation and maintenance of social bonds.

Alcohol Consumption and Trait Anger Strengthen the Association Between Perceived Quarrelsomeness and Quarrelsome Behavior via Feeling Angry.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol intoxication facilitates interpersonal aggression, but this effect depends on person and situation characteristics. Using the Alcohol Myopia Model, we examined the joint influence of alcohol, trait anger, and state anger on the association between perceived quarrelsomeness in an interaction partner and quarrelsome behavior in naturally occurring interpersonal interactions. METHODS: Using an event-contingent recording method over a 20-day period, community adults reported their perception of an interaction partner's quarrelsome behavior, their own anger and quarrelsome behavior, and the number of alcohol drinks consumed up to 3 hours prior to an interpersonal interaction. RESULTS: Results revealed that alcohol consumption and trait anger jointly moderated the association between perceived quarrelsomeness and quarrelsome behavior indirectly via state anger. Heightened anger experience accounted for increased quarrelsome behavior in response to perceived quarrelsomeness among higher trait anger individuals who reported increased alcohol consumption. When no alcohol was consumed, no such difference in quarrelsome behavioral response was found between low and high trait anger individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that alcohol consumption may strengthen the influence of perceived quarrelsomeness on a person's own quarrelsome behavior among individuals with a readiness to experience anger. Intense anger experience may undermine these individuals' ability to inhibit aggressive behaviors when under the influence of alcohol.

What's interpersonal in interpersonal perception? The role of target's attachment in the accuracy of perception.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the influence of attachment orientation on the accuracy of perception of negative affect in close relationships. We hypothesized that tracking accuracy of perceiving negative affect (a) would be lower among perceivers and targets with higher attachment avoidance and (b) would be lowest when both the target and perceiver were high on attachment avoidance. Tracking accuracy would be (c) higher among perceivers and targets with higher attachment anxiety and (d) highest when both the target and perceiver were high on attachment anxiety. METHOD: We collected data from 92 couples who reported their negative affect and perception of their partner's negative affect in interactions with each other on 20 days. RESULTS: Results supported the hypotheses for attachment avoidance and tracking accuracy. Tracking accuracy of perceived negative affect was low when the target was high on attachment avoidance; accuracy was lowest when both the target and the perceiver were high on attachment avoidance. CONCLUSIONS: Lower "readability" of high avoidantly attached targets' emotions may inhibit intimacy and sensitive responding, which thereby may contribute to poor relationship outcomes.

Depression symptoms moderate the association between emotion and communal behavior.

Depression is associated with emotion regulation deficits which manifest as elevated negative affect and greater continuation of negative affect over time. The present study examined a possible emotion regulatory deficit, whether depression symptoms attenuate the association between communal (i.e., agreeable, quarrelsome) behavior and affect. A community sample reported on depression and anxiety symptoms before recording their affect and behavior following naturally occurring interpersonal interactions over 21 days. Participants' behaviors were measured using items selected to represent the Interpersonal Circumplex Model of behavior. Results indicated an association between affect and communal behavior, which was stronger for negative than positive affect. Depression symptoms moderated this association; elevated depression symptoms were associated with decreased association of affect and interpersonal behavior. Comorbid anxiety symptoms did not moderate this association. Results suggest that elevated depression symptoms are associated with a diminished ability to adapt communal behavior to emotion cues. Given prior evidence of elevated overall quarrelsome behavior among individuals with elevated depression symptoms, this may demonstrate an interpersonal mechanism by which emotion regulation deficits impact the generation of interpersonal problems. (PsycINFO Database Record

Autonomous and controlled motivation for interpersonal therapy for depression: Between-therapists and within-therapist effects.

Differences between therapists in the average outcomes their patients achieve are well documented, and researchers have begun to try to explain such differences (Baldwin & Imel, 2013). Guided by Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), we examined the effects on outcome of differences between therapists in their patients' average levels of autonomous and controlled motivation for treatment, as well as the effects of differences among the patients within each therapist's caseload. Between and within-therapist differences in the SDT construct of perceived relational support were explored as predictors of patients' motivation. Nineteen therapists treated 63 patients in an outpatient clinic providing manualized interpersonal therapy (IPT) for depression. Patients completed the BDI-II at pretreatment, posttreatment, and each treatment session. The Impact Message Inventory was administered at the third session and scored for perceived therapist friendliness, a core element of relational support. We created between-therapists (therapist-level) scores by averaging over the patients in each therapist's caseload; within-therapist (patient-level) scores were computed by centering within each therapist's caseload. As expected, better outcome was predicted by higher levels of therapist-level and patient-level autonomous motivation and by lower levels of therapist-level and patient-level controlled motivation. In turn, autonomous motivation was predicted by therapist-level and patient-level relational support (friendliness). Controlled motivation was predicted solely by patient self-critical perfectionism. The results extend past work by demonstrating that both between-therapists and within-therapist differences in motivation predict outcome. As well, the results suggest that therapists should monitor their interpersonal impact so as to provide relational support. (PsycINFO Database Record

Panic symptom clusters differentially predict suicide ideation and attempt.

Increasingly strong evidence links anxiety disorders in general and panic attacks in particular to suicidality. The underlying causes and specifics of this relation, however, remain unclear. The present article sought to begin addressing this question by clarifying the association between panic symptoms and suicidality. Data were sampled from the NESARC epidemiological data set from the US and analyzed as four independently, randomly selected subsets of 1000 individuals using structural equation modeling analyses and replicating results across samples. Evidence is presented for four symptom clusters (cognitive symptoms, respiratory distress, symptoms of alpha and beta adrenergic activation) and the differential association of each with suicidal ideation and attempts. Symptoms of alpha adrenergic activation predicted prior suicide attempt whereas cognitive symptoms predicted prior suicidal ideation. These findings were independent of comorbid major depressive disorder. It is suggested that assessment of suicide risk in the community includes the presentation of cognitive symptoms and symptoms related to alpha adrenergic activation.

Understanding heterogeneity in social anxiety disorder: dependency and self-criticism moderate fear responses to interpersonal cues.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined how the personality traits of self-criticism and dependency moderated the effects of situational interpersonal cues on fear during interpersonal interactions among individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD). We hypothesized that self-criticism would moderate the fear-inducing effects of situational self-consciousness and that dependency would moderate the fear-inducing effects of situational emotional insecurity. METHODS: Forty SAD patients (Mage = 29.23) and matched community controls (Mage = 28.93) completed event-contingent record forms after each significant social interaction of over 5 min for a 20-day period. There were 20 female patients and 20 male patients in each group. RESULTS: Event-level self-consciousness was more strongly associated with elevations in fear among socially anxious patients who reported higher levels of self-criticism, while event-level emotional security was more strongly associated with decreases in fear among SAD patients who reported higher levels of dependency. These interactions were not found in the community sample. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the application of personality-vulnerability models to understanding fear during social interactions in patients with SAD. Results also have implications for psychotherapeutic treatments of SAD.

Naturalistic interpersonal behavior patterns differentiate depression and anxiety symptoms in the community.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety are associated with interpersonal problems that, in turn, exacerbate and maintain these symptoms. The purpose of the present study was to identify patterns of interpersonal behavior characteristic of each syndrome, particularly whether intraindividual variability in interpersonal behavior differentiates between anxiety and depression symptoms. After reporting on depression and anxiety symptoms, community participants recorded their behavior following interpersonal interactions over 21 days. Participants' interpersonal behavior at each event was measured using behavior dimensions from the interpersonal circumplex: dominant, submissive, agreeable, and quarrelsome. Mean levels of behavior and intraindividual variability were computed over events and then regressed on depression and anxiety symptoms using structural equation modeling. Elevations in reported depression and anxiety symptoms were both associated with elevated mean-level quarrelsome and submissive behavior. Independent of mean-level behavior and concurrent depression symptoms, elevated anxiety symptoms were associated with elevated variability in agreeable, dominant, and submissive behavior and with elevated variability in type of interpersonal behavior (i.e., spin). Depression symptoms were unrelated to variability in interpersonal behavior. Results demonstrate that variability in behavior distinguishes anxiety from depression symptoms.

Sex-specific interaction effects of age, occupational status, and workplace stress on psychiatric symptoms and allostatic load among healthy Montreal workers.

Socio-demographics and workplace stress may affect men and women differently. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess sex-specific interactions among age, occupational status, and workplace Demand-Control-Support (D-C-S) factors in relation to psychiatric symptoms and allostatic load levels representing multi-systemic "wear and tear". It was hypothesized that beyond main effects, D-C-S factors would be moderated by occupational status and age in sex-specific directions predictive of subjective psychiatric symptoms and objective physiological dysregulations. Participants included healthy male (n = 81) and female (n = 118) Montreal workers aged 20 to 64 years (Men: M = 39.4 years, SD = 11.3; Women: M = 42.8 years, SD = 11.38). The Job Content Questionnaire was administered to assess workplace D-C-S factors that included psychological demands, decisional latitude, and social support. Occupational status was coded using the Nam--Powers--Boyd system derived from the Canadian census. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Beck Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory II. Sex-specific allostatic load indices were calculated based on fifteen biomarkers. Regression analyses revealed that higher social support was associated with less depressive symptoms in middle aged (p = 0.033) and older men (p = 0.027). Higher occupational status was associated with higher allostatic load levels for men (p = 0.035), while the reverse occurred for women (p = 0.048). Women with lower occupational status but with higher decision latitude had lower allostatic load levels, as did middle-aged (p = 0.031) and older women (p = 0.003) with higher psychological demands. In summary, age and occupational status moderated workplace stress in sex-specific ways that have occupational health implications.

Comparability of the Social Behavior Inventory in English and Dutch.

The Social Behavior Inventory (SBI) assesses social behaviors along the 2 orthogonal axes defining the interpersonal circumplex; that is, in terms of quarrelsomeness-agreeableness and dominance-submissiveness. To contribute to evidence evaluating the cross-cultural construct validity of the SBI, we investigated whether there are differences in how English-speaking students living in Canada and Dutch-speaking students living in The Netherlands view the SBI items. Results suggested there is similarity in the meaning of the items in the 2 cultures. The location of the original English SBI items on the 2 axes of the interpersonal circumplex was generally as expected. Similar results were found for a Dutch translation of the SBI. Differences occurred primarily along the dominance-submissiveness axis and could be explained by cultural differences in men's focus on power.

Functional Extended Redundancy Analysis.

We propose a functional version of extended redundancy analysis that examines directional relationships among several sets of multivariate variables. As in extended redundancy analysis, the proposed method posits that a weighed composite of each set of exogenous variables influences a set of endogenous variables. It further considers endogenous and/or exogenous variables functional, varying over time, space, or other continua. Computationally, the method reduces to minimizing a penalized least-squares criterion through the adoption of a basis function expansion approach to approximating functions. We develop an alternating regularized least-squares algorithm to minimize this criterion. We apply the proposed method to real datasets to illustrate the empirical feasibility of the proposed method.

Anxiety, emotional security and the interpersonal behavior of individuals with social anxiety disorder.

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal functioning is central to social anxiety disorder (SAD). Empirical examinations of interpersonal behaviors in individuals with SAD have frequently relied on analogue samples, global retrospective reports and laboratory observation. Moreover, research has focused on avoidance and safety behaviors, neglecting potential links between SAD and affiliative behaviors. METHOD: The influence of situational anxiety and emotional security on interpersonal behaviors was examined for individuals with SAD (n=40) and matched normal controls (n=40). Participants monitored their behavior and affect in naturally occurring social interactions using an event-contingent recording procedure. RESULTS: Individuals with SAD reported higher levels of submissive behavior and lower levels of dominant behavior relative to controls. Consistent with cognitive-behavioral and evolutionary theories, elevated anxiety in specific events predicted increased submissiveness among individuals with SAD. Consistent with attachment theory, elevations in event-level emotional security were associated with increased affiliative behaviors (increased agreeable behavior and decreased quarrelsome behavior) among members of the SAD group. Results were not accounted for by concurrent elevations in sadness or between-group differences in the distribution of social partners. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with predictions based on several theoretical perspectives. Further, the present research documents naturally occurring interpersonal patterns of individuals with SAD and identifies conditions under which these individuals may view social interactions as opportunities for interpersonal connectedness.

Quarrelsomeness in daily life.

It is common in studies of interpersonal characteristics to examine personality variables as static predictors. Yet in recent years it has also become possible to examine personality and related interpersonal processes as they unfold over time in association with event specific cues. The present article reviews research that (1) identifies behaviors that reflect the occurrence of hostile-irritable-quarrelsome traits in daily life, (2) demonstrates both the stability and within-person variability of these behaviors over time, (3) documents event-level interpersonal cues that are systematically associated with within-person variation in quarrelsome behavior, and (4) describes how dispositional level agreeableness and irritability moderate the associations of event-level cues with quarrelsome behavior. The influence of the neurotransmitter serotonin on quarrelsome behavior is also considered. The studies indicate that quarrelsome individuals have reduced affective reactivity to engaging in quarrelsome behavior, increased behavioral reactivity to perceptions of quarrelsomeness in others, and greater responsiveness to change in serotonin levels.

Affect dysregulation in individuals with borderline personality disorder: persistence and interpersonal triggers.

We hypothesized that affect dysregulation among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) would involve greater persistence of negative affect between interpersonal events and heightened reactivity to stimuli indicating risk of rejection or disapproval, specifically perceptions of others' communal (agreeable-quarrelsome) behaviors. A total of 38 participants with BPD and 31 controls collected information about affect and perceptions of the interaction partner's behavior during interpersonal events for a 20-day period. Negative and positive affect persisted more across interpersonal events for individuals with BPD than for controls. In addition, individuals with BPD reported a greater increase in negative affect when they perceived less communal behavior and a smaller increase in positive affect when they perceived more communal behavior in others. Findings indicate the importance of interpersonal perceptions in the affect dysregulation of individuals with BPD.

CD38 is associated with communal behavior, partner perceptions, affect and relationship adjustment in romantic relationships.

Given the significance of close relationships for human survival, it is thought that biological mechanisms evolved to support their initiation and maintenance. The neuropeptide oxytocin is one such candidate identified in non-human animal research. We investigated whether variation in CD38, a gene involved in oxytocin secretion and attachment behavior in rodents, predicts romantic relationship dynamics in daily life. Community couples participated in an event-contingent recording (ECR) study in which they reported their social behavior, perception of their partner's behavior, and affect during their interactions with one another over a 20-day period; couples also completed various measures of relationship adjustment. Out of the 111 couples (N = 222 individuals) who provided either ECR and/or relationship adjustment information, we had information on CD38 for 118 individuals. As hypothesized, variation in rs3796863, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) identified in prior work, predicted communal behaviors (e.g., the expression of affection), as well as overall relationship adjustment, such that individuals with the CC (vs. AC/AA) allele reported higher levels of communal behavior across their daily interactions with their romantic partner, as well as higher levels of relationship adjustment. Individuals with the CC (vs. AC/AA) allele of rs3796863 also reported less negative affect and felt insecurity in their interactions with their romantic partner. Notably, we found that variation in the romantic partner's rs3796863 SNP was related to the person's outcomes, independent of the person's rs3796863 genotype. These findings support the role of oxytocin in the interpersonal processes implicated in the maintenance of close relationships.

Exposure to bright light is associated with positive social interaction and good mood over short time periods: A naturalistic study in mildly seasonal people.

Bright light is used to treat winter depression and might also have positive effects on mood in some healthy individuals. We examined possible links between bright light exposure and social interaction using naturalistic data. For 20 days in winter and/or summer, 48 mildly seasonal healthy individuals wore a light meter at the wrist and recorded in real-time their behaviours, mood, and perceptions of others during social interactions. Possible short-term effects of bright light were examined using the number of minutes, within any given morning, afternoon or evening, that people were exposed to light exceeding 1000 lux (average: 19.6min). Social interactions were labelled as having occurred under conditions of no, low or high bright light exposure. Independent of season, day, time, and location, participants reported less quarrelsome behaviours, more agreeable behaviours and better mood when exposed to high but not low levels of bright light. Given that the effects were seen only when exposure levels were above average, a minimum level of bright light may be necessary for its positive effects to occur. Daily exposure levels were generally low in both winter and summer. Spending more time outdoors and improving indoor lighting may help optimize everyday social behaviour and mood across seasons in people with mild seasonality.

Integrating dispositions, signatures, and the interpersonal domain.

A person's behavior across situations can be characterized in terms of a mean level (disposition), a dispersion within the person around that mean level, and a stable organization to the pattern of dispersion (signature). The authors' goals were to examine the structure and stability of behavior, both at the level of behavioral dispositions and at the level of behavioral signatures. Participants completed event-contingent records of their social interactions over a 20-day period. Participants recorded their own social behavior (dominant, agreeable, submissive, quarrelsome) in 4 situations defined by the perceived social behavior of their primary interaction partners (agreeable-dominant, agreeable-submissive, quarrelsome- submissive, quarrelsome-dominant). Findings suggest that (a) once the normative influences of situations on behavior are removed, the remaining behavioral variation reflects both consistent cross-situational differences between individuals (dispositions) and consistent situational differences within individuals (signatures); (b) both dispositions and signatures display a 2-dimensional structure in adherence to the interpersonal circle; and (c) both dispositions and signatures constitute stable aspects of personality functioning.