Documentation of two unsuccessful attempts to developing objective measurements of non-attachment and non-reactivity for the study of mindfulness

Mindfulness has received increasing interest in the scientific community due to its proved benefits within clinical settings and in increasing well-being. One challenge for mindfulness researchers is how to measure the construct without relying on self-report instruments, which are prone to biases. Here we tested two different computer-based tasks that aimed to get an objective measure of non-attachment (the Behavioral Attachment Task, BAT) and non-reactivity (the Non-Reactivity Assessment Task, NORAT). The BAT leverages the endowment effect, a concept from behavioral economics describing the attachment developed over time towards something we own, to measure increased reactions times to decisions to sell an object gifted to participants. We correlated changes in these reaction times after participants had owned these objects over a delay period with a Non-Attachment Scale commonly used in mindfulness studies using several versions of the test. However, the BAT failed to replicate the original endowment effect, and no significant correlations with mindfulness scores were found. The NORAT investigated the effect of non-task related emotional stimuli (Negative and Positive pictures) on response times to a two-alternative forced choice task, and correlated the degree of emotional interference with the non-reactivity subscale from the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. While negative pictures significantly increased reaction times, we did not find a correlation between this change and non-reactivity. In conclusion, the BAT and NORAT were not successful as objective measures of trait mindfulness, and further research is needed to explore novel ways of measuring these constructs.

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Development of “My Experiences Scale” for Children and Adolescents in India

Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1177/0253717620939266 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 025371762093926

Author(s):

Snigdhasree Bhattacharyya ◽

Uma Hirisave ◽

Mariamma Philip ◽

N. Janardhana

Keyword(s):

Psychometric Properties ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Critical Role ◽

Objective Measure ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Self Worth ◽

Good Internal Consistency ◽

Test Retest Reliability ◽

Age Range

Background: Experiences that a child or adolescent goes through play a critical role in their development as an individual. To understand the world of adolescents and their mental health and well-being, it would be important to be able to access their experiences. Therefore, an objective measure to assess experiences is necessary. The study aimed to develop a scale to assess experiences and establish their psychometric properties. Materials and methods: My Experiences Scale (MES) is a newly developed 50-item, multiple-choice, self-report measure. Various steps involved in developing the MES and establishing its psychometric properties have been elaborated. The study was carried out across four phases, and the sample consisted of 1,260 school-going children and adolescents. The participants were representative of both genders, a wide age range, and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Results: MES was found to have good internal consistency (Alpha 0.85) and test–retest reliability (0.96). MES was found to have significant correlations with Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and global self-worth. Conclusions: The newly developed experiences scale shows promising psychometric properties and a wide scope for application.

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Working Memory Depletion Affects Intertemporal Choice Among Internet Addicts and Healthy Controls

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675059 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Hongxia Li

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Delay Discounting ◽

Intertemporal Choice ◽

Response Times ◽

Memory Task ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Self Report ◽

The Internet ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Controls

Addiction to the Internet has emerged as a new kind of addictive behavior. Although previous studies have revealed that impairments in working memory led to suboptimal decision making (e.g., a greater willingness to choose smaller, more immediate rewards), little is known about how working memory affects intertemporal choice in Internet addicts and normal users. Thus, this study’s aim was to investigate the effect of working memory task on intertemporal choice in 33 participants addicted to internet and 25 healthy controls. Participants were administered (a) a test for Internet Addiction, (b) a single delay discounting self-report questionnaire (c) a working memory task. Differences between the Internet addicts and the control group were observed in terms of delay discounting rates, reaction times, and in memory accuracy rates. We observed significantly higher delay discounting rates among individuals addicted to the Internet. Moreover, it was documented that reaction times follow the 4-level working memory condition were significantly longer than follow the 2-level condition, in both the Internet addicts and the control group. The current findings suggest that Internet addicts are more likely to make short-sighted decisions than normal Internet users. The higher the level of working memory, the more likely an individual is to choose the present smaller reward, thus making short-sighted decisions, and have longer response times.

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Brief Meditation and the Interaction between Emotional Interference and Anxiety

Psicologia Teoria e Pesquisa ◽

10.1590/0102-3772e322216 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carolina Baptista Menezes ◽

Mirtes G. Pereira ◽

Izabela Mocaiber ◽

Lisiane Bizarro

Keyword(s):

Pilot Study ◽

Clinical Sample ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Span Task ◽

Self Report ◽

Control Group ◽

Regulatory Processes ◽

Emotional Interference ◽

Anxiety Levels ◽

Valence And Arousal

ABSTRACT This pilot study assessed the effects of a five day focused meditation training on the interplay between emotional interference and anxiety in a non clinical sample randomized into two groups (experimental=13; control=18). Emotional interference was indexed comparing the reaction times in an attention span task with negative or neutral distracting images. Anxiety experienced during the task was also assessed through self-report. Only in the control group higher anxiety levels interacted with greater emotional interference and a worse evaluation of valence and arousal of emotional images. These preliminary findings suggest that meditation may help modulating anxiety effects on bias to negative stimuli, and that even a short training may facilitate self-regulatory processes.

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Maternal Mental Health and Parenting Stress and Their Relationships to Characteristics of the Child With Fragile X Syndrome

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.716585 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Lauren Bullard ◽

Danielle Harvey ◽

Leonard Abbeduto

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Parenting Stress ◽

Maternal Mental Health ◽

Fragile X ◽

Objective Measure ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Physiological Measures ◽

Child Externalizing Behaviors ◽

Autism Symptomatology

Although previous research supports the notion that characteristics of both the child and the mother impact maternal well-being and parenting stress in mothers of children with FXS, more work is needed in which self-report measures are supplemented by physiological measures of stress and well-being. The inclusion of physiological measures, such as heart rate variability (HRV), may provide a window into the biological origins and consequences of maternal perceptions of their experiences, including the challenges of raising a child with developmental challenges. The proposed project, therefore, involved the collection of multimodal assessment data from mothers and their school-aged children with FXS. Further, given the importance of understanding how mothers of youth with FXS are faring in their everyday environment, the present study collected all data using telehealth procedures and wearable technology. Participants were 20 biological mothers and their children with FXS between the ages of 6 and 11 years. We measured maternal mental health and parenting stress through self-report as well as through HRV as a more objective measure of psychological well-being. We also examined the associations between these variables and child characteristics such as externalizing and internalizing behaviors as well as autism symptomatology. We found significant support for an elevated rate of depressive symptoms in the sample of mothers (35%) and some potential indicators for heightened rates of anxiety (15%) when compared to normed samples and rates in the general population. We also found that the mothers presented with an atypical HRV profile akin to those experiencing depression or chronic stress, although limitations of the present measure suggest the need for additional confirmatory research. Further, we found that child externalizing behaviors were the primary correlates of maternal well-being. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature regarding the unique challenges faced by these mother-child dyads and supports the importance of increasing the availability of services available to these mothers, not only for meeting the needs of their children's development and behavior, but in supporting their own well-being as well.

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Different aspects of social relationships contribute to subjective well-being via different functional connectomes

10.1101/714618 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Takashi Itahashi ◽

Neda Kosibaty ◽

Ryu-ichiro Hashimoto ◽

Yuta Y. Aoki

Keyword(s):

Social Relationships ◽

Objective Measure ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Good Prediction ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Imaging Data ◽

Functional Connections ◽

Good Prediction Performance ◽

Fold Cross Validation

AbstractThe achievement of improved subjective well-being (SWB) is a worldwide issue. Prior studies using self-report questionnaires have demonstrated that better social relationships (SR) form the foundation for better SWB. To confirm the relationships with objective measure and investigate the biological underpinning, we conducted connectome-based prediction modeling with a 10-fold cross-validation, utilizing resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging data (n = 761). Two aspects of SWB (life satisfaction and positive affect) were successfully predicted using SR-related functional connections (FCs). The models also showed good prediction performance in a validation sample (n = 91), suggesting that our models are generalizable. All six aspects of SR considered were related to different sets of FCs with minimal overlap in edge level. The contributions of these FC sets to the two aspects of SWB were substantially different. In the future, effort should be made to improve all aspects of SR to achieve better SWB.

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Caught in the Act: Predicting Cheating in Unproctored Knowledge Assessment

Assessment ◽

10.1177/1073191120914970 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 107319112091497 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Diana Steger ◽

Ulrich Schroeders ◽

Oliver Wilhelm

Keyword(s):

Test Data ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Change Score ◽

Self Report ◽

Cheating Behavior ◽

Cheating Detection ◽

Computer Based ◽

Score Model ◽

B Test ◽

Unproctored Testing

Cheating is a serious threat in unproctored ability assessment, irrespective of countermeasures taken, anticipated consequences (high vs. low stakes), and test modality (paper-pencil vs. computer-based). In the present study, we examined the power of (a) self-report-based indicators (i.e., Honesty-Humility and Overclaiming scales), (b) test data (i.e., performance with extremely difficult items), and (c) para data (i.e., reaction times, switching between browser tabs) to predict participants’ cheating behavior. To this end, 315 participants worked on a knowledge test in an unproctored online assessment and subsequently in a proctored lab assessment. We used multiple regression analysis and an extended latent change score model to assess the potential of the different indicators to predict cheating. In summary, test data and para data performed best, while traditional self-report-based indicators were not predictive. We discuss the findings with respect to unproctored testing in general and provide practical advice on cheating detection in online ability assessments.

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Evaluating a short-form Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in adolescents: Evidence for a four-factor structure and invariance by time, age, and gender

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025419873039 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 20-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Hiba Abujaradeh ◽

Blake A. Colaianne ◽

Robert W. Roeser ◽

Eli Tsukayama ◽

Brian M. Galla

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

High School Students ◽

Short Form ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire ◽

School Students ◽

Psychological Well Being ◽

And Gender

Little is known about whether a widely used mindfulness measure in adults—the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)—is also reliable and valid in adolescents. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of a 20-item short-form FFMQ in a sample of 599 high school students ( M age = 16.3 years; 49% female) living in the U.S. Students completed the FFMQ and a battery of self-report questionnaires assessing aspects of psychological well-being and social skills 3 times over the course of one academic year. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a modified four-factor hierarchical model (excluding the Observe subscale and 1 item from the Describe subscale) best fit the data. This four-factor, hierarchical FFMQ demonstrated evidence of measurement invariance across time, gender, and grade level. Reliabilities for the FFMQ total score and its subscales ranged from .61 to .88. The FFMQ total score, and its subscales (excluding Observe), demonstrated evidence of convergent (e.g., with self-compassion) and discriminant (e.g., with social perspective taking skills) validity. Finally, the FFMQ total score and Act with Awareness, Nonjudgment, and Nonreactivity subscales demonstrated evidence of incremental predictive validity for cross-time changes in psychological well-being outcomes (e.g., perceived stress). Overall, results provide preliminary support for the reliability and validity of a short-form FFMQ for use in high-school-age adolescents.

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TAPATUMO BŪVIŲ IR SOCIALINĖS ADAPTACIJOS MOKYKLOJE RODIKLIŲ RYŠYS

Psichologija ◽

10.15388/psi.22.4426 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 22 ◽

pp. 54-63 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Visvaldas Legkauskas

Keyword(s):

Problem Behaviors ◽

Objective Measure ◽

Well Being ◽

Ego Identity ◽

Identity Status ◽

Social Adaptation ◽

Self Report ◽

Research Report ◽

Identity Statuses ◽

Predictive Validation

XX amžiaus pabaigoje tapatumo problematika socialinių mokslų literatūroje labai plačiai nagrinėjama. Užtenka pažvelgti į psichologijos literatūros šaltinių duomenų bazes PsychLit arba PsychInfo, kad įsitikintume, jog labai nedaugelis sąvokų paskutinio XX amžiaus dešimtmečio psichologijos literatūroje pasitaiko dažniau nei sąvoka identity. Tai nestebina - vis greitėjantys pokyčiai, vis mažėjantis pasaulis nepaliaujamai aštrina pagrindinį identiteto klausimą - "Kas aš esu?"Iš lietuvių psichologų pirmasis šią problematiką ėmė nagrinėti ilgus metus JAV dirbęs ir gyvenęs Pikūnas (1990, 1994; Pikūnas ir Palujanskienė, 2000), tačiau pastaraisiais metais pasirodė ir daugiau darbų šia tema (Antinienė, 1999; Vaičiulienė, 1999a, 1999b). Lietuviai psichologai, atlikdami tapatumo problematikos tyrinėjimus, remiasi Eriko Eriksono (1968) teorija ir James Marcia (1967, 1966, 1980; Marcia, Waterman, Matteson, Archer ir Orlofsky, 1993) sukurta ego identiteto būvių paradigma. RELATION SHIPS AMONG IDENTITY STATUSES AND SOCIAL ADAPTATION AT SCHOOL INDICES Visvaldas Lekauskas Summary Research report on relationship between ego identity and aspects of social functioning at school is presented. Subjects were 110 Lithuanian 12-th graders, 46 male and 64 female. For the assessment of identity status the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, final revision (EOMEIS-2) developed by Adams, Bennion, and Huh (1989) was translated into Lithuanian language. Self-report Subjective Social Well-Being Scale and Problem Behavior Scale completed by teachers, as well as popularity in class, served as functioning in school indices and also as a criteria for predictive validation of the EOMEIS-2. EOMEIS showed satisfactory reliability and construct and criterion validity. Ideological moratoriums were more popular than ideological achievers. Interpersonally committed statuses had better subjective social adaptation than interpersonally non-committed statuses. Interpersonal diffusions and foreclosures displayed less problem behaviors than interpersonal moratoriums and achievers.

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The Relationship Between Hearing Loss Self-Management and Hearing Aid Benefit and Satisfaction

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2018_aja-18-0130 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 274-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Elizabeth Convery ◽

Gitte Keidser ◽

Louise Hickson ◽

Carly Meyer

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Hearing Loss ◽

Hearing Aids ◽

Clinical Decision Making ◽

Hearing Aid ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Self Management ◽

Hearing Aid Benefit ◽

The Relationship

Purpose Hearing loss self-management refers to the knowledge and skills people use to manage the effects of hearing loss on all aspects of their daily lives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-reported hearing loss self-management and hearing aid benefit and satisfaction. Method Thirty-seven adults with hearing loss, all of whom were current users of bilateral hearing aids, participated in this observational study. The participants completed self-report inventories probing their hearing loss self-management and hearing aid benefit and satisfaction. Correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between individual domains of hearing loss self-management and hearing aid benefit and satisfaction. Results Participants who reported better self-management of the effects of their hearing loss on their emotional well-being and social participation were more likely to report less aided listening difficulty in noisy and reverberant environments and greater satisfaction with the effect of their hearing aids on their self-image. Participants who reported better self-management in the areas of adhering to treatment, participating in shared decision making, accessing services and resources, attending appointments, and monitoring for changes in their hearing and functional status were more likely to report greater satisfaction with the sound quality and performance of their hearing aids. Conclusion Study findings highlight the potential for using information about a patient's hearing loss self-management in different domains as part of clinical decision making and management planning.

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Talk or Walk? Gait Speed over Self-Report in Association with Cognitive Speed in Healthy Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽

10.1024/1662-9647/a000202 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 41-52

Author(s):

Matthew C. Costello ◽

Shane J. Sizemore ◽

Kimberly E. O’Brien ◽

Lydia K. Manning

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Older Adult ◽

Gait Speed ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Subjective Report ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Relative Value ◽

Cognitive Speed ◽

Age Range

Abstract. This study explores the relative value of both subjectively reported cognitive speed and gait speed in association with objectively derived cognitive speed. It also explores how these factors are affected by psychological and physical well-being. A group of 90 cognitively healthy older adults ( M = 73.38, SD = 8.06 years, range = 60–89 years) were tested in a three-task cognitive battery to determine objective cognitive speed as well as measures of gait speed, well-being, and subjective cognitive speed. Analyses indicated that gait speed was associated with objective cognitive speed to a greater degree than was subjective report, the latter being more closely related to well-being than to objective cognitive speed. These results were largely invariant across the 30-year age range of our older adult sample.

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