THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTENT OF RESILIENCE AND PROTECTIVE MECHANISMS IN PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT KINDS OF INTERNET-BEHAVIOR

Изучена специфика жизнеспособности и психологических защитных механизмов у молодежи с разными уровнями интернет-зависимости. Представлены актуальные взгляды на содержание понятий «жизнеспособность», «психологические защитные механизмы», «интернет-зависимость», а также результаты пилотажного эмпирического исследования, проведенного на выборке, состоящей из 51 студента Новосибирского государственного технического университета в возрасте от 19 лет до 21 года. В исследовании использованы методики «Шкала интернет-зависимости С. Чена (CIAS)» (адаптирована В. Л. Малыгиным, К. А. Феклисовым), тест «Жизнеспособность взрослого человека» А. В. Махнача, «Опросник структуры психологических защит» М. Бонда (адаптирован Е. Е. Туник). Обнаружено, что психологические защиты в целом больше выражены в группе с интернет-зависимым поведением, а жизнеспособность – в группе с минимальным риском интернет-зависимого поведения. В группе с интернет-зависимым поведением чаще используют неадаптивные психологические защиты (пассивная агрессия, поведенческое отреагирование, ипохондрия, фантазия) и адаптивную защиту – прогнозирование. Сделан вывод о том, что жизнеспособной молодежи, с одной стороны, свойственны применение защитных механизмов, ухудшающих их взаимодействие с другими людьми, полярное мышление как по отношению к себе, так и по отношению к другим людям. С другой – стремление к людям, использование юмора и творчества в сложных ситуациях. The article is devoted to the study of specificity of a resilience and psychological defense mechanisms in young people with different levels of Internet addiction. It presents modern views on the content of such concepts as “resilience”, “psychological defense mechanisms”, “Internet addiction”. Also, it includes the results of pilot study, which was conducted on a sample of 51 NSTU students, aged 19 to 21 years. The Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS), the test “Adult Resilience” by A. V. Makhnach, a questionnaire of the structure of psychological defenses M. Bond were used in the study. It was found that psychological defenses in general are more pronounced in the group with Internet-addictive behavior, and resilience is more expressed in the group with minimal risk of Internet-addictive behavior. Internet-addictive behavior, maladaptive psychological defenses such as passive aggression, behavioral response, hypochondria, fantasy, and adaptive defense – prediction are more often used. The results let authors conclude that resilient youth is characterized, on the one hand, by the use of defenses that worsen their interaction with other people, polar thinking both in relation to themselves and in relation to other people, on the other hand, and by the striving for people and the use of humor and creativity in difficult situations.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Test of Passive Aggression in a Psychotherapy Outpatient Sample

Background: While most clinical aggression questionnaires focus on the assessment of active aggression, the recently developed Test of Passive Aggression (TPA) assesses both self-directed (TPA-SD) and other-directed passive aggression (TPA-OD). Reliability and factorial validity of the TPA have been demonstrated in a clinical sample, while previous evaluations of convergent and discriminant validity were limited to student samples. The current study aimed at addressing this gap by demonstrating convergent and discriminant validity of the TPA in an outpatient sample.Methods: Eighty-two patients admitted to an outpatient psychotherapy unit at Saarland University, Germany, participated in the preregistered study with an assessment of self-reported passive aggression, impulsivity, anger expression, self-compassion, self-esteem, and auto-aggressive mindset. Analyses used regression models with robust maximum likelihood estimations.Results: Self-directed passive aggression showed a significant association with self-compassion, auto-aggressive mindset, self-esteem, and internal anger expression supporting the convergent validity of TPA-SD. Results on discriminant validity of TPA-SD were heterogenous at the first sight, revealing small associations of self-directed passive aggression with anger control but medium associations with impulsivity. However, exploratory analysis showed that the medium association with impulsivity was driven by the non-behavioral impulsivity dimension “inattention” and that both behavioral impulsivity dimensions (“motor-impulsivity” and “unplanned behavior”) demonstrated only weak associations with TPA-SD. Validity of TPA-OD was not supported by the current study.Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence for the validity of the TPA-SD to outpatient samples. Future studies will need to analyze construct validity based on a nomological network using larger and more diverse samples.

Low self-esteem

Most children with ADHD suffer from low self-esteem. Many unwanted behaviours that are seen in children with ADHD are due to problems with self-esteem. It is essential that parents and teachers recognize this before trying to treat the behaviour. This chapter discusses low self-esteem in ADHD, including self-appraisal as a function of the brain, control of the self-appraisal system in the brain, dysfunctional coping behaviours (quitting, avoiding, adverse responses to praise, tactile defensiveness, cheating, lying, clowning, regressive behaviour, school avoidance, homework avoidance, computer game and TV ‘addiction’, aggression, controlling behaviour, passive aggression, and denial), and the importance of self-esteem maintenance mechanisms.

Self-Directed Passive Aggressive Behaviour as an Essential Component of Depression: Findings from two observational studies

Background Self-directed passive aggressive behaviour is defined as self-harm by inactivity or omission. Based on the self-control model of depression suggesting depressive symptoms to derive from distorted self-monitoring, self-evaluation and reduced self-reward as well as increased self-punishment and reduced self-reward, a relationship between self-directed passive aggressive behaviour and depression had been assumed. First evidence for this notion derives form a recent study, demonstrating a correlation between self-directed passive aggressive behaviour and depressive symptoms. However, it remains unclear if patients with depressive disorders report more self-directed passive aggressive behaviour than patients without depressive disorders and if self-directed passive aggression mediates the associations between distorted self-monitoring and self-evaluation with depressive symptoms.Methods Study 1 compared self-directed passive aggressive behaviour levels between 220 psychotherapy outpatients with (n = 140; 67.9% female; Mage = 40.0) and without (n = 80; 65.0% female; Mage = 36.2) depressive disorders. Diagnoses were made based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV. Study 2 examined self-directed passive aggressive behaviour as mediator of the relationship between distorted self-monitoring and self-evaluation and depressive symptoms in 200 Psychology students.Results Compared to outpatients without depressive disorders, outpatients with depressive disorder reported significantly more self-directed passive aggression (d = 0.51). Furthermore, Study 2 verified self-directed passive aggressive behaviour as partial mediator of the relationship between dysfunctional attitudes (abcs = .22, 95%-CI = .14 − .31), attributional style (abcs = .20, 95%-CI = .13 − .27), ruminative response style (abcs = .15, 95%-CI = .09 − .21) and depressive symptoms.Conclusion Self-directed passive aggressive behaviour partially mediates the association between distorted self-monitoring and self-evaluation with depressive symptoms and might represent a core component of depressive disorders.Trial registration: Both studies were preregistered at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS000140051 and DRKS000190201).

Development and Psychometric Properties of the Test of Passive Aggression

Background: To date, most research on aggression in mental disorders focused on active-aggressive behavior and found self-directed and other-directed active aggression to be a symptom and risk-factor of psychopathology. On the other hand, passive-aggressive behavior has been investigated less frequently and only in research on psychodynamic defense mechanisms, personality disorders, and dysfunctional self-control processes. This small number of studies primarily reflects a lack of a reliable and valid clinical assessment of passive-aggressive behavior. To address this gap, we developed the Test of Passive Aggression (TPA), a 24-item self-rating scale for the assessment of self-directed and other-directed passive-aggressive behavior.Method: Study 1 examined the internal consistency and factorial validity of the TPA in an inpatient sample (N = 307). Study 2 investigated the retest-reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity (active aggression, personality traits, impulsivity) of the TPA in a student sample (N = 180).Results: In line with our hypothesis, Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling revealed an acceptable to good fit of a bi-factorial structure of the TPA (Chi-square-df-ratio = 1.98; RMSR = 0.05, fit.off = 0.96). Both TPA scales showed good to excellent internal consistency (α = 0.83–0.90) and 4-week retest-reliability (rtt = 0.86). Correlations with well-established aggression scales, measures of personality, and impulsivity support discriminant and convergent validity of the TPA.Conclusions: The TPA is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of self-directed and other-directed passive-aggressive behavior.

Identification of Psycho-Social Needs and Coping Strategies in Children with Cancer

Background: Studies have shown that cancer creates a variety of problems and issues for children with cancer. It creates unique challenges for both the patients and their families. Despite the severe stress associated with these problems, most children are able to adequately cope with and adapt to cancer. However, some of the patients experience more severe or prolonged problems that require psychological support. The present study investigated the needs and coping strategies of Iranian children aged 9 to 13 with cancer. The goal was to determine the needs, concerns and coping strategies in children after being diagnosed with cancer. Methods: For this purpose, 12 children aged 9-13 with cancer as well as their mothers were selected from among children admitted to Mofid hospital. Patient selection was conducted in a purposeful sampling method. Data was collected in an in-depth semi-structured interview with the child and their mother and then analyzed using content analysis method. Results: The content analysis of individual interviews with the child and mother showed that the main concerns of these children were related to the hospital space, support, society, family and educational needs, which were responded to by five distinct types of coping. These coping methods include spiritual coping, admission of support and assistance, visiting relatives (on a regular basis) in a positive manner and negative behaviors such as active and passive aggression and avoiding presence in the community and society. The findings of this study indicate that Iranian children with cancer have special needs some of which have mental and emotional aspects, including worry about being a burden on their families, and they use different coping strategies to cope with their condition. One of the most important means of coping with cancer are family and relatives. Conclusion: Treatment centers should address these factors in order to improve the mental and physical health of their patients.

Interrelations between neurotic syndromes and defense mechanisms

The article presents a new view on manifestations of neurotic syndromes and their relations to defense mechanisms. The authors consider interrelations between four syndromes – Marilyn syndrome, impostor syndrome, learned helplessness, vernacular Stockholm syndrome) and 20 defense mechanisms, including dissociation, replacement, hypochondria, isolation, regression, passive aggression, etc. It was shown that each of the neurotic syndromes is closely linked to defense mechanisms, which allowed formulating practical recommendations for each subject to solve their problems. Thus, uniting the two phenomena into an interrelated structure forms a diagnostic tool, enabling to use a single feature to reveal a complex of diagnostic parameters, like characteristic personality features, behavior strategies, and anamnesis of child-parent relations; this serves as the basis for predicting the person’s behavior, the available and potential resources, and the possible ways of overcoming the current problem. Using such a tool allows significantly simplifying and expediting the diagnostic and therapeutic work of a practical psychologist.