Breast Cancer and Resilience: The Controversial Role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence

Cancer is a chronic disease that causes the most deaths in the world, being a public health problem nowadays. Even though breast cancer affects the daily lives of patients, many women become resilient after the disease, decreasing the impact of the diagnosis. Based on a positive psychology approach, the concept of co-vitality arises understood as a set of socio-emotional competencies that enhance psychological adaptation. In this sense, emotional intelligence is one of the main protective factors associated with resilience. However, it is not always as beneficial as it seems, and can lead to collateral effects on psychological adjustment. Given this controversy, this study aims to find the specific processes through which the dimensions of Perceived Emotional Intelligence (PEI) (Emotional Attention, Emotional Clarity, and Mood Repair) can act as a risk or protective factor in the development of resilience. The total sample was 167 women (Age: M = 43.26; SD = 12.43), 46.7% were breast cancer survivors, and 53.3% were healthy controls. The selection of women with breast cancer carries out randomly, recruited through the Oncology Units. The sample completed measures of resilience and PEI, through Resilience Scale (Wagnild and Young, 1993) and TMMS-24 (Salovey et al., 1995). The results showed that breast cancer survivors showed higher age and greater levels of resilience and mood repair than healthy women. The mediation analysis revealed that breast cancer survival and PEI predicted 28% of the variance of resilience. The direct effects showed that emotional clarity and mood repair increased resilience levels. Although breast cancer did not predict resilience directly, it does through mood repair by an indirect process. Besides, the analysis showed that emotional attention played a role in vulnerability, decreasing mood repair, and resilience. These research support theories that point to a possible dark side of PEI, thus, a great level of emotional attention makes dark the positive effect of mood repair and personal growth if a clear perception of emotions does not complement it. These results provide empirical support concerning the need to work complementary each dimension of PEI to avoid unwanted effects on intrapersonal adjustment.

Unblocking Scholarly Writing–Part II: Minimizing Procrastination and Maximizing Mindset to Accomplish Publishing

Procrastination can stall converting a completed dissertation into articles published in peer-reviewed journals. This descriptive article, second in a three-part series, briefly explores a behavior (procrastination) that can block writing goals. Procrastination, and its parallel perfectionism, often entails negative self-talk. Procrastination may result in short-term mood repair and emotional self-regulation by avoidant behavior. However, there are negative linked consequences for health and well-being beyond stymied writing efforts. Recommendations are offered to minimize self-limiting behaviors and shift to a growth mindset that contributes to accomplishing journal publication. Intended goals, such as the intent to publish in a peer-reviewed journal, are enhanced by compassionate self-review. Self-reflection that shifts one’s internal view toward a growth mindset includes forgiving oneself for stumbles along the dissertation pathway, noticing prior success in writing and revising a document, reframing tasks as achievable, and embracing positive emotions embedded in curiosity and personal initiative. Compassion toward oneself requires a personal commitment to meeting challenges with greater self-kindness and self-acceptance. Key Words: Growth mindset, journal publishing, procrastination, self-control

Experiencing Presence in a Gaming Activity Improves Mood After a Negative Mood Induction

Research suggests that immersion in computer games is beneficial for recovering from stress and improving mood. However, no study linked explicit measures of presence—individually experienced immersion—to mood enhancement. In the present experiment, immersion of a gaming activity was varied, and levels of presence and enjoyment were measured and connected to mood repair after a stress-induction. The participants (N = 77) played a game in virtual reality (VR; high immersion), on the desktop (medium immersion), or watched a recording of the game (low immersion). Positive emotions were enhanced in the high and medium, but not the low immersion condition. Presence was a significant predictor in the VR condition. Furthermore, an explanatory mediation analysis showed that enjoyment mediated the effect of presence on mood repair. These findings demonstrate positive effects of presence experiences in gaming. Strong presence in VR seems especially helpful for enhancing mood and building up positive emotional resources.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence and Sociocultural Adjustment on Migrants’ Self-reported Mental Well-Being in Spain: A 14 Month Follow-Up Study

The analysis of mental and psychological health is a relevant public issue in modern societies. Migration is a process that may have a lasting impact on a person’s mental well-being. In this study, perceived health, emotional intelligence, sociocultural adjustment and the participants’ perceived general situation, not only economical, were analyzed to attest their impact on psychological distress as a measure of mental well-being. Sixty-three migrants from Romania and Ecuador were contacted twice during a 14 month period in a middle-sized Spanish city. Attrition analyses show no significant differences in perceived psychological distress between those who participated only one time or who participated in both waves. Less psychological distress is related to less attention to one’s feelings and higher mood repair in both data waves. Stronger behavioral adjustment is also linked to less distress. Less distress in time 1 led to better perceived health, sociocultural adjustment and a perception of a better general situation in Spain in comparison to their home country in time 2. In general, more attention to negative feelings triggered more perceived psychological distress, whereas mood repair elicited less psychological distress, in time 2. The relevance of understanding the impact of emotional intelligence to health promotion programs with migrants is discussed.

The online game addiction, psychology and interpersonal relationship of the engineering students

The trend of playing the online game had affected many kinds of people including students. People play online games to relieve their tension or as a mood repair, given that such games provide entertainment. This research aims to determine the online game addiction of the students, their psychological state, and also their interpersonal relationships. We collected data via a questionnaire-based survey to 72 students who played an online game. From a demographic perspective, most participants were male students from the electrical engineering department. As a result, the indications of players’ addiction are the daily playing session of at least four hours and the fact that they were experienced (loyal) players. Briefly, playing online games contributed to the student's psychological state, emotional level, time management, and also problem-solving ability. Fortunately, these players rarely had conflicts with either their parents, friend or others.