A-174 Diurnal Preference Relation to Need for Cognition and Cognitive Reflection

Objective This study evaluated the effect of individual differences in diurnal preferences on a problem-solving test of intelligence and a measure of a personality trait of how much someone enjoys thinking. Method Archival data from 85 participants who had completed measures online were utilized in this study. The sample was 51.8% female, 71.8% Caucasian, and mean age was 19.5. Participants completed the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), Composite Morningness Questionnaire (CMQ), Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), and Need for Cognition Scale-Short Form (NFC). Raw score totals were utilized. Diurnal preferences were later grouped for morning, evening, or in between based on published MEQ and CMQ cutoffs. Lower scores indicate evening types, and higher scores indicate morning types. Results Scores on measures of diurnal preference were significantly positively related to NFC (MEQ r = 0.28, p = 0.011; CMQ r = 0.36, p = 0.001) meaning that morning types tend to enjoy effortful mentation more. Diurnal preferences were not significantly related to CRT performance. One-way ANOVA was performed with diurnal preferences as the group factor and NFC and CRT as dependent variables. Significant main effects were not found for MEQ and NFC nor MEQ and CRT. Significant main effects were found for CMQ and NFC F(2,77) = 5.33, p = 0.007, but not for CMQ and CRT. Conclusion These findings indicate that diurnal preference was not associated with performance on the problem-solving intelligence test used in this study. However, morning types appear to be higher for personality traits related to motivation to engage in thinking and would be expected to do better on some cognitive tests that demand more test engagement.

A text-message intervention for adolescents with depression and their parent/caregiver to overcome cognitive barriers to mental health treatment initiation: Focus groups and a pilot trial (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Many adolescents with depression do not pursue mental health (MH) treatment following referral by a heathcare provider. We developed a theory-based automated text message intervention (Text to Connect, T2C) that attempts to reduce cognitive barriers to initiation of MH care. OBJECTIVE In this 2-phase study, we sought to first understand potential for T2C and then test engagement, usability, and potential efficacy of T2C among adolescents with depression and their parent/caregiver. METHODS In phase 1, we conducted focus groups with adolescents with depression (n=9) and their parent/caregiver (n=9) separately and transcripts were examined for themes. In phase 2, we conducted an open trial of T2C with adolescents with depression referred to MH care (n=43) and their parent/caregiver (n=28). We assessed usability by examining program engagement, usability ratings and qualitative feedback at 4-weeks follow-up. We assessed potential effectiveness by examining change in perceived barriers to treatment and MH care initiation from baseline to 4-weeks. RESULTS In phase 1, we found that themes supported the T2C approach. In phase 2, we found high engagement with daily negative affect check-ins, high usability ratings, and self-reported decreases in barriers to MH treatment over time among adolescents. At 4-weeks follow-up, most adolescents reported either having initiated MH care (52%) or pending scheduling (15%), leaving only 15% of adolescents still not interested in MH care. CONCLUSIONS Findings from this study suggest that T2C is acceptable to adolescents with depression and most parent/caregivers, is used at high rates, and may be helpful to reduce cognitive barriers to MH care initiation. CLINICALTRIAL NCT04560075

Practice tests improve performance, increase engagement and protect from psychological distress

The increasing prevalence of high levels of distress in university student populations has led academic and support staff to investigate options to help students cope with academic stress. Our research focused on investigating the benefit of early academic interventions for content engagement and feedback. In a 1st year psychology student sample of 547 we collected data on psychological measures (motivation and distress), practice test engagement and performance on assessment tasks. Assessment data from a baseline phase (practice tests were available) were compared to assessment data from an intervention (reward for undertaking practice tests). Our experiment also allowed an investigation of the type of benefit gained from practice tests engagement (content specific benefit vs general engagement effects). Results show that undertaking practice tests ahead of assessment quizzes is associated with significantly higher assessment performance. Practice test uptake significantly increased when an incentive was in place resulting in much higher assessment scores for students. Students who showed high levels of distress on the DASS performed significantly lower on assessments. However, highly distressed students who undertook practice testing showed performance at the same level as non-distressed students.

Young consumers’ motivational drivers of brand engagement behavior on social media sites

Purpose A comprehensive operational framework is proposed to explain young consumers’ (i.e. generations Y and Z) engagement with brands on social media sites (SMSs). This paper aims to synthesize two motivational theories: uses and gratifications (U&G) theory and the technology acceptance model (TAM). Design/methodology/approach A selective literature review was conducted to examine recent publications related to young consumers’ brand-driven engagement behavior on SMSs in which either TAM or U&G theory was applied. A three-stage method was used: an initial search was followed by vertical and horizontal searches and then a targeted search of scholarly publications. At each stage, the university’s library databases and Google Scholar were searched for relevant, mainly peer-reviewed articles, using appropriate filters and keywords. The articles’ references and the studies that cited those articles were added to the initially identified research pool (vertical search), coupled with publications of a similar nature based on keywords (horizontal search). The final stage, the targeted search, involved identifying and adding specific articles (e.g. literature reviews and integrated models). Findings After a review of a significant number of U&G and TAM studies, similarities and differences of the two theories were identified, and an integrated operational framework was developed. Based on empirical findings of existing U&G and TAM studies, testable propositions were presented. Research limitations/implications The proposed hybrid model and the associated propositions provide a research opportunity to empirically examine how young consumers’ motivational (i.e. motivating and demotivating) drivers, normative influence, perceived value and attitudes (toward brand content and engagement) predict intention or actual brand-related behavior on SMSs. Practical implications Much of current research indicates that generations Y and Z (“digital natives”) spend considerably more time on SMSs than any of the older generations (“digital immigrants”). Thus, brands that aim to target this cohort need to develop successful engagement strategies (e.g. gamification and influencer marketing) on current and emerging SMSs. The suggested conceptualization provides guidelines for companies to effectively use such communication strategies to motivate young people to engage with their brands on sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Originality/value A review of TAM research indicates that it lacks rich motivating/demotivating constructs, and thus borrows from other theories to complement this weakness. An examination of U&G frameworks, particularity Ducoffe (1996)-based models, indicates that these frameworks mainly test engagement with social media advertising but seldom other types of brand-driven engagement on SMSs. In addition, many U&G studies focus less than TAM studies do on outcome variables such as behavioral intentions and behavior. Thus, the authors propose a synthesized U&G and TAM framework that mitigates both theories’ weaknesses and builds on their strengths, enriching the growing research on brand-driven engagement behavior via SMSs.