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Institute
Mental imagery is a transdiagnostic feature that has been increasingly researched in mental disorders in the past years. This study is the first to investigate mental imagery in individuals suffering from Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), a new disorder which will be included into the new edition of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11).
Our objective was to find out to what extent patients suffering from PGD differ from healthy, but equally bereaved, controls in terms of mental imagery, and how mental imagery is related to psychopathology. Patients with PGD and matched bereaved healthy controls (n = 54) completed a mental imagery questionnaire specifically designed for the study, and other established measures of psychopathology. Patients suffering from PGD reported mental images more frequently, had less control over them, and described negative images as more vivid than did healthy controls. Also, in reaction to mental images, patients less frequently experienced joy, but more often grief, anger and guilt. Besides these group differences, significant correlations between mental imagery other psychopathological measures could be found. Mental imagery is clearly related to PGD. The underlying mechanisms on whether it is a developing or maintaining factor need to be addressed in future studies. Future research should also investigate in what way mental imagery might be used in therapeutic approaches.
Based on the stressor-detachment model, previous research has assumed that work-related ICT use in the evening impairs psychological detachment. However, since most of the studies to date have assessed cross-sectional relationships, little is known about the actual direction of effects. In this 5-day diary study, we implemented a day-level longitudinal model to shed light on the causal relationships between work-related ICT use, detachment, and task progress (N = 340 employees, N = 1289 day-level cases). We also investigated the role of unfinished work tasks because we assumed, based on boundary theory, that they are a driving force leading to impaired detachment and work-related ICT use in the evening. Contrary to current research consensus but in line with our expectations, we found that low psychological detachment increased work-related ICT use and task progress. We found no evidence for reversed lagged effects. These results applied both to planned and unplanned ICT use. Furthermore, our results support the notion that unfinished work tasks precede ICT use and detachment. Thus, our findings suggest that work-related ICT use should not be treated as a stressor in its own right in the stressor-detachment model. Instead, it needs to be investigated as a behavioral outcome that employees engage in when they cannot detach from work.
Many sports employ caloric restriction (CR) to reduce athletes’ body mass. During these phases, resistance training (RT) volume is often reduced to accommodate recovery demands. Since RT volume is a well-known anabolic stimulus, this review investigates whether a higher training volume helps to spare lean mass during CR. A total of 15 studies met inclusion criteria. The extracted data allowed calculation of total tonnage lifted (repetitions × sets × intensity load) or weekly sets per muscle group for only 4 of the 15 studies, with RT volume being highly dependent on the examined muscle group as well as weekly training frequency per muscle group. Studies involving high RT volume programs (≥ 10 weekly sets per muscle group) revealed low-to-no (mostly female) lean mass loss. Additionally, studies increasing RT volume during CR over time appeared to demonstrate no-to-low lean mass loss when compared to studies reducing RT volume. Since data regarding RT variables applied were incomplete in most of the included studies, evidence is insufficient to conclude that a higher RT volume is better suited to spare lean mass during CR, although data seem to favor higher volumes in female athletes during CR. Moreover, the data appear to suggest that increasing RT volume during CR over time might be more effective in ameliorating CR-induced atrophy in both male and female resistance-trained athletes when compared to studies reducing RT volume. The effects of CR on lean mass sparing seem to be mediated by training experience, pre-diet volume, and energy deficit, with, on average, women tending to spare more lean mass than men. Potential explanatory mechanisms for enhanced lean mass sparing include a preserved endocrine milieu as well as heightened anabolic signaling.
Innovation is considered essential for today's organizations to survive and thrive. Researchers have also stressed the importance of leadership as a driver of followers' innovative work behavior (FIB). Yet, despite a large amount of research, three areas remain understudied: (a) The relative importance of different forms of leadership for FIB; (b) the mechanisms through which leadership impacts FIB; and (c) the degree to which relationships between leadership and FIB are generalizable across cultures. To address these lacunae, we propose an integrated model connecting four types of positive leadership behaviors, two types of identification (as mediating variables), and FIB. We tested our model in a global data set comprising responses of N = 7,225 participants from 23 countries, grouped into nine cultural clusters. Our results indicate that perceived LMX quality was the strongest relative predictor of FIB. Furthermore, the relationships between both perceived LMX quality and identity leadership with FIB were mediated by social identification. The indirect effect of LMX on FIB via social identification was stable across clusters, whereas the indirect effects of the other forms of leadership on FIB via social identification were stronger in countries high versus low on collectivism. Power distance did not influence the relations.
Objectives: Interpersonal factors, such as impairments in social interaction or lack of social support, have an important share when it comes to the development, maintenance, and progression of various mental disorders.
Methods: Individuals suffering from prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and matched bereaved healthy controls (n = 54) underwent a thorough diagnostic procedure, further completed the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-D-32), and participated in a finitely iterated prisoner's dilemma (FIPD).
Results: Individuals suffering from PGD reported significantly more interpersonal problems. Both groups behaved differently in the FIPD with healthy controls being more carefully, adapting their behavior more flexible, whereas PGD patients displayed a lower responsiveness, which may indicate an inability to adapt to changes in relationships.
Conclusion: We conclude that interpersonal problems appear to be a relevant feature of PGD. Future studies need to clarify the causal relation behind this link, and should also include measures of attachment, social support, and disconnectedness.
Research on collective resilience processes still lacks a detailed understanding of psychological mechanisms at work when groups cope with adverse conditions, i.e., long-term processes, and how such mechanisms affect physical and mental well-being. As collective resilience will play a crucial part in facing looming climate change-related events such as floods, it is important to investigate these processes further. To this end, this study takes a novel holistic approach by combining resilience research, social psychology, and an archeological perspective to investigate the role of social identity as a collective resilience factor in the past and present. We hypothesize that social identification buffers against the negative effects of environmental threats in participants, which increases somatic symptoms related to stress, in a North Sea region historically prone to floods. A cross-sectional study (N = 182) was conducted to analyze the moderating effects of social identification on the relations between perceived threat of North Sea floods and both well-being and life satisfaction. The results support our hypothesis that social identification attenuates the relationship between threat perception and well-being, such that the relation is weaker for more strongly identified individuals. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find this buffering effect to be present for life satisfaction. Future resilience studies should further explore social identity as a resilience factor and how it operates in reducing environmental stress put on individuals and groups. Further, to help communities living in flood-prone areas better cope with future environmental stress, we recommend implementing interventions strengthening their social identities and hence collective resilience.
Aims: This study aims to: (1) explore the links between past exposure to potentially traumatic events, fear of contracting COVID-19 and perceived stress; (2) investigate how the exposure to traumagenic experiences affects one's locus of control over their health; and (3) examine fear, stress reactions and differences in health locus of control across three different sociocultural contexts.
Methods: A total of 524 adult participants were recruited from Egypt, Germany, and Italy through online channels. Self-reporting instruments were used to assess previous exposure to potentially traumatic events, PTSD symptoms, fear of COVID-19, perceived stress, and health locus of control.
Results: Our findings highlight differences in reaction to COVID-19 in relation to past exposure to potentially traumatic events and country of residence, both of which may inform tailored community-based intervention practices.
Conclusion: The impact of COVID-19 might be particularly disruptive for people who survived potentially traumatic experiences. Nevertheless, the mass mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic varies across different sociocultural contexts.
The present study aimed to investigate the affect-cognition interplay in young and older adults by studying prospective memory (PM), the realisation of delayed intentions. While most previous studies on the topic were conducted in the laboratory, we examined the influence of naturally occurring affect on PM tasks carried out in participants' everyday lives. For seven consecutive days, participants were asked to rate their affective state nine times per day and send text messages either at specific times (time-based PM) or when a particular event occurred (event-based PM). Results showed that within-participants changes in valence from more positive to more negative affect were associated with decreased PM performance. This was similarly true for young and older adults. The design used allowed linkage of within-participants fluctuations of affect and cognitive functions, constituting a methodological advancement. Results suggest that positive affect has the potential to improve cognitive functioning in everyday life.
Teacher’s self-efficacy is a relevant judgement of self-belief by teachers. Studies reveal inverse response bias of teachers’ self-assessment. Parallel item presentation can be used as a method to reduce such distortions. The major goal of this study was to develop and verify such a measure of parallel item presentation in order to compare self-efficacy of qualified and out-of-field PE teachers. Therefore out-of-field and qualified PE student teachers (N = 68) were randomised into two groups. They responded to 14 self-efficacy items related to classroom subjects and PE teaching. One group of out-of-field (n = 17) and qualified (n = 18) PE student teachers was presented with the items in parallel so that they could compare classroom and PE teaching items. For the other group of out-of-field (n = 11) and qualified (n = 22) PE student teachers, the items were presented sequentially so that no direct comparison was possible. Data was analysed using nested ANOVA. The results reveal that with a dimensional item comparison, out-of-field PE teachers have a significantly lower self-efficacy in PE than qualified PE student teachers (p = .006, ηp2 = .18). Without comparison, there is no significant difference. The method of parallel item representation can thus contribute to the reduction of inverse response bias.
Disentangling age and schooling effects on inhibitory control development: An fNIRS investigation
(2021)
Children show marked improvements in executive functioning (EF) between 4 and 7 years of age. In many societies, this time period coincides with the start of formal school education, in which children are required to follow rules in a structured environment, drawing heavily on EF processes such as inhibitory control. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal development of two aspects of inhibitory control, namely response inhibition and response monitoring and their neural correlates. Specifically, we examined how their longitudinal development may differ by schooling experience, and their potential significance in predicting academic outcomes. Longitudinal data were collected in two groups of children at their homes. At T1, all children were roughly 4.5 years of age and neither group had attended formal schooling. One year later at T2, one group (P1, n = 40) had completed one full year of schooling while the other group (KG, n = 40) had stayed in kindergarten. Behavioural and brain activation data (measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy, fNIRS) in response to a Go/No-Go task and measures of academic achievement were collected. We found that P1 children, compared to KG children, showed a greater change over time in activation related to response monitoring in the bilateral frontal cortex. The change in left frontal activation difference showed a small positive association with math performance. Overall, the school environment is important in shaping the development of the brain functions underlying the monitoring of one own's performance.
Pathological grief has received increasing attention in recent years, as about 10% of the bereaved suffer from one kind of it. Pathological grief in the form of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is a relatively new diagnostic category which will be included into the upcoming ICD-11. To date, various risk and protective factors, as well as treatment options for pathological grief, have been proposed. Nevertheless, empirical evidence in that area is still scarce. Our aim was to identify the association of interpersonal closeness with the deceased and bereavement outcome. Interpersonal closeness with the deceased in 54 participants (27 patients suffering from PGD and 27 bereaved healthy controls) was assessed as the overlap of pictured identities via the inclusion of the other in the self scale (IOS scale). In addition to that, data on PGD symptomatology, general mental distress and depression were collected. Patients suffering from PGD reported higher inclusion of the deceased in the self. By contrast, they reported feeling less close towards another living close person. Results of the IOS scale were associated with PGD severity, general mental distress and depression. Inclusion of the deceased in the self is a significant statistical predictor for PGD caseness.
While scene context is known to facilitate object recognition, little is known about which contextual “ingredients” are at the heart of this phenomenon. Here, we address the question of whether the materials that frequently occur in scenes (e.g., tiles in a bathroom) associated with specific objects (e.g., a perfume) are relevant for the processing of that object. To this end, we presented photographs of consistent and inconsistent objects (e.g., perfume vs. pinecone) superimposed on scenes (e.g., a bathroom) and close-ups of materials (e.g., tiles). In Experiment 1, consistent objects on scenes were named more accurately than inconsistent ones, while there was only a marginal consistency effect for objects on materials. Also, we did not find any consistency effect for scrambled materials that served as color control condition. In Experiment 2, we recorded event-related potentials and found N300/N400 responses—markers of semantic violations—for objects on inconsistent relative to consistent scenes. Critically, objects on materials triggered N300/N400 responses of similar magnitudes. Our findings show that contextual materials indeed affect object processing—even in the absence of spatial scene structure and object content—suggesting that material is one of the contextual “ingredients” driving scene context effects.
Background: Teachers often face high job demands that might elicit strong stress responses. This can increase risks of adverse strain outcomes such as mental and physical health impairment. Psychological detachment has been suggested as a recovery experience that counteracts the stressor-strain relationship. However, psychological detachment is often difficult when job demands are high. The aims of this study were, first, to gain information on the prevalence of difficulties detaching from work among German teachers, second, to identify potential person-related/individual (i.e., age, sex), occupational (e.g., tenure, leadership position), and work-related (e.g., overload, cognitive, emotional, and physical demands) risk factors and, third, to examine relationships with mental and physical health impairment and sickness absence.
Methods: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from a national and representative survey of German employees was conducted (BIBB/BAuA Employment Survey 2018). For the analyses data from two groups of teachers (primary/secondary school teachers: n = 901, other teachers: n = 641) were used and compared with prevalence estimates of employees from other occupations (n = 16,266).
Results: Primary/secondary school teachers (41.5%) and other teachers (30.3%) reported more difficulties detaching from work than employees from other occupations (21.3%). Emotional demands and deadline/performance pressure were the most severe risk factors in both groups of teachers. In the group of primary/secondary school teachers multitasking demands were further risk factors for difficulties to detach from work whereas support from colleagues reduced risks. In both groups of teachers detachment difficulties can be linked to an increase in psychosomatic and musculoskeletal complaints and, additionally, to a higher risk of sickness absence among primary/secondary school teachers.
Conclusions: Difficulties detaching from work are highly prevalent among German teachers. In order to protect them from related risks of health impairment, interventions are needed which aim at optimizing job demands and contextual resources (i.e., work-directed approaches) or at improving coping strategies (i.e., person-directed approaches).
Personal values are considered as guiding principles for humans’ attitudes and behavior, what makes them an essential component of mental health. Although these notions are widely recognized, investigations in clinical samples examining the link between values and mental health are lacking. We assessed n = 209 patients with affective disorders, neurotic disorders, reaction to severe stress, and adjustment disorders and personality disorders and compared them to a stratified random sample (n = 209) drawn from the European Social Survey. Personal values were assessed using the Portraits Value Questionnaire. Severity of psychopathology was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory and the Brief Symptom Inventory. Clinical participants showed a higher preference for the values power, achievement and tradition/conformity and a lower preference for hedonism compared to controls. Patients exhibited more incompatible value patterns than controls. Across diagnostic groups, patients with neurotic disorders reported incompatible values most frequently. Value priorities and value conflicts may have the potential to contribute to a better understanding of current and future actions and experiences in patients with mental disorders.
The ability to respond appropriately to employees' work-related well-being requires leaders to pay attention to their employees' well-being in the first place. We propose that leaders' stress mindset, that is, the belief that stress is enhancing versus debilitating, may bias their perception of employees' well-being. We further propose that this judgment then influences leaders' intention to engage in or refrain from health-oriented leadership behavior, to express higher performance expectations, or to promote their employees. We expect this process to be stronger if leaders strongly identify with their team, increasing their perceived similarity with their employees. In three experiments (N1 = 198, N2 = 292, N3 = 250), we tested the effect of participants' stress mindset on their intention to show certain leadership behaviors, mediated by their perception of employee well-being (emotional exhaustion, somatic symptoms, work engagement) and moderated by their team identification. Our findings largely support the association between stress mindset and the perception of well-being. The results for the proposed mediation and the moderating function of identification were mixed. Overall, the results emphasize the critical role of leaders' stress mindset and may, thus, improve health promotion in organizations by helping leaders to adequately recognize employees' well-being and respond appropriately.
In the face of the worldwide COVIV-19 pandemic, refugees represent a particularly vulnerable group with respect to access to health care and information regarding preventive behavior. In an online survey the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale, self-reported changes in preventive and risk behaviors, knowledge about COVID-19, and psychopathological symptoms (PHQ-4) were assessed. The convenience sample consisted of n = 76 refugees (n = 45 Arabic speaking, n = 31 Farsi speaking refugees) and n = 76 German controls matched with respect to age and sex. Refugees reported a significantly larger fear of infection, significantly less knowledge about COVID-19, and a higher frequency of maladaptive behavior, as compared to the control group. This study shows that refugees are more vulnerable to fear of infection and maladaptive behaviors than controls. Culturally adapted, easily accessible education about COVID-19 may be beneficial in improving knowledge and preventive behaviors related to COVID-19.