Is your stress my stress? A standardized, randomized-controlled paradigm to study physiological stress contagion based on direct stress observation.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Existing research indicates that not only own stress leads to physiological stress reactions, but also observing stress in others. So far, a standardized paradigm to reliably induce physiological stress contagion based on direct face-to-face stress observation compared to an active placebo-stress observing control condition is lacking. Here, we tested a standardized randomized placebo-controlled experimental paradigm to investigate physiological reactivity to direct stress observation and characterized the stress contagion response of the major endocrine stress systems, including full reactivity kinetics. METHODS: Healthy young male participants were randomly assigned to (1) undergo an adapted version of the Trier Social Stress Test ("TSST participants", n = 20), (2) observe it ("stress observers", n = 36), or (3) observe a corresponding placebo-stress control condition ("placebo-stress observers", n = 30). We repeatedly assessed heart rate, salivary alpha-amylase, salivary cortisol, and salivary aldosterone. RESULTS: Stress observers exhibited greater physiological reactivity to stress observation as compared to placebo-stress observers to placebo-stress observation in heart rate, salivary alpha-amylase, and cortisol (p's ≤ .027), but not in aldosterone. We observed similar reactivity kinetics in TSST participants and stress observers but less pronounced in stress observers. DISCUSSION: Extending previous literature, our findings indicate that independent of secondary effects of the observation setting, direct observation of stress in other individuals induces activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axis. Moreover, the physiological stress contagion response resembles the physiological reactivity to first-hand stress but is less pronounced. Potential implications of physiological stress contagion regarding health, cognition, or behavior, as well as modulating factors need to be further elucidated.

A correlated traits correlated (methods - 1) multitrait-multimethod model for augmented round-robin data.

We didactically derive a correlated traits correlated (methods - 1) [CTC(M - 1)] multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) model for dyadic round-robin data augmented by self-reports. The model is an extension of the CTC(M - 1) model for cross-classified data and can handle dependencies between raters and targets by including reciprocity covariance parameters that are inherent in augmented round-robin designs. It can be specified as a traditional structural equation model. We present the variance decomposition as well as consistency and reliability coefficients. Moreover, we explain how to evaluate fit of a CTC(M - 1) model for augmented round-robin data. In a simulation study, we explore the properties of the full information maximum likelihood estimation of the model. Model (mis)fit can be quite accurately detected with the test of not close fit and dynamic root mean square errors of approximation. Even with few small round-robin groups, relative parameter estimation bias and coverage rates are satisfactory, but several larger round-robin groups are needed to minimize relative parameter estimation inaccuracy. Further, neglecting the reciprocity covariance-structure of the augmented round-robin data does not severely bias the remaining parameter estimates. All analyses (including data, R scripts, and results) and the simulation study are provided in the Supporting Information. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Recall bias of students' affective experiences in adolescence: The role of personality and internalizing behavior.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is characterized by multiple biopsychosocial changes, associated with a high intraindividual variability of emotional experiences. Previous findings suggest that this intraindividual variability is reflected in a recall bias of adolescents' emotion reports. However, corresponding findings are scarce and inconclusive. Studies on predictors of recall bias in adulthood indicate that personality traits, especially neuroticism and extraversion, as well as specific internalizing disorders might affect recall bias of emotion reports. METHODS: The sample consists of 118 Swiss adolescent students in grade 8 and 9 (Mage = 15.15, SDage = 0.89). The students' momentary affective experience was recorded using smartphones over seven consecutive days in situ at 42 randomly generated occasions (six per day), with a total of 1059 protocols on current events. At the end of the experience-sampling phase, students filled out an online questionnaire, providing information about their personality and typical behavior as well as their retrospective affective experience. In addition, the students' behavior was evaluated by their teachers. We applied two-level structural equation modeling with latent difference variables. RESULTS: Adolescents high in extraversion showed retrospective overestimation of positive affective experiences and underestimation of negative affective experiences. Adolescents with high neuroticism tended to overestimate negative affect retrospectively, showing no significant effects for positive affect. However, internalizing behavior did not predict a negative recall bias in adolescents' affective experience. CONCLUSIONS: Retrospective self-reports about adolescents' affective experience are biased by relatively stable individual factors, whereas less stable individual factors did not seem to have any influence.

Estimating and investigating multiple constructs multiple indicators social relations models with and without roles within the traditional structural equation modeling framework: A tutorial.

The present contribution provides a tutorial for the estimation of the social relations model (SRM) by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). In the overarching SEM-framework, the SRM without roles (with interchangeable dyads) is derived as a more restrictive form of the SRM with roles (with noninterchangeable dyads). Starting with the simplest type of the SRM for one latent construct assessed by one manifest round-robin indicator, we show how the model can be extended to multiple constructs each measured by multiple indicators. We illustrate a multiple constructs multiple indicators SEM SRM both with and without roles with simulated data and explain the parameter interpretations. We present how testing the substantial model assumptions can be disentangled from testing the interchangeability of dyads. Additionally, we point out modeling strategies that adhere to cases in which only some members of a group can be differentiated with regards to their roles (i.e., only some group members are noninterchangeable). In the online supplemental materials, we provide concrete examples of specific modeling problems and their implementation into statistical software (Mplus, lavaan, and OpenMx). Advantages, caveats, possible extensions, and limitations in comparison with alternative modeling options are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Rosy or blue? Change in recall bias of students' affective experiences during early adolescence.

Changes in the quality of emotional experience are among the various significant developmental challenges that characterize early adolescence. Although retrospective and momentary emotional self-reports are known to differ, adolescents' emotional experiences are mainly assessed retrospectively without knowing if the recall is biased in a positive or negative way. The present study extends research on recall bias by investigating possible changes in retrospection effects of students' affective experiences during early adolescence. To this end, we compared retrospectively assessed affect with in situ reported affect. At the age of about 12 years (T1) and 3 years later (T2), 120 students repeatedly reported their momentary positive and negative affect during one school week and once in retrospective at the end of the school week. Furthermore, we examined whether students' emotional attitudes toward school have an effect on retrospection effects of students' affect and on change in retrospection effects from T1 to T2. To test our hypotheses, we applied multilevel first-order and second-order latent difference models. Results indicate a positive recall bias (i.e., rosy view) of students' reports of their positive and negative affect in the classroom at T1 and a negative shift in recall bias by T2. Furthermore, findings supported that a rosy view is less likely to occur, if a student is less emotionally involved in school. In turn, positive emotional attitudes toward school appear to serve as a buffer for the tendency toward a negative recall bias (i.e., blue view) at the end of early adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The influence of psychosocial and sexual wellbeing on quality of life in women with differences of sexual development.

Background: Previous research indicating that women with differences of sexual development (DSD), namely women with Turner syndrome (TS), women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), and women with XY-DSD, have an impaired psychosocial and sexual well-being and quality of life (QOL), was often limited by small samples and inadequate control groups (CGs). Only few studies analysed which psychosocial and sexual factors influence QOL in women with DSD and no study so far has examined whether the DSD-condition itself and the diagnostic group to which they belong moderate this influence. Methods: We compared 301 women with TS, 221 women with CAH and 142 women with XY-DSD with 603 non-DSD women regarding depression, anxiety, self-esteem, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, social participation, body acceptance, relationship status, sexual satisfaction and QOL. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of psychosocial and sexual well-being on QOL within and between diagnostic groups and examined whether the DSD-condition moderates the influence of psychosocial and sexual well-being on QOL. Results: Women with DSD reported average psychosocial well-being and QOL; only women with CAH reported an impaired physical QOL. However, women with DSD were less satisfied with their body and had less often a partner than women in the CG. Women with CAH and XY-DSD were less satisfied with their sex life compared to women in the CG. Across groups, better health and lower depression scores predicted better QOL, whereas higher self-esteem especially predicted better QOL in women with DSD. The presence of DSD moderated the influence of psychosocial and sexual well-being on QOL, however, the specific diagnosis group mainly moderated the influence on physical QOL. Conclusion: We have learned that body and sexual satisfaction need further attention in women with DSD. To optimize their QOL, psychosocial well-being should be taken in account. The improvement of self-esteem seems particularly relevant for women with DSD, as this helps coping with having a variant of sexual development.

Introducing a Computerized Figural Memory Test Based on Automatic Item Generation: An Analysis With the Rasch Poisson Counts Model.

An automatic item generator for figural memory test items called figumem was developed. It is available in R. A cognitive model allowed the generation of hypothetically parallel items within three difficulty levels determined by visual information load. In a pilot study, participants solved three items for each level of visual load. Within an item response theory approach, the Rasch Poisson counts model and modifications of it were fitted to the data. Results showed overall satisfying fit. Visual information load explained most of the variance in item difficulty. Differences in difficulty between items of the same family were comparatively low, displaying the utility of the item generator for the creation of parallel test forms. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for the use and extensions of figumem are discussed.

Psychosocial well-being and quality of life in women with Turner syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Turner syndrome (TS) affects approximately one out of 2500 females. Previous research indicates that women with TS experience impairment in several psychosocial domains as well as in quality of life (QoL). Data, however, mainly focus on girls, whereas data on adult women is extremely scarce, inconsistent and mainly low in sample size. Separate analysis of adult women, however, is important since women face other challenges of TS than girls. METHODS: We compared 301 women with TS aged 16-73 years (from 14 centres in six European countries) to healthy controls with regard to depression, anxiety, self-esteem, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, romantic relationships, social participation, amount of working hours and satisfaction with income as well as with regard to psychological, physical, environmental, social and global QoL. The influence of psychosocial well-being on the different QoL-domains was examined via multiple regression models. RESULTS: Women with TS showed impairments in all psychosocial variables (anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, self-esteem, social participation all p < 0.001) except for the amount of working hours (p = 0.062) and satisfaction with income (p = 0.369). They also showed lower social (p < 0.001), psychological (p < 0.001) and physical QoL (p < 0.001) compared to controls. Depression, satisfaction with income and self-esteem could be shown to be the best predictors for QoL. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, quality of life in TS is impaired, in particular it seems to be negatively affected by depression and low self-esteem whereas satisfaction with income has a positive influence. These results implicate that medical staff needs to pay attention on possible psychosocial impairments when treating women with TS. Strengthening self-esteem and counteracting depression potentially raises their QoL.

The Impact of Situational Test Anxiety on Retest Effects in Cognitive Ability Testing: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach.

When a cognitive ability is assessed repeatedly, test scores and ability estimates are often observed to increase across test sessions. This phenomenon is known as the retest (or practice) effect. One explanation for retest effects is that situational test anxiety interferes with a testee's performance during earlier test sessions, thereby creating systematic measurement bias on the test items (interference hypothesis). Yet, the influence of anxiety diminishes with test repetitions. This explanation is controversial, since the presence of measurement bias during earlier measurement occasions cannot always be confirmed. It is argued that people from the lower end of the ability spectrum become aware of their deficits in test situations and therefore report higher anxiety (deficit hypothesis). In 2014, a structural equation model was proposed that specifically allows the comparison of these two hypotheses with regard to explanatory power for the negative anxiety-ability correlation found in cross-sectional assessments. We extended this model for usage in longitudinal studies to investigate the impact of test anxiety on test performance and on retest effects. A latent neighbor-change growth curve was implemented into the model that enables an estimation of retest effects between all pairs of successive test sessions. Systematic restrictions on model parameters allow testing the hypothetical reduction in anxiety interference over the test sessions, which can be compared to retest effect sizes. In an empirical study with seven measurement occasions, we found that a substantial reduction in interference upon the second test session was associated with the largest retest effect in a figural matrices test, which served as a proxy measure for general intelligence. However, smaller retest effects occurred up to the fourth test administration, whereas evidence for anxiety-induced measurement bias was only produced for the first two test sessions. Anxiety and ability were not negatively correlated at any time when the interference effects were controlled for. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.