Associations between daily affective experiences, trait and daily rumination on negative and positive affect: a diary study.

BACKGROUND: Rumination has mostly been studied in relation to depression, however, it may also occur in response to positive emotions (i.e., positive rumination) and therefore may be a protective factor related to the maintenance of positive mood. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that daily positive and negative affect would be associated with daily positive and negative rumination even after controlling for trait-level rumination. METHOD: We carried out a diary study with university students (n = 178), where participants had to answer short surveys online about their daily affect and daily rumination every evening for 10 days. We analyzed our data with multilevel regression in R. RESULTS: Daily positive and negative affect were significantly associated with daily negative and positive rumination, while trait-level rumination scores were not. Daily and trait-level rumination were moderately correlated (r = 0.333-0.440). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight that daily rumination plays a more significant role in daily emotional experiences than trait rumination across positive and negative valence domains. Daily negative affect appears to be more closely related to higher daily negative rumination than the lack of daily positive rumination, which could be relevant for intervention strategies.

Differences in the associations between psychoactive substance use and alexithymia: A series of Meta-analyses.

The present meta-analytic study examined the association between alexithymia and psychoactive substance use. Studies published from 1988 to August 20, 2022 were identified by a systematic search and 168 eligible studies were included in five meta-analyses. Results showed that (1) the correlation between substance use and alexithymia is small but significant (r = 0.177); (2) substance users have substantially higher alexithymia than nonusers (g = 0.545); (3) alexithymic participants have significantly but slightly higher levels of substance use than non-alexithymics (g = 0.242); (4) substance users are significantly but only slightly more likely to be alexithymic than nonusers (OR = 2.392); and (5) alexithymic individuals are not more likely to be substance users than non-alexithymics. Larger effects were observed among samples diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD), and the use of depressants, alcohol, opiates, and illicit stimulants had stronger relation to alexithymia. We found a tendency for a larger association with problematic use as compared to other indicators (e.g., frequency and duration) of substance use. Among the components of alexithymia, difficulties in identifying feelings has the strongest association with substance use. Our findings support clinical practice by suggesting the improvement of emotion regulation in SUD.

Interaction between emotional context-guided shifting and cognitive shifting: Introduction of a novel task.

Aim: Task shifting is considered as a critical component of cognitive flexibility that underlies the ability to flexibly switch between tasks. It is measured by performance-based tasks, where participants have to select/ignore simple target stimuli such as letters, numbers, or words according to certain rules. However, in everyday life individuals need to manage and shift between more complex, often emotionally charged stimuli. Previous paradigms developed to measure affective flexibility are based on the task where the focus is to shift between emotional and non-emotional stimuli, instead of the flexible shift between emotional valences. In view of this, the aim of the present study was to develop the Emotional Shifting Task, a novel paradigm that is created with the purpose of assessing emotional flexibility abilities by means of a novel valence-specific shifting design. Furthermore, scientific discussion regarding the relationship between cognitive and emotional flexibility abilities, a connection that is rarely addressed in the literature would be addressed. Method: In the present paper, task shifting was assessed by means of the Task Switching Task while the Emotional Shifting Task method evaluated emotional flexibility abilities in an online setting. Results: The results revealed a significant, positive relationship between task shifting and emotional shifting from positive to negative images only. Furthermore, when fast and slow performers on TST were distinguished results showed that fast performers on TST were also faster on EST shift conditions in general, but not on EST non-shift condition. Conclusion: These findings indicate that cognitive and emotional flexibility abilities may be interrelated. Our results seem to indicate a connection between the two shifting abilities. (Neuropsychopharmacol Hung 2021; 23(2): 319-330).

Voices of Temporary Sobriety - A Diary Study of an Alcohol-Free Month in Hungary.

Background: Temporary abstinence from alcohol as a challenge could support self-knowledge, self-care, and health consciousness in several ways. Objectives: The present study explored Dry November participants' personal experiences and coping strategies during a one-month abstinence period. The research is embedded in the Hungarian context of drinking habits, culture, society, and alcohol policy. Methods: This qualitative study comprised the thematic analysis of 23 participants' diaries, reported twice a week for 30 days (in November 2017), to identify and understand the common experiences of temporary sobriety. Results: Three main themes emerged from the analysis: challenge, community, and relationship toward alcohol and abstinence. Results showed that there are no categorical differences between successful and non-successful participants. Conclusions: The present research demonstrated that during the challenge, rather than simply saying 'no' to alcohol, participants utilized other refusal strategies to avoid social confrontation.