Abnormal neurophysiological sensitivity to rewards in depression is moderated by sex and age in middle adulthood.

A candidate pathophysiological process in major depressive disorder is diminished neural reactivity to reward delivery, which is theorized to give rise to anhedonia. Reduced amplitude in the reward positivity (RewP), which captures initial reward evaluation, has been linked to current symptoms of depression among child, adolescent, and young adult samples. However, the developmental trajectory of this association is incomplete, with relatively few studies in middle and older adulthood. Further, emerging evidence in the literature also suggests that this association may be linked to female sex-specific processes, but no studies to date have directly contrasted the effect of sex on the depression-RewP association. The current study sought to address these gaps by testing how sex and age may moderate the depression-RewP association within a mature adult community sample. Symptoms of depression were evaluated using a survey and a clinical interview, and the RewP was elicited using a simple guessing task. There was a three-way interaction between depression symptom severity, age, and sex in predicting RewP amplitude. This was driven by younger (late 30's to early 40's) female-sexed people such that for this group, elevated symptoms of depression were associated with blunting of the RewP. This association tapered around age 50. This effect was specific to clinician-rated rather than self-reported depressive symptom severity. This pattern of effects suggests that among female-sexed people, developmental processes continue to shape the association between reward responsiveness and depression throughout middle adulthood.

Open science and multicultural research: Some data, considerations, and recommendations.

OBJECTIVES: There are two potentially useful but nonintersecting efforts to help ensure that psychological science produces valid and credible information and contributes to the understanding of diverse human experiences. Whereas North American ethnic minority psychology research/cultural diversity science (EM/D) emphasizes cultural competency to yield contextualized psychological understanding of understudied and underserved minority populations, current open science (OS) approaches emphasize material and data sharing, and statistical proficiency to maximize the replicability of mainstream findings. To illuminate the extent of and explore reasons for this bifurcation, and OS's potential impact on EM/D, we conducted three studies. METHOD AND RESULTS: In Study 1, we reviewed editorial/publishing policies and empirical articles appearing in four major EM/D journals on the incentives for and use of OS. Journals varied in OS-related policies; 32 of 823 empirical articles incorporated any OS practices. Study 2 was a national mixed-methods survey of EM/D scholars' (N = 141) and journal editors' (N = 16) views about and experiences with OS practices. Emerged themes included beliefs about the impact of OS on scientific quality, possible professional disadvantages for EM/D scholars, and concerns about the welfare of and ethical risks posed for communities of color. In Study 3, we explored community research participants' beliefs about data sharing and credibility of science/scientists (N = 1,104). Participants were receptive of data sharing and viewed psychological science favorably. CONCLUSIONS: We provide data-driven recommendations for researchers to assemble the best tools for approaching the knowledge-production process with transparency, humility, and cultural competency. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Measurement Invariance of the Five Factor Model of Personality: Facet-Level Analyses Among Euro and Asian Americans.

Relative to broad Big Five domains, personality facets provide incremental value in predicting life outcomes. Valid between-group comparisons of means and correlates of facet scores are contingent upon measurement invariance of personality measures. Research on culture and Big Five personality has been largely limited to cross-national comparisons of domains, without assessing measurement invariance across ethnoracial groups within the same country. Using the NEO Inventories, we tested facet-level measurement invariance between Euro (N = 418, 63.2% women, Mage = 18.43) and Asian Americans (N = 429, 56.6% women, Mage = 18.00). Multigroup exploratory factor analysis within a confirmatory factor analysis framework showed partial strong invariance. Assertiveness and activity did not load onto extraversion as strongly for Asian Americans. Self-consciousness showed a stronger cross-loading onto extraversion among Asian Americans than Euro Americans. Achievement striving, competence, warmth, tender-mindedness, and excitement seeking showed noninvariant intercepts across groups. Collectivistic values emphasizing interpersonal harmony and modesty should be considered when examining narrow and broad traits among Asian Americans.

How Future Orientation is Associated with Depressive Symptoms in Multiethnoracial Adults: Basic Psychological Needs as a Mediator.

We examined the role of basic psychological needs as a mediator of the association between future orientation and depressive symptoms in a sample of 202 (159 female and 43 male) multiethnoracial adults. Multiple mediation analysis with 10,000 bootstraps was conducted to test for mediation. The association between future orientation and depressive symptoms was found to be accounted for by dimensions of basic psychological needs. Specifically, future orientation was negatively related to depressive symptoms through positive associations involving autonomy and competence, but not relatedness. The present findings are the first to not only point to the importance of examining future orientation in understanding depressive symptoms in multiethnoracial adults, but they are also the first to suggest possible mechanisms by which believing in a changeable future might foster stronger satisfaction of basic psychological needs, especially autonomy and competence, that might help multiethnoracials garner greater protection when encountering stressful situations in their lives.

Greater than the sum of its parts: Development of a measure of collectivism among Asians.

OBJECTIVES: Collectivism can contextualize subjective cultural experiences, yet operationalization and measurement approaches for understanding this construct among Asians and Asian Americans have been discrepant. Inconsistency has resulted from diverse levels of analyses, unidimensional versus multidimensional approaches to organizing related subconstructs, and different degrees of cultural specificity of existing instruments. The Brief Collectivism Questionnaire (BCQ) was developed to address these limitations in assessing general collectivism in Asian cultures, while capturing its diverse attitudinal and behavioral manifestations, using a bifactor framework. METHOD: Data were collected from 2 samples of Asian American and Asian international students (N1 = 267: Mage = 20.4, 48.7% women; N2 = 375: Mage = 19.0, 55.6% women). The structure underlying collectivism was examined in exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory (Study 2) factor analyses. Correlational and hierarchical multiple regression analyses tested the BCQ's validity, particularly the extent to which broadband collectivism and content-specific subdomains overlapped with existing measures of the construct (Study 3). RESULTS: A bifactor structure with 1 general factor of collectivism and 3 specific factors (Prosocial Motivations, Maintaining Harmony, and Concern for Face) demonstrated the best fit for the data and supported the conceptual framework. The BCQ showed adequate internal consistency reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, and concurrent and incremental validity predicting depression and openness toward treatment seeking. CONCLUSIONS: The BCQ appears to be a multidimensional, psychometrically sound measure that assesses broadband and narrowband contents of collectivism among Asians. The bifactor structure integrates diverse conceptualizations of individual-level collectivism, and clarifies how this construct is related to adjustment outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Effects of Perceived Discrimination on Depressive Symptoms Among Black Men Residing in the United States: A Meta-Analysis.

Research reports that perceived discrimination is positively associated with depressive symptoms. The literature is limited when examining this relationship among Black men. This meta-analysis systematically examines the current literature and investigates the relationship of perceived discrimination on depressive symptoms among Black men residing in the United States. Using a random-effects model, study findings indicate a positive association between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms among Black men ( r = .29). Several potential moderators were also examined in this study; however, there were no significant moderation effects detected. Recommendations and implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Variation in reward- and error-related neural measures attributable to age, gender, race, and ethnicity.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been widely applied to the study of individual differences in reward and error processing, including recent proposals of several ERPs as possible biomarkers of mental illness. A criterion for all biomarkers, however, is that they be generalizable across the relevant populations, something which has yet to be demonstrated for many commonly studied reward- and error-related ERPs. The aim of this study was to examine variation in reward and error-related ERPs across core demographic variables: age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Data was drawn from three studies with relatively large samples (N range 207-527). Results demonstrated that ERPs varied across the demographic variables of interest. Several examples include attenuated reward-related ERPs with increasing age, larger error-related ERPs for men than women, and larger ERPs to feedback after losses for individuals who identified as Hispanic/Latino. Overall, these analyses suggest systematic variation in ERPs that is attributable to core demographic variables, which could give rise to seemingly inconsistent results across studies to the extent that these sample characteristics differ. Future psychophysiological studies should include these analyses as standard practice and assess how these differences might exacerbate, mask, or confound relationships of interest.

Do spouses matter? Discrimination, social support, and psychological distress among Asian Americans.

OBJECTIVE: Perceived discrimination poses risks for psychological distress among Asian Americans, but the differential impact of general unfair treatment and racial discrimination has not been examined. Although social support from distal sources reduces discrimination-related distress either directly or as a buffer, the unique roles of spousal support have remained understudied. Nativity status was examined as another moderator of these relationships to resolve previous inconsistent findings regarding its relationship to the discrimination-distress link. METHOD: Data were from 1,626 U.S.- and foreign-born Asian American adults (Mage = 42.17 years; n = 1,142 married/cohabiting) in the nationally representative National Latino and Asian American Study, who reported on experiences of unfair treatment, racial discrimination, social supports from spouses, family, friends, and neighborhood, and psychological distress. RESULTS: Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that both unfair treatment and racial discrimination predicted psychological distress, and spousal support predicted distress above and beyond distal forms of social support in the context of perceived discrimination. Moderation analyses revealed that spousal support buffered against negative psychological consequences of unfair treatment, but not racial discrimination. Spousal support was not differentially protective as a function of nativity; however, U.S.-born respondents reacted with greater distress to unfair treatment than their foreign-born counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological effects of both general and race-based discrimination, and the unique contributions of distinct sources of social support, are important to understanding adjustment and cultural transition among Asian Americans. Nativity differentially influences effects of unfair treatment. Implications for future research are discussed.

Measurement Invariance and the Five-Factor Model of Personality: Asian International and Euro American Cultural Groups.

This study examined measurement invariance of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), assessing the five-factor model (FFM) of personality among Euro American (N = 290) and Asian international (N = 301) students (47.8% women, Mage = 19.69 years). The full 60-item NEO-FFI data fit the expected five-factor structure for both groups using exploratory structural equation modeling, and achieved configural invariance. Only 37 items significantly loaded onto the FFM-theorized factors for both groups and demonstrated metric invariance. Threshold invariance was not supported with this reduced item set. Groups differed the most in the item-factor relationships for Extraversion and Agreeableness, as well as in response styles. Asian internationals were more likely to use midpoint responses than Euro Americans. While the FFM can characterize broad nomothetic patterns of personality traits, metric invariance with only the subset of NEO-FFI items identified limits direct group comparisons of correlation coefficients among personality domains and with other constructs, and of mean differences on personality domains.

A test of Spielberger's state-trait theory of anger with adolescents: five hypotheses.

Spielberger's state-trait theory of anger was investigated in adolescents (n = 201, ages 10-18, 53% African American, 47% European American, 48% female) using Deffenbacher's five hypotheses formulated to test the theory in adults. Self-reported experience, heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) responses to anger provoking imagery scripts found strong support for the application of this theory to adolescents. Compared with the low trait anger (LTA) group, adolescents with high trait anger (HTA) produced increased HR, SBP, and DBP, and greater self-report of anger to anger imagery (intensity hypothesis) but not greater self-report or cardiovascular reactivity to fear or joy imagery (discrimination hypothesis). The HTA group also reported greater frequency and duration of anger episodes and had longer recovery of SBP response to anger (elicitation hypothesis). The HTA group was more likely to report negative health, social, and academic outcomes (consequence hypothesis). Adolescents with high hostility reported more maladaptive coping with anger, with higher anger-in and anger-out than adolescents with low hostility (negative expression hypothesis). The data on all five hypotheses supported the notion that trait anger is firmly entrenched by the period of adolescence, with few developmental differences noted from the adult literature.

Police contacts and stress among African American college students.

Attitudes toward police rarely are studied in investigations of race-related stress among communities of color. African American undergraduates (66 women, 35 men) rated the frequency and stressfulness of 83 general, college-related, race-related, and police-related events. Although respondents described police contacts as stressful, multivariate analyses of variance indicated that mean stress scores for nonpolice items were higher than for police items. Men reported significantly greater stressfulness of police contacts, and women reported slightly greater stressfulness of nonpolice situations. Further analyses confirmed significant differences in police contact stress scores as a function of the type of contacts (benign vs. malignant), gender of respondent (men greater than women), and frequency of contact. Limited differences were observed as a function of immediacy of contact (personal, witnessed, contacts of a loved one, or loved one telling of another person's contact) and individual differences in ethnic identity. No differences were observed as a function of general affective intensity. Results suggest that the stress associated with police contact is specific and distinct from other elements of African American life in this college student sample and thus underscores the need for research on the effects of such stress in less advantaged, community-based populations.

Acculturation and depression among Hispanics: the moderating effect of intercultural competence.

In the present study the authors examined the relative contributions of typical acculturation indicators, general coping, and intercultural competence in predicting depression among 96 Hispanic adults. The results indicated that intercultural competence served to moderate the relationship between acculturation and depression. The combination of high acculturation and high intercultural competence was associated with fewer symptoms. General coping accounted for significant amounts of variance in predicting depression, over and above traditional acculturation variables alone, suggesting that an active problem-solving style was associated with a healthier outcome. The findings are discussed within the context of integrating competence-based variables into psychological conceptualizations of cultural adaptation and the importance of group-specific abilities as potential buffers against negative mental health consequences.