Flourishing Together: The Longitudinal Effect of Goal Coordination on Goal Progress and Life Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships.

Goal pursuit shapes people' everyday experiences and is deeply embedded within close relationships. Several studies have shown that goal support from romantic partners facilitates goal progress, and individual goal progress contributes to wellbeing. However, few pieces of research have examined the whole process, how efficient goal coordination in a romantic relationship contributes to life satisfaction through goal progress. In these studies, short time frames were used and only one aspect of goal coordination was examined. To generate more complex, long-term understanding we collected data from 148 married or cohabitating Hungarian heterosexual couples (mean age 39.71 ± 10.40 and 38.57 ± 10.00 years for men and women, respectively) in a two-wave longitudinal study with a year-long time window. Both partners individually completed an adapted version of the Personal Project Assessment and evaluated four chosen projects associated with project coordination (emotional support, communication, and cooperation) at baseline, and project attainment (progress, success, satisfaction) in the follow up. Life satisfaction was assessed during both waves. Results from the actor-partner interdependence mediation modeling revealed complete mediation, where project coordination increased project attainment one year later, and consequently associated with higher life satisfaction for both partners. The direct effect between project coordination and life satisfaction remained nonsignificant. This association indicates that for long-term life satisfaction, it is crucial to experience better goal outcomes as the result of the couple's collaborative effort.

When eating healthy is not healthy: orthorexia nervosa and its measurement with the ORTO-15 in Hungary.

BACKGROUND: For a better differential diagnosis of eating disorders, it is necessary to investigate their subtypes and develop specific assessment tools to measure their specific symptoms. Orthorexia nervosa is an alleged eating disorder in which the person is excessively preoccupied with healthy food. The ORTO-15, designed by Donini and colleagues, is the first and only at least partially validated instrument to measure this construct. The aims of the present study were to examine the psychometric properties of its Hungarian adaptation (ORTO-11-Hu), and to investigate its relationship to food consumption and lifestyle habits in order to contribute to a better description of the phenomenon. METHODS: The ORTO-11-Hu, a lifestyle habits questionnaire, a food choice list indicating foods the participants choose to consume, and ten additional orthorexia-related questions were administered to a group of 810 Hungarian participants (89.4% female) aged between 20 and 70 (M = 32.39 ± 10.37 years). RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis suggested a single factor structure for the 11-item shortened version of the instrument. Internal consistency of the measure was adequate (Cronbach's alpha = 0.82). No significant differences were found between males and females on the ORTO-11-Hu. Age and body mass index were significantly associated with a tendency towards orthorexia nervosa. Additional orthorexia-related features were significantly correlated with ORTO-11-Hu scores: orthorexia nervosa tendency was associated not only with healthier food choices (eating more whole wheat cereals, less white wheat cereals, more fruit and vegetables) but with shopping in health food stores, as well as with some healthy lifestyle habits (more sports activity, specific dietary behaviors, and less alcohol intake). Individuals with higher orthorexia nervosa tendency also reported a greater tendency to advocate their healthy diet to their friends and family members. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide evidence for the reliability of ORTO-11-Hu and some support for the construct validity of the instrument. The present study also contributes to the establishment of (diagnostic) criteria for this new subtype of eating disorders.

Mediators between bereavement and somatic symptoms.

BACKGROUND: In our research we examined the frequency of somatic symptoms among bereaved (N = 185) and non-bereaved men and women in a national representative sample (N = 4041) and investigated the possible mediating factors between bereavement status and somatic symptoms. METHODS: Somatic symptoms were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), anxiety with a four-point anxiety rating scale, and depression with a nine-item shortened version of the Beck Depression Inventory. RESULTS: Among the bereaved, somatic symptoms proved to be significantly more frequent in both genders when compared to the non-bereaved, as did anxiety and depression. On the multivariate level, the results show that both anxiety and depression proved to be a mediator between somatic symptoms and bereavement. The effect sizes indicated that for both genders, anxiety was a stronger predictor of somatic symptoms than depression. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our research indicate that somatic symptoms accompanying bereavement are not direct consequences of this state but they can be traced back to the associated anxiety and depression. These results draw attention to the need to recognize anxiety and depression looming in the background of somatic complaints in bereavement and to the importance of the dissemination of related information.

Alcohol use in the first three years of bereavement: a national representative survey.

BACKGROUND: Earlier results concerning alcohol consumption of bereaved persons are contradictory. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between bereavement and alcohol consumption accounting for time and gender differences on a nationally representative sample from Hungary ("Hungarostudy Epidemiological Panel Survey", N = 4457) METHODS: Drinking characteristics of mourning persons (alcohol consumption, dependence symptoms, and harmful consequences of alcohol use) in the first three years of grief were examined among persons between 18-75 years using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). RESULTS: Men bereaved for one year scored higher on two dimensions of AUDIT (dependence symptoms and harmful alcohol use), while men bereaved for two years scored higher on all three dimensions of AUDIT compared to the non-bereaved. The rate of men clinically at-risk concerning alcohol consumption among the non-bereaved is 12.9%, and among men bereaved for one year is 18.4% (a non-significant difference), while 29.8% (p < 0.001, OR = 2,781) among men bereaved for two years. However, men bereaved for three years did not differ from the non-bereaved in their drinking habits. In case of bereaved women, again no difference was found with respect to alcohol use compared to the non-bereaved. CONCLUSION: Among bereaved men, the risk of alcohol related problems tends to be higher, which can be shown both among men bereaved for one year as well as men bereaved for two years. Considering the higher morbidity and mortality rates of bereaved men, alcohol consumption might play a mediator role. These facts draw attention to the importance of prevention, early recognition, and effective therapy of hazardous drinking in bereaved men.

Measures of stress in epidemiological research.

A comprehensive assessment of psychosocial stress often poses significant challenges due to diversity in conceptualization of stress. Consequently, a number of instruments that measure psychosocial stress, its stressors, and its impact at the individual, organizational, and societal levels have been developed. This article aims to provide a brief review of such instruments, focusing on established questionnaire and interview measures in line with the environmentalist and psychological conceptualizations of stress. This includes measures of major life events; work, marital, and social stress; the individual's coping abilities; and psychological and somatic outcomes of stress. We provide a general description of selected instruments and discuss their administration, scoring, and psychometric properties. Appropriate application of these instruments in epidemiological and clinical research, as well as in inpatient care, can aid the detection of psychosocial stress, support thorough assessment and management of the individual's illness, and ensure accurate identification of individuals who would benefit from specific behavioral (psychotherapeutic) interventions.