The role of hope in college transition: Its cross-lagged relationships with psychosocial resources and emotional well-being in first-year college students.

INTRODUCTION: College transition is often regarded as the most stressful phase of life by college students. Hence, it is necessary to find ways to help them adjust more smoothly to this transition. Hope, as conceptualized by C. R. Snyder, has been widely studied as a predictor of optimal functioning and has been shown to be associated with better adjustment among college students. This study aimed to shed light on the role of hope in college transition by examining its unique reciprocal relationships with an array of important psychosocial resources and emotional well-being among first-year college students. METHODS: Data were collected from a sample of Hong Kong college freshmen (N = 433, Medianage = 18 years old, 63.7% female) at two time points. At each time point, participants completed self-reported measures tapping into their levels of hope, psychosocial resources, and emotional well-being. Psychological resources included general and academic self-efficacy, meaning in life, and optimism. Social resources included secure attachment, perceived school environment, and social support. Emotional well-being was operationalized as positive and negative emotions. Cross-lagged panel models were constructed and tested by path analyses. RESULTS: When autoregression and the effects of other variables were controlled, a greater sense of hope uniquely predicted higher levels of general and academic self-efficacy, greater presence of life meanings, more secure attachment, and more positive and fewer negative emotions. On the other hand, higher levels of meaning in life (both presence and search) and social support uniquely predicted greater hope. Academic hope and presence of life meanings reciprocally predicted one another, whereas other significant cross-lagged relationships were unidirectional. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest interventions that promote hope can be useful in helping college freshmen adjust to the new college environment by enhancing their psychosocial resources and emotional well-being. Such interventions would be more effective if they included elements that boost meaning in life and social support, which are expected to further enhance the perceptions of hope.

Resilience in the Ranks: Trait Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Buffer the Deleterious Effects of Envy on Mental Health Symptoms among Public Safety Personnel.

Public safety personnel (PSP) face frequent stressors that increase their risk of developing symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition to being exposed to potentially traumatic events, PSP trainees may face a compounded risk of developing mental health symptoms, as their training environments are conducive to social comparisons and the resultant painful emotion of envy. Envy is associated with numerous negative health and occupational outcomes. Fortunately, there are several individual difference factors associated with increased emotional regulation, and such factors may offer resilience against the damaging mental health effects of envy. In this study, we examined the interplay between dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, and dispositional envy in predicting job satisfaction, stress, experience of positive and negative emotions, subjective resilience, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in a sample of police trainees (n = 104). A substantial minority of trainees reported clinically significant symptoms of depression (n = 19:18.3%) and anxiety (n = 24:23.1%) in accordance with the cut-off scores on screening measures. Consistent with hypotheses, dispositional envy was associated with lower job satisfaction, greater stress, and greater anxiety and depression. Furthermore, envy was associated with higher negative emotions, lower positive emotions, and lower subjective resilience. Dispositional mindfulness and self-compassion were associated with greater job satisfaction, lower stress, and reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. Moreover, mindfulness and self-compassion were both associated with lower negative emotions, higher positive emotions, and subjective resilience. The associations between envy and the relevant job and mental health outcomes were significantly diminished after controlling for mindfulness and self-compassion. This suggests that these protective traits may serve as transdiagnostic buffers to the effects of envy on mental health. The results of this study confirmed the damaging effects of envy and suggested the potential remediation of these effects through the cultivation of mindfulness and self-compassion.

The Predicative Power of Learner and Teacher Variables on Flow in a Chinese Blended English as a Foreign Language Learning Context.

The "dynamic turn" in the field of second language acquisition catalyzed scholarly devotion to the complex dynamic relationships between learner and teacher variables and various academic emotions. As such, the present study examined the varying effects of the aforementioned variables on the constructs of positive and negative flow, and determined their strongest predictors, respectively. This study used a mixed-method approach to collect data from 607 Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language learners. In stage one of the research, the researcher first assessed the participants' levels of positive flow and negative flow in a blended learning context, then performed Pearson correlation analysis to confirm a significant, but weak positive relationship between positive flow and negative flow. Then, significant difference tests were run to determine the varied effects of those variables on flow. Finally, two multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify five predictors of positive flow, with the biggest contribution coming from learners' attitudes toward the foreign language, and three predictors of negative flow, with the learners' major accounting for the majority of variance. In the second stage of the research, a qualitative corpus was constructed, based on accounts of classroom experiences from 71 participants of the total sample, and further illustrated the quantitative findings. Pedagogical implications for educational psychologists and teachers of second and/or foreign languages are addressed.

Physical Intimacy in Older Couples' Everyday Lives: Its Frequency and Links With Affect and Salivary Cortisol.

OBJECTIVES: Physical intimacy is important for communicating affection in romantic relationships. Theoretical and empirical work highlights linkages between physical intimacy, affect, and physiological stress among young and middle-aged adults, but not older adults. We examine physical intimacy and its associations with positive and negative affect and cortisol levels in the daily lives of older couples. METHODS: We applied actor-partner multilevel models to repeated daily-life assessments of physical intimacy (experienced and wished) and affect obtained 6 times a day over 7 consecutive days from 120 older heterosexual German couples (Mage = 71.6, SDage = 5.94). Physiological stress was indexed as total daily cortisol output, the area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg). RESULTS: Physical intimacy experienced and wished were reported at the vast majority of occasions, but to different degrees at different times. Within persons, in moments when participants experienced more physical intimacy, older women reported less negative affect, whereas older men reported more positive affect. Between persons, higher overall levels of physical intimacy experienced were associated with higher positive affect and less negative affect among women and with lower daily cortisol output among men. A stronger wish for intimacy was related to more negative affect among both women and men, and to higher daily cortisol output among men. DISCUSSION: Physical intimacy is linked with mood and stress hormones in the daily life of older couples. We consider routes for future inquiry on physical intimacy among older adults.

A neglected reality of mass media during COVID-19: Effect of pandemic news on individual's positive and negative emotion and psychological resilience.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that mass media platforms are playing a crucial role in disseminating information about the COVID-19 pandemic. As media coverage of pandemic using frightening language has been speculated to induce emotional disturbances in people and fluctuations in their resilience level, this study was performed to explore the effect of COVID-19 related news on individual's emotions and resilience. It was hypothesized that altering the type of news would produce varying levels of emotions and resilience in participants. Both the recruitment of participants and the conduction of the study were done online in September when the pandemic hit the peak in India. Randomly assigned participants were exposed to three conditions: positive news (N = 56), negative news (N = 59), and neutral news (N = 60) related to COVID-19. Analyses revealed negative news significantly decreased positive emotions and resilience while positive news significantly reduced negative emotions and vice-versa. These finding suggest strong impact of mass media on individual's emotions and their own self-evaluation on resilience. The study highlights the responsibility of mass media and urges for bringing necessary changes in covering pandemic news and similar other uncertain situations in keeping people's emotions stable and increasing their psychological resilience.

The Medium is the Message: Effects of Mediums of Communication on Perceptions and Emotions in Social Anxiety Disorder.

We examined the use of voice/text and visual mediums and their effects on perceptions and emotions in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Our sample included 88 individuals: 44 individuals with SAD and 44 non-socially-anxious (NSA) individuals. We used an experience sampling methodology (ESM) in which participants received daily links to online measures at random times during the day, for 21 days and reported on social interactions, emotions and perceptions. Results indicated that individuals with SAD used voice/text mediums to a greater extent and used visual mediums to a lesser extent compared to NSA individuals. However, despite preferring voice/text mediums, use of visual mediums resulted in immediate increases in positive perceptions and emotions for individuals with SAD. These findings were above and beyond the effect of depressive symptoms and remained when social anxiety was represented as a continuum of severity. This has important implications for exposure interventions in the treatment of SAD.

Apoyo social de familia, profesorado y amigos, ajuste escolar y bienestar subjetivo en adolescentes peruanos / Social support from family, teachers and friends, school adjustment and subjective well-being of Peruvian adolescents

Resumen Introducción: La psicología positiva ha señalado la importancia del bienestar subjetivo de los adolescentes, por ser un precursor del desarrollo positivo de los jóvenes. La investigación resalta la importancia del apoyo social percibido y el ajuste escolar como determinantes del bienestar adolescente. Por ello, este artículo tiene como finalidad analizar las relaciones de la percepción de apoyo social (de familia, profesorado, amigos) con el bienestar subjetivo de los adolescentes, mediado por su ajuste escolar. Método: Participaron 1035 estudiantes peruanos de educación secundaria, con edades entre 12 y 16 años. Se probaron dos modelos teóricos con variables latentes, uno con mediación total y otro con mediación parcial. Resultados: Los resultados del modelo final mostraron una alta capacidad predictiva del apoyo social sobre el ajuste escolar y de este sobre el bienestar de los adolescentes. Además, se encontró un potente efecto del apoyo de la familia sobre el bienestar subjetivo de los adolescentes peruanos. Conclusión: Estos resultados contribuyen a resaltar que el bienestar subjetivo es un constructo central en el contexto de la psicología positiva y en el desarrollo positivo de los jóvenes, por lo que debería cultivarse más abundantemente en las escuelas.

Abstract Introduction: Positive psychology has highlighted the importance of adolescents' subjected well-being as a precursor of the positive youth development. Research in this context highlights the importance of perceived social support and school adjustment as determinants of adolescent well-being. Therefore, the objective of this work has been to analyze the relationships of the perception of social support (from family, teachers, and friends) and the adolescents' subjective well-being, mediated by their school adjustment. Method: Participants were 1035 Peruvian Secondary Education students, aged between 12 and 16 years old. Two theoretical models with latent variables have been estimated and tested, one with total mediation and the other with partial mediation. Results: The results of the final model, with partial mediation, have shown a high predictive capacity of social support on school adjustment and, in turn, on the adolescents' well-being. In addition, a powerful effect of family support on subjective well-being of Peruvian adolescents has also been found. Conclusion: These results contribute to highlighting that subjective well-being is a central construct in the context of Positive Psychology and in the positive development of young people, which is why it should be cultivated more abundantly in schools.

Ego-resiliency in borderline personality disorder and the mediating role of positive and negative affect on its associations with symptom severity and quality of life in daily life.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental health condition associated with severe symptoms of distress and poor quality of life (QoL). Research outside the field of BPD suggests that ego-resiliency is negatively associated with psychopathology and positively associated with a range of positive life outcomes. Thus, ego-resiliency may be a valuable construct for furthering our understanding and treatment of BPD. However, the mechanisms linking ego-resiliency to psychopathology and QoL in relation to BPD have not been examined and explored by research. This study has addressed this gap in the collective knowledge by evaluating whether within-person associations between daily reports of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) mediated the relationship between ego-resiliency, BPD symptom severity, and QoL. For 21 consecutive days, 72 women diagnosed with BPD completed end-of-day electronic assessments regarding ego-resiliency, PA and NA, symptom severity, and QoL. Multilevel structural equation modelling established that PA and NA were parallel mediators linking ego-resiliency with BPD symptom severity and QoL. As hypothesized, the path to QoL was stronger through PA than through NA. The mediation paths through NA and PA to BPD symptom severity were both significant, but their strength did not differ. Our findings align with the assertions of theories on emotion, thus suggesting a two-factor approach to PA and NA. Future research can build on these findings by developing psychotherapeutic interventions designed not only to reduce symptom severity but also to enhance PA in individuals with BPD and determine whether an increase in PA is associated with improved QoL.

FANCat: French affective norms for ten emotional categories.

The present study develops key research for French word norms that combines the predominant theories of dimensional and discrete (or categorical) emotions. As a result, we provide the database FANCat, affective norms for a set of 1031 French words on ten discrete emotion categories: fear, anger, disgust, sadness, anxiety, awe, excitement, contentment, amusement, and serenity. FANCat complements a previous word set, FAN, which provides only the dimensional norms, valence, and arousal (Monnier & Syssau, 2014). Herein, we introduce five discrete positive emotions in efforts to differentiate positive emotions at higher resolution and specificity. Although ten emotional categories were considered in FANCat norms, results showed a high degree of inter-rater reliability and a good external validity. Then, distributional analyses of words into the ten emotion categories revealed that positive words evoked mainly the emotions awe, contentment, and amusement, and principally evoked either one positive emotion only ("pure" words) or two (mixed words). This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between language, and negative and positive emotions. It is also currently the only norms database in French that analyses ten discrete emotions as well as including valence and arousal. FANCat is available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338622765_FANCat_database .

The Role of the Right Hemisphere in Emotional and Behavioral Disorders of Patients With Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration: An Updated Review.

Background: Two main models have been advanced to explain the asymmetries observed in the representation and processing of emotions. The first model, labeled "the right hemisphere hypothesis," assumes a general dominance of the right hemisphere for all emotions, regardless of affective valence. The second model, named "the valence hypothesis," assumes an opposite dominance of the left hemisphere for positive emotions and the right hemisphere for negative emotions. Patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) could contribute to clarifying this issue, because disorders of emotional and social behavior are very common in FTLD and because atrophy, which affects the antero-ventral part of the frontal and temporal lobes, can be clearly asymmetric in the early stages of this disease. Objective: The main scope of the present review therefore consists of evaluating if results of investigations conducted on emotional and behavioral disorders of patients with right and left FTLD, support the "right hemisphere" or the "valence" hypothesis. Method: A thorough review of behavioral and emotional disorders in FTLD patients, found that 177 possible studies, but only 32 papers met the requested criteria for inclusion in our review. Results: Almost all (25 out of 26) studies were relevant with respect to the "right hemisphere hypothesis" and supported the assumption of a general dominance of the right hemisphere for emotional functions, whereas only one of the six investigations were relevant with respect to the "valence hypothesis" and were in part consistent with this hypothesis, though these are also open to interpretation in terms of the "right hemisphere" hypothesis. Conclusions: This study, therefore, clearly supports the model of a general dominance of the right hemisphere for all emotions, regardless of affective valence.

Predicting Career Decision-Making Difficulties: The Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence, Positive and Negative Emotions.

The current study evaluated the relationship between positive and negative emotions, trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) and difficulties in career decision-making. We examined whether trait EI could predict career indecisiveness, a type of career decision-making difficulty, over and above the "Big Five" personality traits. We also examined the mechanism through which trait EI affected career indecisiveness by investigating the mediating role of positive and negative emotions. Survey data were collected from a sample of 600 undergraduate students in a university in southwest United States, who completed questionnaires measuring trait EI, positive emotions, negative emotions, personality traits, and career indecisiveness. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that trait EI accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in career indecisiveness that was not explained by the "Big Five" personality traits. The parallel mediation analysis revealed that positive and negative emotions partially mediated the relationship between trait EI and career indecisiveness. Using the framework of Fredrickson's (2001) broaden and build theory of positive emotions, the study provides empirical evidence explaining the mechanism through which trait EI helps individuals cope better with challenging situations in life. Trait EI aids the elicitation of positive emotions and the down-regulation of negative emotions, which, in turn, broaden the range of thoughts and actions that come to mind, helping individuals function more effectively in the context of career decision-making. Implications for career counseling and opportunities for further research are discussed.

The perception of the illness and the self-efficacy in the management of emotions in cardiac patients.

Cardiac rehabilitation is the sum of psychological, physical and social treatments that are offered to cardiac patients to maintain or regain an active position in society. This study wants to evaluate changes in the perception of the illness and in the self-efficacy of the management of positive and negative emotions in patients who went through cardiac rehabilitation. Sixty-seven patients (20 females, 47 males) were selected within the cardiac rehabilitation unit in the Hospital of Cittadella (Italy). Illness Perception Questionnaire - revised version and the Scale for the self-efficacy of the management of positive and negative emotions were submitted at the beginning and at the end of the rehabilitation program. One-way analyses-of-variance were performed to evaluate different answers in questionnaires between pre- and post-evaluation, and to explore gender differences. A significant change was found in the perception of duration of illness, perceived as permanent and longer after the cardiac rehabilitation program. Furthermore, at the end of the cardiac rehabilitation program men perceived the illness more chronic than women, even if they are less worried and anxious. Intensive cardiac rehabilitation has a great emotional impact on cardiac patients, influencing their perception and management of the illness. Working on emotions, through psychological groups, helps patients change their beliefs by offering them a different perspective to approach the illness.

The Distancing-Embracing model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception.

Why are negative emotions so central in art reception far beyond tragedy? Revisiting classical aesthetics in the light of recent psychological research, we present a novel model to explain this much discussed (apparent) paradox. We argue that negative emotions are an important resource for the arts in general, rather than a special license for exceptional art forms only. The underlying rationale is that negative emotions have been shown to be particularly powerful in securing attention, intense emotional involvement, and high memorability, and hence is precisely what artworks strive for. Two groups of processing mechanisms are identified that conjointly adopt the particular powers of negative emotions for art's purposes. The first group consists of psychological distancing mechanisms that are activated along with the cognitive schemata of art, representation, and fiction. These schemata imply personal safety and control over continuing or discontinuing exposure to artworks, thereby preventing negative emotions from becoming outright incompatible with expectations of enjoyment. This distancing sets the stage for a second group of processing components that allow art recipients to positively embrace the experiencing of negative emotions, thereby rendering art reception more intense, more interesting, more emotionally moving, more profound, and occasionally even more beautiful. These components include compositional interplays of positive and negative emotions, the effects of aesthetic virtues of using the media of (re)presentation (musical sound, words/language, color, shapes) on emotion perception, and meaning-making efforts. Moreover, our Distancing-Embracing model proposes that concomitant mixed emotions often help integrate negative emotions into altogether pleasurable trajectories.

Resonance and dissonance asymmetry in effective physician-patient relationships.

This paper examines the proposed asymmetry that should occur between resonance and dissonance in physician-patient relationships in favour of resonance to facilitate an effective relationship. Resonance is represented by the positive emotional attractor, which comprises patients' conscious preferred future or ideal self, and dissonance is expressed by the negative emotional attractor and consists of the gaps between patients' ideal and real self or their fears, problems, and shortfalls. Intentional change theory is reviewed to optimise the physician-patient relationship. Concepts from complexity theory and recent research on emotions are used to explain positive and negative emotional attractors. The role of resonance and dissonance in physician-patient relationships is discussed along with how behaviour can be changed with positive and negative emotional attractors. This paper focuses on the quality and effectiveness of physician-patient relationships for physicians who create high versus low positive emotional attractor/negative emotional attractor ratios. Two theoretical propositions are offered and the research and practice implications are explained.

The affective profiles, psychological well-being, and harmony: environmental mastery and self-acceptance predict the sense of a harmonious life.

Background. An important outcome from the debate on whether wellness equals happiness, is the need of research focusing on how psychological well-being might influence humans' ability to adapt to the changing environment and live in harmony. To get a detailed picture of the influence of positive and negative affect, the current study employed the affective profiles model in which individuals are categorised into groups based on either high positive and low negative affect (self-fulfilling); high positive and high negative affect (high affective); low positive and low negative affect (low affective); and high negative and low positive affect (self-destructive). The aims were to (1) investigate differences between affective profiles in psychological well-being and harmony and (2) how psychological well-being and its dimensions relate to harmony within the four affective profiles. Method. 500 participants (mean age = 34.14 years, SD. = ±12.75 years; 187 males and 313 females) were recruited online and required to answer three self-report measures: The Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule; The Scales of Psychological Well-Being (short version) and The Harmony in Life Scale. We conducted a Multivariate Analysis of Variance where the affective profiles and gender were the independent factors and psychological well-being composite score, its six dimensions as well as the harmony in life score were the dependent factors. In addition, we conducted four multi-group (i.e., the four affective profiles) moderation analyses with the psychological well-being dimensions as predictors and harmony in life as the dependent variables. Results. Individuals categorised as self-fulfilling, as compared to the other profiles, tended to score higher on the psychological well-being dimensions: positive relations, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, autonomy, personal growth, and purpose in life. In addition, 47% to 66% of the variance of the harmony in life was explained by the dimensions of psychological well-being within the four affective profiles. Specifically, harmony in life was significantly predicted by environmental mastery and self-acceptance across all affective profiles. However, for the low affective group high purpose in life predicted low levels of harmony in life. Conclusions. The results demonstrated that affective profiles systematically relate to psychological well-being and harmony in life. Notably, individuals categorised as self-fulfilling tended to report higher levels of both psychological well-being and harmony in life when compared with the other profiles. Meanwhile individuals in the self-destructive group reported the lowest levels of psychological well-being and harmony when compared with the three other profiles. It is proposed that self-acceptance and environmental acceptance might enable individuals to go from self-destructive to a self-fulfilling state that also involves harmony in life.

Susceptibility to emotional contagion for negative emotions improves detection of smile authenticity.

A smile is a context-dependent emotional expression. A smiling face can signal the experience of enjoyable emotions, but people can also smile to convince another person that enjoyment is occurring when it is not. For this reason, the ability to discriminate between felt and faked enjoyment expressions is a crucial social skill. Despite its importance, adults show remarkable individual variation in this ability. Revealing the factors responsible for these huge individual differences is a key challenge in this domain. Here we investigated, on a large sample of participants, whether individual differences in smile authenticity recognition are accounted for by differences in the predisposition to experience other people's emotions, i.e., by susceptibility to emotional contagion. Results showed that susceptibility to emotional contagion for negative emotions increased smile authenticity detection, while susceptibility to emotional contagion for positive emotions worsened detection performance, because it leaded to categorize most of the faked smiles as sincere. These findings suggest that susceptibility to emotional contagion plays a key role in complex emotion recognition, and point out the importance of analyzing the tendency to experience other people's positive and negative emotions as separate abilities.

Exploring the impact of positive and negative emotions on cooperative behaviour in a Prisoner's Dilemma Game.

Objective. To explore the influences of discrete positive and negative emotions on cooperation in the context of a social dilemma game. Design. Two controlled studies were undertaken. In Study 1, 69 participants were randomly assigned to an essay emotion manipulation task designed to induce either guilt, joy or no strong emotion. In Study 2, 95 participants were randomly assigned to one of the same three tasks, and the impact of emotional condition on cooperation was explored using a repeated Prisoner's Dilemma Game. Results. Study 1 established that the manipulation task was successful in inducing the specified emotions. The analysis from Study 2 revealed no significant main effects for emotions, in contrast to previous research. However, there was a significant effect for participants' pre-existing tendency to cooperate (social value orientation; SVO). Conclusion. Methodological explanations for the result are explored, including the possible impact of trial-and-error strategies, different cooperation games and endogenous vs exogenous emotions.