Effects Of Negative Affect Research Articles

Anxiety Sensitivity as a Predictor of Epilepsy-Related Quality of Life and Illness Severity Among Adult Epilepsy

The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of anxiety sensitivity in predicting seizure likelihood and QOL among 49 people with epilepsy (PWE; 63.3% female; Mage = 48.53, SD = 15.91). As hypothesized, after controlling for the effects of negative affectivity and past year seizure presence, greater levels of anxiety sensitivity significantly predicted poorer overall QOL as well as the QOL domains of seizure worry, medication effects, work-driving-social limitations, and cognitive functioning (8.8–22.9% unique variance). Anxiety sensitivity did not significantly predict seizure likelihood or QOL related to emotional well-being and energy difficulties. These findings suggest that PWE who are fearful of arousal-related sensations experience greater functional impairment, but not necessarily more severe epilepsy. Interventions aimed at decreasing anxiety sensitivity may be useful in improving QOL in this population.

Fear of Failure and Negative Affect in Early Stage Entrepreneurs: Regulation through Passion

Passion is investigated as a mechanism that regulates fear of failure and its negative affective consequences in the early stages of the entrepreneurial process. We first establish a relationship between fear of failure and negative affect, then use emotion regulation as a theoretical framework to explore how different kinds of passion experienced by an entrepreneur impact the relationship between fear of failure and negative affect. The results suggest a dualistic-regulatory-effect of passion depending on its type. Harmonious passion was found to decrease the influence of fear of failure on negative affect. In contrast, obsessive passion increased the effect that fear of failure has on negative affect. Research and practice implications are discussed.

Infant temperament and family socio-economic status in relation to the emergence of attention regulation

Attention regulation refers to the ability to control attention according to goals and intentions. Disengagement of attention is one of the first mechanisms of attention regulation that emerges in infancy, involving attention control and flexibility. Disengaging attention from emotional stimuli (such as threat-related cues) is of particular interest given its implication for self-regulation. A second mechanism of attention control is the ability to flexibly switch attention according to changing conditions. In our study, we investigated 9 to 12-month-olds’ disengagement and flexibility of attention, and examined the contribution of both temperament and socioeconomic status (SES) to individual differences in the emergence of these attention regulation skills at the end of the first year of life. Our results show that both difficulty to disengage from fearful faces and poorer attention flexibility were associated with higher levels of temperamental Negative Affectivity (NA). Additionally, attention flexibility moderated the effect of NA on disengagement from fearful faces. Infants with higher NA and poorer attention flexibility showed the greatest difficulty to disengage. Low SES was also associated with poorer attention flexibility, association that was mediated by infants’ NA. These results suggest that attention flexibility together with temperament and environmental factors are key to understand individual differences in attention regulation from threat-related stimuli as early as from infancy. Our findings also stress the importance of interactions between environmental and constitutional factors for understanding individual differences in the emergence of attention regulation.

Decisional, general and online procrastination: Understanding the moderating role of negative affect in the case of computer professionals

Following the development of the internet as an essential tool for communication at home and at work, the concept of online procrastination was introduced to the literature. The present study examined the relationships between online procrastination and two well-established forms of procrastination, namely decisional and general procrastination; as well as the moderating effect of negative affect on these relationships. The sample consisted of 236 computer professionals from Israel who filled self-reported questionnaires on procrastination and negative feelings. To examine the relationships between our variables, we used multiple linear regression and moderation analyses. The findings indicated that higher levels of general and decisional procrastination were associated with higher levels of online procrastination. Higher levels of negative affect were also associated with online procrastination. Moreover, negative affect moderated the effect of general and decisional procrastination on online procrastination, and for participants with higher levels of negative affect, this effect was stronger. These findings suggest that both a personality-based tendency to procrastinate and the tendency to delay decision making may affect online behavior and that negative affect strengthens these tendencies. Future studies will need to further explore online procrastination and examine the personality and situational variables that contribute to it.

The relationship between aggression and ability emotional intelligence: The role of negative affect

This study aimed to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between aggressive behaviour and individual levels of ability emotional intelligence (EI). Three hundred and ninety-five participants took part in this study. Participants were assessed on ability EI, negative affect (NA), and aggression by the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Buss–Perry Aggression questionnaires, respectively. The results revealed a negative relationship between aggression and ability EI, but this relationship depended on multiple factors: the type of EI branches and aggression dimensions, the influence of NA, and gender. Emotional management ability showed a direct relationship with aggression, while emotional perception ability presented an indirect relationship with aggression through the effect of NA. These EI abilities were related to different aggression dimensions, highlighting the direct relationship with physical aggression. Moreover, gender differences showed that women possess greater EI abilities, higher levels of NA, less aggressive behaviour, and a lower relationship between NA and aggression compared with men. This research offers a better understanding of the psychological processes explaining aggression. The inclusion of our findings in the design of prevention and treatment programs could be of great help in the control of aggressive behaviour.

Consummatory successive negative contrast in rats: Assessment through orofacial taste reactivity responses

Rats exposed to a downshift from a large reward (32% sucrose) to a small reward (4% sucrose) show an abrupt and transient reduction in consumption in comparison with animals that are always exposed to the small reward. This effect is called consummatory Successive Negative Contrast (cSNC) and involves negative affective consequences that lead to an aversive emotional, cognitive and behavioral state of frustration. There are few previous works that have investigated the hedonic alterations that undergo an unexpected incentive devaluation. The hedonic impact of fluids can be reliably assessed by examining the orofacial reactions of acceptance and rejection in the taste reactivity (TR) test. This study addressed in male adult Wistar rats the hedonic impact of incentive devaluation in an adapted cSNC protocol. Specifically, the orofacial responses to a sucrose solution infused into the oral cavity were measured. It was observed that animals exposed to reward devaluation, from a 32% to a 4% sucrose solution, showed a decrease in the duration of appetitive responses (tongue protrusions, mouth movements, paw licks) as compared with subjects which only experienced the low concentration of sucrose. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that incentive devaluation in a cSNC not only results in reduced intake, but also in a reduction in the hedonic value or palatability of the devalued reward.

Negative affect and intolerance of uncertainty as potential mediators of change in comorbid depression in transdiagnostic CBT for anxiety

BackgroundTransdiagnostic group cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety (TGCBT) has demonstrated effectiveness in improving comorbid conditions, including depression. Mediators of change in reductions in comorbid depression have yet to be established following this anxiety-focused treatment. Negative affect (NA) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) have demonstrated contributions to anxiety reduction in TGCBT, as has positive affect (PA) on depression reductions in other cognitive behavioral treatments. IU is also associated with depression and anxiety as a transdiagnostic vulnerability. This study evaluated the mediational effect of NA, IU, and PA on reduction in comorbid depressive symptoms in TGCBT. We hypothesized the indirect effect of the treatment through IU would be significant even when controlling for indirect effects through NA, PA, anxiety symptoms, and diagnostic severity. MethodData collected as a part of previous clinical trials at a clinic at a large university in the southwestern United States were used. Participants included 61 individuals from a mixed anxiety-disordered sample for whom pre- and post-treatment data were available. Mediation analyses were conducted using ordinary least squares regression in path-analytic form. ResultsThe total effect of the model was significant (F(10, 50) = 8.40, p < .001). When controlling for potential mediators, the direct effect of treatment was not significant (B = -1.01, t = -0.40, p = .688). Analysis of indirect effects revealed significant effects of NA (B = 0.50, SE = 0.17, p = .005, 95%CI [0.02, 0.83]) and IU (B = 0.13, SE = 0.05, p = .010, 95%CI [0.03, 0.23]), but not diagnostic severity (B = 1.39, SE = 0.86, p = .114, 95%CI [-0.35, 3.12]), anxiety symptoms (B = 0.19, SE = 0.12, p = .136, 95%CI [-0.06, 0.44]), or PA (B = -0.25, SE = 0.13, p = .051, 95%CI [-0.51, 0.01] on depression symptoms when modeled with TGCBT). ConclusionThese results suggest IU contributes uniquely to the improvement of comorbid depression in TGCBT above negative affect, an established change process. Implications for treatment and theory are discussed.

The Ups and Downs of Cognitive Function: Neuroticism and Negative Affect Drive Performance Inconsistency.

Response time inconsistency (RTI)-or trial-to-trial variability in speeded performance-is increasingly recognized as an indicator of transient lapses of attention, cognitive health status, and central nervous system integrity, as well as a potential early indicator of normal and pathological cognitive aging. Comparatively, little research has examined personality predictors of RTI across adulthood. We evaluated the association between the personality trait neuroticism and RTI in a community-dwelling sample of 317 adults between the ages of 19-83 and tested for two indirect pathways through negative affect (NA) and cognitive interference (CI). The personality trait neuroticism predicted greater RTI independent of mean response time performance and demographic covariates; the results were age-invariant. Furthermore, NA (but not CI) accounted for this association and moderated mediation model results indicated that older adults were more vulnerable to the adverse effects of NA. Neuroticism predicts greater RTI irrespective of mean performance and this effect is driven largely by heightened negative emotionality that may be particularly detrimental for older adults.

Negative Affectivity, Depression, and Resting Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as Possible Moderators of Endogenous Pain Modulation in Functional Somatic Syndromes.

Background: Several studies have shown that patients with functional somatic syndromes (FSS) have, on average, deficient endogenous pain modulation (EPM), as well as elevated levels of negative affectivity (NA) and high comorbidity with depression and reduced resting heart rate variability (HRV) compared to healthy controls (HC). The goals of this study were (1) to replicate these findings and (2) to investigate the moderating role of NA, depression, and resting HRV in EPM efficiency within a patient group with fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Resting HRV was quantified as the root mean square of successive differences between inter-beat intervals (RMSSD) in rest, a vagally mediated time domain measure of HRV.Methods: Seventy-eight patients with fibromyalgia and/or CFS and 33 HC completed a counter-irritation paradigm as a measure of EPM efficiency. Participants rated the painfulness of electrocutaneous stimuli (of individually calibrated intensity) on the ankle before (baseline phase), during (counter-irritation phase) and after (recovery phase) the application of a cold pain stimulus on the forearm. A larger reduction in pain in the counter-irritation phase compared to the baseline phase reflects a more efficient EPM.Results: In contrast to our expectations, there was no difference between pain ratings in the baseline compared to counter-irritation phase for both patients and HC. Therefore, reliable conclusions on the moderating effect of NA, depression, and RMSSD could not be made. Surprisingly, patients reported more pain in the recovery compared to the counter-irritation and baseline phase, while HC did not. This latter effect was more pronounced in patients with comorbid depression, patients who rated the painfulness of the counter-irritation stimulus as high and patients who rated the painfulness of the electrocutaneous stimuli as low. We did not manage to successfully replicate the counter-irritation effect in HC or FSS patients. Therefore, no valid conclusions on the association between RMSSD, depression, NA and EPM efficiency can be drawn from this study. Possible reasons for the lack of the counter-irritation effect are discussed.

The distressed (Type D) personality factor of social inhibition, but not negative affectivity, enhances eyeblink conditioning

Recent work has focused on a learning diathesis model in which specific personality factors such as behavioral inhibition (BI) may influence associative learning and in turn increase risk for the development of anxiety disorders. We have found in a series of studies that individuals self-reporting high levels of BI exhibit enhanced acquisition of conditioned eyeblinks. In the study reported here, hypotheses were extended to include distressed (Type D) personality which has been found to be related to BI. Type D personality is measured with the DS-14 scale which includes two subscales measuring negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI). We hypothesized that SI, which is similar to BI, would result in enhanced acquisition while the effect of NA is unclear. Eighty nine participants completed personality inventories including the Adult Measure of Behavioral Inhibition (AMBI) and DS-14. All participants received 60 acquisition trials with a 500 ms, 1000 Hz, tone CS and a co-terminating 50 ms, 5 psi corneal airpuff US. Participants received either 100% CS-US paired trials or a schedule of partial reinforcement where 50% US alone trials were intermixed into CS-US training. Acquisition of CRs did not differ between the two training protocols. Whereas BI was significantly related to Type D, SI, and NA, only BI and SI individuals exhibited enhanced acquisition of conditioned eyeblinks as compared to non-inhibited individuals. Personality factors now including social inhibition can be used to identify individuals who express enhanced associative learning which lends further support to a learning diathesis model of anxiety disorders.

Author Reply: The Need for Study of Correlates and Outcomes of Specific and General Aspects of Negative Emotions

I agree with the commentators that study of physical disease risk conferred by affective dispositions such as anger/hostility, anxiety, and sadness, should be more cognizant of developments in emotion theory. Emotions differ in their functional value depending on the person’s lifespan trajectory. Discrete emotions have different psychophysiological signatures; and emotional competence, including production, regulation, and knowledge, may be critical in determining whether specific negative affects, or general negative affectivity, are toxic for physical health. Emotion researchers, however, have mainly focused on acute affective experiences and ignored the general effects of negative affectivity, which subsumes the discrete negative affects. Most diseases develop over years so more needs to be known about the biological signatures of chronic specific affects and negative affectivity.

Costly Superstitious Beliefs: Experimental Evidence

Expectant parents experience a variety of emotions, including joy, anticipation as well as anxiety and fear related to the health of the fetus, the delivery and the newborn. These sources of uncertainty and stress render expectant mothers susceptible to the influence of popular beliefs. We design an experiment to evaluate the widespread Israeli belief that a baby’s room should remain unfurnished until after the baby is born. We test the impact of this belief on the economic decisions of pregnant Jewish women in Israel. Our findings show that many pregnant women, especially in the second half of pregnancy, prefer to avoid challenging popular beliefs – even at a financial cost. The negative affective consequences of “tempting fate” lead to a preference for a small monetary amount over new furniture for the newborn. The strength of popular beliefs and its influence on individual choice vary in accordance with ethnic origin and degree of religiosity.

The longitudinal association between temperament and physical activity in young children

ObjectiveTo examine the longitudinal association of negative affect and physical activity in a population of preschool children. Study designParticipants included 763 children (53% male) attending scheduled health supervision visits in their primary care physicians' offices. Data were collected at two time points at mean ages 27 (SD=5.4) and 47 (SD=6.2) months. Negative affect (NA) was measured using the Negative Affectivity (frustration/anger, decreased soothability) domain of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Physical Activity (PA) was assessed using a parent-report questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses tested the association between NA and PA, adjusting for child age, sex, z-BMI, PA at Time 1, maternal education, household income, and season, and examined for sex differences in the relationship between NA and PA. ResultsThe longitudinal association between NA at Time 1 and PA at Time 2 was moderated by sex (p<0.001). After adjusting for covariates, females with greater NA at Time 1 had decreased PA at Time 2 (p=0.01), whereas males with greater NA at Time 1 had increased PA at Time 2 (p=0.01). Specifically, among females, every 1 unit increase in NA at Time 1 was associated with a 9.9min/day decrease in PA at Time 2 (95% CI: −17.1, −2.8). ConclusionsNA and PA were associated early in childhood and the effects of NA on PA were gender specific. These findings underscore the importance of longitudinal and gender-specific analyses in mood-obesity research.

Lower-order anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty dimensions operate as specific vulnerabilities for social anxiety and depression within a hierarchical model

Within a hierarchical framework for depressive and anxiety disorders, negative affect (NA) is posited to be indirectly related to social anxiety and depression through cognitive vulnerabilities, including intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety sensitivity (AS). However, few prior studies have considered whether the lower-order dimensions of IU (i.e., prospective and inhibitory IU) and AS (i.e., physical, cognitive, and social concerns) better explain the indirect relation between NA and social anxiety and depression. The indirect relations between NA and social anxiety and depression through these cognitive vulnerabilities were examined using structural equation modeling in a clinical sample (N=298). NA and social anxiety symptoms were indirectly related through AS social concerns and inhibitory IU, although a direct effect of NA was also found. Only AS social concerns explained the relation between NA and a social anxiety disorder diagnosis. AS cognitive concerns was the only cognitive vulnerability factor to indirectly explain the relation between NA and depressive symptoms, although a direct effect of NA was also found. These findings suggest that the lower-order dimensions of AS and IU demonstrate more specific and less transdiagnostic associations with social anxiety and depression.

A Passion Model of the Negative Affect from Fear of Failure in the Entrepreneurial Context (WITHDRAWN)

Passion is investigated as a mechanism that regulates fear of failure and its negative affective consequences in the early stages of the entrepreneurial process. We first establish a relationship b...

Animal to human translational paradigms relevant for approach avoidance conflict decision making

Avoidance behavior in clinical anxiety disorders is often a decision made in response to approach-avoidance conflict, resulting in a sacrifice of potential rewards to avoid potential negative affective consequences. Animal research has a long history of relying on paradigms related to approach-avoidance conflict to model anxiety-relevant behavior. This approach includes punishment-based conflict, exploratory, and social interaction tasks. There has been a recent surge of interest in the translation of paradigms from animal to human, in efforts to increase generalization of findings and support the development of more effective mental health treatments. This article briefly reviews animal tests related to approach-avoidance conflict and results from lesion and pharmacologic studies utilizing these tests. We then provide a description of translational human paradigms that have been developed to tap into related constructs, summarizing behavioral and neuroimaging findings. Similarities and differences in findings from analogous animal and human paradigms are discussed. Lastly, we highlight opportunities for future research and paradigm development that will support the clinical utility of this translational work.

Is Type D personality a risk factor for all-cause mortality? A prospective population-based study among 2625 colorectal cancer survivors from the PROFILES registry

ObjectiveOur goal was to examine whether Type D personality and its components, negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), were associated with all-cause mortality among colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. MethodsCRC patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2009, as registered in the Dutch population-based Eindhoven Cancer Registry, received a questionnaire on Type D (DS14) on average 5.3years after diagnosis. Survival status (31-12-2013) was obtained from the Central Bureau for Genealogy. We used a Cox proportional hazard model to relate personality to all-cause mortality, while adjusting for demographics, clinical characteristics and cardiovascular disease (CVD). ResultsFifty percent was categorized as the ‘reference group’ (n=1281), 17% as ‘SI only’ (n=421), 12% as ‘NA only’ (n=309), and 21% as ‘Type D’ (n=532). After adjustment, CRC patients in the ‘NA only’ and ‘Type D’ groups showed an increased risk (HR=2.0, 95% CI=1.4–2.8, p<0.01, and HR=1.7, 95% CI=1.3–2.4, p<0.01) for all-cause mortality. This adverse effect of NA was limited to men aged >70. There was an additional adverse effect of SI on all-cause mortality in older men without CVD (HR=2.3, 95% CI=1.2–4.4, p=0.01). Personality was not related to mortality in women. Entering personality continuously, showed an increased risk for NA among older survivors, men and patients with comorbid CVD. Neither SI nor the interaction term was predictive in both the un- and adjusted Cox models. ConclusionOur findings suggest that it is the NA component that drives the adverse effect of psychological distress on survival in CRC patients, which is most prominent among older men.

Suppressing memories of words and familiar objects results in their affective devaluation: Evidence from Think/No-think tasks

Potentially distracting or otherwise-inappropriate stimuli, thoughts, or actions often must be inhibited to prevent interference with goal-directed behaviour. Growing evidence suggests that the impact of inhibition is not limited to reduced neurocognitive processing, but also includes negative affective consequences for any associated stimuli. The link between inhibition and aversive response has primarily been studied using tasks involving attentional- or response-related inhibition of external sensory stimuli. Here we show that affective devaluation also occurs when inhibition is applied to fully-encoded stimulus representations in memory. We first replicated prior findings of increased forgetting of words whose memories were suppressed in a Think/No-think procedure (Experiment 1). Incorporating a stimulus-evaluation task within this procedure revealed that suppressing memories of words (Experiment 2) and visual objects (Experiment 3) also results in their affective devaluation. Given the critical role of memory for guiding thoughts and actions, these results suggest that the affective consequences of inhibition may occur across a far broader range of situations than previously understood.

Effects of Negative Affectivity and Odor Valence on Chemosensory and Symptom Perception and Perceived Ability to Focus on a Cognitive Task.

The aim was to gain understanding for the impact of negative affectivity (NA) and odor valance on perceptual aspects during low-level odorous exposure. Fifty-five young adults who were either relatively low or high in NA (anxiety, depression, and somatization) were randomized for exposure to either limonene (pleasant odor) or pyridine (unpleasant odor). In an exposure chamber, they took part in baseline, blank and stable exposure sessions, during which they rated odor intensity, impact on ability to focus on an imagined cognitive task, and intensity of symptoms. The results showed higher ratings of negative impact on ability to focus during exposure to the unpleasant odor compared with the pleasant odor, and an association between NA and symptom intensity, with 18% of the variance in symptom intensity explained by somatization. The association between NA and symptom intensity was found to be driven by the factor sex. These results imply (a) that prior findings of odorous exposure that interfere negatively with work performance may be due to impact of an unpleasant odor on ability to focus on cognitive tasks and (b) that there are associations between NA, sex, and symptoms that may partly be referred to attentiveness to and interpretation of bodily sensations.

‘To Be Able to Imagine Otherwise’: community archives and the importance of representation

Through data gleaned from semi-structured interviews with 17 community archives founders, volunteers and staff at 12 sites in Southern California, this paper develops a new tripartite framework for understanding the ontological, epistemological and social impact of community archives. Throughout, it reflects the ways in which communities marginalized by race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender and political position experience both the profoundly negative affective consequences of absence and misrepresentation in mainstream media and archives (which it calls ‘symbolic annihilation’) and the positive effect of complex and autonomous forms of representation in community-driven archives (which it terms ‘representational belonging’).