Control Appraisals Research Articles

Moment-to-Moment Interplay Among Stress Appraisals and Emotion Regulation Flexibility in Daily Life

Flexible use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies in daily life is theorized to depend on appraisals of occurring stressful events. Yet, to date, little is known about (a) how appraisals of the current situation modulate the use of ER strategies in daily life and (b) how individual differences in affective symptoms impact these relations among appraisals and ER strategy use. This study attempted to address these two limitations using a 5-day experience sampling protocol, with three surveys administered per day in a sample of 97 participants. Each survey measured momentary appraisals of stress intensity and controllability as well as ER strategy use (i.e., rumination, reappraisal, avoidance, and active coping). Results showed that, in situations of low-stress intensity, higher stress controllability was related to greater use of reappraisal and rumination. In situations of high-stress intensity, higher controllability was related to reduced use of rumination. This pattern of flexible use of ER strategies depending on momentary stress appraisals was found for both rumination and avoidance and occurred specifically in individuals reporting lower levels of depression and/or anxiety levels. These findings provide new insight into how flexible use of ER strategies in daily life is modulated by interactions between stress intensity and controllability appraisals at varying levels of affective symptoms.

The relationship between acceptance of illness and quality of life among men who have sex with men living with human immunodeficiency virus: A cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo explore the relationship between acceptance of illness and quality of life (QOL), and factors associated with acceptance of illness among men who have sex with men (MSM) living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). MethodsThree hundred and one MSM were recruited from an HIV clinic between August and December 2018. The battery of measurements consisted of the Acceptance of Illness Scale, World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire for HIV brief version, HIV Cognitive Appraisal Scale and a self-designed questionnaire used to collect general information. Pearson correlation test was used to examine the relationship between acceptance of illness and QOL. Univariate and multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses were used to examine whether the general data (demographic and HIV-related clinical data) and HIV cognitive appraisal were associated with acceptance of illness levels. ResultsDescriptive analysis showed the acceptance level among MSM living with HIV was moderate (Mean = 26.29, SD = 5.28). Those with a better acceptance of illness had a better QOL (r = 0.69, P < 0.01). In the multivariate ordinal logistic regression model, education level, threat appraisals (OR:1.09; 95%CI [1.06–1.13]), and controllability appraisals (OR: 0.82; 95%CI [0.71–0.94]) were significantly associated with acceptance of illness. ConclusionsResults showed acceptance level was moderate and had a positive correlation with QOL. High level of education, low threat appraisals and high controllability appraisals were related to high illness acceptance. This finding highlights the importance of focusing on HIV-infected MSM with low education and on their perceptions of threat and controllability about HIV-related issues when designing interventions to promote illness acceptance in this vulnerable population.

The appraisal antecedents of Shanghai students’ mathematics anxiety and the moderating effects of teacher behaviours: from the perspective of the control-value theory

ABSTRACT As mathematics anxiety could result in students’ low performance and impact their well-being, it is necessary for both researchers and educators to understand what causes mathematics anxiety and what moderates these effects. Based on the control-value theory, the present study proposed a framework that students’ mathematics anxiety was triggered by their control and value appraisals, and teacher behaviours could play moderating roles in the process. By analysing data of the Shanghai China sample of PISA 2012, and applying multivariable regression model, results showed that (1) action control appraisal, outcome control appraisal, and intrinsic value appraisal could negatively predict mathematics anxiety, while extrinsic value appraisal could enhance mathematics anxiety; and (2) teacher support, formative assessment, and teacher-directed instruction significantly moderated the effects of appraisal antecedents on mathematics anxiety and helped reduce students’ mathematics anxiety.

Neuroanatomical Correlates of Perceived Stress Controllability in Adolescents and Emerging Adults.

Stressful life events predict changes in brain structure and increases in psychopathology, but not everyone is equally affected by life stress. The learned helplessness theory posits that perceiving life stressors as uncontrollable leads to depression. Evidence supports this theory for youth, but the impact of perceived control diverges based on stressor type: perceived lack of control over dependent (self-generated) stressors is associated with greater depression symptoms when controlling for the frequency of stress exposure, but perceived control over independent (non-self-generated) stressors is not. However, it is unknown how perceived control over these stressor types is associated with brain structure. We tested whether perceived lack of control over dependent and independent life stressors, controlling for stressor exposure, is associated with gray matter (GM) in a priori regions of interest (ROIs; mPFC, hippocampus, amygdala) and across the cortex in a sample of 108 adolescents and emerging adults ages 14-22. There were no associations across the full sample between perceived control over either stressor type and GM in the ROIs. However, less perceived control over dependent stressors was associated with greater amygdala gray matter volume in female youth and greater medial prefrontal cortex thickness in male youth. Furthermore, whole-cortex analyses revealed less perceived control over dependent stressors was associated with greater GM thickness in cortical regions involved in cognitive and emotional regulation. Thus, appraisals of control have distinct associations with brain morphology while controlling for stressor frequency, highlighting the importance of differentiating between these aspects of the stress experience in future research.

Coping with outbreaks: Toward an infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model for risk communication

ABSTRACT Through an online, nationally representative survey (N = 1,164), this study examines how individuals perceive and cope with infectious disease outbreaks. Findings inform risk and crisis communication strategies for health organizations. This study explored how individuals’ threat appraisals (perceived controllability, perceived predictability, and perceived responsibility) and their cognitive (i.e., information seeking) and conative coping (i.e., protective actions) differ by infectious disease threat (IDT) type (i.e. airborne, bloodborne, foodborne, sexually-transmitted, waterborne, or zoonotic/vectorborne) in epidemic situations. Findings revealed that IDT types varied significantly based on individuals’ appraisals of predictability, controllability, and responsibility for different disease types. Across all disease types, predictability was the most impactful factor related to participants’ information seeking and planned protective action taking.

Shaping the self through education: exploring the links between educational identity statuses, appraisals of control and value, and achievement emotions

Shaping the self through education: exploring the links between educational identity statuses, appraisals of control and value, and achievement emotions

Classroom activities as predictors of control, value, and state emotions in science

This article examined relations among classroom activities, students’ momentary control- and value-related appraisals, and students’ state emotions in high school science classrooms. Throughout 10 days of instruction, high school students (N = 244) reported their state emotions and task-specific control- and value-related appraisals during science class, while classroom activities were observed via video. Results obtained through structural equation modeling and MANOVA suggest that perceived value, control, and emotions differed significantly across classroom activities. Classroom activities exhibited direct effects on emotions as well as indirect effects via control and value appraisals. Results suggest that theorized links among environment, appraisals, and emotions may differ by both the emotion and the classroom activity under consideration.

The Relationship between Cognitive Activation, Self-efficacy, Achievement Emotions and (Meta)cognitive Learning Strategies among Ugandan Biology Learners

According to the control-value theory of achievement emotions, the influence of cognitive activation teaching strategies on students’ effective use of Cognitive and Meta-Cognitive (CMC) learning strategies is mediated by control appraisals (e.g. self-efficacy) and achievement emotions (i.e. enjoyment and boredom). However, there is limited and contrasting empirical evidence to support this assertion despite claims of cross-cultural and domain consistency. The present study was aimed at examining the multiple mediational roles of self-efficacy and achievement emotions on the relationship between perceived cognitive activation during instruction and four CMC learning strategies among Ugandan biology students. Data were collected using anonymous questionnaires from 587 (50.6% females) tenth grade students with a mean age of 17 years (SD = 1.16) from 10 secondary schools in Uganda. We tested the mediation hypothesis in separate models with each CMC learning strategy. Indirect effects from cognitive activation through self-efficacy and/or enjoyment to CMC learning strategies were all significant confirming their mediational roles. There were significant (p < 0.001) direct effects from cognitive activation to: self-efficacy (β = 0.41), enjoyment (β = 0.26) and cognitive learning strategies, i.e. rehearsal (β = 0.30), organisation (β = 0.30) and elaboration (β = 0.33). Self-efficacy and enjoyment fully mediated the relationship between cognitive activation and metacognition. Except for self-efficacy, direct effects to or from boredom were not significant. Clearly, instructional strategies in biology that stimulate thought among learners are relevant for increasing effective use of any one of CMC learning strategies.

Starting Tests With Easy Versus Difficult Tasks: Effects on Appraisals and Emotions

Tests in educational contexts often start with easy tasks, assuming that this fosters positive experiences—a sense of control, higher valuing of the test, and more positive and less negative emotions. Although intuitive and widespread, this assumption lacks an empirical basis and a theoretical framework. We conducted a field experiment and randomly assigned 208 students to an easy-to-difficult or a difficult-to-easy condition in a mathematics test. Perceived challenge was measured along with control appraisals, value appraisals, and emotions (enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, boredom). While students starting with easy tasks felt less challenged than students starting with difficult tasks in Part 1, no differences emerged regarding control and value appraisals and emotions. In Part 2, students who had started with easy tasks proceeded to difficult tasks and reported a higher level of challenge, less value and control, and less positive and more negative emotions than students who proceeded from difficult-to-easy tasks. Control and value appraisals mediated the differences between the two conditions, especially regarding positive emotions. These results cast doubt on the preference for easy-to-difficult over difficult-to-easy task orders, revealing their potential for causing adverse experiences at the end of the test (e.g., reflecting contrast effects).

Strategies for Alleviating Students’ Math Anxiety: Control-Value Theory in Practice

Mathematics educators often know the widespread nature of mathematics anxiety and may even be aware of the debilitating effect it can have on their students. Although educators may develop tricks or tools that seem to help, a comprehensive understanding of what students are experiencing and how the classroom environment can be adjusted to address their struggles is missing. Control-value theory offers a theoretical framework for how the classroom environment and students’ appraisals influence mathematics anxiety (Pekrun, 2006). Mathematics anxious students are focused on not failing, rather than on mastering the material, and have a low sense of control over outcomes. To decrease mathematics anxiety, teachers can implement strategies that increase emphasis on learning over performance and support autonomy, thus decreasing fear of failure and avoidant goal orientations, and increasing self-efficacy and control appraisals. Suggested strategies for adjusting instruction focus on high school and college classrooms.

The Effect of Teacher Autonomy Support on Leisure-Time Physical Activity via Cognitive Appraisals and Achievement Emotions: A Mediation Analysis Based on the Control-Value Theory.

Analyzing students’ emotional experience in physical education (PE) is of crucial importance as it may fill an important gap in research examining the role of PE for students’ leisure-time physical activity (PA). Based on the control-value theory of achievement emotions, the purpose of this study was to test the assumption that multi-dimensional autonomy support of the PE teacher may affect students’ leisure-time PA via their appraisals of control and value and achievement emotions experienced in PE. Variance-based structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed model in a sample of 1030 students aged between 11 and 18 years (M = 13.4, SD = 1.48) stemming from schools with the lowest educational level among secondary schools in Germany. The results indicated that in particular cognitive autonomy support positively predicted students’ self-efficacy and intrinsic value. Whereas appraisals of self-efficacy were negatively related to the experience of anxiety, intrinsic value was a major positive predictor of enjoyment. Enjoyment, in turn, was of substantial relevance for leisure-time PA. The findings offer a meaningful contribution in understanding students’ emotional experiences and remind PE teachers of their opportunity to adopt an autonomy-supportive teaching style to positively influence the emotions of their students.

What does differentiate unwanted mental intrusions in OCD? A phenomenological study of the mental intrusions in OCD, anxiety disorders, and non-clinical groups using the interview technique

Background and objectivesThe study examines the nature of OCD-related unwanted mental intrusions (UMIs) by comparing OCD, anxiety disorders (AD), and healthy control (HC) groups. MethodsThe patients with OCD (n = 50), AD (n = 59), and HC (n = 50) completed a semi-structured interview assessing UMIs, and a set of questionnaires. ResultsOur results provided evidence for the cognitive content specificity of OCD-related unwanted mental intrusions (UMIs) and appraisals. Two patient groups and non-clinical participants reported at least one OCD-related UMI and the groups did not differ from each other in terms of the forms and triggers of UMIs. However, the intrusions were more distressing and persistent in the OCD patients. The patients with OCD placed higher importance on getting UMIs out of their minds and reported higher difficulty in controlling them compared to the other two control groups. Furthermore, control appraisals showed higher relevance to the distressing features of the intrusions. ConclusionsThe results underlined the specificity of obsessive cognitive content and the importance of thought control-related appraisal in defining the distressful features of the mental intrusions seen in OCD. The results were discussed in light of the cognitive specificity model.

RETRACTED: Research on the intelligent model of progress in physical education training based on motion sensor

Physical activity characteristics indicate the degree of mobility that underlies the chronic disease and aging process. Accelerometers have been broadly acknowledged as helpful and viable sensors as wearable gadgets that quantify and assess actual movement. It will consider developing a wearable accelerometer-based motion detector. The proposed Artificial Neural Network (ANN) system operates on the principle of accelerometer measurement. Sensor qualities and sensor show positions are first presented. Different investigations were audited utilizing accelerometer-based wearable movement identifiers and assessed utilizing actual action checking and evaluation, including postural and movement arrangement, energy consumption, fall identification, and assessment of equilibrium control appraisals. Finally, this work is evaluated compared to the current development status provided by a comprehensive outlook of possible technologies with existing commercial products based on the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) tool. Technological advances have created new opportunities to strengthen education and improve the delivery of acquired Physical Education (PE) gaming skills. Determining Location Availability for Students with Practical Background Motion tracking systems can provide the right skills to support motor skills education in athletic teaching.

Elementary students’ cognitive and affective responses to impasses during mathematics problem solving.

We propose a model delineating the role of control, value, and cognitive disequilibrium in elementary students’ experience of emotions during mathematics problem solving. We tested this model across 2 studies. In Study 1, using an explanatory mixed-methods design, 136 students from Grades 3 to 6 worked on a complex mathematics problem appropriate for their grade level. A think-aloud protocol was used to capture cognitive processes, and trend analyses were applied to students’ transcriptions to assess convergence or divergence of the quantitative results and to provide a richer account of students’ experiences. Results revealed that cognitive disequilibrium mediated relations between control and emotions but not value. In addition, curiosity and frustration predicted enactment and metacognitive strategies, which directly predicted mathematics problem-solving achievement. Trend analyses revealed that confusion following a failed attempt at impasse resolution led to frustration for 33% of the instances of a failed attempt. Interestingly, 35% of those instances resulted in students seeking help, and 32% resulted in students trying again or moving on. Additionally, trend analyses provided evidence that curiosity following surprise was a function of high resolution expectancy, whereas confusion following surprise was because of low resolution expectancy or high complexity. In Study 2, a new sample of 80 Grade 5 students completed a multiday complex mathematics problem and self-reported their emotions and cognitive appraisals of control and value (pretest and posttest). Results revealed reciprocal relations between control and curiosity and control and frustration. No reciprocal effects were found for value. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Individual differences and changes in subjective wellbeing during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably impacted many people's lives. This study examined changes in subjective wellbeing between December 2019 and May 2020 and how stress appraisals and coping strategies relate to individual differences and changes in subjective wellbeing during the early stages of the pandemic. Data were collected at 4 time points from 979 individuals in Germany. Results showed that, on average, life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect did not change significantly between December 2019 and March 2020 but decreased between March and May 2020. Across the latter timespan, individual differences in life satisfaction were positively related to controllability appraisals, active coping, and positive reframing, and negatively related to threat and centrality appraisals and planning. Positive affect was positively related to challenge and controllable-by-self appraisals, active coping, using emotional support, and religion, and negatively related to threat appraisal and humor. Negative affect was positively related to threat and centrality appraisals, denial, substance use, and self-blame, and negatively related to controllability appraisals and emotional support. Contrary to expectations, the effects of stress appraisals and coping strategies on changes in subjective wellbeing were small and mostly nonsignificant. These findings imply that the COVID-19 pandemic represents not only a major medical and economic crisis, but also has a psychological dimension, as it can be associated with declines in key facets of people's subjective wellbeing. Psychological practitioners should address potential declines in subjective wellbeing with their clients and attempt to enhance clients' general capability to use functional stress appraisals and effective coping strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

In the eye of the beholder: How proactive coping alters perceptions of insecurity.

Why do some workers experience less insecurity than others even when facing the same objectively insecure work situation? Combining appraisal theory with the construct of proactive coping, we propose that proactive career behavior represents a form of resource accumulation that mitigates the extent to which insecure work situations result in perceived insecurity. We hypothesize that proactive career behavior moderates the effect of an acute insecure work situation (time remaining before contract expiration) and a chronic insecure work situation (probability of digitalization) on control appraisals of these situations and, in turn, perceptions of job and employment insecurity. We tested this moderated mediation model in a 3-wave field study with 2 samples. First, workers in unstable temporary jobs (with no renewed contract, N = 227) perceived higher lack of control and hence higher job insecurity as their contract got closer to expiring. As hypothesized, this process was mitigated by proactive career behavior. Second, workers in stable jobs (with a renewed contract or a permanent contract, N = 205) perceived higher lack of control and hence higher employment insecurity, as their occupation had a higher probability of digitalization. In contrast to our hypothesis, proactive career behavior did not mitigate this effect. Results further replicated established relationships between perceived insecurity and later stress and career dissatisfaction. By moving up the causal chain and focusing on the emergence of insecurity rather than the more common emphasis on consequences of insecurity, our study uncovers the role of proactive coping in the job insecurity process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Appraisal and Coping Link Sexual Victimization History to Emotional Experience: A Multilevel Daily Diary Study.

Sexual victimization (SV) history is common among college students and has many adverse effects on health, but little is known about whether these effects are explained by everyday stress and coping. Further, most studies conflate between- and within-person effects, limiting our understanding of distinct trait- versus state-level pathways. To address these gaps, we examined the multilevel association of SV history with contemporary positive and negative affect and somatic symptoms via daily control appraisals and coping (problem-focused, meaning-focused, and avoidance) with daily stressors. Online daily diary surveys assessed stress, appraisals, coping, affect, and somatization among 261 undergraduates with and without SV history over 11 consecutive days. Between- and within-person differences in appraisals, coping, affect, and somatic symptoms were examined using multilevel covariance modeling in a causal system, testing daily stressor type as a moderator of within-person effects. Across days, SV history was indirectly linked only to average positive affect via meaning-focused coping, with no other between-person indirect effects. At the within-person level, greater negative affect was experienced in the context of interpersonal stress, driven by greater problem-focused coping, greater positive affect was experienced in the context of academic stress, driven by greater control appraisals, and less positive and negative affect were experienced in the context of intrapersonal stress, driven by lower control appraisals and less problem-focused coping. SV may influence daily stress processes at multiple levels, depending on stressor type. Appraised control and active coping are potentially important but understudied ways in which SV history informs contemporary stress management.

Antecedents and effects of boredom among university students: an integrated conditional process model

Boredom coping strategies were incorporated with control-value theory variables of control, value, boredom and academic performance to test an integrated model of the antecedents and effects of boredom experienced while studying among university students. A diverse sample of 177 Australian university students with a mean age of 29.64 years (SD = 10.03 years) completed an online survey for the study. Independently, students’ lower appraisals of value and control for their course of study were associated with higher experiences of boredom. Additionally, a conditional process analysis revealed dually moderated mediation where the interaction of control and value appraisals negatively predicted experience of boredom while studying, and the combination of higher boredom and a high tendency for behavioural avoidance coping was subsequently linked to lower academic performance. Practical implications for students and universities are discussed, as well as suggestions about future research to further extend our understanding in these important areas of research.

The dynamics of real-time classroom emotions: Appraisals mediate the relation between students’ perceptions of teaching and their emotions.

Guided by Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions, we investigated the mediating role of control and value appraisals in the relations between students’ perceptions of teaching and their academic emotions. To account for the highly fluctuating and dynamic nature of emotions, we used the experience sampling method complemented by within-person mediation analyses. In 2 studies, n = 122 (Study 1) and n = 149 (Study 2) high school students reported on their real-time perceptions of teaching characteristics (grouped into two second-order factors: supportive presentation style and excessive lesson demands), their control and value (intrinsic and extrinsic) appraisals, and their academic emotions of enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom (n = 1,520/2,669 assessments within students). Across the 2 studies, we found consistent results on the intraindividual level that are in line with an assumption of the control-value theory: Appraisals of control and value mediated the effects of perceived characteristics of teaching on academic emotions (e.g., supportive presentation style showed positive effects on control, which, in turn, showed positive effects on enjoyment). At the same time—and contributing to further developments of the control-value theory—the relative importance of direct and indirect effects (i.e., amount of mediation) differed across emotions. For example, there was a strong direct effect of supportive presentation style on enjoyment, but no effect on anxiety. Similarly, appraisals differed in their relative importance as mediators both within and across emotions (e.g., extrinsic value was mainly relevant for anxiety, whereas intrinsic value contributed to enjoyment and boredom). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Insight-related beliefs and controllability appraisals contribute little to hallucinated voices: a transdiagnostic network analysis study

Hallucinated voices cause high levels of distress and disability. Current theories suggest that insight-related beliefs, about internal or external origin, perceived source location, and appraisals of controllability are important in mediating the impact of these experiences but previous findings have been mixed. We report two open code and open data network analytic studies of items in the Psychotic Symptoms Ratings Scale for auditory verbal hallucinations (PSYRATS-AH) in a large sample of patients with hallucinated voices to examine the network structure of items at (1) first assessment, and (2) differences over two consecutive assessments during a wait-list period. Networks were generated using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and extended Bayesian information criterion (EBIC) with node predictability. In Study 1 (N = 386), we report that insight-related items made a negligible contribution to hallucinated voices and the controllability appraisal made at most a modest contribution. Items relating to distress and negative content were the most central and most predicted by the wider network. In Study 2 (N = 204), we tested the longitudinal stability of the structure of hallucinated voices over a period of several months, finding a small change in total hallucination score and global strength but no clear evidence for an alteration in the structural relationship. The insight-related and controllability items remained as least influential over time. Insight-related beliefs and controllability appraisals may contribute less than previously thought to distressing hallucinated voices although we do not discount that other appraisals may remain important.