Interpersonal Functioning Research Articles

Certainty Stance Adverbs in Chinese Linguistic Academic Writing: A Corpus-based Study

This study delves into the intricate usage of certainty stance adverbs in the academic writings of the Chinese. The object of this study is to conduct a contrastive analysis of certainty stance adverbs between Chinese linguistic MA novices and linguistic experts. The subject of this study is to explore the similarities and differences in the use of these adverbs within the academic discourse of the two groups mentioned. In addressing these disparities, the study seeks to analyze them from the perspective of interlanguage and interpersonal function, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the production of high-quality academic papers by the Chinese. The study employs two key methods: the contrastive analysis method and the corpus-based method. The novelty of the study lies in its contrastive examination of certainty stance adverbs between Chinese linguistic MA novices and experts. Through an in-depth analysis of theoretical frameworks and linguistic data extracted from the MA theses of Chinese linguistic novices and research articles of linguistic experts, the study underscores the importance of considering the similarities and differences in the use of certainty stance adverbs within the realm of second language acquisition and pragmatic studies. This consideration aims to refine learners’ syntactical and pragmatic command of certainty stance adverbs to align with expert academic discourse, ultimately fostering effective interpersonal communication in academic writing. The findings of this research offer valuable insights into the specific linguistic challenges encountered by the Chinese, thereby laying a solid groundwork for the development of targeted pedagogical strategies to bolster their academic writing skills.

Establishing Levels of Personality Functioning Using the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO-R): A Latent Profile Analysis

Both the new ICD-11 and the latest Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders focus on self and interpersonal functioning as the central feature of personality pathology, also acknowledging that personality disorders are organized along a dimensional continuum of severity. This revised understanding is in line with long-standing psychodynamic conceptualisations of personality pathology, in particular Kernberg’s object relations model of personality organization. Despite existing evidence for the clinical utility of the derived Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO-R), empirical support for the identification of clear cut-points between the different levels of personality functioning is missing. For this purpose, a total of 764 adult participants were recruited across two clinical (outpatient and inpatient) settings (n = 250) and two non-clinical (university students and general community) samples (n = 514). Results from the mixture modeling suggested the existence of five groups across the clinical and non-clinical samples that covered: healthy personality functioning, maladaptive personality rigidity, and mild, moderate, and severe levels of personality pathology. All five indicators of personality organization were found to be reliable predictors of personality pathology. Of the five STIPO-R indicators, Aggression and Moral Values had the most discriminative power for differentiating between the Mild, Moderate, and Severe personality disorder groups. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Familism moderates the association between parent-child conflict, interpersonal needs, and suicidal ideation among adolescents.

Within the framework of the interpersonal theory of suicide, parent-child conflict in adolescence may be associated with suicidal ideation through increases in thwarted interpersonal needs (i.e., perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness). Familism, a cultural value that emphasizes prioritizing familial interconnectedness and honor, may moderate the association between parent-child conflict and thwarted interpersonal needs. This study examined the relationship between parent-child conflict, familism, and suicidal ideation through the interpersonal theory of suicide. Participants were N = 250 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents aged 12-17years (Mage = 14.84, 60.8% female; 41.9% Hispanic, 21.5% African American/Black, 26.0% Caucasian). Participants completed survey and interview measures prior to discharge from psychiatric hospitalization. There was a significant conditional indirect effect of parent-child conflict on suicidal ideation through thwarted interpersonal needs [F (3, 246) = 54.41, p < .01], such that the strength of the indirect effects family conflict on suicidal ideation via thwarted interpersonal needs increased as familism increased. Findings indicate that the relationship between parent-child conflict and thwarted interpersonal needs may be exacerbated when levels of familism are also high. For youth who endorse high levels of familism, parent-child conflict may be particularly pernicious. Interventions targeting the family environment are needed to potentially improve adolescents' interpersonal functioning and protect against suicidal ideation.

Do Patient's Interpersonal Problems Improve Following Metacognitive Therapy? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Metacognitive therapy (MCT) aims to modify dysfunctional metacognitions that are thought to be universal determinants of emotional distress and psychological dysfunction more generally. MCT is an effective treatment for emotional distress symptoms, but less is known about its effect for other types of psychological problems. Interpersonal problems are common in psychological disorders and should be improved following psychotherapy. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of trials on the effects associated with MCT for interpersonal problems among adults with mental health disorders published until 15 November 2023 using PubMed, Cochrane Library and PsycNet. Trials with a minimum of 10 participants were included. A total of six studies based on five trials reported on the effectiveness of MCT for interpersonal problems and met our inclusion criteria. Two trials evaluated MCT for patients with major depressive disorders, two for patients with anxiety disorders and one for borderline personality disorder. Three of the trials were randomized controlled trials. Four of the trials reported follow-up data but varied in their time-points. The within-group effect size estimate from pretreatment to posttreatment across five trials was large (g = 0.865, 95% CI [0.512-1.218]). Our results indicate that MCT is an effective treatment for improving interpersonal problems in individuals with common mental disorders, even though the treatment is short and primarily concern improving mental regulation through modifying metacognitions. While this finding is in line with metacognitive theory, more trials evaluating personality and interpersonal functioning are needed to draw firm conclusions.

Macro-level engagement in computer engineering MOOC lectures: comparing a high-rated and a low-rated course

Although digital advances have enabled hundreds of universities to offer massive open online courses (MOOCs) to millions of students worldwide, the high dropout rate on these MOOCs indicates a disjunct between the potential of the offer and the success of its uptake. Many studies point to issues relating to interpersonal connection as a major factor in this disjunct. Interviews with students support the conclusion that lecturers’ interpersonal tone is crucial to shortening psychological distance in pre-recorded videos. However, it is unclear how the interpersonal tone preferred by students can be realised discursively. This paper captures discursive instances by modelling an engagement framework and identifying particularly useful strategies through comparison of a high-rated and a low-rated engineering MOOC course delivered on Coursera. Findings show that in the high rated course the lecturer consistently anticipated students’ state of mind and in response constructed a discourse that performed several interpersonal functions. On the other hand, in the low-rated course the lecturer mostly anticipated and addressed knowledge gaps and issues of difficulty, but not students’ emotional responses, and so deployed far fewer interpersonal strategies in the lecture discourse. These findings shed light on how lecturers can use interpersonal language in pre-recorded lectures to improve student engagement.

Paranoia: From Passive Social-Threat Perception to Misattunement in Social Interaction

Paranoia, defined as the unfounded belief that others intend to cause harm, negatively affects individuals across the continuum from healthy to pathological. Despite a definition that is explicitly social, paranoia is often studied as an isolated characteristic of the person who is experiencing it. In the current review, we propose that the study of paranoia could be advanced by adopting a perspective focused on its interactional nature. Specifically, we hypothesize that aberrant dynamic interaction and/or misattunement between social partners may be a critical component in the formation and maintenance of paranoia. We also speculate that the relationship between paranoia and social functioning is bidirectional in which poor interpersonal functioning is both a result of and a contributor to paranoia. This approach may identify novel mechanisms and potential treatment targets.

Characteristics and Functions of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury That Inform Suicide Risk

Objective Although non-suicidal self-injury (i.e., NSSI) has been suggested as a robust risk factor of suicide, NSSI related information that is most related to suicide risk remains unclear. Commonly studied NSSI characteristics are its frequency and the number of methods endorsed. However, it may not be merely how frequent or how many different methods that matters, but “why,” which alludes to the importance of NSSI functions (or why individuals engage in NSSI). Thus, this study examined how the interactions between NSSI characteristics and functions are associated with suicide risk. Methods Undergraduate students (n = 820) with a lifetime history of NSSI, filled out self-report measures on NSSI and suicide risk. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to examine the moderation effects between four 2-way interactions (i.e., method X intrapersonal; method X interpersonal; frequency X intrapersonal; frequency X interpersonal) on suicide risk. Results Main effects of all four independent variables were statistically significant. In terms of interactions, the intrapersonal function moderated both the effects of NSSI frequency and methods on suicide risk, whereas the interpersonal function moderated the effects of NSSI frequency on suicide risk. Conclusion Our results highlight that some NSSI related information than others are more indicative of suicide risk. In particular, the combination of NSSI functions, along with its frequency and number of methods, holds promise when assessing for current and lifetime suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Impact of clinical severity on treatment response in a randomized controlled trial comparing day hospital and intensive outpatient mentalization-based treatment for borderline personality disorder.

This study examined the impact of clinical severity on treatment outcome in two programs that differ markedly in treatment intensity: day hospital mentalization-based treatment (MBT-DH) and intensive outpatient mentalization-based treatment (MBT-IOP) for borderline personality disorder (BPD). A multicenter randomized controlled trial was conducted. Participants include the full intention-to-treat sample of the original trial of N= 114 randomized BPD patients (MBT-DH n= 70, MBT-IOP n= 44), who were assessed at baseline and subsequently every 6 up to 36 months after start of treatment. Outcomes were general symptom severity, borderline features, and interpersonal functioning. Clinical severity was examined in terms of severity of BPD, general symptom severity, comorbid symptom disorders, comorbid personality disorders, and cluster C personality features. None of the severity measures was related to treatment outcome or differentially predicted treatment outcome in MBT-DH and MBT-IOP, with the exception of a single moderating effect of co morbid symptom disorders on outcome in terms of BPD features, indicating less improvement in MBT-DH for patients with more symptom disorders. Overall, patients with varying levels of clinical severity benefited equally from MBT-DH and MBT-IOP, indicating that clinical severity may not be a useful criterion to differentiate in treatment intensity.

Effects of lavender essential oil inhalation aromatherapy on depression and sleep quality in stroke patients: A single-blind randomized controlled trial

Background and purposePost-stroke depression (PSD) has major implications for rehabilitation, motor recovery, activities of daily living, social and interpersonal functioning, and mortality. In view of the side effects of antidepressants, aromatherapy, a widely used non-pharmacological therapy, has received growing attention in recent years for its benefits of reduced complications, accessibility, and effectiveness. This study was designed to assess the effects of inhalation aromatherapy with lavender essential oil on depression and sleep quality in patients with PSD. Materials and methodsForty patients with PSD were enrolled and randomized into experimental and placebo groups. Experimental-group patients inhaled microencapsulated lavender essential oil every night at bedtime over a period of 4 weeks. A nonwoven bag containing 2.3 g of microcapsules with about 1.5 g of lavender essential oil was placed on or under the patient's pillow, depending on the patient's scent sensitivity. Placebo-group patients used the empty nonwoven bags for the same period as the experimental group. The 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17), the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to measure outcomes. ResultsThe HAMD-17 score, SDS score, and PSQI score showed statistically significant differences between both groups before and after intervention (P ≤ 0.01). The improvement in the experimental group was more marked than in the placebo group (P < 0.05). ConclusionLavender essential oil inhalation aromatherapy may help reduce depression and improve sleep quality in patients with PSD.

From intra-team conflict to interpersonal strain: the role of leader’s interpersonal modulation of emotional responses and sex

PurposeBy integrating the conservation of resources and the emotion-as-social-information theories, this study aims to question whether the leader’s effort to calm down when team members perceive intra-team conflict (ITC) may have a counterproductive effect on their interpersonal functioning. Specifically, the authors investigated whether team members with higher individual perceptions of ITC would be more likely to experience interpersonal strain (ISW) when their team leaders downregulate or suppress their emotional responses (i.e. high interpersonal modulation of emotional responses [MER]). A further objective of the study was to examine whether this exacerbating effect would be conditional on the leader’s sex.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 236 white collars nested in 48 teams (Msize = 6.23; SDsize = 2.69) and their respective team leaders (56.7% men) of a large organization providing financial services.FindingsMultilevel model results showed that team members confronted with higher ITC experienced higher ISW levels, especially when the leader’s interpersonal modulation of team members’ emotional responses was high (vs low). This effect was stronger when the interpersonal modulation was enacted by women (vs men) team leaders.Originality/valueThis study moves an important step forward in the conflict and ISW literature, as it is the first to identify a leader’s MER and sex as key boundary conditions under which ITC is related to team members’ ISW. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

An analysis of the English textbook “think” to the curriculum 2013

The study aimed to evaluate the relevance of materials in the textbook "Think" with basic competencies of the English curriculum 2013. The analysis has been done in interpersonal, transactional, and special function text genres. The instrument of the research was the checklist evaluation. The textbook was analyzed using a qualitative research method with a content analysis design. The data collection procedures started from perusing, highlighting, eliciting, grouping, coding, and tabulating. Then, the data was analyzed by adapting the procedures from Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014) using data selecting, data display, data interpreting, and conclusion. The data was evaluated using the categories of complete, slightly complete, slightly incomplete, and null. In the textbook, 12 materials were checked for relevance to the English curriculum 2013. The result of the study showed that the textbook only meets ten materials out of 22 materials suggested in basic competence 3 and 4 of English curriculum 2013. The interpersonal genre text does not have any related material out of three materials from one indicator. for the transactional genre text, the book has two complete indicators that suit the textbook and syllabus of curriculum 2013. It has one slightly complete and one slightly incomplete indicator. For the special text, the book does not meet any of the material suggested by the syllabus of curriculum 2013. The result found that the level of conformity of the "Think" textbook is slightly incomplete because the textbook contains materials that are not suggested by the syllabus. To sum up, the textbook "Think" is better to be used as a supplementary book in school with curriculum 2013. The book has various activities inside to support the teaching and learning process.

Features of Translation on Ancient Memorials Based on Interpersonal Function Analysis-Exemplified by a Selection of Classical Chinese Essays from Guwen Guanzhi

Translation has been a prominent focus in linguistics for six decades, yet scant attention has been paid to the stylistic nuances found in ancient Chinese memorials. The study aims to find out the linguistic features of translations of the ancient memorials. The paper starts with a brief introduction of Halliday’s interpersonal function theory and the definition of the memorial. Through analyzing the data, we collected from the two well-known Chinese ancient memorials. The former is State of Dispatching Troops and the later is Memorial to the Emperor Stating My Case. Results show the features of memorials regarding mood, modality, and personal pronoun and how these features achieve interpersonal functions through quantitative and qualitative research. This paper provides a simple model for analyzing Chinese ancient literary style memorials and compensates for the lack of theory about stylistic linguistic and systemic-functional linguistics in the English-Chinese translation field. The realization of interpersonal functions reflects the speaker’s status, intentions, tendencies and, the other information. In essays, more polite usage is used instead of the common first-person I and second-person pronoun you. The above analysis is considered by translators when they translate the memorials into English.

Online Support Community Building: An Interpersonal Pragmatic Study of Medical Sharing Discourse

The online support community is composed of netizens who have experienced shared stressful events or diseases. Few studies have focused on the mechanism of online community maintenance and construction. New rapport management model, as the frontier theory of interpersonal pragmatics, can avoid the limited coverage of linguistic evidence in sociological or communication approach. Medical sharing discourse is the true-life recording of personal medical experience in online community. As a new type of health discourse, it has become the main source for Chinese people to attain medical information. With complex interactive roles and special interpersonal contexts, it can best reflect interlocutors’ awareness of community building. Based on new rapport management model, this study focuses on the medical sharing discourse in China’s biggest online community Red Booklet. The discourse model and its interpersonal function in community maintenance will be elaborated in detail. Results show that bloggers have specific language selection in five language domains. Bloggers’ proper manipulation of interests, emotion, face, rights and obligations and communicative objectives in interaction contributes to the construction of online community.

Susceptibility to positive versus negative emotional contagion: First evidence on their distinction using a balanced self-report measure.

Susceptibility to emotional contagion is defined as the disposition of how susceptible someone is to catch others' emotions and it has long been studied in research on mental health, well-being, and social interaction. Given that existing self-report measures of susceptibility to emotional contagion have focused almost exclusively on negative emotions, we developed a self-report measure to assess the susceptibility to emotional contagion of both positive and negative emotions (2 scales). In two studies, we examined their factor structure, validity, and reliability using exploratory factor analysis (Study 1, N = 257), confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2, N = 247) and correlations. Our results confirmed the two-factor structure and demonstrated good internal consistencies. Regarding external validity, our scales showed diverging correlational patterns: While susceptibility to negative emotional contagion was linked to mental health problems and negative emotions, susceptibility to positive emotional contagion was linked to interpersonal functioning and prosocial tendencies. In conclusion, our scales appear to be internally/externally valid and a promising tool for future research.

Smartphone Addiction and Non Suicidal Self-injury among Undergraduate Healthcare Professionals: A Cross-sectional Study from Southern India

Introduction: Non Suicidal Self-injury (NSSI) and mobile phone addiction have recently garnered considerable attention, especially among adolescents and young adults. There is significant neglect regarding the impact of each phenomenon on the daily functioning of individuals; however, few studies have explored their correlation, leaving a gap in understanding the relationship between these two phenomena. Aim: To determine the level of smartphone addiction and NSSI behaviours among undergraduate healthcare professionals and to examine the extent of smartphones’ influence on the emotional stability of young adults, potentially leading to selfinjurious behaviour. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at ACS Medical College and Allied Health Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India over five months, involving 448 undergraduate healthcare professionals. After applying exclusion criteria, 367 participants were included in the study. Socio-demographic details were collected using a semistructured proforma. The questionnaire included the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) and the Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury (ISAS). The statistical tests used were the Chi-square test for categorical variables, Spearman correlation analysis (p-value &lt;0.05), and frequencies/ percentages for some quantitative variables. Results: The study primarily comprised first-year undergraduate students, with 206 (56.1%) female and 161 (43.9%) male participants. Social media (208, 56.7%) and making calls (195, 53.1%) were the most frequently cited reasons for smartphone usage. Among the participants, 114 (31.1%) exhibited addictive smartphone habits, with males outnumbering females. Furthermore, 50 (13.6%) reported intentional self-injury, with females constituting the majority. Common methods included hitting oneself (20, 40%), pulling one’s hair (18, 36%), and cutting (16, 32%). Significant correlations were observed between certain intrapersonal and interpersonal functions of NSSI behaviour and smartphone addiction among male individuals engaged in deliberate self-harm (p-value &lt;0.05). Conclusion: In this study, 31.1% of the participants exhibited addictive smartphone habits, and 13.6% reported intentional self-injury. These findings underscore the critical need to investigate smartphone addiction to thoroughly understand NSSI behaviour, particularly among undergraduate students.

人际功能视域下高中英语优质阅读课堂教师话语的语气研究

人际功能视域下高中英语优质阅读课堂教师话语的语气研究

An Analysis of the Interpersonal Functions of Self-Projection Based on Systemic Functional Linguistics

An Analysis of the Interpersonal Functions of Self-Projection Based on Systemic Functional Linguistics

Analysis on the Pragmatic Functions of Chinese Discourse Marker “haojiahuo”

“好家伙” (haojiahuo) as the network buzzword in 2020 has been widely used both online and offline. The study attempts to make an analysis of how and why people use the discourse marker “好家伙” from the adaptation-pragmatic perspective. Through analyzing the blogs collected from Weibo, it is found that people use “好家伙” on Weibo as a means of adaptation to contexts consisting of communicative and linguistic contexts. To be more specific, language user employs “好家伙” as a dynamic process to adapt to the mental, social and physical world as well as specific linguistic contexts. As a result, the functions of “好家伙” in the adaptation process can be summarized as follows: managing topics, constructing discourse, expressing emotions, filing speech blanks and mitigating face threats. The first two are discourse functions, and the last three belong to interpersonal functions.

Marital Philosophy and Home Value among the Annang of Nigeria: An Exploration of Selected Proverbs

Marital philosophies and home values are essential components of all living and progressive societies. They are potentiality used to create an enabling, sustainable and conducive environment and otherwise depending on their constituents and how they are applied on day-to-day interactions. A society devoid of the right marital philosophies may tend towards adopting negative home values that may ruin families, homes and the society at large. There are various factors that are responsible for one’s choices of ideal marital philosophies and home values for sustainable family life and the society. This study therefore examines marital philosophies and home values encapsulated in the linguistically rich Annang proverbs from Akwa-Ibom, Nigeria. MAK Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (and specifically the interpersonal metafunction) is adopted as our theoretical framework for the data analysis. Data were randomly selected from current Annang proverbs used in daily communicative purposes. This work adopts a qualitative (exploratory) research design; eleven (11) proverbs were randomly selected, presented and analysed. We posit that proverbs are capsules of knowledge that marital philosophies and family values are enveloped. They can, and actually do serve as regulators of behaviours and moral templates upon which marital philosophes and home values are built. With the data of proverbs drawn from Annang cultures and their corresponding English translations, we attempt to demonstrate the relevance of these cultural-linguistic tools in the reformation of character, value re-orientation and social redemption of man and his environment. Keywords: Cultural linguistic tools, Corresponding English translation, marital philosophies, home values, interpersonal functions

How Outcome Measures Could Support Transactional Analysts in Clinical Practice to Improve Treatment Trajectories, Manage Risk, Minimise Client Drop-Out Rates and Support Clinical Supervision.

This article presents a review of the literature on the use of Outcome Measures (OMs) in counselling and psychotherapy. Recent Transactional Analysis (TA) research and literature has focussed on the theory and practice of using Outcome Measures (OM) with clients who present with depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders which support the evidence base for the effectiveness of TA. The use of OMs amongst counsellors, psychotherapists remains low, with time constraints during sessions, and the perception of an increase in the burden of their workload and paperwork. Counsellors and psychotherapists report that clients dislike completing the OMs, they are uncertain over which OMs to use and when, and they have had insufficient training on how to use and interpret OM data. Some counsellors and psychotherapists fear that OMs will interrupt or damage the therapeutic relationship and working alliance. Recent studies estimate that only between 7% and 37% of counsellors and psychotherapists utilise OMs as part of their clinical practice. Research studies have found that many counsellors and psychotherapists overestimate their clinical effectiveness by up to 65% and clients who plateau, deteriorate, and subsequently drop out of treatment are missed. The current research with counsellors and psychotherapists who use OMs confound these perceptions, and corroborate that OMs are; convenient, improve the treatment process and trajectory, engage clients in being able to express themselves and see their progress, support ethical practice, clarifies the clients' strengths and vulnerabilities, supports interpersonal functioning, identifying areas of difficulty or stress, screen for and manage risk. This article will explore these issues and give more depth and detail into the ‘pros and cons’ of OM use in private practice and suggest some practical ways to implement OM theory into clinical practice.