Interpersonal Mechanisms Research Articles

Warmth‐Competence Tradeoffs in Impression Management across Race and Social‐Class Divides

The Great Recession widened social‐class divides, so social interactions across gaps in workplace status and in race generally may be more salient and more fraught. Different statuses and races both carry stereotypes that targets know (meta‐perceptions, how they expect to be viewed by the outgroup). In both cross‐status and cross‐race interactions, targets may aim to manage the impressions they create. Reviewing literature and our own recent work invokes (a) the role of the Stereotype Content Model's two dimensions of social perception, namely warmth and competence; (b) the compensation effect, a tendency to tradeoff between them, especially downplaying one to convey the other; and (c) diverging warmth and competence concerns of people with lower and higher status and racial‐group positions. Higher‐status people and Whites, both stereotyped as competent but cold, seek to warm up their image. Lower‐status people and Blacks, both stereotyped as warm but incompetent, seek respect for their competence. Overviews of two previously separate research programs and the background literature converge on shared findings that higher‐status people, comparing down, display a competence downshift, consistent with communicating apparent warmth. Meanwhile, lower‐status people, comparing up, often display less warmth, to communicate competence. Previous research and our diverse samples—online workplace scenarios, online cross‐race interactions, and presidential candidates’ speeches—suggest a novel, robust interpersonal mechanism that perpetuates race, status, and social‐class divides.

Brief Report: Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Factors as Parallel Independent Mediators in the Association Between Internalized HIV Stigma and ART Adherence.

People living with HIV (PLWH) need to adhere to antiretroviral therapy (ART) to achieve optimal health. One reason for ART nonadherence is HIV-related stigma. We aimed to examine whether HIV treatment self-efficacy (an intrapersonal mechanism) mediates the stigma-adherence association. We also examined whether self-efficacy and the concern about being seen while taking HIV medication (an interpersonal mechanism) are parallel mediators independent of each other. A total of 180 people living with HIV self-reported internalized HIV stigma, ART adherence, HIV treatment self-efficacy, and concerns about being seen while taking HIV medication. We calculated bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals for indirect effects using bootstrapping to conduct mediation analyses. Adherence self-efficacy mediated the relationship between internalized stigma and ART adherence. Additionally, self-efficacy and concern about being seen while taking HIV medication uniquely mediated and explained almost all the stigma-adherence association in independent paths (parallel mediation). These results can inform intervention strategies to promote ART adherence.

A social relations model of negative relational disclosures and closeness in families

This study examined the intrapersonal and interpersonal mechanisms underlying family member reports of negative relational disclosures and closeness. Participants included a mother, father, and young adult child from 170 families ( N = 510). Social relations analyses revealed that negative relational disclosures and closeness vary across family relationships as a function of actor and relationship effects. Mothers’ reports of negative disclosures from other family members varied primarily as a function of actor effects, whereas their closeness varied as a function of relationship and partner effects. Dyadic reciprocity emerged in both the father–child and spousal relationships. Fathers who received negative disclosures from their spouse and their child were more likely to have both family members report being closer to them, respectively.

Golden Dawn through a psychosocial lens

The economic and sociopolitical factors related to the current Greek crisis are translated into intrapsychic and interpersonal mechanisms in order to explain the political phenomenon of Golden Dawn. I draw on psychoanalytic concepts to reflect on how the crisis has functioned as a mechanism for the production and control of individual and collective subjectivities. I argue that the crisis has created immense insecurity and has fuelled feelings of desperation, fear and anger. For some, these feelings have been displaced onto a substitute reality offered by a transcendent group represented by Golden Dawn; personal boundaries have loosened, and subjectivities have been absorbed by a large, collective “false self”. At the centre of the notion of this substitute reality is the fantasy of omnipotence, channelled through the mechanism of projection onto the leader of the group. History is used and misused in order to cement the psychic life of the group and as a compensatory mechanism for the felt national shame. Moreover, collective denigration, or even extinction, of immigrants serves to displace negative feelings and impulses onto the “other”. I borrow Freud’s contention that when evil is not condemned, raw and wild impulses are let loose –hence, the assassination of a leftwing rapper that has landed Golden Dawn in court.

Hostile interpretation bias in depression

BackgroundResearch suggests an important relationship between interpretation bias, hostility and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Extant literature has yet to examine hostile interpretation bias in clinically depressed samples; the current studies sought to fill this gap. MethodStudy 1 participants included undergraduates who met criteria for MDD (n=36) or no anxiety or mood diagnosis (n=35). Each participant completed a structured clinical interview along with measures of depression, hostile interpretation bias, and trait hostility. In Study 2, a sample of treatment-seeking individuals with elevated trait anger completed measures of depression, hostile interpretation bias, and trait anger. ResultsStudy 1 demonstrated that, relative to the non-depressed group, individuals with depression displayed greater hostile interpretation bias but comparable levels of trait hostility. In Study 2, greater hostile interpretation bias was associated with greater depressive symptoms, and this relationship was independent of co-occurring trait anger. LimitationsThe correlational nature of these studies precludes interpretation of causal relationships between constructs. Additionally, replication of these results should be sought in a larger, more diverse sample. ConclusionOverall, the findings suggest hostile interpretation bias may play a unique role in depression and could be a treatable feature of interpersonal mechanisms maintaining MDD.

Interpersonal Mechanisms Explaining the Transfer of Well- and Ill-Being in Coach-Athlete Dyads.

The current study explored coaches' interpersonal behaviors as a mechanism for well- and ill-being contagion from coach to athlete and vice versa. Eighty-two coach-athlete dyads from individual sports completed selfreport measures before and after a training session. Structural equation modeling supported three actor-partner interdependence mediation models, in which coaches' presession well- and ill-being were associated with changes in athletes' well- and ill-being over the course of the session. These relationships were mediated by athletes' perceptions of their coaches' interpersonal styles during the session. The reciprocal transfer from athlete to coach was not fully supported. Nonetheless, coaches' perceptions of their own interpersonal behaviors were associated with changes in their postsession well- and ill-being. Overall, evidence is provided for the contagion of affect from authority figures to those under their instruction but not vice versa.

International Olympic Committee consensus statement: harassment and abuse (non-accidental violence) in sport

Despite the well-recognised benefits of sport, there are also negative influences on athlete health, well-being and integrity caused by non-accidental violence through harassment and abuse. All athletes have a right...

Interpersonal Mechanisms Contributing to the Association Between HIV-Related Internalized Stigma and Medication Adherence.

Previous research suggests that people living with HIV (PLWH) sometimes internalize HIV-related stigma existing in the community and experience feelings of inferiority and shame due to their HIV status, which can have negative consequences for treatment adherence. PLWH's interpersonal concerns about how their HIV status may affect the security of their existing relationships may help explain how internalized stigma affects adherence behaviors. In a cross-sectional study conducted between March 2013 and January 2015 in Birmingham, AL, 180 PLWH recruited from an outpatient HIV clinic completed previously validated measures of internalized stigma, attachment styles, and concern about being seen while taking HIV medication. Participants also self-reported their HIV medication adherence. Higher levels of HIV-related internalized stigma, attachment-related anxiety (i.e., fear of abandonment by relationship partners), and concerns about being seen by others while taking HIV medication were all associated with worse medication adherence. The effect of HIV-related internalized stigma on medication adherence was mediated by attachment-related anxiety and by concerns about being seen by others while taking HIV medication. Given that medication adherence is vitally important for PLWH to achieve long-term positive health outcomes, understanding interpersonal factors affecting medication adherence is crucial. Interventions aimed at improving HIV treatment adherence should address interpersonal factors as well as intrapersonal factors.

Examining psychopathy from an attachment perspective: the role of fear of rejection and abandonment

A key feature of psychopathy, a self-centered orientation towards others and a failure to truly connect, is poorly understood. The attachment framework can be used to examine underlying interpersonal mechanisms. Because of the overall failure to connect, we anticipated, and found, in a large undergraduate sample (n = 1074) that both affective-interpersonal traits and impulsive-irresponsible psychopathy facets were positively related to attachment avoidance. Different dynamics may underlie this distancing from others, as evidenced by the fact that callous-unemotionality was negatively related to attachment anxiety, whereas grandiose-manipulative and impulsive-irresponsible traits were positively related to attachment anxiety. Although effect sizes were small and are of correlational nature, our results are in line with a dual deficit model that differential developmental trajectories, largely heritable callousness vs. neglecting and abusive parenting, may lead to adult psychopathy. The differentiating role of fear of rejection and abandonment for the psychopathy construct is discussed.

A relational model of sexual minority mental and physical health: The negative effects of shame on relationships, loneliness, and health.

Sexual minorities (e.g., lesbians, gay men, bisexual individuals) are at an increased risk for poorer mental and physical health outcomes than heterosexuals, and some of these health disparities relate to minority stressors such as discrimination. Yet, there is little research elucidating pathways that predict health or that promote resiliency among sexual minorities. Building on the minority stress model, the present study utilized relational cultural theory to situate sexual minority health within a relational framework. Specifically, the study tested mediators of the relationships between distal (i.e., discrimination, rejection, victimization) and proximal stressors (i.e., internalized homophobia, sexual orientation concealment) and psychological and physical distress for sexual minorities. Among 719 sexual minority adults, structural equation modeling analyses were used to test 4 models reflecting the mediating effects of shame, poorer relationships with a close peer and the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) community, and loneliness on the associations between minority stressors and psychological distress (i.e., depression and anxiety) and physical distress (i.e., distressing physical symptoms). As hypothesized, the associations between distal and proximal minority stressors and distress were mediated by shame, poorer relationships with a close peer and the LGBT community, and loneliness. Findings underscore the possible relational and interpersonal mechanisms by which sexual minority stressors lead to psychological and physical distress.

Family-Based Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Preadolescents: Examining Efficacy and Potential Treatment Mechanisms

To conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of family-based interpersonal psychotherapy (FB-IPT) for treating depression in preadolescents (aged 7-12 years) as compared to child-centered therapy (CCT), a supportive and nondirective treatment that closely approximates the standard of care for pediatric depression in community mental health. Preadolescents with depression (N= 42) were randomly assigned FB-IPT or CCT. Pre- and posttreatment assessments included clinician-administered measures of depression, parent- and child-reported depression and anxiety symptoms, and parent-child conflict and interpersonal impairment with peers. Preadolescents receiving FB-IPT had higher rates of remission (66.0% versus 31%), a greater decrease in depressive symptoms from pre- to posttreatment, and lower depressive symptoms at posttreatment (R(2)= 0.35, ΔR(2)= 0.22; B=-8.15, SE= 2.61, t[37]=-3.13, p= .002, F(2)= 0.28) than did preadolescents with depression receiving CCT. Furthermore, preadolescents in the FB-IPT condition reported significant reductions in anxiety and interpersonal impairment compared with preadolescents in the CCT condition. Changes in social and peer impairment from pre- to posttreatment were associated with preadolescents' posttreatment depressive symptoms. There was a significant indirect effect for decreased social impairment accounting for the association between the FB-IPT and preadolescents' posttreatment depressive symptoms. Findings indicate FB-IPT is an effective treatment for preadolescent depression and support further investigation of interpersonal mechanisms by which FB-IPT may reduce preadolescent depression. Clinical trial registration information-Phase II Study ofFamily Based Interpersonal Psychotherapy (FB-IPT) forDepressed Preadolescents; http://clinicaltrials.gov; NCT02054312.

Food choices and peer relationships: Examining 'a taste for necessity' in a network context.

The knowledge of how our taste preferences in food are shaped by our social lives has largely developed without attention to the roles played by relationships with other people. While the well-known sociological work of Pierre Bourdieu highlights the relationship of economic, cultural, and social capital with food consumption, very little scholarship concerned with food has given explicit empirical attention to social network connectivity as a form of social capital. To bridge this gap, this investigation utilizes data from a prospective cohort study of health in which both the food choices of several thousand individuals and their social ties with peers are examined. Comparing the relative social connectedness of individuals and their common food choices provides a new perspective on taste formation and maintenance and provides new evidence of how interpersonal mechanisms play a role in food choice and taste preferences.

Interpersonal problems across restrictive and binge-purge samples: Data from a community-based eating disorders clinic

Contemporary models of eating disorders suggest that interpersonal problems contribute to the maintenance of eating disorders. This study examined whether baseline interpersonal problems differed across eating disorder diagnoses and across eating disorder subtypes (“restrictors” vs. “binge-purge” patients) in a large clinical sample. Patients with a primary eating disorder diagnosis (N=406) completed measures of interpersonal problems, eating disorder symptoms, and mood prior to treatment at a specialist eating disorder clinic. Across the sample, more severe eating disorder psychopathology was associated with significantly greater difficulty socializing. Anorexia Nervosa (AN)/restrictor patients reported significantly greater difficulty socializing than Bulimia Nervosa (BN)/binge-purge patients. AN patients reported significantly greater difficulty on a measure of competitiveness/assertiveness compared to BN and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified patients. All findings were significant after controlling for comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms. Interpersonal problems appear to be unique risk factors for eating disorders. Specific interpersonal mechanisms include difficulties socializing and being assertive, which were most pronounced in AN patients. These findings provide potential avenues for enhancing interventions, such as adjunctive assertiveness training for AN.

Who Defers to Whom and Why? Dual Pathways Linking Demographic Differences and Dyadic Deference to Team Effectiveness

We develop and test predictions about how demographic differences influence dyadic deference in multidisciplinary research teams, and how differential patterns of dyadic deference emerge to shape team-level effectiveness. We present a dual pathway model that recognizes that two distinct mechanisms--task contributions and social affinity-- account for how team members' demographic attributes contribute to deference. Furthermore, we propose that the extent to which these different mechanisms are prevalent in a team has implications for the team's research productivity, with deference based on social affinity detracting from it and deference based on task contributions enhancing it. Using longitudinal data from a sample of 55 multidisciplinary research teams comprising 619 scientists, we found general support for our conceptual model. Our findings underscore the importance of accounting for multiple interpersonal mechanisms to understand the complex, multilevel nature of deference in teams

(199) Impact of pain on parenting in adults with chronic pain: a qualitative investigation

Chronic pain is a common problem across adulthood. Many adults with chronic pain are raising children in the context of coping with their own pain condition. Little is known about the impact of having chronic pain on parenting behaviors despite their importance for understanding potential interpersonal mechanisms that contribute to the intergenerational transmission of pain. The present study utilizes a qualitative approach to examine pain impact on parenting practices among adults with chronic pain. Participants included 58 biological parents (89.5% mothers) recruited as part of an ongoing longitudinal study of family risk for chronic pain. Parents were receiving specialty care for chronic musculoskeletal, headache, or abdominal pain and had a child between 11 and 15 years of age. Parents participated in individual, scripted interviews designed to elicit their perspectives on being a parent with chronic pain (i.e., “Does your pain impact your approach to parenting, and if so, how?”). Interviews were videotaped and responses were subsequently coded for content independently by three trained raters using qualitative content analysis. Data were coded according to the study objectives and were organized into categories that reflected the emerging themes regarding the impact of pain on parenting across cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains. Thematic analysis revealed five major areas of impact: involvement in parenting activities (86%), child’s physical activity participation (63%), impatience with children (40%), guilt/disappointment in parenting skills (37%), and inconsistent discipline (28%). Most parents (77%) reported pain impact across multiple domains; only one parent reported no impact. Preliminary qualitative findings demonstrate that the impact of pain on typical parenting practices is multidimensional and provides a more comprehensive understanding of the pain experience for caregivers. Such knowledge may help inform approaches to treatment for adults with chronic pain who are parents, as well as provide targets for preventative interventions for their at-risk children. Chronic pain is a common problem across adulthood. Many adults with chronic pain are raising children in the context of coping with their own pain condition. Little is known about the impact of having chronic pain on parenting behaviors despite their importance for understanding potential interpersonal mechanisms that contribute to the intergenerational transmission of pain. The present study utilizes a qualitative approach to examine pain impact on parenting practices among adults with chronic pain. Participants included 58 biological parents (89.5% mothers) recruited as part of an ongoing longitudinal study of family risk for chronic pain. Parents were receiving specialty care for chronic musculoskeletal, headache, or abdominal pain and had a child between 11 and 15 years of age. Parents participated in individual, scripted interviews designed to elicit their perspectives on being a parent with chronic pain (i.e., “Does your pain impact your approach to parenting, and if so, how?”). Interviews were videotaped and responses were subsequently coded for content independently by three trained raters using qualitative content analysis. Data were coded according to the study objectives and were organized into categories that reflected the emerging themes regarding the impact of pain on parenting across cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains. Thematic analysis revealed five major areas of impact: involvement in parenting activities (86%), child’s physical activity participation (63%), impatience with children (40%), guilt/disappointment in parenting skills (37%), and inconsistent discipline (28%). Most parents (77%) reported pain impact across multiple domains; only one parent reported no impact. Preliminary qualitative findings demonstrate that the impact of pain on typical parenting practices is multidimensional and provides a more comprehensive understanding of the pain experience for caregivers. Such knowledge may help inform approaches to treatment for adults with chronic pain who are parents, as well as provide targets for preventative interventions for their at-risk children.

Who Defers to Whom and Why? Demographic Differences and Dyadic Deference in Teams

We examine dyadic deference among team members as a focal mechanism that links demographic differences in teams to team effectiveness. That is, we develop and test predictions about how demographic attributes influence deference in multidisciplinary work teams and how differential patterns of dyadic deference among team members emerge to shape team-level effectiveness. Based on a social relations modeling (SRM) approach and drawing on a sample of 55 multidisciplinary research teams comprising 619 scientists, we found that the interaction between an actor’s and a partner’s demographic attributes influenced deference through two different interpersonal mechanisms – through perceptions of task contributions and social affinity ties. At the team level, different patterns of deference compiled to shape team effectiveness in different ways, with deference based on social affinity negatively impacting and deference based on perceptions of task contributions positively impacting research team productivity.

Linking Emotion Recognition and Income: An Examination of the Interpersonal Mechanisms

This study integrates the emotion and social influence literatures to examine how emotion recognition ability (ERA) facilitates performance and increases income through political skill. In a sample...

First-time parenthood under socially disadvantaged conditions: Linking caregivers’ experiences of avoidance and relationship satisfaction with feelings of closeness to the infant

Systemic models assume that quality of interparental and parent–child relationships are related to adult attachment representations in internal working models. Previous studies have confirmed this, but failed to consider interpersonal mechanisms such as relationship satisfaction as latent variables. Further, these relations in socially disadvantaged first-time parents are understudied The present study sheds more light on that area by investigating the interdependency of parents’ ratings by using the actor–partner mediator model with latent variables, and the association between adult re-presentations of attachment, relationship satisfaction and caregivers' feelings of closeness to the infant at 6 months postpartum in a sample of 104 socially disadvantaged first-time parents. Results supported the assumption that relationship satisfaction mediates the association between parents’ characteristics of attachment avoidance and mothers' bonding to the infant. Moreover, a few individual-level associations between the study variables and psychosocial risk factors such as experiences of domestic violence and neglect in childhood could be found.

Admonishment and Praise: Interpersonal Mechanisms for Promoting Proenvironmental Behavior

Abstract Two studies revealed that admonishing individuals for antienvironmental behavior via interpersonal communication (i.e., confronting) increased proenvironmental behavior. Although there was some evidence that praising proenvironmental behavior resulted in the intention to do other proenvironmental behavior, this behavioral spillover was only found in Study 2. A serendipitous effect was that subtle encouragement to do proenvironmental behavior increased the likelihood of engaging in proenvironmental behaviors and, in Study 1, behavioral spillover. This effect seems to be largely explained by a drive for behavioral consistency. Emotions (e.g., guilt and pride) and attention to environmental behavior information did not explain effects, potentially because participants could attribute their behavior to habits or external forces rather than intentionally being anti- or proenvironmental behavior.

Interpersonal Mechanisms in the Relationships between Dependency/Self-Criticism and Depressive Symptoms in Taiwanese Undergraduates: A Prospective Study

972 © 2012 Guilford Publications, Inc. This study was partly supported by the national Science Council in Taiwan (nSC 98-2410-H-030-015). We would also like to thank Dr. yihwei Li for comments and assistance on an earlier version of this manuscript. Address correspondence to Emily Tung-Hsueh Liu, Department of Clinical Psychology, no. 510, Chung Cheng Rd., Hsin Chuang, Taipei County, 24205, Taiwan; E-mail: emilythliu@gmail.com Interpersonal Mechanisms LIU ET AL.