Person-specific Levels Research Articles

The daily dynamics of basic psychological need satisfaction at work, their determinants, and their implications: An application of Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling

ABSTRACT Drawing on self-determination theory, this study focuses on the person- and occasion-specific components of the daily dynamics of employees’ global psychological need satisfaction at work. Predictors (job demands related to information and communication technologies, segmentation norms, and workload) and outcomes (perceived productivity, psychological detachment, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and personal satisfaction) were also examined across both levels to better grasp the mechanisms underlying these short-term dynamics. A total of 129 French employees filled out questionnaire surveys at the end of each workday for five days (521 observations). Results from Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (DSEM) showed clear associations between need satisfaction, the predictors, and the outcomes at the person-specific level. However, and although need satisfaction levels were found to fluctuate on a daily basis, they seemed immune to the effects of daily fluctuations in predictor levels, and unlikely to generate matching fluctuations in outcome levels. These results suggest strong homoeostatic processes protecting employees’ functioning against daily fluctuations, but that the accumulation of such fluctuations over the work week may jeopardize these processes.

Modeling Idiographic Longitudinal Relationships between Affect and Cigarette Use: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Background: Despite public knowledge of the adverse health effects of tobacco use, cigarettes remain widely used due to the addictive nature of nicotine. Physiologic adaptation to the presence of nicotine over time leads to unpleasant effects during withdrawal periods. Alongside these physiological effects, tobacco users often report changes in their consumption of tobacco in response to their emotional state. Objectives: We hypothesized that idiographic, or person-specific level, increases in participants’ negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) ratings at a given time point would be associated with higher and lower craving and smoking over the following several hours, respectively. Fifty-two participants completed block randomized ecological momentary assessment surveys on their smartphones 4 times per day for 30 days, reporting from 0-100 their level of seven discrete emotions, stress, current craving, and smoking behavior. We analyzed the relationships between affect and smoking and craving using idiographic generalized linear models. Results: While some participants exhibited the hypothesized relationships, each participant varied in the strength and direction of the relationships between affect and craving/smoking. These outcomes were partially moderated at the group level by anxiety/depression at baseline, but not by level of nicotine dependence or sex. Conclusions: This suggests that the factors driving cigarette use vary significantly between individuals.

Predicting age at Alzheimer's dementia onset with the cognitive clock.

Intervention of Alzheimer's dementia hinges on early diagnosis and advanced planning. This work utilizes the cognitive clock, a novel indicator of brain health, to develop a dementia prediction model that can be easily applied in broad settings. Data came from over 3000 community-dwelling older adults. Cognitive age was estimated by aligning Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores to a clock that represents the typical cognitive aging profile. We identified a mean cognitive age at Alzheimer's dementia onset and predicted the corresponding chronological age at person-specific level. The mean chronological age at baseline was 78 years. A total of 881 (28%) participants developed Alzheimer's dementia. The mean cognitive age at onset was 91 years. The predicted chronological age at onset had a mean (standard deviation) of 87.6 (6.7) years. The model's prediction accuracy was supported by multiple testing statistics. Our model offers an easy-to-use tool for predicting person-specific age at Alzheimer's dementia onset.

Modeling daily fluctuations in everyday cognition and health behaviors at general and person-specific levels: a GIMME analysis

Modeling daily fluctuations in everyday cognition and health behaviors at general and person-specific levels: a GIMME analysis

Within-person Changes in Co-rumination and Rumination in Adolescence: Examining Heterogeneity and the Moderating Roles of Gender and Time.

Although previous work has consistently identified positive associations between co-rumination and rumination during adolescence, little to no research has examined how this relationship operates on the person-specific level. The current study aimed to extend current developmental theories of co-rumination and rumination by examining within-person associations between these constructs. Survey data was collected from 1502 adolescents (Mage = 13.20; 52% girls; 52% non-Hispanic White) every six-months across the span of 3.5 years. The results showed that at time-points when adolescents reported co-ruminating more than their usual level, they reported concurrent increases in rumination. This association was stronger for boys and strengthened over time. Despite substantial between-person heterogeneity, 97% of adolescents showed positive associations between co-rumination and rumination. This research has important implications for mental health professionals, school systems, and parents who may look to teach adolescents about effective emotion-regulation.

Experience sampling self-reports of social media use have comparable predictive validity to digital trace measures

Research agrees that self-reported measures of time spent with social media (TSM) show poor convergent validity, because they correlate modestly with equivalent objective digital trace measures. This experience sampling study among 159 adolescents (12,617 self-reports) extends this work by examining the comparative predictive validity of self-reported and digital trace measures of TSM, that is, the extent to which self-reported and digital trace measures of TSM correspond in their effects on self-esteem, well-being, and friendship closeness. Using an N = 1 method of analysis, we investigated the correspondence on a between-person, within-person, and person-specific level. Although our results confirmed the poor convergent validity of self-reported TSM reported earlier, we found that self-reports of TSM had comparable predictive validity to digital trace measures on all three levels. Because comparative predictive validity of self-reported TSM is crucial for investigating social media effects, our results have important implications for future research using self-reported TSM.

Relations Among Individualized Brain Systems Patch Sizes and Diagnosis, Symptoms, and Treatment Outcomes in Major Depressive Disorder: Preliminary Results

Individualized brain mapping promises to provide a significant advance for neural models of, and treatments for, major depressive disorder (MDD). Developments in computational neuroimaging methods facilitate new precision in neural characterization at the person-specific level. Here, we describe preliminary results that link brain systems defined at the individual level – “individualized brain systems” – to MDD, including in relation to diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment outcomes.

Emotion regulation and specificity: The impact of animal-assisted interventions on classroom behavior

We discuss Bornstein's (2017) specificity principle as a codification of the larger systems-oriented zeitgeist currently dominant in developmental science and the implications that accommodating specificity has for applied research. We illustrate the importance of specificity by analyzing coded videos obtained as part of an evaluation of animal-assisted interventions implemented in the context of a school for children with special educational needs. At the level of the whole sample, findings indicate that students' emotion regulation improves across the pretest period and therefore indicate that student behaviors may change in anticipation of animal-assisted interventions. When analyzed at the person-specific level, the data furthermore indicated that the whole-sample findings only generalize to a subset of participants. The pattern of results suggests that the selected measure may have limited validity for assessing emotion regulation among the rest of the sample. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research and program evaluations.

Negative life events, self-efficacy, and social support: Risk and protective factors for school dropout intentions and dropout.

Prior studies have noted several risk and protective factors for school dropout; however, only a few have examined longer-term vulnerabilities alongside temporary risk and protective factors. Consequently, we focused on the role that both stable and time-varying psychosocial risk and protective factors play in dropout intentions and actual dropout, using a 4-year longitudinal design. We investigated to what extent dropout intentions and dropout can be predicted by an interplay between negative life events, general self-efficacy, and perceived social support. We distinguished between time-averaged levels of self-efficacy and social support, and within-person change in self-efficacy and social support over time. This enabled us to establish whether dropout intentions and dropout were sensitive to fluctuations in perceived self-efficacy and social support over time when controlling for person-specific levels of these psychosocial resources. Calculating multilevel models with data from a prospective cohort study (N = 4,956, 43% male), we found that negative life events were significantly associated with an increase in dropout intentions and the likelihood of school dropout. Furthermore, time-averaged levels of self-efficacy and social support, and a within-person (situational) increase in these characteristics relative to their time-averaged levels, were related to lower levels of dropout intentions but did not prevent dropout. The positive relationship between negative life events and dropout intentions was attenuated for individuals who perceived higher levels of self-efficacy than usual. Our findings suggest future research should further investigate time-averaged and situational psychosocial drivers of school dropout in combination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological determinants of test motivation in low-stakes test situations: A longitudinal study of singletrait\u2013multistate models in accounting

BackgroundWhile several studies show that examinees’ test motivation biases their results in low-stakes tests, studies that investigate the predictors of motivation when taking low-stakes tests are rare. Moreover, little evidence exists on whether test motivation represents a state-like or trait-like construct. Research into these matters needs statistical models that allow distinguishing inter-individual from intra-individual variability of motivation across a range of test situations. The present study is located in a vocational school setting and aims to explain variations in vocational students’ low-stakes test motivation. We draw on Urhahne’s (Psychologische Rundschau 59:150–166, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1026/0033-3042.59.3.150) synthesis of motivation theories in academic learning contexts to substantiate potential predictors. Since we concentrate on person-dependent characteristics, relevant predictors are types of self-determined/external behavioural regulation, achievement motivation, academic self-concept, and grit. In line with Eccles et al. (In: Spence JT (eds) Achievement and achievement motives: psychological and sociological approaches. Freeman, San Francisco, pp 109–132, 1983) and Sundre (The Student Opinion Scale (SOS). A measure of examinee motivation: test manual. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238741273_The_Student_Opinion_Scale_SOS, 2007), we further discern value attributions to and invested effort in each test as two separate dimensions of test motivation.MethodEmpirical analyses utilize longitudinal questionnaire and test performance data of students (N = 852) from full time vocational schools, who participated repeatedly in a low-stakes accounting test at the end of each school year (5 years in total). Latent singletrait–multistate (STMS) models serve to disentangle trait-like and state-like components of students’ test motivation and their respective associations with trait- and state-components of the assumed predictor variables.ResultsFindings from STMS models indicate that approx. 30% of variation in students’ test motivation is stable over time, whereas approx. 25% is attributable to the test situation, leading to a high portion of 45% residual variance. Bivariate STMS analyses show that students’ achievement motivation and type of behavioural regulation predict the value dimension of their test motivation. This pattern appears for the trait-like components of investigated constructs (here: time-invariant, person-specific levels of predictors and criteria) as well as for the state-like components (here: intra-individual increases or declines in predictors and criteria). Regarding the effort dimension of test motivation, similar associations among the trait-like components appear. Students’ self-reported effort is positively predicted by type of behavioural regulation and achievement motivation. Moreover, and in contrast to the value dimension, students’ perseverance plays a crucial role when predicting test-taking effort. Finally, a multivariate intercept-only growth model was estimated to analyse the relative contributions of different psychological determinants of test motivation. It shows that (a) students’ introjected regulation predicts the value dimension and (b) students’ identified behavioural regulation and perseverance (as an essential aspect of grit) predict the effort dimension of test motivation.ConclusionsStudents’ motivation to master low-stakes tests represents an equally trait- and state-like construct—at least with respect to the investigated test format (paper–pencil), content (accounting) and examinee population (vocational students). Our finding that comparably stable motivational dispositions of students, namely person-specific types of behavioural regulation, achievement motivation, and grit, are highly predictive of their test motivation in multiple test situations implies that test motivation bias can be reduced substantially by controlling for general student motivation (in the relevant academic domain).

Person-specific contribution of neuropathologies to cognitive loss in old age.

Mixed neuropathologies are the most common cause of dementia at the population level, but how different neuropathologies contribute to cognitive decline at the individual level remains unknown. We quantified the contribution of 9 neuropathologies to cognitive loss at an individual level. Participants (n = 1,079) came from 2 longitudinal clinical-pathologic studies of aging. All completed 2 + cognitive evaluations (maximum = 22), died, and underwent neuropathologic examinations to identify Alzheimer disease (AD), other neurodegenerative diseases, and vascular pathologies. Linear mixed models examined associations of neuropathologies with cognitive decline and estimated the proportion of cognitive loss accounted for by each neuropathology at a person-specific level. Neuropathology was ubiquitous, with 94% of participants having 1+, 78% having 2+, 58% having 3+, and 35% having 4+. AD was most frequent (65%) but rarely occurred in isolation (9%). Remarkably, >230 different neuropathologic combinations were observed, each of which occurred in <6% of the cohort. The relative contributions of specific neuropathologies to cognitive loss varied widely across individuals. Although AD accounted for an average of about 50% of the observed cognitive loss, the proportion accounted for at the individual level ranged widely from 22% to 100%. Lewy bodies and hippocampal sclerosis also had potent effects, but again their impacts varied at the person-specific level. There is much greater heterogeneity in the comorbidity and cognitive impact of age-related neuropathologies than currently appreciated, suggesting an urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches that embrace the complexity of disease to combat cognitive decline in old age. Ann Neurol 2018;83:74-83.

The person-specific interplay of melatonin, affect, and fatigue in the context of sleep and depression

The aim of the present study was to reveal how positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), fatigue, and melatonin are inter-related in individuals with and without MDD. We used a unique dataset with up to 90 measurements of 14 depressed and 15 pair-matched non-depressed participants and the novel network analysis approach Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation (GIMME) to reveal how affect, fatigue, and melatonin were related across time at the group- and the person-specific level. Thereafter, we investigated how individual differences in the role of melatonin were related to sleep and depression severity.PA and NA (β=−0.47), and PA and fatigue (β=−0.44) were related contemporaneously in the full sample. Substantial between-person differences were found. In 83% of the study participants, melatonin was related to either affect or fatigue. Those who did not have associations with melatonin in their networks had relatively greater depression severity, worse sleep quality, and lower energy expenditure.This study revealed the possibilities of network mapping for dynamic person-specific psychological and biological data. The results underline not only the presence of large heterogeneity, but also show that despite this heterogeneity, meaningful generalizations can be made regarding the interplay of melatonin with affect and fatigue in depression.

Dental hygienist attendance and its covariates in an ageing Swedish cohort.

Delegation of tasks between professional groups is important to make health-care services accessible and effective for ageing people. Focussing on a Swedish 1942 birth cohort and guided by Andersen's Behavioral Model, this study assessed dental hygienist attendance from age 50 to age 70 and identified covariates at the population-averaged and person-specific levels. In 1992, a census of 50-yr-old subjects was invited to participate in a questionnaire survey. Of the 6,346 respondents, 3,585 completed follow-ups in 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted using a marginal model and a random intercept model. Cochran's Q test revealed that significantly more respondents confirmed dental hygienist attendance in 2012 than in 1992 (57.2% in 2012 vs. 26.0% in 1992). Population-averaged ORs for dental hygienist attendance across time were 3.5 at age 70 yr compared with age 50 yr (baseline); 2.0 if being a regular rather than an irregular dental attendee; and 0.7 if being of non-native origin compared with native origin. The corresponding person-specific ORs were 8.9, 3.2, and 0.5. Consistent with Andersen's Behavioral Model, predisposing, enabling, and need-related factors were associated with dental hygienist attendance at population-averaged and person-specific levels. This has implications for promoting dental hygienist attendance among ageing people.

The Role of Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy in Young People's Life Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study.

Life satisfaction is an important indicator of successful development. However, adolescents' life satisfaction tends to be relatively unsteady, and environmental influences play a critical role in shaping life satisfaction among adolescents in the transition to young adulthood. Given the paramount importance that education plays in adolescents' lives, adolescents' life satisfaction may vary as a function of school-related stress experience. At the same time, coping resources may help reduce adverse effects of stress on life satisfaction. With this in mind, we examined whether, and to what extent, perceived stress in education and general self-efficacy (a resource that facilitates coping) affect the life satisfaction of adolescents in transition to young adulthood. We distinguished between baseline levels of stress and self-efficacy and within-person change in stress and self-efficacy to determine whether life satisfaction is sensitive to fluctuations in stress and self-efficacy when person-specific levels of stress and self-efficacy are taken into account. Estimating growth curve models on data from a panel study on the life trajectories of compulsory-school leavers (n = 5126, 55.3 % female), we found that baseline levels of stress and self-efficacy, as well as within-person change in stress and self-efficacy, affected adolescents' life satisfaction. Moreover, our results showed that baseline self-efficacy mitigated the negative effect of baseline stress on life satisfaction. These findings improve our understanding of two major psychological determinants of adolescents' life satisfaction and extend our knowledge of life satisfaction trajectories during the transition to young adulthood.

Do self-efficacy and depression predict oral impacts on daily performances across time? A 2-yr follow-up of students in Tanzania.

This study aimed to assess the longitudinal validity of the oral impacts on daily performance (OIDP) and to identify psychosocial determinants, in terms of self-efficacy and depressive symptoms, of the OIDP across time. Following conceptual frameworks of oral health, it was hypothesized that sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors predict oral impacts across time at both population- averaged and person-specific levels. Whether the effects of sociodemographic and clinical factors were accounted for, totally or in part, by psychosocial factors were also investigated. Self administered questionnaires and oral clinical examinations at baseline (2009) and follow-up (2011) were completed by 1,714 and 727 secondary school students, respectively. Generalized equalized equations and a random intercept model were used to account for the dependency in repeated observations. Mean OIDP change scores were negative (worsened) among those who reported worsened self-reported oral health. Psychosocial, clinical, and sociodemographic factors were independently associated with oral impacts at the population-averaged and person-specific levels. Mediation of sociodemographic and clinical variables according to psychosocial variables was not observed. Satisfactory longitudinal evaluative properties of the OIDP, and independent effects of psychosocial factors on oral impacts across time, were confirmed among secondary school students in Tanzania.

Prefrontal neuronal integrity predicts symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia and is sensitive to genetic heterogeneity

Schizophrenia is a genetically complex syndrome with substantial inter-subject variability in multiple domains. Person-specific measures to resolve its heterogeneity could focus on the variability in prefrontal integrity, which this study indexed as relative rostralization within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Twenty-two schizophrenia cases and 11 controls underwent rigorous diagnostic procedures, symptom assessments (PANSS, Deficit Syndrome Scale) and intelligence testing. All underwent multivoxel MRSI at 3T to measure concentrations of the neuronal-specific biomarker N-acetylaspartate (NAA) in all of the voxels of the ACC. The concentrations of NAA were separately calculated and then compared across the rostral and caudal subregions to generate a rostralization ratio, which was examined with respect to the study measures and to which cases carried a missense coding polymorphism in PTPRG, SCL39A13, TGM5, NTRK1 or ARMS/KIDINS220. Rostralization significantly differed between cases and controls (χ2=18.40, p<.0001). In cases, it predicted verbal intelligence (r=.469, p=.043) and trait negative symptoms (diminished emotional range (r=−.624, p=.010); curbed interests, r=−.558, p=.025). Rostralization was similar to controls for missense coding variants in TGM5 and was significantly greater than controls for the PTPRG variant carrier. This is the first study examining the utility of MRS metrics in describing pathological features at both group and person-specific levels. Rostralization predicted core illness features and differed based on which signaling genes were disrupted. While future studies in larger populations are needed, ACC rostralization appears to be a promising measure to reduce the heterogeneity of schizophrenia for genetic research and selecting cases for treatment studies.

Social predictors of less frequent dental attendance over time among older people: population-averaged and person-specific estimates.

Longitudinal studies considering social disparities in the utilization of dental services are scarce. Repeated measures should be accounted for by the use of appropriate statistical methods. The purpose of this study was first to describe the patterns of less frequent dental attendance (less than once a year) over time from the age of 65-70 in Norwegian and Swedish 1942 cohorts. Second, this study estimated the influence of predisposing, enabling and need-related social predictors using marginal model with robust variance estimators and random intercept model, RIM, to account for the clustered structure of the repeated observations. Third, the study aimed to compare the estimates of associations between social predictors and less frequent dental attendance derived from marginal and random intercept models. In 2007 and 2012, all residents born in 1942 in selected counties of Norway and Sweden were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey. In Norway, the response rate was 58.0% (n = 4211) in 2007 and 54.5% (n = 3733) in 2012 with a follow-up rate of 70%. The corresponding figures in Sweden were 73.1% (n = 6078) and 72.2% (n = 5697), with a follow-up rate of 80%. Marginal and random intercept models were fitted for population-averaged and person-specific estimates. Design effects were calculated by comparing the results from ordinary logistic regression analyses and the marginal model with robust variance estimators. The proportion of the total variation due to differences between persons was reported using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Less frequent dental attendance declined from 14.5% to 12.2% in Norway and from 13.6% to 12.9% in Sweden. According to marginal and random intercept models, time-invariant (gender, country of birth, education) and time-variant social predictors (working status, social network, marital status, smoking and perceived health) contributed to less frequent dental attendance. A likelihood ratio test confirmed that adjustment for clustered observations was appropriate. The ICC was 0.90 in Norway and 0.85 in Sweden. The prevalence of less frequent dental attendance was low and dropped by increasing age from 65 to 70 years. Both at population and at person-specific levels, being advantaged on social aspects protects against less frequent dental attendance after 65 years of age in the Norwegian and Swedish cohorts investigated.

Au sujet de la thérapie de la schizophrénie

Schizophrenia is a genetically complex syndrome with substantial inter-subject variability in multiple domains. Person-specific measures to resolve its heterogeneity could focus on the variability in prefrontal integrity, which this study indexed as relative rostralization within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Twenty-two schizophrenia cases and 11 controls underwent rigorous diagnostic procedures, symptom assessments (PANSS, Deficit Syndrome Scale) and intelligence testing. All underwent multivoxel MRSI at 3 T to measure concentrations of the neuronal-specific biomarker N-acetylaspartate (NAA) in all of the voxels of the ACC. The concentrations of NAA were separately calculated and then compared across the rostral and caudal subregions to generate a rostralization ratio, which was examined with respect to the study measures and to which cases carried a missense coding polymorphism in PTPRG, SCL39A13, TGM5, NTRK1 or ARMS/KIDINS220. Rostralization significantly differed between cases and controls (χ2 = 18.40, p < .0001). In cases, it predicted verbal intelligence (r = .469, p = .043) and trait negative symptoms (diminished emotional range (r = −.624, p = .010); curbed interests, r = −.558, p = .025). Rostralization was similar to controls for missense coding variants in TGM5 and was significantly greater than controls for the PTPRG variant carrier. This is the first study examining the utility of MRS metrics in describing pathological features at both group and person-specific levels. Rostralization predicted core illness features and differed based on which signaling genes were disrupted. While future studies in larger populations are needed, ACC rostralization appears to be a promising measure to reduce the heterogeneity of schizophrenia for genetic research and selecting cases for treatment studies.

Compliance and transparency of German supervisory board compensation

Due to some new developments in the German Corporate Governance Codex (GCGC) as well as the introduction of new laws several aspects of the supervisory board compensation are subject to change. In a first step we analyze the size and structure of DAX 30 companies’ supervisory board compensation. One novelty of the article is that we perform this analysis on a person specific level instead of relying on firm level data. In a second step, we examine how well DAX 30 firms comply with the GCGC on supervisory board compensation both with regard to the recommended structure and with regard to the recommended detail in disclosure. We construct a compliance scoring model and find that overall a score of 70 % compliance has been reached.

Sleepiness as a state–trait phenomenon, comprising both a sleep drive and a wake drive

In this paper it is proposed to extend the classical models of sleepiness in two ways. Firstly, the role of a wake drive, besides a sleep drive, in determining sleepiness is emphasised. Although this has already been suggested in literature and convincing arguments can be found, it is not generally accepted. Secondly, we argue to incorporate trait aspects of sleepiness or a long-term person-specific level of sleepiness, besides short-term changes of sleepiness or ‘state-sleepiness’. Shortly, a conceptualisation of sleepiness in which situational wake drive and sleep drive modify a basal level of both wake drive and sleep drive, is proposed. It implies that sleepiness can result from essentially different factors involved: a chronic condition or an acute state of either a high level of sleep drive, a low level of arousal or a combination of both. This is illustrated in a working model and potential assessment tools for the wake drive and state versus trait sleepiness are discussed.