Psychological Threat Research Articles

Avoidance coping explains the link between narcissism and counternormative tendencies.

Previous research linked counternormative tendencies (e.g., conspiracy beliefs, cyberbullying, and catfishing) to narcissism-a personality trait characterized by difficulties in experiencing psychological threats. We argue that avoidance coping with stress favours attitudes and behaviours that allow for deflecting from stressful events and releasing one's stress at the expense of others. Thus, we hypothesized that avoidance coping might explain why narcissism favours counternormative tendencies. We conducted four studies (total N = 2643) in the United States and Poland to examine avoidance coping as a mediator of the relationship between narcissism and counternormative tendencies: conspiracy beliefs (Studies 1-4), willingness to conspire (Studies 2-4), cyberbullying (Studies 3-4) and catfishing (Study 4). All studies found a consistent positive indirect relationship between various forms of narcissism and counternormative tendencies via avoidance coping. These findings suggest that counternormative tendencies might reflect using maladaptive coping strategies.

Mind the Gap: Investigating Disaggregated Student Performance in an Upper-Division Biochemistry Course Following Team-Based Learning.

Team-based learning (TBL) is a highly intense active learning pedagogy that uses a cycle of preclass preparation, formative assessment for readiness, mini-lectures, and complex team exercises. Consistent with the literature on active learning, prior research on TBL consistently shows its benefits for student outcomes as compared with previous lecture. However, little work has examined student outcomes disaggregated by demographic variable. We analyzed assessment and student demographic data (i.e., binary gender, racial/ethnic group, generational status) in three semesters of TBL in an upper-division biochemistry course to understand the degree to which performance could be predicted by student demographics. We use theoretical and empirical research from social psychology to hypothesize that the intense interpersonal interactions of TBL could activate psychological threats, the effects of which would be measurable as differences in student performance that correlate with demographic variables. Our regression analysis did not support this hypothesis. This null result invites a deeper discussion on how we measure the potential effects of active learning on student outcomes, particularly given how important it is to account for intersectional and invisible identities.

Understanding post-hospitalised patients' experiences of long-COVID - the PELCO study.

Despite significant advances in long COVID research, many aspects of the condition remain unknown. There is a persisting need for further research to improve the management of long COVID symptoms. This study aimed to explore the experiences and psychological needs of patients who were previously hospitalised with COVID-19, and who subsequently developed long COVID symptoms. Twelve patients with long COVID were interviewed between October 2021 and June 2022. Transcripts were analysed thematically. An overarching theme of 'Existential Crisis' was developed, incorporating three interconnecting sub-themes: 'Facing Psychological Threat', 'Seeking Legitimisation' and 'Forging a Path Through Uncertainty'. Findings suggest that the psychological impact of emergency hospitalisation for COVID-19 can be severe, particularly for those with ongoing long COVID symptoms, and that early psychological intervention should be available. Our findings also suggest the importance of further planning for future pandemics to ensure the presence of patient advocates during hospitalisation at points of critical decision-making.

Positive minds, inclusive minds: PsyCap’s potential in overcoming resistance to DEI initiatives in organizations

The discourse around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace has gained significant traction over the past decade, yet the effectiveness of DEI initiatives in organizations remains modest at best, sparking a debate on why most diversity programs fail and what are the main challenges associated with them. DEI efforts, similar to any organizational change, often trigger resistance, especially from members of the majority group who face distinct psychological threats. This resistance fosters anti-diversity responses that can undermine DEI initiatives. This article proposes that Psychological Capital (PsyCap) can play a key role in facilitating DEI initiatives and diminishing resistance as it can (a) influence individuals’ cognitive appraisals of change initiatives, and (b) mitigate intergroup bias and prejudice towards individuals seen as “out-groups”, particularly those constituted by minority populations.

COVID-19’s Psychological Threats and Future Career Anxiety among University Students

The COVID-19 pandemic brought different intolerable and uncomfortable situations that ruined the students' academic performance, career opportunities, and social lives through depression, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and mental illness. In this study, we examined the psychological threats of the COVID-19 among Egypt’s public-sector university students. We employed quantitative methods in this study and used a questionnaire to collect cross-sectional data. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) results show that Fear of COVID-19 (FoC) has a positive effect of on Depression from COVID-19 (DfC), Future Career Anxiety (FCA) and Uncertainty of COVID-19 (UoC). In addition, DfC and UoC have positive effects on FCA. Finally, DfC and UoC positively mediate the association between FoC and FCA. This study's findings help policymakers and university authorities shape policies to reduce Egypt’s public sector university students ‘psychological problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this study’s findings assist with the adjustments caused by the complex and rapidly changing pandemic situation.

Participatory action research: A tool to develop occupational health and safety education for new immigrant workers

Immigrant workers are a growing segment of Canada’s labour force, essential to its economy and society. Yet, they face occupational health and safety (OHS) challenges due to communication barriers, limited training, scarce resources, and workplace discrimination. This study sought to design learning resources to enhance the understanding of OHS in Canadian workplaces among new immigrant workers, drawing from their personal experiences. Through participatory action research, nine immigrant workers took part in six online sessions over three months, where they identified problems, discussed education, reflected, and decided on actions. Key issues raised included inadequate training, unawareness of OHS rights, hesitation in reporting safety concerns due to fear of backlash, and facing psychological threats like discrimination. This research illuminated the complex interplay of cultural and communication differences in OHS. Consequently, five education modules, rooted in real-world insights, were developed, emphasizing the significance of OHS, psychological risks, Canadian workplace norms, communication, and vital resources. This PAR successfully developed OHS learning modules, which not only tackle challenges and provide solutions for new immigrant workers but also craft with cultural sensitivity and lived expertise. These tools are tailored to equip new immigrant workers with the knowledge and confidence needed to enhance their OHS practices.

Cognitive–behavioural therapy effectiveness for fear of cancer recurrence: systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveFear of cancer recurrence is one of the psychological distresses for patients with cancer and cancer survivors, which poses a physical and psychological threat. There is scant evidence on the...

APA calls on social media platform developers to protect youth

Calling on social media platform developers to structurally correct harmful design content, features and functions on social media platforms that pose psychological threats to youth is one of the key messages in the American Psychological Association's (APA) new report.

Black mothers' ethnic-racial socialization one year after highly publicized anti-Black murders during the pandemic.

Although research on ethnic-racial socialization is well established, limited studies have examined the influence of specific, highly publicized anti-Black murders. We assessed Black mothers' (N = 12, mean age = 37.45) concerns and ethnic-racial socialization with adolescents aged 11-18 years old approximately 1 year following the murders of George Floyd and other unarmed Black people. Researchers generated the following themes using reflexive thematic analysis: protecting adolescents from physical harm; protecting adolescents from psychological harm; parents' emotional distress; and parents' lack of confidence in their ethnic-racial socialization practices. Black mothers exhibit exceptional amounts of strength and courage as they navigate pervasive physical and psychological threats to their adolescents while experiencing worry and low confidence in their ability to socialize their adolescents about anti-Black racism.

Information and communication component of the network countermeasure to national security in the military sphere

The article conceptualizes ways of forming strategic guidelines for ensuring national security in the field of countering informational and psychological threats. The elements of the national security strategy, which are potentially significant in view of the development of active forms of information operations on the part of the enemy in the modern conflict, including military ones, are considered. Emphasis is placed on the use of special operations forces units in the field of network countermeasures against threats to national security in the military sphere. Taking this into account requires the development and implementation of the public administration specific mechanisms in the field of the national security ensuring, which are aimed at countering informational and psychological threats. In particular, it is about the need to adequately represent this issue in the national security strategy by defining the specifics of network countermeasures against threats to national security in the military sphere. In particular, it is about the development of the use of new methods of remote influence on the enemy, i.e., the expansion of the space for conducting combat operations and the environments of war, the development of new forms of defense and defensive measures, the growing importance of reconnaissance and sabotage actions in the rear of the enemy, the intellectualization of wars focused on the predominant use of high-precision and robotic weapons. This causes additional tasks to creative use of open source information as well as document analysis from documents like the National Security Strategy, National Military Strategy, taking into account that the main task in the field of military security is the development of deterrence potential, combat-ready armed forces and other components of the defense forces, capable of performing complex tasks in a multidimensional space, development of the components of the defense forces and solving the problems of ensuring the defense of the state. Information measures are an integral part of the state response to threats to national security and one of the main components of the information war aimed at achieving victory in the information space.

Człowiek w obliczu sytuacji granicznej

The article presents the intellectual biography of Mieczysław Wallis in the light of his several years of experience as a prisoner of war. During World War II, the philosopher was sentenced to the German POW camp in Woldenberg, where he lived for several years. Wallis’ assessment of his stay in the POW camp is presented primarily in the text entitled The Psyche of a Prisoner of War, in which the philosopher describes the psychological threat– “barbed wire disease”, from which POWs often suffered. Importantly, Wallis himself did not succumb to the camp’s atmosphere of anxiety and did not mentally lose himself in danger of long-term captivity. His existential power was drawn primarily from the world of his own interior ‒turning to the sphere of values and experiences of an aesthetic nature. It was in the world of aesthetic experiences that Wallis found a refuge for human subjectivity, autonomy, freedom, and dignity. He was convinced that aesthetic experiences are a source of a special kind of joy that can balance suffering in human life.

Spontaneous self-affirmation predicts more meaning and less boredom

Chronic boredom is associated with many negative psychological outcomes, including undermining perceived meaning in life. Meanwhile, emerging research suggests that spontaneous self-affirmation, that is, an inclination to self-affirm, is linked to greater well-being and buffers against psychological threats. We investigated the relationship between spontaneous self-affirmation, perceptions of meaning in life, and boredom proneness with four correlational studies. Study 1a (N = 166) demonstrated that people inclined to self-affirm experience greater perceptions of meaning in life. Study 1b (N = 170) confirmed that spontaneous self-affirmation is associated with lower levels of boredom proneness. Study 2a (N = 214) and Study 2b (N = 105) provided evidence for our central hypothesis, showing that spontaneous self-affirmation predicts lower levels of boredom proneness via greater perceptions of meaning in life. These findings confirm that elevating meaning in life through psychological resources, like spontaneous self-affirmation, may limit boredom. Our work extends the emerging well-being benefits of spontaneous self-affirmation, by demonstrating associations with higher meaning in life and lower boredom proneness.

Unmasking Verbal Defensiveness: The Role of Psychological Threat in Sentence Completion Tests

Shedding light on the validity of sentence completion test (SCT) verbal defensiveness as an index of defensive behavior, the current two-part study examined the relationship between psychological threat and verbal defensiveness among military security and mission-critical team candidates using SCTs. Our study showed that as the threatening nature of SCT stems increased, defensive responses also increased, substantiating the link between psychological threat and defensive behavior. In addition, expert ratings of stem content revealed moderately strong relationships with defensive responses across two different SCTs, irrespective of their structural characteristics. In contrast to previous studies using total verbal defensiveness scores, we examined specific defensive response types and their associations with stem threat ratings, finding that omissions, denial, and comments about the test were linked to stem threat levels. Lastly, our study extends the application of the SCT verbal defensiveness index beyond specialized personnel selection, finding no significant differences in verbal defensiveness based on gender or military status. Overall, these findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of defensive behavior and its contextual variations.

Pancultural nostalgia in action: Prevalence, triggers, and psychological functions of nostalgia across cultures.

Nostalgia is a social, self-relevant, and bittersweet (although mostly positive) emotion that arises when reflecting on fond past memories and serves key psychological functions. The majority of evidence concerning the prevalence, triggers, and functions of nostalgia has been amassed in samples from a handful of largely Western cultures. If nostalgia is a fundamental psychological resource, it should perform similar functions across cultures, although its operational dynamics may be shaped by culture. This study (N = 2,606) examined dispositional nostalgia, self-reported triggers of nostalgia, and functions of experimentally induced nostalgia in young adults across 28 countries and a special administrative region of China (i.e., Hong Kong). Results indicated that nostalgia is frequently experienced across cultures, albeit better valued in more-developed countries (i.e., higher national wealth and life-expectancy). Nostalgia is triggered by psychological threats (especially in warmer countries), sensory stimuli (especially in more-developed countries), and social gatherings (especially in less-developed countries). The positive or negative affect prompted by experimentally induced nostalgia varied by country, but was mild overall. More importantly, recalling a nostalgic (vs. ordinary) memory increased social connectedness, self-continuity, and meaning in life across cultures. In less-developed countries, recalling an ordinary memory also conferred some of these functions, reducing the effect size of nostalgia. Finally, recalling a nostalgic (vs. ordinary) memory augmented state satisfaction with life in countries with lower quality of living (i.e., lower life-expectancy and life-satisfaction). Overall, findings confirm the relevance of nostalgia across a wide range of cultures and indicate cultural nuances in its functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Help-Seeking Preferences and Influencing Factors Among Chinese Nurses Exposed to COVID-19: A Person-Centered Approach

ABSTRACT Purpose This study aimed to explore help-seeking preference categories and crucial influencing factors among community nurses exposed to COVID-19 in China using a new person-centered approach. Design A cross-sectional design including an online self-reported questionnaire survey was used. Methods A total of 667 nurses who participated in COVID-19 prevention and control work were recruited. Latent class analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the data using Mplus and SPSS. Findings Two latent classes of help-seeking preferences were identified: high help-seeking preferences (33.58%) and low help-seeking preferences (66.42%). Most sampled nurses had relatively low help-seeking preferences when facing psychological threats during COVID-19. Logistic regression showed that career duration, perceived social support, online help-seeking intention, and social media exposure negatively affected low help-seeking preferences. Conclusions Career duration, perceived social support, online help-seeking intention, and social media exposure could be key factors influencing help-seeking preferences among Chinese nurses exposed to public emergencies. It is necessary to implement relevant intervention measures, such as focusing on nurses whose career durations are shorter, improving nurses’ perceived social support, strengthening positive media publicity, and developing comprehensive online mental health services that promote nurses’ help-seeking preferences and behaviors to reduce mental illness during public health emergencies. Clinical Evidence Help-seeking preferences are relatively low among Chinese nurses during public emergencies. Based on the major influencing factors of help-seeking preferences, including social support and social media exposure, more interventions must be developed for prompting psychological help-seeking intentions among Chinese nurses.

A thematic synthesis of qualitative studies and surveys of the psychological experience of painful endometriosis

BackgroundEndometriosis is a widespread problem in women of reproductive age, causing cyclical and non-cyclical pain in the pelvis and elsewhere, and associated with fatigue, fertility problems, and other symptoms. As a chronic pain problem, psychological variables are important in adjustment and quality of life, but have not been systematically studied.MethodsA systematic search of multiple databases was conducted to obtain surveys and qualitative studies of women’s experience of pain from endometriosis. Surveys were combined narratively; qualitative studies were combined by thematic synthesis, and the latter rated for methodological quality.ResultsOver 2000 records were screened on title and abstract, and provided 22 surveys and 33 qualitative studies from which accounts could be extracted of the psychological components of pain in endometriosis. Surveys mostly addressed quality of life in endometriosis, with poorer quality of life associated with higher levels of pain and of distress, but few referred to coherent psychological models. Qualitative studies focused rather on women’s experience of living with endometriosis, including trajectories of diagnosis and treatment, with a few addressing meaning and identity. Thematic synthesis provided 10 themes, under the groupings of internal experience of endometriosis (impact on body, emotions, and life); interface with the external world (through self-regulation and social regulation); effects on interpersonal and social life, and encounters with medical care.ConclusionsThe psychological components of pain from endometriosis only partly corresponded with standard psychological models of pain, derived from musculoskeletal pain studies, with fewer fears about physical integrity and more about difficulties of managing pain and other symptoms in social settings, including work. Better understanding of the particular psychological threats of endometriosis, and integration of this understanding into medical care with opportunities for psychologically-based pain management, would substantially improve the experience and quality of life of women with painful endometriosis.

The airspace tribunal and the proposed new human right to live without physical or psychological threat from above

The airspace tribunal and the proposed new human right to live without physical or psychological threat from above

Who Is Afraid of COVID-19: An Inherited Approach for the Future of EFL

The paper shows a new approach to understanding the professional consciousness of teachers during the pandemic. EFL teachers during the COVID-19 era witnessed a range of contradictions Between motives, expectations, attitudes, and the need for professional self-determination and to establish themselves as EFL teachers and the contradiction between the need for self-fulfillment in professional activity and the level of creativity of the person (Harvey & Nilsson, 2022). These contradictions generated a sense of fear that caused a psychological threat to the stability of the EFL teacher, both professionally and personally. I focused on coping as a solution to overcome these contradictions. My proposed approach to coping goes beyond the psychological dimension to integrate other dimensions that are informed by the previous COVID-19 instructional experience.

A Narrative of Crisis: Nancy Emerson's Diary and Healing through Writing

ABSTRACT: Nancy Emerson, a middle-class white woman who lived with her brother's family in Augusta County, Virginia, kept a diary intermittently between May 1862 and November 1864. Emerson's diary can be defined as a narrative of crisis, generated to respond to, reduce, contain, and mitigate trauma due to the potential physical and psychological threat of the American Civil War. The narrative construction of traumatic experiences is a form of purification and catharsis, allowing Emerson to experience the stages of recovery by regaining a sense of community and establishing safety through writing, attending prayer meetings, reporting news, remembrance of and mourning for the dead, and Christian resignation. By combining psychiatric, literary, and historical approaches, this study offers contextualization of Emerson's narration, representation, and writing about physical and psychological crisis as a process of working through and recovery.

Integration of Motivational Interviewing and Self-Affirmation Theory into a Culturally Adapted Motivational Interview: A Case Study

Annually, alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use are responsible for the 11.8 million deaths worldwide, exceeding the number of deaths from all cancers ( Ritchie & Roser, 2018 ). Motivational Interviewing (MI), a person-centered addiction counseling approach ( Miller & Rollnick, 2013 ), is designed for those with low motivation to change. MI is presumed to minimize client defensiveness by avoiding confrontation. Culturally adapting evidence-based treatments such as MI may reduce alcohol-related health disparities among Latinx adults. A completed randomized trial tested the relative efficacy of Culturally Adapted Motivational Interview (CAMI) compared to MI in Latinx drinkers. CAMI had beneficial alcohol use effects among persons who reported high discrimination and stigma ( Lee et al., 2019 ). Self-Affirmation Theory, which provides a mechanism where stigma effects can be buffered, was integrated into the CAMI. Augmenting affirmation in the CAMI is postulated to lower defensiveness and increase openness to information that pose a threat to self-image ( Sherman & Cohen, 2006 ). The purpose of this case example is to present the novel features of CAMI and to suggest how affirmation may have played in the CAMI’s beneficial effects for individuals with high discrimination. The case example illustrates how the CAMI addresses three conditions for self-affirmation associated with strongest effects on motivating behavior change ( Ferrer & Cohen, 2019 ): the presence of psychological threat, timing and availability of resources.