- Email: [email protected]
Temperament and Anxiety in Children: Insights from a Surgical Context
472
Abstracts
relationship initiation. Some research shows that ideals influence relationship initiation, whereas other research suggests that ideals do not influence relationship initiation. The goal of this thesis is to resolve this debate. Specifically, the present study investigates the extent to which individuals initiate romantic relationships with others who more closely match their ideal mate preferences. To test this question, 450 single participants’ ideal mate preferences and perceptions of themselves on across three categories of traits were measured via online surveys over a six-month period. If participants became involved in a romantic relationship during the six months, they were asked to provide the contact information for their new partners and these partners were then provided an opportunity to join the study. If they agreed, they were asked to provide self-evaluations on the same three categories of traits. Comparisons between the original participant’s ideal mate preferences and their partner’s self-perceptions will be analyzed. This will determine whether individuals initiate relationship with others who have greater consistency with their ideals and their partner’s self-perceptions.
problems. The current study (N = 484 university undergraduates) was designed to develop a more comprehensive model of selfhandicapping behaviours, affect and cognitions through structural analysis of a large pool of items drawn from four self-handicapping scales. Exploratory factor analysis and examination of the scree plot revealed three factors. A confirmatory factor analysis yielded good fit indices: χ2 = 311.38, df = 198; CFI = .958, RMSEA = .049. The factors were labelled ‘Academic Self-handicapping’, ‘Self-handicapping Behaviours’, and ‘Self-handicapping Affect/Cognitions’. These three factors showed significantly different associations with key variables within the nomological network of self-handicapping (e.g., self-esteem, personality, and university grades), thus providing validity evidence for our three-factor model. We discuss the implications for educational research and self-handicapping theory development.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.111
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.109 Predicting health outcomes using traditional personality measures and novel empirically-derived scales D.M. Condon Temperament and Anxiety in Children: Insights from a Surgical Context C.H.T. Chow, N. Nejati, R.J. Van Lieshout, N. Buckley, E. Pope, S. Wan, L.A. Schmidt Understanding links between temperament and childhood anxiety is a longstanding area of inquiry, but has been constrained by reliance on laboratory studies lacking ecological validity. Here we assessed this relation using one of the most anxiety provoking contexts: surgery. We examined whether individual differences in temperament predicted preoperative anxiety (PA) in children undergoing surgery. We hypothesized that children who scored high on shyness and low on sociability would experience greater PA. Forty children (aged 8 to 13) undergoing outpatient surgery at McMaster Children’s Hospital were recruited. Children’s PA and temperament were examined at two points: 1 week before surgery (T1) and in the operating room (T2). PA was positively correlated with sociability at T1 (r = .34) and T2 (r = .36). It is negatively correlated with shyness at T1 (r = -.32) and tended to be at T2 (r = -.25). Shy children scored lower on PA at T1 (p = .01) than non-shy. Sociable children scored higher on PA at T1 (p = .05) and T2 (p = .05) than non-sociable. While seemingly paradoxical, our findings suggest that shy children may be less sensitive to surgical contexts, perhaps due to their persistent experience of anxiety in their everyday environments. This work highlights the importance of considering ecologically valid contexts when studying individual differences in socioemotional development.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.110
What is self-handicapping? I.E. Clarke, C. MacCann Structural analysis of existing self-handicapping measures suggests a three-factor structure. Self-handicapping is an extensively studied phenomenon that has important educational consequences. Much of its empirical study, however, has been reliant on the Self-handicapping Scale, which suffers from psychometric
Although the SAPA-Project was primarily designed to evaluate structural relationships between and among the individual differences domain of temperament, ability, and interests, it also collects data on a number of health behaviors and outcomes. Given the relatively large sample sizes, analyses can be conducted on these domains and criterion variables at both the scale and item level. At the scale level, this talk will focus on the relationships between health outcomes and temperament at three broad levels of measurement: (1) 3 over-arching factors, (2) the 5-6 dimensional level typically associated with the Big Five, and (3) a level with 15 narrowly defined dimensions. A total of 150 items is quite adequate to assess all three of these heterarchically ordered scales. At the item level, we will show how it is possible to empirically derive item subsets that predict health behaviors and outcomes, specifically smoking and Body Mass Index.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.112
Trait emotional intelligence and emotional distress: A closer look K. Constantin, C.J. Pope, V.C. Miedema, A.M. Penney, R.P. Tett, D. Mazmanian Prior research suggests that emotional intelligence (EI) is negatively related to symptoms of emotional disorders. The current study examined relationships between four facets of trait EI and symptoms of generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and depression, as well as with the associated cognitive processes of worry, rumination, and post-event processing in a non-clinical sample of university students (N = 126). The EI facet of emotional self-regulation correlated negatively with all measures of emotional distress and cognitive processes (-.29 to -.69, p b .01). EI-self-recognition of emotions also correlated with all outcome measures (-.21 to -.45, p b .01), but controlling for EI-self-regulation eliminated those effects. EI-regulation of emotions in others correlated only with social anxiety (-.30, p b .01). Finally, moderation and mediation analyses were conducted to clarify the relationships among these variables. The findings support the premise that individual differences in trait EI are
Abstracts
relationship initiation. Some research shows that ideals influence relationship initiation, whereas other research suggests that ideals do not influence relationship initiation. The goal of this thesis is to resolve this debate. Specifically, the present study investigates the extent to which individuals initiate romantic relationships with others who more closely match their ideal mate preferences. To test this question, 450 single participants’ ideal mate preferences and perceptions of themselves on across three categories of traits were measured via online surveys over a six-month period. If participants became involved in a romantic relationship during the six months, they were asked to provide the contact information for their new partners and these partners were then provided an opportunity to join the study. If they agreed, they were asked to provide self-evaluations on the same three categories of traits. Comparisons between the original participant’s ideal mate preferences and their partner’s self-perceptions will be analyzed. This will determine whether individuals initiate relationship with others who have greater consistency with their ideals and their partner’s self-perceptions.
problems. The current study (N = 484 university undergraduates) was designed to develop a more comprehensive model of selfhandicapping behaviours, affect and cognitions through structural analysis of a large pool of items drawn from four self-handicapping scales. Exploratory factor analysis and examination of the scree plot revealed three factors. A confirmatory factor analysis yielded good fit indices: χ2 = 311.38, df = 198; CFI = .958, RMSEA = .049. The factors were labelled ‘Academic Self-handicapping’, ‘Self-handicapping Behaviours’, and ‘Self-handicapping Affect/Cognitions’. These three factors showed significantly different associations with key variables within the nomological network of self-handicapping (e.g., self-esteem, personality, and university grades), thus providing validity evidence for our three-factor model. We discuss the implications for educational research and self-handicapping theory development.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.111
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.109 Predicting health outcomes using traditional personality measures and novel empirically-derived scales D.M. Condon Temperament and Anxiety in Children: Insights from a Surgical Context C.H.T. Chow, N. Nejati, R.J. Van Lieshout, N. Buckley, E. Pope, S. Wan, L.A. Schmidt Understanding links between temperament and childhood anxiety is a longstanding area of inquiry, but has been constrained by reliance on laboratory studies lacking ecological validity. Here we assessed this relation using one of the most anxiety provoking contexts: surgery. We examined whether individual differences in temperament predicted preoperative anxiety (PA) in children undergoing surgery. We hypothesized that children who scored high on shyness and low on sociability would experience greater PA. Forty children (aged 8 to 13) undergoing outpatient surgery at McMaster Children’s Hospital were recruited. Children’s PA and temperament were examined at two points: 1 week before surgery (T1) and in the operating room (T2). PA was positively correlated with sociability at T1 (r = .34) and T2 (r = .36). It is negatively correlated with shyness at T1 (r = -.32) and tended to be at T2 (r = -.25). Shy children scored lower on PA at T1 (p = .01) than non-shy. Sociable children scored higher on PA at T1 (p = .05) and T2 (p = .05) than non-sociable. While seemingly paradoxical, our findings suggest that shy children may be less sensitive to surgical contexts, perhaps due to their persistent experience of anxiety in their everyday environments. This work highlights the importance of considering ecologically valid contexts when studying individual differences in socioemotional development.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.110
What is self-handicapping? I.E. Clarke, C. MacCann Structural analysis of existing self-handicapping measures suggests a three-factor structure. Self-handicapping is an extensively studied phenomenon that has important educational consequences. Much of its empirical study, however, has been reliant on the Self-handicapping Scale, which suffers from psychometric
Although the SAPA-Project was primarily designed to evaluate structural relationships between and among the individual differences domain of temperament, ability, and interests, it also collects data on a number of health behaviors and outcomes. Given the relatively large sample sizes, analyses can be conducted on these domains and criterion variables at both the scale and item level. At the scale level, this talk will focus on the relationships between health outcomes and temperament at three broad levels of measurement: (1) 3 over-arching factors, (2) the 5-6 dimensional level typically associated with the Big Five, and (3) a level with 15 narrowly defined dimensions. A total of 150 items is quite adequate to assess all three of these heterarchically ordered scales. At the item level, we will show how it is possible to empirically derive item subsets that predict health behaviors and outcomes, specifically smoking and Body Mass Index.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.112
Trait emotional intelligence and emotional distress: A closer look K. Constantin, C.J. Pope, V.C. Miedema, A.M. Penney, R.P. Tett, D. Mazmanian Prior research suggests that emotional intelligence (EI) is negatively related to symptoms of emotional disorders. The current study examined relationships between four facets of trait EI and symptoms of generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and depression, as well as with the associated cognitive processes of worry, rumination, and post-event processing in a non-clinical sample of university students (N = 126). The EI facet of emotional self-regulation correlated negatively with all measures of emotional distress and cognitive processes (-.29 to -.69, p b .01). EI-self-recognition of emotions also correlated with all outcome measures (-.21 to -.45, p b .01), but controlling for EI-self-regulation eliminated those effects. EI-regulation of emotions in others correlated only with social anxiety (-.30, p b .01). Finally, moderation and mediation analyses were conducted to clarify the relationships among these variables. The findings support the premise that individual differences in trait EI are