Bonnie M. Le

The Brief Aggression Questionnaire: Psychometric and Behavioral Evidence for an Efficient Measure of Trait Aggression

A key problem facing aggression research is how to measure individual differences in aggression accurately and efficiently without sacrificing reliability or validity. Researchers are increasingly demanding brief measures of aggression for use in applied settings, field studies, pretest screening, longitudinal, and daily diary studies. The authors selected the three highest loading items from each of the Aggression Questionnaires (Buss & Perry, 1992) four subscales--Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, anger, and hostility--and developed an efficient 12-item measure of aggression--the Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ). Across five studies (N = 3,996), the BAQ showed theoretically consistent patterns of convergent and discriminant validity with other self-report measures, consistent four-factor structures using factor analyses, adequate recovery of information using item response theory methods, stable test-retest reliability, and convergent validity with behavioral measures of aggression. The authors discuss the reliability, validity, and efficiency of the BAQ, along with its many potential applications.

When Holding Back Helps Suppressing Negative Emotions During Sacrifice Feels Authentic and Is Beneficial for Highly Interdependent People

Is the suppression of negative emotions ever associated with beneficial outcomes in relationships? The study reported here drew on research and theory on emotion regulation, self-construal, and sacrifice to test the hypothesis that individual differences in interdependent self-construal moderate the association between negative-emotion suppression and the personal and interpersonal outcomes of sacrifice. In a 14-day daily-experience study of people in romantic relationships, people with higher levels of interdependence experienced boosts in personal well-being and relationship quality if they suppressed their negative emotions during sacrifice, whereas those who construed the self in less interdependent terms experienced lower well-being and relationship quality if they suppressed their negative emotions during sacrifice. Feelings of authenticity for the sacrifice mediated these associations. These findings identify a critical condition under which the suppression of negative emotions may be personally and interpersonally beneficial.

The Brief Aggression Questionnaire: Reliability, validity, and structure

A key problem facing aggression research is how to measure individual differences in aggression accurately and efficiently without sacrificing reliability or validity. Researchers are increasingly demanding brief measures of aggression for use in applied settings, field studies, pretest screening, longitudinal, and daily diary studies. The authors selected the three highest loading items from each of the Aggression Questionnaires (Buss & Perry, 1992) four subscales--Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, anger, and hostility--and developed an efficient 12-item measure of aggression--the Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ). Across five studies (N = 3,996), the BAQ showed theoretically consistent patterns of convergent and discriminant validity with other self-report measures, consistent four-factor structures using factor analyses, adequate recovery of information using item response theory methods, stable test-retest reliability, and convergent validity with behavioral measures of aggression. The authors discuss the reliability, validity, and efficiency of the BAQ, along with its many potential applications.

The personal and interpersonal rewards of communal orientation

People high in communal orientation care for the welfare of others based on others’ needs and desire similar care for themselves. The current study investigates the personal and interpersonal rewards associated with individual differences in communal orientation. We hypothesized that communally oriented people experience rewards from the positive emotion they feel from caring for others. Results from a 4-week daily experience study (N = 232) indicated that communally oriented people experienced greater self-esteem, greater satisfaction and love in their relationships, and greater love for humanity in daily life. These associations were mediated by greater daily positive emotion and the results were unique to tendencies to give care rather than the desire to receive it. We discuss implications for prosociality and well-being in close relationships and beyond.

When You Think Your Partner Is Holding Back The Costs of Perceived Partner Suppression During Relationship Sacrifice

Do people benefit when they think their partner has made a sacrifice for the relationship? In a multimethod study of 80 couples, we examined whether people can detect when their partner suppresses their emotions and if perceived partner suppression is costly for the recipient of sacrifice. When people listened to their partner recall an important sacrifice in the lab and when people thought their partner sacrificed in daily life, they thought that their partner was less authentic the more they perceived them to have suppressed their emotions. In turn, perceived partner inauthenticity during sacrifice was associated with poorer personal well-being and relationship quality. These effects persisted over time with perceived partner suppression predicting poorer relationship quality 3 months later. The results were independent from the influence of an actor’s projection of their own suppression and their partner’s actual suppression. Implications for research on emotion regulation and close relationships are discussed.

To Give or Not to Give? Sacrificing for Avoidance Goals Is Not Costly for the Highly Interdependent

Is sacrificing to avoid negative outcomes in relationships always costly? The current study draws upon research and theory on approach-avoidance motivation and self-construal to test the hypothesis that individual differences in interdependent self-construal shape the outcomes of sacrificing in pursuit of avoidance goals. Seventy-three individuals in dating relationships participated in a 14-day daily experience study. Results of multilevel mediated moderation analyses showed that individuals who construed the self in less interdependent terms felt inauthentic when they sacrificed for avoidance goals, in turn, detracting from their emotional well-being and the quality of their relationships. In contrast, people high in interdependence did not feel less authentic when sacrificing for avoidance goals and were buffered against the emotional and relationship costs experienced by people low in interdependence. These findings identify a set of individuals for whom sacrificing for avoidance goals is not costly.

The Brief Aggression Questionnaire: Structure, Validity, Reliability, and Generalizability.

In contexts that increasingly demand brief self-report measures (e.g., experience sampling, longitudinal and field studies), researchers seek succinct surveys that maintain reliability and validity. One such measure is the 12-item Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ; Webster et al., 2014), which uses 4 3-item subscales: Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. Although prior work suggests the BAQs scores are reliable and valid, we addressed some lingering concerns. Across 3 studies (N = 1,279), we found that the BAQ had a 4-factor structure, possessed long-term test–retest reliability across 12 weeks, predicted differences in behavioral aggression over time in a laboratory experiment, generalized to a diverse nonstudent sample, and showed convergent validity with a displaced aggression measure. In addition, the BAQs 3-item Anger subscale showed convergent validity with a trait anger measure. We discuss the BAQs potential reliability, validity, limitations, and uses as an efficient measure of aggressive traits.

Communal Motivation and Well-Being in Interpersonal Relationships: An Integrative Review and Meta-Analysis

The motivation to care for the welfare of others, or communal motivation, is a crucial component of satisfying interpersonal relationships and personal well-being. The current meta-analysis synthesized 100 studies (Ntotal = 26,645) on communal motivation to establish its associations with subjective personal well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) and relationship well-being (e.g., relationship satisfaction, partner-oriented positive affect, and partner-oriented negative affect) for both the person providing communal care and their partner. Three types of communal motivation were examined, including general, partner-specific (for children, parents, romantic partners, and friends), and unmitigated (i.e., devoid of agency and self-oriented concern). Results revealed positive associations between all three forms of communal motivation and relationship well-being for the self (.11 ⩽ rs ⩽ .44) and relationship partners (.11 ⩽ rs ⩽ .15). However, only general and partner-specific communal motivation, and not unmitigated communal motivation, were linked with greater personal well-being for both the self (.12 ⩽ rs ⩽ .16) and relationship partners (.04 ⩽ rs ⩽ .09). These associations were generally consistent across gender, relationship length, publication status, and lab. Finally, relationship partners were similar in partner-specific (r = .26) and unmitigated (r = .15) communal motivation only. Findings from the current meta-analysis suggest that care for the welfare of others is linked to greater relationship well-being for both members of a relationship. However, communal care is only linked to personal well-being insofar as it is mitigated by a degree of self-oriented concern. We provide theoretical and power recommendations for future research.

The Costs of Suppressing Negative Emotions and Amplifying Positive Emotions During Parental Caregiving

How do parents feel when they regulate their emotional expressions in ways that are incongruent with their genuine feelings? In an experimental study, parents reported experiencing lower authenticity, emotional well-being, relationship quality, and responsiveness to their children’s needs when they recalled caregiving experiences in which they suppressed negative emotions and amplified positive emotions, relative to a control condition. In a 10-day daily experience study, parents tended to use both regulation strategies simultaneously. In addition, assessing their unique effects indicated that positive emotion amplification, but not negative emotion suppression, had an indirect effect on parental outcomes via authenticity, with negative emotion suppression no longer being costly. This indirect effect was dampened when accounting for care difficulty. In both studies, effects were independent of a child’s mood. The current results suggest that parents’ attempts to suppress negative and amplify positive emotions during child care can detract from their well-being and high-quality parent–child bonds.

The Rewards of Caregiving for Communally Motivated Parents

Research on the provision of need-based care in communal relationships has focused exclusively on adult close relationships. For the first time, we extend communal theory to the parent–child relationship to understand how communally motivated parents feel when giving care to their children. In a cross-sectional study (N = 696), a 10-day experience sampling study (N = 118), and an experimental study (N = 367), we found that communally motivated parents felt more authentic than less communally motivated parents when providing care to their children; in turn, feeling more authentic was associated with greater emotional well-being, parent–child relationship quality, and responsiveness to a child’s needs. These effects could not be attributed to child-centrism, idealization of parenthood, care difficulty, children’s mood, or the specific caregiving behavior in which parents engaged. The findings of the current studies contribute to an emerging body of research on parenting and well-being by highlighting for whom parenting may be maximally rewarding and why.