C. Veronica Smith

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.

Different slopes for different folks: Self-esteem instability and gender as moderators of the relationship between self-esteem and attitudinal aggression

The present research examined the relationships among self-esteem level, temporal self-esteem instability, gender, and self-reported aggression. Self-esteem level was negatively related to attitudinal aggression, although this relationship varied as a joint function of self-esteem instability and gender. It was strongest among men with unstable self-esteem and among women with stable self-esteem. Although self-esteem instability and narcissism (Study 3) were each positively related to behavioral aggression, the relationship between narcissism and attitudinal aggression varied as a function of self-esteem instability. The relationship between narcissism and attitudinal aggression was positive among people with stable self-esteem, but negative among people with unstable self-esteem, regardless of gender. The importance of considering gender, self-esteem instability, and narcissism in the self-esteem/aggression debate is discussed.

Emotions in Everyday Social Encounters Correspondence Between Culture and Self-Construal

Relationships between self-construal and emotion experiences in social interactions were examined in two countries. Participants in Greece (a more collectivist culture) and the United Kingdom (a more individualist culture) described the social interactions they had each day for 7 days using a variant of the Rochester Interaction Record. For UK participants, independent self-construal was positively related to positive affect, whereas for Greek participants, independent self-construal was negatively related to positive affect. There were few relationships between interdependent self-construal and affect in either study. The results point to the interplay of cultural values and individual differences in self-construal and their relationships to peoples affective experiences.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Mental health in the context of a technological disaster.

A significant percentage of disaster survivors experience negative psychological, physical, and social outcomes after a disaster. The current study advances the literature concerning the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (the Gulf Oil Spill) while addressing weaknesses of previous research. The current study includes a clinical sample of 1,119 adults receiving mental health services in the coastal counties of Mississippi after the Gulf Oil Spill. The levels of clinical symptoms reported on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) and PTSD Checklist (PCL-S) were examined in relation to other domains of functioning potentially affected by the spill (finances, social relationships, and physical health). Participants reported substantial worsening of their functioning across each life domain. Furthermore, chronic problems in living related to the Gulf Oil Spill were significantly associated with higher levels of psychological distress, although the pattern differed somewhat for persons living above and below the poverty line, with lower income individuals reporting a higher level of overall distress. These data support the perspective that the experience of the Gulf Oil Spill is strongly associated with a deleterious effect on mental health symptoms.

Relationship Duration Moderates Associations Between Attachment and Relationship Quality: Meta-Analytic Support for the Temporal Adult Romantic Attachment Model

Although research has examined associations between attachment dimensions and relationship outcomes, theory has ignored how these associations change over time in adult romantic relationships. We proposed the Temporal Adult Romantic Attachment (TARA) model, which predicts that the negative associations between anxious and avoidant attachment on one hand and relationship satisfaction and commitment on the other will be more negative as relationship durations increase. Meta-analyses largely confirmed that negative associations between both insecure attachment dimensions and both relationship outcomes were more negative among longer relationship durations in cross-sectional samples. We also explored gender differences in these associations. The present review not only integrates the literature on adult attachment and romantic relationship satisfaction/commitment but also highlights the importance of relationship duration as a key moderator of the associations among these variables. We discuss the broad implications of these effects and our meta-analytic findings for the TARA model, attachment theory, and romantic relationships.

In pursuit of ‘good’ sex: Self-determination and the sexual experience

Self-determination Theory posits that psychological wellbeing stems from feeling autonomous, competent, and related. Prior research has found that people report that, on days in which they perceive these needs are met, they have good days, as evidenced by both positive mood and fewer physical symptoms. The current research examined the relationship between satisfaction of these needs and sexuality, hypothesizing that having sexual interactions in which these needs are met, will result in more satisfying and positive experiences. For 3 weeks, participants described and rated each of their sexual interactions. Results suggest that greater need satisfaction is related to more positive sexual experience. Differences in general-level needs were also examined as they moderated the above relationship.

Gone But Not Forgotten: Virginity Loss and Current Sexual Satisfaction

Although loss of virginity remains a salient experience throughout a persons lifetime, little is known about whether this experience has implications for later sexual functioning (e.g., sexual satisfaction). Previous research tends to ask participants about their first time and their current sexual functioning concurrently, which may lead to spillover effects. The authors investigated the relation between first-time sexual intercourse and current sexual satisfaction using an event-sampling methodology. Participants were 331 undergraduate students who answered questions about their first-time sexual encounter and their current sexual functioning (e.g., sexual satisfaction, sexual depression). Participants then described and rated each of their sexual interactions for 2 weeks. Results show that participants who had more positive first-time sexual experiences (e.g., intimacy, respect) report greater feelings of sexual satisfaction and esteem and less sexual depression. A series of multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses revealed that positive first-time experiences were predictive of physical and emotional satisfaction in their current sexual interactions, even when controlling for global sexual satisfaction. These results suggest that ones first-time sexual experience is more than just a milestone in development. Rather, it appears to have implications for their sexual well-being years later.

Blind Jealousy? Romantic Insecurity Increases Emotion-Induced Failures of Visual Perception

Does the influence of close relationships pervade so deeply as to impact visual awareness? Results from two experiments involving heterosexual romantic couples suggest that they do. Female partners from each couple performed a rapid detection task where negative emotional distractors typically disrupt visual awareness of subsequent targets; at the same time, their male partners rated attractiveness first of landscapes, then of photos of other women. At the end of both experiments, the degree to which female partners indicated uneasiness about their male partner looking at and rating other women correlated significantly with the degree to which negative emotional distractors had disrupted their target perception during that time. This relationship was robust even when controlling for individual differences in baseline performance. Thus, emotions elicited by social contexts appear to wield power even at the level of perceptual processing.

Relationships between daily sexual interactions and domain-specific and general models of personality traits

Although sexuality is an important component of personal relationships, there has been relatively little research on relationships between personality and everyday sexual behavior. Moreover, existing research on sexual behavior and personality (defined in terms of the Five-Factor Model, FFM) has found weak and inconsistent relationships. We hypothesized that sexual behavior can be better understood in terms of a model of personality that focuses on sexuality rather than in terms of a general model of personality. The present study examined relationships between two models of personality and daily sexual behavior. For 3 weeks, two different samples described their sexual interactions and they completed a measure of the FFM (N = 104) and the Sexy Seven (N = 48). A series of multilevel modeling analyses found that personality as measured by both models was related to both positive (e.g., feeling desired) and negative (e.g., feeling guilty) reactions to sexual experiences. As predicted, comparisons of the strength of the relationships between reactions to daily sexual experience and the two models found reactions to sexual experience were related more strongly to the Sexy Seven than to the FFM. The importance of considering both domainspecific and general measures of personality is discussed in terms of understanding sexual behavior.

Social Identity in Daily Social Interaction

In a study of social identity in everyday social interaction, 133 undergraduates described their social interactions for two weeks using a variant of the Rochester Interaction Record. Some participants were members of campus social organizations and some were not, and descriptions of interactions included the social affiliation (identity) of the others who were present. Participants also completed measures of social dominance and self-construal. A series of multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses found that for members of social organizations, on average, the presence of members was not associated with a change in reactions to interactions; however, for members high in social dominance, interactions with members were more positive than interactions with non-members. In contrast, for non-members, the presence of a member was associated with less-positive interactions on average; however, there were no such differences for non-members who were high in independent self-construal.