Marja Kokkonen

Extraversion and Neuroticism as antecedents of emotion regulation and dysregulation in adulthood

This longitudinal study examined the role of Extraversion and Neuroticism as antecedents of emotion regulation and dysregulation among 89 women and 81 men. When participants were 27 years old, their Extraversion and Neuroticism were assessed with the standardized version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. At age 33, they completed the Big‐Five Personality Inventory, an authorized adaptation of the NEO Personality Inventory. Emotion regulation, operationalized as an active attempt to turn a negative emotion toward a more positive direction, and measured by the Repair subscale of the Meta‐Regulation Scale, and emotional social support, as measured by the Life Situation Questionnaire, were assessed when participants reached 36 years of age. Emotional ambivalence, a type of emotion dysregulation, was also assessed in this wave. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that prior Neuroticism led to higher emotional ambivalence and lowered use of Repair at age 36. Prior Extraversion, on the other hand, was linked to lower emotional ambivalence at age 36. Extraversion also led to higher attempts to rely on emotional social support to regulate emotions, but less interest in using Repair. Correlational findings revealed that Extraversion and Neuroticism showed differential continuity between ages 27 and 33. Copyright

Examination of the paths between personality, current mood, its evaluation, and emotion regulation

In an ongoing longitudinal study, a Big Five Personality Inventory was completed by 122 men and 126 women at age 33. At age 36, the Brief Mood Introspection Scale, the Meta‐Evaluation Scale, and the Meta‐Regulation Scale were administered to 140 men and 127 women. The results, based on path analyses, lent support to a hypothesized model, according to which current mood (Negative, Positive, Active, Calm) and mood evaluation (Mood Influence, Typicality and Acceptance, Clarity) mediate the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and emotion regulation strategies (Repair, Dampening, Maintenance). For both sexes, Neuroticism was the most significant trait in terms of emotion regulation. A sex difference emerged: in general, personality traits and mood variables explained emotion regulation more significantly in men. Copyright

Factors contributing to verbal self-disclosure

The phenomenon of self-disclosure has been actively studied in several sub-discliplines of psychology from the 1970s on, and neighbouring disciplines, such as social and communication sciences, have enriched the psychological understanding of the topic. The psychological literature on self-disclosure, which is viewed, sometimes as a trait-like construct, varying in degree from one person to another, and sometimes as an interpersonal process which occurs when individuals interact with each other, has addressed, in particular, the issues of reciprocity effect, sex differences, self-disclosure in intimate vs. non-intimate relationships, the benefits to be derived from disclosing, and the emotional or anxiety-based motives for disclosure. The present article aims to present a broad and general overview of the self-disclosure literature by integrating empirical discoveries from different areas of science. Self-disclosure is here approached by outlining the characteristics of the discloser and the recipient that promote or prevent self-disclosing, the relationship between the discloser and the recipient, some situational and cultural factors affecting self-disclosure, and the benefits and risks of self-disclosing.

Positive Affectivity, Self-Mastery, and a Sense of Failure as Predictors of Self-Assessed Health

The study was part of the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development. The participants (145 females and 147 males) were mailed a Life Situation Questionnaire at ages 27 and 36. This included a Personal Control Inventory as well as questions about their satisfaction with intimate relationships, leisure time, housing, occupation, work situation, and livelihood as well as about their sense of control over life events. Three groups of variables emerged from their responses: positive affectivity (satisfaction with life, contentment with ones achievements), a sense of failure (low self-worth, accusation of others), and self-mastery (self-confidence, social support, control over life events). A single-item self-assessment of health was elicited at ages 27 and 36, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire was administered at age 36 to study psychological distress. The results (tested by LISREL 7.2) showed that long-term positive affectivity was directly related to good self-assessed he...

Traits and emotions: A review of their structure and management

This paper reviews literature on traits and emotions focusing on both structure and management, or ‘having’ and ‘doing’. The cognitive perspective of this paper implies that traits and emotions are viewed as provisions to frame people and their behaviours in situations in meaningful ways. The focus on the structure of traits thus implies considering the now broadly acknowledged Big Five model as a dimensional framework by which traits of people can be meaningfully organized. A similar position is taken with respect to emotions, given the recurrent finding of a two‐dimensional model of emotions with Positive Affect and Negative Affect (PA and NA). Maintaining relevant distinctions between traits and emotions, the literature has demonstrated a close link between the two emotion dimensions and two dimensions of the Big Five (Extraversion and Neuroticism). The commonality between those systems becomes apparent by making use of circumplex representations. The focus on management is another way to give meaning to cognition. Traits describe how people are differentially equipped with characteristics that enable them to face a variety of situational demands and fortuitous circumstances. In this paper the strategic meaning of traits and of emotions is put forward using literature with different theoretical angles. Copyright

Direct and Indirect Effects of Adolescent Self-Control of Emotions and Behavioral Expression on Adult Health Outcomes

In the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, we examined the direct and indirect effects of self-control of emotions and behavioral expression, as rated by teachers at age 14, on various self-reported health outcomes at age 36 in 123 women and 129 men. The relation between independent and dependent variables was expected to be mediated by health-related behaviors at age 36 (exercise, tobacco use, heavy drinking). Path analysis showed that, in men, low self-control of emotions was linked to self-assessed poor health and physical symptoms indirectly via health-risk behaviors, but directly to disabilities. Behavioral expression at age 14, indexed by social activity, was directly linked to disabilities. In women, behavioral expression was unrelated to health outcomes, but low self-control of emotions was indirectly linked to self-assessed poor health, physical symptoms, and disabilities via health-risk behaviors.

Low Self-Control of Emotions as an Antecedent of Self-Reported Physical Symptoms: A Longitudinal Perspective

The study was part of the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, underway since 1968, in which childrens low self-control of emotions was studied using teacher ratings at age 8 in terms of inattentiveness, shifting moods, aggression, and anxiety. The study was based on data from 112 women and 112 men who participated in the previous data collections at ages 8, 27, and 36. At age 27, the participants had been assessed in Neuroticism (N) using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and at age 36 they filled in several inventories measuring, among others, conscious and active attempts to repair negative emotions in a more positive direction as well as physical symptoms. The present study used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis that personality characteristics indicating low self-control of emotions at ages 8 and 27 are antecedents of self-reported physical symptoms at age 36; and that this relationship is indirect, mediated by attempts to repair negative emotion...

Women Fighters as Agents of Change: A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Case Study from Finland

Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ), a grappling system of combat, evolved from the teachings of a Japanese judoka who moved to Brazil in the 1920s. Focusing on ground fighting, BJJ is rapidly evolving into a combat sport with competitions taking place worldwide (Hogeveen and Hardes, 2014; Spencer, 2014). Unique to the BJJ culture is the way that the ‘secrets’ of the sport are transferred from expert to novice and from one club to the other. Clubs are organised into international ‘teams’, shaping global communities of practitioners that share techniques and philosophies. Unlike many other martial arts that insist on the traditional way of passing knowledge from one teacher to many students behind the closed doors of the dojo (martial arts school), BJJ is open to innovation (Hogeveen and Hardes, 2014) and its techniques are conveyed from ‘many masters to many students’ via the Internet and expert seminars (Spencer, 2014). As students improve their technical knowledge and skills, their progress is defined according to a coloured system of belts. In most cases, the journey from white to black belt is extremely difficult compared to other martial arts due to the strict promotion criteria of BJJ (Spencer, 2014).

The perception of elite athletes’ guided self-reflection and performance in archery

Abstract Self-reflection has been shown to enhance professional development in clinical, counselling and educational settings. Recent research found that self-reflection can enhance performance in elite sports. The purpose of this intervention study was two-fold: Firstly, to examine whether a guided reflective diary was effective in enhancing accuracy in elite archery, and secondly, to identify factors facilitating and hindering the usage of the guided reflective diary. Eight Singaporean elite archers (four females, four males), aged 20–24 years, reflected on their training using the diary for a period of five weeks. Their pre- and post-intervention performance scores were collected and qualitative interviews were conducted. Quantitative data revealed that only two archers improved their performance after the intervention, whereas six performed poorer than before. Qualitative data were content analysed using the thematic method. This revealed three facilitating factors for the guided reflective diary usage: (1) serves as a reminder, (2) description of shooting feeling, and (3) enhances motivation. In contrast, (1) time-consumption, (2) high number of questions, and (3) the repetitive nature of the reflection questions were reported as the three most common hindering factors for the effective usage of the reflective diary. The results are discussed using the sport and coaching science literature. Practical implications are proposed to optimise athletes’ use of reflection as a learning tool for personal improvement and performance enhancement.

The Effects of Intensive Weight Reduction on Body Composition and Serum Hormones in Female Fitness Competitors

Worries about the potential negative consequences of popular fat loss regimens for aesthetic purposes in normal weight females have been surfacing in the media. However, longitudinal studies investigating these kinds of diets are lacking. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of a 4-month fat-loss diet in normal weight females competing in fitness-sport. In total 50 participants finished the study with 27 females (27.2 ± 4.1 years) dieting for a competition and 23 (27.7 ± 3.7 years) acting as weight-stable controls. The energy deficit of the diet group was achieved by reducing carbohydrate intake and increasing aerobic exercise while maintaining a high level of protein intake and resistance training in addition to moderate fat intake. The diet led to a ~12% decrease in body weight (P < 0.001) and a ~35–50% decrease in fat mass (DXA, bioimpedance, skinfolds, P < 0.001) whereas the control group maintained their body and fat mass (diet × group interaction P < 0.001). A small decrease in lean mass (bioimpedance and skinfolds) and in vastus lateralis muscle cross-sectional area (ultrasound) were observed in diet (P < 0.05), whereas other results were unaltered (DXA: lean mass, ultrasound: triceps brachii thickness). The hormonal system was altered during the diet with decreased serum concentrations of leptin, triiodothyronine (T3), testosterone (P < 0.001), and estradiol (P < 0.01) coinciding with an increased incidence of menstrual irregularities (P < 0.05). Body weight and all hormones except T3 and testosterone returned to baseline during a 3–4 month recovery period including increased energy intake and decreased levels aerobic exercise. This study shows for the first time that most of the hormonal changes after a 35–50% decrease in body fat in previously normal-weight females can recover within 3–4 months of increased energy intake.