Valerie Hadd

The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: an examination of the factor structure and invariance among breast cancer survivors

Objective: The present study tested the proposed five‐factor structure and invariance of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) in a sample of physically active breast cancer survivors.

School Smoking Policy Characteristics and Individual Perceptions of the School Tobacco Context: Are They Linked to Students' Smoking Status?

The purpose of this study was to explore individual- and school-level policy characteristics on student smoking behavior using an ecological perspective. Participants were 24,213 (51% female) Grade 10–11 students from 81 schools in five Canadian provinces. Data were collected using student self-report surveys, written policies collected from schools, interviews with school administrators, and school property observations to assess multiple dimensions of the school tobacco policy. The multi-level modeling results revealed that the school a student attended was associated with his/her smoking behavior. Individual-level variables that were associated with student smoking included lower school connectedness, a greater number of family and friends who smoked, higher perceptions of student smoking prevalence, lower perceptions of student smoking frequency, and stronger perceptions of the school tobacco context. School-level variables associated with student smoking included weaker policy intention indicating prohibition and assistance to overcome tobacco addiction, weaker policy implementation involving strategies for enforcement, and a higher number of students smoking on school property. These findings suggest that the school environment is important to tobacco control strategies, and that various policy dimensions have unique relationships to student smoking. School tobacco policies should be part of a comprehensive approach to adolescent tobacco use.

Sources of Stress for Breast Cancer Survivors Involved in Dragon Boating: Examining Associations with Treatment Characteristics and Self-Esteem

OBJECTIVES This study sought to (1) identify common stressors faced by breast cancer survivors involved in dragon boating, (2) examine the conceptual and statistical factor groupings of the stressors, (3) identify differences in stressor factors based on treatment characteristics, and (4) examine the associations between stressor factors and two indicators of self-esteem. METHODS Survivors (n = 470) involved in dragon boating completed a survey assessing stressor frequency, stressor intensity, stressor valence, physical self-worth, and global self-esteem, along with demographic and cancer treatment information. RESULTS An exploratory factor analyses (EFA) using maximum likelihood extraction with oblique rotation revealed a four-factor solution that included physical, emotional, social, and exercise-related stressors. Exercise-related stressors were reported more frequently and intensely but were appraised positively by most survivors. The physical, emotional, and social stressors were perceived predominantly as negative. Findings also revealed that physical and emotional stressors and exercise-related stressors were correlates of physical self-worth (R(2) = 0.26). Emotional, social, and exercise-related stressors were significant correlates of global self-esteem (R(2) = 0.11). Cancer treatments were also associated with the experience of stressors, with the strongest effects reported for chemotherapy treatment. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the results demonstrate that participants experienced many stressors but that exercise-related stressors were viewed as more adaptive and were positive correlates of self-esteem processes.

Invariance test of the Multidimensional Body Self-Relations Questionnaire: do women with breast cancer interpret this measure differently?

PurposeTo examine whether the meaning and interpretation of body image are similar for breast cancer survivors and women without breast cancer.MethodWomen completed the Multidimensional Body Self-Relations Questionnaire—Appearance Scales as part of two studies. There were 469 women with breast cancer and 385 women without breast cancer. Invariance testing was conducted to examine whether the items assessing the body image dimensions were similar, whether the dimensions were interpreted similarly, whether the items were equally salient and meaningful, and whether there were mean differences on the body image dimensions across the two groups.ResultsThe meaning and interpretation of body image dimensions related to appearance evaluation and appearance orientation were similar across the groups, yet some group differences were found for overweight preoccupation and body areas satisfaction (and not testable for self-classified weight). Breast cancer survivors reported a small yet significantly higher mean on appearance evaluation and lower mean on appearance orientation compared to the women without breast cancer.ConclusionsMeaningful comparisons in body image across cancer and non-cancer women can be made using two of the Multidimensional Body Self-Relations Questionnaire—Appearance Scales. The overweight preoccupation subscale could be used to assess body image but should not be used if group mean differences are desirable. Assessing satisfaction with body areas across these groups is not recommended and may introduce systematic bias.

The effect of stress‐related factors on post‐performance affects in competitive adolescent swimmers

Abstract The present study investigated the influence of perceived stress, goal discrepancy, goal importance, self‐efficacy, and coping on performance‐related affect in adolescent elite swimmers using Lazarus’ Cognitive‐Motivational Relational framework. The participants were 125 adolescent swimmers (14–18 yrs) from four Canadian provinces. Hierarchical regression found that the model accounted for 22% of positive affect, but only performance goal discrepancy and emotion‐focused coping were significant independent predictors. For negative affect, coping and performance goal discrepancy did not make significant additional contributions; only pre‐race factors of self‐efficacy, perceived stress, and goal importance explained 19% of the variance. Furthermore, neither self‐efficacy or goal importance was correlated to the coping functions. Findings are discussed in light of Lazaruss coping framework as well as the consequences of stress appraisals, coping, and performance on affective states.