The most important life goals of people with and without social anxiety disorder: Focusing on emotional interference and uncovering meaning in life

Trait Social Anxiety Moderates the Relationship Between Emotion-Regulation Strategy Switching and State Anxiety in Daily Life

Difficulty knowing when to switch emotion regulation (ER) strategies is theorized to be a key pathway to emotion dysregulation, but relatively few studies have empirically examined this. We applied a new order-based metric to quantify how N=109 socially anxious people switched between 19 different ER strategies (or chose not to regulate at all) throughout a 5-week ecological momentary assessment study yielding 12,616 observations. We tested whether state and trait anxiety reports, and their interaction, predicted differences in ER strategy switching. Results indicated that people with relatively higher social anxiety symptoms switch more often between ER strategies during periods of high average state anxiety but less often during periods of high variability in state anxiety than less socially anxious people. Interventions focused on helping socially anxious people learn how ER strategies are connected to variations in state anxiety might hold promise to increase adaptive ER switching decisions. More broadly, expanding ER switching interventions to consider the role of changing situations is an important next step.

The effect of cyberbullying victimization, traditional bullying victimization and suicidal ideation among college students: do specific affective problems play a mediate role?

BACKGROUND

Suicidal ideation among college students and adolescents represents a significant public health issue worldwide. Research has indicated that emotional difficulties may mediate the relationship between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation. However, insights from Thomas Joiner's interpersonal theory and Klonsky's The Three-Step Theory suggest that suicidal ideation arises not merely from emotional distress but from the interplay of hopelessness along with these emotional challenges. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether variouse affective problems mediated the relationship between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation among college students.

METHODS

In this study, we utilized a convenience sampling method to collect data from 2717 college students (mean age = 19.81 years, 22.49% male) in South China. We examined the relationships between variables using Spearman's correlation analysis. To analyze potential mediation effects, we employed PROCESS model 4 within SPSS.

RESULTS

Our findings revealed that different forms of bullying victimization can predict experiences of depression, anxiety, and social anxiety. However, these emotional responses did not significantly influenced suicidal ideation among college students. Additionally, while different forms of bullying victimization did not directly correlate with feelings of hopelessness, hopelessness was closely associated with the prevalence of suicidal ideation. Furthermore, our results highlighted a significant mediating role of psychiatric prodromal experiences in the relationship between different forms of bullying victimization and suicidal ideation.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggested that affective problems may not serve as a significant mediating factor in the relationship between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation. We proposed an integrated emotion-response model that enhances understanding of suicidal ideation among college and offers a framework for more effective prevention strategies.

Studies of Social Anxiety Using Ambulatory Assessment: Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

There has been an increased interest in understanding social anxiety (SA) and SA disorder (SAD) antecedents and consequences as they occur in real time, resulting in a proliferation of studies using ambulatory assessment (AA). Despite the exponential growth of research in this area, these studies have not been synthesized yet.

OBJECTIVE

This review aimed to identify and describe the latest advances in the understanding of SA and SAD through the use of AA.

METHODS

Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science.

RESULTS

A total of 70 articles met the inclusion criteria. The qualitative synthesis of these studies showed that AA permitted the exploration of the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral dynamics associated with the experience of SA and SAD. In line with the available models of SA and SAD, emotion regulation, perseverative cognition, cognitive factors, substance use, and interactional patterns were the principal topics of the included studies. In addition, the incorporation of AA to study psychological interventions, multimodal assessment using sensors and biosensors, and transcultural differences were some of the identified emerging topics.

CONCLUSIONS

AA constitutes a very powerful methodology to grasp SA from a complementary perspective to laboratory experiments and usual self-report measures, shedding light on the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral antecedents and consequences of SA and the development and maintenance of SAD as a mental disorder.

State and Trait Emotion Regulation Diversity in Social Anxiety

Emotion regulation (ER) diversity, defined as the variety, frequency, and evenness of ER strategies used, may predict social anxiety (SA) severity. In a sample of individuals with high (n=113) or low (n=42) SA severity, we tested whether four trait ER diversity metrics predicted group membership. We generalized existing trait ER diversity calculations to repeated-measures data to test if state-level metrics (using two weeks of EMA data) predicted SA severity within the higher severity group. As hypothesized (osf.io/xadyp), higher trait ER diversity within avoidance-oriented strategies predicted greater likelihood of belonging to the higher severity group. At the state-level, higher diversity across all ER strategies, and within and between avoidance- and approach-oriented strategies, predicted higher SA severity (but only after controlling for number of submitted EMAs). Only diversity within avoidance-oriented strategies was significantly correlated across trait and state levels. Findings suggest that high avoidance-oriented ER diversity may co-occur with higher SA severity.

Purpose in Life: Addressing Transdiagnostic Psychopathologies Concerning Patients' Sense of Purpose

ABSTRACT

Having a purpose in life is strongly associated with well-being and quality of life. Some individuals develop their sense of purpose early in life and can sustain lifelong ideals. In contrast, we identify four transdiagnostic syndromes where purpose in life is impaired: 1) deficiencies in generating purpose; 2) loss of purpose due to traumatic events such as catastrophic illnesses or bereavements; 3) conflicts due to crossed purposes; and 4) maladaptive purposes, such as life-limiting single-minded goals, dominating others, or exacting revenge. Several psychotherapies associated with positive and existential psychologies help patients construct, reconstruct, or retain a sense of purpose. However, given the strong links between a sense of purpose and beneficial health and mental health outcomes, the authors suggest that many patients in psychiatric treatment including psychotherapies will benefit from attention to these issues. This article reviews approaches for assessing and addressing purpose in life in psychiatric treatment, to enhance patients' healthy sense of purpose where this characteristic is impaired.