How does emotional abuse affect adolescents' non-suicidal self-injury urges? A moderated chain mediation model

BACKGROUND

Studying non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents has high clinical significance. Its urges have been identified as a potential predictor of NSSI behavior and may serve as a crucial intervention target.

OBJECTIVE

This study uses a moderated chain mediation model to explore the relationship between emotional abuse and adolescent NSSI urges. Additionally, we examine the mediating roles of ego depletion and self-esteem and the moderating effect of resilience.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

We recruited 1129 Chinese adolescents (age M = 16.68; SD = 0.78; 49.4 % men) from secondary vocational schools in China.

METHODS

We assessed emotional abuse, ego depletion, self-esteem, and NSSI urges in a longitudinal investigation across two time points (T1: March 2023, T2: June 2023).

RESULTS

After controlling for age, sex, NSSI urges and self-esteem at T1, our study validates a moderated chain mediation model and finds that the mediating effect via self-esteem is 0.026 (95%CI = [0.011,0.046]), and the chain mediating effect via ego depletion and self-esteem is 0.031 (95%CI = [0.022,0.045]), whereas the direct effect of emotional abuse T1 on NSSI urges T2 is not significant (DE = 0.082, 95%CI = [-0.002, 0.167]) and the mediating effect via ego depletion is also not significant (IE = -0.003, 95%CI = [-0.022, 0.015]). Resilience moderates the impact of emotional abuse on ego depletion (β = 0.09, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that ego depletion and self-esteem are potential mechanisms related to emotional abuse and adolescents' NSSI urges, whereas resilience can play a moderating role in reducing ego depletion.

Parental emotional neglect and academic procrastination: the mediating role of future self-continuity and ego depletion

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of parental emotional neglect on the academic procrastination of late adolescents and further analyze the mediating role of future self-continuity and ego depletion. This study included 609 college students, 344 males and 265 females, ranging in age from 17 to 21 years (M = 18.39, SD = 0.82), who responded to four questionnaires measuring parental emotional neglect, academic procrastination, future self-continuity, and ego depletion, respectively. The results showed that future self-continuity and ego depletion mediated the association between parental emotional neglect and late adolescents' academic procrastination in a serial pattern. Perceived higher levels of parental emotional neglect correlated with lower future self-continuity and higher ego depletion in these late adolescents, leading to higher levels of academic procrastination.

[The influencing factors of functional somatic discomfort in clinical nurses]

Objective: To investigate the functional somatic discomfort status, and to analyze the effect of job stress, hostile attribution bias and ego depletion on functional somatic discomfort in clinical nurses. Methods: In May 2019, 10 cities in Henan Province and Fujian Province were randomly selected as sampling cities. Using the stratified cluster sampling method, nurses of clinical nursing posts in 22 third class hospitals and 23 second class hospitals were selected as the research objects. The general information, job stress, hostile attribution bias, ego depletion and functional somatic discomfort of clinical nurses were investigated by self-designed general information questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, Social Information Processing-attribution Bias Questionnaire, Self-regulatory Fatigue Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-15. 1200 clinical nurses included, and a total of 1159 valid questionnaires were collected, the effective rate of questionnaire collection was 96.6%. The t test was used to compare the difference of the functional somatic discomfort scores of clinical nurses with different demographic characteristicst. The influence of job stress, hostile attribution bias and ego depletion on functional somatic discomfort of clinical nurses were analyzed with Bootstrap. Results: The functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses was (8.95±4.38), of which 859 (74.12%) had functional somatic discomfort symptom. The functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses aged 36-50 years old was higher than that of 19-35 years old, the functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses with service age ≥5 years was higher than that of <5 years, the functional somatic discomfort score of non-permanent clinical nurses was higher than that of permanent clinical nurses, the functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses in tertiary hospitals was higher than that of secondary hospitals, the functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses in surgical departments were higher than those in non-surgical departments, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Job stress affected functional somatic discomfort through the single mediating role of hostile attribution bias, the single mediating role of ego depletion, and the chain mediating role of hostile attribution bias and ego depletion (β=0.17, 95%CI: 0.10-0.20; β=0.16, 95%CI: 0.10-0.20; β=0.07, 95%CI: 0.03-0.10; P<0.05) . Conclusion: The functional somatic discomfort symptoms of clinical nurses are significant and varied among different age, working age, employment form, hospital grade and department groups. They are affected by work stress directly and through the separate mediating effect of hostile attribution bias and ego depletion, and the chain mediating effect of hostile attribution bias and ego depletion.

Shedding Light on the Adverse Spillover Effects of Work-Family Conflict on Unethical Sales Behaviors at Work: A Daily Diary Study

Despite the antecedents of unethical sales behavior (USB) have been well studied, these literatures primarily focus on the work domain and neglect the spillover effects of the home domain. Drawing on ego depletion theory as an overarching theoretical framework, this research investigates why and how salespersons' work-family conflict (WFC) at home triggers next day's USB at work. This study used daily diary data collected from 99 salespeople in two weeks to test the proposed hypotheses. The multilevel path analysis indicates that evening's WFC positively affects next afternoon's USB via increased next morning's ego depletion (ED). Furthermore, service climate was found to moderate this indirect relationship, such that the indirect relationship becomes weaker under high service climate. To the best of my knowledge, this study is one of the first to reveal that salespersons' daily WFC may serve as a role conflict event and lead to next day's USB at work, which provides a fine-grained understanding of spillover effects of daily WFC through a daily diary study.

[The influence of workplace violence on burnout sense in clinical nurses]

Objective: To explore the influence mechanism of intrusive thoughts and ego depletion between effects of workplace violence on burnout sense in clinical nurses. Methods: In May 2019, 10 cities in Henan Province and Fujian Province were selected as sampling cities by the method of grabbing random balls. Using the stratified cluster sampling method, nurses in clinical nursing posts in 22 third class hospitals and 23 second class hospitals were selected as the research objects for a cross-sectional epidemiological survey, including 1200 nurses. A total of 1159 valid questionnaires were collected, and the effective rate was 96.6%. 1159 clinical nurses were investigated by workplace violence scale, event impact scale, self-regulation fatigue scale and job burnout scale. The items contained in the questionnaire were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis with Harman single factor test, and the demographic characteristics of nurses' workplace violence, invasive thinking, self loss and job burnout were compared and analyzed with s-n-k. Results: Those with less than 3 years of service, those with more than 3 years of aggressive thinking and self loss score, and those with less than 3 years of job burnout score; The score of job burnout of unmarried was lower than that of married; The scores of invasive thinking and self loss of non editors were higher than those of current editors; The scores of workplace violence, aggressive thinking, self loss and job burnout of clinical nurses in tertiary hospitals were higher than those in secondary hospitals; The score of job burnout of undergraduate and above is higher than that of junior college and below; The scores of workplace violence, aggressive thinking and self loss of clinical nurses in surgical departments were higher than those in non-surgical departments; The job burnout score of those aged 36 and above was higher than that of those aged <36, The difference was statistically significant (P< 0.05) . Aggressive thinking and self attrition played a mediating role between workplace violence and job burnout. Workplace violence affected job burnout through the single mediating role of aggressive thinking, the single mediating role of self attrition, and the chain mediating role of aggressive thinking self attrition (β=0.16、0.08、0.03, 95%CI: 0.251~0.190、0.121~0.028、0.050~0.012, P<0.05) . Conclusion: Workplace violence affects burnout sense through the independent mediating role of intrusive thoughts and ego depletion and the chain mediating role of intrusive thoughts and ego depletion in clinical nurses.

Sexual Attentional Bias in Young Adult Heterosexual Men: Attention Allocation Following Self-Regulation

Being sexually aroused can lead to a stronger propensity to engage in sexual risk-taking and sexually coercive behaviors possibly by narrowing attentional focus toward immediate gratification rather than long-term consequences. The goal of this paper was to investigate the attentional processes implicated in sexual self-regulation failure and its moderating factors, namely having a stronger sensitivity to sexual cues (dual control model) or being less able to implement behavioral intentions (action control theory) following a first effortful task. A total of 82 young adult heterosexual men completed a Dot Probe task to assess their attentional bias toward sexual stimuli. Effortful control was manipulated using a Stroop task. Regardless of conditions, higher sexual excitability was predictive of a stronger attentional bias toward sexual cues, while higher inhibition due to threat of performance failure was predictive of a lower bias for such cues. In the experimental condition, action-oriented individuals were able to negate this attentional bias by staying more focused on the task, while state-oriented participants showed higher orientation toward the sexual cues and thus a higher bias. These results suggest that both higher-order processes, like intention implementation, and lower-order processes, like sexual inhibition and excitation systems, are the key to regulation failure.

Regulating disappointment can impair cognitive performance in kindergarten children: Individual differences in ego depletion

Cognitive performance can be affected adversely when exerting self-control beforehand; a phenomenon known as ego depletion. The aim of the current study was to examine whether regulation of disappointment impairs cognitive performance in kindergarten children (mean age = 5 years, 6 months). Disappointment was induced by means of a modified version of the disappointing gift paradigm. Ego depletion effects were examined based on two different variables: cognitive performance and behavioral responses. Participants assigned to the experimental condition (n = 74) were disappointed before solving a cognitive executive function task. Participants assigned to the control condition (n = 74) were not disappointed before solving the cognitive task. Group comparisons (i.e., control group vs. experimental group) showed reduced cognitive performance for the experimental group in terms of accuracy and in terms of speed. Subsequent analyses for the experimental group revealed that only children who expressed appreciative positive emotions when receiving the unwanted gift showed impaired performance on the subsequent cognitive task. Children who expressed negative emotions when receiving the unwanted gift, as well as children who displayed no reaction toward the unwanted gift, did not show impaired cognitive performance. Furthermore, results revealed the crucial role of language for self-regulation skills. Overall, the current results underline the importance of taking individual difference in regulation strategies into account when examining ego depletion.

After-effects of self-control: The reward responsivity hypothesis

Exercising self-control can be phenomenologically aversive. Insofar as individuals strive to maintain a positive emotional state, one consequence of exercising self-control may thus be a temporarily tuning toward or amplification of reward-related impulses (perhaps arising to countermand the aversive feelings that stem from self-control). Reward-relevant after-effects are relatively underappreciated in self-control research. In the current paper, we review theory and research pertaining to the idea that exercising self-control increases reward responsivity. First, we review theoretical models of self-control focusing on the relationship between control systems and reward systems. Second, we review behavioral studies regarding the effects of exercising self-control on subsequent reactivity to food, money, drugs, and positive emotional images. Third, we review findings from functional neuroimaging and electroencephalographic research pertaining to the reward responsivity hypothesis. We then call for additional research to integrate how, when, and under what circumstances self-control exertion influences reward processing. Such an endeavor will help to advance research and theory on self-control by offering a more precise characterization of the dynamic interactions between control systems and reward systems.

Investigating the nonlinear effect of ego depletion on safety compliance: The moderating role of rumination

INTRODUCTION

A general view in previous research is that employees are reluctant to follow safe work procedures when confronting the shortage of self-control resources. However, this argument is constrained by the restricted view of ego depletion. To fill this gap, this study constructs the nonlinear relationship between ego depletion and safety compliance drawing from the perspective of dual-process theory.

METHOD

Regression analysis and hierarchical linear model are used to test our hypothesis.

RESULTS

By investigating 241 medical staffs, we find that the relationship between ego depletion and safety compliance is U-shaped. This U-shaped relationship is replicated through 221 daily data for 50 medical staffs. In addition, the U-shaped relationship between ego depletion and safety compliance can be enhanced by rumination.

DISCUSSIONS

Findings of our study contribute to providing a nuanced explanation about the effect of ego depletion on safety compliance. Also, this study has important implications for High Reliability Organizations to motivate depleted employees to engage in safety compliance behaviors.

Nature-based solutions to promote human resilience and wellbeing in cities during increasingly hot summers

Air temperatures are increasing because of global climate change. A warming phenomenon strongly related to global climate change is the urban heat island. It has been shown that the hotter temperatures occurring in cities during the summer negatively affect human wellbeing, but little is known about the potential mechanisms underlying the relationships between hotter temperatures, cognitive psychological resources and wellbeing. The aim of the present research is to understand whether, and how, spending time in urban green spaces, which can be considered as a specific kind of Nature-Based Solution (NBS), helps the recovery of cognitive resources and wellbeing. The main hypothesis is that contact with urban green is related to wellbeing through the depletion of cognitive resources (i.e., ego depletion). Moreover, we expected that individuals showing higher scores of ego depletion also report a higher estimate of the maximum temperature reached during the summer. The results of a survey (N = 115) conducted among visitors to Parco Nord Milano, a large urban park located in Milan (Italy), point out that people visiting the park during the summer show a higher level of wellbeing as well as a lower level of ego depletion. A mediation analysis shows that visiting urban green spaces is associated with greater wellbeing through less ego depletion. Our results also point out that, as expected, people showing a higher level of ego depletion tend to overestimate the maximum air temperature. Implications for future studies and applied interventions regarding the role of NBS to promote human wellbeing are discussed.

Ego depletion in visual perception: Ego-depleted viewers experience less ambiguous figure reversal

This study examined the effects of ego depletion on ambiguous figure perception. Adults (N = 315) received an ego depletion task and were subsequently tested on their inhibitory control abilities that were indexed by the Stroop task (Experiment 1) and their ability to perceive both interpretations of ambiguous figures that was indexed by reversal (Experiment 2). Ego depletion had a very small effect on reducing inhibitory control (Cohen's d = .15) (Experiment 1). Ego-depleted participants had a tendency to take longer to respond in Stroop trials. In Experiment 2, ego depletion had small to medium effects on the experience of reversal. Ego-depleted viewers tended to take longer to reverse ambiguous figures (duration to first reversal) when naïve of the ambiguity and experienced less reversal both when naïve and informed of the ambiguity. Together, findings suggest that ego depletion has small effects on inhibitory control and small to medium effects on bottom-up and top-down perceptual processes. The depletion of cognitive resources can reduce our visual perceptual experience.

Uninstructed BIAT faking when ego depleted or in normal state: differential effect on brain and behavior

BACKGROUND

Deception can distort psychological tests on socially sensitive topics. Understanding the cerebral processes that are involved in such faking can be useful in detection and prevention of deception. Previous research shows that faking a brief implicit association test (BIAT) evokes a characteristic ERP response. It is not yet known whether temporarily available self-control resources moderate this response. We randomly assigned 22 participants (15 females, 24.23 ± 2.91 years old) to a counterbalanced repeated-measurements design. Participants first completed a Brief-IAT (BIAT) on doping attitudes as a baseline measure and were then instructed to fake a negative doping attitude both when self-control resources were depleted and non-depleted. Cerebral activity during BIAT performance was assessed using high-density EEG.

RESULTS

Compared to the baseline BIAT, event-related potentials showed a first interaction at the parietal P1, while significant post hoc differences were found only at the later occurring late positive potential. Here, significantly decreased amplitudes were recorded for 'normal' faking, but not in the depletion condition. In source space, enhanced activity was found for 'normal' faking in the bilateral temporoparietal junction. Behaviorally, participants were successful in faking the BIAT successfully in both conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate that temporarily available self-control resources do not affect overt faking success on a BIAT. However, differences were found on an electrophysiological level. This indicates that while on a phenotypical level self-control resources play a negligible role in deliberate test faking the underlying cerebral processes are markedly different.

Eating on impulse: Implicit attitudes, self-regulatory resources, and trait self-control as determinants of food consumption

Self-regulatory resources and trait self-control have been found to moderate the impulse-behavior relationship. The current study investigated whether the interaction of self-regulatory resources and trait self-control moderates the association between implicit attitudes and food consumption. One hundred twenty female participants were randomly assigned to either a depletion condition in which their self-regulatory resources were reduced or a no-depletion condition. Participants' implicit attitudes for chocolate were measured with the Single Category Implicit Association Test and self-report measures of trait self-control were collected. The dependent variable was chocolate consumption in an ostensible taste and rate task. Implicit attitudes predicted chocolate consumption in depleted participants but not in non-depleted participants. However, this predictive power of implicit attitudes on eating in depleted condition disappeared in participants with high trait self-control. Thus, trait self-control and self-regulatory resources interact to moderate the prediction of implicit attitude on eating behavior. Results suggest that high trait self-control buffers the effect of self-regulatory depletion on impulsive eating.

Individual differences in dopamine level modulate the ego depletion effect

Initial exertion of self-control impairs subsequent self-regulatory performance, which is referred to as the ego depletion effect. The current study examined how individual differences in dopamine level, as indexed by eye blink rate (EBR), would moderate ego depletion. An inverted-U-shaped relationship between EBR and subsequent self-regulatory performance was found when participants initially engaged in self-control but such relationship was absent in the control condition where there was no initial exertion, suggesting individuals with a medium dopamine level may be protected from the typical ego depletion effect. These findings are consistent with a cognitive explanation which considers ego depletion as a phenomenon similar to "switch costs" that would be neutralized by factors promoting flexible switching.

Restrained eating predicts effortful self-control as indicated by heart rate variability during food exposure

When confronted with food, restrained eaters have to inhibit the pursuit of the short-term goal of enjoying their food for the sake of the long-term goal of controlling their weight. Thus, restrained eating creates a self-control situation. In the present study we investigated the initiation of effortful self-control by food cues in accordance with the level of restrained eating. We expected that a preceding act of self-control would moderate the association between restrained eating and effortful self-control initiated by food cues. Participants (N=111) were randomly assigned to a task requiring self-control or a task not requiring self-control. Subsequently, participants were exposed to palatable food, and effortful self-control was measured via heart rate variability (HRV). Restrained eating was associated with enhanced HRV during food exposure after exercising self-control but not after not exercising self-control. The results indicate that maintaining dieting goals results in food cues initiating effortful self-control after a preceding act of self-control. We suggest considering the effect of acts of self-control when modeling the initial steps on the path from food cues to unsuccessful restrained eating.

Self-regulation, ego depletion, and inhibition

Inhibition is a major form of self-regulation. As such, it depends on self-awareness and comparing oneself to standards and is also susceptible to fluctuations in willpower resources. Ego depletion is the state of reduced willpower caused by prior exertion of self-control. Ego depletion undermines inhibition both because restraints are weaker and because urges are felt more intensely than usual. Conscious inhibition of desires is a pervasive feature of everyday life and may be a requirement of life in civilized, cultural society, and in that sense it goes to the evolved core of human nature. Intentional inhibition not only restrains antisocial impulses but can also facilitate optimal performance, such as during test taking. Self-regulation and ego depletion- may also affect less intentional forms of inhibition, even chronic tendencies to inhibit. Broadly stated, inhibition is necessary for human social life and nearly all societies encourage and enforce it.

Sweetened blood sweetens behavior. Ego depletion, glucose, guilt, and prosocial behavior

Although guilt feels bad to the individual, it is good for society because guilty feelings can prompt people to perform good deeds. Previous research shows that fatigue decreases guilty feelings and helpful behavior. This present research tests whether glucose restores guilty feelings and increases helpful behavior. Depleted participants watched a movie about butchering animals for their meat or skin and were told to express no emotions, whereas non-depleted participants watched the same movie, but could express their emotions. Afterwards they drank a glucose or placebo beverage. Having participants play a game in which another person was punished for their errors induced guilt. Finally, participants played a dictator game in which they could leave lottery tickets for the next participant. Depleted participants felt less guilty and helped less than non-depleted participants, and those who consumed a placebo beverage felt less guilt and helped less than those who consumed a glucose beverage.

After a pair of self-control-intensive tasks, sucrose swishing improves subsequent working memory performance

BACKGROUND

The limited strength model of self-control predicts that acts of self-control impair subsequent performance on tasks that require self-control (i.e., "ego depletion"), and the majority of the published research on this topic is supportive of this prediction. Additional research suggests that this effect can be alleviated by manipulating participants' motivation to perform-for instance, by having participants swish a drink containing carbohydrates, which is thought to function as a reward-or by requiring participants to complete two initial acts of self-control rather than only one.

METHODS

Here, we explore both the effect of having participants perform two initial tasks thought to require self-control (versus two less self-control-intensive tasks) and the effect of swishing a drink containing sucrose (compared to control drinks) on subsequent self-control. Outcomes were analyzed using standard null hypothesis significance testing techniques (e.g., analysis of variance, t-tests). In some cases, test statistics were transformed into Bayes factors to aid in interpretation (i.e., to allow for acceptance of the null hypothesis).

RESULTS

We found that performing two self-control-intensive tasks actually improved subsequent self-control when participants swished a drink containing sucrose between tasks. For participants who swished control drinks, we found no evidence of ego depletion.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that claims that self-control failure is caused by the depletion of a resource (or that it functions as if it relies on a limited resource) merit greater circumspection. Our results-all of which were either null or contrary to predictions from the limited strength model-are important for researchers interested in patterns of self-control failure.