Journal of abnormal psychology
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This study tested predictions that inhibited versus uninhibited children exhibit higher heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) arousal. Mauritian children (N = 1,795) were tested at age 3 and classified as inhibited, middle, or uninhibited on the basis of social behavior. ⋯ Results remained regardless of ethnicity, gender, height, weight, respiratory complaints, or crying behavior. Findings suggest that HR and SC levels may be early indicators of inhibited or uninhibited behavior at age 3 and support the notion of heightened sympathetic reactivity due to limbic arousal in inhibited children.
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Comparative Study
Sources of ethnic differences between Asian American and white American college students on measures of depression and social anxiety.
This study tested an affect-specific explanation for the Asian and White American differences in depression and social anxiety. Construal of the self as independent or interdependent in relation to others (H. R. ⋯ Asian Americans scored significantly higher than White Americans on measures of depression and social anxiety. When the covariance between depression and social anxiety was statistically controlled, ethnicity and self-construal variables were found, as predicted, to be associated with measures of social anxiety but not depression. These findings suggest a more differentiated perspective on the relations between culture, ethnicity, and emotional distress.
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The role of bodily shame as a mediator between sexual or physical abuse and depression was investigated in a community sample of 101 women who had been followed for 8 years. In general, childhood and adult abuse were related to the occurrence of depression in the study period but when both were considered together, only adult abuse showed an independent association. ⋯ Bodily shame was related to childhood abuse, and this association could not be accounted for by bodily dissatisfaction or low self-esteem. Bodily shame, but not childhood abuse, was related to chronic or recurrent depression when both factors were considered together and current depressive symptoms were controlled.
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Personality traits that may contribute to somatization are reviewed. Negative affectivity is associated with high levels of both somatic and emotional distress. Agreeableness and conscientiousness may influence interactions with health care providers that lead to the failure of medical reassurance to reduce distress. ⋯ More proximate influences on the selective amplification of somatic symptoms include repressive style, somatic attributional style, and alexithymia; however, data in support of these factors are scant. Most research on somatoform disorders confounds mechanisms of symptom production with factors that influence help seeking. Longitudinal community studies are needed to explore the interactions of personality with illness experience and the stigmatization of medically unexplained symptoms.
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Research thus far links depressive symptoms in children to one type of control-related belief: low levels of perceived personal competence. However, child research, unlike adult research, has not supported a linkage between depressive symptoms and another theoretically important control-related belief: perceived noncontingency of outcomes. ⋯ We also found, as in previous research, that depressive symptoms were correlated with uncertainty as to the causes of outcomes, especially successes. The findings suggest that children may be susceptible to both "personal helplessness" and "universal helplessness" forms of depression.