Cognitive and attributional strategies among unemployed young adults: A case of the failure‐trap strategy

1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari‐Erik Nurmi ◽  
Katariina Salmela‐Aro ◽  
Hilkka Ruotsalainen

This study concerns the extent to which people who display evident problem behaviour show signs of applying inefficient cognitive and attributional strategies in an achievement context. Twenty unemployed young adults, 14 people with health problems, and 23 students of a vocational school were compared in terms of the strategies they applied. The Strategy and Attribution Questionnaire (SAQ) and the Cartoon‐Attribution‐Strategy Test (CAST) developed for this study were used. The results showed that the unemployed young adults reported higher levels of failure expectations and task‐irrelevant behaviour, and lower levels of self‐esteem and self‐serving attributional bias, than the control group. This pattern of results does not fully fit in with the conceptualizations of self‐handicapping and learned helplessness. Therefore, a failure‐trap strategy is discussed as an alternative type of maladaptive strategy. Typical of this strategy is that people with low self‐esteem concentrate on task‐irrelevant behaviour, but do not refer to this behaviour as an external excuse for failure.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan F. Pilon ◽  
David John Hallford ◽  
Sarah Hardgrove ◽  
Meghnam Sanam ◽  
Stefan Santos De Oliveira ◽  
...  

Reminiscence-based interventions involve the guided recall and interpretation of autobiographical memories to promote adaptive thinking. This study involved secondary analyses of a recent trial of a positively focused, three-session version of cognitive-reminiscence therapy (CRT) on generalised perceptions of relationship quality and interpersonally related psychological resources in young adults. A community sample (N = 62, Mage = 24.6 [SD = 3.1], 71% females) of young adults were randomised into a CRT and wait-list condition. Participants completed assessments measuring perceived relationship quality (relationship satisfaction, emotional intimacy, commitment, and trust) and perceptions of self and others within relationships (relationship self-esteem, relationship self-efficacy, relationship optimism and meaning in relationships). The CRT group, relative to the control group, scored significantly higher on perceived relationship quality (d = 0.62), and higher on generalized relationship self-efficacy (d = 0.70), relationship self-esteem (d = 0.59), and relationship optimism (d = 0.57) at the follow-up. Group differences for relationship meaning were non-trivial (small to moderate), but not statistically significant. A brief, positive-focused, intervention of guided recall of autobiographical memories was generally effective in improving perceptions about self and others within the context of relationships in young adults. Replication studies with larger samples are needed. Future research may expand CRT to target other relationship variables, assess the impacts of different doses, explore relationships in specific populations, and better understand the mechanisms for change.


1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari-Erik Nurmi ◽  
Katariina Salmela-Aro ◽  
Tarja Haavisto

It has been suggested that people's cognitive and attributional strategies influence the extent to which they are successful in various situations. A 60-item self-report scale for measuring these strategies was developed. This Strategy and Attribution Questionnaire (SAQ) comprised ten subscales: (1) Success expectations, (2) Task-irrelevant behaviour, (3) Seeking social support, (4) Reflective thinking and (5) Master-orientation in an achievement situation, and (6) Success expectations, (7) Task-irrelevant behaviour, (8) Avoidance, (9) Master-orientation and (10) Pessimism in an affiliative context. An attempt to validate these subscales was made by correlating them with Rosenberg's Self-esteem and Self-stability Scales, a revised Beck's Depression Inventory, the Peer Relationship Measure, and the levels of task-irrelevant behaviour, test-anxiety, and grades in a university examination. This was done with a sample of 488 undergraduates at the University of Helsinki. The results showed that the SAQ subscales were moderately or highly, and in theoretically expected ways, associated with various validity criteria. Moreover, internal consistency and retest reliabilities were good. The results suggest that the SAQ provides a valid and reliable measure for identifying different types of cognitive and attributional strategy.


Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meshan Lehmann ◽  
Matthew R. Hilimire ◽  
Lawrence H. Yang ◽  
Bruce G. Link ◽  
Jordan E. DeVylder

Abstract. Background: Self-esteem is a major contributor to risk for repeated suicide attempts. Prior research has shown that awareness of stigma is associated with reduced self-esteem among people with mental illness. No prior studies have examined the association between self-esteem and stereotype awareness among individuals with past suicide attempts. Aims: To understand the relationship between stereotype awareness and self-esteem among young adults who have and have not attempted suicide. Method: Computerized surveys were administered to college students (N = 637). Linear regression analyses were used to test associations between self-esteem and stereotype awareness, attempt history, and their interaction. Results: There was a significant stereotype awareness by attempt interaction (β = –.74, p = .006) in the regression analysis. The interaction was explained by a stronger negative association between stereotype awareness and self-esteem among individuals with past suicide attempts (β = –.50, p = .013) compared with those without attempts (β = –.09, p = .037). Conclusion: Stigma is associated with lower self-esteem within this high-functioning sample of young adults with histories of suicide attempts. Alleviating the impact of stigma at the individual (clinical) or community (public health) levels may improve self-esteem among this high-risk population, which could potentially influence subsequent suicide risk.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munyi Shea ◽  
Guadalupe Gutierrez ◽  
Victor Gonzalez ◽  
Winnie Shi ◽  
Jessica M. Dennis ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-42
Author(s):  
Anna Kostiukow ◽  
Wojciech Strzelecki ◽  
Mateusz W. Romanowski ◽  
Marta Rosołek ◽  
Ewa Mojs ◽  
...  

Introduction: The study is aimed at drawing the attention of the medical environment to the mental health aspects of young patients as a factor that significantly influences the efficiency of their rheumatic disease treatment. Aim: This paper is to check the risk of depression among a group of adolescents and young adults with rheumatic diseases. Material and Methods: The study was conducted among a group of 68 late adolescents and young adults (18-22 years old) with rheumatic diseases. The control group consisted of 102 young people (18-22 years old) without a diagnosed chronic disease. Risk of depression was measured using a screening tool – the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS). Results: The analysis showed that the probability of depression in the study group was 35.3%. In the control group, this rate was 19.6%. The results were statistical significance (p=0.028). Conclusions: The results of this study prove that the risk of depression among adolescents and young adults with rheumatic diseases is significantly higher than in healthy young people. The highest risk of depression is related to feeling tired, fatigue, low energy levels and lack of motivation as well as feeling worried, nervous, panicky, tense, keyed-up and anxious.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Akhavanfard ◽  
Lamis Yehia ◽  
Roshan Padmanabhan ◽  
Jordan P Reynolds ◽  
Ying Ni ◽  
...  

Abstract Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC) is a rare endocrine tumor with poor overall prognosis and 1.5-fold overrepresentation in females. In children, ACC is associated with inherited cancer syndromes with 50–80% of childhood-ACC associated with TP53 germline variants. ACC in adolescents and young adults (AYA) is rarely due to germline TP53, IGF2, PRKAR1A and MEN1 variants. We analyzed exome sequencing data from 21 children (<15y), 32 AYA (15-39y), and 60 adults (>39y) with ACC, and retained all pathogenic, likely pathogenic, and highly prioritized variants of uncertain significance. We engineered a stable lentiviral-mutant ACC cell line, harboring an EGFR variant (p.Asp1080Asn) from a 21-year-old female without germline-TP53-variant and with aggressive ACC. We found that 4.8% of the children (P = 0.004) and 6.2% of AYA (P < 0.0001), all-female participants, harbored germline EGFR variants, compared to only 0.3% of the control group. Expanding our analysis to the RTK-RAS-MAPK pathway, we found that the RTK genes have the highest number of highly prioritized germline variants in these individuals amongst all three arms of this pathway. We showed EGFR mutant cells migrate faster and are characterized by a stem-like phenotype compared to wild type cells. While EGFR inhibitors did not affect the stemness of mutant cells, Sunitinib, a multireceptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, significantly reduced their stem-like behavior. Our data suggest that EGFR could be a novel underlying germline predisposition factor for ACC, especially in the Childhood-AYA (C-AYA) population. Further clinical validation can improve precision oncology management of this disease, which is known to have limited therapeutic options.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ami Cohen ◽  
Kfir Asraf ◽  
Ivgeny Saveliev ◽  
Orrie Dan ◽  
Iris Haimov

AbstractThe ability to recognize emotions from facial expressions is essential to the development of complex social cognition behaviors, and impairments in this ability are associated with poor social competence. This study aimed to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on the processing of emotional facial expressions and nonfacial stimuli in young adults with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Thirty-five men (mean age 25.4) with (n = 19) and without (n = 16) ADHD participated in the study. During the five days preceding the experimental session, the participants were required to sleep at least seven hours per night (23:00/24:00–7:00/9:00) and their sleep was monitored via actigraphy. On the morning of the experimental session, the participants completed a 4-stimulus visual oddball task combining facial and nonfacial stimuli, and repeated it after 25 h of sustained wakefulness. At baseline, both study groups had poorer performance in response to facial rather than non-facial target stimuli on all indices of the oddball task, with no differences between the groups. Following sleep deprivation, rates of omission errors, commission errors and reaction time variability increased significantly in the ADHD group but not in the control group. Time and target type (face/non-face) did not have an interactive effect on any indices of the oddball task. Young adults with ADHD are more sensitive to the negative effects of sleep deprivation on attentional processes, including those related to the processing of emotional facial expressions. As poor sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness are common in individuals with ADHD, it is feasible that poor sleep quality and quantity play an important role in cognitive functioning deficits, including the processing of emotional facial expressions that are associated with ADHD.


Author(s):  
Martin Samohyl ◽  
Jana Babjakova ◽  
Diana Vondrova ◽  
Jana Jurkovicova ◽  
Juraj Stofko ◽  
...  

This study aimed to determine the factors associated with the avoidance of dental preventive care in high school students and their parents in the framework of The Youth and Parents Risk Factor Behavior Survey in Slovakia, the ongoing cross-sectional school-based survey of students and their parents or legal representatives. The data were collected using two separate standardized questionnaires: (i) the questionnaire for students (n = 515) and (ii) the questionnaire for parents (n = 681). The study group included 57 high school students (54.4% males) who did not visit the dentist for preventive care in the previous year. The control group included 458 students (35.8% males) who visited a dentist for preventive care at least once in the previous year. A significantly higher number of males (54.4%), older adolescents, and young adults (21.8%; 20.0%) were not visiting dental preventive care regularly. Incomplete family (56.1%), stressful situations at home (17.5%), and feeling unwell were the factors contributing to the avoidance of dental preventive care. More than 34.5% of adolescents and young adults were not visiting either dental preventive care or pediatric preventive care (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 5.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.40, 10.99). Children of divorced mothers and mothers with household income lower than EUR 900 had significantly higher dental care avoidance in bivariate analysis. A significantly higher percentage of fathers from the exposed group were not visiting dental preventive care regularly (47.8%, p < 0.05). The results of the study can be used as an educational intervention step focusing on the parental influence on adolescent and young adults’ behavior and as a challenge for the improvement of dental preventive care in older adolescents and young adults.


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