Changes in Social Comparison Orientation over the Life-span

Background: Social comparison is a basic human process, which may change dependent of one’s age. The purpose of this study was to examine how Social Comparison Orientation (SCO), i.e., the tendency to engage in social comparisons, varied across the lifespan. Method: A representative sample of 1613 adults from the Netherlands filled out the widely used 11-item scale for Social Comparison Orientation (SCO). Age was categorized in terms of decades, including both 19 years or younger and 80 years or older as categories. Results: The results showed a strong curvilinear effect of age: SCO was highest among people 19 years or younger, decreased substantially with increasing age until the age of 60, after which it increased moderately. Women were somewhat higher in SCO than men. Conclusion: The tendency to engage in social comparisons changes considerably over the life span, which may be due to the different challenges and insecurities that people may face in different stages of the life span

Assessment of competency development in a challenge-based learning course: can coaches be objective assessors?

Higher education institutions aim to incorporate competency development into their engineering curricula, which can help engineering students become independent critical thinkers with entrepreneurial mindsets. However, no solid methods exist to evaluate the acquisition of these competencies. Such assessments’ objectivities are often ensured by distinguishing between who supervises a student group and who grades its project. The assessor’s active involvement in the learning process is essential for assessing competency development during the learning process, but such involvement may lead to assessor bias. This study aims to investigate whether and under what conditions coaches can be objective assessors. An intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to measure the level of agreement between assessors and coaches when using the same rubric to assess students’ deliverables. Four assessors and seven coaches from the University of Twente assessed 24 students’ individual learning processes based on individual reflection deliverables. The coaches assessed the students they supervised during a challenge-based learning (CBL) course, while the assessors were without participating in the learning process assigned randomly to students. The means were compared using SPSS, which indicated, among other things, that coaches generally awarded higher scores than assessors. This may indicate that coaches are biased because of their involvement in the learning process. Despite this, the results also indicate that coach assessment was in line with assessors when the coach was an appointed and experienced examiner

Social comparison processes and catastrophising in fibromyalgia:A path analysis

Introduction: In addition to coping strategies, social comparison may play a role in illness adjustment. However, little is known about the role of contrast and identification in social comparison in adaptation to fibromyalgia.Aim: To evaluate through a path analysis in a sample of fibromyalgia patients, the association between identification and contrast in social comparison, catastrophising and specific health outcomes (fibromyalgia illness impact and psychological distress).Material and Method: 131 Spanish fibromyalgia outpatients (mean age: 50.15, SD=11.1) filled out a questionnaire.Results: We present a model that explained 33% of the variance in catastrophising by direct effects of more use of upward contrast and downward identification. In addition, 35% of fibromyalgia illness impact variance was explained by less upward identification, more upward contrast and more catastrophising and 42% of the variance in psychological distress by a direct effect of more use of upward contrast together with higher fibromyalgia illness impact.Discussion: We suggest that intervention programmes with chronic pain and fibromyalgia patients should focus on enhancing the use of upward identification in social comparison, and on minimising the use of upward contrast and downward identification in social comparison

Social Avoidance in Depression:A Study Using a Social Decision-Making Task

Depression significantly affects interpersonal functioning. Social avoidance may play an important role in depression, limiting opportunities and social skills acquisition, contributing to the maintenance of social difficulties. In the last few years, the need for studying social interactions using interactive tasks has been highlighted. This study investigated social avoidance in unmedicated depressed (n = 26) and matched healthy control (n = 26) participants, using a novel computerized social decision-making task (the TEAM task). In this task, participants choose between a social option (playing in a team with a coplayer) and an individual option (playing alone). Although the social option is more profitable from a material point of view, it can also be challenging because of social comparison and guilt feelings for failing the team. It was found that the higher the rank of the coplayer, the stronger the negative emotions (shame, guilt) reported by participants and the more they opted for the individual option. Depressed participants reported significantly less positive (happiness) and more negative (shame, guilt, disappointment) feelings regarding the task. Importantly, depressed participants chose the individual option significantly more often than controls, which led to lower gains in this group. Furthermore, as the task progressed, controls selected the individual option less often, whereas depressed participants selected the individual option more often. Our findings illustrate the importance of social avoidance in depression and how this behavior can lead to negative consequences. They also highlight the role of social comparison and guilt-related processes in underlying social avoidance in depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved

Jealousy in a small-scale, natural fertility population: the roles of paternity, investment and love in jealous response

Evolutionary scientists have predicted a universal sex difference in response to different forms of infidelity, with men expected to be more upset than women by a sexual infidelity when both a sexual transgression and an emotional transgression occur. Although this finding has proven to be robust, the vast majority of studies have occurred in industrialized countries and student populations. Here I present the first test of the jealousy hypothesis among a small-scale, natural fertility population, the Himba of Namibia. In this population, the majority of both men and women report greater distress over a sexual infidelity, with men reaching an almost unanimous consensus (96%). Despite the skew for both men and women, there is a significant sex difference in the direction predicted by the evolutionary hypothesis, providing further support for this view. The increased risks of both pregnancy and paternity loss that occur in this natural fertility population may help to explain why these results differ from previously studied populations. More broadly, these data suggest that both the type and the intensity of jealousy expressed may be facultative responses and that further investigation of correlates related to life history trade-offs, forms of investment, and the sexual division of labor can help us to understand the inter-cultural variation in jealous response. © 2014 Elsevier Inc

Examination and measurement of coping among adolescents with spinal cord injury

Objectives: To describe coping strategy use in adolescents with spinal cord injury (SCI), to explore the underlying factor structure of a measure of coping among adolescents with SCI and to assess relationships between coping and psychosocial outcomes. Setting: Multiple pediatric SCI centers in the United States. Methods: One hundred and eighty-two participants aged 13–17 years who experienced an SCI completed measures including the Kidcope, Children’s Depression Inventory, Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Results: Participants reported that cognitive restructuring and resignation are the most used coping strategies, whereas social support, emotional regulation (calming) and cognitive restructuring are the most effective coping strategies. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that a three-factor solution provided the most parsimonious model for the relationships between the different coping strategies. However, only one of the three factors had acceptable internal consistency. This factor comprised escape-oriented coping strategies or an avoidant approach to coping with the sequelae of SCI. After controlling for demographic/injury-related factors, higher scores on the escape-oriented factor were associated with the lower quality of life and higher levels of depression and anxiety symptomatology. Conclusion: Escape-oriented coping is associated with maladaptive psychosocial outcomes in adolescents with SCI. These adolescents report that active coping strategies are most effective in reducing SCI-related distress. Coping strategy use may mediate psychosocial outcomes in adolescents with SCI and represent an intervention target in adolescents who overly rely on escape-oriented coping