Daily Associations Between Prosocial Behavior, Gratitude, and Selfishness in Members of Alcoholics Anonymous

The idea that helping others and practicing gratitude is associated with lower selfishness among members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is discussed at length in AA literature, in AA meetings, and among AA members. Specifically, helping others is described as “insurance” against relapse (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc., 2001); gratitude is viewed as a character asset that should be continuously cultivated throughout life (Wilson, 1953); and selfishness is identified as the “root” of alcoholism (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc., 2001). Despite the strong emphasis on these concepts in the literature, relationships between these concepts have not been scientifically investigated. In this study I employed longitudinal, daily diary research methodology to investigate whether helping others and feeling grateful were associated with lower selfishness among AA members over a period of 7 days (N = 113). Multi-level modeling analyses confirmed that on days when participants helped more people compared to their own weekly average, they reported lower selfishness than on days when they helped fewer people. Further, on days when participants were more grateful compared to their own weekly average, they reported lower selfishness than on days when they were less grateful. Lastly, on days when participants helped more people and were more grateful, they reported even lower selfishness. Uncovering evidence of an association between these key facets of AA provides valuable insight about the 12-step program.PHDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146081/1/olabelle_1.pd

Prospective and dyadic associations between expectant parents’ prenatal hormone changes and postpartum parenting outcomes

During the transition to parenthood, both men and women experience hormone changes that are thought to promote parental care. Yet very few studies have explicitly tested the hypothesis that prenatal hormone changes are associated with postpartum parenting behavior. In a longitudinal study of 27 first‐time expectant couples, we assessed whether prenatal hormone changes were moderated by self‐ and partner‐reported parenting outcomes at 3 months postpartum. Expectant fathers showed prenatal declines in testosterone and estradiol, and larger declines in these hormones were associated with greater contributions to household and infant care tasks postpartum. Women whose partners showed larger testosterone declines also reported receiving more support and more help with household tasks. Expectant mothers showed prenatal increases in testosterone and estradiol, and larger increases in these hormones were associated with lower partner‐rated support. Together, our findings provide some of the first evidence that prenatal hormone changes may indeed be functional and that the implications of these changes may be detectable by co‐parents.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135629/1/dev21469_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135629/2/dev21469.pd

Power poses – where do we stand?

<p>Dynamic results for Scenario 2.</p

Does that pose become you? Testing the effect of body postures on self-concept

Self-concept expansion predicts a range of adaptive outcomes. An intriguing possible cause of self-concept expansion is the posing of one’s body expansively, that is, “power posing.” In Study 1 (N = 65), we found that body expansion had an effect, of moderate magni- tude (d = 0.58), on self-concept size in college women as measured by the Twenty Statements Test. Participants who were randomly assigned to hold expanded poses (vs. contracted) – under the guise of a cover story about holding different body positions to test the accuracy of wireless electrodes – wrote significantly more self-state- ments than those who assumed contracted positions. In pre-regis- tered Study 2 we tested whether this finding was replicable and extended this research by aiming to characterize the process by which it occurred. One hundred and twenty-eight women students were randomly assigned to hold either expanded or contracted postures. They completed surveys measuring two general classes of potential mediators (“broaden-and-build” and “narrow-and-dis- rupt”), body self-objectification as a moderator, and four indices of self-concept size. Posture was not found to affect self-concept size, nor was it moderated by self-objectification. Though there was no effect on self-expansion, in exploratory analyses, assigned posture affected one of the broaden-and-build measures: psychological flexibility. Results of Study 2 could indicate that a mere two minutes of holding an expanded versus contracted body posture is not enough to induce changes in self-concept size; lack of main effects could in addition be due to a range of unmeasured confounders and/or the fragile and transient nature of the effect

Emotion regulation predicts recovery capital beyond mindfulness and demographic variation in recovery dharma

Recovery Dharma is a Buddhist-inspired mutual-aid recovery program for those with substance use disorders and behavioral addictions. The program combines meditation, emotion regulation techniques, literature, and Buddhist practices during meetings to help people achieve emotional balance and improve their well-being. Despite the growing popularity of Recovery Dharma, how the practices in this program predict recovery resources remain largely unknown. We conducted a study investigating whether mindfulness and difficulty regulating emotions can predict individuals’ recovery capital - a construct strongly correlated with positive recovery outcomes. Recovery Dharma members (n = 122; 88% White; 45% women) completed two online surveys six months apart. We conducted hierarchical linear regressions and found that mindfulness predicted unique variability in recovery capital. However, our final model that included difficulty regulating emotions explained a significantly larger portion of variability above and beyond demographic variation and mindfulness. In an exploratory analysis, we found that difficulty regulating emotions predicted recovery capital as a unidimensional construct, not any particular subconstruct. The results suggested that Recovery Dharma members’ emotion regulation skills were the strongest predictor of positive recovery outcomes, surpassing demographic characteristics and mindfulness. As such, the intentional cultivation and improvements in emotion regulation skills inherent in Buddhist practices within the Recovery Dharma framework may indicate positive long-term recovery outcomes.</p