Roommate Relationships: A Comparison of Interracial and Same-Race Living Situations

The effects of same-race versus interracial dormitory roommate relationships were explored with regard to relationship dissolution and academic achievement (i.e., grade point average). The present investigation made use of archival data spanning two academic years at a large, relatively diverse university. Of primary interest were White and African American first-year students assigned to White or African American roommates upon their arrival on campus. Another factor that was incorporated into this analysis was whether students requested to live with their roommates or were randomly assigned. Interracial roommate relationships were more likely to dissolve than either same-race White or same-race African American relationships. Randomly assigned living situations were less successful than ones in which roommates requested to share a room. Concerning grade point average at the end of the first academic quarter, African American first-year students tended to do better in interracial living situations, whereas White first-year students' academic success was not affected by roommate race. Instead, White first-year students were more sensitive to the academic abilities of their roommates. Results are discussed with regard to the implications for intergroup contact

Mindfulness and engagement in COVID-19 preventive behavior

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents a significant risk to population health. Health organizations worldwide have recommended numerous preventive health behaviors to slow the spread of COVID-19. Yet, considerable variability exists in individual-level adherence to these recommendations. Mindfulness has been associated with greater engagement in health promotive behavior (e.g., physical activity, healthy eating), and may serve as an individual difference factor that encourages adherence. However, no study to date has examined the extent to which mindfulness is associated with preventive health behaviors during a global pandemic. The purpose of the present study was to assess the relations between mindfulness and recommended preventive health behaviors for COVID-19. A national U.S. sample (N = 353; Mage = 41.47 years, range: 19–84; 50.2% female) completed an online survey via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk from April 3rd to 15th, 2020, including measures of mindfulness and frequency of avoiding touching one’s face, handwashing, disinfecting/cleaning frequently used surfaces, social distancing, and self-quarantining. Personality, health risk, and demographic factors were also assessed to test the unique association between mindfulness and preventive health behaviors. Mindfulness was significantly correlated with greater engagement in all of the COVID-19 preventive health behaviors. However, when accounting for demographics, health risk, and personality, mindfulness was only uniquely associated with engagement in social distancing. This research highlights mindfulness as an individual-level characteristic associated with engagement in COVID-19 preventive health behavior and may inform future prevention efforts aimed at improving adherence to recommendations for curbing the spread of infectious disease

A longitudinal assessment of variability in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and psychosocial correlates in a national United States sample

National Science Foundation [BCS-2027027]This work was supported by a RAPID grant from the National Science Foundation under Award ID BCS-2027027. The funding organization was not involved in designing the study, collecting and analyzing the data, or preparing the manuscriptRecent evidence suggests that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is not static. In order to develop effective vaccine uptake interventions, we need to understand the extent to which vaccine hesitancy fluctuates and identify factors associated with both between- and within-person differences in vaccine hesitancy. The goals of the current study were to assess the extent to which COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy varied at an individual level across time and to determine whether disgust sensitivity and germ aversion were associated with between- and within-person differences in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A national sample of U.S. adults (N = 1025; 516 woman; M-age = 46.34 years, SDage = 16.56, range: 18 to 85 years; 72.6 % White) completed six weekly online surveys (March 20 - May 3, 2020). Between-person mean COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rates were relatively stable across the six-week period (range: 38-42 %). However, there was considerable within-person variability in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Approximately, 40 % of the sample changed their vaccine hesitancy at least once during the six weeks. There was a significant between-person effect for disgust sensitivity, such that greater disgust sensitivity was associated with a lower likelihood of COVID-19 vaccine hesitance. There was also a significant within-person effect for germ aversion. Participants who experienced greater germ aversion for a given week relative to their own six week average were less likely to be COVID-19 vaccine hesitant that week relative to their own six-week average. This study provides important information on rapidly changing individual variability in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy on a weekly basis, which should be taken into consideration with any efforts to decrease vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine uptake. Further, these findings identify-two psychological factors (disgust sensitivity and germ aversion) with malleable components that could be leveraged in developing vaccine uptake interventions.WOS:0009467190000012-s2.0-8514785927036669969Science Citation Index ExpandedarticleUluslararası işbirliği ile yapılan - EVETŞubat2023YÖK - 2022-2

Does mindfulness attenuate thoughts emphasizing negativity, but not positivity?

The current research investigated whether mindfulness is differentially associated with thoughts that emphasize positive or negative valence. In Study 1, trait mindfulness was inversely associated with negative rumination but unassociated with positive rumination, controlling for state affect. In Study 2, participants completed either a mindful breathing meditation or a comparable control exercise, followed by a thought listing while viewing affective images. Compared to the control condition, the mindfulness condition listed proportionately fewer negative thoughts, particularly in response to negative images, and more non-valenced thoughts. The conditions did not differ in their proportions of positive thoughts. These results suggest that mindfulness may attenuate thoughts that emphasize negativity but not those that emphasize positivity

Interracial roommate relationships: An experimental field test of the contact hypothesis

ABSTRACT-This study investigated how automatically activated racial attitudes are affected by relatively longterm interracial relationships. A natural field experiment was conducted in a college dormitory system. Participants were White freshmen who had been randomly assigned to either a White or an African American roommate. Students participated in two sessions during the first 2 and last 2 weeks of their first quarter on campus. During these sessions, they answered questions about their satisfaction and involvement with their roommates and completed an inventory of intergroup anxiety and an implicit measure of racial attitudes. Participants in interracial rooms reported less satisfaction and less involvement with their roommates than did participants in same-race rooms. However, automatically activated racial attitudes and intergroup anxiety improved over time among students in interracial rooms, but not among students in same-race rooms. Thus, the results suggest that interracial roommate relationships, although generally less satisfying and involving than same-race roommate relationships, do produce benefits. Prejudice is a major social issue faced by many groups. As a result, much research over the past few decades has focused on prejudice and the reduction of intergroup conflict. A primary theory regarding prejudice reduction is the contact hypothesi

Self-quarantining, social distancing, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi wave, longitudinal investigation.

Social isolation and disconnectedness increase the risk of worse mental health, which might suggest that preventive health measures (i.e., self-quarantining, social distancing) negatively affect mental health. This longitudinal study examined relations of self-quarantining and social distancing with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. A U.S. national sample (N = 1,011) completed eight weekly online surveys from March 20, 2020 to May 17, 2020. Surveys assessed self-quarantining, social distancing, anxiety, and depression. Fixed-effect autoregressive cross-lagged models provided a good fit to the data, allowing for disaggregation of between-person and within-person effects. Significant between-person effects suggested those who engaged in more self-quarantining and social distancing had higher anxiety and depression compared to those who engaged in less social distancing and quarantining. Significant within-person effects indicated those who engaged in greater social distancing for a given week experienced higher anxiety and depression that week. However, there was no support for self-quarantining or social distancing as prospective predictors of mental health, or vice versa. Findings suggest a relationship between mental health and both self-quarantining and social distancing, but further longitudinal research is required to understand the prospective nature of this relationship and identify third variables that may explain these associations

Disease avoidance in the time of COVID-19: The behavioral immune system is associated with concern and preventative health behaviors.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a serious global health threat. Without a vaccine, behavior change is the most effective means of reducing disease transmission. Identifying psychological factors that may encourage engagement in preventative health behaviors is crucial. The behavioral immune system (BIS) represents a set of psychological processes thought to promote health by encouraging disease avoidance behaviors. This study examined whether individual differences in BIS reactivity (germ aversion, pathogen disgust sensitivity) were associated with concern about COVID-19 and engagement in recommended preventative health behaviors (social distancing, handwashing, cleaning/disinfecting, avoiding touching face, wearing facemasks). From March 20 to 23, 2020, a US national sample (N = 1019) completed an online survey. Germ aversion and pathogen disgust sensitivity were the two variables most consistently associated with COVID-19 concern and preventative health behaviors, while accounting for demographic, health, and psychosocial covariates. Findings have implications for the development of interventions intended to increase preventative health behaviors