Effect of a 14-Day Mindfulness Intervention on Daily Desire Experiences and Desire Regulation

A growing body of research suggests that mindfulness, a receptive attentiveness to one’s present moment experiences, has the potential to adaptively regulate habitual behaviors. No prior study has tested the effect of mindfulness interventions on people’s daily desire experiences to inform the potential for adaptive desire regulation. The present exploratory randomized controlled trial examined the effect of a 14-day smartphone-based mindfulness intervention (versus a coping control intervention) on the frequency, intensity, duration, and enactment of everyday desires in 19 participants. The desire domains included basic need-based desires (i.e., for food, drink, sleep) and secondary desires (e.g., for sex, media, social interactions, work), assessed for 7 days pre- and post-intervention through ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Emotion data collected alongside, also through EMA, permitted examining the role of the mindfulness intervention in altering a potential link between experienced emotion (positive and negative) and desire. Results showed that intervention condition significantly predicted post-intervention desire frequency; those in the mindfulness condition experienced a higher frequency of desires post-training, and specifically, increased secondary desire frequency, but not basic desire frequency. Intervention condition did not predict the other desire outcomes (enactment, strength, or duration). Results also revealed that intervention significant moderated the association between positive emotion and overall desire frequency; those in the mindfulness condition experienced fewer desires when experiencing increased positive emotion, whereas there was no association between positive emotion and desire after coping training. Intervention condition did not moderate associations between positive emotions and other desire variables, or negative emotions and any desire variables

"It's complicated" : the lived experience of female sexual desire : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Health Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand

‘What is sexual desire and how do women experience it?’ is the central question of this hermeneutic phenomenological study. The goal was to challenge the pathologisation of women’s sexual desire by highlighting its complexity, situatedness and temporality. In-depth interviews and autobiographical art data elicited in partnership with seven participants were interpreted and analysed using a life course perspective to highlight how both positive and negative experiences, as well as the acceptance or resistance of cultural scripts and double standards, contribute over time to a woman’s sense of her own access to sexual desire, agency around sexual decision-making, and entitlement to sexual pleasure. In line with the study’s meta-theoretical principles, the researcher completed a parallel reflexive writing and art practice to deepen her engagement with participant experience. In analysing all data, it became evident that women’s sexual desire, develops through a complex multistage process over the lifetime. Participants all reflected MacNeil and Byers’ (2005) finding that the more comfortable and agentic a woman feels in expressing her sexuality and communicating her desires, the greater her feelings for intimacy and the higher likelihood that she will derive satisfaction in sex

Analysts' Conflict of Interest and Biases in Earnings Forecasts

Analysts' earnings forecasts are influenced by their desire to win investment banking clients. We hypothesize that the equity bull market of the 1990s, along with the boom in investment banking business, exacerbated analysts' conflict of interest and their incentives to adjust strategically forecasts to avoid earnings disappointments. We document shifts in the distribution of earnings surprises, the market's response to surprises and forecast revisions, and in the predictability of non-negative surprises. Further confirmation is based on subsamples where conflicts of interest are more pronounced, including growth stocks and stocks with consecutive non-negative surprises; however shifts are less notable in international markets.

Flexible Work Arrangements: Selected Case Studies

Employees have shown a great desire for flexible work arrangements (FWAs). National data reveals that nearly 80% of workers say they would like to have more flexible work options and would use them if there were no negative consequences at work. However, most workers do not have access to flexible work arrangements and barriers to their effective implementation persist in many organizations as the following nationally representative employer-based survey data reveals

Fertility intentions and use of contraception among monogamous couples in northern Malawi in the context of HIV testing: a cross-sectional analysis.

CONTEXT: Knowledge of HIV status may influence fertility desires of married men and women. There is little knowledge about the importance of this influence among monogamously married couples and how knowledge of HIV status influences use of contraception among these couples. METHODOLOGY: We carried out a cross-sectional analysis of interview data collected between October 2008 and September 2009 on men aged 15-59 years and women aged 15-49 years who formed 1766 monogamously married couples within the Karonga Prevention Study demographic surveillance study in northern Malawi. RESULTS: 5% of men and 4% of women knew that they were HIV positive at the time of interview and 81% of men and 89% of women knew that they were HIV negative. 73% of men and 83% of women who knew that they were HIV positive stated that they did not want more children, compared to 35% of men and 38% of women who knew they were HIV negative. Concordant HIV positive couples were more likely than concordant negative couples to desire to stop child bearing (odds ratio 11.5, 95%CI 4.3-30.7, after adjusting for other factors) but only slightly more likely to use contraceptives (adjusted odds ratio 1.5 (95%CI 0.8-3.3). CONCLUSION: Knowledge of HIV positive status is associated with an increase in the reported desire to cease childbearing but there was limited evidence that this desire led to higher use of contraception. More efforts directed towards assisting HIV positive couples to access and use reproductive health services and limit HIV transmission among couples are recommended

Integrative Motivation as a Predictor of Achievement in the Foreign Language Classroom

This study examines the relationship among five independent variables—integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, the need to fulfill a foreign language requirement, grade point average (GPA), and previous years studying Spanish—as predictors of five dependent variables: scores on a simulated oral proficiency interview (SOPI), final exam grades, final grades, the desire to enroll in Spanish courses after completing the language requirement, and intention to major in Spanish. Data from a questionnaire and a SOPI administered to 130 students enrolled in fourth-semester Spanish identified integrative motivation as a significant predictor of SOPI scores and final exam grades. Furthermore, integrative motivation was a significant predictor of students’ desire to enroll in additional coursework after completing the four-semester foreign language requirement. It also had an important role in students’ intention to major in the language. A negative relationship was found between the need to fulfill the language requirement and intent to continue with further studies in Spanish. The findings demonstrate that integrative motivation is important in predicting student achievement in the foreign language classroom

“Listen Carefully:” A Study of Ageist Stereotypes and Undergraduates’ Desire to Work with Elders

“Listen Carefully:” A Study of Ageist Stereotypes and Undergraduates’ Desire to Work with Elders identifies and assesses how prior experience with elders and ageist stereotypes informs the degree to which undergraduates are inclined (or disinclined) to consider geriatrics as a potential career. Current literature indicates a lack of interest among social workers and other allied-health professionals in working with this demographic. Here, the “generation gap” not only pertains to the differences between younger people and their elders, but to the gap between the aging population’s increasing demand of need and how many individuals plan to serve the elderly. For this study, participants were required to prioritize a set of 27 statements in order from least to most significant in influencing their desire to work with elders (Q methodology). A factor analysis of the data generated two groups of participants. Group 1 was significantly (p \u3c.01) more willing to work with elders, which was associated with their rejection of negative stereotypes and their indication of having prior experience working with elders. Group 2 was significantly less willing to work with the elders (p \u3c .01), put significantly (p \u3c .05) more emphasis on deficits of old age, and reported not having as much experience working with the elderly. The data suggest that exposure to actual work with elders and debunking false, negative stereotypes about the elderly are key in attracting professionals to work in geriatrics. Funding for incentive and awareness programs should be provided to encourage more people to work in geriatrics

Recommendations to the Social Security Administration on the Design of the Mental Health Treatment Study

Many beneficiaries with mental illness who have a strong desire to work nevertheless continue to seek the protection and security of disability benefits, not only because of the income such benefits provide but also for the health care coverage that comes with it. Further complicating matters is that few jobs available to people with mental illnesses have mental health care coverage, forcing individuals to choose between employment and access to care. These barriers, coupled with the limited treatment options and negative employer attitudes and even discrimination when it comes to employing people with serious metal illness, help "explain" the very rates of low labor force participation among people with psychiatric disabilities

Employee Age as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Ambition and Work Role Affect

Past research has demonstrated a negative relationship between ambition, or the desire to get ahead, and job satisfaction. In the present paper, age was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between ambition and job satisfaction such that the relationship between ambition and satisfaction is more negative for older employees than for younger employees. Three studies, with three criterion variables (promotion satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, overall job satisfaction), were used to test the hypothesis. Results indicated support for the hypothesized interaction. The discussion focuses on the implications of the results for organizational and individual career management strategies