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Objectives This study tested an a priori contextual model of the mediating effects of participation on the predictive relationships of functional impairment, family satisfaction, and pain to quality of life ( Qo L) following traumatic spinal cord injury ( SCI). Design A longitudinal design was used to study 144 persons following discharge for traumatic SCI. Predictor variables included functional impairment and family satisfaction (at 12 months post-discharge) and the presence of pain (at 24 months), and mediating variables were two indicators of participation (assessed 48 months post-discharge). Life satisfaction and self-rated health status at 60 months post-discharge were the outcome variables. Methods A path model tested hypothesized prospective effects of functional impairment, family satisfaction and pain on participation and the subsequent effects of participation on the Qo L variables. Results Greater functional impairment and pain were predictive of less participation, and participation significantly predicted both indicators of Qo L. The two participation variables mediated the relationship of functional impairment and pain to life satisfaction over time. Family satisfaction had an indirect effect on Qo L through its association with social integration. Conclusions Participation appears to mediate the prospective influence of functional impairment, family satisfaction, and pain on Qo L in the years following SCI. These findings provide insight into factors that can predict Qo L post- SCI and support the use of contextual models to understand the temporal influence of disability and psychological variables on participation and subsequent Qo L. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Life satisfaction and self-rated health status are important aspects of quality of life following traumatic spinal cord injury., Functional impairment has been inconsistently predictive of these variables over time., Prospective research to date has not examined the mediating effects of participation in predicting quality of life., What does this study add? The results indicate that greater functional impairment and pain are prospectively predictive of lower participation., Greater participation, in turn, is prospectively predictive of greater quality of life., Participation appears to mediate the prospective influence of functional impairment, family satisfaction, and pain to quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined how conciliatory gestures exhibited in response to interpersonal transgressions influence forgiveness and feelings of friendship with the transgressor. In Study 1, 163 undergraduates who had recently been harmed were examined longitudinally. Conciliatory gestures exhibited by transgressors predicted higher rates of forgiveness over 21 days, and this relationship was mediated by victims' perceptions of their transgressors' Agreeableness. Study 2 was an experiment including 145 undergraduates who experienced a breach in trust from an anonymous partner during an iterated prisoner's dilemma. When transgressors apologized and offered financial compensation, participants reported higher levels of forgiveness and feelings of friendship when compared to a control condition and an aggravating condition. The effects of apology/compensation on forgiveness and perceived friendship were mediated by victims' perceptions of their transgressors' Agreeableness. Results suggest that conciliatory gestures promote forgiveness in part by depicting transgressors as more sympathetic, considerate, fair, and just (i.e., agreeable). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used two configural approaches to understand how temperament factors (surgency/extraversion, negative affect, and effortful control) might predict child injury risk. In the first approach, clustering procedures were applied to trait dimensions to identify discrete personality prototypes. In the second approach, two- and three-way trait interactions were considered dimensionally in regression models predicting injury outcomes. Injury risk was assessed through four measures: lifetime prevalence of injuries requiring professional medical attention, scores on the Injury Behavior Checklist, and frequency and severity of injuries reported in a 2-week injury diary. In the prototype analysis, three temperament clusters were obtained, which resembled resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled types found in previous research. Undercontrolled children had greater risk of injury than children in the other groups. In the dimensional interaction analyses, an interaction between surgency/extraversion and negative affect tended to predict injury, especially when children lacked capacity for effortful control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised Scale (SPSI-R) has been shown to be a reliable and valid self-report measure of social problem-solving abilities. In busy medical and rehabilitation settings, a brief and efficient screening version with psychometric properties similar to the SPSI-R would have numerous benefits including decreased patient and caregiver assessment burden and administration/scoring time. Thus, the aim of the current study was to identify items from the SPSI-R that would provide for a more efficient assessment of global social problem-solving abilities. This study consisted of three independent samples: 121 persons in low-vision rehabilitation (M age=71 years old, SD=15.53), 301 persons living with diabetes mellitus (M age=58, and SD=14.85), and 131 family caregivers of persons with severe disabilities (M age=56 years old, SD=12.15). All persons completed a version of the SPSI-R, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Using Rasch scaling of the SPSI-R short-form, we identified a subset of 10 items that reflected the five-component model of social problem solving. The 10 items were separately validated on the sample of persons living with diabetes mellitus and the sample of family caregivers of persons with severe disabilities. Results indicate that the efficient 10-item version, analyzed separately for all three samples, demonstrated good reliability and validity characteristics similar to the established SPSI-R short form. The 10-item version of the SPSI-R represents a brief, effective way in which clinicians and researchers in busy health care settings can quickly assess global problem-solving abilities and identify those persons at-risk for complicated adjustment. Implications for the assessment of social problem-solving abilities are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 65: 1–15, 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective was to examine the effectiveness of a brief individualized problem-solving intervention for family with caregivers of persons with recent-onset spinal cord injury (SCI). Family caregivers were randomly assigned to a usual care control group (N=30) or an intervention group (N=30) in which participants were to receive three face-to-face problem-solving training sessions (PST), educational materials, and telephone contacts as requested over the first year of caregiving. The participants included 60 caregivers (49 women, 11 men). The Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised, the Inventory to Diagnose Depression, and the SF-36 were administered at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Caregivers in the intervention group reported a significant decrease in dysfunctional problem-solving styles scores over time; there were no observable effects for PST on caregiver depression. There was also some indication that the intervention had beneficial effects on caregiver social and physical functioning. An intervention for new caregivers featuring brief PST, education, and contact may be associated with lower dysfunctional problem-solving styles over time and may promote certain aspects of caregiver quality of life. We also discuss limitations and implications of the present study. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 65: 1–17, 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Examined cognitive appraisals of interference and tolerance in the prediction of distress and self-reported disability among persons presenting for low vision rehabilitation.Design: Cross-sectional; correlational and path analyses.Methods: One-hundred and thirteen patients (mean age, 71 years; 52 men and 61 women) presenting for low vision rehabilitation at a university-based centre for low vision rehabilitation participated in an initial clinical vision examination and completed several questionnaires to evaluate cognitive appraisals, emotional distress and self-reported disability.Results: Path analyses indicated that greater tolerance was associated with less interference imposed by vision loss. Greater tolerance was also associated with less emotional distress and symptom severity (visual acuity) was associated with self-reported disability. Cognitive appraisals (tolerance and interference) indirectly influenced self-reported disability through emotional distress.Conclusions: The data indicate that appraisals of personal ability to tolerate vision loss and the perceived interference of vision loss on goal-directed behaviour and expected activities have greater influence on distress and are subsequently predictive of disability in comparison with objective symptoms (visual acuity). Implications for clinical interventions and further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trait forgivingness is the disposition to forgive interpersonal transgressions over time and across situations. We define forgiveness as the replacement of negative unforgiving emotions with positive, other-oriented emotions. Rumination has been suggested as a mediator between forgivingness and emotional outcomes; however, we suggest that different content of rumination leads to different outcomes after transgressions. In four studies of 179, 233, 80, and 66 undergraduate students, trait forgivingness was negatively correlated with trait anger, hostility, neuroticism, fear, and vengeful rumination and was positively correlated with agreeableness, extraversion, and trait empathy. The disposition to ruminate vengefully mediated the relationship between trait forgivingness and (1) anger-related traits and (2) both revenge motivations and state anger following a specific recent transgression, but it did not mediate between forgivingness and (1) fearfulness and (2) avoidance motivations following a specific transgression. Self-hate statements, a proxy for depressive rumination, mediated the relationship between forgivingness and both depression and fearfulness but not the relationship between forgivingness and trait anger. Future research should distinguish the contents of mental rumination following interpersonal transgressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the development of a measure for determining the extent of interpersonal guilt related to concerns about harming others. Description of the two versions of the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire; Presentation of preliminary reliability and validity studies for both versions.