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Universities spend significant time and energy establishing a sense of community for their students. University personnel strive to increase school community ties for commuter students who travel back and forth from home to campus under the assumption that these increased ties will predict academic success. In an effort to understand those variables related to commuter student success, 335 participants responded to questions regarding commuter status, psychological sense of community with one's school, psychological sense of community with one's hometown, and academic self-handicapping. Results indicated that those with a strong sense of community with their hometown were less likely to engage in academic self-handicapping. Moreover, this relationship was moderated by commuting status, such that the effect was stronger for commuter students than for non-commuter students. Implications for commuter student success and future research are discussed.

The trajectories of recovery and non-recovery following a disaster are well-documented, but the mechanisms of post-disaster adaptation remain poorly understood. Rooted in social cognitive theory and the transactional model of stress and coping, this study longitudinally investigated the reciprocal relations among coping self-efficacy (CSE), coping behaviors (approach and avoidant), and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among highly exposed hurricane survivors. 261 Hurricane Florence survivors completed measures of hurricane-related CSE, coping behaviors, and hurricane-related PTSS across three timepoints, beginning 5–8.5 months after Hurricane Florence. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models investigated the relations among study variables. Reciprocal, cross-lagged relations were identified between higher CSE and approach coping from T2 to T3. The lagged relations between approach coping at T1 and T2 were significant, as well as between avoidant coping at T2 and T3. Significant cross-sectional relations were also present for CSE, coping behaviors, and PTSS at T3. Results provide partial support for the positive feedback loop involving CSE and approach coping, but not for the negative feedback loop involving avoidant coping. CSE may be an important mechanism in longer-term disaster recovery, in part by increasing use of approach coping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐regulation shift theory (SRST) argues that most individuals are able to successfully recover from trauma via engagement in self‐regulation processes as well as the effective utilization of internal and environmental resources. However, a minority of individuals may instead experience a self‐determination violation as a result of their self‐regulatory capacity being overwhelmed. This self‐determination violation is marked by chaotic and shifting adjustment, maladaptive regulation attempts, and, ultimately, a shift to an impaired self‐state and the development of persistent psychopathology, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study utilized nonlinear dynamic system (NDS) analysis to identify adjustment trajectory dynamics among rural hurricane survivors in North Carolina (N = 131) who completed daily ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) regarding their distress (i.e., negative mood and PTSD symptoms), regulation efforts (e.g., coping), and appraisals (e.g., coping self‐efficacy) over a 6‐week period. Four adjustment trajectories were identified, including two largely adaptive trajectories (69.0% and 5.7%), a less stable adjustment trajectory (6.9%), and a fourth trajectory (18.4%) marked by shifting adjustment states and more frequent maladaptive regulation and negative appraisals, suggesting possible self‐determination violation. Consistent with this possibility, this final trajectory was also associated with more severe PTSD symptoms relative to the other three trajectories at enrollment and 6‐month follow‐up. Future work should utilize NDS to model posttrauma adjustment dynamics from within a SRST framework to identify patterns of positive and negative adjustment dynamics at different time points in the trauma recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five studies investigated the cognitive and emotional processes by which self-compassionate people deal with unpleasant life events. In the various studies, participants reported on negative events in their daily lives, responded to hypothetical scenarios, reacted to interpersonal feedback, rated their or others' videotaped performances in an awkward situation, and reflected on negative personal experiences. Results from Study 1 showed that self-compassion predicted emotional and cognitive reactions to negative events in everyday life, and Study 2 found that self-compassion buffered people against negative self-feelings when imagining distressing social events. In Study 3, self-compassion moderated negative emotions after receiving ambivalent feedback, particularly for participants who were low in self-esteem. Study 4 found that low-self-compassionate people undervalued their videotaped performances relative to observers. Study 5 experimentally induced a self-compassionate perspective and found that self-compassion leads people to acknowledge their role in negative events without feeling overwhelmed with negative emotions. In general, these studies suggest that self-compassion attenuates people's reactions to negative events in ways that are distinct from and, in some cases, more beneficial than self-esteem. Keywords: self-compassion, self-evaluation, self-esteem, self-criticism, coping

This research assesses the relationship between self-compassion and well-being following an imagined trauma (i.e., sexual assault) and shows positive outcomes from a self-compassion induction. After a pilot study (N = 54) established the believability of a sexual assault scenario, the primary study randomly assigned female participants (N = 141) to a self-compassion or control condition. Participants read educational prompts (self-compassion and verbal learning or verbal learning only), completed comprehension questions, read and wrote about a hypothetical scenario from a compassionate perspective or generally, and completed the trait self-compassion scale. Regression analyses showed trait and induced self-compassion predicted less negative outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effectiveness of a domestic violence shelter and tested the impact of a self-compassion support group curriculum on outcomes valued by shelters such as autonomy, emotional restoration, and safety. Data were collected from 251 women staying in a domestic violence shelter who had the opportunity to attend a self-compassion support group during their stay. Women completed a pre- and posttest survey assessing self-compassion, empowerment, positive emotion, and perceptions of safety. First, women experienced a positive change (N = 36) from pretest to posttest across all four outcome variables, suggesting the domestic violence shelter was effective at improving survivors' well-being. Second, participants who attended a self-compassion support group at least once reported more positive posttest scores compared with those who did not attend a group (N = 79); however, this effect was limited to participants who stayed in shelter a short time. Women who stayed in shelter a longer amount of time experienced more positive posttest scores regardless of group attendance. Although the sample size was limited, analyses directly comparing the traditional shelter support group with the self-compassion support group show that both were equally effective. These findings provide support for shelter effectiveness in terms of improving well-being. They also suggest women who stay in shelter a short period of time may not experience as many shelter benefits unless they attend a support group. Therefore, shelters should consider offering support groups to women very soon after shelter entry. Furthermore, more research is needed to disentangle the benefits of self-compassion interventions over and above a general support group curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowerment is often a desired outcome for health programs; however, it is rarely evaluated. One way to increase empowerment may be through self-compassion. The authors of the current study aimed to determine whether self-compassion and empowerment were positively related. Two hundred and five women (ages 18 to 48 years) were recruited from a pool of undergraduate students at a university in the southeastern United States in the summer/fall of 2012. Participants completed the study using Qualtrics, an online survey system. Participants wrote about a fight in a romantic relationship and were randomly assigned to write about the fight either self-compassionately or generally. Empowerment and perceptions of the fight were assessed as dependent measures. Hierarchical regression analyses investigated the relation of self-compassion, manipulated self-compassion, and their interaction with empowerment. A significant positive relationship was found between self-compassion and empowerment. However, manipulated self-compassion was not significantly related to empowerment. These findings suggested that self-compassion and empowerment were strongly related, but using a short-term self-compassion intervention may not be strong enough to influence empowerment. Empowerment-based practitioners may find empowerment increases more easily in women who are self-compassionate. If self-compassion is incorporated into empowerment settings, a long-term intervention may be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two studies investigate the presentation of self-compassion following an interpersonal transgression. In study 1 (N = 228), participants imagined letting someone down. Self-compassionate participants were less likely to endorse self-critical statements and more likely to endorse self-compassionate statements. Study 2 (N = 208) investigated people's preference for self-compassionate versus self-critical statements after someone let them down. Less self-compassionate participants preferred and were more likely to forgive someone who made self-critical statements. More self-compassionate participants preferred self-compassionate responses and were just as likely to forgive someone regardless of the type of response. These findings support the hypothesis that self-compassion leads to more self-compassionate presentations and presents a more nuanced understanding of responses to self-compassionate and self-critical presentations in an apology context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on self-presentation has examined how people convey images of themselves on only 1 or 2 dimensions at a time. In everyday interactions, however, people often manage their impressions on several image-relevant dimensions simultaneously. By examining people's self-presentations to several targets across multiple dimensions, these 2 studies offer new insights into the nature of self-presentation and provide a novel paradigm for studying impression management. Results showed that most people rely on a relatively small number of basic self-presentational personas in which they convey particular profiles of impressions as a set and that these personas reflect both normative influences to project images that are appropriate to a particular target and distinctive influences by which people put an idiosyncratic spin on these normative images. Furthermore, although people's self-presentational profiles correlate moderately with their self-views, they tailor their public images to specific targets. The degree to which participants' self-presentations were normative and distinctive, as well as the extent to which they reflected their own self-views, were moderated by individual differences in agreeableness, self-esteem, authenticity, and Machiavellianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the concept of ego threat which is a hazard to a person's self-image or self-esteem which could affect public image or decreased control over negative occurrences. In this research paper, it deliberates experimental manipulations that confound ego threat with other processes, and proposes on the topic of ego threat as a paradigm in personality and social psychology.

Objective: Following disasters such as hurricanes, self-compassion (e.g., being understanding and showing care toward oneself) can be a valuable personal resource that facilitates social support and reduces posttraumatic symptoms. As a result of their increased connection to other people and interpersonal competence, self-compassionate people may perceive more social support following a traumatic event, which in turn reduces posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The present study is the first to utilize a longitudinal design and latent variable modeling to test this mediation hypothesis., Method: A three-wave longitudinal design was utilized to assess hurricane exposure, self-compassion, perceived social support, and PTSS in hurricane survivors at baseline (T1), 3-month (T2), and 6-month (T3) follow-up. Participants at T1 included 261 hurricane survivors (88.5% women) who were racially diverse and particularly vulnerable to loss of resources (53.2% with an income of less than $30,000). Participants were recruited using online, print, and face-to-face methods, and all survey responses were completed online., Results: Participants reported high hurricane stressor exposure ( M = 9.14 serious stressors out of a possible 24). Controlling for hurricane exposure, self-compassion at T1 predicted PTSS at T3, and this was mediated by perceived social support at T2., Conclusions: Following hurricane exposure, self-compassionate people experience less PTSS over time because they perceive their social support resources to be more robust. Implementation of self-compassion education and training following a disaster could improve perceived social support networks that provide an additional protective factor against PTSS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).