BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:People who are unable to adapt to daily stress are more likely to experience short-term cognitive failures; a person's mindset (e.g., a stress-is-enhancing mindset - the belief that stress can enhance performance) may buffer this association. DESIGN:Using data from 286 participants (40-70 years), we examined the association between a stress-is-enhancing mindset and momentary perceptions of stress and cognition in daily life using a micro-longitudinal study design. METHODS:Stress mindset was measured at baseline, and perceptions of stress and cognitive function (spatial memory, sustained visual attention, processing speed) were measured three times a day for eight days (6,188 observations). RESULTS:Multilevel models adjusted for temporal and contextual factors indicated that stress mindset was unrelated to momentary perceived stress, and momentary perceived stress was unrelated to momentary cognitive function. Furthermore, a stress-is-enhancing mindset did not moderate the association between perceived stress and cognition. CONCLUSIONS:Despite theoretical and experimental work highlighting the benefits of a stress-is-enhancing mindset, our findings suggest this benefit may not extend to stress and cognition in daily life.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Childhood irritability and negative life events have been linked to internalizing symptoms; however, it remains unclear how these factors jointly shape symptom trajectories. DESIGN:We examined independent and interactive effects of irritability and negative life events on the development of depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. METHODS:Participants included 9- to 10-year-old children (N = 11,868) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study®). Linear mixed-effects modeling was utilized to investigate the longitudinal trajectories of depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms across three annual follow-up assessments, with irritability, including both tonic and phasic irritability, negative life events, and their interaction included as predictors. RESULTS:Higher irritability and greater exposure to negative life events independently predicted changes in depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptom trajectories over time. Irritability and negative life events also interacted to predict depressive symptom trajectories, with greater negative life event exposure amplifying differences in depressive symptom trajectories across irritability levels. Similar patterns were observed for tonic and phasic irritability. No significant interactions were observed for anxiety or somatic symptom trajectories. CONCLUSIONS:Irritability and negative life events independently contribute to multiple domains of internalizing psychopathology, but their joint effects appear to be specific to depressive symptom development.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Following bereavement, a minority experiences severe, persistent, and disabling grief, termed prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Establishing individual differences in how grief develops over time can guide clinical decision-making, yet has only recently received empirical scrutiny. The present review synthesizes results from grief trajectory studies. DESIGN:Systematic review (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42024601883). METHOD:We included peer-reviewed, longitudinal, quantitative studies that identify grief trajectories in bereaved adults. Searches of Web of Science, PsycINFO, and PubMed (October 18, 2024) identified 272 potentially relevant papers. Thirteen articles, reporting on 12 studies and 14 trajectory analyses, were selected. RESULTS:Latent growth mixture modeling (and similar approaches) identified two to five trajectories. On average, chronic grief was identified in 10% of participants (in 13 analyses), recovery in 33% of participants (in 12 analyses), and resilience in 55% of participants (in 13 analyses). Most consistent correlates of more severe grief trajectories were younger age, lower education levels, and the death of a child/partner. CONCLUSIONS:Recovery appears more common and resilience less common after bereavement than after other stressful life-events. There is limited evidence for a delayed grief trajectory. Younger adults with lower education levels who lost a child/partner appear at risk for chronic grief.
