Are Republicans more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than Democrats? This question has received considerable attention among researchers, but answering it requires measures of conspiracist belief that function the same among Democrats and Republicans. Unfortunately, evidence of such measurement invariance is scarce. To address this limitation, the current preregistered study (nDemocrats = 351; nRepublicans = 339) tested the invariance of four short-form conspiracist ideation measures—the General Measure of Conspiracism (GMC), the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale – 5 (GCB-5), the Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ), and the American Conspiracy Thinking Scale (ACTS)—across the two major US political parties. Given the lack of prior research on the topic, we preregistered the optimistic hypothesis that all four scales would achieve the highest level of invariance (i.e., strict factorial invariance). The GMC was the only measure to reach this level. The GCB-5, CMQ, and ACTS, by contrast, only achieved the third-highest level (i.e., metric invariance), despite the GCB-5 demonstrating the greatest overall fit of the measures tested. Researchers who are interested in comparing levels of conspiracist ideation between Democrats and Republicans may, therefore, be best served by using the GMC.

Near-death experiences (NDE) are intense events that can have profound psychological consequences. Although decreased fear of death after an NDE is a well-documented phenomenon, it is unclear what psychological factors are associated with reduced death anxiety. In this study, grounded in terror management theory, we compared 102 people who had an NDE with 104 individuals who did not. Participants completed measures of death anxiety, self-esteem, mindfulness, and death representation. Results indicated that people who had an NDE had lower fear of death, higher self-esteem, greater mindfulness, and viewed death more as a transition rather than as absolute annihilation. Subsequent analyses found that NDE had a direct effect on death anxiety, and that the effect of NDE on death anxiety was also mediated by indirect effects on self-esteem and death representation. Implications of these findings are considered, limitations of the present study are acknowledged, and suggestions for future theory and research are proffered.

AIM The purpose of this article was to examine whether psychological flourishing, a multi-dimensional construct of well-being, has the potential to play a preventative role in suicidal and nonsuicidal thoughts and actions. METHODS This two-part study utilized cross-sectional survey data from college students across the United States, assessing levels of psychological distress, loneliness, and psychological flourishing. Frequencies of suicidal ideation, intent, previous suicidal attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) were also assessed. Data collected in 2019 were used for Study 1 (n = 38,679) and data collected in 2020 were used for Study 2 (n = 50,307). RESULTS Psychological flourishing is significantly inversely related to suicide and NSSI risk when controlling for loneliness and psychological distress. There were two-way interactions between flourishing and distress, whereby under conditions of high distress, the inverse effect of flourishing on suicidal ideation, intent, and attempts and NSSI was more pronounced. These results were consistent across both studies. Subgroup analyses revealed similar results regardless of participants' race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. CONCLUSION Inverse associations between flourishing and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors suggest that flourishing may buffer risk of suicide and NSSI, and these findings may have important implications for developing evidence-based therapeutic interventions. Additional research, including longitudinal and clinical work, is warranted.

Privacy concerns surrounding Internet and technology use are higher now than ever, yet, people continue to use the Internet and Internet-connected technologies to share information without coercion and often with recipients they do not have a relationship with. Our research addresses how people’s personality, particularly two personality dimensions (anxiety and avoidance) together known as attachment style, affects their self-reported willingness to share and their actual sharing behavior. We conducted two studies on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (N=984). Study 1 surveyed 500 participants (193 women, 304 men, 3 transgender) aged 20-79 (Mdn = 35, SD = 11.65); and Study 2 surveyed 484 participants (223 women, 260 men, 1 transgender) aged 19-78 (Mdn = 35; SD = 11.69). Multiple regression analyses controlling for demographics and the personality factors neuroticism and extraversion show that anxiously attached individuals are more concerned (ßs = .24 and .33) than less anxiously attached individuals about their private data being disclosed, yet paradoxically, they report more trust in the security of digital communications (ßs = .21 and .34), making them more likely to share personal information on the Internet (ßs = .26 and .22). This research bears theoretical implications (e.g., understanding the psychology of sharing behavior), as well as practical ones (e.g., for tailoring existing privacy and sharing controls to individuals based on their personality characteristics).

The present study evaluates longitudinal trajectories of adult romantic attachment during adulthood using latent growth curve modeling. We also tested how observed family interactions were related to trajectories of attachment-related anxiety and avoidance from ages 25 to 31 years (on average). Stability coefficients for attachment variables across 6 years were around .50. Growth modeling results suggested that people tend to become less anxious as they mature into adulthood and that there were individual differences in changes during this period. Although family interaction quality in the adolescent years predicted levels of romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance in young adulthood, this association did not extend to changes in attachment between the ages of 25–31 years. Overall, it seems that attachment variables demonstrate some degree of consistency over time even as the average trend is for declines in anxiety. Moreover, adolescent interactions with parents were not strong predictors of changes in attachment during adulthood. This is consistent with the view that family relationships during adolescence are associated more strongly with the stable components of attachment rather than dynamic aspects in adulthood.

This research explores the ways in which psychological insecurities in three domains—the self, meaning, and relationships—are distributed intra-individually. Specifically, we explore the hypothesis that certain profiles of insecurity are associated with sociocultural and personality indicators. Building upon recent theorizing regarding psychological security (Hart, 2014) and cultural-existential psychology (Sullivan, 2016), two studies (N = 1049) support the existence of hypothesized “insecurity orientations.” Insecurities tended to distribute intra-individually in accordance with three insecurity prototypes: Social Concern (relatively concerned with relationships and unconcerned with meaning), Meaning Concern (relatively concerned with meaning and unconcerned with relationships), and Secure (relatively secure in all resources). Using the resultant cluster solutions as a foundation, theorized differences in sociocultural (e.g., religiosity, political orientation, individualism-collectivism) and personality indicators (e.g., attachment and the Big Five) are investigated. Results support the hypothesized relationships between insecurity orientations and sociocultural and personality variables (e.g., meaning-concerned individuals are less religious than socially-concerned individuals). Implications for global wellbeing are then considered, including the possibility that insecurity orientations may leave individuals more vulnerable to some types of distress than others (e.g., anxiety vs. depression).

US President Donald Trump's 2016 election victory defied expectations. Trump was an unconventional candidate, and his presidency has been true to form. What accounts for his popularity? Integrating work on narcissism with Duckitt's (2001) dual-process model of ideology, we propose that individuals higher in narcissism are more likely to adopt right-wing authoritarian and social-dominance oriented attitudes, which lead them to embrace socially and economically conservative policy positions, respectively. Thus, they are receptive to Trump's anti-immigration stance, a centerpiece of his political messaging from the campaign trail to the White House. The present study yielded results consistent with this analysis: Right-wing authoritarianism and social-dominance orientation mediated the association between narcissism and Trump support, via social and economic conservatism and immigration attitudes.

The COVID-19 pandemic likely had an effect on the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election. Was it responsible for the defeat of incumbent President Donald Trump? The present study makes an initial attempt at, and provides a model for, understanding the pandemic's influence on Trump support. The study employed a mixed experimental and correlational design and surveyed separate samples of adults (N = 1,763) in six waves beginning March 23, 2020 and ending June 1, 2020. Participants were randomly assigned to report their Trump support either before or after being reminded of the pandemic with a series of questions gauging their level of concern about it. Results revealed complex and dynamic effects that changed over time. Depending on survey wave, the pandemic seems to have lowered Trump support among Democrats, while (marginally) raising it among independents. Republicans' reactions also changed over time; of particular note, Republicans who were more concerned about the pandemic reported higher Trump support after being reminded of the pandemic in its early stages, but this effect reversed by the time the economy began reopening (coinciding with a dip in Trump's approval ratings). Although the correlational results in the present study did not converge neatly with the experimental results, the combined experimental and correlational approach has the potential to increase researchers' confidence in the causal effects of salient national and international events on political attitudes.

Background Exposure to chronic stressors (poverty, addiction, family violence) in early life can derail children’s development. Interventions focused on parental reflective function may promote parents’ abilities to regulate their feelings and behaviors toward their children and buffer the impact of chronic stressors on children’s development by nurturing high-quality parent–child interaction. Purpose To test the effectiveness of parental reflective function-focused intervention entitled Attachment and Child Health on parent–child interaction and child development. Methods We conducted two pilots with vulnerable mothers and children <36 months. Randomized controlled trial (n = 20) and quasi-experimental (n = 10) methods tested the effect of Attachment and Child Health on parent–child interaction via Parent–Child Interaction Teaching Scale (PCITS) and on child development via Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) and Ages and Stages Questionnaire—Social Emotional (ASQSE). We employed analysis of covariance and t-tests to examine the outcomes. Results For randomized controlled trial, we found significant improvements in PCITS parent total, combined total, and cognitive growth fostering scores, and ASQ-3 personal-social scores post-intervention. For quasi-experimental study, we found significant improvements in PCITS combined total, sensitivity to cues, response to child’s distress, and responsiveness to caregiver scores. Conclusion Incorporating Attachment and Child Health contributed to effective programming for vulnerable families with young children.

Romantic relationships are one of the most important sources of well-being. Unfortunately, many people who begin relationships with high hopes later find that they are unhappy but unwilling or unable to leave. Why do people remain in unsatisfactory relationships? The present research examined whether elevated fear of change in anxiously attached individuals is associated with greater commitment to unsatisfying relationships. We found that fear of change mediated the association between attachment anxiety and commitment to relationships, and that fear of being alone was a serial mediator for the anxiety to commitment association along with fear of change.

Theoretical alternatives to terror management theory (TMT) typically accept many of TMT’s hypotheses and empirical findings, but challenge TMT on theoretical grounds and seek to reinterpret the empirical findings, often on the basis of skepticism that death concerns are the main or sole root cause of psychological defense processes documented by TMT research. Some alternative theories tend to emphasize relational, self-related, or epistemic themes. Others are best described as domain-general in that they posit a nonspecific anxiety-regulation process of which “terror management” is but one example. In this chapter, I review and evaluate alternative theoretical approaches in relation to TMT, and highlight empirical and conceptual challenges facing TMT and other contemporary theories of psychological defense.

People are strongly motivated to maintain psychological security, or equanimity, which causes them to process and act on information in ways that are favorable to protecting against anxiety (i.e., psychological “defense”). People rely on at least three interlocking mechanisms to maintain security—investment in social relationships, self-esteem, and meaningful worldviews—and these mechanisms perfuse nearly every aspect of life. By consequence, people’s political beliefs, attitudes, and leadership preferences reflect motivated efforts to maintain security. Research derived from terror management theory and related theories of security maintenance shows that security needs influence political decision making in three major ways. First, they amplify people’s affinity for political stances that affirm their preexisting worldviews and bolster their sense of belongingness, affiliation, and esteem. Second, security needs tend to draw people toward conservative viewpoints; however, a more potent consequence might be to harden or polarize existing political stances. Finally, security needs cause attraction to charismatic and powerful political personalities (i.e., politicians). Although the theoretical basis for these conclusions is strong, and there is research to support them, it remains challenging to apply this analysis to specific persons, situations, and political issues because it is not always clear which security-relevant facets within complex circumstances will be most salient or influential. Nevertheless, a security-based analysis of political decision making has impressive explanatory potential and helps observers to understand polarization and “tribal” tendencies in politics, among other things.

Research on individual-difference factors predicting belief in conspiracy theories has proceeded along several independent lines that converge on a profile of conspiracy believers as individuals who are relatively untrusting, ideologically eccentric, concerned about personal safety, and prone to perceiving agency in actions and profundity in bullshit. The present research represents the first attempt at an integrative approach to testing the independent contributions of these diverse factors to conspiratorial thinking. Two studies (N = 1,253) found that schizotypy, dangerous-world beliefs, and bullshit receptivity independently and additively predict endorsement of generic (i.e., nonpartisan) conspiracy beliefs. Results suggest that “hyperactive” agency detection and political orientation (and related variables) might also play a role. The studies found no effects of situational threats (mortality salience or a sense of powerlessness) – though it remains to be seen whether real-world instantiations of situational threats might move some people to seek refuge in conspiratorial ideation.

Research on individual-difference factors predicting belief in conspiracy theories has proceeded along several independent lines that converge on a profile of conspiracy believers as individuals who are relatively untrusting, ideologically eccentric, concerned about personal safety, and prone to perceiving agency in actions and profundity in bullshit. The present research represents the first attempt at an integrative approach to testing the independent contributions of these diverse factors to conspiratorial thinking. Two studies (N=1,253) found that schizotypy, dangerous-world beliefs, and bullshit receptivity independently and additively predict endorsement of generic (i.e., nonpartisan) conspiracy beliefs. Results suggest that “hyperactive” agency detection and political orientation (and related variables) might also play a role. The studies found no effects of situational threats (mortality salience or a sense of powerlessness)—though it remains to be seen whether real-world instantiations of situational threats might move some people to seek refuge in conspiratorial ideation.

Research on individual-difference factors predicting belief in conspiracy theories has proceeded along several independent lines that converge on a profile of conspiracy believers as individuals who are relatively untrusting, ideologically eccentric, concerned about personal safety, and prone to perceiving agency in actions and profundity in bullshit. The present research represents the first attempt at an integrative approach to testing the independent contributions of these diverse factors to conspiratorial thinking. Two studies (N = 1,253) found that schizotypy, dangerous-world beliefs, and bullshit receptivity independently and additively predict endorsement of generic (i.e., nonpartisan) conspiracy beliefs. Results suggest that "hyperactive" agency detection and political orientation (and related variables) might also play a role. The studies found no effects of situational threats (mortality salience or a sense of powerlessness) - though it remains to be seen whether real-world instantiations of situational threats might move some people to seek refuge in conspiratorial ideation.

Nursing has a long history of attending to the importance of early attachment experiences to later development. Attachment strategies formed in infancy and early childhood can have lifelong effects on an individual’s behavior and health. Advances in neuroimaging technology allow us to understand how these early experiences map onto the structure and function of the brain and ultimately behavior and health. Previous reviews have discussed the findings of studies observing correlations between attachment strategy and neural function and structure in romantic partners and parents, but far less has been said about nonparenting adults. This article reviews the relationship between attachment strategies developed in childhood and brain structure and function in nonparenting adults. A total of 14 studies met inclusion criteria. Results showed adult attachment patterns of nonparenting adults are pervasively correlated with brain structure and function, with most associations observed in executive regions, followed by affective and reward processing. Notably, no studies found associations between attachment pattern and stress response, in contrast with studies of mothers. These brain regions are linked to the many behavioral, mood and substance abuse disorders observed in adults with insecure attachment patterns. Nurses can use these findings to help prevent, assess and address these health risks in nonparenting adults, as well as provide the brain-based evidence to support the utility of nursing interventions designed to further promote healthy parent–child relationships and secure parent–child attachment.

What individual factors predict success? We tested Chua and Rubenfeld's (2014) widely publicized “Triple Package” hypothesis that a tendency toward impulse control, personal insecurity, and a belief in the superiority of one's cultural or ethnic group combine to increase the odds that individuals will attain exceptional achievement. Consistent with previous research, we found in two sizable samples (combined N = 1258) that parents' level of education and individuals' own cognitive ability robustly predicted a composite measure of success that included income, education, and awards. Other factors such as impulse control and emotional stability also appeared to be salutary. But despite measuring personal insecurity in four different ways and measuring success in three different ways, we did not find support for any plausible version of Chua and Rubenfeld's proposed synergistic trinity of success-engendering personality traits.