Using quantitative and qualitative data analytic techniques, the present study explores the parent-adolescent relationship from a pilot study of 15 triads (overall N = 45). First, the statistical relationship between positive relational affect and electrical brain activity was assessed during parent-adolescent conflict communication (N = 30). Specifically, using electroencephalography (EEG) technology, electrical brain activity was recorded during family problem-solving discussions between a mother, father, and adolescent child. Observational coding was used to determine participant and triad positive affect ratios (PARs). Principles of positive-to-negative affect were incorporated into an affective neuroscience framework and used as the theoretical basis for the quantitative portion of this research. Findings suggest that in relation to positive affect, hemispheric lateralization occurs during parent-adolescent problem-solving discussions. Second, the behavioral-family systems model of parent-adolescent conflict (Robin & Foster, 1989) was used to theoretically undergird the qualitative portion of the study. Based on this theoretical model, a thematic content analysis was conducted using transcripts from the triadic problem-solving discussions (N = 45). Patterns of parent-adolescent communication were assessed, and a modified grounded theory approach was applied to emergent communication themes that differed from those presented in the theory. Similarities and differences in conflict communication behaviors and positive affect ratios were compared between families. Contextual descriptions of each family are offered.

Previous research on stigma has identified many negative outcomes associated with its experience. These often include decreased affect and decreased life satisfaction. The present study examined sense of mastery - the sense of control one feels they have over the events in their life - as a moderator or mediator for these negative effects of stigma. To examine this, the Life Evaluations Survey was distributed to psychology students at a Southeastern university (N = 392). Participants completed measures of public stigma, self-stigma, sense of mastery, positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction. Results revealed experiences of public and self-stigma were associated with a decreased sense of mastery. In addition, sense of mastery was found to partially explain the relationship between stigma and quality of life. By contrast, results did not support a moderating role of mastery. Findings suggests that stigmatized individuals experience a sense of diminished control over their lives, which translates into decreased positive affect and life satisfaction.

In 1844, Mormon Church leader Joseph Smith and others acted against disparaging media coverage by destroying the printing press of the Nauvoo Expositor . Today, the Church reacts differently to disparaging media such as purchasing full-page ads in the playbills of the controversial Broadway musical, “The Book of Mormon;” telling viewers now that they have seen the musical, they should read the book, because the book is always better. The ads include an offer for a free Book of Mormon. Clearly something has changed. This paper demonstrates that the Mormon cartoon books of Calvin Grondahl and Pat Bagley, published from 1978 to 1987, had a significant impact on the general membership of the Church and were influential in changing the Church's negative, guarded stance to a more positive, transparent one which is manifest in the Church's recent approach to dealing with disparaging media coverage. These cartoon books had short-term and long-term positive affect on the Church's general membership which served to decrease situational stress while increasing creativity in dealing with this stress. Using the humor models put forth by Eric J. Romero and Anthony Pescosolido in their 2008 study and Christopher Robert and James E. Wilbanks in their 2012 study this paper suggests that the psychologically-safe, humor-supportive environment created by the Mormon cartoons books of Grondahl and Bagley helped the general membership of the Church cope with tension caused by negative media content and facilitated risk-taking behaviors that have led to a creative opportunistic approach to disparaging media. Furthermore, this case study of Mormon humor demonstrates the efficacy of the humor models put forth by Romero, Pescosolido, Robert and Wilbanks and expands their findings by showing that the additional humor events spawned by the initial event are multi-faceted and much more complex than was implied in the studies.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disorder defined by mood disturbance, but the deficits in emotional reactivity that accompany MDD are not yet fully characterized. Researchers have utilized the emotion-modulated startle paradigm to investigate emotional responding among depressed individuals with mixed results. Inconsistent results may be due in part to the heterogeneity of mood disorders, including variation in mood severity. The current study utilized an emotion-modulated startle procedure with 33 individuals currently experiencing a major depressive episode, 25 individuals currently experiencing a minor depressive episode (mD), and 31 healthy controls. Severity of depression, anxiety, and positive and negative mood states were ascertained on the sample. Emotion-modulated startle failed to differentiate between mood disordered individuals and healthy controls. However, results found a significant association between abnormal patterns of emotion responding and positive affect (PA), such that individuals with low PA showed exaggerated responding to unpleasant stimuli. The results suggest that PA may be an important dimension in mood disorders that underlies abnormal emotional responses.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the predictor role of type of infidelity, trait positive affect, and coping on forgiveness via marital satisfaction. In addition, present study aimed to examine gender differences in the proposed relationships among study variables. Demographic Information Form, Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and Turkish Ways of Coping Inventory (TWCI) were administered to 122 married individuals. Results indicated that 1) marital satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between types of infidelity and forgiveness / 2) marital satisfaction mediated the relationship between trait positive affect and forgiveness / 3) marital satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between problem focused-coping and forgiveness while marital satisfaction mediated the relationship between emotionfocused coping and forgiveness / 4) gender differences in proposed relationships among study variables were rejected because men and women have similar parameters for the proposed model. After findings were evaluated, limitations were discussed with an emphasis on recommendations for future research, and implications for clinical psychology were mentioned.

The relationship between positive emotions and school satisfaction was studied in 19 adolescents aged 13,57 to 15,17 years (M=14,45, SD=0,446), of these 50% were female. The subjects were all Caucasian native Swedish speakers. Schools satisfaction, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect and gratitude was measured at the beginning of the study and again fourteen days later. During the fourteen days, the subjects were given a task to carry out each day. The control condition was asked to list up to five things that had affected them during the last day. The experimental condition was asked to list up to five things they were grateful for in the last day. The results did not show any relationship between positive affect and school satisfaction. It is suggested that the results might be caused by either too little time for the intervention to cause a significant effect, by the subjects failing to carry out the given task each day or by too few subjects to rule out random effects.

This study aims to investigate cognitive response styles to positive affect. A Swedish version of the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire (RPA) was psychometrically evaluated and experimentally tested as participants were mood induced. The 3-factor model for the RPA questionnaire (Self-focused positive rumination, Emotion-focused positive rumination and Dampening) was replicated, and the RPA was further explored through analyses of convergent and incremental validity. The experimental results revealed that the two positive rumination subscales had a strong relationship with each other and current positive affect. However, none of the RPA subscales functioned as moderators in the relationship between cognitive response style and participants’ mood reactivity.

The present study investigated the role of gender, sense of coherence and total physical activity in positive and negative affect. The participants were 376 (169 female, 206 male, and 1 missing value) volunteered students from different faculties of Middle East Technical University. Three questionnaires, namely, Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC), Physical Activity Assessment Questionnaire (PAAQ), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) were administered to the students together with the demographic information sheet. Two separate stepwise multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictive power of gender (coded as dummy variable), sense of coherence and total physical activity on positive and negative affect scores. Results revealed that, sense of coherence and total physical activity predicted the positive affect whereas sense of coherence predicted the negative affect of university students. Findings are discussed in the light of sense of coherence, physical activity and positive and negative affect literature.

Sexual assault and the resulting impact within the African American community continues to be an under researched phenomenon (Bryant-Davis, Chung, & Tillman, 2009). Although positive affect was presented as a protective model within the general population (Fredrickson, 1998), empirical research exploring its potential for use within the African American community is sparse. The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role of positive affect in the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) post sexual assault in African American women, within an economically disadvantaged community. Thus, this study tested the hypotheses that Positive Affect (PA) would mediate the effects of sexual assault occurring before age 13 (FSC < 13), between ages 14 and 17 (FSC 14-17), and after age 17 (FSC > 17) on PTSD related symptoms (MPSS). Data from 749 African American were analyzed. A bias-corrected bootstrapping analysis revealed that PA mediated the effect of FSC < 13 on MPSS, 95% CI [.418, 1.778]. The indirect effect of PA accounted for 12.3% of the effect of FSC < 13 on MPSS. A second bias-corrected bootstrapping analysis revealed that PA mediated the effect of FSC 14-17 on MPSS, 95% CI [.671, 2.344]. The indirect effect of PA accounted for 14.8% of the effect of FSC 14-17 on MPSS. A third bias-corrected bootstrapping analysis revealed that PA mediated the effect of FSC > 17 on MPSS, 95% CI [.741, 2.568]. The indirect effect of positive affect accounted for 14.0% of the effect of FSC > 17 on MPSS. The results of this study suggest that women who are higher in positive affect are less likely to endorse symptoms related to PTSD post sexual assault, while those presenting with lower levels of positive affect are more likely to endorse PTSD related symptoms post sexual assault. The results of these analyses appear to be consistent with Fredrickson’s (1998) theory that positive affect enhances psychological resources for the individual.

In medical settings, a teachable moment (TM) has been described as an event which may lead to psychological changes prompting individuals to engage in health promoting behaviors. A cancer screening (CS) has been suggested as a potential TM because several types of positive health behavior change (HBC), ranging from dietary changes to smoking cessation, have been linked to CS. However, most research has examined the TM in CS settings using cross-sectional and prospective methodologies and has lacked a theory-driven model. Moreover, few intervention studies have attempted to capitalize on the potential TM in CS settings. In light of this, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the potential for routine ovarian CS to serve as a TM to enhance the potential for HBC using a theory-driven conceptual model of a TM. A prospective, longitudinal design was used to track changes in positive affect, self-efficacy (SE), HBC intentions and HBC following participation in routine ovarian CS. The impact of a brief, written intervention intended to enhance SE to engage in HBC was also examined. There were three total study assessments: the baseline (T1), 24-hour follow-up (T2), and one month follow-up (T3) assessment. Results indicated positive affect and positive consequences of screening increased over time (p’s<.01) and increases in positive affect were positively associated with greater healthy diet HBC. Additionally, greater positive consequences of screening at T2 predicted greater exercise HBC. No significant changes were observed in exercise or healthy diet intentions over time; there were no differential effects based upon the intervention for positive affect, SE, HBC, or HBC intentions (p’s>.05). Healthy diet SE and exercise SE remained stable (p>.05) but were found to be a robust predictor for both exercise and healthy diet HBC intentions. While several of our hypotheses were supported, the brief health information intervention did not appear to impact SE, HBC intentions, or actual HBC. To better equip health providers in CS settings, studies should continue examining both the potential for CS settings to serve as a TM to enhance HBC and how receipt of a normal test result impacts this potential.