No description available.

Suicide is a national public health concern, and unmet interpersonal needs (i.e., perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness) may contribute to enhanced risk. However, mechanisms of action and certain protective variables are not well understood. The present study examined simple mediation models, with internal hostility as a mechanism of action between interpersonal needs and suicide risk. Additionally, our study examined the moderating role of various aspects of receiving forgiveness on the association between interpersonal needs and internal hostility in these simple mediation models. A community-based convenience sample was surveyed (N=712). Our findings indicated that internal hostility partially mediated the association between perceived burdensomeness/thwarted belongingness and suicide risk, such that higher levels of interpersonal needs variables were associated with higher levels of internal hostility, and in turn, higher levels of suicide risk. No evidence was found for a buffering effect of feeling forgiven on these statistical models. Our findings suggest that negative, internalized self-perception contributes to suicide risk above and beyond that of interpersonal needs alone. Implications are discussed for both theory and practice.

No description available.

Risky social situations afford the chance to obtain social rewards like acceptance and belonging but also afford the chance of suffering social costs like rejection and social pain. Extant research indicates that social risk triggers approach motivations in higher self-esteem individuals (HSEs) but produces avoidance motivations in lower self-esteem individuals (LSEs; e.g., Stinson et al., 2010). However, no research has investigated the mechanisms that explain this effect: Why does social risk polarize HSEs’ and LSEs’ social motivations? I propose that self-esteem and social risk interact to activate two primal regulatory systems: the challenge-threat evaluation system and the Behavioral Activation-Inhibition Systems. I test this hypothesis by examining whether self-esteem and social risk interact to predict physiological responses consistent with these primal regulatory systems. Participants experienced either a low or high risk social situation, and heart rate reactivity was measured throughout the studies. Across two experiments, for HSEs (i.e., participants scoring one standard deviation above the sample mean), higher social risk increased heart rate reactivity, suggesting activation of challenge appraisals and the behavior activation system. For LSEs (i.e., participants scoring one standard deviation below the sample mean), higher social risk decreased heart rate reactivity, suggesting activation of threat appraisals and the behavior inhibition system. My research provides evidence that the social regulatory function of self-esteem may have developed from more primal regulatory systems, an observation that increases the comprehensiveness of current self-esteem theories. / Graduate / 0451 / 0989 / 0621 / huange@uvic.ca

Sociometer Theory (Leary & Downs, 1995; Leary, Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995) proposes that state self-esteem is a gauge of social inclusion. Expansions to this theory by Kirkpatrick and Ellis (2001) suggest that this is a domain specific process with different sociometers for different adaptive domains. Two studies were conducted to test predictions derived from the domain specific sociometer model of self-esteem proposed by Kirkpatrick and Ellis (2001). In Study 1, participants (N = 83) who were currently single, received feedback to indicate either acceptance (inclusion) or rejection (exclusion) for a potential dating situation. The results indicated that participants who were accepted versus rejected reported increases in state self-esteem and higher mating aspirations. The same effects were not present for either friendship aspiration or friendship investment, indicating domain specificity. The effect of the manipulation on mating aspirations was also significantly mediated by state self-esteem. Study 2 replicated Study 1 using participants (N = 81) who were currently in an intimate relationship. The results indicated that participants who were accepted versus rejected reported increases in state self-esteem and decreases in perceived relationship quality (commitment and satisfaction). The same effects were not present for either friendships aspirations or friendship investment. The association between the manipulation and resulting changes in perceived relationship quality were significantly mediated by state self-esteem, with state self-esteem acting as a suppressor. The results from both studies support a domain-specific conceptualisation of sociometer theory.