The relationship between counterfactual thinking and emotional reactions to event outcomes: Does one account fit all?

By enabling a comparison between what is and what might have been, counterfactual thoughts amplify our emotional responses to bad outcomes. Well-known demonstrations such as the action effect (the tendency to attribute most regret to a character whose actions brought about a bad outcome) and the temporal order effect (the tendency to undo the last in a series of events leading up to a bad outcome) are often explained in this way. An important difference between these effects is that outcomes are due to decisions in the action effect, whereas in the temporal order effect outcomes are achieved by chance. In Experiment 1, we showed that imposing time pressure leads to a significant reduction in the action but not in the temporal order effect. In Experiment 2, we found that asking participants to evaluate the protagonists (

Psychological adjustment to Type 2 Diabetes and relationship quality

Aims To examine the associations between psychological adjustment to Type 2 diabetes and the reported quality and type of relationships with partners. Methods All participants (n = 88) completed a number of questionnaires, including twomeasures of relationship quality: the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the PersonalAssessment of Intimacy inRelationships Scale, theDiabetesQuality of Life Scale and the ATT-19 (which assesses personal integration of diabetes). Additionally, HbA1c levels were obtained from medical notes. Results Measures of relationship quality significantly contributed to the explanation of two outcomes: personal integration of diabetes and satisfaction with the burden of self-management behaviours. More specifically, the findings demonstrate that a specific aspect of relationship quality—intimacy in recreational activities—is positively associated with the outcomesmentioned above. Conclusions People with Type 2 diabetes who are not taking insulin, who share engagement in physical activities with their partner are more likely to be psychologically well-adjusted to their diagnosis of diabetes.

Optimal glycaemic control, pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension in women with type 1 diabetes in the Diabetes and Pre-Eclampsia Intervention Trial

OBJECTIVE
To assess the relationship between glycemic control, pre-eclampsia, and gestational hypertension in women with type 1 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Pregnancy outcome (pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension) was assessed prospectively in 749 women from the randomized controlled Diabetes and Pre-eclampsia Intervention Trial (DAPIT). HbA1c (A1C) values were available up to 6 months before pregnancy (n = 542), at the first antenatal visit (median 9 weeks) (n = 721), at 26 weeks’ gestation (n = 592), and at 34 weeks’ gestation (n = 519) and were categorized as optimal (<6.1%: referent), good (6.1–6.9%), moderate (7.0–7.9%), and poor (=8.0%) glycemic control, respectively.

RESULTS
Pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension developed in 17 and 11% of pregnancies, respectively. Women who developed pre-eclampsia had significantly higher A1C values before and during pregnancy compared with women who did not develop pre-eclampsia (P < 0.05, respectively). In early pregnancy, A1C =8.0% was associated with a significantly increased risk of pre-eclampsia (odds ratio 3.68 [95% CI 1.17–11.6]) compared with optimal control. At 26 weeks’ gestation, A1C values =6.1% (good: 2.09 [1.03–4.21]; moderate: 3.20 [1.47–7.00]; and poor: 3.81 [1.30–11.1]) and at 34 weeks’ gestation A1C values =7.0% (moderate: 3.27 [1.31–8.20] and poor: 8.01 [2.04–31.5]) significantly increased the risk of pre-eclampsia compared with optimal control. The adjusted odds ratios for pre-eclampsia for each 1% decrement in A1C before pregnancy, at the first antenatal visit, at 26 weeks’ gestation, and at 34 weeks’ gestation were 0.88 (0.75–1.03), 0.75 (0.64–0.88), 0.57 (0.42–0.78), and 0.47 (0.31–0.70), respectively. Glycemic control was not significantly associated with gestational hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS
Women who developed pre-eclampsia had significantly higher A1C values before and during pregnancy. These data suggest that optimal glycemic control both early and throughout pregnancy may reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia in women with type 1 diabetes.

Social Exchange at Work and Emotional Exhaustion: The Role of Personality

Unbalanced social-exchange processes at work have been linked to emotional exhaustion. In addition to organizational factors, individual differences are important determinants of reciprocity perceptions. This study explored whether broad and narrow personality traits were associated with perceived lack of reciprocity (organizational and interpersonal levels), and whether personality moderated the relationship between reciprocity and emotional exhaustion, in a sample of 322 civil servants. Extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, internal locus of control, and Type A behavior predicted reciprocity. The relationship between perceived lack of reciprocity with the organization and emotional exhaustion was stronger for individuals reporting lower negative affect or higher extraversion. These findings highlight the importance of personality for understanding perceived reciprocity at work and its impact on emotional exhaustion.

Music in mind, a randomized controlled trial of music therapy for young people with behavioural and emotional problems: study protocol

Aims. This article is a report of a trial protocol to determine if improvizational music therapy leads to clinically significant improvement in communication and interaction skills for young people experiencing social, emotional or behavioural problems. Background. Music therapy is often considered an effective intervention for young people experiencing social, emotional or behavioural difficulties. However, this assumption lacks empirical evidence. Study design. Musicinmindisamulti-centredsingle-blindrandomizedcontrolledtrial involving 200 young people (aged 8–16 years) and their parents. Eligible participants willhaveaworkingdiagnosiswithintheambitofInternational ClassificationofDisease 10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders and will be recruited over 15 months from six centres within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services of a large health and social care trust in Northern Ireland. Participants will be randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to receive standard care alone or standard care plus 12 weekly music therapy sessions delivered by the Northern Ireland Music Therapy Trust. Baseline data will be collectedfromyoungpeopleandtheirparentsusingstandardizedoutcomemeasuresfor communicative and interaction skills (primary endpoint), self-esteem, social functioning, depressionandfamilyfunctioning.Follow-updatawillbecollected1and13 weeks afterthefinalmusictherapysession.Acost-effectivenessanalysiswillalsobecarriedout. Discussion. This study will be the largest trial to date examining the effect of music therapy on young people experiencing social, emotional or behavioural difficulties and will provide empirical evidence for the use of music therapy among this population. Trial registration. This study is registered in theISRCTNRegister,ISRCTN96352204. Ethical approval was gained in October 2010.