Shattered Assumptions theory (Janoff-Bulman, 1992) posits that experiencing a traumatic event has the potential to diminish the degree of optimism in the assumptions of the world (assumptive world), which could lead to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. Prior research assessed the assumptive world with a measure that was recently reported to have poor psychometric properties (Kaler et al., 2008). The current study had 3 aims: (a) to assess the psychometric properties of a recently developed measure of the assumptive world, (b) to retrospectively examine how prior adverse events affected the optimism of the assumptive world, and (c) to measure the impact of an intervening adverse event. An 8-week prospective design with a college sample (N = 882 at Time 1 and N = 511 at Time 2) was used to assess the study objectives. We split adverse events into those that were objectively or subjectively traumatic in nature. The new measure exhibited adequate psychometric properties. The report of a prior objective or subjective trauma at Time 1 was related to a less optimistic assumptive world. Furthermore, participants who experienced an intervening objectively traumatic event evidenced a decrease in optimistic views of the world compared with those who did not experience an intervening adverse event. We found support for Shattered Assumptions theory retrospectively and prospectively using a reliable measure of the assumptive world. We discuss future assessments of the measure of the assumptive world and clinical implications to help rebuild the assumptive world with current therapies. (PsycINFO Database Record

Combat medics (CMs) serve a vital medical role and also fight like other soldiers, which make them a unique and understudied military population. This longitudinal study draws on 3 waves of data collection to evaluate the effects over time of deployments, deployment recency, combat experiences, and hardiness on depression symptoms, posttraumatic stress (PTS) disorder symptoms, and aggression. U.S. Army CMs (191; 73% male) completed 3 surveys between 2009 and 2011 at 12-month intervals. Surveys included number of combat deployments, deployment recency, the Combat Experiences Scale, the Dispositional Resiliency Scale-15, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, aggression items from Mental Health Advisory Team IV, and the PTSD Checklist. The results suggest that, over time, behavior health (BH) is negatively impacted by combat deployments (bdepression⁎ = .11, p = .046; bPTS⁎ = .06, p = .01; baggression⁎ = .06, p = .006) and experiences (bdepression⁎ = .13, p = .008; bPTS⁎ = .08, p < .001; baggression⁎ = .05, p = .021). Recently returned CMs had less severe BH symptomology than those who had not recently returned from deployment (bdepression⁎ = −.15, p = .006; bPTS⁎ = −.07, p = .001; baggression⁎ = −.05, p = .021). In addition, hardiness, in particular commitment, was directly related to lower levels of BH symptomology over time (bdepression⁎ = −.28, p < .001; bPTS⁎ = −.11, p < .001; baggression⁎ = −.06, p = .001). Given the role of commitment in furthering wellness and flourishing in soldiers, future resiliency programs may benefit from focusing on increasing commitment.

Participants were presented a task relevant to their identity after having been exposed to a prime that made mortality more or less salient. For half, difficulty was fixed at a low level; for the rest, difficulty was unfixed. Blending logic from terror management theory (TMT) and an analysis concerned with determinants and cardiovascular (CV) correlates of effort, we predicted that effort and associated CV responses would be (a) greater under high salience conditions when the challenge was unfixed, but (b) low regardless of salience when the challenge was fixed. Findings for systolic blood pressure (SBP) confirmed this, with responses for heart rate (HR), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) following. Results document uniquely a key TMT implication. They also tell us how mortality reminders should affect existential striving and suggest that existential terror should affect CV responses indirectly by affecting striving.

Abstract:The Commitment-Reflectivity Circumplex (CRC) model is a structural model of religious orientation that was designed to help organize and clarify measurement of foundational aspect of religiousness. The current study successfully replicated the CRC model using multidimensional scaling, and further evaluated the reliability, structure, and validity of their measures in both a university student sample (Study 1) and a nationally representative sample (Study 2). All 10 subscales of the Circumplex Religious Orientation Inventory (CROI) demonstrated good reliability across both samples. A two-week test-retest of the CROI showed that the subscales are stable over time. A confirmatory factor analysis of the CROI in the representative adult sample demonstrated good model fit. Finally, the CROI's validity was examined in relation to the Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Quest measures. Overall, the CROI appears to clarify much of the ambiguity inherent in the established scales by breaking down what were very broad orientations into very specific suborientations. The results suggest that the CRC model is applicable for diverse populations of adults. In addition, the CROI appears to be construct valid with good structural and psychometric properties across all 10 subscales.

Research data sharing is one of the most interesting and challenging issues for researchers in the academic community. To investigate the effect of individual characteristics and organizational contexts on data sharing and reuse behaviors, this study employed a second analysis of the survey data. This study found that older researchers and those who allocate a lower percentage of their worktime to research are likely to share data and show a positive attitude toward data sharing. The study also found that academic researchers are likely to share data if their funding agency requires them to provide a data management plan and if their organization or project provides the necessary funds and processes to support data management.