The current study examined whether directly altering affective associations involving a relationship partner through evaluative conditioning can lead to changes in relationship satisfaction. Married couples ( N = 144) were asked to view a brief stream of images once every 3 days for 6 weeks. Embedded in this stream were pictures of the partner, which, according to random assignment of couples to experimental group, were paired with either positive or neutral stimuli. Couples also completed measures of automatic partner attitudes and explicit marital satisfaction at baseline and once every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. Spouses who viewed their partners paired with positive stimuli demonstrated more-positive automatic partner attitudes than did control spouses, and these attitudes predicted increased self-reported marital satisfaction over time. These results provide novel evidence for a mechanism of change in relationship satisfaction, represent a step toward documenting how strong attitudes can evolve through passive exposure to information, and suggest novel avenues for relationship interventions.
Migrant farmwork is often characterized by harsh working conditions that carry significant physical and mental health consequences. Using a learned helplessness framework, the current study examined the extent to which discrimination, immigration legal status difficulties, and adverse childhood experiences moderated the effects of harsh working conditions on depression and anxiety. The study also examined the extent to which harsh working conditions mediated the effects of discrimination, immigration legal status difficulties, and adverse childhood experiences on depression and anxiety. Participants were 241 migrant farmworkers recruited in the Midwest. Participants completed interviews consisting of the Migrant Farmworker Stress Index (MFWSI), Adverse Childhood Events Scale (ACEs), Everyday Discrimination Scale, the Centers for Epidemiology Scale for Depression (CES-D), and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Tests of indirect effects suggested, working conditions mediated the effects of ACEs, immigration legal status fears, and discrimination on CES-D and GAD-7 scores (p values < .05). Higher ACEs and discrimination also appeared to be associated with larger effects of harsh working conditions on depression and anxiety (p values < .05), while legal status fears did not significantly moderate the effect of harsh working conditions on either outcome (p values > .05). Likely through different mechanisms, adverse childhood experiences, discrimination and immigration legal status are associated with higher risk of harsh working conditions and subsequently these conditions account for much of the relations between these 3 stressors with depression and anxiety. Additionally, discrimination and adverse childhood experiences appear to then enhance the effects of working conditions.
Method
Two hundred Hispanic emerging adults from Arizona (n = 99) and Florida (n = 101) completed a cross‐sectional survey, and data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses.
Results
Higher social media discrimination was associated with higher symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety. Moderation analyses indicated that higher social media discrimination was only associated with symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety among men, but not women.
Conclusion
This is likely the first study on social media discrimination and mental health among emerging adults; thus, expanding this emerging field of research to a distinct developmental period.
The current study examines the moderating role of traditional machismo on mental health outcomes. We hypothesized that machismo would enhance the effects of stressors that are incongruent with traditional machismo beliefs (discrimination, adverse childhood experiences [ACEs], and fear of deportation) on depression and anxiety outcomes but would not enhance stressors that are congruent (harsh working conditions and poverty) on depression and anxiety. Participants were 190 male Mexican migrant farmworkers. As hypothesized, endorsing high traditional machismo was associated with stronger effects of fear of deportation and discrimination on depression outcomes compared with low traditional machismo. The interaction of machismo and ACEs was not significant in predicting depression or anxiety. Moreover, machismo did not moderate the effects of poverty or harsh working conditions on depression or anxiety outcomes. Results partially supported our hypotheses and suggested that the effect of machismo on depression may be better understood in the context of value-incongruent stressors.
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