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Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.

ABSTRACT: Five studies tested the effect of exposure to authoritarian values on positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 (N = 1,053) showed that simply completing a measure of right-wing authoritarianism (vs. not) prior to rating MIL led to higher MIL. Preregistered Study 2 (N = 1,904) showed that reading speeches by real-world authoritarians (e.g., Adolf Hitler) led to lower PA, higher NA, and higher MIL than a control passage. In preregistered Studies 3 (N = 1,573) and 4 (N = 1,512), Americans read authoritarian, egalitarian, or control messages and rated mood, MIL, and evaluated the passages. Both studies showed that egalitarian messages led to better mood and authoritarian messages led to higher MIL. Study 5 (N = 148) directly replicated these results with Canadians. Aggregating across studies (N = 3,401), moderational analyses showed that meaning in life, post manipulation, was associated with more favorable evaluations of the authoritarian passage. In addition, PA was a stronger predictor of MIL in the egalitarian and control conditions than in the authoritarian condition. Further results showed no evidence that negative mood (or disagreement) spurred the boost in MIL. Implications and future directions are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Womick J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8443031 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.

Womick Jake J Eckelkamp John J Luzzo Sam S Ward Sarah J SJ Baker S Glenn SG Salamun Alison A King Laura A LA

PloS one 20210915 9

Five studies tested the effect of exposure to authoritarian values on positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 (N = 1,053) showed that simply completing a measure of right-wing authoritarianism (vs. not) prior to rating MIL led to higher MIL. Preregistered Study 2 (N = 1,904) showed that reading speeches by real-world authoritarians (e.g., Adolf Hitler) led to lower PA, higher NA, and higher MIL than a control passage. In preregistered Studies 3 (N = 1,573) ...[more]

PMID: 34525099

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Project description:BackgroundAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are prevalent and associated with negative health and social outcomes. However, our understanding of how patterns of ACEs exposure relate to positive outcomes in adulthood remains limited. This study aims to identify patterns of ACEs and examine associations with flourishing in a sample of Chinese young adults.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted from August to November 2020. Young adults, ages 18-35, enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at universities in Mainland China were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling to participate in a survey. The exposure to ACEs was measured by the twelve-item Chinese version of the ACE-International Questionnaire. Additional measures included six domains of flourishing assessed using the Chinese version of the Flourishing Measure, and demographic covariates (i.e., gender, age, year in university, marital status). Descriptive statistical analysis and latent class analysis (LCA) were performed using SPSS 27 and Mplus 8.5.ResultsParticipants included 9468 young adults (mean age = 20.1 years). Majority of participants were female (75.3%), undergraduate students (96.4%), and single (79.8%). Approximately 56% of participants reported at least one ACE; 7.0% reported four or more ACEs. Emotional neglect (33.2%), household violence (20.6%), and parental separation/divorce (13.9%) were the most frequently reported ACEs. LCA identified three ACEs classes: multiple maltreatment and household violence (4.7%), emotional neglect and household violence (16.2%), and low ACEs (79.1%). Individuals in the low ACEs class had the highest level of flourishing whereas individuals in multiple maltreatment and household violence had the lowest level of flourishing in all six domains. There were no significant differences in flourishing between the multiple maltreatment and household violence and the emotional neglect and household violence classes except in the physical and mental health (means = 6.17 vs 6.51, p = 0.02) and the financial and material stability domains (means = 5.25 vs 5.66, p = 0.04).ConclusionsPatterns of multiple ACEs exposures were associated with lower levels of flourishing. Our findings have implications for efforts to prevent ACEs exposure through monitoring and promoting family well-being and routine screening to identify those with ACEs exposure to prevent negative social and health sequelae.

Project description:Very little research has assessed how measures of negative and positive affect (NA and PA) derived from assessments at multiple time points per day (e.g., via ecological momentary assessment [EMA]), as opposed to questionnaires that rely on recall over a longer period, are related to levels of peripheral inflammation. We examined how different indicators of NA and PA predicted concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) and seven peripheral inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-8, IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-γ) that were examined in the form of an inflammatory composite. A community-based sample of 220 adults (62% Black/African-American and 25% Hispanic/Latino; aged 25-65; 65% female) completed questionnaires at baseline (including recalled affect "over the past month") and then provided EMA reports 5x/day for 14 days. Blood was drawn from each participant after completion of EMA and used to determine plasma levels of CRP and cytokines. Analyses examined if indicators of affect predicted inflammation, controlling for age, gender, body mass index, education, health conditions, and statin use. Neither recalled NA or PA nor momentary NA or PA (aggregated across the 14 days of EMA) were significantly associated with the cytokine composite or CRP. Negative mood more proximal to the blood draw (i.e., aggregated momentary NA in week 2 of EMA) was associated with the cytokine composite but not CRP. Exploratory moderation analyses revealed that the cytokine composite was also associated with PA in week 2 for men only, and with recalled NA for those with lower education. Exploratory analyses around temporal dynamics suggested that the timing of NA measurement relative to the blood draw mattered: Specifically, there were stronger trends of association between momentary NA and inflammatory cytokines when NA was assessed closer in time to blood collection. Future investigation of the relevance of temporal proximity and other measurement details may improve understanding of how affect relates to inflammation.

Dataset Information

Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.

Publications

Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.

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