Daily social interactions and values-consistent \nbehavior in clinical and non-clinical individuals.
Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Little is known about patients’ daily social interactions, the lack thereof, or their values \nin daily life. Especially if social areas and affect are concerned, as in patients diagnosed with \nmajor depressive disorder (MDD) or social phobia (SP), this merits further investigation. What \nis valued in daily life can further impact social interactions. What patients value in daily life \nand to what degree they behave accordingly (i.e., exhibit values-consistent behavior) is \ncurrently unknown. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to examine (1) social interactions in \nrelation to affect, (2) having social interactions (proportion, and quality of social interactions) \nversus not having social interactions (wishing for, and avoiding social interactions), and (3) \nvalues in daily life. Using event-sampling methodology, participants’ daily behavior was \nsampled in their natural environment. Types of social interactions, negative affect (NA), \npositive affect (PA), and the quality and avoidance of social interactions were investigated in \npatients diagnosed with MDD (n = 118) or SP (n = 47), and in a control group (CG, n = 119), \nwhile daily values-consistent behavior was examined in transdiagnostic in- and outpatients (n \n= 100). Results show that the MDD and SP group engaged more often in technological (e.g., \nphone, Internet) interactions than the CG, which engaged more often in face-to-face \ninteractions. NA was positively associated with technological interactions, whereas PA was \npositively associated with face-to-face interactions. Compared to the CG, both the MDD and \nthe SP group reported a lower quality of their social interactions, and generally avoided social \ninteractions more often. Both in- and outpatients reported more values-consistent behavior if \nthe behavior was judged as important or if it was embedded in a social context. Findings \nindicate that the association between technological interactions and NA should be considered \nwhen developing or applying clinical technological interventions. Further, understanding what \nreinforces social interactions in patients might facilitate the incorporation of important and \nsocial values into clinical work. This might then increase patients’ values-consistent behavior.
Source: edoc (University of Basel)
Author: Villanueva, Jeanette
Institution: University of Basel
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7009032702